Shattenkirk signs with Tampa

[freester]

Well now Ristolainen is definitely not headed to Tampa. 

[WildCard]

 

Edited August 5, 2019 by WildCard

[Randall Flagg]

My dreams have been shattered

 

Offersheet Cirelli next offseason for the love of god 

[Taro T]

Bummer.  One less potential home for Ristolainen. 

I don't hate the idea of bringing Risto back, but do not like 2C being solved via some combo of Johansson, Rodrigues, & (shudder) Mittelstadt.

[WildCard]

52 minutes ago, Randall Flagg said:

My dreams have been shattered

Offersheet Cirelli next offseason for the love of god 

Yeah I can't imagine there was/is any better realistic return than Cirelli

Edited August 5, 2019 by WildCard

[Randall Flagg]

6 minutes ago, WildCard said:

Yeah I can't imagine there was/is any better realistic return than Cirelli

He's really just my coping mechanism for the fact that I'm probably going to dislike our forward group as a whole once again

[CallawaySabres]

Anything less than a #2 center coming back is a waste for Risto and that's not happening. I hope the market for Risto dries up and he ends up staying .

[Scottysabres]

I'm still strong on hope Anaheim bites with a Rakell for Risto swap.

[Randall Flagg]

4 minutes ago, CallawaySabres said:

Anything less than a #2 center coming back is a waste for Risto and that's not happening. I hope the market for Risto dries up and he ends up staying .

Cementing us with a forward corps who will ensure our ceiling this season is 84 points

 

[CallawaySabres]

5 minutes ago, Randall Flagg said:

Cementing us with a forward corps who will ensure our ceiling this season is 84 points

 

Unfortunately I have come to grips that this team will not be fighting for a playoff this year and the misery finally comes to an end in 2020. They most likely won't have a #2 Cneter this year, another top 6 winger, and who know if they even have a decent goaltender. Not exactly exuding confidence for me....

[darksabre]

9 minutes ago, CallawaySabres said:

Anything less than a #2 center coming back is a waste for Risto and that's not happening. I hope the market for Risto dries up and he ends up staying .

Don't be surprised if the best Botterill gets for Risto is an upgrade at any forward position where a player will be walking off into the sunset as a UFA after this season.

The only rostered forwards the Sabres have after this season are (I'm including RFAs):

Eichel
Skinner
Okposo
Reinhart
Johansson
Rodrigues
Mittelstadt

7 players in the forward corps. They can and should trade Risto for literally anyone who is under contract for more than one season, or an RFA, and fits in with that group.
 

[Radar]

Personally I want the best forward return if Risto is traded not just a center.

[Randall Flagg]

6 minutes ago, CallawaySabres said:

Unfortunately I have come to grips that this team will not be fighting for a playoff this year and the misery finally comes to an end in 2020. They most likely won't have a #2 Cneter this year, another top 6 winger, and who know if they even have a decent goaltender. Not exactly exuding confidence for me....

They're closer than you think they are IMO, but they've got to find the right top six forward trade. 

[TrueBlueGED]

12 minutes ago, Randall Flagg said:

They're closer than you think they are IMO, but they've got to find the right top six forward trade. 

And hope last year's goaltending was a product of coaching and team system. 

[Doohicksie]

19 minutes ago, CallawaySabres said:

They most likely won't have a #2 Cneter this year...

Man.  That Canadian spelling of Center throws me off every time.

[darksabre]

3 minutes ago, Doohickie said:

Man.  That Canadian spelling of Center throws me off every time.

That's the Turkish spelling.

[Taro T]

33 minutes ago, darksabre said:

Don't be surprised if the best Botterill gets for Risto is an upgrade at any forward position where a player will be walking off into the sunset as a UFA after this season.

The only rostered forwards the Sabres have after this season are (I'm including RFAs):

Eichel
Skinner
Okposo
Reinhart
Johansson
Rodrigues
Mittelstadt

7 players in the forward corps. They can and should trade Risto for literally anyone who is under contract for more than one season, or an RFA, and fits in with that group.
 

