Linus Ullmark: signs with Boston Bruins

[FogBat]

27 minutes ago, SDS said:

Regardless of what people may think of Adams, we have to give a little deference to Granato right? Dan may not be in charge of acquiring players but I am assuming they’re all working together. I don’t know what the plan is. I think we’re missing a massive amount of key information here and we are all reacting to something we don’t know about.

Maybe it’s as simple as Terry and Kim pulling all their cash back. Maybe there are trades to be had in the future. I don’t know. I’m willing to give this new group a shot.

Let me just point out that a couple years ago most people on this board jumped all over my ***** when I said it wasn’t the Bills plan to win that certain year and they were clearing the cap. Everyone here wanted everyone fired. Everyone associated with the Bills were incompetent. And look where they are now.

I honestly think that taking a few years off from this place actually did me a lot of good. I've been trying to pay closer attention not just to the team, but also to what every poster is saying when I get a chance to get on here and get a better understanding of their hockey sense. It goes without saying that some are balanced, and some are not. I can tell that some are not pleased at all with the off-season moves based on their POV. The added gray hairs on my lion's mane have led me to take a wait and see approach instead of calling for the GM's head like I did with Darcy Regier in the past.

[Taro T]

19 minutes ago, darksabre said:

The problem is goalie purgatory. Ullmark was good enough to keep us out of that area, and that's really all you need. Obviously we'll need to see what the goalie situation ends up looking like, but being back in purgatory again feels like a real possiblity, and I can't abide that.

Yep.

And the youth that will be in front of that goaltending WILL fail if this team is in goalie purgatory or worse.  And there is a very real possibility that they'll be doing it in a very non-entertaining fashion.

Totally get that Adams wants a team that loses a lot of games next year, protestations to the contrary nonwithstanding.  But he didn't want this team being demoralized.  Without 2 Ullmark caliber goalies or better, there's a very real chance they will be.

The saving grace is this is only the 1st day of FA and a lot of things can happen between now & mid-October.  The troubling thing is, Adams swung and missed on plans A & B last year for improving the goaltending and on plan A this year.  No reason to expect he will make plan B happen this year.

Hopefully he does up what he considers a fair price to pay for a 1A &/or 1B goalie as it is clear the market expects him to pay more than he's offered to date.

[Srw1525]

😭😭😭😭😭

[apuszczalowski]

1 minute ago, Taro T said:

Yep.

And the youth that will be in front of that goaltending WILL fail if this team is in goalie purgatory or worse.  And there is a very real possibility that they'll be doing it in a very non-entertaining fashion.

Totally get that Adams wants a team that loses a lot of games next year, protestations to the contrary nonwithstanding.  But he didn't want this team being demoralized.  Without 2 Ullmark caliber goalies or better, there's a very real chance they will be.

The saving grace is this is only the 1st day of FA and a lot of things can happen between now & mid-October.  The troubling thing is, Adams swung and missed on plans A & B last year for improving the goaltending and on plan A this year.  No reason to expect he will make plan B happen this year.

Hopefully he does up what he considers a fair price to pay for a 1A &/or 1B goalie as it is clear the market expects him to pay more than he's offered to date.

It seems like we say this every year that it's only day 1 of Free Agency and still plenty of time, but how many times do they really end up getting something better later on? Who's left in FA that's going to be an upgrade in net and isn't just a warm body?

And we assume that Adams has had a different plan in net then what we have seen . I really think they were fine with Ullmark and Hutton last year assuming Ullmark would be better and stay healthy and Hutton would be better now that they found he had a vision problem.

This year I think they figured Ullmark would be back and they could count on one of the kids to step up behind him because the intention for this year is to just give the youth playing time .

[Taro T]

Just now, apuszczalowski said:

It seems like we say this every year that it's only day 1 of Free Agency and still plenty of time, but how many times do they really end up getting something better later on? Who's left in FA that's going to be an upgrade in net and isn't just a warm body?

And we assume that Adams has had a different plan in net then what we have seen . I really think they were fine with Ullmark and Hutton last year assuming Ullmark would be better and stay healthy and Hutton would be better now that they found he had a vision problem.

This year I think they figured Ullmark would be back and they could count on one of the kids to step up behind him because the intention for this year is to just give the youth playing time .

Did you not read the next sentence?  The troubling thing is Adams has swung and missed on 3 plans so far.  There is limited confidence there won't be another clean whiff on plan B.

And if they really were planning on having UPL as the backup this year, as several have speculated, well, that's frustrating in its own right.

[dudacek]

34 minutes ago, SDS said:

Regardless of what people may think of Adams, we have to give a little deference to Granato right? Don may not be in charge of acquiring players but I am assuming they’re all working together. I don’t know what the plan is. I think we’re missing a massive amount of key information here and we are all reacting to something we don’t know about.

Maybe it’s as simple as Terry and Kim pulling all their cash back. Maybe there are trades to be had in the future. I don’t know. I’m willing to give this new group a shot.

Let me just point out that a couple years ago most people on this board jumped all over my ***** when I said it wasn’t the Bills plan to win that certain year and they were clearing the cap. Everyone here wanted everyone fired. Everyone associated with the Bills were incompetent. And look where they are now.

I get that. There’s a certain amount of intestinal fortitude on their part that needs to take place with their strategy so far. 

Minimize the monetary losses in what was sure to be a painful season at the box office, keep the payroll clear of liabilities such as hard-to-liquidate contracts, and set yourself up with access to a steady supply of cheap talent with outstanding growth potential to make yourself as attractive as possible to a new buyer.

