Taro T

For every 2 arbitration awards in any given year, you can walk away from 1 of them. So, if you have 1 or 2 players electing arbitration, you can walk away from 1, 3 or 4 and you can walk away from 2. And so on and so forth. And that's only the case when the award is above a threshold (was $3.5MM when the last CBA was signed, not sure what it is now due to inflation) and Bernard-Docker's award had exactly 0.0% chance of exceeding that threshold to allow the Sabres to elect to walk away from it. And you can't walk away from club elected arbitiration. (Though that doesn't apply in this situation at all.)

There's only 32 NHL owners in the entire world. He is in a very small club. That he's had the worst results of anyone in that club over his tenure doesn't change the fact that HE is IN that club and WE ain't. And IF he ever moves on from Adams, he has a chance to do what he did with the Bills and Bandits - luck into a really good GM that'll turn everything around.

Thought there's a possibility Timmons would be Power's partner, but saw Kesselring as Dahlin's partner in that scenario. Your combos are interesting.

They came into the off-season with a plan of swap out the back up goalie, swap out a couple of the bottom 1/2 D, and swap out most of the 4th line, and IF there's a deal that improves the team then consider trading Byram. Oh, yeah, and can the S&C coach, he ruined our season. What part of that indicates there may be a new FO if this fails again? That's the plan of someone that beiieves they're on the right course. Now, it's possible that Adams job IS on the line. But he sure doesn't think it is. (Pegula is the one who's opinion matters; but Adams has done nothing to indicate he might be looking for a new person to sign his paycheck come next July.)

IF Ruff had assistants that belonged in the NHL, sure it could work. Does anyone have any faith that the guys that Ruff has teaching the players the X's and O's who just said, cool, walk away from Bernard-Docker, he brought nothing worth mentioning (other than Power playing well when paired with him) will have both insight and sway on helping decide how the lineup should be structured? Yes, Ruff plays favorites (almost all coaches do to an extent) but he kept Afinogenov in the lineup when he must've been the most frustrating player to coach nearly ever. And he never held Roy's diving against him even when he was a rookie. So, Ruff has shown an ability to look past a guy's annoyances if he can actually play hockey. And he & Regier bought off on Drury's request to dump Satan. So, his opinion can be swayed. Just have no faith that the crew he has will be effective in making correct player decisions.

She. And she's a moderator. Fortunately for you, she is very fair and has a thick skin.

Yes. It could've been a disaster. Instead, he managed to keep the team essentially what it was heading into this off-season; if not in actual make up, in expectations. Which, for what we expected, is kind of a home run. But it in no way IS an ACTUAL home run (on paper, at an absolute minimum). We still need to see how this chapter of the Byram saga ends, but it's likely the value he provides will roughly be maintained one way or another. BUT it didn't have to be this way. Rather than just keep status quo leaving us to hope another year getting "taught" 😄 Ruff's system and the youth being 1 year closer to their primes will be enough for the adjustments towards grit to be enough to sneak into the playoffs; he could've made bold moves to show some definite improvement on the big club at the expense of some of the precious prospect pool. And yes, trading Peterka (for less than he's worth IMHO) could be considered to be a bold move. But Adams himself said their preference was to keep him. His agent's refusal to negotiate forced his hand on that one. So, other than possibly trading Byram, the plan entering this season was to replace the backup goalie with another backup goalie, and to replace the 4 & 5 D with different 4-6 D, and to swap out a large chunk of the 4th line once again. Oh, and replace the S&C coach too. If this team were coming off a 106 point season, the plan as devised makes a ton of sense. Coming off 79, it's a bold move, Cotton. And it COULD work. But they need a whole lot of items to all break their way for it to do so.

Personally, have very high hopes for Kesselring too. And maybe he could be not only a great partner for Power, but maybe Dahlin as well. Give them some flexibility in how to deplay the backliners. But, just can't get past how well Power and Bernard-Docker looked together. Also, have made no secret of it, am no fan at all of Wilford. Am very concerned that they won't find as good a pairing as that was. And if Kesselring & Power are a great pairing will be very happy to be wrong about being concerned about them letting a guy that will likely be no more than a journeyman, if not in the correct situation, go off on his journey.

IF they finally have found a partner for Power that makes that what we'd hope the pairing should be, then yes, Bernard-Docker being gone is a nothing burger. But, if, once again, they've failed to find Power's partner, it's a huge error. Because Power and JBD played well together. Time will tell. Hoping Adams and Wilford are right. And honestly, am FAR less interested in what he does in Detroit as what Power does with Kesselring &/or Timmons.

Yep. Hope for the best. But believe they'll actually spend to/near the cap when they actually do so. And not a minute sooner.

LaLaLaLaLaLaLaLaLaLaLa LaFontaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiine.

The concern comes with an offer sheet of 2 years. Big salary and no UFA years bought.

So offer him $950k. It still doesn't break the bank and they've sent guys wtih bigger contracts to Ra-cha-cha. And you realize that unless he resides in NYS for 6 months and a day is he liable for the full contract getting taxed as a NYS resident. Taxes aren't necessarily a fully apples to apples comparison as each jurisdiction they play in have their own tax laws that the accountants are only too happy to figure out. Again, said overall they did fine on this, but personally would like to have seen them give him a bigger offer. Why? Because he's the only guy besides Dahlin that Power has played with and had the pairing look good. That's important. You find something that works, keep it. Btw, unless he wants to live in Detroit proper, his tax rate would be 5.45% in Michigan. And his NYS tax rate would be 6.85%. So, yeah, $25k would cover the extra ~$10k he'd pay in tax.

