Around the NHL: 2024-2025 Season

[bob_sauve28]

 

3 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

Just saw this. For someone to open toss the number out into the public at a presser like that... I take it things haven't been going well. 

 

Just trying to make Swayman look bad. Glad he said it, hope it pisses Swayman off 

 

 

[steveoath]

I won’t post the actual image as it may be deemed nsfw. But I got a chuckle from the nhlhumor account on the swayman situation

https://www.instagram.com/p/DAjE1u8vDdV/?igsh=MTkzbmJleGY0MGp6dg==

[Taro T]

4 hours ago, dudacek said:

People around here talk a lot about Adams' reticence to go get proven assets.

What doesn't get talked about much is how many of Adams moves have involved acquisitions that fit the Dahlin age group (Krebs, Byram, McLeod, Levi) and involve players with the possibility of untapped upside (Tuch, Malenstyn Clifton, Comrie, Greenway)

The man told us his plan 3 years ago and has definitely stuck with it.

He did.  And, it's a big part of why last season was sooooooo maddening.  He and Granato expected both that the growth from the previous season would remain linear with minimal adjustments to the personnel and strategy and they also appear to have believed that a 92 point team is a legitimate playoff contender and not one requiring a tremendous amount of luck to go its way to get into the playoffs.  And because of both of those expectations, there was little, if any plan B put in beyond the plan A to get them into the playoffs last year.  They continued the build (though belatedly) towards the '25-'26 season (HELLOOOOOOO Byram) but didn't make any of the sort of moves they made this year to help last season's team be stronger.

There still isn't a lot of depth should injuries or youthfulness cause players they're depending upon to not live up to their internal predictions.  But there IS depth at every spot (quite long in the tooth in net, and quite young elsewhere) and they SHOULD be able to still dress a lineup of 20 players each night with an injury in net and up to 2, maybe even 3, injuries elsewhere.  So, there is a bit of a plan B for this year right now.  Though it still isn't as solid as we'd like and that unused cap space could've been used to shore up depth further.  Am really interested in seeing if/how they cut into that cap space this year.  They can still do so but we're pretty much at the point where Adams won't be expected to use it until the trade deadline if he doesn't dip into it this week.

[Taro T]

1 hour ago, bob_sauve28 said:

 

Just trying to make Swayman look bad. Glad he said it, hope it pisses Swayman off 

 

 

Was hoping they'd continue sort of almost playing nice with each other until after Reimer clears waivers.  Then let 'em go scorched earth with each other if they so choose to their cold little hearts contents.

[PerreaultForever]

14 hours ago, dudacek said:

You know Byram and Lohrei are the same age, right?

The difference is Lohrei was converted from forward. He hasn't been a D man as long but has an impressive learning curve. That's why I see Lohrei as not being near his ceiling yet. 

11 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

It tells us you prefer the style of Lohrei over Power. It's not telling us who's actually better. 

Not exactly. It says right now - stress that RIGHT NOW - Lohrei shows signs of being a more complete D man. Power can still be much better than he is though but he's not there yet. He might be in time. Hard to say. Have to see the signs on the ice. 

[PerreaultForever]

6 hours ago, Taro T said:

Personally expect that the Avs saw they had the top D pairing covered for the next many years and that having a good 2C that could bounce up in a pinch or out to W in a pinch was more valuable than a 3rd future top pairing (or 3 at the likely worst) D-man based on where they are in their current win now mode.

Adams saw that he had Thompson, Tuch, Cozens, Peterka, Quinn, and Benson but really didn't have a true 3rd top 4 D-man (Jokiharju plays there but isn't one IMHO and Samuelsson is a defensive D-man that probably is top 4 but can't stay healthy, and even Power, their 2nd top 4 D-man, is barely out of his teens).  So, they had enough bodies to play the top 6 well and had a 3C that didn't really play as well in a 3C role as he would in a 2C role; but were lacking in top 4 D-men.

Enter the elusive true "hockey trade."

Whether Byram ends up the right guy for the top 4 remains to be seen.  He very well could be.  But the Avs traded from a position of strength to fill a weakness and the Sabres did likewise.  My personal beef with the trade is that the Sabres traded away a guy entering his prime for one at least 2 years still removed from being to that point.

And Power will never be a bruiser nor have even the snarl that Dahlin has; but Lidstrom wasn't a bruiser nor had the snarl and he was one of the best.  Power will still get better.  How much better?  No data.

I agree that Power can be much better and likely will be. idk about Lidstrom I tend to think more like Pietrangelo but we shall see. He has a ways to go though.

I don't agree on the trade scenario though and we went over that when it happened so I will be brief. We did not trade Mitts out of a position of strength. We are actually quite thin at center which is why Adams signed a 3C and a 4C in free agency. After that we are down to Krebs. It's not a position of strength. It would be if we had Mitts, but not after the trade. 

What Byram asks for in his next contract might determine if this trade was okay or garbage. 

[PerreaultForever]

6 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

Just saw this. For someone to open toss the number out into the public at a presser like that... I take it things haven't been going well. 

 

Polarizing comment but I suspect Neely's had enough. That rumor that Swayman asked for 10 million most likely true then. 8x8 seems overly generous to me so this will not end well for the Bruins. 

[LGR4GM]

34 minutes ago, PerreaultForever said:

Polarizing comment but I suspect Neely's had enough. That rumor that Swayman asked for 10 million most likely true then. 8x8 seems overly generous to me so this will not end well for the Bruins. 

