dudacek

It’s tight, but possible. Sign Victor for 3.5 and bury Hutton we have a little over $4 in space (it’s a little more complicated than that, but close enough.) Can use a bit of retention to tweak the contracts if necessary to balance things out. I still like my all-in-one Arizona idea: Risto Mitts and a first for Chychrun and a goalie.

Sure, but I think this is a better one. This deal with Sam gives us more space to acquire upgrades for this year’s team while keeping the possibility of a long-term deal open for next summer, after we have a better sense of how Hall and Dahlin fit into our long-term plans. Signing him long-term now adds an extra million at least this year and an extra 6-7 next. The market seems to dictate cap space is the best return on investment at the moment, Your position on this has always been pretty clear to me and I see the sense of it, even with our differing Montour evaluations. I’d trade Montour for Kuemper too, despite the hole that creates on our D. I just don’t make the adds you might.

I would not sign another forward until Thompson/Cozens/Mittelstadt/Asplund/Ruotsalanien prove themselves unworthy. We don't have the space, we have other areas (LD, goal) in greater need of upgrades, and the kids need an opportunity. We have five guys battling for one or two spots. A forward upgrade comes at the trade deadline if necessary, in the form of a rental. *** I think the the starting 6D is a playoff-calibre group. It was weighed down by forwards unable to maintain possession or take advantage of their excellent passing. And it was not well-supported by the goaltending. I would like to see a Montour or Miller flipped for a Scandella type in a hockey trade to upgrade the PK and balance the hands. *** Acquiring a goalie to push aside Hutton and at least challenge Ullmark is far and way my biggest priority. We can make the playoffs without any moves, but 30 games of what Hutton gave us last year makes it very precarious and it's a gamble I'd rather not take.

According to this Buffalo News article from May he was at 225 and planning to add more. https://buffalonews.com/sports/sabres/sabres-prospect-tage-thompson-feeling-good-while-rehabbing-from-surgery/article_e49e95a2-921b-5ce9-98eb-aa90bb362538.html To be clear on Dylan, I don’t think his current size will lead him to struggle at an NHL level, but I do think he will be able to play his power game a lot more effectively at 210 or whatever he settles in at as a man.

I think they will be closer this year than you expect, simply because Tage is a 230-pound man. Dylan is a 185-pound boy. I suspect Dylan will have a rookie season that statistically falls somewhere between Mittelstadt’s and Reinhart’s, but he will have more supporters than each because of his style. Long-term, Dylan is a much better prospect. This year, I’m just hoping that as a pair they are better than Vesey and Sheary. I suspect they will be.

Im pretty sure the cap is flat again, guaranteed as per the CBA. Internal budgets and how much actual spending there is will be interesting given the lack of revenue likely to be collected this year.

How would you frame the discussion?

I take it you are among those who think Montour is basically replacement level and Adams should have let him walk? Because he had a full arb rights and basically signed for a (by hockey standards) a cost-Of living increase. His qualifying offer guaranteed more than $3.5. He got Just over $3.8. Not sure where the gross overpayment comes in. But then again I don’t really understand the apathy or even dislike a few have for Montour either. He’s a 30-point defenceman who can skate like the wind and handle the puck. His not big and nasty, but he does engage. He’s a secondary special teams guy and pretty solid at even-strength. I think he tends to be bit of a puck hog, but his positive plays generally outweigh his negative plays and he’s a legit second-pairing guy.

Eichel, Barzal, Parayko, Slavvin, Provorov, Brady Tkachuk...? Maybe I'm going to have rethink my position on legalization?

Mirtle with a nice deep dive into this situation, beneath the surface numbers. He factors in things like LTIR, bonuses and pending RFA signings. https://theathletic.com/2156956/2020/10/26/nhl-salary-cap-crunch-free-agency-teams/ His conclusion, the Lightning, Islanders and Knights are in trouble. Nine teams, including the Sabres (he says we're on the bubble) are basically capped out. Eight teams have the wiggle room for a minor add if they choose, but are just as likely done. Five teams have space for a solid move. And six teams (Ottawa, Florida, Detroit, LA, New Jersey and Nashville) hold about 2/3rds of the available cap space and are in a position to make big additions.

Reinhart is a better player than Victor, at least right now (sorry @MODO Hockey, but it's true), but that doesn't mean playing him with Jack is (or is not) the best thing for the team. Personally, I'm loving the idea that we now have four wingers who can play on the first line. And those that don't have to "settle" for Eric Staal. Throw Tage and Cozens into the mix and I am genuinely excited about our offensive chances when Jack is not on the ice for the first time in 10 years.

He's not meshing well with the fanbase demographic. Analytics Twitter doesn't like him (although, oddly, they loved him early in his career in Anaheim), face-punching fans think he's a showboat, and certain Sabrespacers worry about their wives seeing too much of him. Plus, we must trade all right-handed defencemen. 😜

That's weird. I've been starting to think the board began underrating him as soon as Sabres twitter started making his 5-on-5 play a thing. He won't make many puck retrievals and he can be overpowered, but he's not some Conor Sheary out there away from the PP. Victor works hard, skates well and plays smart. He's a finisher and a very good one. Sure he needs to be with a playmaker to maximize his talents, but the same is true for most top six wingers and it minimizes the fact that his finishing is something that maximizes the talent of whatever playmaker he's with.

