So he is the future captain?
- K-man25

IDK, I am thinking no captain this year. Coleman might be a dark horse for the job.

So he is the future captain?
- K-man25

Well I honestly dont think you can even offer it to him unless he extends & commits to the team. Just wanted to show how the Obrien pulled crap out of his arse & how quick it becomes the narrative. Wonder if the same as these Gaudreau reports now, because I heard they were close to an extension. Although some of these stupid contracts for these D men is getting insane & causing players to pause. Something has got to give with these contracts. How many players can make $9.0 mill on a team. A lot of guys that are perennial 5.0-$6.0 mill per players are going to get squeezed out. I see a riff in the union looming with the small amount of haves & the many have nots.

I haven’t weighed in on free agency due to vacation and waiting for the zadarov contract to drop but as far as Coleman goes I get the same feeling I did with markstrom, perhaps a year longer and half a mill more than you’d want but overall not bad which considering I was more satisfied than most with markstrom’s season it isn’t a negative at all. Also I’m optimistic that in a larger role here his production will increase.

While we may not have the star power of the “true” contenders I think our top 9 is more than capable of doing some damage and I wouldn’t discount lindholm’s ability to be a 1C, especially with two elite wingers and backed by a decent middle six.

As far as eichel goes it appears that the top suitors (NYR, ANA, MIN, VGK) aren’t willing to give up even close to what it should take to get him. I found the reports of NYR not willing to give up Schneider and Vegas not willing to give up krebs laughable, especially given Vegas doesn’t have any other grade A futures to give up. All of this together appears to be trending into the price being lowered into a ballpark more suitable for us.

While I’m still aware of the potential for this team to implode into a top 5 selection and subsequent rebuild the moves made over the past year appear to have moved us closer to at the very least maintaining mediocrity. Wether or not we are a jack eichel away from contending is another debate in itself but even if we’re not he’s still young enough to grow with the team and what ever futures we don’t move to get him.

So with all that said yes I think we should re-enter talks and see how competitive of an offer this is:

Monahan*
Valimaki**/Dube
Pelletier/Zary
2022 1st (top 2 protected)

*Has a NTC and will likely need to be a trade and flip to another team in order for him to waive
** Buffalo is filled with young LD and may not be super interested

If that doesn’t get him well like I said before I do like the depth in our top 9 anyways.

Durnell Nurse to sign an 8 yr 74 + mil contract. The 9.2 mill/year is insane. He is not good defensively..His overall value would be fair at $4.5 mill and that is high too. The market is getting out of whack with big contracts to S Jones, Pelech, Nurse

Am I wrong. Is Nurse worth anywhere near that? This is K Holland handing out the big dollars. He is a veteran GM, whom built the Detroit Red Wings into a strong team for a ten year run

Please enlighten if I am wrong to say Nurse is now vastly overpaid. Should Bouchard and Broberg, even Samorukov and Lagesson develop, it will be hard to pay another young dman. Barrie would have to go.

Bouchard.is ready to graduate and get 14 TOI as a third pair. Keith for a couple years then hope prospects can make the grade as average bottom pair dmen: that must be the game plan. Nurse's salary dictates the allocation of only so much more dollars among dmen, and it is a few mill per year less due to the extravagently paid Nurse.
- jhawk59

He played up to #1D quality for most of last year but it appears Holland severely confused that for him being an elite Dman that you pay that kind of money to. Considering his season I was expecting 7-8 which I thought would have been an overpay but it seems like his agent baited Holland into think he’s in the same territory as werenski, hamilton, makar (which he’s not) and he doesn’t have the reputation Jones does for being a really good but not elite D.

It does make me happy though we have hanifin and andersson locked up long term as these contracts are going to have long term repercussions around the league.

I haven’t weighed in on free agency due to vacation and waiting for the zadarov contract to drop but as far as Coleman goes I get the same feeling I did with markstrom, perhaps a year longer and half a mill more than you’d want but overall not bad which considering I was more satisfied than most with markstrom’s season it isn’t a negative at all. Also I’m optimistic that in a larger role here his production will increase.

