McKenzie speculates that Stamkos will end up in Buffalo

[Hoss]

How can an opinion be accurate?

JW's original "report" was this tweet:

 

John Wawrow ‏@john_wawrow  55m55 minutes agoBuffalo, NY

As it was told to me, @TSNBobMcKenzie has a good overview of the lay of the land regarding #Sabres/Stamkos discussion.

 

Then, when McKenzie pointed out that he's not reporting anything on Stamkos/Sabres, JW changed it to him being told it's "not out of the realm of possibility."

 

So he went from saying he's been told McKenzie has a good 'lay of the land' in saying that Buffalo would be Stamkos' first choice in free agency to saying "it's not out of the realm of possibility."

 

Then, as mediocre public figures often do, he kept quote tweeting some Toronto fan who was clearly a bit of a fool himself and tore him apart for thinking that Wawrow was reporting that McKenzie knew what he was talking about. Essentially bullied the guy into backing down.

 

Wawrow, if you're reading this: why must you be such a dick? The right move here would've been to admit that his first tweet was poorly worded because, at the very least, it was. Either that or he was blowing smoke and knows nothing.

Edited February 13, 2016 by Hoss

[WildCard]

I feel like Hoss just yelled at my screen :lol:

Edited February 13, 2016 by WildCard

[Sabel79]

How can an opinion be accurate?

Translating: He thought that was actually McKenzie's opinion.

[Thorner]

You know your old when...

 

Ha, You are barely older than me! Maybe that makes me old....haha

[SwampD]

Frank Zappa said life is like high school with money.

 

Twitter has made life more like junior high school with money.

[3putt]

Frank Zappa said life is like high school with money.

 

Twitter has made life more like junior high school with money.

This is Nobel worthy.   :worthy:

[Stoner]

Deep thoughts, by Swamp Handy.

[Doohicksie]

John Wawrow is making a complete fool of himself on twitter right now... As usual. What are our local reporters such dickheads? Seriously... It's old.

 

You know he's a SabreSpace member and posts here occasionally, right?

 

I mention it not because I agree or disagree with your assessment, but because I think there's some kind of rule about directly insulting other members or something like that.

[Hoss]

You know he's a SabreSpace member and posts here occasionally, right?

 

I mention it not because I agree or disagree with your assessment, but because I think there's some kind of rule about directly insulting other members or something like that.

I do know and if that rule were applied to JW he would've been banned.

[Stoner]

You know he's a SabreSpace member and posts here occasionally, right?

 

I mention it not because I agree or disagree with your assessment, but because I think there's some kind of rule about directly insulting other members or something like that.

That's rich!

[Sabres Fan in NS]

That's rich!

 

I like rich things!

[Peppy22]

Interesting... watching NHL On The Fly while I read this thread, and the TB highlights come on. Wouldn't it be nice if TB won the Cup this year and Stamkos brought that mojo to the Sabres?

 

Yeah I know.... too good to be true.

 

 

If Tampa wins the Cup he goes to Toronto.... 

 

He would have his cup then and could wait a few years and rebuild with his hometeam. 

 

If he doesn't win one with Tampa he might not take that risk...

[rakish]

You take Stamkos. No question about it.

 

He's a top 5 player of this generation. Future Hall of Famer smack dab in the middle of his prime. Potentially the best goal scorer of the decade after Ovechkin. In 4 years he will be 30, Eichel will be 23, Sam will be 24. This has a poor man's Lemieux/Jagr feel to it. Similar age difference and they won two cups in a row. Who was their Reinhart? Francis. Let's say ROR is Recchi, Risto is Coffey. The major piece we'll then be missing is the goaltender. 

 

Cut the deadweight. We're the worst team in the league BECAUSE Moulson, Franson, and Ennis are on this team taking up salary cap. Bring up some hungry kids. Let them develop. Sacrifice Kane. DO IT!

 

Unless Stamkos's agent is pulling a Babcock. We're an attractive leverage pawn with our owner. First thing I thought of when I heard this story. 

 

I have a question about the phrase 'pulling a Babcock.'

 

My understanding of the Babcock contract battle was that when Babcock announced he was going to Toronto, Toronto was set to announce their new coach.  If this is true, then Toronto must have been told at some point that they were out of the running.  Now the current SabreSpace narrative seems to be that Babcock always intended to go to Toronto, but if someone intends on going to Toronto, they would never tell Toronto they were out of the running.

 

If this is all true, then the only reasonable narrative is that Babcock changed his mind.  Whether this was from talking to Tim Murray or from talking to someone in the ownership side, I don't know.

 

So my question is, what do I remember wrong?

[Hoss]

Toronto re-engaged Babcock the morning of his expected decision and offered him a larger role. Maybe Babcock told them that their offer at the time would leave them out of the running.

[dudacek]

I believe the narrative that after talks with each group he was leaning to Buffalo and the Leafs knew it.

Talks with his family tilted things back in the Leafs favour.

[tom webster]

The Sabres front office believes that Babcock lied to them. Some believe they were used as leverage.

As far as family tilting things at last minute, no one within Sabres hierarchy believes that family was out of loop till last day. They believe that was a convenient excuse to go back on his word.

As I said earlier, when 716 aired the Babcock press conference, one person high up in front office came out of his booth screaming liar and demanding that channel be changed.

[WildCard]

Answering my own questions:

 

Boston, Buffalo, Calgary, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, LA, Minnesota, Montreal, Rangers, Flyers, Pittsburgh, Sharks, Blues, Vancouver and Washington are cap teams.

Not sure about Columbus, Edmonton and NYI .

