Per Friedman The Sabres are Open For Business

[Curt]

20 minutes ago, Andrew Amerk said:

My comment meant keeping everyone young except Mitts and Tage. Keep Joki, Borgen, Asplund etc.  

I wouldn’t trade Dahlin. He was growing under the former coach who was letting him play his style of game. He’s been suppressed under the current coach. He’s young still. Remember Lindstrom didn’t win a Norris until he was 30 -12 years into the league. 

He was 30, “only” in his 10th season.  Lidstrom didn’t hit the NHL until he was 21.

[Andrew Amerk]

10 minutes ago, Curt said:

He was 30, “only” in his 10th season.  Lidstrom didn’t hit the NHL until he was 21.

Okay. So it took him 10 seasons and not 12. 

Still wouldn’t trade Dahlin based on that difference. 

[Thwomp!]

I'm personally at least listening on anyone on the current roster not named Cozens, Olofsson, Rieder, Borgen, Ullmark, Lazar, Bryson, and probably Dahlin.  

Not keeping anyone who has been here too long.

Keep Rieder and Lazar (and maybe Sheahan?) as reasonably priced veterans.

The rest I think can be part of a new young Sabres team combined with what we get from trading off the rest of the roster.

I'm so on the fence about Reinhart, but I bet they trade him.  Maybe first.

[SwampD]

2 hours ago, Curt said:

With a team this bad, I think you need to be willing to explore all possibilities.

I like Reinhart a lot, so I kinda hope he stays, but the way his contracts have progressed, it seems like he is headed straight for UFA.  So, I get it.

That would be a ***** disaster. If he goes UFA we HAVE to trade him. We cannot let assets walk for nothing. We're still recovering from 7-1-07 and it took years to recover from Hasek walking.

2 hours ago, pi2000 said:

Reinhart.  Here's a guy who's been around a while now, puts up points, disappears for stretches.  The thing with him is that if he's not scoring, he's a liability (weak skater, loses battles, poor top end speed, poor edge work).   KA is trying to build a tough, gritty team... Sam just doesn't check those boxes.

That said, one could argue that hey, he puts up points and the team is struggling to score, so why trade him?  We'll, he has a very very tradeable contract, and his skillset could be very attractive to a contender, so the return should be significant. 

I think he's grittier than you think. I also think he is a liability way less than you think. 

1 hour ago, Doohickie said:

When everyone jumped on the Eichel Train, I bought a Reinhart jersey.  If they trade Samson I will be very disappointed.  He's not gritty in the sense of initiating contact, but he misses very, very few games and even when he gets pummeled he's effective.  Not the flashy gritty, but he is tenacious.

I agree.

1 hour ago, Kruppstahl said:

If these idiots move anyone of substantial value (I'm basically thinking Eichel and Reinhart here) *before* bringing in a real HC, my head will explode.

 

So much this.

[LGR4GM]

2 hours ago, pi2000 said:

Reinhart.  Here's a guy who's been around a while now, puts up points, disappears for stretches.  The thing with him is that if he's not scoring, he's a liability (weak skater, loses battles, poor top end speed, poor edge work).   KA is trying to build a tough, gritty team... Sam just doesn't check those boxes.

That said, one could argue that hey, he puts up points and the team is struggling to score, so why trade him?  We'll, he has a very very tradeable contract, and his skillset could be very attractive to a contender, so the return should be significant. 

So he sucks at skating but he's attractive to a contender... 

It's really fun watching you twist in circles trying to hate Reinhart. I mean, at least use real issues he has because this ain't it. 

[LGR4GM]

When Reinhart gets traded away, I'm going to buy his jersey on discount to remember the most underrated player in recent memory. 

Hope he goes to Seattle this summer. He'll be close to home and on a team I don't hate. 

Also trading him is stupid. 

[jahnyc]

Are Eichel and Reinhart still close friends?  If yes, and you trade Reinhart, are the Sabres then prepared to trade Eichel after the season, because you would have to expect that he will be even unhappier than he already is with the current state of the team.  I understand that Eichel does not make decisions for the team as to who to trade or keep, but trading Reinhart would have to be just another thing to push him to want to leave the Sabres.

[Gatorman0519]

I hope KA don’t get played the way JBotts did. 

[Claude Balls]

2 hours ago, Kruppstahl said:

If these idiots move anyone of substantial value (I'm basically thinking Eichel and Reinhart here) *before* bringing in a real HC, my head will explode.

 

This.

I want to see this group of talented players play together under a real coach before just trading players to trade them. I think most of these guys could play well together with a real coach.

