GASabresIUFAN

and you believe things reported in the media? I own a nice bridge in Brooklyn if your interested; I can let it go for a song. The market should really start in earnest today. Watch Staal get traded again for a 2nd on Monday.

There are to many factors to determine value at this point. His performance this season is now a constant, but nothing else is. How many teams are bidding (if any)? Does he want to go to those teams? What are we asking? What are they offering? Is Hall their first choice or a backup if something else falls through? How much cap room do the other teams have? Do they have a player/contract we are willing to take back to make the deal work? How much cap are we willing to keep? etc..... Right now my guess is at least 6 teams (Bos, Col, Fla, NYI, Tor, and Edm) have at least kicked the tires. Most have little or no cap space. The question then becomes how can they create cap space and or who will we take back to get done and or how much cap are we willing to eat. After that is settled, what is the draft pick/prospect we are getting in return, especially if we are willing to give him away for nearly nothing cap wise. The more cap we eat, the higher the compensation. I figure Hall is willing to go to any legit contender and I think all 6 teams count. So take my example: Hall to Toronto for Kerfoot, Lilijren and 2 picks with the Sabres eating 50%. In my deal Toronto gets Hall for essentially 500K. The math - Hall's cap is $8 mill - 50% retention is 4 mill and Kerfoot's deal is 3.5. By giving Hall away and taking on the extra 2 years of Kerfoot's deal we should be getting a minimum of two prime assets. Lilijgren (sp?) is a decent prospect at D and 2nds, while not a first, is at least 2 solid draft picks.

I still like Hall to Toronto for Kerfoot, Liljigren and 2 2nd rd picks and the Sabres eat 50% of Hall's deal. Kerfoot has 2 more years @ 3.5 plays C or LW. He has been a 40 pts player and is only 26, but isn't a fit in Tor. LW for LW deal and we get a solid player back. Sabres received a conditional 1st (activated when Kane re-signed with the Sharks) an AHLers and a 4th for Evander Kane. Will the Sabres receive even less for Hall?

That was a dud. At least they battled in the second, but that third period was just awful.

That's what made Lindy Ruff successful here. In his first run to the Cup with Hasek, Lindy played a D first counterpunching style that utilized his players. In the Briere/Drury era, Lindy allowed his offense to dominate with a 4 line attack and allowed the D to activate because he had McKee, Tallinder and Lydman to pickup the defensive side of things. Honestly this is almost the style we should have now.

A man with RK's alleged intelligence should have known that. Barry Trotz is a D first coach yet understands that he needs to let him offensive talent play to their best advantage.

From the Athletic https://theathletic.com/2506212/2021/04/08/16-stats-should-nashville-trade-ekholm-taylor-halls-value-and-jack-campbell/?redirected=1 https://www.si.com/hockey/news/top-five-trade-destinations-for-taylor-hall SI's top choices : Car, Edm, Fla, Mon, NYI (doubtful now), plus Bos, Col, Tor https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/five-potential-trade-destinations-sabres-taylor-hall/ Sportsnet.ca top choices: Tor, Bos, Fla & NYI (again doubtful)

The answer to all legal questions is it depends. How he left the organization will go along way to determining if he is free to pursue other opportunities. Is he still receiving a paycheck? Did the parties agree to his departure? He might have received a severance package that precludes him from working for another organization for this season. Does he have a non-compete clause otherwise. Who knows. If he isn't receiving a paycheck and the Pens management agreed to his departure, then the Pens would have a hard time arguing that he is still under contract. Remember we had to send a draft pick to Pitt for DD as he was still getting paid by Pitt and therefore was theoretically still under contract.

As someone who had COVID for 6 weeks my recommendations are simple. Plenty of fluids, rest, Vitamins C & D, some type of sleep aid if he can't sleep. Also alternating Advil and Tylenol for fever. Monitor blood oxygen levels constantly. If they fall below 90, seek help. While this sucks, he is young and strong and will recover soon. I ended up with bi-lateral pneumonia and was able to recover. He'll be fine.

The facts keep piling up, but RK, aka Rasputin, is the worst coach in Sabres history. He nearly destroyed the franchise. Today’s article about Dahlin is another illustration of how poor a coach he is. https://buffalonews.com/sports/sabres/confident-again-sabres-rasmus-dahlin-thriving-under-interim-coach-don-granato/article_a192bbde-97b1-11eb-ad7d-af46be9fa625.html The ball and chain he placed on Dahlin and our other mobile D is in excusable. Just look at the new Dahlin possession numbers in the article and it will make you puke when you realize that this could have been Dahlin all season had Rasputin had a clue. The offense in general from 1.19 EV goals to over 2.5 in the last six. This improvement without Eichel. Ron Ralston was nominated as a rival, but he went 15-11-5 after replacing Lindy while the tank began in earnest. RK was given a mediocre team which the GM added talent to and he destroyed the team. The offense output of nearly every forward and every offensive D was destroyed under RK’s system. Maybe I’m just venting but RK is now my most despised person in Sabres history.

