thewookie1

I wouldn't be happy with either but LA's at least give us a Center

For me, he would be likely exchanged with Asplund depending on the situation. Both work well with Mitts but have differing strengths.

Ran this through Capfriendly Reinhart 7x7mil Mitts 5x3mil Coleman 3x4.5mil Copp 4x4.15mil McCabe 1x2.5mil Jokiharju 2x2.25 Dahlin 2x5.25 K. Miller 1x2mil Ullmark 3x4.5mil Mrazek 1x3.5mil Used Fitzgerald as the D prospect in the NJD trade (using family ties against him) Retained half of Risto's salary. Swapped Copp and Skinner positionally. Ended up with 7.2 mil or so in cap space. I traded Boston's 2nd for Nick Leddy who is 1x5.5mil and another LHD to add further veterancy to our back end. So my D was (until McCabe returns) Dahlin - Borgen Leddy - Jokiharju Bryson - Miller When McCabe returns, barring Bryson playing incredible I'd slot McCabe in there and occasionally swap Miller with Bryson based on the opponents. A nice combo of Playoff experience and youngsters.

What's your cap look like?

I’d still be asking for Zegras, there aren’t any 1Cs in this draft, and we lack a prospect of that tier. Couldnt someone just wack Eichel over the head, give him amnesia and tell him he loves it here always forever?

What are they going to sing for us?

Ideally if we have a 2nd Top 10 pick, let’s say #9. Whomever we take, that position goes on a run. For instance if we draft Power, I’d hope to see The other top D to go soon after thus pushing a forward down to us at 9. The opposite if we were to take Beniers. In a sense, the perfect scenario would have us drafting 1 and 7/8/9 because in that case you could theoretically take Beniers, then be practically assured one of the Top 4 Dmen anyway. I really wouldn’t think about a goalie honestly due to their long wait times. If we ended up with 3 in the Top 15, perhaps then I’d think about grabbing the goalie but otherwise I’d stick to skaters in the 1st round.

Alright after running through the group would be that they'd protect Johnsson and Wood barring something behind the scenes. Johnsson had a terrible year with the Devils and Wood scored more but assisted less. However they are the most memorable of the 6. Studenic played 8 games and has mostly been an AHL/Slovak League player. Merkley, McLeod and Bastian are all varying levels of mediocre.

Very true, I do think though that Adams would target Wood for the reasons I listed before

I'd pretty much agree, hence why I think its more or less a smoke screen for him that Buffalo is just playing along with.

As they said, they have a huge hole at RHD and have a good quantity of winger prospects and present players including Tyce Thompson, Mercer, and Foote.

I have a hunch, Risto for Miles Wood and a pick. Wood being a local would give us a high likelihood for the whole "want to be here" idea

Another point I hadn't thought of is that regardless of if we actually think we can get Brind'Amour. Adams is doing his old friend a solid by staying in the mix with Seattle to kind of force Dundon's hand.

Unsure what they could honestly give us.

It would have to I'd presume. I'm guessing GMKA is both interviewing for head coaches and potential associate/assistant coaches. Essentially hedging his bets. Granato hasn't had any other interviews so I'm guessing he'd likely stay on with Buffalo depending on the head coach. If he is the head coach Adams likely wants to grab at least one experienced HC to be an assistant

Nah, not interested; he's a winger

I doubt they will but I'd be furious if Adams was dumb enough to send him there.

Then you don't trade him regardless. The last thing we should do is trade him for a bag of pucks because he wants out.

Here's the finished version https://www.capfriendly.com/armchair-gm/team/2469532

A small addon would be, if Scheifele was interested in being a Sabres leader and culture fixer perhaps he could work given the right circumstances. Essentially could he and few other players get us to the playoffs and reset this franchise after this whole terrible decade. And then allow us to fix the whole system from prospects up. Does he have a never say die, do anything to win, persona? Could he help give us a new identity and help guide the young players we have coming through the ranks?

The Athletic had an article regarding Dahlin's next contract and it boiled down to 2x5.5mil or 8x8mil Since on my scenario we'd have Cozens, Jokiharju, and Turcotte all coming off their respective contracts after 2 years. That's why I went long term with Dahlin who's agent turns out to be the same as Skinner's *ugh* On the topic of Eichel & Reinhart for Scheifele & Ehlers, I wouldn't do it. Let's just equate their present stats as equal. Scheifele is 28 and under contract for 3x6.125mil Ehlers is 25 and under contract for 4x6mil Reinhart is 25 and would likely get 7x7mil Eichel is 24 and has 5x10mil The major problem comes to Scheifele being much older than Eichel and under contract 3 more years versus 5. But worse, he's approaching the age where players drop off and they always seem to do that here. Ehlers vs Reinhart is more of a toss up. They both are 25 and contribute similar numbers but in different ways. IF Scheifele was a couple years younger I'd be far more willing as his timeline would line up better with the youngsters. In reality, we'd have him around 2 years as a solid to great player and 1 year of mediocre to solid play. Barring him turning into Gordie Howe, he will begin to waste away by the end of the contract meaning we'd either have no 1C, have to pray who we still have has become a legit 1C, pay Scheifele a lot to just likely be mediocre and kind of hold the 1C spot, or end up with a lesser version of our 2011/2012 teams where we had no 1C.

I'd make sure we can extend him, prior to any trade, at about 8 mil, after all he trended down last year. I've got Eichel, Johnson, and Thompson for Zary, Tkachuk, Lindholm, 2021 1st and 2022 3rd Risto to Anaheim for their 2021 2nd and 2022 3rd BUF 2021 2nd and 2022 3rd for Garland Olofsson & Reinhart to LAK for Turcotte, 2021 1st and TOR's 2022 3rd Skinner - Lindholm - Garland Tkachuk - Mitts - Cozens Ruots - Turcotte - Bjork Asplund - Girgs - 4RW Dahlin - Jokiharju McCabe - Borgen Bryson - VET Ullmark Mrazek Okposo is a scratch presently Signings: Garland 4x4.5mil McCabe 1x2.5mil Ullmark 3x4.5mil Mrazek 1x3.5mil Mitts 5x3mil Dahlin 8x8mil Tkachuk 6x8mil extension Jokiharju 2x2.5mil Borgen 3x1.5mil Asplund 2x1.35mil We'd still have 11.7mil in cap space for the remaining holes.

If you can get him to sign 5x3mil you do that, otherwise bridge him

Wouldn’t do Eichel + Reinhart for 2 Dmen, a Forward and a 1st. Then we’d have way to many D without any offense

I like Lindholm, but without any extension this really doesn't help us much. 3OA will take another 2 to 3 years to get here and contribute and I want to compete immediately. (Essentially playoffs or not, I want a team that is both entertaining and capable of making the playoffs if a few things go our way.)