DarthEbriate

You mean 9 years ago when we earned Okposo the big Sabres UFA contract against a Panthers team that was years from becoming what we know them as now? And who then disappeared in the second round against Tampa? He’s not the chosen one. He’s a 3C now.

True. But none of the ex-Sabres were brought in at UFA max plus prices to be the savior. Even Eichel who was definitely a missing piece, was just a guy. Marner or Tavares would be hailed as this team’s best and maybe highest paid player (Marner, Tavares would be cheaper than TNT). But they’re not that. They aren’t the key guy, either of them.

No ex-Leafs. They’re losers. And the point totals in the regular season are irrelevant has-been stats because their core four was great — in the regular season. Big deal. Marner is a complimentary piece on a winning roster. He’s not deserving of 10+ and being the centerpiece.

I don’t want Tavares. He's not a playoff winner. The Sabres need someone who is a winner to be the other Zucker on the squad. Preferably at RHD. Sheevyn is here forever until he stops listening. It’s the worst part of the whole situation.

I dunno. We Packers fans are pretty bad.

The forwards also play defense. But the D-corps is too young. If they wait until Dahlin is in his 2nd to last year of his contract, then Power will finally be entering his prime. But therein lies the problem. That’s the plan. That’s it: lock them up long term and eventually Power will be good enough to warrant the long term deal because you’ll have 2 ice-tilting D-men skating 50 minutes every regular season game and more in playoffs. There is no rush to get to the playoffs before then. There is no goalie plan to be in the playoffs in the next two seasons. It’s just wait and see. That’s the plan. And if that fails because Ottawa becomes a juggernaut… or if Levi isn’t Miller or better… then GMKA and Darth Pegulas the Wise have no other workaround except to blow it up again because Dahlin and TNT will request out.

If Quinn were traded. (And Byram or Power for a revitalized playoff-capable 2nd pair RHD) would you offer Marchand a 2yr $6M contract to be a middle 2RW behind Tuch?

Who has more ex-Sabres? The logical matchup for the Final is Oilers-Panthers. But Lyubushkin v. McCabe would be intriguing. Because clearly the Sabres had no use for a bottom 4 checking/PK defenseman… ever. Just not Carolina this year.

This is the logical choice to move. If the brass is good with some center spine of Norris-Thompson-McLeod-Kulich-Krebs, it’s going to push someone to right wing, then he’s the one guy that doesn’t fit in the lineup in a bottom 6 winger role. You can keep him as a 4th line Kotalik PP/shootout specialist, but you’re going to need to play much better team defense to ensure many more overtimes and shootouts. Thus far, that has not been his deployment.

I’m not sure. 1) They have a goalie. 2) Maybe a bit light on the defensive side but they’ve have a strong guy in Novikov with NHL potential, an NHL tweener in Clague, a two-way AHL top-4 in Metsa, and a defensive specialist in Johnson. Maybe light, but they made it past Syracuse’s bullies with multiple shutouts and a clean crease. 3) Up front they have the proven muscle with Dunne, the boards guys in Rousek, Fiddler, and Warren/Slaggert. And plenty of snipers. Östlund and Helenius being young isn’t necessarily a detriment. Jobst as a more experienced playmaker type. At the AHL level, what do you think they are missing?

Florida will never regret the trade. They got their first Cup. The forwards are too young still. But Adams is the GM EEEternal, so just wait 3 more years and everything will work out. That’s the plan and we’re simply along for the ride.

The other guy I'm liking off Florida is Samoskevich, but he's not an offer sheetable RFA this offseason I don't think. Still, they're cap-strapped if they resign Bennett and Ekblad, which means maybe you could target them with a trade.

He was waived this season, but Columbus started just a bit worse than Buffalo. If Buffalo put a claim in, the Jackets got him anyway. (But I doubt the Sabres put a claim in because they had Jokiharju, Bryson, Clifton all already on the roster.) But he was great this season allowing Werenski to play loose and free in his return from injury. I don't think Columbus lets him go. Which could shake loose Provorov.

I think Johnson is still waivers exempt all next season unless he plays a bunch of NHL games. But the issue is, why so concerned with losing Bryson? He's fine as a #7-8 if your top 6 is all set and filled with in-their-prime guys and studs. But Bryson is the oldest-in-his-prime of the group not named Clifton (who is on an expiring contract next year) and Bryson has the lowest ceiling of any of their NHL/AHL D-men. Back to the thread at hand, the cool thing about this series is if the Amerks win it, they could be Calder Cup favorites the rest of the way. Laval was no pushover this season and has their Habs reinforcements.

It's why the pre-re-signing of Bryson doesn't make sense. Bryson should get beaten out in camp by R Johnson for the 7th/8th D and waive Bryson. No loss, no foul. He'll pass waivers to the Amerks because everyone's waiving their 8th D at that time of year (barring one team with a boatload of preseason injuries). But... because Bryson is already extended, it leads one to believe that Adams is willing to let Johnson be offer sheeted (at the no compensation level), OR just sign the qualifying offer. But if Johnson gets waived, he's much more likely to get snared than Bryson.

Might be... If any of them make it to UFA: Bennett, Gavrikov, Ekblad, Fabbro, Mangiapane, Frederic, Dumoulin, Rutta, Jeannot, Nosek. One more experienced playoff guy who has played on the right teams and knows how to be a punk. (and Fabbro as a potential 2nd-pair RHD)

In my experience, there's no such thing as luck. With the Sabres, everything is deservedly unearned.

Another game 7 isn’t a bad thing.

It’s why the big league squad needs so desperately to make the playoffs. You never know who is going to step up and who will fold. Because then you may need to adjust a roster accordingly. And sometimes a playoff no-show can become a playoff warrior a few years down the line.

How about after 7 seasons? The important thing to note is that if somehow Sheevyn returns next season as GM, then Appert is the coach. After a very thorough search and interview process.

Fabian Zetterlund?

St. Louis had to reacquire their 2nd last year for exactly that purpose. Adams could trade a 2027 BUF 2nd to regain the 2026 BUF 2nd from Ottawa.

It doesn't. They still need to move pieces. But then at least they're getting a ready-to-go player in return instead of futures. Edit: Drury has painted himself into a bit of a corner with some of his contracts. If the cap were staying flatter these next couple seasons instead of skyrocketing, he'd be looking to trade a 1st to get Panarin off the books. Edit of the Edit: they'd probably rather move Zibanejad than Panarin, obviously. It's just the term. The Breadman is on an expiring contract. Zibanejad is.... forever.

Even with the rising cap, the Rangers only have $10M in total cap space at the moment for next season. (They need to add 5 players to the roster for next season and have 7 RFAs this summer; they're an excellent target.) If the Rangers were to lock up K'Andre Miller on a long-term extension before the draft, you might be able to nab Cuylle for a 2nd (offer something like $4.5M/year). But I think the Rangers will make some moves to clear space so that they can get Cuylle on the LT deal instead, while bridging Miller because he's not an offensive force. If you really want him, though, a 1st+3rd and $7M/year should get it done (they'd need to move Panarin + others). Or, if you really, really want him, you could offer JJP if both players agree to a sign-and-trade.

A better way to look at it is that Calgary traded Sam Bennett to Florida for a 2022 FLA 2nd and Emil Heineman (2020 FLA 2nd). This was in April of 2021, when Eichel was injured and they needed a center to support TNT/Mitts/Cozens, and Adams was already planning to move on from Reinhart, etc. Bennett was an RFA that summer with no trade protections.