New York Rangers

Over Thought: The Miller Drama Endures

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Overthought is a semi-regular series that takes a look at some of the more interesting and notable tidbits shared by Elliotte Friedman in his weekly 32 Thoughts column. Each edition will feature some unique thoughts on the state of the Sabres or league as a whole before digging in on some of the notes from Freidman’s weekly column.

This week’s 32 Thoughts was a bit shorter than usual, so it’s not overflowing with threads to pull on, but three are still a few good tidbits. Friedman starts the column with a deep dive on the potential growth in the salary cap. He points out that not all of the league’s teams may be willing to spend up to a cap that’s north of $100 million per year, raising the question of what the league would do if they reach a cap ceiling that only a handful of teams would be willing and capable of spending to. 

Assume for a moment that figure it $110 million as Freidman suggests. If only a few teams spend to that limit, the league could quickly be back in a situation akin to the days before the 2004-05 lockout. If the league’s parity was threatened by the ever increasing cap, I’d like to know if the league would need to take action to either depress the cap ceiling or create another function to adjust for smaller revenue clubs. It’s a lot easier to come up with plans that help clubs be more competitive in the cap landscape – the proposed tax adjustment comes to mind – so I’ll be interested to see how this all develops. 

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Sabres, Adams Inaction in the Face of A Lost Season is Damning

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Tristan Jarry was the latest victim of the NHL waiver wire and the third notable move made by Pittsburgh Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas this year. Meanwhile, the team sitting last in the Eastern Conference has yet to make any meaningful change to their roster. 

The Penguins have struggled to keep their head above water this year, sitting five points out of a playoff spot while sporting a conference-worst -36 goal differential. After missing the playoffs last season, the Penguins are entering a transitional period as the glory years led by Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang wind down. Yet, despite their struggles to stay in the Eastern Conference playoff race, the Penguins and Dubas have taken action, bringing in Phillip Tomasino and dealing Lars Eller in November and now waiving Jarry after the netminder’s subpar play continued to haunt the team. 

The same cannot be said of Kevyn Adams and the Sabres, whose most notable accomplishments this season include a disastrous press conference, a 13-game losing streak and a dreadful loss a day after the owner joined the team on the road trip to reinforce the club’s belief in the roster. It’s become quite evident that the answer is, in fact, not in the room, yet Adams has not made a single change to the roster he constructed. 

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The Instigator Podcast 10.38 – Ramping Up to the Conference Finals

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We run down both the Eastern Conference Finals and Western Conference Finals now that the NHL’s second round is complete. We touch on the no speed limit Western Conference Final and the goaltending battle that looms in the east.

We also discuss the signing of Isak Rosen and how the Sabres might manage his development in Rochester or Sweden during the 2022-23 season.

The Instigator Podcast 9.8 – COVID Hits the Sabres

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The Sabres are facing a week-long postponement due to COVID protocols in the wake of their weekend series with the Devils. With New Jersey dealing with 14 players on the COVID list, it seems likely that the Sabres could see their list balloon as well. We discuss how the league’s decision to let the games go forward was extremely shortsighted and how the ripple effect from these suspensions could begin to wreak havoc on the league schedule. We also touch on Tony DeAngelo being waived by the Rangers along with the struggles the Sabres have had scoring at even strength.

The Instigator Podcast is supported by Manscaped. You can get 20% off and free shipping by using the code 2ITB at www.manscaped.com.

The Instigator Podcast 8.33 – Royally Fun First Round

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We’re playing catch up on this week’s episode after missing last week’s batch of news. So we run down the Sabres return to royal blue and the unveiling of their new uniforms. We touch on the Rangers lottery win, the qualifying round and the Amerks’ hiring of Seth Appert. The bulk of the episode is devoted to the first round of the NHL playoffs and how each of the series has shaped up.

Ranking the Potential NHL Lottery Winners

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The NHL’s second draft lottery drops tonight with the eight eliminated Stanley Cup Qualifier teams holding equal 12.5% odds to land the first overall selection.

Maybe it was just me, but the minute the league announced that they’d be using placeholder spots for teams in the qualifying round, I knew one would wind up winning a top three pick. That feeling of inevitability wasn’t due to suspicion of foul play or some sort of fixed lottery but simply from knowing this league has perfected over complicating practically everything.

