dudacek

The contract I would be dumping to make room for him is Samuelsson’s, and it’s Samuelsson’s role he’s be taking.

Maybe. That is based on his pedigree, availability, Leone IDing him as his go-to shutdown defender this year, and an assumption a full year in the minors including a playoff run this spring has advanced his game. Im expecting him to be able to contribute a similar “safe” game to what we’ve seen from Bernard-Docker and am comfortable with Bernard-Docker as my D6 if Johnson falters. Leaning in to what @PerreaultForever has been preaching, giving Johnson a shot at this age and point of his career is what a normal team would,do. I would have a meltdown a young @LGR4GM would be proud of if they traded Power in a deal where the key piece coming back was Ryan Pulock. He strikes me as the type of guy who usually gets traded at the deadline for a late first and my interest in him does not go beyond that price point. What do you mean by “because of the cost”, did you mean cap space? And why do you think his value is so high when his stat line and contract this year look a lot like Mattias Samuelsson’s?

My ideal somewhat possible D next year would be: Byram Dahlin Power (someone like Brett Pesce) Ryan Johnson (someone like an older Will Borgen) Spare: Bernard-Docker Prospect call-up: Novikov

I see the name Ryan Pulock being tossed around as potentially available RHD. The analytics say he had a bad season last year with the Islanders and he has 5 years left on a $6M cap hit. The concept of him is "30-year-old 220-pound 2nd-pairing vet who skates well, kills penalties, can move the puck and is responsible in his own zone". Can't say I'd be confident in providing a current scouting report, but he certainly fits the profile of what we need and would be available for cap space and futures. Potential target? Wonder if they'd take Mule?

I think the fact that both Byram and Peterka are eligible puts the Sabres in position where they could be forced into a course of action, rather than able to dictate it. They have no interest in more picks if they don’t match, and will be unable to trade the player if they do. Which would effectively eat up a large portion of their cap space and handcuff them in terms of what they can do in the off-season. Unless they are truly intent on running it back and keeping both regardless of the cost, it really seems that it’s in their best interest to sign or trade at least one of them before July 1 in order to retain some control and freedom to exercise other moves after July 1.

I think Adams body of work means he should be replaced and gives me little hope he can turn things around. That doesnt mean he can’t. There’s a huge amount of luck tied to running sports teams; they unexpectedly improve for unanticipated reasons all the time. The Habs just had exactly the season we had in ‘23, except in their case 91 points was good enough to make it. As @Thorner frequently points out, the most mind-blowing element of the drought is that we’ve never even been good enough to get lucky.

You're going to tell me that there aren't fully-invested people on here who have refused to spend a damn cent of their hard-earned money on these ***** losers? 😄

The bold is exactly the point. All GMs make mistakes and most learn from them.They aren't judged on that, they are judged on the growth and direction of the franchise overall. Adams was tasked to build a winning hockey team. He was very clear on how he was going to do it, that it would take time, and how that time would result in a team set up for a decade of contention. He has failed to pull it off. That is what matters. 13 losses is not the symptom, its the result.

You guys misread this one. The issue was that Ryan Johnson was playing and Erik Johson was not. "Adams also elected to keep rookie defenseman Ryan Johnson, even though Johnson looked overmatched and overwhelmed. Johnson began to receive ice time and opportunity over veteran Erik Johnson, a Stanley Cup champion who quickly became a respected team leader."

So any pending internal shuffle is most likely to favour Ruff and/or Forton at the expense of Karmanos/Appert, pending what Ruff thinks? Because it seems like Ruff has got the most influence. The org chart demands Karmanos move into the GM chair if Adams is moving up or over. So I’m thinking if Karmanos doesn’t get the gig, he’s not long for Buffalo and Ventura along with him. Ideally, they tap a strong experienced voice from outside the organization to fill whatever chair is left open, and bring in at least 3 new people for the coaching staff. I’m not convinced a Lindy-led redirect is going to solve anything, but the same braintrust in different chairs definitely won’t, even with Adams hands coming off the wheel.

