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Good for him! I always thought he was a decent Middle Dman with a bad rap.

Get Jake Allen and Ehlers. Allen would cost $5million, Ehlers $7.5million - we can afford both while keeping Byram but it would be tight. Would love to dump Samuelsson somehow

He’s my target tomorrow, and I don’t mind throwing term at him because he’s 28 and can play both sides. The fact Provorov doesn’t seem to be a big city kinda guy and has a relationship with Jarmo gives me hope that palm trees and taxes can be overcome. But we’ll be paying at least $7M AAV and probably closer to $8M. Leaves us cap room to flip Byram for a good middle-six forward, preferably one with upside like Voronkov, and makes the Timmins deal make a lot more sense. Overall, Byram out, one D and one forward in is what I’m expecting over the next few days.

at 15 in the NHL he wouldnt have pulled a Sabres Sammy

What thread is getting messy and off track. It is way to early in the off season to think we improved this team. Post season needs: Goalie, Top 4 RDH, 2 top 6 forwards (with Peterka gone), better defensive depth, more physical players that play a 2 way game. Are we better than last year here today on June 30? NFW. They lost Peterka and Clifton, they re-signed Quinn. They picked up Kesserling (he will slot into a top 4 RHD), Doan (maybe a 3rd line player, maybe not), and Timmins (a 3rd pair D in place of Clifton and for less $$). We used 9OA for a future player who is 3 years away. Are we better? Not yet. Not enough to matter anyway. We are still questionable at center just like last year plus we have not replaced Peterka yet, and the goalies are UPL and Levi. There are a lot of questions: Will we get big years out of Thompson, Dahlin, Norris, and Tuch? Production: Will Quinn replace Peterka's production? Will Benson improve offensively? Will Zucker and McLoed score 20 each again? Will this new defense be better? Will Byram be moved or re-signed? Will UPL ever be a top caliber NHL starting goalie? Is Levi ready to make a big jump? We have the same coaching staff in place, the only change was strength and conditioning. I like some of the players that they brought in but all are young and none are big impact players. I am skeptical. Just based on the goaltending alone this is not a playoff team.

100% agree. Without a goalie fix, not sure any of the rest of this matters at all. Ottawa and Montreal jumped over us because they got better goaltending.

yeah, its the weird pre-QO holding pattern. I wouldn't be opposed to bringing him back either - i'd also consider using him as a lefty shooter on the PP if it came to that.

He did not handle being the number 1 goalie very well, that's for sure. Would be nice if him and Levi could somehow split the duties and provide some consistency

Fair. Good analysis. I'll further your pint by saying scoring wasn't and isn't our problem anyway (we were 10th in league in goals and 2 goals away from tieing the leafs for 7th). Team defense is the issue; tied for 3rd worst last year. Right now, I believe our defense is better, our goalies are not. With a team GAA of 3.50 and a hideous save % of .888 (UPL at .887) we desperately need an NHL goalie. I know the defensemen were partially resposible for the bad goalie stats but not 100% responsible. UPL is not a #1 goalie in this league and Levi isn't there that (and I don't know if he gets there TBH)

Jokiharju 3 x 3m AAV with Bruins

And he cleaned up a lot of his issues in that really nice stretch at the end of the season. But almost all of those issues re-appeared again last year - Short side cheating, like no side to side moves, rebound control etc.

You might be right, looking at just D might change things. I just think people tend to focus too much on the now with the AAV on long-term contracts. The way I look at it is that $5.5 for this year is about what you pay a #3 and in 6 years likely projects to #4 money. Personally, not a fan of the contract because I think Hague isn’t going to be a 3/4 over the term.

I cannot see Mariner's agent even returning Adams phone calls TBH... how much money is enough... why would you effectively take the last real quality years of your career and sign for 5 or 7 years here... Dude has got to have a burning desire to win a cup... and if he doesnt is that the player you target? Bottom line, this is not a place you come too if you want to be successful.. we have a lot to do before we change that narrative... maybe someday... but not today... then there is the money.. so many holes to fix, I dont think Mariner gets you to the promise land there is a whole culture to rebuild...

At bare minimum, we still need an absolute stud on the top 6 and a legitimate #1 goalie. That would at least get us into contention for the 8 spot. To crack the top 3 in the division is still years away.

I am not against resigning Byram... I am not sure we get a return that makes us better... if we do, then certainly trade him... I think free agency and who we may or may not sign gonna tell the tale here...

That’s only if and a big if Josh Norris stays healthy. He hasn’t yet and now he’s our #1 center.

recreating peterka in the aggregate. nice job, pete.

If Provorov wasn't making 6.75mil the past 5 years I'd target him at 6mil

Sabres get a bit of grace because Tage is on such a friendly deal, but basic cap management dictates their #3D makes about $6M. As the most attractive UFA Gavrikov is going to get more than that. Plus Gavrikov to New York seems like the likeliest move in free agency.

Great post. It is an argument for re-signing Byram. Also, if we do trade Byram, it is an argument to just pair Power with Dahlin, as I think their results could be similar. It's ok to just put your two best D-men together and let them play 25 minutes a game. Maybe Samuelsson and Kesselring would work together as a 2nd pair.

Are we? Dylan Cozens shot at 7.9% last year and Josh Norris shoots at 18.1% for his career average. Jiri Kulich shot at 11.2 but only played 62 games. Zach Benson shot at 8.3% I get it, Peterka's 27g is something ppl are worried about replacing but flipping Cozens for Norris probably replaces half of them straight up. Norris getting 24g compared to Cozens 11 doesn't seem far fetched. That leaves about 13g between Kulich, Benson, Quinn, and Doan. And that's if we are that worried about last years goal total. I hate agreeing with Adams, but I am just not convinced this team actually has lost that much scoring.

No. I see what you're doing. Don't be trying to get Korpisalo (1 good half season every 4 years) and his garbage contract off of the Bruins ledger. He and his sub.900 game are stuck there forever. The Sabres already have that guy in Luukkonen.

They won't sign Gavrikov, though I like the player a lot. Guessing a lot of the reason they don't want to sign Byram is they don't want to allocate that amount of money to D. Coming off a contract paying him $5.875million per year, Gavrikov is going to be paid a lot.

Defensively better, offensively worse. Know what would make this team better? Having an NHL goalie on the roster. Jake Allen should be the focus at 6pm today, followed by Ehlers. Robertson is probably a pipe dream

(and still have Leinonen....)