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Inside City Beer Hall. 5 tables and the bar, all Bandits. Have not seen anyone in Firewolves gear yet, but it's early.

A good off-season for me would be acquiring a veteran middle-six centre who can win faceoffs and two good grinding bottom 6 wingers. A better one would include a goalie on a short-term deal that will force Levi to beat him out, and flipping Joki for similar-level RHD with more stay-at-home, physical game. History says cap space along with a package including at least 2 of #11, Rosen, Kulich, Östlund, Savoie, Johnson and/or lesser picks or prospects will probably get you the big fish. Haven't really looked around at who might be a target. I've seen Bennett, Tavares and Couturier tossed out as names. Price depends on return. A 2nd/3rd and/or equivalent prospect should get you the grinders if unrestricted free agency can't. Think what we paid for Greenway and Clifton. Again, haven't looked at targets, but guys like Joshua and Martinook fit the profile.

Just landed in Albany. Grabbing a slice at Sapienza's (excellent) before heading to City Beer Hall, where supposedly Bandits fans are meeting. Still early but only seeing Bandits colors.

Looks like others have already responded, but I would be shocked if Benson struggles with structure because his game is so naturally structured. I wouldn’t be surprised if he slides a bit either, but I think his “slide” will be more along the nature of Power’s: kinda stagnant overall, but with higher expectations amplifying the warts during the downs, both for observers and for himself.

The 1st one is really bad; Bennett is no where near worth that much both in assets and cap. 2nd trade would certainly sting but at very least and potential assets, 3rd trade I'd use a 3rd not a 2nd.

TBF that’s probably the time they have max value in a trade.

Hopefully that one works out as well as the Babdick experiment, but not happy when they make moves that actually make sense.

In an ideal world, yeah, UPL would get a deal right in that range. But, we're in the world where Adams is most likely planning on running UPL & Levi back as the only 2 NHL caliber goalies in the organization. That likely buys UPL & his agent some additional leverage. Still not fully convinced that UPL can get out of his own head when there is legit competition for the starting job. IF he can, he could end up in Vasilevskiy territory. He showed starting around January a quickness under control moving from post to post few big men can exhibit. But he never did that at the pro level prior to that stretch. So, he's overcome a lot of issues that had been holding him back and that particular one, he'd given no prior indication that he could do so and yet he did it. So, he could very well get out of his own head when somebody is credibly trying to steal his job. (Overcome 1 major issue, you have a credible chance to overcome another.) Glad the next contract isn't out of my bank account because there's still a very real chance whatever way they decide to go with his contract they end up betting wrong; still would like to see Adams do what he should've done last off-season and bring in a credible veteran backup to compete with the 2 kids. (More credible than Comrie.) And let the best 2 play in Buffalo and the other play in Ra-cha-cha unless it's a near wash between Levi and one of the others for the 2nd job in which case Levi starts the year in Ra-cha-cha because he can. How they play during the season then determining if there are reevaluations in the pecking order. Though UPL turned into a very nice "feel good story" we need to remember he played himself out of the starters job a year ago and was really bad in this past pre-season. Think it was @dudacek who pointed out, it wasn't Levi nor the coaches that played him out of a job; it was UPL that played himself out of a job. If he took the right lessons from that, he could be a legit starter in this league for a long time. We'll know this fall whether he did take the right lessons. (But they have to decide what to pay him before that is a known. Hoping they guess right.)

Yes Benson didn’t play in the NHL all year at 18 because of his offensive production. He is just so smart all over the ice that he can be effective defensively in the NHL until the offence kicks in. It looked at the end of last year that it was starting to pop.

Lol - the Broncos' former safety's name is Justin. Hence the brain cramp. This is becoming (has been?) a thing in the NFL: Take a no risk flyer on a physical freak.

OK -- how about these: - Sabres trade Jiri Kulich and Ryan Johnson (or Matt Savoie and #11, or some other combination of those 4 assets) to FLA for Sam Bennett -- contingent on Bennett signing an extension for 6 years @ $7MM per year. It's too much money and too much term for Bennett, who turns 28 in June, but he's not coming to Buffalo without getting that type of contract. - Sabres trade Jiri Kulich and a 2024 2nd-rounder to Vegas for Nicolas Roy. Vegas is close to capped out. Roy is a 6'4", 202-lb C who is a 35- to 40-pt guy, turned 27 in February and makes $3MM per year. - Sabres trade a 2024 2nd-rounder to the Islanders for Kyle Palmieri. Palmieri, a 5'11", 198-lb RW who had 54 pts this season, will be 34 in February and has one more year on his contract at $5MM -- and the Isles are capped out.

McD loves him some wrestlers. He’d sign him just to have somebody to spar with.

