Taro T

The top 4 are good to excellent D-men (or would be if given a legit system to play in now that they are all at least close to their prime if not actually in it). The 5 and 6 should be able to be good in a good system but both have been hit or miss in the past. Would be happy with this D if somebody other than Wilford was directing them. On paper it is better than they've had since Montour was a Sabre. And it COULD be significantly better than that. Expecting coaching will hold them back. Wanted improved coaching, D, F's, and GTing. Provided Byram isn't traded, this is the one unit that did actually substantially improve on paper.

The Sabres have one - Dahlin.

In fairness, you don't often hear Adams described that way. (Usually) context helps tremendously. In this instance, not so much.

Not entirely true. Yes, even if they are perennial champions, they aren't going to be worth more than the Broadway Blue Shirts. But their value would go up significantly if they were successful on the ice. They'd have perennial sellouts and the broadcast rights would go up in value as more people in the area would be watching on TV so the ad rates would rise. Throw in merchandise sales and the like, and winning would likely increase the team's value quite a bit. Especially if Pegula or the guy he hired to run his teams could figure out how to get Sabres games broadcast on the NP, the value of the team could go up a lot by putting a winning roster on the ice.

The bolded is accurate. IMHO. And if the Sabres had an actual NHL caliber coach running the D door, expect that he'd be able to answer that because that guy would know what he is working with every day and would let the HC and the GM know his thoughts about it. As for would there have been a caveat or conditions in Adams statement that they planned to match any offer? We'll never know. He didn't make the statement in the way Quinn did nearly 20 years ago which Lowe felt he could put in a crazy offer (at the time, nowadays it'd almost be pedestrian) that politician Larry let himself get backed into matching. Expect (hope?) that Adams claim that he'd match any offer included either the adjective reasonable or realistic in that statement. And if he did or didn't, again, we won't know because Byram didn't sign an offer sheet. But, do expect that had Byram gotten an offer sheet it would've been for less than $9MM and Adams would've matched the offer. But that is as much speculation as you or others believing otherwise.

Well, yes. And that's why if Quinn is on either PP unit, he is on the one w/ 2 D rather than the one with only 1. 😉

It was a good call. Didn't agree with it at the time, but back then wanted Thompson, Tuch, Peterka, and Quinn (yikes, horrible friggin' call) out there with Dahlin. Expecting if they run it, they'll run it with Byram taking the role of being the player opposite Thompson on the right half wall. But wonder what would happen if they ran it more like a traditional old-school 3-2 PP with 1 major wrinkle. Have BOTH the D, who are very good puck movers cheating in lower into the zone and effectively then having the bumper pushing down lower to the net as well. It necessarily puts them tighter to the defenders working against them, but am fine with both Dahlin and Byram being able to keep the puck and pass it cleanly under pressure. As everything is more compact; you are necessarily geting more traffic in front of the goalie and also reducing how long he has to react to the pass/shot combo. It couldn't POSSIBLY be any worse relatively speaking than their drop pass through 2 zones as an entry. AND it would have the advantage of being something other teams don't often see so they won't be as skilled at defending it. If it turns out that they do lose the puck too often, they could always adjust it to the more in vogue diamond with a bumper.

Nope; not from the Sabres at least.

Dahlin IS a lead dog. But you have to start making it work really friggin' soon, because if you don't the only thing he's going to lead is the exodus out of town. Two scary things in that list of yours. Not 1 F that's a lead dog. Krebs wants to be, but he's not a good enough player. Benson might become one, but he's barely out of his teens. And the other scary thing. No goalie on that list. When he's ready to be up; Levi has demonstrated it but right now he's #3 on the dpeth chart. S'pose there's a 3rd scary thing on that list. While Ruff was a lead dog; not sure that he still has it in him and don't see it in ANY of the other bench coaches. Lindy has them ready to play at the start of the game; but it fades. They need somebody to take some of the load from Dahlin's shoulders. It could come from any of those places; but 13 games shows that to date it hasn't come from any of them.

Yeah, if the idea is to have a 2nd playmaker on the ice for the top PP, Byram has to be on that unit. So, Byram, Dahlin, and Thompson are locks. Zucker isn't ideal down low, but he's the best the Sabres have so the question becomes Benson, Kulich, Norris, or Quinn as the 5th skater on the unit. Counterintuitively, would give Quinn the 1st crack at it. Would show they believe in him and give him an opportunity to make up for last year; PLUS if you don't use him on the 1st unit, you'll be using him on the 2nd unit which will only have Power on it from D. How many mother f'n goals is that 2nd unit going to give up having Power and Quinn both on that unit? Make the 2nd unit Power, Tuch, Benson, Kulich, and Norris. Which SHOULD be a good unit with Benson on the bumper and Tuch down low. Just like with the other unit a strong 1 timer could come from either side.

Your scenario is from this perspective sadly the most likely one.

We don't really know if the tank would've worked, because ownership blew up the 1st tank after only 3 years of the rebuild phase. When they punted O'Reilly they blew that plan up. They intentionally took yet another step back. And you can't do that and expect to win the race when you've barely left he paddock. But really wanted to see bigger changes in the FO and coaching staff this off-season because they can't get to the point that Dahlin, Thompson, and Tuch all want out too.

Like Michael Aday used to say "2 out of 3 ain't bad." (But even though it ain't bad; 2 out of three likely ain't good enough either.)