In and of itself, awarding lottery odds to eliminated teams wasn’t a poor choice. Given the gift on hindsight, the league probably would’ve been smarter to do a single drawing with the original odds once the qualifying round was done. Splitting the lottery was an odd choice which really only opened the door for complaints from fanbases (and probably some GMs) around the league. It will only become more unpopular if one of the stronger teams in tonight’s drawing wins the first pick.

The drawing itself if rife with potential controversy. You can expect a wave of negative reactions if Toronto, Pittsburgh or Edmonton win this evening. Even the Rangers, fresh off picking second last year after some lottery luck, would be a fairly unpopular result. There are also some very obvious Sabres-related pitfalls that could come out of tonight. A Leafs win would be, let’s say, inconvenient. As would a Panthers win. Really any Eastern Conference win would create challenges for the Sabres. With that in mind, let’s rank the potential lottery winners based on how it could affect the Sabres and though the additional lens of my personal preferences. Continue reading →

Over-Thought: Playing Catch Up Once Again

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The intent of The OT is to run shortly after Elliotte Friedman’s excellent 31 Thoughts hits the web each week. That is not what happened with the most recent edition. Or the last one. So, once again this rundown of some of the juicier topics in the most recent 31 Thoughts is about a week late. Good stuff! Continue reading →

Over-Thought: Rumor Season is About to Hit Full Throttle

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Doing a breakdown of Elliotte Friedman’s 31 Thoughts is hardly an original venture but it was something I did every now and then for Dave Davis and The Buffalo Star. In an attempt to get some more content on the site I thought I’d resurrect this feature here at 2ITB for your reading enjoyment.

A primer, for those who may not be familiar with the practice: I’ll take a handful of topics from the most recent 31 Thoughts published by Sportsnet and offer up a few additional thoughts and opinions on the news of the week. The original text will be bold.

If you haven’t read this week’s edition yet, you can find it here.

  1. On Burakovsky: The Capitals have asked for a couple of mid-to-high round draft picks in exchange (seconds and thirds would be a good get) for him. That would give them more flexibility and assets to chase what they need. Even with a seven-game losing streak, absolutely no one is writing them off.

The Sabres haven’t been directly connected to Burakovsky yet but he’s better than at least five of Buffalo’s current wingers. If they plugged him into a top-six role, there’s reason to believe he’d surpass the production he’s had the last three years in Washington. He’d certainly be more effective than he’s been in Washington this year considering he’s struggled to crack the Capitals’ lineup.

That he’s been unable to cement a regular spot is disconcerting. He’s a quality player with elite skill, someone I’ve personally been a fan of going back to his time with the Erie Otters. However, he’s bordering on project territory and that’s not something I’d be too keen on seeing the Sabres take on. Luckily the expected price on Burakovsky is pretty low. A second and a third round pick would be pretty affordable and it could dip lower if his production stays stagnant leading up to the deadline.

If the Sabres could somehow leverage the Capitals to move Burakovsky for less than a 2nd and a 3rd (perhaps they’d like the added depth Nathan Beaulieu would offer along with a draft pick) I’d be very pleased with acquiring him. It’s a situation worth tracking as the opportunity to pair Burakovsky with a more aggressive deal to add young talent at center would represent a strong step towards remaining in the playoff conversation in 2018-19. Continue reading →

The Instigator Podcast 6.21 – Potential Trade Targets Cropping Up for the Sabres

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After the New York Rangers notified their fans that they’d be selling off big pieces of their roster and a few notable names hit the waiver wire, Chris and Tyler run down some of the names that will be hitting the market in coming days and weeks. We take a close look at a few players who have been mentioned in rumors who would fit well in Buffalo while also taking a closer look at what continues to ail the Sabres on the blueline.

Road to the Winter Classic Reax – Episodes two and three

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Because I can be a procrastinator at times and due to taking some vacation time around Christmas, I didn’t get a chance to offer up any sort of reaction to episode two of NBCSN’s Road to the Winter Classic.

My laziness was probably for the best though as episode two and three offered up improvements from episode two but maybe didn’t feature enough meat to justify a full review. So I’ll roll each of the last two episodes into a single blog post as we look ahead to Monday’s Winter Classic.

The first episode of Road to the Winter Classic really lacked the punch that the pay cable versions offered. Simply having to censor the show was going to limit some of the color the Winter Classic’s behind the scenes predecessors had; attempting to completely avoid any obscenities – which appears to be what NBCSN has chosen to do – takes away a majority of the locker room and on-ice content. Naturally, that’s typically some of the best stuff the show offers. Continue reading →