WJC 2023 Tourney Updates and Sabres Notes

[K-9]

11 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

This is a cop out. Not every player has an ntc and it's the gms job to make Buffalo attractive. 

Not a cop out, not an excuse; just a very real limiting factor in potential trades. Entering this season, 203 players had trade-limiting clauses in their contracts, an average of six per team. And I’d bet that most of those players are the better players on their teams. So while not every player has such a clause, it’s fair to say the ones worth targeting, the ones that could potentially help a team the most, would need to waive that clause and approve the trade. 

Agree entirely that the GM needs to make the team attractive to players around the league. Ironically, being able to acquire good players in trades would help that process. 

[Flashsabre]

2 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

Note the top guy

 

 

Strabek has had a very good tournament up to this point. Kid has all the tools you would want. Hopefully he continues to develop.

Strabek and Komarov are two big RHD who have pro potential.

[French Collection]

24 minutes ago, Flashsabre said:

Strabek has had a very good tournament up to this point. Kid has all the tools you would want. Hopefully he continues to develop.

Strabek and Komarov are two big RHD who have pro potential.

Strbak’s team is having a good tournament, it’s good to see Slovak hockey rebounding.

He looks like the whole package at this level. Top line minutes, offensive ability, grit, leadership, size. Let’s hope the Sabres give him time to develop and that he continues on this path.

[LGR4GM]

26 minutes ago, French Collection said:

Strbak’s team is having a good tournament, it’s good to see Slovak hockey rebounding.

He looks like the whole package at this level. Top line minutes, offensive ability, grit, leadership, size. Let’s hope the Sabres give him time to develop and that he continues on this path.

Strbak is what I want Samuelsson to be. 

[French Collection]

26 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

Strbak is what I want Samuelsson to be. 

I expect more from Mule. He will never be an offensive driver but he needs to add some grit. With his size he should be able to punish people who hang out in front of the net. He needs to ruffle a few feathers in scrums to stand up for his mates.

He is a funny guy that the teammates love but there is more he can bring.

Right now he just uses his big body to box guys out along the boards. He doesn’t need to chase guys,  a la Risto, but a few crunching hits will make opponents think twice about tangling with him.

[PerreaultForever]

3 hours ago, K-9 said:

How many possibilities are there for a GM when the players targeted to acquire in a trade all have Buffalo listed in their NTC? 

Come on, you're making me agree with @LGR4GM again. Stop it. We can't cross the streams.

No trade/move clauses definitely exist and there will be players who don't want to come to Buffalo but there's still a ton of players who don't have that. Not everybody gets one. RFAs definitely don't have them among others. 

You may have to over pay. You may have some reluctance. But I cannot believe the idea that nobody wants to come. If that's the case, they should just announce that publicly and move the damn thing cause that would be a death bell. 

 

[Brawndo]

9 minutes ago, PerreaultForever said:

Come on, you're making me agree with @LGR4GM again. Stop it. We can't cross the streams.

No trade/move clauses definitely exist and there will be players who don't want to come to Buffalo but there's still a ton of players who don't have that. Not everybody gets one. RFAs definitely don't have them among others. 

You may have to over pay. You may have some reluctance. But I cannot believe the idea that nobody wants to come. If that's the case, they should just announce that publicly and move the damn thing cause that would be a death bell. 

 

They do have the assets and cap space to set the trade market. 
They need to do it 

[PerreaultForever]

3 hours ago, FrenchConnection44 said:

I think the key for trades, along with what Perraultforever argued - trading them at peak value, will be adding a real NHL caliber, respectable coach (revamping the entire staff and development personnel).  That will help. Granato just isn’t going to win here, imo - if ever anywhere. 

The other challenge is determining which prospects to trade. They have to be great at continually self-scouting the talent they have drafted. 

You trade the guys who you, as an organization, don't think are developing the character/drive/work ethic you want and also the guys who are similar to guys you already have that you are happy with. 

I kind of get the feeling they drafted a lot of the same type of guy because they figured they'd only land a few of the ones they drafted at any position but felt it guaranteed they'd get enough. If you end up with too many left or right wingers for example, then you have one or two to move for a D man or a veteran. It's not that complicated to create a balanced prospect pool and you simply trade extra assets for deficiencies on your roster. When you draft you have to look at BAP first, and if a guy like Benson falls you look hard at it, but you also have to lean in the direction of need as well at this point and if a type you need is a few spots lower maybe you bump him up your list a little. Why we didn't draft Warren when we had the chance for example boggles my mind. 6'6" 220 pound D man. Nope, definitely don't need that. 

imo Granato would be a great coach for Rochester, but not in Buffalo. 

[K-9]

Just now, PerreaultForever said:

Come on, you're making me agree with @LGR4GM again. Stop it. We can't cross the streams.

No trade/move clauses definitely exist and there will be players who don't want to come to Buffalo but there's still a ton of players who don't have that. Not everybody gets one. RFAs definitely don't have them among others. 

You may have to over pay. You may have some reluctance. But I cannot believe the idea that nobody wants to come. If that's the case, they should just announce that publicly and move the damn thing cause that would be a death bell. 

 

I didn’t say nobody wants to come, but since an average of six players on every team has some kind of no trade restriction in their contract, the odds are that a targeted player will have that clause. The better question is, of the 206 players around the league with a NTC, how many of them don’t have Buffalo on their list? Would you wanna play for Buffalo if you had a choice? 