See, that's one other item we don't agree on. You believe that Byram doesn't want a LT deal and that is why there is no deal yet. IMHO, the 2 sides don't agree on what he is worth and THAT is why there is no deal in place. Byram wants $9MM (that # keeps popping up in "insider" articles about the negotiation; so expect it is the # that Byram and his agent want); the Sabres don't believe he's worth that much. AND would go farther to say that NO team thinks he's worth that much. Why? Because none made him an offer of that. Now, yes, there are some teams that don't have the draft capital to make that offer; but there are several (at least 4 if not 6 or 8) teams that have kicked the tires on Byram. Some of those have had it, and even those that don't could have made the Sabres a roughly equivalent offer to the draft pick compensation. Really, truly believe it is a simple matter of Byram believes strongly in himself and sees himself worth at least $9MM. So far, nobody other than his agent has agreed with him. And that disconnect on what he's worth is a far bigger reason for him not having been signed yet than his wanting out of Buffalo soon. It's not that they haven't had the discussions; it's that they don't agree on what fair value is. And considering what the Sabres have given Power and the since traded Cozens, can see why Byram believes he's worth $9MM. Don't agree with him; but see why he thinks this team should give him that.

No. You are missing the point. There's no reason for the offer sheeting team to go to 5 years. Go 1 or 2 with a UFA-esque deal forcing the current club to match it and get their cap stretched while losing the guy for nothing in 2 years. So, if the current team doesn't match, you can get the player for 2 years with a tacit contract offer for a LT deal already in mind that can be signed in 1 year. Yeah, you lose your draft picks, but who cares. You wanted the player. And if the current team does match; well you can get the player IN 2 years with a tacit contract offer for a LT deal already in mind that can be signed as soon as he hits FA. Then you don't lose your draft picks; but you don't get his services for those 2 years. But you're in a great position to get him when he's in his prime and you still won't be buying a ton of 30+ years like you'd be doing if you got the guy after the current club matched a 5 year deal. This way, you put the most stress on the current club. Pretty sure Adams would've loved to have seen a 5 year deal. He'd've known how much cap space he'd have and he'd also know if he really was matching any offer. (Expect he'd not have matched any offers above $9MM; but now we'll never know for sure. Unless of course Byram gets a $9MM+ award and then Adams accepts it or doesn't.)

Why? Because the Sabres don't want to pay him $9MM/year and Bryam apparently doesn't see a reason to sign LT for less than that. Not sure why you expect an offer sheet to be on a 5 year deal. Carolina and Moe-ray-all were handing out 1 and 2 year offer sheets. Not sure what the offer sheet term the 2 Eulers got a couple of years ago. Expect if somebody were offering Byram 5 years at close to $9MM, he'd've signed an offer sheet already. But, here we are.

Depends extremely heavily on what happens with Byram's contract and whether they then keep him or not. But yes, they COULD end up $2-3MM below the cap this year. With going to arbitration, expect it'll be closer to $5MM below the cap because am not expecting a Roslovic type FA add nor a Rust type trade add. Hope for both; expect neither.

His wife also suffered a catastrophic brain injury. The Bills make money. Wouldn't be surprised if the current version of the Sabres don't make money. Expecting her treatments and care are quite expensive and that he holds out that some really expensive treatment might actually bring her back to close to who she was prior to the apparently heart attack induced stroke. Can understand why he's ok with not putting money into the Sabres; but boy does it stink being a fan.

Unlike Peterka, don't believe that Byram really really wants out of Buffalo. IF they'd meet his contract request, expect he'd be fine staying. Give him $9MM x 8 years and he'd sign. Don't forget, he's had concussion issues in Colorado; he could be 1 hit away from not getting another contract after this one. And, agree, all things being equal, Byram wants to be THE man on a team's backend. Thing is, in order to get that opportunity, he needs to go to a team that has a bad D corps. Personally believe he's a #2, so to be a team's #1 he needs to be on a team without one or a high end 2. And maybe he becomes a 1, but he isn't there yet and may never be. From having seen him speak to the fans a couple of times, he seems to be a fairly happy go lucky guy. So, maybe he won't hate being in Buffalo should he get in writing from the team a listing of everything they see wrong with his game and all the reasons he shouldn't be paid what he's hoping for; that, coupled with knowing the team is ok with trading him for the right deal could create a severely toxic environment for someone that isn't capable of seeing the bright side of events/life.

Personally, believe it is clear that the Sabres are not offering him a LT deal a the value he wants. Don't believe it is clear that Byram WON'T sign a LT deal with Buffalo, but merely, as stated he won't at what the Sabres currently are willing to spend/offer. And, yes, if he is Dahlin's partner the next 2 seasons, in 2 years he'll get at least that $9MM he's reportedly looking for at present if not even more as the cap will be significanlty higher by then.

1/2 of the arbitrators are selected by the union and 1/2 are selected by the league. They alternate in getting to choose dates and arbitrators.

Doubtful. Pretty sure that went at last year's sale.

The old S&C Coach ain't laughing.

Griddle is finally hot, so time for dinner. Hope all our American members have a great Independence Day. And hope all our Canadian members and those few from elsewhere have had a very pleasant July 4.

You're totally overlooking the inspired full season of play they'll get from Norris and Quinn. None of them were effectively on the roster last year. You KNOW that Adams is banking on big years from Norris and Quinn. (And IF he gets that, AND the goaltending is at least top 12, AND they stay healthy, AND Kesserling and Power gel; well, without any pucks going into the Sabres net off knees and counting, then probably (possibly?) PLAYOFFS!!!!)