I see no sign Terry is not fully invested in the Sabres. Honestly, I kinda picture him to be exactly the same as he was 10 years ago in terms of his interest, it’s just that he’s decided not to show it publicly because his experience is that gets him roasted. I think he’s kinda like a Sabrespace poster in his passion and strong opinions and lack of genuine experience, except that he actually gets to make decisions. He’s going to hang on to his prejudices just as hard, get capricious just as frequently, and he’s not giving up any sooner.

You said Sabres fans have a skewed view of how players develop and implied thats because the Sabres have a radically different way of doing things in the context of how long players are cooked in the minors. I showed that it’s not actually so different; by and large the core of that excellent Bruins team was cooked in similar fashion. Benson, as I said initially, seems to be an outlier, like Bergeron was, and Ryan O’Reilly a little later. Neither was a star at 18, or expected to play in the NHL, but made it - like Benson did - because of their surprisingly strong details at that age. Both added the offence in year 3 - with a lockout spent in the minors in year 2 for Bergeron, and a year 2 in the NHL for ROR that essentially mirrored his low-scoring year 1. Im thinking you would have had each of them in the minors to start year 3? I suspect both would have still become the players they did regardless of that 2nd season. Guess we’ll find out with Benson.

I find it interesting that a narrative exists that Pegula will only hire from within for the hockey department when he clearly has no such qualms about the business side, or the football team. I mean I certainly agree he made a knee-jerk reaction 5 years ago with Adams over his intense dissatisfaction with the NHL head office because of the highly recommended Botterill and Lafontaine. Wonder how much of the Karmanos/Forton/Ruff/Appert/Ellis trend is Pegula and how much is actually Adams. I suspect this is an area where they feed each other.

I haven't quite figured out why you hate Byram so much, but the facts speak for themselves. Among all NHL pairs that played 500 minutes together this season, Byram/Dahlin was the most effective: 70% GF% I mean what more do you want? Only 6 other pairs topped 60%. Toews Makar was 61% Hughes/Hronek was 50.8% https://moneypuck.com/lines.htm Byram has his flaws and certainly isn't special, and I agree those numbers are mostly on Dahlin. But Byram also certainly isn't the pile of dung you continually insist he is. And he's clearly not dragging Dahlin down. He got the job of supporting the elite guy done. Better than Toews, better than Hronek, better than anybody. It just baffles the hell out of me because you're a smart guy. I don't know how you can ignore it.

Meh. Diminishing returns. Dahlin is elite with whoever he plays with. He’s a top 5 defenceman with a $4M partner. He and Byram were among the most successful #1 defence pairings in the league. How much better does it make the Sabres if he gets an $8M partner? It’s Power and the 2nd pairing that needs the partner upgrade.

You got that the complaints about Benson being on the team arent being made today and aren’t being made about his actual play? They come from the start of his rookie season when veterans wanted Adams to use his cap space and that roster spot on a proven player.

I don’t think I’d be remiss in suggesting that the coaching change was a major factor in the regression of Owen Power. This is a kid who had only played under Granato and who was not only being asked to learn a completely new system, but also being asked at the same time to revamp his own personal style. It created a need for him to be constantly be thinking instead just reacting, and is just another parallel with Dahlin’s struggles at the same point in his career. Hopefully short-term pain for long-term gain.

We’ve got the capflation that’s been confirmed since those comparables were signed, we’ve got the “Terry’s favourite” factor, we’ve got the whispers of not loving the city factor, and we’ve got the “his agent is Allen Walsh, who is already planting the offer sheet seed factor”. I will be very surprised if it’s as low as $7.5M on term.

If they want 7 or 8 years, it’s going to cost them around $8M. Market for bridge hasn’t really been set, but I’m going to say around $6M?