While we may not have the star power of the “true” contenders I think our top 9 is more than capable of doing some damage and I wouldn’t discount lindholm’s ability to be a 1C, especially with two elite wingers and backed by a decent middle six.

As far as eichel goes it appears that the top suitors (NYR, ANA, MIN, VGK) aren’t willing to give up even close to what it should take to get him. I found the reports of NYR not willing to give up Schneider and Vegas not willing to give up krebs laughable, especially given Vegas doesn’t have any other grade A futures to give up. All of this together appears to be trending into the price being lowered into a ballpark more suitable for us.

While I’m still aware of the potential for this team to implode into a top 5 selection and subsequent rebuild the moves made over the past year appear to have moved us closer to at the very least maintaining mediocrity. Wether or not we are a jack eichel away from contending is another debate in itself but even if we’re not he’s still young enough to grow with the team and what ever futures we don’t move to get him.

So with all that said yes I think we should re-enter talks and see how competitive of an offer this is;

Monahan*
Valimaki**/Dube
Pelletier/Zary
2022 1st (top 2 protected)

*Has a NTC and will likely need to be a trade and flip to another team in order for him to waive
** Buffalo is filled with young LD and may not be super interested

If that doesn’t get him well like I said before I do like the depth in our top 9 anyways.
- RedC21

As long as our doctors sign off, I would make that deal for JE too and I don't think there are any better offers out there.
Tre has us in a good position to make a blockbuster (2C/Mony or 1 LW JG, young NHL players Dube/Vali/Mackey, A level prospects Pelletier/Zary/Coranato, 1st round picks and cap space) and if not Buff maybe someone else!

As long as our doctors sign off, I would make that deal for JE too and I don't think there are any better offers out there.
Tre has us in a good position to make a blockbuster (2C/Mony or 1 LW JG, young NHL players Dube/Vali/Mackey, A level prospects Pelletier/Zary/Coranato, 1st round picks and cap space) and if not Buff maybe someone else!
- DEDDIE

The Buffalo ask is nuts. You wonder if we are better off throwing some assets to a player where the other team may be more motivated or reasonable. What about Leafs with Marner. Just wondering what kind of pieces it would take to get him. He's 1 RW, which we are desperately needing. I bet they would consider a Tkachuk straight up, may even extract a 2nd out of them for the cap space they gain. Just spitballing.

As long as our doctors sign off, I would make that deal for JE too and I don't think there are any better offers out there.
Tre has us in a good position to make a blockbuster (2C/Mony or 1 LW JG, young NHL players Dube/Vali/Mackey, A level prospects Pelletier/Zary/Coranato, 1st round picks and cap space) and if not Buff maybe someone else!
- DEDDIE

I think the impasse most teams are at with the sabres is that they don’t want to give up a player that might wind up close to eichel level. But if we (we meaning treliving) learned anything from the stone rumours regarding valimaki we should know by now that these young prospects may barely pan out how we have hoped. While I would want some protection on this pick because Wright/lambert/savoie seem like good players there’s every bit of chance that anyone selected right after them turn into another same Bennett or Sean monahan.

Long story short we shouldn’t get hung up on the potential of some futures because even if they hit their ceiling none of them will likely be as good as eichel

The Buffalo ask is nuts. You wonder if we are better off throwing some assets to a player where the other team may be more motivated or reasonable. What about Leafs with Marner. Just wondering what kind of pieces it would take to get him. He's 1 RW, which we are desperately needing. I bet they would consider a Tkachuk straight up, may even extract a 2nd out of them for the cap space they gain. Just spitballing.
- Kevin R

Eichel is worth the sabres ask but the seller doesn’t dictate the market. While they don’t have to move him, if they were inclined to do so we would be competing against the other teams offering as highest bidder and with the rumours about what other teams are or aren’t willing to give up I would say that they’re very beatable.