Agree that Kulich is a lock to make this year's Sabres team. But what pro team did he last play for last season?

Thing is, they aren't really storing up all that much cap space. Per puckpedia, with 14F's, 6D, and 2G's, they have $12.865MM in cap space with Byram, Timmons, and Levi left to sign. Byram will be at least $6MM on a bridge and likely around $8MM on a deal cutting into some of his UFA years. Leaving them with ~$5-7MM. Timmons will be ballpark $1MM. Levi ballpark $2MM. Yes that's 24 bodies, not just 23, but how often is the team going to only have 23 players on the big club's roster. And after those signings, they'd have ~$2-4MM left. Which shockingly is what NHL teams end up with. Not the $8MM+ they tend to like to keep available. Once Byram's fate (contract, whatever) is determined; then we'll know if there's room for any other moves. But it's not like they're sitting at $20MM waiting on making sure Byram doesn't get a $13MM offer (and he ain't getting a $13MM offer). They're about where they should be $wise, but personally would like to see them about $1MM away from the cap on opening night rather than $4-5MM away.

Agreed. The only way he's going away is if Dallas says, you know, that Byram kid looks like a good centerpiece in a package for Robertson and the Sabres end up needing to move Samuelsson in a separate deal to wind up cap compliant come October. (And that AIN'T happening. But it is nice to dream.)

Wow, are Sabres fans ever a dark bunch. Guess 14 years will do that to you.

That's why the statement was "then run the rest of it the way they did." If he won't sign, don't make the QO but tell him the $900k will be available for a time, but the Sabres will be looking elsewhere on what they're going to do. Let the agent test FA, and either you end up with him as it appears the best offer he got was Detroits or the agent gets Detroit to up its offer a smidge. Either way, its a non-loss. Paying him $1.7MM would've been the loss. And, again, they handled it reasonably. It's just frustrating that they got rid of the 1 guy we know of (besides Dahlin) that can play next to Power. And if Kesselring ends up Power's partner and they have chemistry; well, the Sabres saved $900k. It's just that seems to be a pretty low cost insurance policy.

Close. The CORRECT thing would've been to offer him $900k before QO's needed to be submitted. Then run the rest of it the way they did. But they really can't be faulted on this one.

Would consider Kulich to be the most likeliest of the Amerk F's to make the Sabres. Kozak has an outside chance of making them on the 4th line. Rosen, Östlund, Helenius, and Wahlberg might also get looks. (But none will be on the big squad on opening night.) Doubt any will be difference makers this year. Kulich could be a difference maker but would much rather see him on the 3rd line than where he appears to be pencilled in on the top line. He's good defensively for a guy as young as he is. That stated, he got his lunch eaten last year regularly when going up against the top lines of top teams and there's no reason to believe it'd be that much different this year, at least early on. Would be surprised if any other Amerk forward made the big club out of the gate. Johnson is the most likely D-man to start the year in Buffalo, but if Byram and Samuelsson are both back he's a long shot. (Expect they'd be better off letting him play in the A than have him riding the pine as the 8 in Buffalo.) Don't believe either of the big Russians will be ready out of the gate. Johnson will get opportunity. The 2 Rooskies might also. Would expect Levi to start the year in Ra-cha-cha, but he'll be up at some point.

Well, figure $6-8MM of that is going to go to Byram. Another $2MM will go to Levi. And another $1MM to Timmons. And, upon looking at that, yeah, there's $11MM spent and it doesn't really bring much hope along does it? (Now trade Samuelsson away and a trade of Byram could bring back something interesting. Or if Byram was only bridged, trading Samuelsson leaves about $6MM of that $11MM left to be spent on fun stuff.)

No urgency at all for signing Levi. He can't be offer sheeted and he isn't arbitration eligible. They'll have the rest of their ducks in a row and then get the deal done with him.

It does feel an awful lot like that off-season. It kind of feels like the off-season they got rid of Hawerchuck and Mogilny and every other big name except Hasek and LaFontaine. And that next season really did stink. And then out of the blue, they actually gelled and were good. Until the rug got pulled out from under us again. THAT is what being a Sabres fan is all about. You'd think we'd be used to getting the rug pulled out from under us by now. But spend $11MM of that nearly $14MM they have now, and maybe there's some hope. (It can't be any fun pulling the rug out from under us or the football away from us if we don't have hope. Right now, they aren't giving us the hope. So, it must be terribly dull for them at present.)

You mean besides @Sabres Fan in NS?

Bernard-Docker wouldn't get an arbitration award that's big enough for the Sabres to walk away from. But he very likely would've gotten more than he settled for in the offer from Detroit. So, yeah, @Porous Five Hole was right on that, the Sabres would've been paying the guy they expect to be their 8 significantly more than they'd want to. BUT if neither of the new guys gel with Power, the contract they'd end up with for JBD would've been very good for the player that is effectively their #4/5. Because we know, at least from a small sample size that JBD can be an effective partner for Power.