dudacek

UFAs of note: Fleury, Kuemper, Griess, Jones, Holtby, Campbell, Halak, Desmith, Lankinen, Husso Others who may be available: Matt Murray, John Gibson, Simeon Varlamov, Alexander Georgiev, Robin Lehner, Peter Mrazek, Ilya Samsonov. Maybe Cam Talbot, and Jake Allen depending on what happens with Fleury and Price? Who are the teams shopping for starting goalies? Definitely Buffalo, Chicago, New Jersey, Toronto, Edmonton, Colorado. Probably some other teams might be looking for upgrades or shakeups, which will increase demand, but also displace some current starters. Colorado will get their pick, but Edmonton and Toronto don't have much cap space and the other 3 won't be the most desirable destinations for some. I guess I don't see it as much of a seller's market as you do. Of course we've all seen GMs make bad decisions.

Evolving Hockey is usually very good at this stuff, but I'm with you; I just don't see it. Mostly it's just because they haven't earned it. But also from a supply and demand aspect: I know desperate teams tend to find ways to create space, but who are the teams that both want and have the cap space for a $6 million goalie? Colorado? New Jersey? Then you add the additional lens of thinking one of the available goalies is that guy?

The Copp contract is the only one listed that isn’t an overpay. I can live with the Fleury, Husso and Subban deals because of term, our needs, and the market. Subban is probably available for cheaper. No interest in the other deals.

Not really the point. It was supposed to be an illustration of how Bishop’s contract might become useful given the holes in the Sabres roster and how they might fill them. Fill in some other name for $3.5 after Campbell rejects them then. Most observers seem to expect Campbell to get $5 million X 5 years. I think giving a career backup an AAV that puts him in the top dozen goalies in the league is risky, despite his good numbers over the past 2 years. I think giving a 30 year old goalie who has played more than 31 games just once in his career and never won a playoff series a 5-year contract is foolish. i think there’s a chance Adams will overpay on salary if his scouts and his analytics department believe last year’s Campbell is for real. I strongly doubt he gives him term.

Here’s another way of looking at this: If they fill out the roster by signing Olofsson for 6, Subban for 4, Hinostroza for 2 and Campbell for 5, they don’t need this to get over the floor. But if they sign Olofsson for 4.5, Subban for 3, Hinostroza for 1 and Campbell for 3.5, they would.

I think there’s a nuance here that can’t be overlooked: what the current Sabres are trying to build. A band of brothers who care, who fully embrace each other and the community, who leave everything they have out on the ice. It’s what gets us excited about Cozens and Krebs; it’s why we instantly fell for Tuch. No one epitomizes that better than Ryan Miller did. Celebrating who he was and how he handled himself in the presence of this new chapter can’t be anything other than a good thing.

At what point was that? I struggle to see a window where Orr, Lafleur or Gretzky wasnt ahead of him. Then add Esposito, Dionne, Trottier, Bossy, Clarke, Potvin… Even with my 10-year-old favourite player of all-time glasses on, I don’t see it. Not familiar with the SI story, but I bet it’s context is only a moment, one that probably correlates quite well to Miller’s Olympic season.

Glad the Rangers are out. Hope the torch is passed. Respect the ***** out of Tampa's effort and ability, but they carry themselves like dirty, entitled scumbags. Also, 5 years ago Colorado was dead last in the NHL, coming off one of the worst seasons of all time. Hope.

Here’s an interesting exercise, hardly scientific, but I can use this shorthand and everyone on here and probably around the league knows what I’m talking about. “The French Connection-era Sabres” ”The Scotty Bowman-era Sabres” ”The Lafontaine/Mogilny-era Sabres” ”The Hasek-era Sabres” ”The Ryan Miller-era Sabres” “The Tank-era Sabres” People would get the Briere/Drury era Sabres, but you’re really talking about 2 years. Or the May/Ray/Barnaby era Sabres, where the namesake players weren’t good. Or the Eichel-era Sabres, which we’d all rather forget.

