dudacek

Even Seravalli explicitly stopped short of saying Peterka won't re-sign. The fact of the matter that seems to get forgotten in the hype and recent trend of locking young players up long-term is that Peterka has no arbitration rights and is under Sabre control for another 4 years. the team has the hammer. He can sign an offer sheet and risk the Sabres matching. Or he can hold out. Not sure he has any other leverage here if he actually wants to move.

No shame in being the Ekblad, the Sergachev or the Guy Lapointe. I hope they can get something done.

“Byram is terrible” as an argument is, well, terrible. If you’re talking performance he’s in the top half of the league, if you’re talking toolbox he’s in the top 1/4. He is the Sabres 2nd-best defenceman. There are 3 good arguments for trading him: he wants a role that may not be available to him; he wants a contract that may be an overpay for the role he will play; he has trade value that could be used to improve the team in other areas. You have control over him for 2 years. You run the risk of arbitration or an offer sheet taking you down a path you’d rather not take, but none of those options result in untenable situations. It’s a complicated situation but it’s not “bad” in and of itself. He has value both as a player and as an asset and you have flexibility in how you choose to proceed. So you determine his contract demands, you determine his trade market, you consider the other roster options you have available. I believe they have decided to trade him and that the return will likely make the current roster worse. But it may also create the space for other moves that will lead to an overall improvement. I don’t have confidence that will be the case; I think Bo’s best years are ahead of him and I predict many “he wasn’t that good in Buffalo” posts in the future.

Self-serving because they are saying some of the things I’ve been saying on here. They get into it quickly maybe 9 minutes in

Some interesting takes in the latest Fairburn/Baker podcast on Byram Peterka and their fit and future.

Yes the numbers certainly bear that out. Sorry for suggesting otherwise

Right, because Dahlin is at 70% with everybody.

Glad to see I’m not the only one around here stooping to using sarcasm. On that note, they probably would have been much better off just sticking with Dylan Cozens, or trading Cozens for Filip Chytil instead.

If net neutral means 70% goals for, sure. Oh right, goals for and against is the single most meaningless stat.

I’m not entirely sure what 0-11 represents, but if you are trying to say Byram’s play is directly responsible for a team losing streak and has no bearing on goals scored when he’s on the ice, there’s no point talking.

Interesting listening to Rick Dhaliwal (Vancouver radio guy with good agent contacts) this morning. He said the Canucks were desperately trying to add Norris at the deadline to the point of where they had trades lined up to bring in players to flip to the Sens to seal the deal. Their bid failed because “they didn’t have a Dylan Cozens to offer” We’ve always questioned why the Sabres threw in a 2nd in the deal. This may be part of the answer

I was applying the "Byram wasn't a good trade" logic I read above to the McLeod trade. I've always maintained the Mittelstadt trade needed to be judged in the context of how they backfilled his spot. And I think I'd do Mitts and Savoie for Byram and McLeod 10 times out of 10, both on a value level and on a roster building level. The Sabres dropped in the standings because Quinn, Power, Cozens proved woefully incapable of the roles they were given, UPL backslid precipitously and the coaching change had the opposite effect of what they intended. if people want to pretend Byram's +11 at nearly 23 minutes a night represents a screen door on submarine that helped sink the season, they're welcome to that opinion. But its wrong.

Yes? So 18ish games in his entire career unrelated to his bum shoulder and the initial failed surgery? Tage Thompson has missed 25 games in his career since surgery fixed the shoulder injury that caused him to miss a year. As I tried to say above, for me any elevated Norris injury risk is tied entirely to his shoulder and whether it is repaired. That's a real risk where you are trusting your doctors, but outside of that he's no different than any other player. If you want to make the argument entirely about games missed period, that's valid, but it's not the way i look at it. I think the 'why' is relevant.

Ryan McLeod might be a better player than Matt Savoie right now, but in no way did McLeod make the Sabres a better team. And now the Sabres are up against the cap and McLeod is going to demand a contract that he probably won't be capable of living up to as a 3C, or be forced to play over his head as a 2C, while the Sabres move out better players to keep him. Nothing Adams does is right and the team is doomed to fail so long as he remains.

I don't want to trade Helenius for Rakell either. But I have to point out that Dylan Cozens, Jack Quinn and Owen Power were far better prospects than any player currently in the Buffalo pipeline. In terms how they rank as prospects — which is not proof of how they will be as players — Helenius and Östlund are similar to where Peyton Krebs was 2 or 3 years after he was selected.

Wait, is it still OK to fire assistant coaches in mid-June?

Unlikely. It basically gives them space to sign their two big RFAs Cuylle and Miller. Besides, the don't have their 2nd rounder next year, which they would need for a sheet between $7-11M AAV

I think @DarthEbriate is correct to add Johnson and Novikkv to the mix and agree with you on Osburn. The TLDR version is the Sabres are well-balanced in all positions in the pipeline, to the point that position this year is probably irrelevant. I’d take the best player available with size and/or edge and make that the theme of my entire draft. Plenty of that available at 9. And for the record, I would happy if the Sabres decide that is Smith.

Here's something I suspect the Sabres are very much aware of even if Sabrespace is not: Owen Power is the only LHD the Sabres have picked in the first 3 rounds of the past 5 drafts. Centre: Kulich, Östlund, Savoie, Wahlberg, Helenius RSW: Quinn, Sardarian, Rosen, Zeimer LSW: Peterka, Bloom, Kisakov, Poltapov, Neuchev, Benson LSD: Power RSD: McCarthy, Strbak, Kleber Goalie: Leinonen That glut you see on the NHL roster? Bryson is a spare part, Dahlin is comfortable on the right, Byram is getting traded and Samuelsson may follow him out the door. If I had to predict their pick, it would be Smith: a big, mobile 2-way D who plays with the edge Lindy says is missing, and is headed to Terry's alma mater. Aitcheson is also in the mix.

The bold is your opinion. My opinion is Terry is bringing back Kevyn because he’s been in lockstep with every move. Firing him would be an acknowledgement that Terry himself was wrong and he’s not ready to admit that.

Can't trade the good guys because we need them Can't trade the bad guys because nobody wants them. Can't sign free agents because nobody wants to come here. Can't really do anything because Kevyn Adams is the GM and Terry Pegula is pulling his strings. Pretty much where every conversation around here ends up.

No. He was s hipped out because he told the team he was not going to be re-signing.

After watching several of these, I'm always struck with the fact you never hear Sam Ventura's voice. It has to be a deliberate editing choice, likely to due to proprietary information. It leaves the impact of analytics on the Sabres choices an open question and a big hole in their process.

Oh goodie, another Sam Reinhart special.