It’s so freaking obvious with every step they’ve taken, I can’t believe I’m the only one who sees it.

[Srw1525]

Wish him the best of luck! 

[SDS]

4 minutes ago, dudacek said:

Minimize the monetary losses in what was sure to be a painful season at the box office, keep the payroll clear of liabilities such as hard-to-liquidate contracts, and set yourself up with access to a steady supply of cheap talent with outstanding growth potential to make yourself as attractive as possible to a new buyer.

It’s so freaking obvious with every step they’ve taken, I can’t believe I’m the only one who sees it.

I would take this explanation over Adams is a stupid doodie head who doesn’t know if a puck is made from rubber or feathers. 

[eman]

1 hour ago, LGR4GM said:

Nope you didn't. It was about 2nd best in 2022 not being the same as Eichel. 

Nope, pretty sure I read the post correctly. 

[Huckleberry]

They are just tanking, They know they have some good D and young kids, better have an ECHL goalie in net then.

[apuszczalowski]

11 minutes ago, Taro T said:

Did you not read the next sentence?  The troubling thing is Adams has swung and missed on 3 plans so far.  There is limited confidence there won't be another clean whiff on plan B.

And if they really were planning on having UPL as the backup this year, as several have speculated, well, that's frustrating in its own right.

I'm saying your giving Adams credit that there where a plan A and B last year and this year, I'm not even sure of that. I'm saying that what we saw last year may have been their plan all along and this year the plan may have just been to bring back in Ullmark 

[spndnchz]

Anderson to Sabres

[DarthEbriate]

19 minutes ago, Huckleberry said:

They are just tanking, They know they have some good D and young kids, better have an ECHL goalie in net then.

GM Sheevyn is reading this thread.

9 minutes ago, spndnchz said:

Anderson to Sabres

Done, and done.

[tom webster]

2 hours ago, Pimlach said:

Maybe not.  I suppose it was the $5M/yr that lead KA to back out.  Boston invests in goaltending.  Ok, who is going to play goal now and why is goaltending an afterthought with this organization?  
 

Adams will likely have to overpay one of remaining UFAs and they might have rely on UPL too.  
 

This is more terrible GMsmanship.  

The Sabres offered the $5M per year.

[PotentPowerPlay21]

4 hours ago, Torpedo Forecheck said:

Goalie better be part of the Eichel trade now

I have no confidence in the current GM to get a fair trade for Eichel. None. He is a perfect example of the Peter Principle. He has risen to the level of his incompetence. What a sad state of affairs. I don't blame players for bailing out of this pathetically managed franchise.

[pi2000]

2 hours ago, MODO Hockey said:

And sabres cant win jack sh1t, so its a win win. Watch Linus own u next season 40+ games, ill tag u with this post then.

I know Linus personally and he is no douche, u are.

I wish him well, hope he can stay healthy and reach his potential.    He needs to work on interviews tho... his answers always sound like he's talking down to the reporter and correcting them.  Just not very genial IMO.  Sorry, it just rubs me the wrong way, I'm sure he's a great guy.   

[apuszczalowski]

Man, KA is showing the Bruins up now.

Anderson and Dell tandem for next year.

Bet you Vegas and Montreals GMs are in amazement that the Sabres were able to get a tandem of goalies for only $1.5 mil

[Thorner]

5 hours ago, Thorny said:

We don't want anyone blocking Levi and UPL

This is good

Like I said 

[dudacek]

I have no idea what was said and not said during conversations with Linus

But if he legitimately told them he wanted to be their starter, took their offer to the Bruins and said “match it and you got me” that’s bad faith and a terrible look for him.

[SDS]

Just now, dudacek said:

I have no idea what was said and not said during conversations with Linus

But if he legitimately told them he wanted to be their starter, took their offer to the Bruins and said “match it and you got me” that’s bad faith and a terrible look for him.

I tried to say this but someone else took great umbrage with my suggestion. I think this is exactly what happened.

[Thorner]

51 minutes ago, SDS said:

I would take this explanation over Adams is a stupid doodie head who doesn’t know if a puck is made from rubber or feathers. 

(People don't really care who is at fault. The point is, we know it's the Sabres)

It's been 10 years. They are screwing it up. 

Edited July 29, 2021 by Thorny

[DarthEbriate]

Just now, dudacek said:

I have no idea what was said and not said during conversations with Linus

But if he legitimately told them he wanted to be their starter, took their offer to the Bruins and said “match it and you got me” that’s bad faith and a terrible look for him.

Or good negotiating by an agent who is looking out for his/her client and hoping to let him/her be a winner with a good organization.

[Thorner]

2 minutes ago, dudacek said:

I have no idea what was said and not said during conversations with Linus

But if he legitimately told them he wanted to be their starter, took their offer to the Bruins and said “match it and you got me” that’s bad faith and a terrible look for him.

Who said he did this?

[SDS]

Just now, Thorny said:

(People don't really care who is at fault. The point is, we know it's the Sabres)

I will push back on this because it is along your line of reasoning and say assigning blame is what many people try to do here.

[Thorner]

1 minute ago, DarthEbriate said:

Or good negotiating by an agent who is looking out for his/her client and hoping to let him/her be a winner with a good organization.

Right. This is the NHL. There are THIRTY TWO total jobs. Adams can't afford to get burned - you need to have a contingency plan in place because Ullmark has every right to do that in a business sense. Also, I highly doubt he out right lied anyways - who's claiming that?