We are practically on the same page Hank but I set up my defense pairs based on I didn't think Henri jokiharju should be paired with dahlin. He needed a stronger Defender. I put Robert Hagg in there in large part because I wasn't sure what we're getting from him I'm not too familiar. I posted this on Sabres Mafia yesterday and yes I caught a lot of Hell about Thompson but my reply was give it till November 1st if not the end of training camp to prove me right. Unless Thompson start using his size to his advantage this is my prediction

Bjork cozens hinostroza
Olafsson mittlestadt ruotsalainen
Skinner girgenson okposo
Asplund Eakin Hayden
SCRATCH Thompson caguilla
D
Dahlin miller
Butcher pysyk
Hagg jokiharju
SCRATCH Bryson/Samuelson.camp loser ahl
G
dell/tokarski/upl
Anderson
Losers for g1 go to rochester.
Sign dubnyk? Only FA left

I only made one tiny at it and that was to add Samuelson to my scratches because I actually forgot all about him
- Jetsabre24

He has driven me mad so far in his career with his twirling and his giveaways but I think Meatballs will be tasked with trying to make something of him.

I want to see his 8'4" frame on the PK with his ridiculous reach. He's never going to be Chara physically but he can still use his God given tallness for the forces of good

Probably be top line winger in FL, at least to start. But Q likes to mix things up, so we’ll see how they line up opening night.
Verhaeghe-Barkov-Reinhart
Huberdeau-Bennett-Duclair (maybe Tippett).

The opinions here vary so widely on Samson, I can’t wait to see him play and see which player he is.
- Ratsreign

Sam is very good and is never injured.

He will put up 70+ points next year if he gets PP time and top-line minutes. 30/40/70

I'm pissed he's gone.

Probably be top line winger in FL, at least to start. But Q likes to mix things up, so we’ll see how they line up opening night.
Verhaeghe-Barkov-Reinhart
Huberdeau-Bennett-Duclair (maybe Tippett).

The opinions here vary so widely on Samson, I can’t wait to see him play and see which player he is.
- Ratsreign

I'm curious what the various opinions are that you've heard?

In a flat cap era I wouldn't want to retain money on Eichel unless we were paid handsomely for it.

Which is why taking a player with a year or two left on their deal is a better situation. Helps get you to the cap floor, and won't be on the books for 5 years
- Stripes77

I agree with you , that's the standard way of doing business. Especially for 2 years , which is clearly the minimum build.

We would need a young superstar type player for a 7 million $ eichel.

Byfield
Hughes
Dach
Laferierre

The guys that come in as "cap dumps" have been miserable getting moved to buffalo.

Most cap dumps are veteran former good/ great players who lost a step or four damaged in some way shape or form.

I want donnie to be the leader of this group of young players. Okposo too 😐

The salary cap is expected to rise a million dollars per season over the next few seasons, which means the cap for the 22-23 season will be $82.5M.

Not a huge increase, but at least it's beginning to go up again.

Sam is one year younger and has five 20 goal seasons vs Buch’s two
- rangerdanger94

Nah, stats aren't important. Supply and demand 😀

I just learned that the position the player plays is more important and not how well they play the position itself.

My north American friend enlightened me

Probably be top line winger in FL, at least to start. But Q likes to mix things up, so we’ll see how they line up opening night.
Verhaeghe-Barkov-Reinhart
Huberdeau-Bennett-Duclair (maybe Tippett).

The opinions here vary so widely on Samson, I can’t wait to see him play and see which player he is.
- Ratsreign

I'm not a sam reinhart fan, but stats do not lie.

Expect 25ish goals and 60 points if he gets top line / pp minutes as he did his whole career in buffalo.

Expect him to be in the line up every game, injured or not

Expect a few passing highlight goals

My knock, as a season ticket holder:

Slow, unexciting, inconsistent game to game. He lacks effort at times, has bad attitude, and definitely rode eichel for some easy points.
Plays small, lacks compete , easy to play against and takes some big hits (often).

That said, Buffalo never helped surround sam with toughness or room to play his game. Not everyone needs to be a tough guy, but Florida could be a great fit for sam.

We have been a train wreck and sam dressed and played big minutes for most of it....

Nah, stats aren't important. Supply and demand 😀

I just learned that the position the player plays is more important and not how well they play the position itself.

My north American friend enlightened me
- Boss34

Sam had great stats and great analytics.

Sam had great stats and great analytics.
- Pegullaville

Yes

I thought sam had a good year overall.

The return was very mediocre. As I predicted.

Yes

I thought sam had a good year overall.

The return was very mediocre. As I predicted.
- Boss34

What would have been great is if they signed Sam long term to be a core piece for the retool and let Skinner walk to UFA like I was begging for.

The writing was on the wall when Adams bridged him again. He should have been traded at that point or signed long term.

What would have been great is if they signed Sam long term to be a core piece for the retool and let Skinner walk to UFA like I was begging for.

The writing was on the wall when Adams bridged him again. He should have been traded at that point or signed long term.
- Pegullaville

I don't know what one necessarily has to do with the other. They could have signed both but for whatever reason chose to kick the Sam decision down the road. The Skinner signing felt very much like the match of Vanek's offer sheet.

I'm not a sam reinhart fan, but stats do not lie.

Expect 25ish goals and 60 points if he gets top line / pp minutes as he did his whole career in buffalo.

Expect him to be in the line up every game, injured or not

Expect a few passing highlight goals

My knock, as a season ticket holder:

Slow, unexciting, inconsistent game to game. He lacks effort at times, has bad attitude, and definitely rode eichel for some easy points.
Plays small, lacks compete , easy to play against and takes some big hits (often).

