BillsFan4

Callahan’s career is likely over.

Man I hope this isn’t true... I think I’d be about done with Botterill if that was the return he got in a Ristolainen trade. Trading our best right handed defenseman for a cap dump and a middle 6 player would be a nightmare. And we’d be solving their cap problems for them on top of it (so they can sign their young stars), while also solving their hole at top 2/4 right hand D. There better be a hell of a plus added to the 2 pieces discussed above... I’d want Cernak or Cirelli.

Yeah, I’d be shocked if Knight were still on the board at #31. I don’t see any way he’d make it past Carolina at #28. Both of their starting goaltender are going to hit UFA according to reports, and goaltending has been their Achilles heel for years now. I could even see Florida taking him at #13. And and I feel the same way about pick #7. It would be tough for the Sabres to screw it up this year. You could make a valid argument for any number of players at pick 7. It’s such a toss up this year. That’s why I’ve tried hard not to get too attached to any 1 player. The one guy (in that tier) I wanted least was Cozens, but Kris Baker kind of eased some of my worries and sold me on him a bit more in that draft preview. So unless the Sabres go way off board (which I doubt), I’m (pretty) confident that I’ll be happy with whoever they choose.

Dahlin only got ONE 1st place Calder vote (from Bill Hoppe). That’s just crazy. I like that they are releasing the voting ballots. Getting to look over the votes gives you a better idea of the Homer’s and the guys who truly vote unbiased. It also helps show which writers actually know hockey and which don’t... lol.

He writes for The Athletic now, and has done a couple podcasts recently - Here- http://moranalytics.com/ep-121-kris-baker-plus-john-wick-3-movie-review/ and here - It doesn’t seem like he’s been updating his Sabresprospects site much anymore though, which is why I was so excited to see he posted his draft preview there. Edit - btw, re:Baker’s draft preview - I’d be all about drafting Spencer Knight if by some chance he was still on the board at #31. I’ve read in numerous places that some scouts are saying he could be the best US born goaltender ever.

http://www.sabresprospects.com/2019/06/buffalo-sabres-2019-draft-preview.html Good stuff from Kris Baker.

A little salt for all our wounds -

I agree man. I had no issusions that he would win it. I knew it would be Pettersson. I was just pissed when I saw how spewed the voting was. It should have been much, much closer between Dahlin and Pettersson. No way Binnington should have been ahead of him in votes. I know it means nothing though. Plus, Had he won the Calder it would have been a great bargaining chip for his agent on his next deal (not that Dahlin won’t get paid anyway). Really happy for Lehner! not quite as happy for ROR.... ?

Ridiculous that Dahlin came in 3rd in voting (for all the reasons I laid out in my previous post on this subject). Binnington played 30 regular season games FFS (Calder voting is conducted at the end of the regular season). Really disappointed with the PHWA.

This popped up while I was browsing YouTube and since it’s the 20th anniversary of “no goal” today I thought I’d share it. Still pisses me off hearing the NHL’s explanation.

looks like all the main guys were qualified after all. I’m glad. No reason to not qualify any of the players listed. That would have been poor asset management IMO. Even if you don’t want them, I would think guys like Larsson and Girgensons would at least have some trade value (as a throw in, or even just for a later round pick).

What a ridiculous thing to revoke a medical license over.

Huh. I wonder if they’ve changed their policy since then? The gift feature gives you 20% off a 1yr subscription, which comes out to $47.99, so I don’t think it was that unless you got an added student discount on top of that. Have any other athletic subscribers here been able to renew at a discounted rate during one of their sales?

I won’t believe that you actually went on a date with a real female until I see some photographic evidence. blow up dolls can not be fans of any team, so.... ? (j/k)

Were you still an active subscriber when you took advantage of that deal? i tried to take advantage of a deal just recently and they told me it was only for new members (I bitched at them for it, too. Said that it did not say it was for new members anywhere in the tweet and that I’m not sure it’s a good idea to use the cable TV company business practice of treating new customers better than existing ones). They apologized and said you can send yourself a gift subscription at any time (1 year 20% off, 2 years 33% off), but those deals were only for new members. I’m debating whether I should let my subscription run out and then renew when a deal comes along, or if I should just do the gift thing. I’m definitely going to keep subscribing, but I just hate paying more than I have to, especially when you see those great deal prices offered all the time. It’s not that I can’t afford it. It’s just a principal thing. Yes, you can. You will still have access until your subscription expires. I cancelled my auto-renew.

https://insidepittsburghsports.com/story/penguins-were-not-alone-in-making-a-superior-offer-for-trouba-than-the-rangers-more-buzz/ don’t know how viable this source is. This rumor (re:trouba and the NYR) has been going around today and it looks like this is the source of it.

