BillsFan4 Posted July 27, 2019 Author Posted July 27, 2019 https://www.mtvuutiset.fi/artikkeli/suomalaistahti-rasmus-ristolainen-vaihtaa-seuraa-nhl-ssa/7493272?fbclid=IwAR3VVkpuzji6gC7deVeJ45_PQhsKzMd9_t4JHaaccQt6dF74te_Qo86fENE#gs.rxhd2d article from a Finnish news source (MTV it’s called) that I am told by numerous Finnish friends is very reliable and wouldn’t report this unless it was true. They said it’s kind of the equivalent of NHL.com - a site that only reports real, confirmed news. Apparently the title of the article is “Ristolainen switches to a new NHL team”. (according to my Finnish friend). He says there isn’t any real details on the trade in the article. no team is named but this MTV claims to have received confirmation that a deal involving Ristolainen is very close and will happen before the season starts. Take it with a grain of salt, but I just figured I’d share.
K-9 Posted July 27, 2019 Posted July 27, 2019 33 minutes ago, BillsFan4 said: https://www.mtvuutiset.fi/artikkeli/suomalaistahti-rasmus-ristolainen-vaihtaa-seuraa-nhl-ssa/7493272?fbclid=IwAR3VVkpuzji6gC7deVeJ45_PQhsKzMd9_t4JHaaccQt6dF74te_Qo86fENE#gs.rxhd2d article from a Finnish news source (MTV it’s called) that I am told by numerous Finnish friends is very reliable and wouldn’t report this unless it was true. They said it’s kind of the equivalent of NHL.com - a site that only reports real, confirmed news. Apparently the title of the article is “Ristolainen switches to a new NHL team”. (according to my Finnish friend). He says there isn’t any real details on the trade in the article. no team is named but this MTV claims to have received confirmation that a deal involving Ristolainen is very close and will happen before the season starts. Take it with a grain of salt, but I just figured I’d share. 1
Cripple Creek Posted July 28, 2019 Posted July 28, 2019 3 hours ago, BillsFan4 said: https://www.mtvuutiset.fi/artikkeli/suomalaistahti-rasmus-ristolainen-vaihtaa-seuraa-nhl-ssa/7493272?fbclid=IwAR3VVkpuzji6gC7deVeJ45_PQhsKzMd9_t4JHaaccQt6dF74te_Qo86fENE#gs.rxhd2d MTV Sports reports that defender Rasmus Ristolainen will not continue in the Buffalo Sabers next season. The 24-year-old Ristolainen is the No. 1 pick for the Sabers Round of Summer 2013. He has played in the club for six seasons. MTV Sports reports that a player trade is being built around Ristola in North America. The star defender still has three years left on his contract. He signed a six-year contract with Sabers in the summer of 2016, earning him $ 5.4 million (about $ 4.86 million) in annual salary. There have been several rumors of transferring from Ristolainen over the summer and the player trade is now in the pipeline. Buffalo has not survived the playoffs in the previous eight seasons, so Ristola has no playoff experience. He has played from season to season in the backfields of Buffalo in big minutes. Ristolainen has scored 42 + 368 = 194 in 424 NHL matches. He has broken the 40-point mark in the last four seasons. 1
BillsFan4 Posted July 29, 2019 Author Posted July 29, 2019 The deal doesn’t kick in until next year, but they’re going to Have To do something... They still have to sign Point this offseason. How much he gets will determine a lot. They probably have to make a move this year, but definitely by next year for sure. https://www.capfriendly.com/teams/lightning looking at 2020, they have $14M in cap space (but that doesn’t include Brayden Point extension, so that number will definitely be smaller), but that’s with only 13 players on their NHL roster (14 if you count Point). They need 21. Plus they have some good RFA’s that will need deals in 2020. - Cernak - Cirelli - Sergachev The likeliest trade candidates (Palat, Gourd, Johnson) all have NTC’s and took more team friendly deals to stay in Tampa (no tax, cup contender). Ill definitely be interested to see what they do. Go get Point somehow, Botterill! lol
Alaska Darin Posted July 29, 2019 Posted July 29, 2019 28 minutes ago, BillsFan4 said: $9.5M AAV I don't think ANY goalie in this era is worth that kinda coin. These contracts are going to cause a lockout...almost guaranteed.