That said, Buffalo never helped surround sam with toughness or room to play his game. Not everyone needs to be a tough guy, but Florida could be a great fit for sam.

We have been a train wreck and sam dressed and played big minutes for most of it....
- Boss34

That hold bolded paragraph is so incredibly wrong its not even funny.

Its been proven time and time again that Reinhart with Eichel/without Eichel is the same player.

Plays small. Only plays net front on the power play and takes a beating every game.

Bad attitude. Donnie Granato said the player that surprised him the most was Reinhart with how much of a leader he was.

Sam Reinhart is about as consistent as it gets.

His longest pointless draught in the last 3 years is 7 games on a terrible hockey team.

On a good hockey team id expect Reinhart to be around a 70-75 point player.


I get you are rong a lot, but this might be teh worst one yet.

Sam Reinhart is about as consistent as it gets.

His longest pointless draught in the last 3 years is 7 games on a terrible hockey team.

On a good hockey team id expect Reinhart to be around a 70-75 point player.
- ImThatGuy

I suspect that Sam is going to be the same player on a good or bad team (and that is meant as a compliment). I still think he is only a first line player if paired with two people that can skate better than he can to drive play. That's always going to be the knock on him - he is a bit of a tweener in terms of which line he should be on. He would be a fairly expensive second line winger.

What would have been great is if they signed Sam long term to be a core piece for the retool and let Skinner walk to UFA like I was begging for.

The writing was on the wall when Adams bridged him again. He should have been traded at that point or signed long term.
- Pegullaville

I disagree.

Should have let both of them walk. Glad they traded sam obviously. I appreciate that he didnt give up last season, and didnt bring his value down , by opening his mouth.

Sam is not a guy you build around as a main piece.

There is a reason we finished last again: both sam and risto are a big part of our failures.

That hold bolded paragraph is so incredibly wrong its not even funny.

Its been proven time and time again that Reinhart with Eichel/without Eichel is the same player.

Plays small. Only plays net front on the power play and takes a beating every game.

Bad attitude. Donnie Granato said the player that surprised him the most was Reinhart with how much of a leader he was.

Sam Reinhart is about as consistent as it gets.

His longest pointless draught in the last 3 years is 7 games on a terrible hockey team.

On a good hockey team id expect Reinhart to be around a 70-75 point player.


I get you are rong a lot, but this might be teh worst one yet.
- ImThatGuy

Would you consider Florida a good hockey team?

If so, let's wager. He is not a 70-75 point player.

What's the bet?

"You are rong a lot" 😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀

Classic thatguy.

Okposo and a 7th for a future hall of fame goalie

Rong again

I disagree.

Should have let both of them walk. Glad they traded sam obviously. I appreciate that he didnt give up last season, and didnt bring his value down , by opening his mouth.

Sam is not a guy you build around as a main piece.

There is a reason we finished last again: both sam and risto are a big part of our failures.
- Boss34

Ok even if Sam wanted out still, I’m sure you get a better return for a player with term then one who could have arbitrated himself to UFA.

The one year deal they gave him all the leverage and led to the underwhelming return

Ok even if Sam wanted out still, I’m sure you get a better return for a player with term then one who could have arbitrated himself to UFA.

The one year deal they gave him all the leverage and led to the underwhelming return
- Pegullaville

I'll agree with you, if Sam's contract was a good contract.

That's why ufa risto's trade was so "impressive."
Rfa is more valuable than ufa right?

Risto is absolutely a more important player than sam.

You wanted to keep borgen and expose risto right?
Because he was the worst defenseman in the league....

I'll agree with you, if Sam's contract was a good contract.

That's why ufa risto's trade was so "impressive."
Rfa is more valuable than ufa right?

Risto is absolutely a more important player than sam.

You wanted to keep borgen and expose risto right?
Because he was the worst defenseman in the league....
- Boss34

No, I wanted to trade Risto for Ehlers two off seasons ago.

Hopefully Rosen becomes half the player Ehlers is

What would have been great is if they signed Sam long term to be a core piece for the retool and let Skinner walk to UFA like I was begging for.

The writing was on the wall when Adams bridged him again. He should have been traded at that point or signed long term.
- Pegullaville

The writing was on the wall when Captain Braindead bridged him the first time.

- Stripes77

I’m surprised to see that some had a negative opinion of reinhart.

I'll agree with you, if Sam's contract was a good contract.

That's why ufa risto's trade was so "impressive."
Rfa is more valuable than ufa right?

Risto is absolutely a more important player than sam.

You wanted to keep borgen and expose risto right?
Because he was the worst defenseman in the league....
- Boss34

I'm just happy we don't have to pay Risto 9M a year next year. That alone is worth it. Great he got what he did. Seemed like a generally good dude, wish him the best. But there really isn't denying that he was a top line talent with an ECHL level brain.

I’m surprised to see that some had a negative opinion of reinhart.
- joshs

He doesn't sign autographs so he's obviously a poop player

What would have been great is if they signed Sam long term to be a core piece for the retool and let Skinner walk to UFA like I was begging for.

The writing was on the wall when Adams bridged him again. He should have been traded at that point or signed long term.
- Pegullaville

In his last two contract years he was lousy to average early in the season before turning it on later in the season. Skepticism was warranted.

The salary cap is expected to rise a million dollars per season over the next few seasons, which means the cap for the 22-23 season will be $82.5M.

Not a huge increase, but at least it's beginning to go up again.
- kingcong39

That's after two years of stagnation. Great time for Sabres to be rebuilding