Taro T

Correct. The Sabres pretty religiously avoid arbitration since the Pegulas bought the team. And, not only is there the strong likelihood they'd be locked into an arbitration agreement they don't like with a guy like Bernard-Docker; they might not have certainty on the roster for about 1 more month which can mess with planning.

Yes, he kept the Sabres out fo the playoffs that year. He very well might do it again.

No. Ruff definitely has a say in the type of player he wants here. But there are soooooooooo many posts here (not all yours, heck that one that was quoted might've been your only one) about how "oh, this was Ruff influenced" or "oh, that was Ruff." Of course the GM is going to try to get players the coach wants (and get rid of ones he doesn't want) because if he doesn't, he needs to get rid of the coach, they necessarily aren't on the same page. Adams got players Krueger wanted, he got players Granato wanted, and he's now getting players Ruff wants. But at the end of the day, he "talks to Terry every single day," all of these moves are blessed by the higher power that Kevyn reports to. No disrespect intended, and again, this isn't fully directed at you (but yours was the post that got the response, it's more directed at the post) but "the coach wanted this" or something to that effect isn't insightful and very likely isn't even fully correct. Ruff either didn't want Bernard-Docker or more likely didn't care whether he was back or not. They had their plan to get the D significanlty bigger; JBD doesn't bring larger. And at the end of the day; Ruff coaches the players he has and develops a system to run that works for THOSE players. He has run significantly different systems at various stages of his 18 or so years as the HC of this team. He could, and successfully did, coach JBD.

Wtf is every single thing a "Ruff influenced decision?" This isn't the 1st time this team has done this. They traded for Kahun back before Ruff or even Adams was here. Then they let him walk. This is YOUR Buffalo Sabres. Personally expect, if anything, this is a Wilford influenced decision; which pretty much by definition makes it an idiotic one.

Well, this time will be different. They won't have upper management crowing about losing on purpose. 😉

Well sure, he hasn't had to pay Byram, Timmons, nor Levi yet. That's $14MM glistening in Pegula's eye. They'll like it a lot less when they're within $5MM of the cap (maybe even $3MM).

Untrue. Byram doesn't qualify to be a UFA until '27. So, signing a 1 year deal leaves him 1 year from becoming a UFA.

Is very possible. Who are we kidding, it's very likely. But Adams shouldn't be the one choosing who plays with whom. That falls on the coaching staff. Adams job is to get Ruff the best set of players he can and if Ruff identifies a gap, it is Adams job to fill that gap. But who goes out when and with whom is on the coaches. That isn't on the GM.

And totally get them having Dahlin, Byram, Kesselring, and Power inked in pen ahead of Bernard-Docker. Not sure where the certainty that Samuelsson and Timmons are (well, were, now) ahead of Bernard-Docker stems from. Just one more thing to dislike about Marty Wilford, IMHO. The guy who has responsibility for coaching that portion of the team HAS to have input in that area of the team, right? And they HAVE to put a ton of weight into how pairs look in practice, because they ALWAYS would roll back to Dahlin-Jokiharju as a pair even though Henri didn't belong anywhere near a top pairing in the NHL. Expecting he's a really smart guy and that in practice knowing what the forwards he was facing would be trying to do that he looked like a world beater; but in real games, he didn't work well with Ras and that forcing of that pairing is why it was a good thing to trade him away. Save the coaches from themselves. This seems to be working the exact opposite way. Power JBD must not have looked very good in practice, but it looked good in games. Just flat out don't get how they evaluate the D-men.

We need to accept the fact that no matter how much the fan base believes Bryson should be the 8 at absolute most; the Sabres brass see him as their 7. We don't have to LIKE it; but it simply is.

Well, yes, they did. They also had guys like Rodrigues playing in the top 6 because they were defensively responsible playing with guys that could carry the offense even with a bottom 6 guy on their line. They also, by the time the playoffs rolled around had a team payroll that was way over the cap. Both of those tended to make that 3rd line REALLY hard to play against. The Conn Smythe winner and one of the runner's up was playing on that 3rd line. And both are going to be paid this coming year. Cracks me up when people try to boil the winning formula down to 1 thing.

That's the point. Who are your 3 best pairings? Don't really care who the 6 best are individually. Power and Byram are the 2nd and 3rd best D-men on last year's roster in no particular order. They were awful together. Power and Bernard-Docker were good together. Get it, that they're likely planning on using either Kesselring or Timmons as a partner for Power. And if either pairing is better than what Power JBD were, then awesome. But, we don't know yet if they will be. We do know that there are several players that Power hasn't meshed with yet. Will they be Power JDB when paired together or will they be Power Byram when paired together? No data. But it would be nice to know they could run the actual Power JBD if necessary.

Reminds of Ruhwedal. A guy that looks ok but nothing special. In the right situation he could build a career. Of course, there's literally dozens of Ruhwedals every year that don't get the same opportunity and end up going to Europe for a couple of years then come back, settle down, and end up selling cars. Hope he makes it, because he could easily have left the Sabres high and dry.

Wow. They're taking this no more no blocking the kids anymore seriously as even the 2 huge Russians might be fighting for playing time in Ra-cha-cha. 😉 Karmanos is in the running for AHL GM of the year by now, right?

Not necessarily. Expect he should be ready next year & possibly this year.

Yeah. Really like Metsa for the Amerks and Fiddler-Crab too. Karmanos has been doing some solid work.

???

Benson's a carney. You honestly think that he can't handle a little stick tap on the helmet when the HC is trying to make an example of him? He's heard every single derogatory slur there is and it has all rolled right off. Benson laughs at your lack of faith.

Any possibility that now that Karmanos pretty much has a full roster for Ra-cha-cha, he can turn his attention to improving the Sabres' roster? Maybe if we ask nicely and say pretty please?

Pretty sure the thing that most impresses the coaches about Bryson is that he is REALLY appreciative of not having to load his own bag onto the team bus and has no thoughts whatsoever about making waves when he's relegated to the pressbox. That, and they've said they haven't noticed a dropoff in his play when he hasn't been in a game for a long time vs when he's been a regular. It's like they see him as the absolute ideal #7. (Too bad his talent is that of an 8 or a 9.)

Remember, for about 1/2 of the season the 6 is the 5 and for 10 games or so, he's your 4. He isn't completely replaceable. At least not when the next man up is Jacob Bryson.

You expect the Sabres to only be better than 1 team this season? (Because let's face it, unless the Sabres are dead last, they AREN'T winning the lottery.) Yikes!!

If he isn't a good mentor maybe he could drop Devon a cool $1B or 2 so he could find/buy one of his own. 😉

Dang. Karmanos is earlning his pay today. If only his boss would do the same.

Pretty sure you're thinking of the Prospects Challenge which happens right before TC opens in September. Expect they'll still be doing that again. Last year IIRC there were 5 teams partaking.