Sabres can take bad contracts. Rask wouldn’t be bad either. He probably can play the tough defensive minutes with Girgenson and Bjork. Plus they would flip him at the deadline.

No no Rask can not play defensive minutes. Unless you want to tank for Wright, then by all means play him.

Analytically hes pretty good defensively.

He's a turnover machine, trust me when I say it's Kappy who bails him out defensively.

I'm not particularly fond of this TBH. None of it. It's one massive step forward but ultimately 3 steps back.

I just don't think going after Eichel is worth it. I really don't like your cost for him either. I would rather we just walk away at that point.

I'd rather target someone like Monahan and stay the course with our current crop of prospects. But that's just my humble opinion.

I think staying the course is absolutely the right plan if you know Rossi is the guy. I just don't see the Wild getting high enough in the draft to snag a 1c otherwise in the next 5 years. I can't live with MN mild anymore Wild gotta get a 1c I feel JEEK has proven he is at minimum a 2C or a poor 1C. Regardless of what comes out about Eichel, he won't be cheap and this is definitely a high price.

Rossi to me if he hits his potential, is more than likely a Scheifele type 1C. They're similar enough players that I think it’s an reasonable expectation to the level of player Rossi can or should I say could become. I actually think Rossi can be better than Scheifele due to his more creative playmaking skills and abilities, even if it could take 2-3 years for him to get there.

The Jets to me are a perfect example of where I think we're heading. We're heading to a similar talent range in our top six as them, but we have much better depth in our bottom six then they do. We have a top 5 defense, they do not. They have better goaltending, but I'm completely satisfied with ours. Which is a first in quite a few years for me. In short, it's where I think we're headed, but better. Just need to stay the course and be patient.

You said you're not a fan of Talbot. I don't know how you couldn't be after he just stole two playoff games against one of the best teams in the league in games 1 and 5. And he's done it against one of the best goaltenders of All Time in Fluery. That is no small accomplishment.

But to each their own. I guess.

I don't see your Sheifele comparison at all. Two totally different games if you ask me. I see more of Point.

Funny you should bring up the Jets. Watched them last night and man do they play with some solid structure. Since Dean has become coach Wild have been slipping in structure. I don't want to totally bash Dean though Wild are a lot more fun offensively under Dean and perhaps if there was more practice time than this season has allowed, the structure doesn't slip as much.
I don't hate Talbot and he has had some nice games but there are too many pucks IMO that he sees clearly that still get by him, he has a hole high glove side. Still big upgrade over Dubnyk.

It's more driven by the tier of centers most people tend to put center prospects in.

Rossi is most typically considered to be in the Scheifele, Barzal, Larkin range of talent. Of those three, Scheifele is the best two-way center of the bunch and also the best at faceoffs. Which are the two areas where Rossi is most similar to Scheifele. From a playmaking standpoint he's closer to Barzal but better on the dot, as Barzal is just ok not great. And I don't see any sort of similarity to Larkin.

So, no, I don't think it's the best example or comparison, but it's the best comparable center in a similar tier range where Rossi is most typically projected to wind up for his career.

Thanks for the explanation, that makes sense.

Your opinion here makes sense. I am not a big fan of, but that is a game of tastes. The only thing that I would say is that Menell's new contract in the KHL is no more than 50 mil roubles before tax (580000$ after tax), so we may just give him 1 mil to play for us.

I think that this is a really very interesting exercise in exploring what a restructure around Eichel would look like, but I agree with @RazWild that ultimately, the cost is too high (Comment #5). And I wouldn't worry too much about the chances of landing a future top-6 C in the draft (Comment #6) because you never know what the future will bring. Remember where Barzal and Larkin (to mention two guys whose names have already come up in this conversation) were drafted. I still think that there's the possibility of a big deal involving Dumba and one or both of those late firsts this year.

Sabres would hopefully want more quality so I’d assume sacrificing the 2021 1st and Khusnutdinov for Rossi would be okay

That was my offer last week with a Sabres fan but he insisted Sabres needed another 1st. Either way I consider either offer to be reasonable. I can see where a actual GM would get gun shy on a deal though.
I really want Eichel in Minnesota but the price scares me, it'll be interesting to see it play out. If I were a betting man I'd say Rangers get him. Sabres get a package of Zibanejad, Kakko, one of the Rangers top prospects and some package of draft picks that should add up to the value of a top 10 pick.