JohnC

I'm too much of a dullard to understand jokes. 🙃 Your price range for VO is very reasonable for the player and organization. I had him pegged at 4 yrs per $4 M.

So what? This high #1 pick better be better than the 7th pick in the 2014 draft. Quinn being better than Olofsson or any other player on the roster doesn't mean that the lesser player should necessarily be dealt. I consider Olofsson to be a good third line winger and also would be a good second unit player on the PP.

If Quinn quickly becomes an impact player then that would be great. But it isn't a guarantee that he will from the start be an impact player. He, like a number of other youngsters, most notably Krebs, Joki etc. need to get stronger. I'm excited about prospects such as Quinn and JJ. But from a NHL standpoint these boys are not yet men. And going back to the VO discussion I don't see how adding Quinn and JJ to the mix should be an argument to trade VO, at least for the near term.

The one lesson that is obvious from this year is that you need team and system depth to respond to the inevitable injuries. I'm not worried about having too much talent at this point because the real issue for this bottom-feeding franchise is not having enough talent.

The Sabres do not have one player in the top 20 in 11 offensive categories. The problem isn't that we have plenty of players who can score---it is that we don't have enough of them. There is a false assumption that prospects such as Quinn and JJ are instantly going to be prolific goal scorers when they get to the NHL. Unless the player is an exceptional prospect it doesn't usually work out that way. It takes time for a good scorer in the lower ranks to become a proficient scorer in the NHL. When you have a team that lacks talent the solution towards success isn't to subtract talent.

The Sabres don't have a player in the top twenty in any of the 11 offensive categories. Your solution is to trade one of our better shooters. VO could be slotted into a more productive third line, and he could be useful on the second PP unit. I don't understand your reasoning.

Most players who have been out of action for as long as he has take more than a few games to get their timing back. I doubt that his play is going to be sharp enough to want to make a GM offer anything more than a piddling amount for his services. The real action in adding to this roster is going to be in the offseason, especially around the draft.

Is he going to blame the Sabre training staff for his injury? I didn't realize until this year how vulnerable to injuries goalies are.

If Adams gets a first for Miller it's likely he has pictures of the other GM intermingling with a busty naked woman who isn't his significant other. I don't believe that KA could get a second round pick for Miller. If he is dealt and the return is a third or fourth I would consider it a fair deal.

No they are not guaranteed like NHL, NBA and MLB contracts. However, the bonus amount is guaranteed. The best way to value the contract is to look at the bonus and then year to year contract.

I wonder if the Miller signing results in Jerry Hughes being released?

One thing that we have learned from this season is that injuries are an inescapable part of the game for all teams. You have to have depth to draw from when players are unavailable. One thing that I'm not going to consider a negative is having more than enough players to fill spots when players go down or if a player needs some down time to recover from a nagging injury. Where it seems that we are not in accord is that you are taking an either/or stance while I'm arguing that you can have both. My position is that this team has enough assets to acquire a player such as Comtois (as an example) and still comfortably keep VO. Having a greater pool of talent to draw from to assemble quality multiple lines is a problem that Granato would love to have. And as a coach one of his strengths is in assembling lines and pairings. Having too much is certainly better than not having enough.

I agree with the concept of what you are saying but respectfully disagree in trading VO in a deal for Comtois. This team lacks scorers. We don't have one player in the top twenty in any of the offensive categories. I don't see Quinn replacing VO because I believe that Quinn will be playing on a higher line than VO. If VO returns to form and becomes a good third line sniper I would consider that a positive role. I wouldn't mind acquiring a player like Comtois. However, not in an exchange for VO.

If you want to get into the money I would recommend that you go lower. 🍺

When placing a bet on me always go with the under. You'll consistently win money taking that strategy. 😃

The coach has talked about the issue of whether it is more important to accentuate offense vs defense or vice versa. His philosophy is that it is much more challenging to install an offense than it is to install the defense. He stated that his bias is toward working on the offense at the expense of defense as opposed to first building a defense at the expense of the more difficult task of establishing an offensive system. The issue of offense vs defense that you bring up at this point is circumscribed by the lack of overall talent. As the talent base is increased the imbalance between the two parts of the game will in my opinion be more equalized. Adding Power to the mix along with the expectation of added blueline talent in the offseason should equalize this imbalance more.

