Buffalo Sabres & NHL 2020-2021

[BillsFan4]

 

mildly surprised they didn’t (idiotically) protect Girgensons over Asplund... lol.

 

Hopefully Adams has a deal in place not to lose Will Borgen. Other than him I don’t care who Seattle takes from our exposed player list. Taking Skinner would be amazing but it’ll never happen. At least not without Buffalo throwing in a big sweetener.

 

available players:

 

Drake Caggiula (F)

Jean-Sebastien Dea (F)

Cody Eakin (F)

Steven Fogarty (F)

Zemgus Girgensons (F)

Andrew Oglevie (F)

Kyle Okposo (F)

Tobias Rieder (F)

Riley Sheahan (F)

Jeff Skinner (F)

C.J. Smith (F)

Will Borgen (D)

Brandon Davidson (D)

Matt Irwin (D)

Jake McCabe (D)

Colin Miller (D)

Casey Nelson (D)

Michael Houser (G)

Carter Hutton (G)

Dustin Tokarski (G)

 

If anyone’s curious Here’s the protected/exposed list for every NHL team:

https://media.nhl.com/public/news/15205

Edited July 18, 2021 by BillsFan4

[Beast]

Seriously, what is the infatuation with this Borgen guy? A 24 year old defenseman that couldn't be a regular on the worst team in modern hockey history?

 

He's not nearly as valuable as people make him out to be.

Edited July 18, 2021 by Beast

[PastaJoe]

Former Sabres not protected: Derek Grant, Brendon Guhle, Ryan Miller, Taylor Hall, Nikita Zadorov, JT Compher, Jonas Johansson, Nathan Gerbe, Cliff Pu, Mikhail Gregorenko, Mark Pysyk, Paul Byron, Eric Stall, Evan Rodrigues, Chad Ruhwedel, Marco Scandella, Wayne Simmonds, Zack Bogosian, Jimmy Vesey, Conor Sheary, Nathan Beaulieu
 

Former Sabres protected: Nic Deslauriers, Zack Kassian, Cal Peterson, Marcus Foligno, Joel Armia, Evander Kane, Ryan O’Reilly, Tyler Myers

[shrader]

I understand the recent expansion team reasoning, but Vegas finished tied for the Presidents’ Trophy this year. They should be included in the draft too. 
 

So they’re one of the top teams in the league and they also get to keep their full roster. 

[TBBills]

4 hours ago, shrader said:

I understand the recent expansion team reasoning, but Vegas finished tied for the Presidents’ Trophy this year. They should be included in the draft too. 
 

So they’re one of the top teams in the league and they also get to keep their full roster. 

NHL won't do things that are logical.

[TBBills]

It doesn't matter who get taken from the Sabres that is the good thing about this, being the worst team in the NHL has it's benefits.

Edited July 20, 2021 by TBBills

[shrader]

I was dumb enough to look at a mock expansion draft yesterday on NHL.com.  It's the only one I've looked at.  It had the Kraken taking Tokarski.  I had to clean the coffee off my monitor.

[ChevyVanMiller]

40 minutes ago, shrader said:

I was dumb enough to look at a mock expansion draft yesterday on NHL.com.  It's the only one I've looked at.  It had the Kraken taking Tokarski.  I had to clean the coffee off my monitor.

I read one where they took Cody Eakin. Who gets paid to write such nonsense?

[4merper4mer]

2 minutes ago, ChevyVanMiller said:

I read one where they took Cody Eakin. Who gets paid to write such nonsense?

I wish I could find one that says they'll take Skinner.

 

I did see one on Youtube that mulled the possibility of Okposo going which I found astonishing.  I think it will be Borgen or Miller.

[ChevyVanMiller]

16 minutes ago, 4merper4mer said:

I wish I could find one that says they'll take Skinner.

 

I did see one on Youtube that mulled the possibility of Okposo going which I found astonishing.  I think it will be Borgen or Miller.

I think it’s certain to be one of those two or, possibly, Girgensons. Don’t forget that Botterill was the one that signed him to a contract twice his worth on the open market.

[Pete]

please take Okposo 🙏

[BillsFan4]

Sabres expansion pick is one of the only ones that hasn’t leaked yet.

Guess it’s easier to keep under wraps when you only have like 3 people working for the front office... 😂

[Jauronimo]

2 minutes ago, BillsFan4 said:

Sabres expansion pick is one of the only ones that hasn’t leaked yet.

Guess it’s easier to keep under wraps when you only have like 3 people working for the front office... 😂

Which flavor of ***** you want to eat is not a decision to take likely.  

[BillsFan4]

 

the only guy I didn’t want to lose, so I’m not surprised Seattle felt the same (that he was the only player worth taking).

 

 I followed his development for years. Was finally going to get to see him in the NHL this year. Guess not. He probably would’ve been in the NHL a year+ ago if not for Stupid botterill trading for a pile of crappy veteran nhl defenseman. 
 

He’s not waiver exempt though, so if Seattle waived him at any point Buffalo can just claim him (we have #1 priority).

Edited July 21, 2021 by BillsFan4

[4merper4mer]

1 minute ago, BillsFan4 said:

 

the only guy I didn’t want to lose, so I’m not surprised Seattle felt the same (that he was the only player worth taking).

Were there rules on how the positions were protected or did teams just follow the same formula?  Borgen was certainly more protectable than friggin Mittestadt.

