Cascade Youth

100% disagree with this. Players are frustrated all of the time. Eichel has never done anything to suggest he's going to blow up the locker room if he doesn't get what he wants. Nothing is "locked in" right now, the situation may still be very much salvageable with the right kind of outreach and diplomacy. Trading Eichel for peanuts because they're "locked in" and he's frustrated would gut the core asset of the franchise and would simply repeat the ROR debacle (to a more impactful degree). Teams (and governments) are rarely as "locked in" as they believe, and it's that kind of decision-making that very often leads to horrible outcomes.

Completely disagree. The same thing could've been said about Aaron Rodgers heading into this week and that's been dealt with. Eichel is the star player - fix the issues instead of locking yourselves into trading him potentially for pennies on the dollar.

Fine with me, keep him and keep adding pieces.

As a Jew, this feels like Christmas morning.

Meanwhile no update on Bob Odenkirk. Today is not going well.

#hockeyheaven

And that's fine. "Culture" is way overblown. Don't rush a trade when his value is ebbing low - just keep him.

Dreger/Vogl reporting that Eichel's camp is now "frustrated" that no deal is materializing. Just keep him KA, HOLD THE LINE.

I mean, if the article is right, they're about to lose their two priority in-house free agents. Adams is in so far over his head...

https://buffalonews.com/sports/sabres/sabres-plan-for-free-agency-centers-around-keeping-linus-ullmark-jake-mccabe/article_7c2196c8-ee18-11eb-8bb8-eb5c42b920ac.html?src=rss “We’ve spent a lot of time with Linus’ agent over this offseason, had regular conversations,” Adams said following the NHL draft on Saturday. “We’re going to continue. We’re working hard at it. We’ve made it very clear to them that we would like to see Linus as our No. 1 goalie. We’re going to keep working at it. We’ll see where it gets. I also understand the rights players have and sometimes they make decisions but we’re going to do everything we can. We’ve been open and honest from the beginning with Linus and his agent that we prioritize him.”

The problem is that KA basically backed himself into a corner by letting it be known that he wants Ullmark to be the starter this year.

I'd have thought it would be hard to achieve a worse goaltending situation than we had last year but Adams is about to accomplish the near-impossible.

McCabe is headed to Chicago

What are the chances there’s a 75% chance?

And then using cutting-edge technology to broadcast doubts about science…

And I could well be wrong but I don't see him suddenly excelling elsewhere. Hockey sense/instincts is hard to improve upon by this point in his career. There were just too many times throughout his career where he clearly didn't see what was happening around him or react quickly enough. He just lacks "it."

That I agree with. And I'm biased - I prefer to keep him. He has generational talent and no one could seriously assert that he's been set up for success by the various coaches and GMs we've seen paraded through here. A good manager should be able to build around talent and help them find their best self on and off the ice. If Adams is too insecure to do that, he's the problem, not Jack. If you can't get a franchise-altering haul for Jack, keep him.

It just becomes tautological when you put it that way. The Sabres have been bad for over a decade not because of any choices they made but because their hands were tied, they took the only path they could given their option set. That just CANNOT be right.

They don't have to trade him. They don't have to trade him. They don't have to trade him. They DO NOT have to trade their best player.

Couldn't agree more. It's a freakin' zombie apocalypse. If kids start getting critically sick and dying from a variant allowed to spread because of anti-vaxx lunacy, there is going to be an outright civil war.

This is where I'm at. The "idiot tax" in this country is becoming unacceptably high.

Cakers gonna cake

I would be very surprised if Adams pitched it that way to his bosses. More likely, he sold them on the possibility of winning sooner by cleansing the culture and they were all over it since it worked with their football team.

When you hire rookie GMs and coaches - which the Pegulas are ADDICTED to doing - you create these conditions. Unproven leaders often lack the track record and confidence to execute their vision without jettisoning any perceived threat to their authority. Hence why relatively new owners don’t want veteran GMs who threaten their sovereignty. And with the Bills, their rookie GM Beane couldn’t wait to ship Sammy Watkins out of town. Adams doesn’t seem able to instill his “culture” without removing threats like a sometimes-mopey star player who rightfully is fed up with losing. But make no mistake - this is a Pegula problem, not an Adams issue. These people are highly insecure and it cascades down the organization.

One last tugger for the road? 😩