JohnC Posted July 30, 2019 Posted July 30, 2019 8 hours ago, Alaska Darin said: I don't think ANY goalie in this era is worth that kinda coin. These contracts are going to cause a lockout...almost guaranteed. Florida went out and spent a lot of money on Bobrovsky who was a free agent. Was he worth the contract? To Florida he was. If the organization believed that he was going to be a difference maker then he was worth the money to them. The same reasoning applies to Tampa with their expensive signing of Vasilevskiy. The Lightening are certainly a cup contending team. If they believe that he is going to provide elite goaltending on a consistent basis then he is worth the contract. The amount of the contract isn't the challenging issue. As you imply it is the length of the contract that is the big issue. If you make a bad judgment on a player (regardless of position) with a long contract that will be debilitating. There are a variety of ways to build a good team. If an organization decides that their goalie is going to be one of their anchor players for a long time then I don't see a problem using a larger portion of one's cap for a superior goalie.
BillsFan4 Posted July 30, 2019 Author Posted July 30, 2019 I don’t blame them. IMO He was pretty awful and may have set that team backs years in his short time on the job. I followed him in Minnesota because he interviewed for the Sabres job and i guess he really, really wanted the job. Who knows, maybe it would have turned out different here since we were rebuilding. He reportedly wanted to start a rebuild in Minnesota but wasn’t allowed to by ownership (Leipold feels the team is a few tweaks away from contending...yikes! lol). https://thehockeynews.com/news/article/predators-paul-fenton-very-interested-in-sabres-gm-job PREDATORS’ PAUL FENTON VERY INTERESTED IN SABRES GM JOB ‘Just in case the Buffalo Sabres didn’t already know, Paul Fenton is interested in being their next GM. Very, very interested. In a business where most people tiptoe around their prospects for future employment, the Nashville Predators assistant GM has done everything but hire a sky writer and fly it over the First Niagara Center.’
Nextmanup Posted July 30, 2019 Posted July 30, 2019 On 7/29/2019 at 12:08 PM, Alaska Darin said: I don't think ANY goalie in this era is worth that kinda coin. These contracts are going to cause a lockout...almost guaranteed. There is probably going to be no hockey when the current CBA expires one way or the other. The NHL loves to shaft fans in that manner. I would honestly miss 3 consecutive seasons with the mother of all labor wars if it would result in the elimination of guaranteed contracts for NHL hockey players. That has ruined the game, at least in the regular season.
Alaska Darin Posted July 30, 2019 Posted July 30, 2019 46 minutes ago, Nextmanup said: There is probably going to be no hockey when the current CBA expires one way or the other. The NHL loves to shaft fans in that manner. I would honestly miss 3 consecutive seasons with the mother of all labor wars if it would result in the elimination of guaranteed contracts for NHL hockey players. That has ruined the game, at least in the regular season. I don't have a problem with guaranteed contracts but they need to max at 4/5 years, not 7/8. It's ridiculous that the Sabres are going to be paying Skinner that kinda coin in his mid-30s. 20 hours ago, JohnC said: Florida went out and spent a lot of money on Bobrovsky who was a free agent. Was he worth the contract? To Florida he was. If the organization believed that he was going to be a difference maker then he was worth the money to them. The same reasoning applies to Tampa with their expensive signing of Vasilevskiy. The Lightening are certainly a cup contending team. If they believe that he is going to provide elite goaltending on a consistent basis then he is worth the contract. The amount of the contract isn't the challenging issue. As you imply it is the length of the contract that is the big issue. If you make a bad judgment on a player (regardless of position) with a long contract that will be debilitating. There are a variety of ways to build a good team. If an organization decides that their goalie is going to be one of their anchor players for a long time then I don't see a problem using a larger portion of one's cap for a superior goalie. I know why they do it...I just don't agree with the strategy. In the analytics era, goalies are among the most replaceable players so it makes little sense to give either that amount or that term. I'd bet good money that they end up regretting that contract.
