Would you guy do a kessel trade. Because sergatchev would be amazing in pittsburgh

All the reasons the UFAs would sign in Tampa are the same reasons your current players won’t waive NMCs and NTCs to leave.

Also, how that sweep taste?

Couple thoughts...

1. All the trades.. plus or minus some picks .. would be good for Tampa and seem reasonable. Very reasonable.

2. Definite yea on Ferland .. mixed on Panarin .. expensive for a team that already has scoring .. but that regular season ONLY .. recall Tampa got SHUTOUT in games 6&7 against Caps in 2018!!!! .. Panarin delivered against Bruins big time..

3. Agree with Cernek and we need another RD and Risto fits .. Hedman should play with Cernek next year .. Mc Donough with Foote (tutoring role like with Cernek this year .. Mc Donoughs value is heavily underestimated) and THIRD pair with Risto and Sergachev .. dont see need for Colburn when you have Rutta as 7th D .. Howver I am not Sergachev fan and could fetch alot in trade and dont worry about cap issues he could bring .. the reality is we dont need him.

I also watched most Tampa games and went to a dozen or so including Game 2 against Columbus when they QUIT .. loud boos from 2nd period on and they deserved more .. being there you could see them flat out quit .. that is UNFORGIVABLE and I will not go to any games next year .. with Cooper and Stamkos still there .. leadership and cohones are non existent...that the sad truth

I actually like Kessel, but that 8 mill cap hit is way too much, so not next year for sure.

Haha i had no doubt you guys lose vs Boston next round, i give Boston 90-10 to knock out CBJ... On the other hand, we could've had a chance vs them, like last year...
Congrats for the Super Sayian mode vs us in all 4 games... You guys were so much better, hopefully next year we bounce back...

1.2M is retained by Toronto, so he has a 6.8M cap hit

Yeah i member those Washington games, painful to watch those as well, its like we repeated those games vs CBJ this year, except first period Game 1...
Maybe we went for regular season records, like kucherov scoring race, and 60+ wins is like NHL record all time?

1st-Detroit Red Wings-1995-96----82G-62-13-7
2nd-Tampa Bay Lightning-2018-19----82G-62-16-4

That's Cooper's fault for not resting the big boys in last 15 games of regular season...
We finished 21 points ahead of Boston, like why would we need to do that, look at Hedman in playoffs, injured... jeez...almost everybody looked tired...
Also pp/pk both almost top1-2 in league.... what happend with our PP/PK in the playoffs (( PK 50% LOL dead last in playoffs... why we had 85% PK regular season then, its seems unbelievable you can drop off from 85% to 50% in 4 matches...

Anyways, i think sergachev will improve next year, and i dont like rutta at all. I heard some hawks fans saying that rutta is trash and while i wouldnt put him in the trash category, i wouldnt mind him sitting out most of the year...
Yes his stats were okay, but i think he overperformed to get a good contract... I dont think we win stanley cup with rutta playing majority of games, but for around ~1m i guess he is okay 7th or 8th D...

In the meantime i thought about getting more guys for helping in the playoff run next year, like Maroon(UFA),Bortuzzo(need a trade) from Blues or Lee(UFA) from the islanders, i think this free agent market this year is really good, so i hope our GM will be smart, Callahan and Palat must go at all cost... I'm just not sure how much we could pay for the new guys or how much they are asking, but i guess not more than 2 mill for Maroon, 1.4mill for Bortuzzo is really good, and Lee maybe 5mill? And where we get that cap space? We trade Stamkos away for some draft picks, yeah i know NMC, but still i also dont really wanna keep Stammer for 5 more years...

Or i have another idea, we trade Point for NJD 1st overall pick, to draft Hughes, that saves up 8+ mill and also give them some bonus like Rutta or others and our 2019th 2nd round pick(+ other picks if needed).

So NJD gets:
Point or Stamkos
Rutta and/or Callahan(NJD has lots of caps space)
2019 2nd round

TBL gets:
NJD 2019 1st round

What do you think?So many possibilites, lots of teams wants Point for sure, so something can be done,maybe nr2 pick is also good to trade with rangers.

So NYR gets:
Point or Stamkos
Rutta and/or Callahan,Palat
2019 2nd round

TBL gets:
NYR 2019 1st round
Vesey

7 mill still way too much for us right now, but thanks for the heads up, unlikely to happen anyways... We are in trouble right now offering Point a good contract... otherwise, it would have already happend...