[Andrew Amerk]

44 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

When Reinhart gets traded away, I'm going to buy his jersey on discount to remember the most underrated player in recent memory. 

Hope he goes to Seattle this summer. He'll be close to home and on a team I don't hate. 

Also trading him is stupid. 

Regardless of whether or not Samson is good or not, this entire slate needs to be wiped clean. Enough is enough. 

10 minutes ago, Claude Balls said:

This.

I want to see this group of talented players play together under a real coach before just trading players to trade them. I think most of these guys could play well together with a real coach.

I wanted this too, but it’s too late. 

[bunomatic]

This team as its currently constructed is leagues below teams like the Bruins, the Lightening, the Caps , the Isles etc. These teams compete in the regular season like every game is a life and death battle just to sniff the playoffs. Its quite literally like watching a league above the nhl when comparing how this Sabres team competes. The Sabres don’t compete, they quit. They have no grit. They stay to the perimeter like their life depends on it. They rarely battle. They don’t drive to the net. They barely initiate contact. They are the least penalized team in the league. And when the actual playoffs begin the aforementioned teams will actually ramp up their compete to another level above the one the Sabres couldn’t match in the regular season. So no imo a new coach won’t change this team. There needs to be real dramatic change to turn these guys into a competitive team. Someone other than RK will help. But player turnover also has to happen to transform this team.

[Marvin]

Unless I absolutely must trade them, I hold on to Eichel, Reinhart, Dahlin, Cozens, and my top prospects for dear life if at all possible.

When I think of the off-season and the expansion draft, this is my base (I think 5 forward lines, 4 defence pairs, and 3 goaltenders):

Cozens, Eichel, Reinhart, and Skinner are clear top 6 forwards;

Girgensons, Lazar, Mittlestadt, Okposo, Olofsson (until his 5-on-5 play improves), and Thompson are in the bottom 9;

McCabe-Ristolainen, Dahlin-Borgen, and Bryson-Jokiharu look like 3 solid pairs;

Ullmark and Johansson are my goaltenders.

We need at least three forwards who can at least spot play in the top 6.  I think we can safely put Olofsson on line 3 and we can debate if Mittlestadt belongs here.  We need at least 1 player of at least 2B quality for the 3 spots in the top 9.  And they have to play a more hard-nosed game.  I personally assume that injuries will being guys up from Rochester, but none of them look like immediate NHL top-6 material yet.

That is the bare minimum which GMKA has to do by next season.  And that is just to contend for a playoff spot.

[Andrew Amerk]

48 minutes ago, Marvin, Sabres Fan said:

Unless I absolutely must trade them, I hold on to Eichel, Reinhart, Dahlin, Cozens, and my top prospects for dear life if at all possible.

When I think of the off-season and the expansion draft, this is my base (I think 5 forward lines, 4 defence pairs, and 3 goaltenders):

Cozens, Eichel, Reinhart, and Skinner are clear top 6 forwards;

Girgensons, Lazar, Mittlestadt, Okposo, Olofsson (until his 5-on-5 play improves), and Thompson are in the bottom 9;

McCabe-Ristolainen, Dahlin-Borgen, and Bryson-Jokiharu look like 3 solid pairs;

Ullmark and Johansson are my goaltenders.

We need at least three forwards who can at least spot play in the top 6.  I think we can safely put Olofsson on line 3 and we can debate if Mittlestadt belongs here.  We need at least 1 player of at least 2B quality for the 3 spots in the top 9.  And they have to play a more hard-nosed game.  I personally assume that injuries will being guys up from Rochester, but none of them look like immediate NHL top-6 material yet.

That is the bare minimum which GMKA has to do by next season.  And that is just to contend for a playoff spot.

I don’t think you know how the expansion draft works. 

[steveoath]

Problem with all this speculating is who is going to take our crap? We are the worst team in the league. 

[JKB1646]

7 minutes ago, steveoath said:

Problem with all this speculating is who is going to take our crap? We are the worst team in the league. 

Ding ding 🛎 

[PerreaultForever]

Well just trading Reinhart isn't going to solve anything but I'd certainly welcome moving on from the entire core as I've said repeatedly. None of them have emerged as hard working leaders and so none of them are untouchable. In all trades it of course depends on what you get back but I think you either go all in on deals or you don't bother cause moving one or two bodies won't change anything. 

Reinhart's name was just mentioned though as one name or many. The statement was that they're calling everybody and all names are on the table for discussions. 