I agree. I think Larsson has actually been more useful than girgensons in recent years, so if only 1 was goin to be qualified I thought it would be Larsson. Now I expect both to be. There were some rumors that buffalo may not qualify either, that’s the main reason I wondered.

I was’t sure the Sabres were going to qualify him. Curious to see if they qualify Larsson now too.

I’m leaning toward keeping him too. But I do occasionally have the thought that this may be the ideal time to sell high. If Krueger can help fix his defensive game and slot him into a more proper role, Risto’s value could go up. But Risto is said to be somewhat hard to coach, he doesn’t seem to have the highest hockey IQ and he’s entering year 7, so he may be what he is at this point. And now that we have Dahlin in year 2, and a full year of Montour, Ristolainen probably isn’t going to see nearly as much time on the power play as he used to. So my worry is that if his point totals fall sharply (from reduced PP time) and he doesn’t improve his defensive game to compensate, he could be worth a lot less if buffalo decides to move on from him next year or the year after. One of Risto’s big selling points is that he consistently puts up 40+ points every season. I go back and forth between the scenario above and one where he looks like a much more competent all around defenseman with better underlying stats and a drastically improved +/- from being slotted into a role that better suits him. Im glad I’m not the one who has to make these decision! lol ultimately i think it will come down to what the offers are for Risto. If a bidding war breaks out and Botterill gets his socks knocked off, Risto should probably be traded. If not, hopefully Botts is smart enough to just keep him.

https://wgr550.radio.com/articles/news/sabres-dahlin-enjoying-being-vegas-nhl-awards interview with Dahlin from the NHL awards in Vegas.

NHL awards ceremony is tomorrow (Wednesday) at 8pm. I think Dahlin deserves to win the Calder, but it’ll probably be Pettersson. What Pettersson did was impressive, but it’s a LOT more common than what Dahlin did. I mean, Matt Barzal just put up a better rookie season last year (85pts vs 66pts for Pettersson). Pettersson’s rookie season ranks #100 on the all time (under 21) list. https://www.eliteprospects.com/league/nhl/stats/all-time-season?position=f&age=u21 Dahlin’s season ranks #2 on the all time (under 19) list https://www.eliteprospects.com/league/nhl/stats/all-time-season?position=d&age=u19 Even if you bump the criteria to under 20 defenseman (which really isn’t fair since Dahlin was 18 all season and Pettersson was 20), he still ranks 11th (and about 40th on the under 21 list). What Dahlin did was way more historically significant than what Pettersson did. But I’ll bet any money Pettersson wins.

Wow! Makes me feel a bit bit better about the Skinner deal. At least he’s an elite goal scorer (especially at even strength, which is always held at a premium). Hayes has a career high of 25 goals and it’s not like he’s a big playmaker either. His career high point total is 55pts. Id take Skinner at $9M x 8 over Hayes at $7.14M x 7. Matt Duchene must be salivating right about now!

Just saw this tweet and figured I may as well post it here. 7 day free trial (not sure if it expires or they offer it all the time?)

I highly recommend it to anyone on the fence. It’s well worth the money if you like reading about sports. They’ve had some great Bills/Sabres stories too, so if you sign up make you to take the time and go through some of the old Bills/Sabres content. I would also recommend picking more than the Bills/Sabres as your teams. You’ll see a lot more new content daily if you do. For a while I had the Bills/Sabres/NHL/NFL as “my teams” and I kept wondering why I didn’t see some of these stories written about other teams that people were sharing. Well I realized that I’d only see them if I clicked on that specific team’s name. They don’t automatically show up in your personal feed. So now I picked every NFL and NHL team to follow and there is an insane amount of new content to sift through every day. Just FYI If you like it, instead of paying full price you can send yourself a gift subscription to get a discount (an athletic employee informed me of this). One year is 20% off. 2 years is 33% off. Also, for everyone you refer you get a $10 amazon gift card and they get 15% off the subscription cost.

If Hall was willing to re-sign here? Absolutely. Otherwise no thanks. He’s UFA in a year. It would open up a big hole on the right side of the blue line. But Hall at his best is a league MVP who’s capable of putting a team on his back. He was the reason why New Jersey made the playoffs in 2017/18 (or at least the main reason). He won the Hart trophy (NHL’s most valuable player) that season. Id love to have him in Buffalo. He’s been one of my favorite players for years. I followed him in his draft year and have wanted him ever since. I read that the reason he doesn’t want to sign in New Jersey is that he wants to win and is unsure of their future. If that really is the case I don’t think buffalo would have a much better shot at signing him. If he agreed to an extension as part of the trade (or shortly after) then I’d be all over it. Seems like a dream though.