triumph_communes

The ‘hole’ at 2C is just a year or so until Mittelstadt’s strength and condition catches up and he takes it. It’s not a problem to be solved by FA where the deals are 4+ years and for top dollar. A trade involving Ristolainen I bet is still on the table, pending what shakes out with the Habs offersheeting players like Point and Tampa being forced then to make a move to make space. Some people pled need to calm the hell down. Rome wasn’t built in a day and Murray had this team in a bad bad place. Plus, a coach was the difference between last place in the league St Louis and Stanley cup champions St. Louis. We’ve got a good one coming, be patient.

Both Oloffson and Vesey will play RW

Skinner-Eichel-Oloffson Sheary-Mittelstadt-Reinhart Smith-Rodrigues/Ruotsalainen-Vesey Girgensons-Larsson-Okposo Wilson/Sobotka/Elie waived Thompson and Nylander injury callups Dahlin-Montour McCabe-Ristolainen Scandella-Miller Hunwick/Nelson one waived Pilut to push Scandella or McCabe out of the lineup when healthy. Bogosian to kick the remaining 7th dman back when he’s healthy So, much, competition here, coming from young guys, fringe guys, and old vets. Nobody’s spot is safe, pretty crazy. Only Okposo is getting gifted minutes imo

Mittelstadt will center. We have other LWs.

Don’t want Johansson. Give me Nyquist

One year of Hoffman for all of that? Saves Florida cap space? Not sure he value is right there

Nyquist would be a decent alternative to Zucc and Donskoi, assuming they can keep the years down to 3 maybe 4.

Great dream, but the NMC I have a hard time seeing being waived. Trochek is is the only ‘realistic’ guy on their roster without a trade clause that has the salary they need to move, and even then him being ‘realistic’ is a stretch. Theyre in the division. Just let them burn. Just like Toronto

Pilot is on IR. He is also a lock for the NHL, worst case just after a short recovery stint because he has that option. The Miller acquisition does not necessitate a trade, but once Pilut and Bogo heal up, it does. Remember, Krueger and Botterill were very worried in interviews weeks ago about starting the season with, in their words, ‘two of their six defenders on IR’. This trade helps with that on its own. What it does do is give Botterill a lot of flexibility: If he wants to trade Risto on July 1st, he can do so without having to scramble for scraps to replace him while we wait on the other prospects like Borgen to make their way up. If he doesn’t find the Risto trade he wants, he keeps him. There won’t be a need to trade away the excess defender until November timeframe and they can choose between many options that can all be easily moved for low draft picks if needed. By then camp is over the season has started and it will be easier to make the decision on who to trade or cut. No defenseman on the roster has an albatross multi year contract that can’t be moved or easily buried. Beyond just the analytics and the player Miller himself, one of the best parts about the trade is the flexibility it gives Botterill going into both next week, but the start of the season as well.

This is a stopgap to mid season where two players coming off IR will force a trade Before: Dahlin-Montour McCabe-Ristolainen Scandella-Miller Nelson After: Dahlin-Montour Pilut-Ristolainen McCabe-Miller Scandella-Bogosian-Nelson, two traded for picks I didn’t even include Hunwick, but either him or Nelson will be waived anyway

Oloffson-Eichel-Zuccorello Skinner-Mittelstadt-Reinhart Smith/Ruostalainen-Dzingel-Thompson Girgensons-Larsson-Rodrigues/Okposo Trade/demote: Sheary, Sobotka, Nylander, Wilson, Elie just signing two guys and promoting a couple results in a lot of bad cap to deal with

But he’s OUR eklund

Safe means high floor, connotes low ceiling, yes. The digressions of the pick all focus on other players available having higher ceilings (higher hockey IQ). This is especially so for the Johnson pick. And I think those digressions are misguided Teams dont build for long term success by shoehorning themselves into tiny 3 year ‘windows’.

