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Fair enough. Adams has been willing to trade younger core players for similarly aged players, when the team is out of it at the deadline or when the player makes it clear he doesn’t want to be a Sabre. Of course, for all I know he is working the phones daily trying to move Quinn and Samuelsson and a prospect or two for more experienced players.

This is very close to what I would go with. I actually really like the roster, from a talent perspective and from the angle of potential for future success. Of that roster though, how many players would you say have most likely already played the best hockey of their careers, or the best that is expected of them? I would say 5 or 6. Tuch, Zucker, Greenway, Danforth, Lyon. Maybe Thompson. Now do the same with the teams that made the playoffs last year. You need to get down to Montreal and Ottawa to get close. That’s great if we are still primarily focused on building for the future, and we are just hoping that this is the year we sneak into WC2. But it’s still a roster built largely on hope. If we are really serious about playoffs, this is the year to better balance the roster.

Actually, I was referring to Mittelstadt, Cozens and Peterka. And he would say all three (I just watched him say it in the case of Peterka) although he’s probably lying to himself in the case of Peterka.

I agree. I like all of those young players also. I’m not suggesting we dump them for futures. It’s time to move a younger player or two (or three) for a good veteran or two who can help us win now. This doesn’t have to be about sacrificing the future. A good GM can manage winning now while not forsaking the years to come.

This is year two of this argument. That the Sabres are not a group of kids on ELCs who nobody should have expectations for. You are right. They are not kids. But it remains that they will be one of the 2-4 youngest teams in the league. There is no question that they could all be transplanted to a playoff or contending team and play a meaningful role; in some cases they could play the very role on a contender that is expected of them with the Sabres. But collectively they lack age, leadership, and experience. Maybe this is the year where they reach a critical mass of key players reaching a point where skill overcomes collective youth and from here they are on their way. Maybe.

Yes. I’m referring to players who Adams would consider core players. And you are right, he traded Eichel, Reinhart, and Peterka. Now, which of those players did he decide to trade with the goal of being better in the moment?

The first part of your post was excellent but I have to quibble bit with this one: I can think of three absolute core players traded in the NHL over the past 5 years (Rantanen, Tkachuk and Eichel, and Adams traded one of them. They just don’t get traded unless GMs are forced. if your broadening your definition of core, Adams has traded 3 top six forwards in the past 18 months. How many GMs can say that? He certainly is the author of his demise, but I think this particular concern has kinda faded. Again, I agree with the gist of this post, just questioning whether it’s time to move past a detail: Kulich and Doan are heading into their 2nd NHL seasons, Benson his third, Power and Quinn their 4th. There should be no rookies on the roster come October. These are “the kids.” When does the statute of limitations run out on them “needing more time”?

I'm not sure the opening day lineup matters. it's about who ends up making a positive impact of the NHL roster and who doesn't. Last year Adams "revamped" the 4th line to be tougher to play against and 2/3 of that group are gone and the 3rd, Malenstyn is likely the 13th or 14th forward heading into camp. Last year UPL was coming off a great season with a new big $ deal and of course flopped. Last year Kulich was slated to spend all of last season helping the Amerks. Instead he became an impact player for the Sabres. The real question is how healthy can a lineup that includes Greenway, Norris, Quinn, and Samuelsson stay? Can guys like Timmins, Johnson and Doan, who have never played a full NHL season, be relied upon? Who is this year's Kulich? Östlund? Helenius? Rosen? I wouldn't be surprised by early this season if one of the big Russian D emerge and play in our top 6.

You don’t make progress when you trade away NHL stars such as Eichel and Reinhart to teams where they become instrumental players for SC teams. The problem isn’t the young players you listed. The setbacks that this franchised has endured are self-inflicted. An accumulation of bad decisions has created a deep hole that we are still climbing out of.

@LGR4GM check out what Adams says about Power’s partner starting at 47:30ish in the context of what he said about Timmins and what we know of Kesselring’s game. It explains where I’m coming from https://www.nhl.com/sabres/video/topic/sabres-coaches/ruff-and-adams-locker-cleanout-6371704447112 And the last piece is in Adams post July 1 session where he makes reference to having “two big shutdown guys” together as an option for Lindy. You can squint and call that Timmins and Mule, but to me, that sounds like Mule and Kesselring

Fair of you to ask. No thoughts, just sharing articles from left wing pundits that otherwise would never see the light of day in our tiny corner of the internet. Whether the trade deal with the EU turns out to be positive or negative remains to be seen.

Rust was supposed to be on the block. Rumor has it that Pavel Zacha is on the trade block. There are players out there that could fill in for Peterka's loss and give the kids a little more time and ease.

Because they don’t tie themselves to waiting for players like Quinn and Samuelsson and Power to earn their roster spots and contracts. They trade them for players who are good now. And then they dump those players when someone better is available.

Sorry, I guess I didn’t make my point very well. You’ve made it better. Yes, they could have easily kept Peterka (or added Marner, or Ehlers, or Gavrikov, or all of them), from a cap perspective, but not without moving out other pieces. They could have traded Quinn or Greenway or Samuelsson. But they weren’t going to do that. I’m not defending Adams as a victim of the cap. There was no way to keep all the RFA’s AND enhance the line-up with additions, unless Adams was willing to move out players more meaningful to him than Clifton and Lafferty. Even now they could add a Peterka level contract or higher, but not without Adams having the courage to trade a more core piece. He continues to be the author of his own demise.

Who was or is available that they could spend the money on? On likely a one year deal if you want to extend Tuch? Would people be happy if we tossed oloffson 4m for one year? There are teams with almost 20m of cap space right now. 5M is a rounding error for an nfl owner.

They're not in 'cap trouble". That is utter nonsense. They choose to spend under the cap, but in no way shape or form are they in cap trouble. Also going to have tons of cap space when Dahlin demands a trade. 🙂

Agree. And Benson on the top line gives me pause. Fine player, but first line? Not yet, IMHO.

I think I’m starting to get sucked in by Ziemwr.

Good question. Has Adams actually talked publicly since Byram signed? In the postdraft presser, he referenced Timmins as a “cleaner” player, which is what they wanted “in that particular spot in our lineup”. I think that’s what put the Power partner thought in my head because he’d used similar language earlier when talking about what Power needed in a partner and why he thought Docker did pretty well with Power.

Would you have a more positive view if Kesseiring gets paired for Power? And if Doan becomes a lower line energy player would your view of the deal be more positive?

Has Adams talked about Timmins playing up the lineup since he stopped actively trying to trade Byram?

I still grimace every time I see Quinn in a mock lineup. He so needed to be packaged up for a top 6 vet.

I think Greenway was an overpay as well, but he’s hardly redundant. This team needed more players with his skillset. I think this team’s identity up front has quietly changed more than people are giving it credit for. Generally how many players on the current corps would you qualify as being in the not physical or good defensively class of Olofsson, Skinner, Mitts, Peterka?

Irving