Unfortunately that just isn't happening. The Sabres roster is too talented, and every year post all-star weekend, teams around the league settle in to a steady grind, where the intensity drops a bit and teams conserve energy and play a less aggressive style for several weeks.
Take out all restrictions of contracts and ignoring team needs/structures? Hanifin I would say.
Matt Moulson (who was entirely a product of Tavares) should've taught us that lesson over a decade back.
Agree. I don’t mind trading for Rakell at all. Just not for a top end prospect.
I do not know what you think your are going to get for this franchise better than a player similiar to Zucker (in Rackell), and a competent replacement for Cozens in McCann (C/W) who either come with no NTC or might waive.
McCann is not very good in the center, so if you are going to get him you want to use him as a top 6 LW. And we still need the top 6 C. It's very dangerous and risky to go with Thompson and Kulich as your top 6 C, it's similar to Adams' style
you yourself have eloquently stated so well how little there is out there for center. You can't have it both ways.
I would try all the options and there are a lot of them actually, not all of them will give a 100% guarantee that they will be a good top 6 C, but we need this, since our top 6 C are not very reliable for various reasons.
I wouldn't view McCann or Bjorkstrand as options for the Sabres since they both have 10 team No Trade lists.
Wrong tactics, you do not use all the opportunities to improve the team. You call each player you are interested in and ask if he has Buffalo on the list and is he willing to give up this clause to come to Buffalo. Only in this way can you use all the potential opportunities to improve the team. Most will refuse, but a few may agree, for various reasons.
There was some chatter that McCann has some ties to Lindy and that could lead to him possibly waiving. But we know that didn't help in summer (like we were sold) much either so who knows.
Yes, it’s just as exhausting as seeing the amount of ways of saying “Kevyn sucks” after every single loss and he should be fired.
I would say top 5. Martone is also a difference maker and McQueen looks solid.
Which McQueen are you talking about? Because Roger has played all of 8 games this year and hasn't laced up since Oct. 12. He's got injury concerns the likes of Cayden Lindstrom. I would hope they stay far away from that.
Yeah that's where I'm at on Rakell. For my money, the Sabres have just 2 forwards who would be playing in a top-6 role on an actual contender: Tage and Tuch. That's it. That's the whole list. Finding a third forward to round out our top line and insulate some of the kids in the middle-6 would be huge for this team. Ideally, that line would be supplemented with a center who plays a 200 foot game or a gritty winger. But if that's not available, we shouldn't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. We need to find someone else who can complete our top line in any way, shape, or form.