You have been touting Comtois for a long time. In many of your trade scenarios with Anaheim in the Jack sweepstakes you always included him on your wish list. Why do you think that he would be available? Are there whispers that he could be available? I'm more of a VO supporter than most are here. Although this has been a difficult season for him due to a nagging shoulder injury, I think it would be a mistake to trade the shooter. This team lacks offense. In 11 offensive categories we have no top twenty on the list. I would rather use draft capital (maybe 2nd rd) and take on a salary to get him if he were to become available.

I'm looking for a 1B goalie to add to the mix. Even with the addition I'm not eliminating Anderson from the roster if he wants to come back. Our difference revolves around my concern over putting too much reliance on UPL as a primary goalie at this stage of his career. I'm not down on him as a prospect. For me, it is too much and too soon to rely on him. I would love to be wrong. It just seems that this team is starting to move in the right direction. You can see that team progression when our goalies play well. Why risk it by rushing the issue with our current prime goalie prospect.

I agree with your comment. I don't believe it will require a major asset to acquire another goalie. Our cap situation (as you noted) puts us in a good position to add another goalie.

It certainly would be useful to see how UPL plays in Buffalo as the season winds down. But I wouldn't consider it a necessity. Getting heavy duty playing time in Rochester, and hopefully a playoff run in the AHL would also be a beneficial experience for him. I still feel strongly that another experienced goalie should be added to the mix this offseason to hedge the risk of prematurely designating UPL as a NHL goalie to rely on. And considering the high rate of injury for goalies the organization needs to add another experienced goalie to the mix.

I would still send him to Rochester and let him get heavy duty play. Based on his play in camp this year Peterka should have earned a roster spot. He was sent to Rochester to get a lot of playing time and opportunities to play in more roles. It was the right thing to do.

Your post makes a lot of sense. However, where I disagree with you is if UPL replaces Anderson I would consider that a drop off, maybe a significant drop. At this stage in his lengthy career I don't see Anderson as a workhorse goalie for us next year. But if he is a second goalie with less usage then I do see him playing effectively for us. That is why I believe that it is an imperative that another goalie be brought in this offseason to shore up the position. My guess is that KA is going to rely on UPL as the primary goalie next year with Anderson being the backup. In my opinion that would be a big gamble. What is evident in these last half a dozen games is that when this acknowledged incomplete team gets quality backstopping this team can respectably complete. And that point was also evident when Ullmark was our goalie. It just seems to me that counting on UPL to carry the major load is an unnecessary risk when this team seems to be making positive strides.

If someone has already posted this interview I apologize for the redundancy. Within this WGR link is a 20 minute segment with Don Granato on the Howard and Jeremy Show. The coach is a compelling interview who answers the questions asked of him. He talked about the Toronto game and the atmosphere. And he made a number of comments about specific players such as Dahlin, Cozens, incident with Krebs, Samuelsson and Anderson. His comments about Samuelsson mirror the comments made about him here on the board. And his comments about Anderson suggest to me that he is not going to be dealt at the trade deadline. Great hockey talk. https://www.audacy.com/wgr550/authors/howard-and-jeremy-show

Your description of his play in the crease is accurate. He needs to get much stronger. As you seem to suggest even when he gets stronger handling the crease area is not going to be an area he excels at. It just seems that that the coach is more enamored with his full length game to compensate for his less effective play around the crease. In his calculation the plusses exceed the minuses.

I saw a clip of DG praising Joki in his post game comments. It's more than likely that the Dahlin/Jokiharju pairing stay in tact this season. Next year, I wouldn't count on it. It's going to be interesting to see how he assembles the pairings when Power and others ?? join the group. What he and the other youngsters need to work on this offseason is their strength. In a flowing game Joki is okay. In his defensive zone where he has to match up he gets overpowered.