Since you wrote that lengthy comment on my post, I decided to look at your post.
Of course this trade is not needed now but it is certainly interesting.
Buffalo trades a good pick and who at the time was their #1 RHD.
I do not see any Sabre fans react, so I will be the first months after you posted this. IMO Buffalo wins.
Ristolainen, Rasmus for Johnson, Tyler; Miller, J.T.; 2019 4th round pick (TBL) and 2019 7th round pick (CHI)
2019 1st round pick (BUF) for Raddysh, Taylor and 2020 2nd round pick (TBL), if Raddysh is better than Cozens wow would trade have looked good.
I really like Ristolainen but right now with Miller, Montour and Jokiharju that RHD would be pretty solid.
Adding 2 forwards to a weak top 6 would make the team very competitive.
BTW, did you hear what BriseBois offered Botterill for Ristolainen? I heard there was an article in the Atlantic quoting Lebrun, but I did not get all of the detail.
Again thanks for your great analysis of the chances of the Sabres making the playoffs, unlikely but as a Sabre fan I can always hope.

Haha, i didn't, but i remember there were rumors about Buffalo wanted really good return for Risto, so i assume it's like 1.5-2 times as much as any team in the league would pay. Probably i assume it was a 1st round pick + prospect, or a top6 forward+prospect(/weak'ish pick). My guess: he offered a mid tier prospect + 2nd round pick.
As far as i can see, every team in the league horrified by the plus-minus for Risto, so noone is taking the chance of trading him for huge assests.
-25 and -41 for the past 2 seasons. I think every GM thinks he is bad fit overall for the team ( except top4-6 D role tops = then he is not worth the cap hit), and not willing to give up anything meaningful. Have you watched him all 82 games?( or 160-240 games from previous years) From the advanced stats, he is not that bad, but the plus-minus just makes him look like the worst player in the NHL.(ofc he isn't)
I thought a while ago that he would be alright with Hedman, because Hedman can carry anyone(like grandpa Girardi), but after i realized Buff wants that much assets for him, i kinda gave up on him and moved him on my personal don't need, don't care anymore list of RHD.

I have to insert this here , because i looked up Scandella advanced stats and it's horrifying. Did you noticed last season that he played that badly on the ice, or the eyetest showed different results? I would've bought him out after that season.(based on the stats) Looks like Buffalo gives him the last year of his contract. So do you think it's a wise decision for your GM to keep Scandella on your team for 1 more year?

Thanks forward for your answer to this question !


But now that we got Shattenkirk for free , thx to Rangers incredible silly buyout( 6mill+ caphit for 2020/2021 season), now i understand why our GM didn't wanna give up 1st round picks for him or for similar comparable 3-5 mill $ RHD. If you can get one for free or much cheaper until trade deadline or sooner , then just get the freebie( or cheap RHD), and keep the picks/prospects
Now we might even move Rutta together with Domingue/Erne, or somebody else, if we need to.
So things are kinda alright now on the D front in Tampa. I'm still just a little worried, that we didn't added any new forwards(especially with grit + hard hitting players), i like some fresh guys every season in any team to make things a little different.
But oh well, i guess our GM tries his best to at least fix the D. Maybe Trade deadline he adds a guy , like Kreider, and hopefully that's enough for a deep run in the playoffs.
If not, oh well, we try again next year, maybe with a different mindset, hard to say what we will try next offseason if next season ends in an early playoffs R1 or R2 exit again.




You're welcome buddy, glad you still have faith in your team, i hope at least Skinner scores 40 goals next year, and Dahlin makes another step forward in the right direction to fulfill his potential.
I'm always a little jealous on draft day for teams like yours, who can almost always pick top 10 or close to top10. Those prospects feels so good to draft when your team announces it.
Like imagine the feeling( you can remember Dahlin's draft day ), when Lafraniere next year gets announced to a team like Ottawa, LA, or even your team, if Buffalo tanks 2nd half the season for possible draft lottery reasons.
The Ottawa Senators selects: Alexis Lafrenière from the QMJHL - ouch, it hurts that we can never pick guys like that, thats the price we pay for making the playoffs almost all recent years...