 

 

Of the cap teams:

• Sabres have $19 million available next year, minus Risto's big raise,
• Calgary $17 minus fat raises for Gaudreau and Monahan,
• Dallas $14 with no significant RFAs,
• Detroit has $9 minus Mrazek's raise,
• Rangers have $11 million minus Kreider,Hayes and Miller, (plus they have to replace Yandle and Boyle),
• Philadelphia $10 minus Schenn,
• St. Lou $13 minus Schwartz,
• Vancouver $13, but they need to sign three top-six d-men.
• Islanders have $13 million
• Oilers have $8, $12 if they don't qualify Schultz

That's 10 teams. Trades can happen, but right now the other teams have no realistic space or budget.

 

Given their team makeup, the Oilers would be foolish to pursue him.

I never count the Flyers and the Rangers out in these situations, but the Flyers aren't a realistic Cup contender now or in the future and the Rangers would basically have to gut their depth.

Vancouver is a long way from contention

I don't think Calgary has enough room after locking up their young stars, and just doesn't seem like geographic fit, but if I'm wrong they could make it happen

 

That leaves:

St. Louis, which is a great fit IMO, but will definitely have to dump a contract to sign Stamkos and Schwartz

The Islanders — offer New York, Tavares, some good young talent, aggressive new ownership

Detroit, who would have to trade some salary away to get into the conversation

And Dallas, which offers Benn, Seguin and an exciting brand of hockey, but doesn't have a huge need.

 

If Tampa and Toronto aren't in Steven's sights than I would submit the Sabres are in as good a position as anyone and better than most to sign him.

And, given the market, I think they can do it for under $10 million per.

 

I will also submit that Murray has set the table for this.

It has been part of the tank strategy since Day One.

 

Not saying they will get him.

I am saying he is a goal.

Great write up, dudacek. Well done. Curious though, what is it about Montreal's cap situation that makes Stamkos not available to them? They could really use him.

[dudacek]

I think Montreal only has $6 or $8 million available.

Like I said above though, a team can always dump salary to free space.

Montreal certainly could use him

 

Did you guys see last night that Kypreos said Montreal is the best fit?

 

Also said Buffalo was out because he wants a big market. Not sure where the info came from.

Seemed it was more opinion than anything.

[rakish]

I think, Hoss, that's the crux of my issue.  From how I see it, if Toronto was still negotiating, they wouldn't have a scheduled hiring.  Therefore it makes sense to me that they has been told they were out.

 

Then Dudacek, why had Toronto have a hiring scheduled unless they were told by Babcock he was coming?

 

Of course, Tom, the press conference was a bunch of lies.  He can't go on TV and say Tim Murray is effin crazy, so they can't win, or Kim Pegula is effin crazy, so they can't win.  I don't care much what people say in a press conference.  If I have the story right, Toronto's behavior makes it look like they were told they were out, and who else would tell them they were out but Babcock.

[tom webster]

I think, Hoss, that's the crux of my issue. From how I see it, if Toronto was still negotiating, they wouldn't have a scheduled hiring. Therefore it makes sense to me that they has been told they were out.

 

Then Dudacek, why had Toronto have a hiring scheduled unless they were told by Babcock he was coming?

 

Of course, Tom, the press conference was a bunch of lies. He can't go on TV and say Tim Murray is effin crazy, so they can't win, or Kim Pegula is effin crazy, so they can't win. I don't care much what people say in a press conference. If I have the story right, Toronto's behavior makes it look like they were told they were out, and who else would tell them they were out but Babcock.

If you tell someone they are out and intend on signing with other team, then that's one thing. If you tell someone they are out expecting them to up their offer and they don't and then you go back and tell them you were bluffing, you are still just trying to get as much out of that team as you can. That's what a Buffalo thinks happened.

[WildCard]

I think Montreal only has $6 or $8 million available.

Like I said above though, a team can always dump salary to free space.

Montreal certainly could use him

 

Did you guys see last night that Kypreos said Montreal is the best fit?

 

Also said Buffalo was out because he wants a big market. Not sure where the info came from.

Seemed it was more opinion than anything.

I have no clue if Stamkos wants a big market. But Montreal could easily shed Markov at $6m, and some other players with unreasonably large cap hits

[rakish]

If you tell someone they are out and intend on signing with other team, then that's one thing. If you tell someone they are out expecting them to up their offer and they don't and then you go back and tell them you were bluffing, you are still just trying to get as much out of that team as you can. That's what a Buffalo thinks happened.

 

I think that's feasible, though for me, much less likely because of the risk/reward he was taking on by bluffing. Either scenario, (A:Babcock was bluffing or B:Babcock changed his mind after talking to Buffalo for a couple days), Buffalo would think it was scenario A

[apuszczalowski]

Well TSN (and the Canadian Media) is already starting to change their direction away from Stamkos and moving to a different local boy the Leafs fans can covet as their new saviour in a couple years

 

http://www.tsn.ca/trade-talk-leafs-could-target-tavares-down-the-line-1.437971

 

When will the first leafs fan show up to a Leafs event with a Tavares Blue and White Jersey?

[Hoss]

The Leafs may be the Knicks of the NHL. Neither team has won a championship in over 40 years yet both are often the center of media attention.

 

Knicks fans were so sure LeBron would sign with them in 2010 and he didn't. Leaf fans are so sure on Stamkos but recent reports don't look good or them. As soon as the Knicks lost out on LeBron they turned their attention to Kevin Durant's free agency. As soon as the Leafs seem like they're not getting Stamkos word trickles out on Tavares.

[dudacek]

I have no clue if Stamkos wants a big market. But Montreal could easily shed Markov at $6m, and some other players with unreasonably large cap hits

Sure, the issue is they have to also replace Markov and any Ufas they let walk with the $2 million they have left over from signing Stamkos