Sabres and the Pominville Conondrum

Yatzhee

Registered User
Aug 5, 2010
8,810
2,316
There is no denying Pominville benefits from playing with Skinner and Eichel.
But it was reported by 2 former 2 team mates of Pominville (Andrew Peters, Craig Rivet) that he showed up at camp and this season in the best shape they've ever seen him.
He'll be 36 yrs old at the end of this season with his contract up.

If this line (I hear them being called "The Flying J's here in Buffalo now. Jeff, Jack, Jason) can continue an even balanced consistency in confidence, chemistry and production throughout this season, what does GM Jason Botterill do? Does he re-sign Pominville to an extension, is so, how long given age and the youth currently developing in Rochester?
Skinner is also on the last year of his deal and is 26 yrs old. If Botterill re-signs Skinner, which I believe he will after the deadline to an 8 yr high dollar deal, would that force the Sabres to go to an ELC young winger contract to offset cap implications?

Many scenario's obviously, but the main question remains, what happens to Pominville if this line keeps production consistent throughout the season?
 

ThatGuy22

Registered User
Oct 11, 2011
10,511
4,178
He's over 35, so he's eligable for bonuses on 1 year deal.

Go year by year with 3 million base and another 3 to 4 million in possible bonuses of varying difficulty to hit.
 
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Elvs

Registered User
Jul 3, 2006
12,271
4,640
Sweden
I'd even argue that prime Pominville was the most underrated goal scorer of his era. Three 30+ goal seasons and another four 20+ goal seasons is impressive considering he was always a bit of a one trick pony. He's barely ever deked a goalie in his career. Everytime he just pick a spot and snipes it home.



The last goal in this video might be the only time he ever deked a goaltender, if you can call that a deke even. I challenge to you find another deke goal by him. I swear he doesn't have more than three of them in his career.
 
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57special

Posting the right way since 2012.
Sep 5, 2012
47,622
19,461
MN
as someone who is nostalgic, it's nice to see the likes of Zach Parise and Jason Pominville having this kind of start to the season.
Poms is just getting old.

Parise's decline was all about his back pain(disc degeneration) that past couple of years, which came near to disabling him, let alone allowing him to play well on the ice. Parise is getting old, also, but he might eke out a couple of good years as long as his back holds out.

As far as the OP....no problem at all. Offer Poms a 1/3M or a 2/5M deal. He will be a decent 3rd liner, or even a 4th. 2.5M is fine, especially in these days of escalating caps. I can't see him demanding more...he's a reasonable guy, and has made his money.
 
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Thorton02

Registered User
Feb 6, 2009
1,831
660
Poms is going to fall of hard in the second half of the season. The best Sabres fans can hope for is that other people like Reinhart, Middlestat and Nylander figure out how to be significant contributors while Pominville is riding this fountain of youth.

There's no doubt he's had a very good career and is playing some of his best hockey right now, but if you believe he's going to keep this up onto next year, you probably also believe Bogosian has finally gotten past the injury bug.
 

Royal Thunder

Frolunda Mode
Feb 21, 2012
4,406
3,426
It's really not that big of a conundrum. He's been very good but it's not like we are suddenly gonna have to pay him 5 million, nor is he someone we can't afford to lose if he prices himself out of Buffalo.
 

BillNy

Registered User
Jun 20, 2018
477
198
Uhh i don't think "guy who clearly likes playing in Buffalo and is old as hell having a great contract year" is a conundrum. He's put up the kind of underlying numbers in his career that it isn't shocking he's lasting a long time, and those two factors probably suggest he won't cost a ton to retain. I love to make fun of Buffalol, but they'll have a veteran who is still good on a bargain contract as Mittlestadt and Dahlin and Nylander and Thompson develop, and as they have to re-sign Jeff Skinner. That seems like the opposite of a conundrum. Lord knows the Leafs had a lot less issues if Patrick Marleau had come at a discount and was, uh, still good. Sabres made some mistakes that felt obvious as they were making them, but Botterrill or however it's spelled seems good. Still can't see them making the playoffs this year, but the organization is way less rudderless than prior years.
 

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