GDT: 2018 Free Agent Frenzy, coverage now on TSN/Sportsnet/NHL Network

[TheImpatientPanther]

James Neal must be asking for the moon to not be signed by now. A pretty tame free agency so far, besides the Tavares signing.

5yrs x $5.75 million in CGY. Longer term lowered the $$ but he's overpaid by a fair bit. Not bad but that 4th and 5th year may sting a bit as his production has been in decline last couple years.

 

[Dread Clawz]

Nice, stay out west

 

[Beezeral]

5yrs x $5.75 million in CGY. Longer term lowered the $$ but he's overpaid by a fair bit. Not bad but that 4th and 5th year may sting a bit as his production has been in decline last couple years.

That contract is going to start hurting immediately.

 

[GrumpyKelly]

Treliving swinging for the fences again, so much turnover in that roster.

I don't know about Neal. He's probably the only guy from LV's roster that didn't have a career year so it's not like he's trending. And when things go south the guy just quits. Not a big fan although when he's on, he's a good player.

 

[TheImpatientPanther]

That contract is going to start hurting immediately.

Depends on who he plays with but definitely will be a contract they regret at some point.
Should have went after a cheaper version of Neal, like Grabner

 

[Beezeral]

Depends on who he plays with but definitely will be a contract they regret at some point.
Should have went after a cheaper version of Neal, like Grabner

He had 44 points playing on an offensive juggernaught VGK. People here are melting down over Bjugstad only getting 49 and getting paid 4.6ish million

 

[Dread Clawz]

He had 44 points playing on an offensive juggernaught VGK. People here are melting down over Bjugstad only getting 49 and getting paid 4.6ish million

The grass is always greener

 

[SoupyFIN]

The value for ror is pretty good, I just don't know why they were in such a rush to get rid of him.

It's gonna be a long time until Buffalo is competitive, we don't have to worry about them pushing for a playoff spot for at least the next couple seasons.

The value isn't good at all, when the return is a top9 center that hasn't reached 40pts in seven years, an okay top9 winger, a good prospect (best part of the trade for Buffalo IMO), a late first and a late second. ROR is the best player in that deal by a country mile and it's not even close. That's an awful return for a perennial Selke contender and one of the best 2Cs (borderline 1C) in the league, money & potential chemistry issues aside.

On top of all this, ROR is still in his prime, while Berglund & Sobotka are starting to exit their prime and the draft picks (Thompson included) won't help them until like 3-4 years from now. This is exactly the type of one step forward one step backwards move that has caused Buffalo to remain standing still for the past 6-7 years.

Eriksson/Ladd/Lucic/Backes/Okposo/Oshie/Johnson/McDonagh.
They are still getting the term, younger guys like Kane got a 7 year deal as well.

edit, + Neal.

Okposo and Lucic were under 30 when they signed.

There's still some, but not as many as there used to be.

 

[ShootIt]

Wonder if Pegula ok'd the trade purely not to pay ROR his bonus.
Only reasonable excuse for that return

 

[IceManCat]

RoR return was a joke

 

[Haj]

We need to buy out Haley and Mckenzie. Can't see how they fit into our roster.

 

[Beezeral]

We need to buy out Haley and Mckenzie. Can't see how they fit into our roster.

Tallon already said he isn't doing it.

 

[Haj]

Tallon already said he isn't doing it.

We're going to lose games in a tough division because our 4th lines going to be garbage again.

 

[Jean Luc Discard]

We're going to lose games in a tough division because our 4th lines going to be garbage again.

lol. The 4th is just there to give a breather for the other three lines. A better 4C would be nice but that's gravy. MacK fails, just add Borg into the middle and balance the TOIs evenly between him and McCann.

 

[iam76]

Mamin should not be sitting this year...

 

[Haj]

lol. The 4th is just there to give a breather for the other three lines. A better 4C would be nice but that's gravy. MacK fails, just add Borg into the middle and balance the TOIs evenly between him and McCann.

On good teams, the fourth line is there to win defensive zone faceoffs and switch possession against difficult matchups.

Mckenzie was bad except on the PK, and even then he wasn't as good as he was in the past. Haley is literally the worst forward in the NHL.

