Taro T

Yeah, it really truly isn't a bad thing should Kulich be the only Amerk from last year that makes the jump out of the gate this year. THAT sort of thing happens quite often to the teams that are actual members of the NHL and not merely affiliates.

Wonder who the Sabres will grab at 7 then? (Yes, without losing the lottery, that would have the Sabres picking 5th, but c'mon this is the Sabres we're talkin' 'bout. We all know they only win the lottery if they finish dead last (and only 50% of the time at even that.)

He says on social media unironically. 😉

Technically, they both did. Which one WILL be harder to play against is the Q it seems you were trying to ask.

Don't tell NS.

Kaleta played 5 games for the Sabres in '13-'14 and 7 in Ra-cha-cha. Girgensons was a rookie that scored 8 goals in 70 games. And he was in the top 6 that year. He wasn't the solid 4th liner he'd eventually become at that point. Grigorenko shouldn't have been anywhere near that team, he once again wasn't ready, and only played 18 games as a Sabre that year. Larsson was still a rookie that year too.

If Poltapov comes over in '27, yes, he'll be on an ELC for 1 year (provided ages for ELCs don't change in the new CBA). If he hangs out 1 extra year in Russia, nope. 25 year olds don't go into the Entry Level System. So, he'll cost the Sabres whatever he costs to get him to put pen to paper on a contract.

Nowadays, not many. Back in '06 there were a LOT of arbitrations. But both teams and players seem to be better about working a deal out on their own without a 3rd party mediating (arbitrating, whatevs) the discussions.

Tuch's extension doesn't factor into this year's team salary at all. Worry about fitting all the guys that need to be re-signed or all the guys they hope to bring in next year in the next off-season. They can trade a piece or pieces for something cheaper next year IF that's necessary. It certainly isn't necessary at present.

Yep. And it's why they shut him down immediately. Gave him an extra 6 weeks or so to heal up and be ready to go when camp opens in September.

IF an offer sheet comes that puts the Sabres over the cap this summer, or if Adams gets an offer on a top 6 F that he simply can't refuse that puts the Sabres over the cap this summer, he has until right before the season starts to get the team cap compliant. Trading away Samuelsson, in almost any case would get the Sabres cap compliant. He wouldn't be immediately handcuffed.

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?