tom webster

Carle has already turned down other opportunities to come to the NHL. TPEGS would have to put on an enormous selling job to get him to come to Buffalo. He’s only leaving college for what he deems as the perfect job.

I really think the same way about Rasmus and Tage. Eichel is special but so are these two. I know it’s hard when we’ve been beaten down like this but this team has some special offensive talent.

I think you are letting your pessimism (well founded) cloud your judgment. Dahlin and Power both regularly make list on the Athletic. Tage is considered and talked about often. JJP is discussed as an emerging talent and will probably mentioned heavily in off season trade talks. Alex Tuch was much sought after at the deadline.

Mike Grier and Pat Verbeek seem to be killing it out west.

I have this conversation over and over with friends. When I was younger, “insiders” were regarded with reverence, their word gospel. I long ago realized most of them are less informed than members of this board. Brawndo knows more about what’s going on than any of them. LGRM and others follow prospects more then anyone else I’ve come in contact with that wasn’t employed by a franchise.

Yeah, I shouldn’t have worded it the way I did. I find it especially prevalent when an “insider” hyped a player previously. Rather than admit they are wrong, they blame it on organizational development. Just watch, if Cozens ends up being what we thought he was, they will blame it on Buffalo for rushing him.

This take is from the same Canadian “insiders” who couldn’t understand how Buffalo gave up Savoie for McLoud. They have inflated opinion of guys that they were formerly high on. Buffalo gave up a second in 2026 because they got the two better players. Time will bear that out. One thing for sure though, no one will now how good that second round pick will be for five years.

According to everything I’ve been told, there isn’t anyone in this class of free agents that will be memorable. On the other hand, like someone said, it’s like a lottery ticket so why not. Plus, a twenty one year old chose to come here in spite of the lack of palm trees and all.

I think this is exactly right.

Like I said, Bryam won’t be back plus a forward or two will be gone. They are not running this team back,

Unless politics destroys the Canadian dollar thus blowing up the cap, the Power and Tage contracts are going to be huge bargains relative to cap percentage. The Sabres have plenty of cap flexibilty if they want to add whatever they want. Also, I will be shocked if Bryam is with the team next year. Power isn’t going anywhere unless they get the first pick in the draft and then trade Power for a number one center.

He’s never going to be what some want him to be but he is going to be a very good NHL defenseman.

Only in Buffalo does anyone think Power won’t outperform his deal. Cozens was a good bet that lost but was replaced by a guy I think is worth his deal and neither deal is so egregious that it prevents anything. Muel I would agree was pre-mature and the potential savings didn’t justify the timing. Every team has bad contracts. The Sabres won’t lose anyone or be unable to sign anyone because of any of these contracts. It will all come down to whether ownership will change their commitment.

This is an exaggeration. They have one contract that looks like it won’t work out and plenty of cap space to keep whomever they want to keep. Question is whether owner will allow them to spend. The whole contract narrative is completely off base. The number crunchers throughout the league have pretty much come to the conclusion that bridge contracts aren’t an efficient use of resources. You decide who you think is part of your future and you get them signed. The others you let walk unless they are willing to sign way below market, Some work, some don’t and the bad ones are almost always easy to rid yourself of, again, as long as the owner is willing to commit. Bad contracts aren’t the problem, ownership commitment may be.

Terry isn’t far from the bottom but Woody Johnson is worst.

Maybe a typo but it was 1982.

I continue to read all this post about hiring a President of hockey ops, hiring experienced people etc, etc. History, however, suggests, there is no blue print. The top teams in the league now hired first time general managers, first time nhl coaches, only added POH when they needed to retain a valued assistant. Done went the experienced route. Carolina has been one of the best franchises for awhile now and is run by one of the most meddling owners in sports. In the NFL, the Rams borrowed a page from the Sabres and gutted their scouting department and emphasize video scouting and now they have one of the most successful drafting records in the league and their front office ok we people are in high demand.

Verret was a typical AHL star who just wasn’t good enough for the NHL, similar to Jody Gage, Mal Davis and others. On top of that, he was very small and guys of his stature weren’t given much of a chance pre-2005.

I think Cozens is destined to be a good, useful piece that good teams need. He just can’t be one of your top three(3) go to guys.

I think them signing Greenway and Zucker to extensions played a big part in Dahlin’s sentiment. Cozens was more beaten down than not wanting to be here.

Biz is a joke, but if this is true, and i think it might be, it’s the best thing that could happen. I don’t want my top players being content with this *****.

They could make that work if they wanted to, and of course he wanted to.

I meant cap room. Even if they go crazy and give stupid contracts to their RFA’s they will still have $7/$8M available plus whatever player they subtract. They will definitely add to the roster which obviously means they will subtract as well.

What are you talking about? They are going to have plenty of room to add to this roster.

Peterka has been rumored as the “big piece” for about a month for three reasons; 1) he can bring a good return 2) they feel Rosen could replace him 3). He apparently is not a big fan of living in WNY