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This is just my opinion, but I think this speaks more to how good Dahlin is than it does to how bad the rest of the D is. Dahlin is elite. The rest of the D, mostly, would thrive or be fine in a better system. Dahlin is so good that he rises above; put him on a contender and he is maybe the best there is. It cannot be overstated, how much Dahlin's talent is being wasted.

And Buffalo has been lacking in that for a while. Last season, even in the less-physical 'pest' role (someone to annoy the other team and draw them into penalties), who do the Sabres have? Benson? Krebs, maybe Kozak? Thats about it, not exacly top-of-the-lineup guys.

It was on @GASabresIUFAN fantasy wish list. Be kind and gentle because he’s in a high state of agitation. And be cautious and tread lightly because he can get ornery when told his fantasy wish list will not come to fruition.😀

Of course it's fantasy. Reality has never stopped us from fantasy before.

The Guardians stink this year.

We will know by 5pm today, right? Isn’t July 6th the deadline to file for club elected arbitration?

This is all fantasy. Not one credible source has brought up Kadri as being available.

Center spine of Norris at the 1, Kadri at the 2 Mcloed at the 3 would be very very good, as well Kadri could take first line minute if Norris misses any time we would have to do a consolidation trade of some of your bottom six guys and young guys to clear up some spots and bring a dman to replace Byram but it’s a really good idea, if he will waive

Just looking over some stats regarding Dahlin this past season: -When Dahlin was on the ice, the Team was a +33 in goal differential (+20 in 5-on-5) -When Dahlin wasn't out there, the team was -53 in goal differential (-19 in 5-on-5) Thats not short term, that is over the entire season. When the guy is on the ice, they are a very good team. The difference in goal differential with him out there vs not out there is 86 goals over the season. For comparison, Cale Makar has a 57 goal differential with him out there vs not. For Werenski it was 42. For Quinn Hughes it was 90. For Morrisey it was 20. I think the difference in goals on-vs-off the ice is exaggerated a bit for the bad teams compared to the better teams but still, the Goal differential with him on the ice vs off the ice is the 2nd highest in the league among D-men...and he might have passed Hughes for the highest if he didn't miss those games in the middle of the season.

No team got "Panthered" in the playoffs, more than the Hurricanes. It's interesting to me that they have not made any significant attempt to address the grit-gap between then and Florida (Miller perhaps does this to a minor degree). To me, it speaks to the reality that there really are not that many players in the Tkachuk, Bennett, Marchand mold. It's easy to say that a team needs players like that, but how many of them are there? Somehow, 31 NHL GMs fell asleep and let Zito acquire 3 of them.

I'm down for getting Weegar in here .. I missed on Ehlers, again, but maybe the Sabres will trade Bo(hemian) for him. WEEGAR !! 😎

No argument from me that signed Bryson when they did was just dumb and unnecessary

I wholly agree with your first paragraph on Timmons, and partially on your JBD comments. On Timmons, there is nothing to be upset with management about him going to arbitration. The Sabres knew he was eligible and I'm certain they have a good idea what the potential ranges are for an award, if it gets that far. At worst he is awarded a bit more than what the Sabres would prefer, but nothing that messes with the salary structure. On JBD, I agree that it was obvious that it was never the case that JBD was the cost of the 2nd rd pick. Where I disagree a bit, is that I think it was fair for Sabre fans to look at that trade in its totality and to assume that the Sabres saw some added value with JBD. Post-trade, rightly or wrongly, pretty much the entire hockey world thought Ottawa was getting the better player or, at least, the player with the better upside. So, Sabre fans can be forgiven for not understanding why we were getting back an older player, who has a history of significant injuries, and who makes more money, and who has less long-term upside, AND we were adding the 2nd rd pick. That JBD was a youngish, former 1st rd R-shot D, seemed to offset the loss of the 2nd rounder at least a bit. That JBD then played fairly well and was praised by Adams at year-end, just makes the decision to not qualify him seem even more odd. Further, if the Sabres end up extending Byram and Timmons at a conservative $10 Million combined, that will leave them with a full roster and almost $4 million in cap space. An extra $500-600k on an AAV for JBD, was not going to be impactful.

Yes, and yes. He is exactly the type of player the Sabres need. Tough and can score. I think he could effectively play centre / wing with Tage and Tuch. He would not be a 1C on the Sabres.

Hey Chad.

I think its a good move, but there are a few red flags for me on Ehlers: -In the past 7 seasons, only once has he played over 80 games and only twice over 70 games. -He put up good numbers for Winnipeg on a very good team, but what is with him only getting average ice time in the 15 minute range? On Buffalo that is 3rd line ice time practically. He was never used short handed, and only had just above 13 minutes of even strength ice time per game. On one hand you can say he doesn't have much 'wear on the tires', so that is good long term. -Or- you can say you can't push him that hard because he might not be able to handle the workload. Yeah, I'd take him of course, but I don't think he anywhere close to someone that 'gets you over the top' for a team like Carolina, that some are saying on social media.

