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And the biggest reason to have not liked the Bryram for Mittelstadt trade at the time was he was ~21 years old when he was brought in. He's now actually finally close to his prime and SHOULD be ready to start putting it all together like most high pedigree D do around his current age. Once again we'll have suffered through the growing pains and let somebody else reap the rewards of having him in the window you actually want him in.

This. So much this.

Personally, am expecting the next results of the next 30 days or so worth of wheeling and dealing to be significantly underwhelming and also expect to dislike the net effect of all the moves. (But will likely talk myself into believing it isn't that bad by the time October 5 or so rolls around. 😢 ) But, if, at the end of that span either the top 6 F's and G are better on paper than they were today or the top 4D and G are better on paper than they are today; will have to consider that a win. Don't have a lot of hope all 3 will be better on paper a month from now. And have 0 hope the coaching will be better then than now.

“Byram is terrible” as an argument is, well, terrible. If you’re talking performance he’s in the top half of the league, if you’re talking toolbox he’s in the top 1/4. He is the Sabres 2nd-best defenceman. There are 3 good arguments for trading him: he wants a role that may not be available to him; he wants a contract that may be an overpay for the role he will play; he has trade value that could be used to improve the team in other areas. You have control over him for 2 years. You run the risk of arbitration or an offer sheet taking you down a path you’d rather not take, but none of those options result in untenable situations. It’s a complicated situation but it’s not “bad” in and of itself. He has value both as a player and as an asset and you have flexibility in how you choose to proceed. So you determine his contract demands, you determine his trade market, you consider the other roster options you have available. I believe they have decided to trade him and that the return will likely make the current roster worse. But it may also create the space for other moves that will lead to an overall improvement. I don’t have confidence that will be the case; I think Bo’s best years are ahead of him and I predict many “he wasn’t that good in Buffalo” posts in the future.

Depends on the details of how it the protection was worded. Oftentimes the team trading the pick away has the option of deciding whether to send the pick that meets the protection criterion or the following season's pick unprotected. And they'd have to let the 'Nucks know by a certain date which pick they're getting, so they can't wait until the pick is on the clock to tell Vancouver it's yours, have fun with it. 😉 But it might've been written that if it's top 13 it automatically remains with the Rags.

I am opposed to either of these trades.

As already replied, as it happens to turn out, if one of the Sabres best players goes out and an even better player comes back, well guess we MIGHT be able to have nice things. (Of course, if Robertson did come back in a Peterka trade, no doubt at the last team practice before opening night Quinn will lose an edge in the warm up skate crashing into an unexpecting Robertson which causes his knee to blow out. All while Peterka becomes a 50 goal scorer while wearing flourescent green. So, guess we really can't have nice things.)

The other option we haven't really seen explored (JBD skated 13:55 minutes with Byram) last season, would be to go full #1 and just trade (or buy out) Samuelsson. The problem is -- you're replacing a semi-experienced PKer (Muel --- even though they stunk with Muel on the PK) with another young guy because you can't afford a veteran if Byram gets a sizeable contract. Power - Dahlin Byram - JBD Johnson - Clifton (Bryson) I don't like this approach, but if there's anyone who can bring out the best in Power, it's the guy who makes everyone look good. The sustained times we saw Power-Dahlin was trailing late in the 3rd and with an empty net (they had a 69.3 Corsi For% together which is good, but 5 GF and 8 GA together, which is bad, but empty-netters would've accounted for most of the latter. Edit: Yup. Dahlin-Power together with their goalie pulled 0 GF, 3 GA. Byram-Dahlin together with the goalie pulled 3 GF, 5 GA, so at least it worked a few times.

I have no issue with "redundant" talent on the roster. For me, the concern with the defensive structure is the average age. They are simply too young. The D needs to get older and more responsible.

Let’s say we choose to keep Byram for this upcoming season. He won’t sign a long term contract but he won’t want to sit a year, right? Is that when it would go to arbitration? Is he likely to get paid big if he does? I say keep him unless some team is willing to overpay. Worst case we suck again next year and we trade him at the deadline.

