Marvin

I love Coffee Crisp. Some places around town have the Canadian candies behind the counter if you ask the vendor. Apparently, you are not supposed to sell them in the US.

I love Coffee Crisp. I still eat Snickers because they had a commercial with the Bills in the 1990's.

The Bills did it by accident with Tyrod Taylor, not Josh Allen. Maybe Okposo is the Sabres version of TT.

I would ask, but I do not expect it. If GMKA surprises me, great.

We already saw the analysis from@dudacek and @Thorny on this: that will not happen. Period. We need to think about what a fitty cent piece and two quarters look like for our dollars.

I don't know if I would go that far. The fact that we were at all competitive with the #5 and #6 goalies on our depth chart and without 3 of our initial top 6 speaks well of the coaches and the players. But could it have been done over 82 games instead of 21 with 2 actual NHL-level goaltenders and 6 legitimate middle-6 forwards as my top 6 instead (seems likely if both Eichel and Reinhart go)? That is not at all clear to me.

The one part of the Eichel drama that puzzles me is why are people assuming that Eichel can't eventually understand that the Sabres are following the advice of the doctors and that they might recoil at the player they are paying as a lab rat for this procedure on an athlete of his calibre. Maybe I am just different. In his position, I am quite sure that I would want surgery, but I would have eventually shied away because I would not have liked the risk given my profession. I would not have had neck surgery unless it was absolutely necessary.

Blues fans I know said that Sobotka was done. According to those fans, he was below replacement level. In my book, that is below "run-of-the-mill." Berglund was older, but would qualify as somewhat above average for "run of the mill" by performance and function, but to the high end by age. In an Eichel trade, all "throw-in" players should be at least as defencively capable as Berglund and younger; one of them can even be in Okposo's salary range. No one should even give me a thought about being Sobotka level throughout his remaining contract.

I don't think that's it. I think it is PTSD on the O'Reilly trade. They do.

Berglund and Sobotka were not "run-of-the-mill" NHL-ers. Berglund was years beyond what I thought was acceptable and was a 3rd-4th liner at the time -- albeit a good one. Sobotka was their worst player the year before. What I think we can get are the 2C or 3C with upside who might get pissed at the demotion. Maybe a young guy who is thought of as a supporting player but could evolve into a leader if given a chance. How about a guy buried on the depth chart but who has already shown promise and progress and played acceptably in the NHL. I want those unheralded strong players that even the GM underestimates. I would find those NHLers who have not lived up to ultra-high expectations and reinvented their games to be effective. After my first one, you should recognise these examples of the kinds players I am targetting: DuMont and Drury; Peca and Grier; Hecht and Warrener; Barnes, Briere, Connolly, Larsson, Girgensons, Lazar, and Okposo.

Like it or not, a prime piece of any Eichel trade will be a conditional pick because of the injury. @dudacek showed that a top prospect is already off the table even before factoring in his injury. @Thorny showed why we should want more certainty in our return. When I take those ideas into consideration, I keep returning to my unpopular opinion, particularly with @Buffalonill, that we should expect the Sabres to target more established pieces that strengthen the high end of the middle of the line-up and non-elite, above average prospects: it minimises the risk and guesswork for both sides. I expect even a novice GM to not mistake formerly decent players who are fading for actual 2nd/3rd liners like that idiot who traded ROR for, um,...oh, wait, that was our idiot.

You lost me. I was talking about what the people in Lansing and Ann Arbor are telling me. I figure his base looks like a 20 goal play-making centre. That's hardly a failure and we will need centres in the worst way. I am not talking about a "safe" pick. I value wingers behind both centres and defencemen unless my team is set at centre and defence. As of now, I would not plan on that. Moreover, I expect it will be easier to extract high-end wingers in Eichel and Reinhart trades than centres. Hence, another wing looks redundant. Therefore, I think the (probably) very good centre is more necessary than the potentially (far-)better scoring winger.

Based on what people I know in Ann Arbor and East Lansing tell me, his offence is not weak. They agree that he will not be an elite scorer in the NHL, but rather a set-up centre. Because of my expectations for whom we will be acquiring in return for Eichel and Reinhart (middle-6 centres, mid-pair defencemen, and, if we are lucky, higher-skilled but defencively deficient wingers), I would rather take an eventual 25 goal defencive centre over any wingers.

He wants Guenther in the worst way. Maybe he's right. Maybe he's wrong.

This may sound like going backwards, but there is method to this madness: Should GMKA consider trying to bring Larsson back? One way to protect the youngsters and have them grow up more easily is insulating them by playing LOG line in a majority of difficult defencive situations. And then I would acquire more two-way style players for a second line to help insulate them some more.

[] versus <> And for a brace challenge: {}

IMHO, it's because the surgery offers more immediate relief. That seems to be the most innocent explanation.

Not to be flip: how many players? 1-for-1, 2-for-1, add players on each side? I don't know.

96 degrees at my doctor's visit yesterday.

I so want to follow-up with this because the point needs to be re-inforced. I saw those Lions a lot when at Michigan State. He had to perform miracles to generate 1 yard gains the line was so bad. Eichel has been like that here. And we have been in as much disarray as those Lions were.

Maybe one guy brings young high-end talent and the others bring in decent mid-roster players.

Thanks a lot! Something was driving me nuts about the press conferences going back to just before The Tank. There was a lot of self-deception and too many rose-coloured glasses being passed around. I am a skeptic by nature, so I knew something rubbed the the wrong way with XGMTM and something different with XGMJB. No wonder why I am more enthused about GMKA and HCDG: they ask the right questions and seem to harbour few illusions about who and what they are. Terry and Kim -- take notice!

I should mention that I heard that ROR was on the trade block at the TDL before he was traded in the off-season and that teams were offering their #1, a prospect, and a cap dump before the draft.

IMHO, we will get zero top prospects and 1C's from trading Eichel and Reinhart. Therefore, I look at what our likely returns are. 2nd-3rd line centres who would be unhappy to be demoted and who might relish and expanded role. Solid to good prospects who are buried behind a lot of people. Mid-range, older defencemen I think we can make a better-rounded team with more balance which can also insulate Mittlestadt and Cozens while they grow.

In terms we can all understand. Mature sages to help the young guys grow up. Tim Horton. Roger Crozier. Darrin Shannon. James Patrick. Glue guys who keep the young team functioning as a unit. Rob Ray. Mike Peca. Stu Barnes. Guys who hold others accountable and are accountable themselves. Jim Schoenfeld. Danny Gare. Gil Perreault. Mike Ramsey. Chris Drury. Ryan Miller. IMHO, the torch should have been passed as follows: Thomas Vanek and Jason Pominville, Tyler Myers, Johann Larsson and Zemgus Girgensons, Ryan O'Reilly and Kyle Okposo, Jack Eichel and Linus Ullmark.