LGR4GM

I dont think that is a stronger roster than Benson - Norris - Thompson Zucker - Kulich - Tuch Quinn - McLeod - Doan Greenway - Krebs - Danforth Kozak Tage better than Vanek, Norris is better than Hodgson, Benson is probably not yet better than Stafford in goal scoring but is a better 2-way player so we will call that a push. Zucker is better than Ott, Kulich is at least on par with Ennis although I guess we have to give it to Ennis until Kulich proves that. Leino v Tuch... come on now. Quinn is better than Zemgus. McLeod is better than Grigorenko. Doan is better than Flynn. Greenway is better than McCormick. Krebs and Larsson are probably equal-ish. Kaleta and Danforth are similar enough. So the 2013 roster beats out Buffalo maybe when we compare Stafford to Benson, maybe Kulich is worse than Ennis playing center and then... no where else. For some it is laughably not close. The Sabres forward group is far better than the group they started 2013 with.

Or you just trade Byram in 2026. Or you trade Samuelsson. Or you do what they did this offseason which is clear out fringe guys and replace them with cheaper yet similar alternatives.

There's not a ton of forward talent in the pipeline these days. Since 2022, Buffalo has selected 8 forwards with picks that hold some type of value (1-3 rounds) and 5 defenders. If we go 2023-2025 that changes to 4 forwards and 5 defenders with those picks. The 2026 draft will need to focus on re-stocking a forward pipeline that is headlined by Helenius (1st) and... idk Östlund (1st) I guess? Wahlberg (2nd) maybe? Ziemer (3rd) looks good. While it has enough RHD to sink a small boat in Mrtka (1st), Kleber (2nd), Strbak (2nd), McCarthy (3rd), Bedkowski (3rd). Before you counter this remember we have 2 first overall defenders on the team as well. On top of that you need 3 RHD total on the NHL roster but 12 fowards. Just something to think about. Maybe a late round forward jumps up into the mix this year and it helps balance it out but we are somewhat imbalanced with a lot of defenders in the pipe.

They should trade Byram and Rosen for Riley Heidt and Marco Rossi.

Come on now. Alex Tuch's cap hit won't matter until 2026.

How about I word it this way. I don't believe Kevyn Adams when he says they dumped salary to prepare for a Byram offer sheet. I think that was in their minds, sure, but they dumped salary to dump salary until proven otherwise.

Unless they either sign Byram to the saved space or trade him for a player that takes that space, what adams said is nonsense.

yea, he tore a core muscle like an oblique or something like that

If this were true he would sign Byram and move on. Or he's incapable of pivoting.

Samuelsson: 14pts... 14 entire points. -12.3relCF%, -11.6xgf% and yet they start him in the defense zone 73% of the time, even though he's not good at defense. He might be average or so but woof.

I secretly hope we don't draft high enough but Roobroeck, right now, is my 2nd behind McKenna.

I like Šimon Katolický a 6'4" LW from Czechia who won't be 17 until the end of July.

Draft season will kick off with the Hlinka tournament and yea... so here's the primer for the 2026 draft for those who are interested.

I would argue 2 deals. McLeod but your point stands. I suppose if you put McLeod in that working class parts bucket it doesnt apply.

Adams has no clue what a 2nd round pick is worth. I stand by that statement.