JohnC

Your last sentence resonated with me. I don't understand how anyone can be dissatisfied with his consistent level of play that gets better each year. The specialness to his game is not eye popping dynamic plays. It is the subtle nature of reading plays and setting up plays. And added to the cerebral nature of his game is that he is one of the few players who is gritty enough to play around the net and create some disturbances instead of play around the periphery like too many of the other soft players. Needless to say I'm a big Sam fan.

I also thought that the Zemgus contract was a little high. But what it indicates to me is that Girgs is a player that Krueger valued and wanted to retain. He's and end to end gritty player that last year's team didn't have an abundance of. So although it was higher than I expected it's not a contract that I'm going to be upset with. I have a different take on the Hall vs Reinhart contract implications. I believe that Reinhart is identified as one of the core players and that an effort will be made to keep him for the long term. And I believe the best way to make Buffalo an attractive place for Hall to play is for the team to succeed and allow him to showcase his talents on a serious team. If Hall shines as a player and Reinhart shines as a player the contract challenges will be worked out.

I have a different interpretation of the signing. A short term contract was agreed to by both parties because it was in their respective interests. If Sam wanted to move on he would have gone to arbitration. This agreement indicates both sides are buying time for the market to adjust to a more favorable setting.

You took a shot and hit the bulls eye. 🍺

This is a good deal for Sam because it buys him more time for the virus hockey economy to works its way through this revenue depression cycle. And If Sam is included with Hall on the Jack line it will allow him to burnish his stats making a more compelling case for a bigger and longer term contract in a (hopefully) healthier economic environment. It seems that every thing that this new front office is doing makes sense. There is a coherency and soundness to how they are handling personnel and in their handling of contracts. With the exception of the stunningly surprising Hall signing there is a sound and systematic way they are going about their business. This regime understands this altered market and knows how to maneuver within it. As others have said this is a good deal for Sam and for the organization. I'm upbeat about the operation.

Okposo has thicker legs and bigger butt that makes him better suited to park himself in front of the net.

I don't expect Okposo to play on the first PP unit. But what he does well compared to the two youngsters you listed is that he is willing to position himself in front of the net and pay the price. He and Reinhart seem to be the two most willing players to do the dirty work. I thought that on the few occasions when Krueger put Risto in front of the net on the PP he was effective.

The GM brought in Staal, Eakins and Hall and gave up only one player, Johansson. And to put a cherry on the Staal transaction it resulted in a net cap saving. And as you noted these few transactions resulted in not only in upgrading the roster but also reshaping and better balancing the roster. So instead of using more assets to address the 2C position and top one or two line forward spot we still have some remaining assets to parlay for other needs. With the exception of the surprising Hall signing the other moves were simply smart and well targeted deals.

You give an excellent and understandable explanation but because I am so thickheaded it still leaves me a little confused. If the Sabres decide to give him a one year term what is his status after the year?

This offseason has been one of the most intriguing offseasons in a long time. There is a new GM with a second year HC who seems to be very influential in the roster reshuffling and remaking of the roster. What's notable is not the quantity of transactions but that the few consequential acquisitions that were made in Staal, Hall and Eakins deals reflect not only individual players but an alteration in style of play. And I expect more deals to be made this offseason. I just speak for myself but this offseason has been a fun offseason for me.

If the Taylor Hall topic wasn't fun for you then you must be dour by nature. What the Sabres are going through with contracts, free agency and arbitration is what all teams are going through. The business of sports is about the business of sports. note: I didn't intend to highlight this post. It periodically inexplicably happens to me

Okay, let's go with $2.75----$3.00. Does that seem like it's more in the ballpark?

What Linus can't argue is that he has played many/enough games to indicate what his long term status is as a goaltender. So what is probably going to happen is that he will get an in-between number between $2.5----2.75 on a short term deal. The more interesting issue is the outcome of Reinhart in the hearings. I'm more interest in the term than the money. Will it be a lengthy term to lock him up (pre arbitration) or will this be a short term deal that will allow him to be an UFA in the next couple of years.

I agree with you that the Blue Jays ended up in Buffalo as a last resort location. But the point is that it worked out well for the organization. With respect to allowing attendance in basketball I'm not sure that those approvals can be assumed at this point because the infection rate numbers are still rising for most locations. And it should be noted that revenue from the limited attendance is not the central focus. The focus is on having games and clawing some money back from the more lucrative TV contracts

The arbitration awards would mostly likely correspond to the comparable salaries of players who have similar statistics. The incentive will probably be for the players and organization to settle on short term deals prior to arbitration and hope that the economic environment will get better in a couple of years.

It worked out well for the Toronto Blue Jays. One problem if it came to pass is the scheduling of the arena for the basketball team and the hockey games for numerous teams.

My proceeding post was not attempting to be encompassing of each of the GMs. It responded to what each did and intentionally did not intermingle their actions.

The Sabres need another year or maybe two before they can absorb KO's contract if he is bought in order for it to be feasible. As it stands because of his contract he is immovable. In this point of his career he is a solid lower line player. As you well know the problem with his contract is not its dollar amount as it is the term. Very often when you make a bad acquisition that turns out to be also a bad business decision you just have to live with the consequences.

If you have read my posts on this topic you will note that regardless what Kane's free agency status is I would not make a play for him. On top of that I'm not sure he would want to get involved in the hometown scrutiny compared to the bigger city where it is easier to have a more anonymous personal life. If the Sabres want to add a big time goal scorer what they need to do is put Skinner in a better position to succeed. I think with the addition of Staal and another capable winger on the other side hopefully Skinner will return to his prolific goal scoring form.

If anyone would have suggested that Taylor Hall would end up on the Sabres they would have been unmercifully mocked? I'm still shocked that he will be on the Sabres.

Eliotte Friedman on WGR's the Instigator Show yesterday said that the Blackhawks GM, Bowman, went on on number of media shows and publicly stated that the Hawks were not considering a full blown rebuild which would involve shedding players like Toews and Kane. According to him this was done to reassure the fans and the top two players on the team that the organization was not pursuing a full scale rebuild. Even with some contract offsetting bringing in Kane with his top tier salary is going to make it difficult for us to manage the cap in the near term future. When you consider there probably will be a desire to retain Hall on a longer contract and the need to deal with Dahlin who will soon have an enhanced contract the cap will be squeezed . And if Reinhart is retained and with Skinner on the roster our cap situation will be even tighter, especially knowing that the Sabres will also have some cap limitations imposed by the owners. I recognize that Kane is a premier player who still has a few elite years left in his career. For some of the reasons I listed above I still say no to that hypothetical deal. I like what this new regime has been doing in reshaping the roster. They have steadily added pieces and have done it without giving up much or mortgaging the future. My preference is to stay on the same course.

Kane is still a premier player and his addition to our first line would make it one of the best in the league. But to put things in perspective the Sabres acquired Taylor Hall, a former MVP, and gave up nothing. In order to acquire Kane (if he were actually on the market) we would have to give up a basket of young assets and end up having a straitjacket cap situation because of his bank vault contract that would foreclose a lot of enticing near future options. No thank you.

When you are dealing with prospects who are in their late teens the evaluations made at that point are not necessarily the same as two or three years down the line. I'm sure you will agree that except with the elite prospects there is a lot of unpredictability in the evaluation process. So I will continue to maintain the "reasonable standard" and have a less jaundiced eye when looking back.

The picture with the crowd is a stunning sight to see.

I still say if he turns out as he described then it was a reasonable pick. I'm not saying you are wrong but what I am saying is when assessing prospects it is often wise to let the process run its course before making a declarative judgment. With prospects patience is a virtue and not a fault.