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sabresparaavida

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Forum: Armchair-GMAug. 4, 2023 at 10:50 p.m.
Forum: Armchair-GMJul. 28, 2023 at 3:35 p.m.
Thread: SABRES Looking Good Great D pickups last couple of years
<div class="quote"><div class="quote_t">Quoting: <b>gretzkyghosts</b></div><div>Stadel
sabresparaavida
Knuckl3s
Great conversations all excellent POV.
Let me begin, it should be obvious that neither Clifton nor Johnson are top pairing defensemen as they both signed slightly less than 2nd pairing contracts .
Let's cut tp the chase, last season Bryson, Clague, Pilut and Fitzgerald played 132 games.
This season those 132 games will be played by Stillman, Clifton and Johnson.
So that trio does not need to be top pairing just better than AHL performance and that is clearly evident.
If you wish since Samuelsson, Power, Dahlin and Jokiharju all played over 21 min/gm, Johnson and Clifton are upgrading our third pairing TOI performance who played only 14 min/gm.</div></div>

And regardless of whether Clifton or Jokiharju prove to be great 2nd pairing guys, I expect our 3rd pair to get more ice time than last year. This will let our 4th defenseman play a bit less which should help with playing consistently and be better overall.
Forum: Armchair-GMJul. 27, 2023 at 9:32 p.m.
Thread: SABRES Looking Good Great D pickups last couple of years
<div class="quote"><div class="quote_t">Quoting: <b>Stadel</b></div><div>If you mean through the draft then yeah, absolutely. That tends to happen when you draft 1st overall twice. If you mean through trades or FA, they are 0 for 2 with Jokiharju and Lyubushkin. Johnson is a thousand years old and isnt very good.

<strong>I genuinely like clifton so it pains me that he's being forced into a top 4 role.</strong> He could be a terrific third pair option that takes the pressure off of the top 2 pairs. Alas, can't have anything nice.</div></div>

Jokiharju came from a different regime, Kevyn Adams didn’t bring him in, he just didn’t move him. I think he’s a solid 3rd pairing defender at this point, but a lot of defenseman hit their peak late so he may yet become a second pairing guy.
Clifton was brought in for 3 years because Kevyn Adams viewed him as someone who has 2nd pairing potential. He had terrific analytics last year playing with Lindholm for Boston when injuries caused the need for it. He was the 5th defenseman in TOI/G on the best regular season team in history. It’s definitely not a stretch to think he could be a 4th defenseman.
Owen Power may not yet be an elite defenseman, but he was a high end 2nd pairing guy last season, and Clifton brings a hard nosed defensive game that complements Power’s skill set well. What Clifton lacks in size/reach, Power compensates for. Power lacks some physicality (yet), but Clifton brings a heavy game. Clifton also produced well when playing with Lindholm, and playing with Power should help that element as well.
I think the 2nd pair mainly will depend on Power’s development. He had a great rookie year, if he seed a sophmore slump (Seider), the 2nd pairing will struggle. If he improves upon last year, it will be a high end 2nd pairing.
Forum: Armchair-GMJul. 27, 2023 at 6:03 p.m.
Thread: SABRES Looking Good Great D pickups last couple of years
<div class="quote"><div class="quote_t">Quoting: <b>Knuckl3s</b></div><div>What's scary is how many hockey fans overlook how weak their right side is because they're so distracted by Power and Dahlin on the other side</div></div>

<div class="quote"><div class="quote_t">Quoting: <b>Knuckl3s</b></div><div>What's scary is how many hockey fans overlook how weak their right side is because they're so distracted by Power and Dahlin on the other side</div></div>

Part of why the right side is overlooked is because Dahlin is more than capable of playing on the right side, with much of his best hockey coming from there. Samuelsson and Power are good top 4 defenseman, and the right side has good depth (Jokiharju, Lybushkin, Clifton, and Johnson). Joki and Clifton are both very good for a 5 and each still has potential to become a solid fourth defenseman (Joki has flashed and is young still, and Clifton played well up the lineup for Boston this past year.
Forum: Armchair-GMJul. 26, 2023 at 12:40 p.m.
Forum: Armchair-GMJul. 25, 2023 at 9:52 p.m.
Thread: next years contracts
<div class="quote"><div class="quote_t">Quoting: <b>littlejerryseinfeld</b></div><div>Paying mittelstadt 25 million bucks to play on the 4th line.</div></div>

<div class="quote"><div class="quote_t">Quoting: <b>littlejerryseinfeld</b></div><div>Paying mittelstadt 25 million bucks to play on the 4th line.</div></div>

I think it is unlikely that Casey ends up on the fourth line anywhere near that soon, but if he does it will be in name only. Kyle Okposo was on our “4th” line last year, but was 6th among forwards in TOI/G. Most people think of Quinn/Peterka being on the second line most of the year, but Quinn was tied for 9th with Krebs in TOI/G, and Petereka was 11th. Mitts was thought of as a 3rd liner much of the year (aside from injuries where he moved up), but was 5th in Toi/g, solidly second line.
Forum: Armchair-GMJul. 25, 2023 at 2:23 p.m.
Forum: Armchair-GMJul. 25, 2023 at 11:01 a.m.
Thread: Rivalry trade
<div class="quote"><div class="quote_t">Quoting: <b>Caufield</b></div><div>If your confident in your goalie tandem, than fair enough</div></div>

It’s not a matter of being confident in a goalie tandem, it’s about not getting fleeced in a trade. Goalies are not worth that much anymore. Norris has looked like a solid 2C when healthy, and 2Cs are worth more than goalies in trades.
Having a top 5 goalie may be more impactful than a solid 2C, but goalies are extremely fickle and often perform wildly different in different systems and from year to year. Just look at the goalies who switched teams last year, Husso had near identical stats to Swayman, then was bad last year. Campbell who played well for Toronto in 2021-2022 stank up 2022-2023. Georgiev who looked like a bad backup at best in 2021-2022 was a good starter in 2022-2023.

Swayman would likely be noticeably worse if he switched teams. He’s coming from a team that’s been among the best in their own end for the past couple years, and the best team in regular season history last year.
Forum: Armchair-GMJul. 9, 2023 at 10:56 p.m.
Forum: Armchair-GMJul. 7, 2023 at 12:43 p.m.
Forum: Armchair-GMJul. 2, 2023 at 6:59 p.m.
Thread: Hear me out
<div class="quote"><div class="quote_t">Quoting: <b>GreatWhiteNorth</b></div><div>2 very important arguments here:

1. If Nylander signs long term for $9m aav then it’s in Toronto. That’s right around where they’re hoping to get him so they wouldn’t trade him knowing that he’s sign for it.

<strong>2. Let’s say Nylander doesn’t want to be in Toronto and would sign $9m long term in San Jose instead.. that’s worth a hell of a lot more than Karlsson at $4m retained</strong>. At that point Toronto isn’t adding Niemela, or picks. San Jose is the team adding significant assets to make the deal happen.</div></div>

Your second point seems way off to me here. If Nylander doesn’t want to sign in Toronto, they are not dealing from a position of strength. In that case, that’s definitely not worth way more than Karlsson with 4m retained. And the Sharks in no way would trade for Nylander if he didn’t come with an extension, they are not close to competitive now, and so would be dealing Karlsson for young players/futures.