plenzmd1 Posted July 30, 2019 Posted July 30, 2019 5 minutes ago, Alaska Darin said: I don't have a problem with guaranteed contracts but they need to max at 4/5 years, not 7/8. It's ridiculous that the Sabres are going to be paying Skinner that kinda coin in his mid-30s. Agreed..NBA i think max at 5? maybe 4 i am not sure. But what is the NHL willing to give up for the players to agree to that? And in terms of Skinner..are the Sabres still not paying Erhoff??
JohnC Posted July 30, 2019 Posted July 30, 2019 38 minutes ago, Alaska Darin said: I don't have a problem with guaranteed contracts but they need to max at 4/5 years, not 7/8. It's ridiculous that the Sabres are going to be paying Skinner that kinda coin in his mid-30s. I know why they do it...I just don't agree with the strategy. In the analytics era, goalies are among the most replaceable players so it makes little sense to give either that amount or that term. I'd bet good money that they end up regretting that contract. If a long termed contracted goalie is instrumental in helping your team be a Cup winner or a seriously contending team for an extended period of time then the signing would be worth it. There are ways to mitigate the downside of a long term contract such as front loading, buyout clauses and simply being judicious about who you offer the extended contracts to. If a player is over 30 and signs one of those bonanza and extended contracts then the risks increase. However, if a player such as Jack signs one of these deals when he is 22 then you are actually getting a bargain because the salary scale typically goes up each year. No one is forcing an organization to sign these types of contracts. It's not a bad strategy for some teams to not sign their star free agent and instead allow the player to leave and then use that salary amount to procure a player or two to add to the roster. In essence the decision to pay out or not has as much to do with cap management and analytics. No one is forcing an organization to pay out to keep a player or bring in a player. If the deal doesn't make sense for you then you go in a different direction. It happens all the time.
BillsFan4 Posted July 31, 2019 Author Posted July 31, 2019 $800k is obviously a bit low, but $2.65M seems way too high to me. Hoping for something around $1-1.3M.
K-9 Posted July 31, 2019 Posted July 31, 2019 13 minutes ago, BillsFan4 said: $800k is obviously a bit low, but $2.65M seems way too high to me. Hoping for something around $1-1.3M. I’ll predict it comes in at $1.7m. 1
shrader Posted July 31, 2019 Posted July 31, 2019 On 7/29/2019 at 11:38 AM, BillsFan4 said: That picture reminds me of shrunken head Beatlejuice. It's amazing what goalie pads can do.
plenzmd1 Posted July 31, 2019 Posted July 31, 2019 20 hours ago, JohnC said: There are ways to mitigate the downside of a long term contract such as front loading, buyout clauses Nada..neither one of those things are readily available in the NHL. You can pay the player $60M as a signing bonus and $1M salaries for a 6 year deal, cap hit is still $11M per year for life of the contract. Buyouts are regulated by the CBA..and if you front load the amount of salary cap relief becomes so small compared to say the $11M cap hit you have above.
