2020 NHL Offseason Thread

[KennyBanyeah]

so with that cap his gone, they are SOOOOOO far under the floor.
they may need to add a sweetener to take Ericksson from us

They don't actually save much cap space so it doesn't make much difference in an Eriksson deal, which I think WILL happen.

 

[forty_three]

Wouldn’t mind taking a stab at him.

Buyout now makes huge financial sense, and if the rumors of going after Laine are true AND with Dubois to sign, it makes some sort of sense.

Buying him out now only costs 440k for the next 3 years. And if no one wants him in any proposed deals... Guy's a great defensive center, but he just can't shoot and score since Tom Wilson scrambled his brains.

 

[dash]

 

[puckhead]

 

[BGDave]

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

Only $300,000 less AAV than Marleau had last year (and in a much worse financial scenario) and all they had to throw in was a second.

Last summer was fucking terrible for Dubas, man.

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

Meanwhile, Rangers are loaded. First overall, another first rounder, $20 mil in space, DeAngelo, Strome and Georgiev their only important RFA’s, still can buy out Hank, Hart finalist on the roster, good young 1G coming along, last year’s second overall pick developing...nice position to be in.

 

[Nasty_Magician]

If the Devils don't make 5 of these deals I will be pissed. The next 2 years are the sweet spot for us. Lots of cap room, no huge contracts to hand out for at least 2 years. Accumulate the picks/prospects now while you can. Having a ton of cap room and doing nothing with it makes absolutely no sense.

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

 

[thedddd]

and

Dustin Byfuglien Unlikely To Play Again

It appears as if UFA defenseman Dustin Byfuglien doesn't have any interest in playing next season despite interest from several teams.

www.prohockeyrumors.com

 

[dash]

No more Haggling over money...

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

Bobby awakens thread

 

[dash]

Bobby awakens thread

That's all it took for Eichel to start trending on Twitter. Doesn't Bobby Mac know that with great power comes great responsibility?

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

That's all it took for Eichel to start trending on Twitter. Doesn't Bobby Mac know that with great power comes great responsibility?

I really think Buffalo's got one chance left to do right by Eichel or he's gone and my guess is that is more of the conversation that was had - hey guys, this is really it, get me some post-season time or trade me.

They just need so much and don't have much to trade with other than cap space. Even if they made some progress next season it's still incredibly long odds to get in.

So if NYR is offering 1st overall they maybe did the math, realized that nobody with that draft capital and ambition to contend is ever likely to be in that position again and had a few conversations. I think any GM in the same shoes would do that.

 

[sabresfaninthesouth]

I really think Buffalo's got one chance left to do right by Eichel or he's gone and my guess is that is more of the conversation that was had - hey guys, this is really it, get me some post-season time or trade me.

They just need so much and don't have much to trade with other than cap space. Even if they made some progress next season it's still incredibly long odds to get in.

So if NYR is offering 1st overall they maybe did the math, realized that nobody with that draft capital and ambition to contend is ever likely to be in that position again and had a few conversations. I think any GM in the same shoes would do that.

Even that's a mirage really. It looks like we have a lot of cap space but we also only have 11 guys under contract next year (not counting minors/juniors). Some of the unsigned guys include Reinhart and Olofsson, and there's only one more year on Dahlin's entry-level deal.

Oh, and we've also got $1.25M of bonus overages next year.

There's a couple decent prospects in the pipe that would be playing on entry-level deals, but as you say, they're so far off right now that unless a guy like Cozens is putting up ROTY numbers, it's not gonna matter. Honestly, I wouldn't blame the guy at all for asking for a trade.

 

[dash]

lol

 

[KennyBanyeah]

Even that's a mirage really. It looks like we have a lot of cap space but we also only have 11 guys under contract next year (not counting minors/juniors). Some of the unsigned guys include Reinhart and Olofsson, and there's only one more year on Dahlin's entry-level deal.

Oh, and we've also got $1.25M of bonus overages next year.

There's a couple decent prospects in the pipe that would be playing on entry-level deals, but as you say, they're so far off right now that unless a guy like Cozens is putting up ROTY numbers, it's not gonna matter. Honestly, I wouldn't blame the guy at all for asking for a trade.

They need to figure it out quick. It really SHOULD be doable. How may teams have a 23 year old top 10 C in the league and a 20 year old #1 stud defenseman (he will be this year)?

They're going to have to be creative and it might mean trading Reinhart for 2 good roster players or similar moves but their core should be workable. Eichel and Dahlin alone is pretty much a top notch core starter kit.

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

They need to figure it out quick. It really SHOULD be doable. How may teams have a 23 year old top 10 C in the league and a 20 year old #1 stud defenseman (he will be this year)?

They're going to have to be creative and it might mean trading Reinhart for 2 good roster players or similar moves but their core should be workable. Eichel and Dahlin alone is pretty much a top notch core starter kit.

TB had Stamkos and Hedman and other than that outlier run they made to the ECF playing god-awful trap hockey TB was pretty crap for 5 years after getting Stammer. The difference is TB had stability at the top in Yzerman from 2010 on and he did very well at drafting and developing whereas Buffalo couldn't go a global pandemic and freeze in operations without somehow finding a reason to switch strategies. Then there's all the problems sabresfaninthesouth mentioned.

It's doable, because anything is. The question is whether it's doable in short enough time to keep Eichel from giving up and demanding out and I just don't think that's can happen without every star aligning for them (which, hey, crazier things have happened).

 

[KennyBanyeah]

TB had Stamkos and Hedman and other than that outlier run they made to the ECF playing god-awful trap hockey TB was pretty crap for 5 years after getting Stammer. The difference is TB had stability at the top in Yzerman from 2010 on and he did very well at drafting and developing whereas Buffalo couldn't go a global pandemic and freeze in operations without somehow finding a reason to switch strategies. Then there's all the problems sabresfaninthesouth mentioned.

It's doable, because anything is. The question is whether it's doable in short enough time to keep Eichel from giving up and demanding out and I just don't think that's can happen without every star aligning for them (which, hey, crazier things have happened).

Not considering the Boucher run, Hedman made it to the finals in his sixth season, and has been to 4 out of 6 ECFs since. That would be starting four seasons from now. That's not unreasonable. They need someone to fix things but other than Skinner there's nothing anchor like there (Okposo will likely go away but still only has 2 years after this one). They need to start finding the Cirelli/ Palat / Johnson / type players to fill in some gaps. They also need to get better at diagnosing bad team syndrome and not pay for guys who inflate their stats because no one else on the team is worthy of offensive chances.

Honestly with a little common sense there isn't much reason the Sabres couldn't be a perennial playoff team in a couple of years. They just need to calm down and make a few smart moves.

 

[forty_three]

They need D and a goalie more than a winger.

The good news is we have all of those.