Potential recent comparables: Lucas Raymond 8 years, $8.1M coming off 31 goals and 72 points Seth Jarvis 8 years, $7.4M, coming off 33 goals and 67 points Dylan Cozens 7 years, $7.1M during 31 goal, 67 point season Trevor Zegras 3 years, $5.7M coming off 23 goals, 65 points Matthew Boldy 7 years, $7M, during 31 goal, 63 point season Cole Caufield 8 years, $7.8M coming off 26 goals, 36 points (in 46 games) Alexis Lafreniere 7 years, $7.45M coming off 28 goals 57 points (3rd contract) Quinton Byfield 5 years, $6.25 of 20 goals, 55 points

I’m reading this as a power shift of sorts from Kevyn toward Lindy, which is a direction many of you wanted. Guess we’ll find out soon how that manifests itself, but it almost certainly won’t mean sweeping changes.

Interesting follow-up piece by Lance Lysowski, who says there was a large disconnect between Ruff and the players in the 1st half of the season and internal griping about Adams dating back to the start of the previous season. "And, according to multiple veteran players, the frustration of losing led to some griping over factors that were out of their control." Players were griping about and second-guessing the defensive coverage and PP schemes in particular and not connecting with Lindy's sense of humour. They were also upset about and mocking of Adams' palm tree presser. Dating back to the previous year, some loved Benson, but Adams' choice to keep him, Levi and Ryan Johnson in 2023 instead of acquiring veterans for those roles and using Erik Johnson more wasn't seen internally as being in line with wanting to win. Lance says Adams focus changed in response — he pushed Granato to stop preaching patience and made the Byram, McLeod, Zucker and Ruff moves. The Cozens move was made to further shake the room. Ruff's connection with the players has improved over the course of the year and his influence with Terry has grown. "New faces and different personalities will join the Sabres this summer. The defense needs upgrades. Dahlin and Thompson should be surrounded by more experienced leaders. Adams’ annual end-of-season meeting with Pegula will determine and finalize staff changes, one of which may include a new title for the embattled general manager. The coach isn’t going anywhere, though, and the foundation of the roster will be the same. In some ways, the team’s culture will reset and must be earned again." https://buffalonews.com/sports/professional/nhl/sabres/article_02242795-b912-4558-9618-34c8990e7ed0.html

If you say so. Patrice Bergeron 68 games in the minors (lockout) Charlie McAvoy 4 games in the minors David Pastrnak 25 games in the minors Brad Marchand 113 games in the minors David Krecji 94 games in the minors Pavel Zacha 7 games in the minors Jake Debrusk 68 games in the minors Hampus Lindholm 44 games in the minors Charlie Coyle 47 games in the minors Taylor Hall 26 games in the minors (lockout) Tage Thompson 80 games in the minors JJ Peterka 70 games in the minors Rasmus Dahlin 0 games in the minors Alex Tuch 60 games in the minors Ryan McLeod 91 games in the minors Owen Power 0 games in the minors Jack Quinn 60 games in the minors Zach Benson 0 games in the minors Jiri Kulich 123 games in the minors Mattias Samuelsson 65 games in the minors Looks to me like Benson is an outlier, but otherwise, how is the minor league experience of these Sabres different than the core of a 135-point hockey team?

If they aren't trading Hughes, the Canucks best assets are: Good veteran 2nd-pairing defencemen Hronek and Petterson on long-term deals Good veteran 2nd-line winger Debrusk on a long-term deal Veteran soon-to-be UFAs Conor Garland and Thatcher Demko Good 2nd-tier prospects Tom Willander and Jonathan lekkerimaki. The 14th overall pick in this year's draft 45-point former star centre Elias Pettersson and the 7 years and 80-million-plus left on his contract. What mix of those players would you take for a 23-year-old 1C with 5 years left on an $8M deal? Now how much more would they have to add to also acquire a 21-year-old defenceman who has already topped 40 points twice in his young career. Make New Jersey an offer they cant refuse.

Every good franchise gives kids space to learn. Every top player spent a few years learning, adjusting and getting better. The solution isn't throwing the baby out with the bathwater.