Read this entire thread and you will get an idea that some fans appreciate his play more than others. I fall in line with you that he was a win in terms of trade, but it never translated to wins for Buffalo as a team. The argument to trade (adding on to what Steve wrote) is the Sabres not only paid Power, but also overpaid Samuelsson and Clifton. They have, going into the offseason $28m committed to the blue line and they still don’t have a veteran to pair with Power. If you pay Byram $8m+, then you would have ~$2m more than any other team in the league on Defense and unless you can somehow trade for the stabilizing force to help Owen and remove both contracts of Samuelsson and Clifton (call it $7.8m), then you have the top paid Defensive unit in the league. But are they better? I fall into the category of trying to extricate three players - Mule, Clifton and one of Power or Byram. Rasmus can play either side so it frees you up to trade for a L/R player that is hard nosed and a top PK guy. Then another similar stay at home defender to play alongside Power/Byram. If the third pairing is JBD and say Novikov (entry level) your cap is aligned and balanced. Lastly, the handedness of the D makes it challenging to keep Byram. Left hand D - Dahlin, Byram, Power, Samuelsson, Bryson, and waiting in the wings, Novikov and Johnson.

Well, yes. People keep making it out that you have to get rid of one of Power or Byram because with them there are 3 offensive D-men on the team while wanting 2 Offensive, 2 2-way, and 2 Defensive D-men COMPLETELY overlooking the fact that Dahlin IS the team's best DEFENSIVE defenseman. He is the DEFINITION of a 2 way defenseman. Keep the "big 3" D-men; bring in another top 4 guy (ideally someone that allows Dahlin to fully unleash his offensive game; but if that doesn't work out, his offensive game is still pretty darn good when paired with Byram) and if Bernard-Docker plays well enough to also effectively be a top 4 guy, well then you've actually got a good thing in having 5 guys that can all be top 4 with one able to eat up 25+ minutes a night and 2 others able to eat up over 22 minutes per night. Your 6 can be darn near anyone at that point: Clifton, one of the Ra-cha-cha kids, a FA you pick up off the street for a particular usage (PK, toughness, whatever), or even the undersized Bryson (NOT this kid's preference btw by any stretch of the imagination) and it doesn't really matter. He won't get enough ice time to have HIS weaknesses fully exposed. If both Samuelsson's and Clifton's contracts are gone, you CAN afford all 3 of the "big 3." Whether Dahlin is paired with Byram or you're giving him a more defensive partner and letting Byram and Power run the 2A and 2B pairings; it SHOULD work. And ideally having Kekaliainen in the room saying WTF are you weakening this part of the team that was already weak might cause somebody with decision making authority to ask that same question. And IF Byram going out the door ends up being the grease that gets Robertson IN the door, well, then there is a logic to weakening this part of the team that was already weak as there can be other opportunities to bolster it.

I don't want Rust. Rakell would be OK, but that's just Tuch insurance. Getting Rakell means Tuch walks next summer and I think that's a significant downgrade to the roster. Now -- Rakell, plus a trade return for Tuch might be an improvement-- but that'd be very dependent on the return. Sheevyn is not a skilled GM, but I think you can take solace in that I don't think he needs to be worried about his job. He listens to Pegula and that's all that he needs to do to stay involved at the highest level within this organization.

Bridge all the RFAs to two-year deals; get a Tuch extension in place. Get past the Skinner $6M hit season. Move upstairs to a cushy POHO gig with a nice salary. Let the next GM sort it all out in 2027, so long as the kudos go to the all-powerful Sheevyn. Ride that Power Timeline. Power will turn 25 in November 2027 and be entering his prime, and he'll be better defensively and more Powerful than any of us on the Power Play. Appert will unlock his true Concept of the Cup. It is unavoidable. I have foreseen it.

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.