dudacek

Lebrun apparently reporting that Andersson will only extend with Vegas. *****, it's so easy to hate Vegas. Sabres not among the teams listed. Ottawa, Columbus and the Kings were, but Andersson said no to an extension.

He's so opposite of what this team needs.

Don't get me wrong; he will fill a hole in the top 6 better than the current candidates will; I'm not against adding him. I perceive his point totals to be inflated by opportunities he wouldn't be getting on better teams and he's softer than I would like for the current state of the Sabres. But mostly he's 33 and coming off a good season in a limited UFA market. I think he's going to both regress and command more than I want to pay.

I think Marner's desire to be on pedestal without the pressures that come with it precludes him going a) to a small stage b) a place where he will have to be the guy who turns things around Dude seems to be a frontrunner and will go to the place that fits his personality. Vegas is perfect. *** On a different note, have we seen anything that indicates the bold was the reason for JJ's heel turn, or is this just an assumption based on the Eichel/Reinhart experience? I've not seen any statements from Peterka or his camp. Remember Eichel's first three years the Sabres finished 81, 78 and 62 points. Neither he, nor Sam asked out, both re-signed, Jack for term and Sam wanted term. Peterka's teams went 91, 84 and 79. His "suffering" has been nowhere near ours.

More evidence of what I was talking about in the other thread. Also evidence that Adams wasn't necessarily wrong with the concept of the Samuelsson contract, he was wrong about the player. Not a huge fan myself of the player, but as I mentioned in the wrong thread somewhere, he's strong in the playmaking aspect the Sabres lack up front.

Looks like if you're playing pro, you can stay home. Leinonen and Ratzlaff the only players there under contract. And the goalie group is the most interesting, when you throw in the two new kids and Leenders. Helenius, Östlund, Wahlberg, Neuchev, Kulich and Benson are all guys who might have been there under other circumstances, but there's no need. Still, it's not going to take long to fire up the worry machine over the fact the Sbres have only picked 2 forwards of note (Helenius Zeimer) in the past two drafts. Most interesting absence: Maxim Strbak

As the roster currently stands, the biggest crying need is a playmaking top-six forward. On the free agent front, i was thinking Patty Kane might be a good one, but he had just 17 primary assists. Best bets are Mikael Granlund with 31 (17th in the league) while Ehlers had 27 Other guys potentially available: Necas: 32 Zibenajad 31 Danault 28 Rust 23 Rossi 22 If Byram's gotta go and the Kings are interested, Danault is somebody I'd be looking at. Only 21 NHL forwards had 30 primary assists Jason Zucker(!) led the Sbres with 24. Never would have guessed that. Not sure it's a stat I'd want to invest in heavily looking at the league leaders, but interesting and relevant.

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.