But, should they want Larsson &/or Girgensons back, resigning either / both isn't exactly a Herculean task.  Plus would include Olofsson in that list as he is making this season's team and was up at the end of last year.  So there are 9-10 guys that realistically will be back when the doors open up after the lockout. (8-9 dropping Okposo from that list.)

Plus Asplund, Cozens, and Thompson will also be in the mix.  If they bring back anyone but a true top 6 player for Ristolainen (or a guy that's young and projects to that next season) the trade is a hard fail.  The player coming back in a trade for Ristolainen really needs to be bouncing Rodrigues & Johansson clearly out of the top 6.  Keeping the 4th line intact & shuffling line 3 moving forward doesn't particularly help.

[jsb]

19 minutes ago, darksabre said:

That's the Turkish spelling.

Where's @Wyldnwoody44, if anybody knows for sure, it'll be him

[Randall Flagg]

25 minutes ago, TrueBlueGED said:

And hope last year's goaltending was a product of coaching and team system. 

Or Ullmark to grow. It's still possible! 

[darksabre]

3 minutes ago, Taro T said:

But, should they want Larsson &/or Girgensons back, resigning either / both isn't exactly a Herculean task.  Plus would include Olofsson in that list as he is making this season's team and was up at the end of last year.  So there are 9-10 guys that realistically will be back when the doors open up after the lockout. (8-9 dropping Okposo from that list.)

Plus Asplund, Cozens, and Thompson will also be in the mix.  If they bring back anyone but a true top 6 player for Ristolainen (or a guy that's young and projects to that next season) the trade is a hard fail.  The player coming back in a trade for Ristolainen really needs to be bouncing Rodrigues & Johansson clearly out of the top 6.  Keeping the 4th line intact & shuffling line 3 moving forward doesn't particularly help.

Maybe we need a separate thread about what we expect the lineup to be for 2020-21. The next off-season may have a huge effect on this roster. 

[Wyldnwoody44]

7 minutes ago, jsb said:

Where's @Wyldnwoody44, if anybody knows for sure, it'll be him

Well right now, I'm in Kigali, Rwanda ????? 

 

Also, merkez is turkish for center ?

[Thorner]

7 minutes ago, darksabre said:

Maybe we need a separate thread about what we expect the lineup to be for 2020-21. The next off-season may have a huge effect on this roster. 

True, but wasn't "roster surgery" for this offseason supposed to be a thing? When is that starting?

[darksabre]

Just now, Thorny said:

True, but wasn't "roster surgery" for this offseason supposed to be a thing? When is that starting?

Some of it has been performed. The roster will be different this coming season. 

Major surgery was out of the question from the start though with the Sabres saddled with so many immovable UFAs. We really need to think about things that Botterill is doing right now in terms of the team after this season. The Sabres could be huge trade market players next summer and we shouldn't discount the importance of that in decisions being made now.

[Taro T]

5 minutes ago, Thorny said:

True, but wasn't "roster surgery" for this offseason supposed to be a thing? When is that starting?

Miller, Jokiharju, & Johansson would all qualify.  Botterill probably would include Vesey as well as he might be Pominville's replacement.

Next season, when they actually have some cap space, is when we'll start to see only 4-5 new guys in the lineup (and a lot of those in the bottom 6, 3rd pairing roles).  Kind of like actual NHL teams.  And those moves hopefully will include 1-2 that would be considered "surgical." in the higher slots.

Edited August 5, 2019 by Taro T

[Thorner]

6 minutes ago, Taro T said:

Miller, Jokiharju, & Johansson would all qualify.  Botterill probably would include Vesey as well as he might be Pominville's replacement.

Next season, when they actually have some cap space, is when we'll start to see only 4-5 new guys in the lineup (and a lot of those in the bottom 6, 3rd pairing roles).  Kind of like actual NHL teams.  And those moves hopefully will include 1-2 that would be considered "surgical." in the higher slots.

We've been saying this for years.