Its RK by a mile. The Sabres were tanking during Rolston’s tenure. It’s hardly the coaches fault when the GMs sell off every decent player on the team. Rasputin was given good players. Eichel, Reinhart, Skinner, Dahlin, Ullmark, Hall, Staal, Etc.. and he lost worse then Ralston. Ralston was 15-11-5 after he took over for Lindy Ruff in February. This solid record despite DR trading Leopold, Pominville and Regehr at the deadline for picks and prospects. The next season, DR traded Sekera and Vanek before he and Rolston were fired in Nov.

In fact he has 3 pts in his last 5 games and is 11/20 in the face off circle and that includes a 1 for 8 against the flyers.

Is RK the worst coach in Sabres history?

All Granato has really done is let his skaters skate. What a concept. He is partly responsible for this mess. Did he talk to his boss and ask him to open things up? Did he recommend letting the kids play? Was RK simple unwilling to listen to his staff? Did Granato pull a KA and go behind RK’s back? I’m happy with the direction, but I don’t want Granato as the coach. KA needs to take a more open style to utilize his roster, but needs an experienced x and O guy who will help the kids over the inevitable rough spots. Don’t say that. The hockey ghost of Matt Moulson will come for u.

Who is the mid 20’s prospect that slips to the Sabres at the top of the 2nd rd like JJP did last year? My money right now is on Wyatt Johnson who apparently has grown two inches but hasn’t played a game this season.

Welcome back Rasmus Dahlin. 3-0-2 in last 5. Activated D scores 3 goals. Kiddie line was our best forward line. Montour continuing his hot streak. 2nd rd pick for him?

Granato confirmed what many of us have seen and that is Casey is improving each game. Another very good game including a sick pass on the first goal.

....and now you know why I despise former GM TM. @LGR4GM I'm going to disagree on your assessment of the Jbot's drafts and not sure why you're avoiding discussing 2017 where we have two players already with 3 more possible (2 of which are probable). 2018 wasn't great, but Samuelsson is a good player and will be a good NHLer. You like Borgen yet dismiss the better version named Samuelsson. 2019 has 1 NHLer already with 3 more possible, including Portillo who had a 1.67 gaa and 935 save % in his first college season. 2017 - Casey (NHL), UPL (AHL/Taxi Squad), Laaksonen (AHL and thriving), Bryson (NHL) and Weissbach (now signed and similar skill set to R2) 2018 - Dahlin (NHL), Samuelsson (AHL and thriving). Pekar (AHL, has much work to do to become an NHL depth player) Kukkonen (Liiga - jumped to Liiga full time this season with good results) 2019 - Cozens (NHL), Johnson (college and thriving), Portillo (college and thriving), Rousek (vastly improved in the Czech league) 2020 - Quinn (AHL), JJP (Germany) The most valid complaint about the drafts is no high impact later picks which is a fair assessment. However there is good depth here especially with 2 really really good goaltending prospects. Quinn is a pick just like Reinhart. Solid safe choice, but others will probably be better. You argue that they should have picked someone else for Johnson, Laaksonen, Samuelsson and Quinn. Sure maybe if you were GM, but it's not like they didn't get solid players. Johnson, Samuelsson, Laaksonen and Quinn will all be solid to very good NHL players and Quinn could end up being a star. Johnson and Samuelsson both had late 1st rd grades according to most of the rankings I track. Quinn was supposed to be a top 10 choice. Laaksonen was only out of left field choice and he seems to be on track. Considering the last time we had a 3rd rd pick make an impact in the NHL was Brayden McNabb (2009) who TM promptly traded for some magic beans just as he was blossoming into an NHL player, Laaksonen was an excellent pick. Yes we'd be better off with more star power, but our pipeline is better and deeper then when TM left town as we are seeing with the Sabres playing better with the influx of kids.

We like VO and R2, why not Weissbach? 114 pts in college 127 games in 4 years. Pretty solid college career. It will be interesting to compare the undrafted Routsalainen vs 7th rd pick Weissbach. Both are playmakers, both are on the small side and about the same age. R2 has 40 pts in 32 AHL/Liiga games and Weissbach had 41 in 31 college games this season.

I’ve said that for years. Teams factor in position (aka need) always and have been roundly criticized for that opinion. BPA doesn’t exist and never has. Each team has a list and they draft from it. Each team’s list is unique and clearly some so a better job at crafting lists then others. I do a consensus list every year of 10-12 good writers on the net and have found it pretty effective at getting 22-25 of the first rd picks. The list usually contains 45-50 guys who get at least 1 1st rd grade and all 50 tend to be drafted in the first 100 picks, but the order in which they are picked is hap hazard at best. Some guys every year with a late consensus 1st rd grade slip in to the late 2nd and sometimes 3rd rounds.

What happened to BPA?

Any news yet? Probably waiting until after the deadline. Why get Kevyn some help at one of the most critical times of the year?

Ullmark and Togarski

Just got my mini helmet from Hockey Fights Cancer night. Tage Thompson signed.

I’m going to disagree. This kid is a good player who played for 3 or 4 coaches on a terrible team with poor lines and no weapons. Get him on a real team with real weapons and you’ll be surprised. Is he Josh Allen? No, but he reminds me on Tannehill.