Benson was perhaps our most structurally sound player on the team, so I think he would embrace whatever structured style Lindy wishes to employ.

Neither of us know whether Benson is going to take a quantum leap forward next season. But for a player who was so young, I didn't witness him last season fading as the season grinded on. In fact, it was the opposite. I thought he played better at the end of the season than the beginning of the season because he seemed to comfortably adapt to the tougher NHL game. I'm not predicting a quantum leap forward in his play, but he should be better with a season experience and an offseason to prepare for this upcoming season. As far as his ability to adjust to a tougher style of play that Lindy will require compared to what Granato tolerated, I would say that he was one of our more responsible players from a checking standpoint in both zones and from a willingness to have a net presence in our offensive zone. My point is that maybe some other players will have trouble adjusting to a Lindy coached team, but he shouldn't have any problem adapting to the new coach.

Apparently the Bills met with former NCAA heavyweight champion wrestler, Olympic gold medalist and former WWE prospect, Gable Steveson. IDK what the outcome would be as Steveson didn’t even play high school football let alone college.

Will be interesting to see how this one plays out. Just like the Bandits are Hamilton's kryptonite, the Firewolves have given the Bandits fits this year and last. (Bandits only win of the 4 came last year in the weird game where both teams only scored at the end where the Bandits' bench is and the Bandits scored more in the 2nd and 4th Q's than Albany had scored in the 1st & 3rd Q's. BUT, Albany hasn't faced Buffalo since they signed Ferrell which means Albany won't win pretty much every single faceoff. And the Bandits D and Vinc himself have been significantly improved this season since trading for Dawson and getting Weiss and the Robinson brothers back healthy. Expecting (hoping?) the experience of the Bandits is enough to overcome the Albany firepower and goaltending. But wouldn't have any money riding on this one. It should be a great series.

So many guys that can fill needs. I don't want to get caught up in too much wishing cause that'll lead to too much disappointment. KA should be active, simple as that, and he should be looking at guys who aren't over the hill yet and are good in the playoffs, not necessarily the regular season.

Some people did. Some people were really anti Tochet, almost like the anti Torts crowd. I wonder if the Flyers (who tend to be a little incestuous) wish they'd hired him. Coaching makes a huge difference (look how Cassidy somehow got Eichel to play 2 way hockey!) but Vancouver also made huge roster additions. Their big Swedish star has actually been pretty crap in the playoffs. Hopefully KA realizes this and isn't just going to think hiring Ruff was enough.

I think Benson's "jump" will be in year 3 or 4. Likely when he's around 21. I will not be surprised if he takes a backwards step next year and it won't worry me as I see a bright future. He might not. We shall see how he adjusts to what Ruff brings, but I am expecting a more structured style of play and young guys usually have some issues with that initially.

I think that’s exactly what he’s claiming. He also managed to indict “Bills mafia” in the process. Just an absolutely clueless take lacking in context.

well idk. I'd actually like to see multiple deals to change this roster. My mindset is in terms of restructuring the roster and getting players that play differently from what we have. Our roster imo is too slanted in one direction and it doesn't have the various parts that a winning NHL roster requires. We need to move pieces where we have surpluses and get pieces where we have deficiencies. The value and the winning the trade doesn't concern me much. I'd like to hear actual trade ideas from people. Who do they want or think we could get and what would they give? It's easy to say "I want Skinner gone" (as I've said myself) but it's harder to make it happen. It's easy to say "we need" or "I want" but how and for who? What is everyone willing to actually do in concrete terms rather than vague wishes.

Actually he didn’t. Buffalo was always his priority based on his relationship with Nathan Paetsch. He wanted to enjoy his college graduation and spend some time with family and friends that was the delay in his signing. The addition of Byram changes the dynamic of the defense corps as that is another left handed puck moving defender. RJ might like an another opportunity where there is clearer pathway to a regular NHL job. For the right deal, Adams does not hesitate to move him

Okay, I will believe this. He looked decent in the Philly games I saw, but I didn't see that many. Perhaps you're still left with the question though of did he get along with Torts or did he quit on him? What I don't see on this site though is actual viable trade proposals. Everyone is just saying KA needs to make moves but what moves? That's the harder question.

They should swing and miss/hit for Elias Lindholm. He creates so much position flexibility. Top 6 six center - allowing Cozens to slide into a 3C or top 6W. He can play your tough assignments against teams top scoring lines. While also giving you some production offensively. He is no Chris Drury - but he could be our theoretical Chris Drury. If we could get this guy to bite on a 5 x 8.5 contract...it would be gold for this team. That said - it may cost the Sabres 9+ to get him.....but...he changes the dynamic of this team.