I don’t expect PK Subban to be the same player he was in 2015. I also don’t expect him to the same person as a 33-year-old depth defenceman as he was at 25 chasing Norris trophies in the white hot spotlight of Montreal. I do think he seems like a good human being who’s lived through experiences that should make him an invaluable mentor to Power and Dahlin and our other young D. And I do think he’s still a good enough player to give us 18 minutes a night in a 4/5 role, an upgrade to Pysyk who costs us nothing but money. If PK is who I think he is, I can see a lot of sense to this move.

It might not have seemed like it, but I wasn’t actually disagreeing with you. You’re spot on about meh. Some are reading way too much into this deal. It doesn’t mean our goal is to cheap out or that we were desperate to reach the floor. This is spending $700,000 to gain a 7th round pick and some cap flexibility. What I mean by “insurance policy” is that it’s not “the plan”, it’s a contingency. It’s the equivalent of signing Brandon Davidson: nice to have if needed I guess, but not something you are planning to bank on.

Perreault in his prime was generally acknowledged around the league as one of the best forwards in the game, maybe not the best, but certainly in the conversation - a franchise centre. Miller in his prime was generally acknowledged around the league as one of the best stoppers in the game, maybe not the best, but certainly in the conversation - a franchise goalie. Perreault was captain, but was a bit of reluctant leader, he more or less had it foisted on him due to talent and tenure. As a goalie, Miller could never be captain, but was clearly a leader, probably the leader post-Drury/Briere. Perreault leads all skaters in games played. Miller leads all goalies in games played. Perreault was dutiful out in the community and carried himself properly, but never was a vocal “torch carrier” or community service icon for the Sabres. Miller spearheaded notable charity efforts in Buffalo and speaks glowingly of it at every opportunity. Perreault requested a trade but never got traded. Miller literally cried when he got traded. Each was the centrepiece of some of the very best Sabre teams of all-time but fell short of the ultimate prize. Each shined and was a source of pride to Buffalo in international competition. You may be on to something here Weave. Moreso than many would like to admit.

Miller’s 14th all-time in wins is certainly comparable to Perreault’s 37th all-time in goals. Miller was voted the best goalie in the game once, Perreault the 2nd-best centre twice.

3 is not an assumption. It’s math. They have to spend at least another $14 million. They have 6 defencemen and no goalies under contract. They have to sign someone. If you thought they were going to bring in Fluery and Letang and Giroux and not play Peterka and Quinn and Krebs you haven’t been paying attention. You’re going to get presumably more expensive and better replacements for Eakin, Pysyk and Anderson and whole bunch a ice time for the kids.

Agree with you, but for the sake of conversation: Miller is the 7th player to get his number retired (Horton is a special case), the franchise has been around more than 50 years and more than 600 players have worn the crest. Is it really cheap when someone comes along once every 8 years, or out of every 100 players? **** Also, if Miller made the Hall of Fame would it change your mind? It’s not impossible. There are 36 goalies in the hall. Miller is 14th all-time in wins and 3 of the guys ahead of him are of his vintage and not there (yet?): Fleury, Lundqvist and Luongo. Luongo and Lundqvist are the only ones ahead of him with better career save percentages. Guys like Rogie Vachon, Tony Esposito and Ed Giacomin are in.

Lance Lysowksi reported the Sabres are paying $700,000 toward Bishop’s contract. In return, they get a 7th round draft pick and an insurance policy against falling under the cap floor. Their other options: overpay some stiffs on short-term deals like Murray did with Mezsaros and pay them to stay away. Sign multiple good players to real free agent contracts, keep guys like Quinn and Peterka in the minors and cross your fingers those deals don’t become albatrosses in the future. Trade our young roster players for more expensive vets on suitable deals. After signing Bryson and Olofsson, the team would have had about $13 million to spend to get to the cap floor and 4 roster spots open. They were always going to acquire a starting goalie, a veteran 2RHD and some depth guys. They were never going to be adding expensive big-name veterans on long term deals. They were always going to be riding the kids. This doesn’t change that.