 

 

[LGR4GM]

56 minutes ago, PerreaultForever said:

The difference is Lohrei was converted from forward. He hasn't been a D man as long but has an impressive learning curve. That's why I see Lohrei as not being near his ceiling yet. 

Not exactly. It says right now - stress that RIGHT NOW - Lohrei shows signs of being a more complete D man. Power can still be much better than he is though but he's not there yet. He might be in time. Hard to say. Have to see the signs on the ice. 

There's little to no evidence that Lohrei is better than Power right now. 

Again, I bet Lohrei is more physical which is why you're saying better. You prefer his style of defense. 

[dudacek]

8 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

 

 

But don't the Bruins and their players do everything that right way?

[dudacek]

5 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

There's little to  no evidence that Lohrei is better than Power right now.

None.

Everything he posts goes through the filter of Sabres bad until proven otherwise, Bruins good until proven otherwise.

It's the default Terry Pegula created and it's not going to change at least until the Sabres are a winning team.

The only question I have is how much of a winning team it will take.

[Porous Five Hole]

1 hour ago, dudacek said:

But don't the Bruins and their players do everything that right way?

 

1 hour ago, LGR4GM said:

 

 

This is wild. Sway just called them a liar.  Normally I would say the team has to blink first and sign the guy for his ask, but now the B’s have a professional reputation to uphold—all while the goalie now cannot sign for 8X8 because otherwise he looks bad for not signing for that in first place (based on Neely’s quote).  This is a mess for everyone involved. I love it lol 

[Flashsabre]

5 minutes ago, Porous Five Hole said:

 

This is wild. Sway just called them a liar.  Normally I would say the team has to blink first and sign the guy for his ask, but now the B’s have a professional reputation to uphold—all while the goalie now cannot sign for 8X8 because otherwise he looks bad for not signing for that in first place (based on Neely’s quote).  This is a mess for everyone involved. I love it lol 

Yeah Boston has completely mishandled this entire situation. Trade Ullmark away without having Swayman locked up and then fighting with Swayman over a deal and making it worse.

[Broken Ankles]

9 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

Just saw this. For someone to open toss the number out into the public at a presser like that... I take it things haven't been going well. 

Seabass, is that you? 

 

 

[PerreaultForever]

3 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

 

 

Saw that too. There is some talk that Swayman's agent hasn't been telling Swayman everything but who knows. Most likely this will end bad for the Bruins, so good for the Sabres. 

3 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

There's little to no evidence that Lohrei is better than Power right now. 

Again, I bet Lohrei is more physical which is why you're saying better. You prefer his style of defense. 

More well rounded and complete, yes. At this time. Lohrei makes less rookie mistakes. Again, at this time. 

[LGR4GM]

8 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

Saw that too. There is some talk that Swayman's agent hasn't been telling Swayman everything but who knows. Most likely this will end bad for the Bruins, so good for the Sabres. 

More well rounded and complete, yes. At this time. Lohrei makes less rookie mistakes. Again, at this time. 

I don't believe you. Especially when I can see that Lohrei had more giveaways in half as many games. 

Also Owen Power is really well rounded. 

I think you have blinders on because Power isn't physical. He still is very good positionally and is an excellent passer. I don't usually worry about Power in his own end or on offense. Lohrei plays on the 3rd pair and only has 41 nhl games. We'll see how each does this year. 

[Thorner]

lmao. “You didn’t offer me 64 mil, you offered me 62.4!!!”

derp

[LGR4GM]

 

 

[Huckleberry]

Looks more like an attemp by the bruins to push that agent aside.

[Thorner]

 

[LTS]

15 hours ago, Flashsabre said:

Yeah Boston has completely mishandled this entire situation. Trade Ullmark away without having Swayman locked up and then fighting with Swayman over a deal and making it worse.

Unless Swayman said he wouldn't consider signing until Ullmark was gone. At which point Swayman then pulled his antics. I'm not here to say how or what happened other than to open the possibility that Boston was acting honestly and the player boned them.  Of course Boston could have just dealt Ullmark and then hoped Swayman would sign.

I'm not as much interested in who did who wrong here so much as I am getting full on the popcorn I can't stop eating.

[LabattBlue]

51 minutes ago, Thorner said:

 

Sabrehood? 🤔

[mjd1001]

2 hours ago, Thorner said:

lmao. “You didn’t offer me 64 mil, you offered me 62.4!!!”

derp

For the difference being 7.8 vs 8.5, this is rather contentious.

Of course to take the Bruins side of things, if they started at 6.5..maybe realistically hoping for 7.0....and if Swayman hasn't budged one bit from what he was asking....IF that is true I can understand the Bruins/Neely being a bit upset.  Lot of Ifs though..

[PerreaultForever]

8 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

I don't believe you. Especially when I can see that Lohrei had more giveaways in half as many games. 

Also Owen Power is really well rounded. 

I think you have blinders on because Power isn't physical. He still is very good positionally and is an excellent passer. I don't usually worry about Power in his own end or on offense. Lohrei plays on the 3rd pair and only has 41 nhl games. We'll see how each does this year. 

You never change your mind talking to anybody and you always make assumptions while ignoring what people say. Nothing new here. I've seen every single Owen Power NHL game and every single Mason Lohrei NHL game (except for one exhibition game). Have you? No need to answer. I know it doesn't matter to you either way. 

I have said repeatedly I think in time Owen Power could be very good and thus better than Lohrei. Right now though, he is not. 

[Brawndo]

Sabres Cap is 86 million for the 2025-26 Season