On the current active roster the only untouchable to me is Cozens. I wouldn't trade Bryson or Borgen or any of the prospects that seem promising like Pekera. I'd want a lot for Dahlin as I think he can still be saved with the right team and coaching.  Pretty much everybody else is expendable or irrelevant. 

[Curt]

5 hours ago, Andrew Amerk said:

Okay. So it took him 10 seasons and not 12. 

Still wouldn’t trade Dahlin based on that difference. 

Yeah, it wasn’t really related to the merit of your point.

[Curt]

5 hours ago, SwampD said:

That would be a ***** disaster. If he goes UFA we HAVE to trade him. We cannot let assets walk for nothing. We're still recovering from 7-1-07 and it took years to recover from Hasek walking.

All Reinhart has to do is go to arbitration this offseason, take the one year deal for however much, then he is a UFA after next season.

Edited March 7, 2021 by Curt

[Sabre1974]

2 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

Well just trading Reinhart isn't going to solve anything but I'd certainly welcome moving on from the entire core as I've said repeatedly. None of them have emerged as hard working leaders and so none of them are untouchable. In all trades it of course depends on what you get back but I think you either go all in on deals or you don't bother cause moving one or two bodies won't change anything. 

Reinhart's name was just mentioned though as one name or many. The statement was that they're calling everybody and all names are on the table for discussions. 

On the current active roster the only untouchable to me is Cozens. I wouldn't trade Bryson or Borgen or any of the prospects that seem promising like Pekera. I'd want a lot for Dahlin as I think he can still be saved with the right team and coaching.  Pretty much everybody else is expendable or irrelevant. 

Your last paragraph. With you 100%

[Mustache of God]

4 hours ago, steveoath said:

Problem with all this speculating is who is going to take our crap? We are the worst team in the league. 

This has been our problem for years.

Hall should absolutely be traded (if he wants to resign here next year, great, let's do it). Is it unreasonable to expect a 1st plus a prospect for him?

[Sabre fan]

18 minutes ago, Mustache of God said:

This has been our problem for years.

Hall should absolutely be traded (if he wants to resign here next year, great, let's do it). Is it unreasonable to expect a 1st plus a prospect for him?

at this point I think we'll be lucky to get a 2nd for Hall..unless the Leafs who are rumored up here to be real interested in him may ante up more but I doubt that.

[Radar]

21 minutes ago, Mustache of God said:

This has been our problem for years.

Hall should absolutely be traded (if he wants to resign here next year, great, let's do it). Is it unreasonable to expect a 1st plus a prospect for him?

Yes, he's a rental for a playoff team. A first and prospect would be surprising for me. Even though it would be late first rounder. I would guess second rounder if team signs him converts to first.

[sweetlou]

Hall should be traded by TDL for a first and prospect. Retain 50% of salary if you want.  He can still resign here in off season and since there won't be many options to choose from the contract should still be favorable for Buffalo.

Stall should be traded by TDL for 2nd rd pick in 2022.  Give him another chance to win cup by sending him to a contender.

Montour should be traded by TDL for 3rd rd pick.  Teams want depth on defense going into playoffs.

Rieder and Sheahan could be moved if other teams willing to give up a 6th or 7th rd pick for them.  If not their contracts just run out and they help fill the roster for the rest of the year.

 

Now during the off season becomes the fun part!!!

Sabres need to move one of Reinhart, Olofsson, Risto or Eichel to shake up the team and to be able to get something in return.

Eichel brings the most back in return but he is also the captain.  Don't think he gets moved this year. Give Cozens another year to mature.

Risto still has his moments but has been steady this year.  Unless the Sabres go after big RD UFA Hamilton then I think Risto stays.

Olofsson and Reinhart are the same type of players.  They are smart with the puck, score on PP but don't offer much else on 5 on 5 hockey and do not play a gritty game.  Out of these two players whichever one gets you the best return gets moved.

 

 

[Curt]

9 minutes ago, sweetlou said:

Olofsson and Reinhart are the same type of players.  They are smart with the puck, score on PP but don't offer much else on 5 on 5 hockey and do not play a gritty game.  Out of these two players whichever one gets you the best return gets moved.

Whoa, I think this is flat out wrong.  Olofsson and Reinhart are not at all the same type of player.

[sweetlou]

3 minutes ago, Curt said:

Whoa, I think this is flat out wrong.  Olofsson and Reinhart are not at all the same type of player.

How are they different? They both see the ice well and make good passes.  Both play better on PP because they have more space and are not pressured.  They both lack any type of board game or physical toughness. Seems like the same type of player to me!!