Yeah, I’m figuring 6-ish for those 2. Which means they still have to spend about $8 million. There’s only so cheap they can go. I think this discussion basically boils down to whether Adams’ goal to ice as cheap a roster as possible, or to provide insurance to reach the floor if he isn’t able to acquire the players he wants. Like you say, we’re both hoping for the same thing.

That was interesting and informative. Thanks for posting.

They are still $14 million below the floor. They still need to spend ~ $10 million on a goalie and a right D to get to the floor and stay there.

I don’t think even Adams would disagree. I certainly don’t. At this point Bjork is the 13th forward and probably doesn’t have a future with the team. Bringing in someone whombumps him to the 14th forward is not the issue for Adams, I believe. Bringing in someone who makes Peterka or Quinn the 14th forward is where the issue is. Until they show they can’t, he wants those guys to play, and not 8 minutes a night.

This is beautifully said. There is an element of fandom that says this is predominantly about the kinds of things that qualify one for the Hockey Hall of Fame. It may be that Sabres ownership wants it to be about how well one represented what it meant to be a Buffalo Sabre: caring about the crest and the city and doing whatever was in his power for both on and off the ice over an extended period of time. In my mind, few did that as well as Miller.

All owners set the player budget, most GMs get to allocate it. Most owners also approve any significant long-term contracts. Some (certainly Terry) will sometimes direct their GMs to spend more than that GM wanted, or chase players that owner wanted (Leino, Ehrhoff, Eichel, Skinner, Girgensons). Yep. $5 million 1-year contracts are exceedingly rare: few 1-year players deserve $5 million, few $5 million players deserve 1 year. There must have been a good, pricey 1-year contract given to attract a free agent at some point, but Taylor Hall wasn’t one, and I can’t think of another. Adams has basically chosen to invest approximately $1 million in real money in a 7th rounder in order to make sure he doesn’t risk having to pay an Andrej Meszaros $5 million to suck like Tim Murray did. But he’s still left the door wide open to sign a worthwhile player to that deal if that opportunity presents itself. The reason he wants that insurance policy is that his NHL roster was almost full and he was about $19 million under the cap floor. After he re-signs Bryson and Olofsson and promotes Quinn and Peterka he has room on his roster to add a starting goalie (going rate $5 million) a 2nd-pair D ($4 million), 1 backup goalie ($1.5 million), 1 depth forward ($1.5 million) and a spare defenceman ($1 million). That might get him to the floor, but Bishop absolutely makes sure he’s over and has the flexibility to make the moves he wants for players he wants and prices they deserve. His issue is he has got an inordinate number of players on cheap 1st and 2nd contracts that he is planning on playing next year and he wants to retain flexibility to give those players raises in the coming years. Sure he could, say, add a Taylor Hall type big name as well, and send Bjork, or Peterka or Quinn to the minors to make room, but I don’t think he thinks that’s the best thing for the organization. He wants Quinn and Peterka playing. But if, by chance, a better fit on a long term deal becomes available and changes Adams’ mind, nothing about Bishop is stopping him from making that deal. Bishop is cheap insurance designed to make sure Adams enters the summer not worrying about the cap floor now, or in any future deals leading up to the trade deadline.

Not saying they won’t, but this one seems to make it more unlikely to me. It’s such small potatoes that I’m not sure why they’d do it if they had another deal lined up sure to get them over the floor. But you never know what kind of web is being weaved behind the scenes. A lot of GMs are going to have to get creative and Adams is a logical partner.

Don’t you think it has more to do with Dallas setting up some dominoes to fall?

If you look at the recent rumours, Subban @4ish, VO at 5ish, and a goalie at 5ish puts them right at the floor. Add in this year’s JAG contracts and they might still be under the floor without the Bishop deal. This means they don’t have to worry. It’s a prudent use of Terry’s money that doesn’t hurt the team on the ice in the slightest. It just doesn’t help it either.