dudacek

The other thing to consider in the way the Sabres are built at the moment is that they have 3 elite passers on the blueline that other teams don’t have. They’re kinda built like a basketball team where the centre’s role is to defend and finish and the guys at the back are in charge of distributing.

Alex Tuch and Tage Thompson aren’t playmakers in the Dale Hawerchuk/Tim Connolly sense that they look to pass, but they are in the sense that they get the puck up ice and to the net and they create space and opportunity others can exploit. Peterka was the same way Zach Benson and Jack Quinn aren’t there yet, but they have that skillset. Norris and Kulich need those types of wingers to be successful, but the flip side is that they do complement those types of wingers.

I think of this when people float the idea of Brock Boeser. He’s a finisher who requires a playmaker. I can’t think of a worse fit for the rest of our top six 6 at the price he’s going to demand.

Pretty sure I stopped talking about it 2 years ago. 😁 That was kinda my point.

Yep. Its only the fact that they were similarly positioned in each of the past 2 seasons and didn’t take advantage of the Skinner money last year, and didn’t do anything at all the year before that would make anyone think otherwise. Its so deflating.

I think the Byram situation is pretty clear, at least from Adams perspective: Bo has made it clear to Adams that he doesn’t “want out” now and he’s going to give him everything he has for as long as he’s here, but he is not currently interested in a long-term deal with the Sabres because he wants an opportunity for a more significant role. Adams believes him and has told him he will shop him to see if there is a deal to be made with a team that will give him that opportunity. But he has also said he’s only going to pull the trigger if there is a deal that makes the Sabres better. If the deal materializes, he gets moved. If not, they’ll negotiate a short-term deal. No idea if Adams has read Byram correctly, or how desperately he wants to trade him. But his words indicate he feels a degree of comfort with the situation, and both intends to trade him and is confident that a trade is there to be made.

I see no world where the Kings move Byfield this summer. Too much invested, nothing in the pipeline that comes close.

If Byram isnt traded, neither am I. But his personality and skillset would go well with Dahlin and might be perfect for Power. Very assertive, good at in-zone coverage and one-on-one battles where Power needs help, less-so at rush D and breakouts, where Power excels. can PK. Affordable contact this year. Dahlin Power Andersson Kesselring is very nice, well-balanced and affordable top 4, IMO.

Doubt there has been a championship team in my lifetime that didn’t have partiers. Its about whether or not it gets in the way of performance. Anyone who watched the kid’s interview could see there wasn’t even a whiff of disappointment. That was the the face of a kid overcome with emotion about being drafted.

What? But they have all kinds of Palm trees! Andersson has no control over where he's traded, so that must have been extension-related. Calgary and LA were both interested in Byram. The Sabres should be interested in Andersson. Balls continue to be juggled. Please let us catch one.

@That Aud Smell’s video clip dropped me down the rabbit hole of when we signed Sam Ventura and I had dreams we were going to moneypuck our way to success. Other than maybe Ryan McLeod, we haven’t seen it. Was our analytics team not that good? Were they not being listened to? Trading 2nd round picks for Conor Timmins to dump Conor Clifton smacks of moneypuck. Kesselring and Doan for Peterka smacks of moneypuck. But the Buffalo Sabres history under Kevyn Adams smacks of anything but being the smartest man in the room.

Agree with pretty much all of this. Byram is probably better than any other option available and maybe that’s why Adams hasn’t moved him. Sign him and use the next two years to try to change his mind about walking to free agency. Use free agency or trade other assets to add another forward.

I’d like that better too, not sure it works under the cap, even if Ehlers is interested. I was thinking his AAV starts with a 9, but I see AFP is projecting 6x$8.1M and they’re better at this than I am. For what it worth, they project Provorov at around $7M

It’s a painful situation. UPL has shown he can do it, but not that we can count on him to do it. I think Levi will get there, but when? Overpaying in UFA isn’t the answer in this year’s market. Trade seems like the best bet, but our roster and cap is such that it is hard to make a deal without also dumping UPL. And how many goalies available are safer bets than UPL?

He’s my target tomorrow, and I don’t mind throwing term at him because he’s 28 and can play both sides. The fact Provorov doesn’t seem to be a big city kinda guy and has a relationship with Jarmo gives me hope that palm trees and taxes can be overcome. But we’ll be paying at least $7M AAV and probably closer to $8M. Leaves us cap room to flip Byram for a good middle-six forward, preferably one with upside like Voronkov, and makes the Timmins deal make a lot more sense. Overall, Byram out, one D and one forward in is what I’m expecting over the next few days.

You might be right, looking at just D might change things. I just think people tend to focus too much on the now with the AAV on long-term contracts. The way I look at it is that $5.5 for this year is about what you pay a #3 and in 6 years likely projects to #4 money. Personally, not a fan of the contract because I think Hague isn’t going to be a 3/4 over the term.

Sabres get a bit of grace because Tage is on such a friendly deal, but basic cap management dictates their #3D makes about $6M. As the most attractive UFA Gavrikov is going to get more than that. Plus Gavrikov to New York seems like the likeliest move in free agency.

I don’t like the idea of moving Byram without adding another defenceman. Dahlin Kesselring Power Timmins Samuelsson Bernard-Docker Bryson That just doesn’t look any better than last year’s questionable group.

Don’t know if a summer of Voronkov, Doan, Kesselring and Timmons for Peterka, Clifton and Byram makes this team better, but it sure makes it bigger.

Average NHL salary is a tad over $4M right now. NHL says in 3 years it will be $5M. Three years after that $6M, if the trend continues. Is Nick Hague an average player? Because in terms of AAV, he just got an average contract

Good point, it's probably the facts that are wrong in this discussion.

@Archie Lee’s got it. Im evaluating them by goals for and against, you know the one stat that really matters in hockey? Why aren’t you?

You shouldn’t post lies. Best goals for % by NHL pairings, minimum 500 minutes: 1 Dahlin Byram 70% 2 McDonagh Cernak 63.8% 3 McCabe Tanev 63.3% 4 Samberg Pionk 63.2% 5 Toews Makar 61.4% How can any defence pairing that helped outscore the opposition 35 to 15 at even strength on the Buffalo Sabres be called “wasn’t that good” by anyone with a straight face? Its like saying Tage Thompson is not a very good goal scorer, or Josh Norris never gets hurt.

Demonstrably utterly and completely false. The were the most effective #1 defence pair in the NHL last year by a wide margin.

I wouldn’t mind Joel Hofer from the Blues as part of a Byram trade. Thatcher Demko is a top 10 goalie consistently underrated by Sabrespacers who I don’t think watch him much. He would be the single most helpful asset on the market to getting the Sabres into the playoffs.