Fun to see some of my predictions came true, Callahan and JT gone and we actually didn't lose assests, we gained a 1st rounder...
Next year bye-bye Killorn and one of Johnson/Palat/Gourde ( who plays worst next season probably from these 3)

And thank you too for the reply, better late, than never , haha

thanks for the reply
First Scandella. All of the Sabre have terrible stats it comes from being bad. Check out Anaheim this year v last year, every one is really bad this year, and really good last year. Ristolainen is not as good as many Sabre ACGM believe and Scandella is much better than then they all think. He has a great shot and even with limited quality playing time (:06 sec PP time/gm) he was able to score 6 goals. That may not sound like a lot but with 62 top pairing defensemen in the league he ranked 61st. We will all be surprised by the return Botts get.

Funny that a Tampa fan would be jealous of Buffalo and Ottawa. I remember when Yzerman moved up to get Point, and marveled on the day of the draft that Steve knew something that few other GM's knew. Add in a couple of free agents as Gourde and Johnson and there are 3 good equivalent early first round picks.

As soon as I read Shatty was bought out, I knew any Ristolainen rumors to Tampa were now Moot. I know this will sound rather insulting, but I sort of knew Tampa did not have the players Botts wanted. IMO many of the Tampa forwards are really small, the reason Columbus was able to sweep them because they were pushed around.

The reason I asked about the Risto trade, another ACGM told me the Athletic had an article by Pierre Lebrun that BriseBois offered Sergachev, a pick and more, if Botts would retain 50%. I do not have subscription to the Athletic so I could not research the details.

Also, I was shocked that Botts did not pick up Rutta when he was waived, but now with Miller, Montour, Jokiharju who needs Rutta, LOL.

As for Risto being shopped, IDK. First, Buffalo does not have to move anyone to make cap space. Second, the last few years he was always matched up the opponents top line, so with bad GK and bad forwards he looks really bad. Third, Botts finally gets some good defensemen and now every ACGM wants to trade away the one player who plays nearly half a game. I do not want to trade him unless the offer is remarkable. Let me add, big players take longer to develop, Hedman, Burns, Letang, Chara were all about his age when they finally put it all together. Let me add, yes Risto does make bad plays and often goes for the hit and takes himself out of the play, but I think he can be trained not to do that, but we will see.

Lastly I was shocked that Miller returned a first great trade.

It is funny that I have to chat with other than Sabre fans to hear logical comments. As you noticed, no one replied to your tome which as I said nearly mirrored mine. Some how they all think the Sabres are a near playoff team. I know it is a lot better with 3 new RHD and 2 new LW, but it is not enough. In addition to Ristolainen, they all think Reinhart is untradedable, I guess none of them actually watch him play.

Last year mid December I told my family and extended family that the Sabres were not going to make the play offs. Of course every one laughed at me. Unfortunately I also predicted that the team would finish with more than 80 pts, which prediction does every one remember?

Good comments thanks for spending the time to reply.

I found this recent news article about risto currently:Ristolainen Feelings
You need to google translate from french to english to read, but its easy to read after that.

And i found this article as well, which claims BriseBois already tried to trade for Ristolainen at the trade deadline, but it's obviously failed, as well as the last attempts to trade for him before draft day in June.
Trade Rumors
You need to google translate from french to english to read, but its easy to read after that.

So i digged a little into this topic, and found couple forum post here, where someone claimed the following were true:
gets:
Ristolainen for 2.7 million $ caphit for 3 years ( 50% retained by Buffalo)
Middle tier draft pick (can be 2nd to 4th round)

gets:
Sergachev
Low-mid skill level prospect(not that important)

This makes sense for us(next year's RFA's = hard to fit under cap), because retaining 50% = 2.7 mill $ caphit loss for 3 years for the Sabres. And Tampa gets a hopeful bounceback season potential RHD.
But it doesn't make sense for Buffalo, because they are close to the cap, so they dont want to retain that much. So i get it why this trade failed. Let's say, if Buffalo tries to rebuild and they are close to 60-70mill caphit for next year, then this trade probably succesful.
Sergachev is really good, i like him so much, but im afraid he is gonna demand huge money for the 2020/2021 season or later. Fingers crossed he takes a teamfriendly deal or something like that.
The other problem for us, that we play Serg in RHD position, when his natural position is LHD. We have Hedman,McDonagh,Coburn, so it's really hard to play him at LHD, especially now that we resigned Coburn for 2 more years. So if he would play in Buffalo at LHD, i think he would be a really good player there.
It was quite clever from our GM to try to make this trade work, so i like him really better each day(rip yzerman), that he thinks ahead about our future as well, not only short-term win the stanley cup then we are done forever
2.7 mill $ caphit for risto i think it cannot backfire, even if he has let say like 2/3 bad years in Tampa jersey. It's still not the end of the world, like Seabrook for the Blackhawks(almost 7 million $ caphit).

