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We shall see. You know what my position is that he won't. We'll just have to wait and see. What I can say is that this is an intriguing offseason. I expect some action here once the SC is concluded and draft day approaches. With the addition of the experienced former GM added to the organization, I see things happening. I still contend that the goalie position is the biggest issue to address.

This is just my opinion, I don't see him on the roster when the season starts. And my sense is that he doesn't want to be here because he sees himself in a Dahlin role that is already assumed by Dahlin.

Well, all of this is going to play out in the next month or so. Again, if Byram won’t extend long-term, then he should be moved for the best return possible.

He doesn't have a current contract. He's a restricted free agent, he's not under contract, we just retain the right to sign him. I suppose if he refuses to sign he gets offer sheets which we can match or he goes to arbitration where I think Buffalo can select a 2yr deal. But there's no current contract to ride out.

This is my fear. While there have been no real credible rumours this off-season, the two things that have been whispered are: - Byram to San Jose for pieces with the big piece being #30 overall; and - We are interested in Rakell or Rust from Pittsburgh and they like Helenius. I look at those two scenarios and see us trading maybe the best player right now in Byram, who is only 24 and plays a position where it is hard to find really good players, and the best future asset in Helenius who might be a middle 6 NHL centre, for an older winger with depreciating skills and value and a late 1st in a not strong draft. I know these things haven’t happened. And I know I have advocated for acquiring Rust. But these would be, in my view, the desperate moves of a man trying to save his job and not the calculated moves of a skilled GM.

Alas if only there was a top shelf NHL coach available with no coaching vacancies to fill league wide at the moment….oh wait.

You made the crushing point in a previous post that because of this franchise's extended history of ineptitude, this franchise isn't an appealing place to come to or be locked into for a long time. And as you searingly noted, it did it to itself. When you shoot yourself in the foot it is difficult to run a race. What happens if he refuses to sign a new deal and rides out his current contract?

He has no contract.

Ruff benched Benson for taking a penalty while the rest of the team plays defense like trash. Ruff is a fake tough guy coach and he's unfair. As always and has been repeatedly said here, depends what we trade him for. If it's Robertson, sweet.

Why do we always have to trade our better players? I guess we just can’t have nice things.

Certainly we would need to lock up Byram before considering a Power trade. Of course if Byram is dead-set against staying in Buffalo, then he should be moved.

Do you think that Byram would sign a 4-5 year deal when waiting another year he would be an UFA when the cap gets bigger? My sense is that Byram is willing to bet on himself and ride out his current contract. Then he would have more teams bidding for him.

It's not certain either way who is going to be the better player. But that issue is somewhat neutralized because Dahlin's style of play overlaps Byram's style of play, and he is better. Byram wants to be a #1 defenseman and a #1 on the PP unit. With the Sabres, he is bumped from that top role because Dahlin assumes it. The one issue that tilts the situation in his favor with his current team is his contract status. After a year, he's in control of his destiny in where he wants to be and whether his contract aspirations will be met. In my view, it would make little sense to jettison Power for Byram unless he is locked up with a long-gilded contract. I just don't see it making sense for Byram to bind himself up with this franchise when he will have better options in the not-too-distant future.

Doomscrolling has become popular.

So true. Benson is an outlier who is simply a good 200ft player. Benson would have good d-metrics in any system because he is defensively responsible and committed. The narrative a year ago was that players were craving structure and accountability. Adams and Pegula see Ruff as the sort of old school coach that demands from players what they perceive to have been missing; but a closer examination would have allowed them to conclude that Ruff hasn’t been that coach for some time (if he ever truly was). This team needed a Hynes or an Evason.

I think that's right? He's arbitration eligible, I know that. I'd sign him to a 4-5yr deal.

I respect this. I just think Byram is a better player now and their respective ages, skills, and personalities, make it far from a certain thing that Power is the better long-term player.

I'm dead set against trading Power over signing Byram to an extended contract, which I doubt will happen. If Byram believes that he is a #1 defender, then his AAV will be in the $8 M plus range or even more as the cap goes up. I don't believe Byram wants to sign a long-term contract here. (My opinion) From a contract standpoint, his best approach will be to ride out his contract and then pursue an even bigger contract as the cap goes up. The best response for the front office would be to trade him this offseason and get the best deal that they can get. What will the return be? I'm not sure. But there should be multiple teams interested in acquiring him so the return should be reasonable enough. I want to be clear that I like Byram as a player a lot. But sometimes what a player wants and what the organization wants to do don't mesh with each other's best interest. If we use him as a chip to get a different type of defenseman and we upgrade the goalie position, those transactions would be substantive roster upgrading acts.

I think we should try to remember that the Sabres are in this position due to gross mismanagement. Forget the 14 years. Adams has positioned the Sabres as one of the league’s youngest teams, with the league’s oldest coach, with back to back year’s of on-ice regression, and with salary cap issues. The Carolina Hurricanes can pretty much bring in any player they want this off-season, without having to move out anyone under team-control. The Sabres can’t do that. We fans did not screw this up.

I am not certain it would be better to trade Power than Byram. I think though that right now Byram is the better player. And I think his game translates better than Power’s to the type of hockey we are watching right now. And I think Byram has the sort of personality that people gravitate to and follow, and, while I like Power, I don’t think he has that gene. And I think we could extend Byram for less than Power’s current AAV of $8.35 million. And I think Power’s draft pedigree might mean he returns a better veteran player in trade. And, like you, I think ending this drought is critical. And Byram is only 17 months older than Power, so there is still lots of runway for Byram to improve. But I definitely could be wrong. And, there is a next to zero chance that Adams trades his first OA pick. The next GM might, but not Adams.

We have team control of Byram for one more year?

We should trade Samuelsson and keep Byram. That's where I fall after all this discussion.

I can't help but wonder if Peterka is about to hit a regression. His sh% isn't insanely high, was a bit above his avg last year but his shots were down. Hmm, he's a tricky case because even the eye test tells us there's some cause for concern.

Clearly you’ve forgotten the game day threads before The Troubles.

you may think this post is about gt, it's not. The bottom axis shows xG against/faced. Buffalo, while not unique needs to be far better at being lower there. But also yes gt was awful and UPL was bad. What's also of note is that Reimer is kitty corner to UPL. I'd guess they played better team defense down the stretch but also Reimer let it fewer goals. So it's just confirmation they need to overhaul defense and gt.