JohnC Posted July 31, 2019 Posted July 31, 2019 (edited) On 7/31/2019 at 3:03 PM, plenzmd1 said: Nada..neither one of those things are readily available in the NHL. You can pay the player $60M as a signing bonus and $1M salaries for a 6 year deal, cap hit is still $11M per year for life of the contract. Buyouts are regulated by the CBA..and if you front load the amount of salary cap relief becomes so small compared to say the $11M cap hit you have above. If a team feels that a contract is so onerous there is a simple solution: Don't sign the player and use your cap money for other players. The players (for the most part) who are signing these very extended and expensive contracts are the elite players in the league. If an organization doesn't believe that in the long run the value is there for them then they should not sign the player at such a premium cost. No one is being compelled to do anything that they don't want to do. You make decisions and then live with the consequences. That's life. Edited August 2, 2019 by JohnC spelling
JohnC Posted August 1, 2019 Posted August 1, 2019 The attached link is a BN mailbag responses to hockey questions by reporter Lance Lysowski. Much of the piece centers on the Risto issue and what his value is on the market. The over-riding question hovering over this team is whether it has improved enough to move ahead of teams that have also improved? https://buffalonews.com/2019/08/01/buffalo-sabres-nikita-gusev-jimmy-vesey-marcus-johansson-nhl-analysis-2019/?utm_campaign=things-to-know&utm_source=home&utm_medium=
BillsFan4 Posted August 1, 2019 Author Posted August 1, 2019 His arbitration hearing was today. I am guessing this was signed before the hearing? His last contract paid him like $750k so this is actually a small pay cut. Wonder what the contract dispute was over. Maybe he wanted a 1 way deal (his salary in the minors is only like $70k or something like that)?
BillsFan4 Posted August 2, 2019 Author Posted August 2, 2019 https://www.tsn.ca/ltir-a-lingering-issue-in-cba-negotiations-1.1345265 LTIR a lingering issue in CBA negotiations Quote The point of the LTIR clause (Article 50.10-50.10) was to offer relief in the event a player on a club became unfit to play for at least 24 calendar days and 10 NHL regular season games. The spirit of the clause is to offer teams a degree of temporary relief when an unexpected injury occurs. But as more and more teams catch on to the gaps in the current CBA, we see more strategic player acquisition. Consider the Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators for a moment. (continued in link) At least the leafs are using the LTIR rules to field the most competitive team they possibly can. Quote On the other end of the spectrum are the Senators, a team barreling towards the lowest degree of financial commitment available. After acquiring Ryan Callahan from the Tampa Bay Lightning earlier this week – the same Callahan who has all but confirmed his retirement from the league due to injury – the Senators have a whopping $15.3-million in LTIR. Depending on where RFA Colin White comes in, that LTIR number will be about half of what they are spending on their entire forward group and 20 per cent more than their entire defensive group to open the 2019-20 season. The senators on the other hand are a disgrace. Eugene Melnyk simply should not own an NHL team. He clearly can’t afford it. The cap floor is roughly $61M this season. The senators are only paying $44(ish)M in salary this year. They aren’t even trying to be subtle about it. Literally every move they’ve made this offseason has been about saving money. Every contract they’ve acquired has a cap hit higher than the salary owed, and in some cases there’s a drastic difference. (Like Callahan, who has a $6M cap hit but the Sens will only owe him like $800k or something like that). Every deal they’ve made sent out more real $$ than they took in. And what sucks the most is that they even put the importance of saving money over not helping direct division rivals. (it’s happened at least 3-4 times in the last couple/few years) Twice this offseason alone they helped direct division rivals out of cap jams. And they didn’t even make them pay a premium to do it! The Sens did it on the cheap because it saved them money. I legitimately feel bad for Ottawa fans. Melnyk is such a joke. 1
BillsFan4 Posted August 2, 2019 Author Posted August 2, 2019 (edited) McCabe is out of his damn mind if he thinks he’s worth anything near $4.3M. lol Buffalo’s offer is way more in line with the comparables. Hopefully he’s just shooting way high, hoping the arbitrator settles somewhere in the middle. If he was actually awarded that amount in arbitration, I believe the Sabres can just walk away (which I would 100% do. I hate losing assets for nothing but He’s just not worth that type of money) edit - nope. Just looked. The walk away number is $4.397, so he’s just under it. Edited August 2, 2019 by BillsFan4
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