So i think the reason at trade deadline this didnt work, because your coaching staff+GM thought:
= playoff contender = really good team

So i think the same thing happend after season ended, your organization didn't learn from past mistakes. Again for 2019/2020 season they are thinking :
= really good team = let's try to make the playoffs. Even though, even if they make the playoffs, they are probably out in 1st round. But they dont care about that.

I think it would have been much smarter for your team to say: lets go for draft picks next 2-3 years, pay risto retained salary, then sergachev = ready to be really good player and Buffalo = true real good team in 2022/2023 season. Instead they went for resigning Skinner for crazy amount of money, didn't really improved the goalie position:lets say on draft they could've got the goalie who florida got, future potential franchise goalie. Yeah i know Cozens numbers looks good on paper, but it doesn't guarantee anything. It's still only a top prospect. On the other hand , every scout signs praises how good Spencer Knight will be. So lets say Cozens = 80 points player in 4 years. In that 4 year can they find the right goalie+defense? Doubtful, if they dont start to develop one soon.
Now that i look Buffalo's rooster, it's evident, almost whole new team in 2020/2021,so many players either UFA or RFA in 1 year.
So i think your team goes "all-in" next season, then starts a complete rebuild. Thats my guess currently.

Is Jack Eichel+Skinner+Dahlin enough to have any meaningful result in 2019/2020? That would be quite a surprise, so i don't really understand what your GM trying to achive for next season with this "all-in" strategy.
Wouldn't it be smarter to go for Round 1 1st pick for the draft lottery?(Tanking)
Lafreniere could be the franchise savior Buffalo would need in the next 10 years, yet they go for a potential playoff run.This would mean draft pick = out of top 10 or really low chance to get top3 picks...
Who understands this, other then your GM, owner,coach?

And i get it, that fans will be mad, lf the team is losing every night, but what's better?
Good team for lots of years or bad team for 2-3 years then amazing team for 10 + years... Look at what Crosby did with Pittsburgh or Ovechkin with Washington, when those players retire, you can bet it's gonna be much more hard for those teams to make playoffs almost every year. I just don't feel Eichel = franchise savior player right now, but i can be wrong , and we'll see what the future brings
Dahlin = only one defender, and one defender usually not enough for anything, we have Hedman, and look how many stanley cup we won = Zero

Anyway back to Risto, from those articles you can see he is not happy in Buffalo = trade = 90% happening before season starts or at trade deadline.
Last article i heard same thing : it was Zaitsev: He said same thing, he doesn't like to play in Toronto. After couple weeks/months he gets traded away.
So i expect the same for risto, we just dont know where he'll end up. After we signed Shattenkirk, i don't think it's Tampa, but you never know. We have to wait and see
I guess Buffalo trades risto to the best offer they got in last months for him: Since he was obviously on the trade block for a lot of time.
So the best offer might end up :not what they wanted for him. Which is bad for your team.
I think our offer probably was the best, but im doubtful we offer the same thing, after we got Shattenkirk.

Thanks for the Scandella answer. I guess then he stays for next year

Wow that well researched, thank you.
I recently created a team which had Scandella getting more PP time and Vesey and Sheary with Eichel. I stated the purpose was to show case them to improve their value, then trade them at the TDL finally bringing up nhl players from Rochester. I stated I did not think this was a playoff team and trying to improve for next year would be the best strategy.
There was so much hate mail.
IMO with the teams in the Atlantic, the Sabres could conceivable reach 100 pts and not make the playoffs.
Every one wants rush it, but that may get them to the playoffs then no more. Slow ans steady wins the race.
Again thank you. I think it is remarkable that you found some information from French speaking sits.