No way they should be getting ice time over Mamin and McCann

 

[Beezeral]

On good teams, the fourth line is there to win defensive zone faceoffs and switch possession against difficult matchups.

Mckenzie was bad except on the PK, and even then he wasn't as good as he was in the past. Haley is literally the worst forward in the NHL.

No way they should be getting ice time over Mamin and McCann

exactly. When your fourth line has to start their shifts in the offensive zone because you are terrified of what will happen when the puck is in defensive zone, you have a problem.

Haley and Mackenzie are #1 and #2 on the team in offensive zone starts of the every game forwards.

 

[Dread Clawz]

The value isn't good at all, when the return is a top9 center that hasn't reached 40pts in seven years, an okay top9 winger, a good prospect (best part of the trade for Buffalo IMO), a late first and a late second. ROR is the best player in that deal by a country mile and it's not even close. That's an awful return for a perennial Selke contender and one of the best 2Cs (borderline 1C) in the league, money & potential chemistry issues aside.

On top of all this, ROR is still in his prime, while Berglund & Sobotka are starting to exit their prime and the draft picks (Thompson included) won't help them until like 3-4 years from now. This is exactly the type of one step forward one step backwards move that has caused Buffalo to remain standing still for the past 6-7 years.

Bergland and Sobotka are the throw-ins yes, but they are still useful bottom six players on a Buffalo team that doesn't have many good bottom six forwards. Thompson is an A prospect. He's what we hope Noel will be in two years. On top of him they get a mid first and a second. I don't think st. Louis will go that deep in the playoffs and they definitely aren't finishing any higher than third in the central. As of now, Nashville, Winnipeg, vegas, San jose, and Colorado are still better than them, and they still have to prove they are better than la and Minnesota.

It's not great value, but it's not far off. Equal value would be if they got another prospect like thompson in the deal.

That's why I said I don't undere stand why they rushed this, they clearly didn't get a hockey deal, but as far as a futures based deal it's not bad.

 

[Jean Luc Discard]

It's not great value, but it's not far off. Equal value would be if they got another prospect like thompson in the deal.

I'm probably in the very narrow minority but I think the Sabres got a pretty good return when they got two 1st round picks, a 2nd round pick and couple of players that are not cap dumps exactly but can be put on the ice for a 50-60pts guy. It's a win-win, especially when the players they got can be traded for additional picks. Besides, the guy stated during the previous season that he wasn't so thrilled about playing losing hockey so the trade could've been on the Hoffman-side. The Sabres are in a much better situation where they have some guys of the better players in the league on their roster when it's not their time to be a good playoff team. Good hockey mgmt by Botterill.

 

[Jean Luc Discard]

So.....who is taking this guy?

Not us.

 

[Ratsreign]

The grass is always greener

".....where the dogs are shitting"

 

[ucanthanzalthetruth]

The trade was weird for me, not sure if my perspective was off. I thought the sabres were going to be terrible, but people seem to think with ROR they were a sleeper. I like the approach. Full 76ers. They're gonna have another 3 1st rounders next draft.

That's why I said I don't undere stand why they rushed this, they clearly didn't get a hockey deal, but as far as a futures based deal it's not bad.

ROR's bonus was due by 11:59 pm on the 1st, that's why.

 

[Jean Luc Discard]

I reckon that Karlsson will be traded to the Jets since they were preparing to sign Stastny. An offer with Trouba, Roslovic, Lipon a 1st and a 2nd should be enough for EK and Bobby Ryan.

 

[MintyFresh88]

We're going to lose games in a tough division because our 4th lines going to be garbage again.

I’m hoping Haley and Mack only play half the time or less, to be honest. It should become pretty clear fairly quickly that guys like Vatrano, Mamin, Malgin, etc. give us a better chance to win, but at the same time, it doesn’t hurt having a couple experienced guys available to insert in and out throughout the season. The only issue I see is the fact that Mack has the C. I don’t see how you can healthy scratch your captain regularly so we’ll see if anything changes regarding that. If he’s the 4C consistently, I don’t think it’ll cost us games. He’ll likely only be playing like 8-10 mins between 5v5 and PK.

 

[Gentle Man]

He is back to New York.

Hah!

This likely means they are getting De Haan