We already have Eichel, Dahlin, etc. Even if we acquired the next Matthews we couldn’t really afford him. Picking guys who are safe complimentary picks that fit a role no other rostered player currently provides since Folingo is a good thing. Tons of picks who will at least play depth roles is how we will end up with continued success. People who are mad at Botterill and prefer a TM’s draft need to be reminded with how many of his 1st and 2nd round picks even panned out, or the players he traded multiple 1st and 2nd round picks for don’t even play for the team anymore because they were so busted. Safe picks are what this team needs the most. Cozens is a safe pick and that’s great. And if they want to play him right away/- remember Krueger was the only coach in the league that made Yakupov not only serviceable, but look like a star. The ‘rushed’ examples like Mittelstadt were stuck playing with Okposo all season because we had a dumb coach. If they think Cozens can grow into his body playing here, then trust them. I bet he spends a year beefing up though, he has a lot of frame to fit into still.

I don’t understand any comparison with Psysk. He was a below average skater that had no offense. Just played things safe and had a decent first pass. This kids a top-10 in his draft year skater, has moxie, and played for a winning team. He isn’t your flashy goal scorer, but Sexton/Botterill have their own metrics they track with these kids and hit a bunch of times with the Penguins— maybe give them the benefit of the doubt here.

Coaching has held the team so far back, I wouldn’t be so pessimistic with next season even if not many faces change.

Why are you all crying about position when these guys are at least 2-3 years out? We have forwards locked up for a while, this kid is going to be an important part of the future.

Kaliyev is so ugly, such a Boston player

We need some more north south players to balance out the east west guys like Skinner Always get afraid of hearing ‘size’ being the first attribute. Sabres sure could use more players like him though. how far out is he?

+ Sobotka, Sheary, or Okposo is what it would take for me to not be disappointed in the trade. McCabe is a bit of a potato brain though with those head and repeat shoulder injuries, so losing him may not really affect the long term.

He had two stints. Second stint was PPG

Faceoffs are overrated. He played 4th line minutes with criminal possession losers. We we could have given him linemates who didn’t just lose the puck every time it hit their stick. Mittelstadt is a player who excels with tic tac toe, and was almost never given a winger who had the hockey IQ to pull that off. He’s one of those players who will look bad with low hockey iq teammates because he isn’t a puck hog and relies upon his teammates to do equally smart things with the puck. He had awful linemates in college too. Give him smart guys like Reinhart on his line and his production will not just increase like Reinhart might do with others, but exponentially so.

Only if you aren’t paying attention. Jason literally said that Tage’s problems were best fixed playing in the NHL, whereas Nylander had yet to prove he could even produce in the AHL. Tage had already proven he could PPG in the AHL. Tage’s problem was that his cute moves didn’t work against NHL defenders like they do in the AHL and he needed to experience that first hand or ride the bench. He immediately produced in the AHL when eventually sent down—- proving he was not ‘ruined’, he just needs to find a way to make his game work without the cute moves Nylander was was a summer removed from being a healthy playoff scratch in the AHL. A skill player with opportunity to play first line who can’t produce in the AHL doesn’t magically produce in the NHL Only role players get away with that progression. Or some college freshman, etc in the more physical leagues.

Any Risto to Tampa trade is going to have Foote being one of the primary returns. Tampa is in win-now mode and just needs cap relief and replacement RD with grit — they aren’t going to trade their NHL proven cost controlled assets to pick up Risto. They might be willing to trade away defenders they can’t wait two years on to make sure they can repeat their Presidents trophy next two years, and this time have enough grit in the lineup to play playoff hockey.

He was the center anchored by Okposo nearly the entire season. I don’t think he’s a 1C, and I think he would make a better winger, but given his line mates I don’t have any concerns about his last season. When he had Reinhart at wing he was producing PPG pace, Housley was just too awful of a coach to maintain smart lines and instead kept trying to force Eichel-Reinhart to work instead.