[PerreaultForever]

13 minutes ago, K-9 said:

I didn’t say nobody wants to come, but since an average of six players on every team has some kind of no trade restriction in their contract, the odds are that a targeted player will have that clause. The better question is, of the 206 players around the league with a NTC, how many of them don’t have Buffalo on their list? Would you wanna play for Buffalo if you had a choice? 

I would guess Arizona is on all 206 of those lists. Probably at the top. I think Canadian teams, especially the cold ones like Winnipeg are on a lot of them as well. Some players probably don't want to be in Quebec for the French language issues. Some players might not want to go west if they don't like the long travel schedules. After that the smaller markets and perennial losers and that's where Buffalo falls in. I have no doubt Buffalo is on quite a few of those lists but it's still only a small percentage of the league. 

Another thing to consider is most of the guys with NTC contracts are the star forwards and bigger names and that's not what we really need. We might have trouble getting that top 4 D man but the character veterans we could also use should be easy to find. 

You also have to consider what @Brawndo said above. They have cap space and assets. They should be able to make a deal work that some teams won't be able to. 

For example, say a top contender needs a top 6 winger bad. Or a 2C like say Lindholm in Calgary. But they don't have the cap space to make that happen but they have several good D men with salary. There's your 3 way combo right there. We can also add an expiring contract along with a guy we want to make a deal happen. There are literally hundreds of possible ways you could make deals like that work, and sure, some of them might not be possible because of NTC aspects but KA can do better than just Robinson and/or Greenway. That's why he gets the big bucks and it's time he earned them. 

Edited December 30, 2023 by PerreaultForever

[Flashsabre]

Before they start selling off young pieces to bring in vets they need to figure out who they are, what their identity is and what system they want to play to be successful. Then they can start targeting players that fit into that.

Right now it is an unorganized mess. 

[French Collection]

Panocha scored one of Germany’s 2 goals but they lost to Latvia 6-2.

[K-9]

1 hour ago, PerreaultForever said:

I would guess Arizona is on all 206 of those lists. Probably at the top. I think Canadian teams, especially the cold ones like Winnipeg are on a lot of them as well. Some players probably don't want to be in Quebec for the French language issues. Some players might not want to go west if they don't like the long travel schedules. After that the smaller markets and perennial losers and that's where Buffalo falls in. I have no doubt Buffalo is on quite a few of those lists but it's still only a small percentage of the league. 

Another thing to consider is most of the guys with NTC contracts are the star forwards and bigger names and that's not what we really need. We might have trouble getting that top 4 D man but the character veterans we could also use should be easy to find. 

You also have to consider what @Brawndo said above. They have cap space and assets. They should be able to make a deal work that some teams won't be able to. 

For example, say a top contender needs a top 6 winger bad. Or a 2C like say Lindholm in Calgary. But they don't have the cap space to make that happen but they have several good D men with salary. There's your 3 way combo right there. We can also add an expiring contract along with a guy we want to make a deal happen. There are literally hundreds of possible ways you could make deals like that work, and sure, some of them might not be possible because of NTC aspects but KA can do better than just Robinson and/or Greenway. That's why he gets the big bucks and it's time he earned them. 

I agree entirely that they have the cap space, assets, and the actual desire to swing a deal or two. And we’d all like to see them get some guys in who can help turn it around. What they don’t have is control over trade scenarios involving players who may refuse to come here.

My only point is that it is a limiting factor for GMs in the league. Both in terms of players they want to bring in and/or players they want to move.

[Brawndo]

 

[Thorner]

24 minutes ago, Brawndo said:

 

Seems to get hurt a lot 

[K-9]

24 minutes ago, Brawndo said:

 

Sucks for Savoie. Kid can’t seem to stay healthy.

[Flashsabre]

Sucks for Savoie. Kid is electric but can’t seem to stay healthy

[Thorner]

Do you think Kris Baker sleeps more than 5 hours total over the course of the entire WJC tournament? 

[PerreaultForever]

2 hours ago, Thorny said:

Seems to get hurt a lot 

Small and slight. That was the knock and why he dropped. He plays very fast as his strength, but that also leaves him vulnerable. He has to get stronger AND learn when to turn it up full and when to keep his head up. 

[French Collection]

3 hours ago, Brawndo said:

 

Jagger Firkus has been summoned from Canada, probably not a good sign.

[LGR4GM]

4 hours ago, Brawndo said:

 

Well... fffffffffffffffffffffffkk

[Crusader1969]

4 hours ago, Thorny said:

Seems to get hurt a lot 

Before this season has he had any injury concerns? I don't recall any but I'm old and maybe forgot 

[Brawndo]

1 minute ago, Crusader1969 said:

Before this season has he had any injury concerns? I don't recall any but I'm old and maybe forgot 

Injured His Shoulder during his draft year

[Dreams Burn Down]

3 minutes ago, Crusader1969 said:

Before this season has he had any injury concerns? I don't recall any but I'm old and maybe forgot 

He was hurt in the Prospects Challenge in September.  He was fantastic against the Habs the game prior, though.

[Crusader1969]

33 minutes ago, Brawndo said:

Injured His Shoulder during his draft year

That's right.  Got hurt in the WHL playoffs and didn't get to train in the offseason.    Hopefully nothing too serious for him

Edited December 31, 2023 by Crusader1969