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No one wanted Hellebuyck when I was arguing to sell out for him

That's correct. Even if you "shift" Samuelsson's and Clifton's money to Byram, you still have to allocate cap for their replacements.

I been asking for better goaltending for a while now. They seem to still be hanging onto the hope that Levi can be better. UPL should not have been our starter.

The Knights were done as soon as they lost both games 1 and 2, they got lucky in game 3 but all they did was delay the inevitable! It’s too much to ask any team to win 4 of the next 5 with 3 of them on the road.

It is todays style. As is skinny leg pants, no socks, and shoes.

Data can be misleading the sabres were 11th in goals against two season ago and 23rd in offence. Then they flipped. Young team. address the overall talent I’ve been calling it a shell game for 3 literal years. Why can’t I just be right? I’ve called every single Adams aspect starting with Eichel. Like, MAYBE I just have the pulse on this guy? No? Ok carry on.

But Byram's already packed up his Buffalo house, so...

The bold has all the making of a Penthouse Forum story.

Who's our green goalie? The one we won't be signing this offseason? Because the data presented in this thread suggest otherwise. That's the point of the thread.

Meh, I don’t really think the few LW that can only play LW need represent an obstacle to my thought process here. I know Marner can play both side, for example. if I can get a better player, for the same relative cost, I’m going with the better player regardless of position that’s my outlook at least

After every single goal in the league you'll see guys standing around while the puck goes into the back of the net. There's nothing like a goal to make a defender look dumb.

Yes, Rayzor's link to RJ would be missed. I often watch the Sabre games using the opponents broadcast, and it is amazing how often the other teams announcers comment on Ray and enjoy some humor with him. Ray is a throwback to when the Sabres were a real team and when the played in front of packed and passionate crowds. Those days are long gone. It is sad how many hockey seasons have been wasted in the irrelevance.

I don't agree. You have finite assets, just acquiring the best say LW is silly. We need a defender, you only pigeon hole yourself if you decide you must make a move. If you can't find that veteran defender, you do have to hold. I do agree that it's harder because Adams is up against it.

If you took a poll of Eastern Conference coaches and asked which team had the best defense this year, If it wasn't Washington or Florida it would be Carolina. Where are they according to the WAR charts? Not in the top half in D or goaltending. Without considering how the forwards play defense I think it's just a exercise in frustration. All the parts fit together and if one part is weak then the whole thing is probably weak. It can be an individual player or pairing. It can be a forward who thinks getting back in the zone is for other people. It can be a goal tender who goes from shutout to giving up 5 the next time out. I know all the analytics try to parse this out but it seems incredibly difficult when it comes to hockey. I know this much I never want to see Bryson with Clifton ever again.

So, you own a bottom feeder team for 14 straight years, one that players and coaches avoid, and you ask a Hall of Fame VP/GM with 4 Stanley Cups to work for Kevyn Adams? Holland wants day to day control of the team. Terry is sticking with Adams and wanted Holland for an Advisory role. Terry is embarrassing. How does he even have that conversation with Holland, or did he have Adams reach out to him? I would love to know who talked to Holland. Either way, not a serious team.

My commentary wasn’t on the usefulness of doing so in terms of entertaining one self online merely in fixing the standings placement ie it wasn’t just “that won’t work”, i made the argument on how to fix it, too . It wasn’t, “don’t have the discussion”, it was “this discussion isn’t going to get the team to the place people think it will.” If Adams hyperfocuses on one area, he’ll do so to the tune of ignoring the rest, as we’ve seen, and he’ll probably get ripped off cause everyone knows he’s over a barrel he should use the assets we can to acquire the best (VETERAN) player possible regardless of position maximize the return, THEN fill out the rest of your plan. Adams always pigeonholes himself

If you can get Byram for that for 6yrs no more, and then move at least Samuelsson out, I can see this working but 7.5x6yrs is the ceiling.

Some of us like to entertain ourselves by analyzing and 'fixing' the roster.

Power was not a positive player. He was terrible defensively and was out there for ~22 minutes per game with a -13 overall. He defensive play was a big reason we had a bad season and he did not step up when Dahlin was injured. Whatever the defensive ranking % actually means, being ranked in the mid-40's is not good enough and points to the problem with the top 4 (includes Byram, Power and Muel). I can agree that Power and Muel are grossly overpaid and that Byram brough a lot of value for his salary. But here we are, not willing or not able to pay Byram so we can keep Power.

I'd rather pay Byram $7.4M than Mule and Clifton the same. I realize its not that simple. But keeping the overpaid bad players instead of overpaying the good one seems pretty Sabres-y

Those Bryson numbers... but he's happy just to be here. Wants to be here. So, we're good. And his in-season signing -- how little faith do they have in Ryan Johnson to be a #7-8 next year? I'd estimate Joker would then be something like a 33% O, 45% D while with the Sabres --- given that last season he barely played with Dahlin after the 1st month of the season (based on opening lineups).

The level of attention to detail on the “holes” on the roster comes off to me, I’m sorry, as tantamount to counting grains of sand on the beach (hyperbole): kind of pointless. It’s more akin to the sort of analysis you’d see on a team that’s made the playoffs consistently and won a few rounds but just can’t get over the last hump i *promise* you, with hockey being such a fluid game, and with our final place in the standings, and the way we’ve seen issues morph over the year with a young team, that if you attacked the roster based on ONLY the final point total, and addressed it by way of BPA, it would yield better results than sitting and trying to dial down the variables to as small as we can get them in identifying where the “issues” are and then addressing as such i guarantee you the totally blind approach would work better we finished with 79 points. Team is the issue it’s macro macro macro when you just want to get to mediocre

Carbonneau has less hitting but a better shot and better skating. I like Martin's game. I wont worry if they pick him.

I don’t disagree with this. Better is better. But, how much of Samuelsson and Clifton being bad is coaching and system related? How much better would they be on Dallas? I look around the playoffs and see all kinds of d-men who were seen as journeymen, castoffs, not good enough, in some cases by the Sabres (Stecher, Klingberg, Sandin, Benoit, McCabe, Lyubushkin, Ceci, Petrovic, Collin Miller, Gostisbehere, Schmidt, Kulikov, Mikkola). It feels a little to me like our need to improve the 4th line and then watching Okposo win a cup and Robinson and Girgensens play in the playoffs while Malenstyn, Lafferty, and Aubé-Kubel all underwhelm (to be charitable). I’m not advocating for no player changes. I’m just skeptical that the talent of the type of player we are most likely to bring in, will overcome the bad coaching and system and culture that they will encounter here.