BillsFan4

I wasn’t even aware there was any talk of a potential deal. Glad the Sabres are (seemingly) holding firm on their offer. I’d MUCH rather bring Risto back than trade him for anything less than an ideal return. Hey, congrats on stealing Subban btw. What a great trade by Shero. That’s a savvy veteran GM taking advantage of a lower salary cap and a team’s desperation to clear cap space. I’m pretty sure the police were called though, so expect to be giving some type of statement in the coming days.... lol

You know Kitchens had to be talking about his time in Cleveland with Gregg Williams.... ?

lol if Tyler Myers gets $8M x 7yrs.

According to some of the draft analysts, yes. https://theathletic.com/1041814/2019/06/22/pronman-2019-nhl-draft-grades-for-all-31-teams/ I thought it was kind of a safe draft, outside of Huglen and the tall goalie they took in the 3rd. IMO they went with a lot of high floor players with less question marks (as opposed to high ceiling players that are a bigger gamble to turn into NHL players). 3 were over-agers. Nothing wrong with that with where the Sabres are at. They need their drafts to pan out more than most teams do. They’re desperate for good depth. I like their draft, but I don’t necessarily love it. One thing I did love is that they went with a number of guys who have high compete level and high motors. Guys who give 100% every second of every shift. The Sabres really need some guys like that. Grading NHL drafts the day after is a pointless exercise, though. I remember when the Senators drafted Erik Karlsson, there were a few people calling it a “garbage pick”. The Minnesota Wild got killed by local reporters for taking Jonas Brodin over Duncan Siemens. People killed Columbus for taking Pierre-Luc Dubois over Jesse Puljujarvi. There are tons of examples of like this. There is so much player projection involved in the NHL draft. It takes years to truly know how good a draft class is.

Good question(s). Darren Dreger and most of the legit insiders have all said that Buffalo would only trade Risto if it was a great return. So I’m hoping that’s true. But id be lying if I said I had complete faith that Buffalo won’t trade him for a questionable return. I’m still a bit worried Risto is this year’s scape goat. From what I’ve gathered from all the reports this offseason, it sounds like Risto was likely to be moved and then talks slowed down once they hired Krueger, with the thinking that he could fix Risto. So I guess we will see what happens.

He is easily a 2nd pair defenseman IMO. Here’s at an NHL analyst recently said about Risto’s situation - https://theathletic.com/1019893/2019/06/11/examining-15-potential-trade-targets-for-the-lightning-to-bolster-blueline/ Hes been put in a no-win situation his entire Buffalo career. He’s had crap for partners (Scandella and Pilut have been his 2 best defensive partners in his 6 year Sabre career (and he only p,Ayer with each for a short time). He’s consistently in the top 5-10:for minutes played in the entire NHL. He almost always faces the toughest competition - his QoC (quality of competition) stats are near the top of the NHL too. He is being used as a league wide top 5 d man instead of as a #2 or #3, which is what he is. If a team acquires him and then uses him properly, he’s going to make buffalo look foolish for ever trading him.

Another potential trade target off the board. Vegas has to move someone, though. They are already over the cap before this deal is even signed.

Not sure I buy this. It goes against everything else we’ve heard.

It was a joke, man.

Tyler Myers is set to meet with Vancouver tomorrow (tampering window opens tonight at midnight). I think Benning could end up offering him a crazy deal. He’s been going hard after a RHD all offseason. He seems to be feeling the heat, and now that he traded their 1st he will probably be even more desperate to improve. I can already see it.... Tampa Bay will be the last team left standing in the Risto sweepstakes and since they already solved their cap issues (for the most part), Botterill having lost his leverage will panic, end up caving in and selling Risto much cheaper than he should. Risto will then go to Tampa and thrive on a legit NHL team while winning the Cup + Conn Symthe + Norris. Then Sabres fans will start a GoFundMe campaign to buy a rocket and launch Botterill into the sun.... ?

Teams were planning on the cap being set at $83 to $83.5M. Instead it’s set at $81.5M. It doesn’t sound like that big of a difference, but it is to NHL GM’s. We saw Subban traded for peanuts just to gain some cap space. Hopefully Botterill is able to take advantage.

I believe with the trades, this is Buffalo’s last pick of the draft. Another over-ager. Went undrafted last year. 3rd over-ager they drafted this year.

Crazy cheap pickup for NJ. Subban has a bit of a down year by his standards but he was a Norris trophy finalist just 2 years ago. Santini was a 2nd round pick way back in 2013. He’s already 24. He’s played about 100 NHL games over the course of his career so far, but never more than 39 games in a season. He’s averaged about 35 games a season the last 3 years. He’s a bottom pairing guy with a bit of upside left (maybe...) and Davies was a 7th round pick in 2016. Im thinking Nashville has a good idea that they can sign Duchene, otherwise I don’t get why they’d be this desperate to clear Subban’s cap hit. I know they need to extend Josi but he has a year left. It really goes to show that there’s a huge premium being placed on cap space right now. I hope Botterill can take advantage of it, too. Also, if this is all good top 4 RHD are bringing in trades, please hold onto Risto!

Sabres trade up and pick Aaron Huglen. He scored a crazy goal in the Hlinka - https://www.eliteprospects.com/player/485574/aaron-huglen Corey Pronman’s scouting report - ranked #55

Sabres select Erik Portillo, 6’ 6” goalie https://www.eliteprospects.com/player/342286/erik-portillo

Kind of a big gamble by Jim Benning and I don’t really think JT Miller is worth it. Imagine if they miss the playoffs this year and next (a real possibility. They haven’t made the playoffs in 4 straight seasons now) and give Tampa a top 10 pick for JT Miller. Yikes!

Corey Pronman’s analysis of our picks - https://theathletic.com/1040981/2019/06/21/pronman-2019-nhl-draft-pick-by-pick-breakdown-of-the-first-round/

Watch/Listen to the first few minutes of the video. He has a skill set that the Sabres are sorely missing. We have a lot of perimeter players with sometimes questionable motors. He’s the opposite of that. lol I said earlier in the draft process that Cozens wasn’t my first choice. But the more I watch and read, the more I like him already. Kris Baker also helps sell me on him. I didn’t really follow any prospects that closely this season.

I think the holdup may be due in part to the uncertain salary cap ceiling numbers. Teams are nervous because it’s going to be lower than projected. Hopefully they’ll find out tomorrow. Usually it’s set by now.

Yeah, doing some quick reading on him, he may be further away than I first thought (I was just going by what McKenzie said after he was picked) Seems like kind of a safe pick, similar to Cozens. That was definitely a theme tonight. Nothing wrong with that. The Sabres need sure fire NHL players more than most teams. There was some high end talent left on the board though. Guys like Kaliyev and Lavoie and Hoglander. But they are higher risk picks with more question marks (but higher ceilings IMO).

Sabres pick Ryan Johnson with pick #31. Can’t say I know enough about him to really comment in depth. Projects to be a good top 4 defenseman who should be ready for the NHL sooner rather than later. That seemed to be a theme tonight. Both Cozens and Johnson should be ready for the NHL within a year or two.

Some really good talent still left on the board here with 1 pick to go. We should get a really good player at #31 if they stay on the consensus draft board.

Yeah I was really hoping the Habs would go a bit off board with their 1st round pick (again). I knew they’d take Caufield when he was still on the board, though. That’s their type of pick. Oh well. ? Love that Reinhart was at the draft. I honestly think he loved being a Buffalo Sabre more than any other player we have. He just loves it here and from everything he says and does you can tell he wants to be here a long time.