[BillsFan4]

29 minutes ago, 4merper4mer said:

Were there rules on how the positions were protected or did teams just follow the same formula?  Borgen was certainly more protectable than friggin Mittestadt.

7 forwards, 3 defenseman and a goalie.

 

or 8 total players and a goalie.
 

I wouldn’t have wanted to lose Mittelstadt. I thought he was playing some good hockey last season. He finally looks like he’s coming into his own. 
 

Sabres are super thin on players with top 6 C potential too. If they trade Eichel and Reinhart, then Mitts and Cozens are pretty much the only 2 left with top 6 potential, and that includes our prospect pipeline. 
 

 

What will piss me off is if they now end up trading Ristolainen for a crap return, like 3rd or 4th round pick (or something worth less than having a young, NHL ready right shot defenseman already on the roster to replace him). Would’ve rather just left him exposed over Borgen if that’s the case. But I heard buffalo’s asking for a 1st + prospect for him. Hopefully they get something decent in return for him. 

Edited July 21, 2021 by BillsFan4

[Jauronimo]

1 minute ago, BillsFan4 said:

7 forwards, 3 defenseman and a goalie.

 

or 8 total players and a goalie.
 

I wouldn’t have wanted to lose Mittelstadt. I thought he was playing some good hockey last season. He finally looks like he’s coming into his own. 
 

Sabres are super thin on players with top 6 C potential too. If they trade Eichel and Reinhart, then Mitts and Cozens are pretty much the only 2 left with top 6 potential, and that includes our prospect pipeline. 
 

 

What will piss me off is if they now end up trading Ristolainen for a crap return, like 3rd or 4th round pick or something. Would’ve rather just left him exposed over Borgen if that’s the case. But I heard buffalo’s asking for a 1st + prospect for him. Hopefully they get something decent in return for him. 

Agreed on Mitts.  I thought Risto was playing his best hockey before Covid.  Then he came back and looked lost again positionally.  I am now totally onboard with dealing Ristolainen but that old article about the trade for Risto to the Flames being scrapped because his stats are a "black hole" has me pessimistic on the potential return.

 

https://flamesnation.ca/2019/11/30/burke-flames-halted-trade-talks-on-ristolainen-based-on-analytics/

[4merper4mer]

12 minutes ago, BillsFan4 said:

7 forwards, 3 defenseman and a goalie.

 

or 8 total players and a goalie.
 

I wouldn’t have wanted to lose Mittelstadt. I thought he was playing some good hockey last season. He finally looks like he’s coming into his own. 
 

Sabres are super thin on players with top 6 C potential too. If they trade Eichel and Reinhart, then Mitts and Cozens are pretty much the only 2 left with top 6 potential, and that includes our prospect pipeline. 
 

 

What will piss me off is if they now end up trading Ristolainen for a crap return, like 3rd or 4th round pick (or something worth less than having a young, NHL ready right shot defenseman already on the roster to replace him). Would’ve rather just left him exposed over Borgen if that’s the case. But I heard buffalo’s asking for a 1st + prospect for him. Hopefully they get something decent in return for him. 

I disagree about Mittlestadt..and Thompson too….but understand your point.  Mitts has top 6 potential on the Sabres I suppose but is 4th line at the absolute most on a real team.  Agree on Risto; we need a good return.

[K-9]

23 hours ago, Pete said:

please take Okposo 🙏

Slowposo is here to stay, I’m afraid. Love his heart and leadership, but he hasn’t been the same since his hospitalization in 2017. He’s also suffered a couple more concussions since then and needs to retire. He’s young and set for life with a beautiful family. Time to simply enjoy that. 

1 hour ago, BillsFan4 said:

 

the only guy I didn’t want to lose, so I’m not surprised Seattle felt the same (that he was the only player worth taking).

 

 I followed his development for years. Was finally going to get to see him in the NHL this year. Guess not. He probably would’ve been in the NHL a year+ ago if not for Stupid botterill trading for a pile of crappy veteran nhl defenseman. 
 

He’s not waiver exempt though, so if Seattle waived him at any point Buffalo can just claim him (we have #1 priority).

Looking at the Dmen the Kraken selected today, I have Borgen on the outside looking in on that group; no better than the 7 or 8 Dman. At best, he will see minimum ice time as the extra man. Wouldn’t be surprised if they tried sneaking him thru waivers. Then again, I can see Seattle trading some of the players they took today as well. 

[K-9]

1 hour ago, Jauronimo said:

Agreed on Mitts.  I thought Risto was playing his best hockey before Covid.  Then he came back and looked lost again positionally.  I am now totally onboard with dealing Ristolainen but that old article about the trade for Risto to the Flames being scrapped because his stats are a "black hole" has me pessimistic on the potential return.

 

https://flamesnation.ca/2019/11/30/burke-flames-halted-trade-talks-on-ristolainen-based-on-analytics/

I wouldn’t be surprised if Risto ended up staying this season. Word is Granato really likes him as a player. He doesn’t have the greatest hockey sense, but his analytics don’t tell the whole story, either. He’s played top minutes against top opponents with crap support since he came into the league. I don’t offer that as a defense of Risto, but rather as a way of suggesting that Risto in a less pressurized role with a better supporting cast, would have better analytics. He can be a pain in the ass to play against as we’ve seen over the years.