Good summary. Generous IMO but very comprehensive. Lyon was a good move given what was out there. We have to hope for a UPL recovery and that UPL/Lyon are a decent 1A/1B. Otherwise we bring up Levi. My view is Peterka was better than Quinn, we lost Peterka and kept Quinn. Another really good player that we developed is gone and it is hard to be happy about it or about the return. Right now, unless a top 6 F is obtained, Quinn may end up top 6. This does not improve the top 6 and it is the exact kind of gamble that Adams makes every off season. The goal of improving the top 6 will most likely not be met, Adams still has time but so far the top 6 looks worse and a key goal is not met. Peterka for Kesselring and Doan is key. Peterka will play on the top line in Utah and he will score goals. Kesselring has yet to show he is a shut down defenseman, which was another key goal of the off season. Our management loves puck movers. I like Kesselring but where he fits and if he is the guy to help Power is TBD. Doan is someone I am high on (and I must disclose that I really liked the way his father played so I have a bias). Owen Power is a big key to the season. It is time for him to grow up and play better defense. Either he does it on his own or he gets help from Kesselring or Timmins but it has to happen, especially if Byram gets traded. Timmins for Clifton plus a 2nd was hard to get excited about. I am not going to ooohh and aaahh at Adams for managing the potential offer sheet stuff, it is an expectation that a GM knows the rules and can do that simple arithmetic. We shall see what Timmins gets for a salary and if he is any better than what we have. Adding Danforth/Timmins/Doan plus deleting Lafferty should improve the fringes of the roster but this team finished with only 79 points so that alone is not enough and the top line players need to be better. It goes without saying that the Sabres will need good health and big years out of Tage, Dahlin, Tuch, Power, and Norris to compete. So are they better? Nothing they did moves the needle very much but if everything aligns then they are slightly better. How they react to Lindy and his staff will be a telling factor. Lindy's first season back was a disappointment and no coaching changes seems wrong to me.

All valid. And I did not suggest that JBD is worthy of the second round pick. Maybe closer to the Gilbert return than the second. But in between. My point is how Adams said he was #8. Bryson was also waived, and previously not qualified. Maybe he is a much better teammate than we imagine. But I’ve seen enough to know he’s probably the #7 LD in the system. A few more random thoughts. If JBD was waived, why is Adams worried about what an arbitration might yield? What is the max award he might receive? $1.5m? That’s the ceiling right? He signed for under $900k. And probably closer to $1.25m. My point is, with a lack of right handed D available, I would rather keep him over Bryson. I can be persuaded that he might not in the top 6, but for an additional $250k, I’d rather him, than Jacob.

Gone ... another one's gone .. another one bites the dust .. 😎

Kadri is the type of player the Sabres need. Tough and can score. He would look good with Tage.

Limited time with the 3 of them being together, but even strength last year: Tage-Kulich-Benson: 1 goal scored every 15.23 minutes (good numbers) (152 minutes ice time), 1 goal allowed every 19 minutes Tage-Kulich-No Benson: 1 goal scored every 11.1 minutes (unreal good numbers) (200 minutes ice time even strength), 1 goal allowed every 18.1 minutes. The "no Benson" guy most of the time appeared to be JJ Peterka in most cases. But it was Tuch a little, Zucker a little too. The deeper analytics were good for both combos. With Benson the deep-dive analytics seem to be "slightly" better, but that may not have translated well to goals as Benson's shooting percentage isn't all that great. Again, I'm less worried about "Should Kulich be a first line Center" and how that looks on paper, and more concerned with keeping Tage and Kulich together to see if they can replicate ANYTHING close to what they did last year. If that means Kulich gets 1st line center minutes because he is playing with Thompson but the team scores a goal once ever 15 minutes or less, and allows less goals than they score....I don't give a care that Kulich is my 'first line center' if I am getting those results. Again, maybe they won't replicate what they did last year, but I want to find out.

He can choose one-year term and repeat this process next year with significantly more leverage. Or 2-year and walk directly to UFA

Ahhh Ruff. Remember the stretch prior to the 13 game losing streak when Thompson was injured and McLeod played in the top 6 and the team went 4-1 including 3 wins in California. And then Thompson returned and Ruff put McLeod on the 4th line.

Good stuff. I wouldn’t expect Power to be playing 17 minutes a night. That set-up,is more of a base. On Lindy’s good New Jersey team, they kinda ran 5 guys at 20 minutes and the 6th guy at 12. i think the Sabres would be something like Dahlin 24, Byram Power 22, Kesselring 18, Samuelsson 16 Timmons 14.

He can opt for a one year term, and does he also get UFA status one year earlier as well?