And this is the beauty of what we are seeing: he is building a better team right now without sacrificing a single piece of the future to make it happen: no prospects, no picks, no long-term anchor contracts festering away cap space. The blank canvas is in addition to getting better, rather than the Botterill model of instead of. If it works he has the good problem of trying to make everyone fit, if it doesn't he can reshuffle the deck very easily. No guarantees it will work, but you can see what he is trying to do and the sense of it. And, as you say, that's refreshing. He's making a similar bet with the Sabres as Hall did.

Of course, but he won’t be defined by whether he re-signs any of these guys. Let them go if they want 2019 contracts. There will be talented replacements available that we won’t have to break the bank for. Add a winning record to the appeal of Krueger and Eichel and plenty of players will want to be here. He will be defined by how well he uses the space. Next off-season will be a lot like this one and cap space is the gold standard of flat cap NHL assets. Other teams will adjust but we have a head start. Leafs have just 13 Million in space next year. Lightning 11 before signing this year’s RFAs.

I would have paid more for two years, but that’s another brilliant deal in my opinion. Sabres are going to have so many guys playing for a big contract this year and so much flexibility in who they re-sign and look to pick up next summer. Blank slate is the way to go in a flat cap world. Also, Linus just paved the way for his replacement. $6.5 left to sign Olofsson, plus another $1 or more if they dump Hutton. Going to have another $40 million in cap space next year to play with. Adams’ plan is obvious and he’s knocking it out of the park.

In a trade for/allowing for goalie? Then that better be enough space for a decent LHD too. This team will regret going into the season with Irwin, Borgen and Davidson as their 6/7/8 on D.

Do we know if the Sabres chose one year or two with Linus? If it is one he will become a UFA and we have no goalie under contract at the end of this season.

Today’s Reinhart deal opens up goalie doors I didn’t think we had. Cap space according to capfriendly: $9.1 million Estimated Ullmark/Olofsson contracts: +/- $7 million Burying/buying out Hutton $1.1/$1.8 million There is also the bonus/overage situation to consider, which I don’t believe is included in the above, but I understand can be put off until next year. After the final deals are done, the Sabres could have between $2-4 million to absorb another contract. Raantta is 4.2, Kuemper 4.5 and Korpisalo $2.8. We are creeping into the ballpark.

Related, this deal is another huge one in the plus column for Adams, IMO. The contract is considerably lower than anyone on here thought Sam was going to get. They retain his rights with a $5.2 million offer next summer and the door remains wide open for an extension if this season and the coming Dahlin and Hall negotiations show that is the right path. And it’s easily tradeable if it’s not. Jason Botterill is not running this team any more.

It’s likely the 2nd consecutive bargain contract Reinhart has given the Sabres, in terms of production per paycheque. But he didn’t really have any leverage. If he goes to arbitration and they walk, there is no money left in free agency for a better deal elsewhere. There was also no guarantee he was going to get a better deal than this from an arbitration hearing either, given the Domi and Burakovsky contracts. It’s not in the Sabres Interest to give him a 2-year deal that walks him to UFA. And while I’m sure they would have loved to lock him up at a COVID discount on a long-term deal, they aren’t going to do that at a price that could jeopardize contract talks with Hall and Dahlin, or put them in a cap squeeze this year, with Ullmark and Olofsson still out there and the possibility of another move. From Sam’s perspective, it’s pretty fair value on a one-year deal, and a one-year makes sense to him in the same way it did to Hall: pad the stats while playing with Jack, hope for a better economic situation next summer and give yourself a year to decide whether it’s a good long term fit in Buffalo (read the latter as “can the team win,” because I think Sam generally likes playing here and was starting to turn into a leader.) I think we all expected him to sign a long-term deal based on a normal cap situation, and that would have been $6.5 million-ish. I personally thought if he didn’t sign long-term it meant he was headed out of Buffalo within two years. But that was before the ground rules changed. This is definitely a COVID-19 contract. Sam shows up for every game, produces, never complains and signs team-friendly deals. Haters need to re-think what they actually have here.

Close. It’s $1,075,000.

Makes him the 181st-highest paid player in the NHL. Sixth highest AAV of any free agent signed this year: Pietrangelo 8.8 Hall 8 Krug 6.5 Markstrom 6 Domi 5.3 Reinhart 5.2 Burakovsky 4.9 Burakovsky, Domi and the still-unsigned Mantha were his peers in free agency. The first two would have been very likely comparables for the arbitrator.

Based on what I’ve seen and heard from Ralph so far, I think his pecking order of least likely to most likely to sit - at least going in to training camp - will be: Not Going To Happen Eichel Hall Reinhart Risto Only With Great Pain Staal Dahlin Skinner Unlikely But Possible Eakin Montour McCabe Okposo Olofsson Girgensons Jokiharju On The Bubble Miller Cozens Thompson Rieder Lazar On The Outside Looking In Irwin Mittelstadt Asplund Ruotsalainen Davidson

Grubauer was coming off seasons of 22, 24 and 35 games when he signed his deal. Jarry, 26, 2 and 33 Korpisalo 18, 27, and 37 Ullmark 5, 37 and 34 They are all goalies of about the same vintage who had shown hints they could be a starter, but not proven it.