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Seems Adams wants a bigger team, he's added size, I guess thats good.

I don’t know if the Sabres will trade Byram before camp begins. If he isn’t dealt then the unit is better with the additions of Kesserling and Timmons. Will Samuelson have a bounce back year? I’m more hopeful than most here. In tabulating the results so far it comes down to what is the impact of the JJP subtraction? And another critical issue is: will the owner allow the salary savings to be utilized on other moves? As it stands, I’m more troubled than not. I’m still hoping for more moves. There needs to be less plodding along and a greater demonstration of urgency.

The Soviet Union has not been around since 1991 lol.

Can't give a grade yet until we see if he can lure a top 6 forward in free agency. With an improved defense and overall tougher team, we should see some actual steps forward next year. Unfortunately, we are nowhere near a playoff team. If we can get to 90 points that would be progress and probably the ceiling for this roster. This is a long-term project to fix. On the flip side, we could be flirting with total disaster if no progress is made.

Y'all know we were 10th in the entire NHL in goals all while Kulich we a rookie and Cozens only managed 11 cuz he's awful? We need to reduce goals against more than anything.

Well he only has a year left on his deal so they could negotiate the 8 year before the trade I guess Yea, Mitch you wanna come play on kulichs wing or jack eichels?

Short answer, they are about the same, I think if there are no major injuries, slightly better....but that is only if there are no major injuries...and slightly is not good enough to make a major jump in the standings. 1.) Cozens/Norris. If Norris is healthy, this make the team better. The advanced stats, the simple stats, watching the games....all of those things pointed to Cozens hurting the team more than (or at least as much as) he helped. 2.) I liked Jokiharju, I think he was better than most people thought, but at BEST he was a serviceable mid-pair guy. Losing him not a huge factor. 3.) No clue. I think Peterka caused almost as many problems as he solved with his goals, but the key word there is 'almost'. While I think Cozens was a net negative player, Peterka was still an overall positive. He will be a loss, but hopefully the return will negate that loss. 4.) Clifton for Timmins? Not a big deal either way. 5.) Quinn. If he played like he did the last 1.5 years, I don't want him on the team. I guess the hope is he turns his bad play around (his own end and unwillingness to go to the net). More needs to be done. It'll be easier to have an answer to this question when we know if Byrum re-signs or what the return for him is...and we know more about the quality of goaltending they will get. This team had problem last year, but in my opinion the problems were in this order. 1.) How bad the goaltending was 2.) How bad Cozens and Quinn were without the puck 3.) D-partners/pairings that didn't look in sync with each other. #1 is still a wide open question. #2 has partially been solved, but not totall. #3, well, they are making an attempt, but we have no idea until October (or later) how successful their attempt is.

That was funny. My response should not take away from that! For me, 44 years of seeing the first name bryan probably...idk. lol If promise not to do it again...but that would be disingenuous

Maybe. Perhaps the post was performative. You've got to admit "while Scrabble tiles marinates in juniors" is pretty damn good. (And what is it about Byram that his name just begs to be misspelled?)

Not a terrible deal for a bottom end of the roster. 2nd rounders in the NHL are generally Meh anyways and Clifton was a warm body on a terrible team. Problem is, this does nothing to help move this team from 79 pts to the playoffs. Never any apparent urgency to make the top of the roster any better is the annual issue. And would any of us trust KA to make that happen?

The Blues are strapped for cap space and four of their top 6 D are 32 or older. Byram for Kyrou (6 more years @ $8.125MM, I know, not a C) makes a lot of sense. Throw in Rosen or Rousek if you have to, a '26 pick, but not Helenius.

They didn't trade a 2nd round pick for an ECHL defenceman. It's Clifton and a 2nd round pick for Timmons and the ECHL defenceman.

You are forgetting state taxes, that’s a major factor in any deal Marner takes. Besides not sure if Marner goes from the Leafs to Buffalo of all teams!

He's still has to decide what doing with Byram. Hoping for a top 6 forward preferably a Center.

If this is a question, at all, when year 15 is on the line, we’ve failed

Really? That surprises me. They ain’t Washington.

I don't think Johnson is in the Sabres plans. Even with our terrible D last season, the Sabres only agave him 3 games. To make matters worse for him the Sabres have acquired since the deadline JBD, Kesselring and Timmins, re-sign Byron and have Dahlin, Power and Samuelsson under big contracts. At best he's 8th D, but I think Novikov and Komarov are ahead of him on the Sabres internal depth chart.

No question about it!

The ole 'Hope' strategy. Always pans out!

Well so is Mrtka but fair enough. Yes they had more picks. I like what they did though and as you know I'm comparing their rebuild with ours as they did it differently. I'm also just kind of looking at the competition and thinking playoffs. Draft plus trades. Next is free agency. Right now Montreal looks better. Detroit looks a little better. Ottawa same. Rangers same. Blue Jackets still better than us. I see no chance of playoffs for the Sabres as is.

Our overall minimalist approach this offseason on the verge of 15 straight years of no playoffs can only be construed imo as a reflective of their utter confidence in Josh Norris

I'm not so sure. I don't believe they had any intention to trade bryam for picks - this simply solidifies for other GMS to stop wasting time offering them...and offer up a, at minimum, top 9 forward that can slide up and down. I believe he gets traded before FA starts

Minor frustration-Timmins was a cap dump by Toronto shortly before the 2025 TDL along with Connor Dewar for a 2025 5th. I understand that part of the deal is Clifton’s Cap Dump. Like the player-just wonder about Adams and how he deals with acquisition costs

The "reshaping" of this team started with the Cozens trade. 1) Cozens (C/RW) out - Norris (C) and JBD (RHD) in 2) Jokiharju (LHD) out - 4th rd pick (2026) in 3) JJP (R/LW) out - Kesselring (RHD) and Doan (RW) in 4) Clifton (RHD) out - Timmins (RHD) in 5) Signed Quinn to a 2 year extension. The big offseason questions were how do the Sabres improve special teams, improve team defense, find partners for Dahlin and Power, and hopefully improve the defense. I also think that the offense would benefit from a legit playmaker as the current forward group is loaded is shoot first guys. So far - we can probably says Adams found one partner for either Power or Dahlin (likely Power) in Kesselring. JBD played well after he was acquired and looks like an upgrade over Clifton as a 3rd pairing RHD. I'm not sure where Timmins fits honestly. Byram and Samuelsson have yet to be traded and after the recent moves, I suspect Samuelsson isn't on the market, but is penciled in as JBD's 3rd pairing partner. Overall, if Kesselring helps Power play smarter, then maybe the overall D is slightly improved and is certainly more balanced. On offense we have taken a serious step back. Norris is an upgrade on Cozens when healthy, but Doan won't even replace 50% of JJP's production even if he has some upside offensively. So far, this 79 point team looks like it's heading to another bottom of the Atlantic season. After KA's comments on Levi and UPL, I'm not counting on any legit help in goal. Admittedly there is likely more to come. Byram is getting traded and there is plenty of cap space for a FA or two. PS The Sabres actually have a complete roster. The team has 12 forwards under contract plus McLeod and Kozak as RFAs. On defense the team has 5 players under contract plus 3 RFAs (JBD, Timmins and Byram). In goal UPL is under contract and Levi is an RFA. The current cap hit is 74.66 mill with 5 key RFAs to re-sign, but only McLeod commanding a huge raise. Doan, Kulich, Benson, and Levi are waiver exempt.

Saros is the one I'd want. I don't care about Stamkos. And I think it would be pricey. Like two 1st round pick pricey. If Nashville wanted a single 1st rounder plus UPL, and sent back something else in addition, it would be worth a thought.