BillsFan4

Honestly.... neither. Any other year St. Louis would be a slam dunk for me to rot for. They’re Underdogs. They made it to the Cup finals after being in dead last earlier in the season. They’ve never won a cup in their 52 year existence. They’re playing a Boston team. Then there’s the whole story with that Laila girl. But because of that damn ROR trade I just can’t bring myself to truly root for them to win it. Watching him play in STL this year just makes it so crystal clear that he quit on us last year. We were lucky if we got half this effort on many nights. Then he forces his way out at the end of the year with that press conference. And Botterill caves and gets an absolutely horrible return... If we had this ROR, Botterill would have never even thought of trading him. The Sabres treated him damn good, too. He got the biggest contract in Sabres history (at the time it was signed), and it was paid almost 100% in signing bonuses. Even most super star players don’t get contracts structured that well. And they gave his brother Cal a $1.4M one way NHL contract (and he’s a career AHLer). It was about double as much as he’d ever got before (usually he got 1 year AHL deals). Ive heard people saying “well he was just being honest. He didn’t force his way out”. Well I say BS to that. When have you ever heard another hockey player say stuff like that to the press? There’s a reason those comments are still being talked about by the media 1 year later. If he Really wanted to be here, he would have said that stuff behind closed doors to his teammates and coach/GM. He knew exactly what he was doing making those comments. If you want s trade, be a man and ask for one. Don’t force your way out and tank your trade value with comments like that to the media. But I can’t bring myself to root for Boston either. This is the least interested I think I’ve ever been in a game 7 Cup final and it pisses me off. I always look forward to any game 7. Especially in the Cup finals.

For sure. Remember, Ralph Krueger was a scouting consultant for the Carolina Hurricanes from 2005-2010. And the Sabres D coach, Steve Smith, worked for Carolina for 4 years. And there’s rumors that Krueger May look to add Mike Vellucci, Carolina’s current asst. GM and Head Coach of their AHL team (that just won the Calder Cup).

He was responsible for Matt Murray’s development in Pittsburgh (and IMO Murray hasn’t looked as good since he left). Marc-Andre Fleury also gave him a lot of credit for helping him. Fleury was always kind of known for choking in the playoffs and made a huge improvement in Bales 1st year working with him. And Carolina’s goaltending this year was a huge surprise.

Jeff Skinner on the Howard and Jeremy show - https://wgr550.radio.com/media/audio-channel/06-12-sabres-forward-jeff-skinner-howard-and-jeremy

This would be a big get, if true. I have heard knowledgeable hockey people call him one of the top goalie coaches in the NHL.

No, I never would. Not even Brady. IMO it’s just not right to cheer for an athlete getting hurt. Just because they play for another team doesn’t make them any less human. Why would anyone want to cheer for someone getting (possibly seriously) hurt?

Why did WGR/One Bills Live even bother carrying the damn press conference?! They showed less than 1/4 of it. They cut it off after like the 2nd or 3rd question, only a couple minutes in. How stupid. Thankfully the Sabres website had the whole thing.

Skinner press conference starting in 10 minutes or so (or at least it’s supposed to...lol). One Bills Live will be carrying it, as will WGR 550. Itll also be carried live on the Sabres website - https://www.nhl.com/sabres/video/live-jeff-skinner/t-277437090/c-40474303

didn’t know where else to put this.

I’ve had that happen before and it’s an absolutely terrible feeling. Hope they find him soon!

Good stuff @john wawrow Yeah, I’m not surprised. I think he's due for a nice bounce back season next year, and he’s going to be motivated as all hell after having 2 separate trades fall through. He has good underlying stats, too. His possession metrics are very good and He has a huge influence on expected goals at both ends of the ice. The Wild create more dangerous opportunities with him on the ice, and his play is almost always a net positive in both the offensive and defensive zone. I could see Zucker breaking out on a new team similar to Niederreiter after he was traded from Minnesota.

He mentions that now that they’ve signed Skinner, Buffalo is hoping to be able to add a 2C and top 6 winger either through trade or free agency. Says that they have kicked the tires on Jason Zucker.

Skinner wrote a story for NHL.com on staying in buffalo.

At the time, our blue line was Ristolainen, McCabe, Cody Franson, Pysyk (who turned into Kulikov after the draft), Josh gorges, Bogosian and Falk. And Risto was playing 25 minutes a night. I’d probably still make the trade but I get why Murray thought the Sabres couldn’t. Now that we have Dahlin and Montour, it would be a no-brainer if that offer was made again.

It actually hurts buffalo re: a buyout. Front-loaded contracts actually cost more cap space to buy-out in later years than ones with flat year-to-year salaries. A Skinner buy-out after six years would cost $4M in year 7 and $6M in year 8, with $2M each over the two following years. On a contract that paid a flat $9M per year, the buy-out would cost $3M in cap for all four years. Ive read that Botterill is legitimately interested in Duchene and that he even checked into him at the deadline. I can’t remember where I read it, though. I think the deadline thing may have been Jeremy White’s secret source, so grain of salt and all that. Yes, it was reported by legitimate sources that Chiarelli offered Hall for Risto (supposedly 3 separate times) before he was traded to NJ. I do understand why Tim Murray didn’t/couldn’t do it at the time, but man that would be such a perfect trade for Buffalo now. No way I trade for Hall now without an extension, though. Or at least knowing that he’s 100% open to signing here. Way too risky otherwise.

We don’t have our 2nd or our 4th. I believe we do have our 3rd though. But your point still stands... lol

That’s a hell of a lot of money for Skinner. But I’m definitely glad he’s signed. Like I said, the Sabres have plenty of cap space still, and plenty more dead weight to get rid of before thinking about letting one of our better players walk over roughly $1M a year.

$9M was the absolute max I was willing to give Skinner (not that it matter what I was willing to do....lol). Still hoping it falls in just under $9M AAV, but I am definitely glad to hear he is signing. I worry about bout the price tag, but the Sabres are nowhere near being in cap trouble right now. And even if they were, I’d still rather them sign Skinner and figure out a way to get rid of the actual garbage on the roster instead of our best goal scorer.

Nice hire by the Jets. I’m still not scared of the Jets though, as long as Woody Johnson owns the team. I just don’t see them having sustained success under the Johnson’s ownership. Even if they happen to be good for a couple years, someone in that building will do something to mess it up... lol.

I believe they were blocked from interviewing him by the Eagles at the time. https://www.nj.com/eagles/2018/01/eagles_block_texans_request_to_interview_joe_dougl.html

That was great!

Carter Hutton, Ralph Krueger and Jason Botterill all on the instigators today. Hutton - https://wgr550.radio.com/media/audio-channel/06-06-sabres-goalie-carter-hutton-instigators Krueger - https://wgr550.radio.com/media/audio-channel/06-06-sabres-head-coach-ralph-krueger-instigators Botterill - https://wgr550.radio.com/media/audio-channel/06-06-sabres-general-manager-jason-botterill-instigators

here is the full 1 on 1 interview with Krueger - https://www.nhl.com/sabres/video/1-on-1-with-ralph-krueger/t-277437090/c-68394503 Amazing interview! Wow. It gets better as it goes on. Definitely a must listen in my opinion. I love this guy.