GASabresIUFAN

I believe if he doesn't make the team he'll have to pass through waivers and as a former 1st rd pick who is under 23, I think there is a good chance he'd get claimed.

Yes they were.

It makes sense that people feel a little burned by the initial failure of some of our prospects like Casey and Nylander, but I think this is more our fault then theirs. I went and looked at the last 10 7th overall picks: Hughes, Andersson, Keller, Provorov, Dumba, Fleury, Nurse, Schiefele, Skinner and Kadri. Pretty good list of players. Besides Andersson, who actually made his NHL draft year, most of these guys, like Cozens, needed a year to make the NHL. Skinner scored 30 his draft year. Hughes (53 pts), Provorov (30 pts) and Keller (65 pts) made the NHL in D+1 without ever playing a minute in the AHL. Schiefele (35 pts) made the NHL in his D+1 season but played 10 AHL playoff games his draft year. Kadri split his D+1 between the AHL and NHL. D-men Nurse, Fleury and Dumba all made the NHL in their D+2 years. This list gave me great hope that Cozens will make the Sabres next fall. While not Keller, I think he’d produce as least as well as Schiefele did in his debut season.

But that isn’t always how it works. Take Thompson vs Jokiharju. Both played 1/2 a season in the NHL before coming to us. One jumped right in and was very good and the other failed. Prospects and their development isn’t linear. VO was also 24. There are no guarantees.

Absolutely. I never said put both Mitts and Cozens at center next year and pray. I said go out and get a legit 2C and then let Cozens and Mitts fight it out for the 3C role. In my game plan illustrated above, I think Jbot forward acquisitions should be a 2C plus a winger like Toffoli even if that means losing Larsson. A top nine of Jack, Sam, Skinner, VO, MoJo, Kahun, Toffoli, Henrique and Cozens/Mitts would make a very talented and formidable group.

I've got news for you, the kids have to play in the NHL because it's the only way teams stay cap compliant. Reinhart, Ullmark, Kahun, Montour and VO will be getting significant contracts this summer. My guess is Reinhart gets 7 per season and other guys range from 3-4.5. That's about 23 mill in contracts. Now add that to 46 mill in existing contracts and you have 69 mill invested in 14 players (including 7 F, 6D & 1G - I've demoted Hutton for this example). That leaves about 11-12 mill for 8 players. Pilut and Lazar will be cheap to retain, so your now at 71 mill for 16 players, but you still have to get your 2C, 3C, 4C (if you let Larsson walk), 3 RW and 4 LW. We inserted two rookies in the lineup last season and both paid immediate dividends in VO and Jokiharju. To complete this roster, stay cap compliant and improve long-term a couple of kids will need to make this roster and produce. This isn't incompetence, but the way to manage in today's NHL like it or not. You simply can't expect teams to complete rosters with only veteran players. Jbot has to get a 2C and if he can trade cap for cap to get it done so much the better (such as Risto for a 2C). That could free up funds to get a Toffoli. That would also leave enough money to get a good backup goalie. The roster would look something like this Skinner, Jack, Reinhart (line cost -26 mill) VO Henrique (for example) Toffoli (15 mill) MoJo Cozens/Mitts Kahun (10 mIll) Asplund Lazar KO (8 mill) Thompson (1 mil) Dahlin Jokiharju (2 mill plus bonuses) McCabe Montour (6.4 mill) Pilut Miller (4.8 mill) Borgen (800k) Ullmark Talbot (for example) (6 mill)

My hope is Jack, 2C, Cozens/Mitts, Larry, Lazar. I know people keep says no to either Mitts or Cozens as the 3C, but at some point these kids are going to have to play and contribute for this rebuild to work long-term. If we get a decent 2C, then I think we are safe to try the kids in a backup scoring role. What is nice with Kahun, Larry, Lazar and Asplund we'd have depth in case one or both of the kids still aren't ready. Personally, I think Cozens, like Reinhart was also, is ready to step in and be at 40 pt player in 3rd line center role.

.... and people think Simmonds is done.

Barrie stinks and that is a huge problem. Ask Toronto how much they like Barrie. Your fixing one non hole (Goalie) and swapping one hole (2C) for another (No 1 D). There are cheaper ways to fix the 2C and the goaltending with out losing your 2nd best player. Also the trade isn't realistic. Don't forget we had the 1C/2C but a crappy defense and where did it get us? Now we have a good D group and improving goalie (Ullmark) and the only real significant hole is the 2C. We have a very good top line (Skinner Jack Sam), 1 to 2 pieces of a 2nd line (VO and Kahun), and a 3rd LW. We need a 2C, 3C and a 3 RW. Again, like it or not, Mitts or Cozens is going to be the 3C next year and that is OK, as long as we find a decent to 2C. At some point we are going to have to play our kids. The 3 RW slots is easily filled with some like Toffoli (or others) on the FA front or allowing Thompson to compete for the job. That leaves our only real hole at 2C. I'm not trading Dahlin to fill that hole. Ullmark has improved every season and won the NO.1 job this year. He is an RFA and his career is tracking very similarly to guys like Markstrom. The need at goalie is for a good backup who can give us solid hockey for 30-35 games; a Marty Biron if you will. Therefore, I'm not trading Dahlin under any circumstances. It's terrible asset management because no matter how many warm bodies you get in the deal, the team the trades away the best players always loses the deal.

Tampa had Dan Boyle. He had 3 top 6 Norris votes and was a 2 time 2nd team all NHL player. I’d say he qualifies. That Mon team had both Matt Schneider and Desjardins, while they technically weren’t yet Norris candidates yet they were pretty darn good for young D.

How many Cup winners in the last 30 years didn’t have a Norris caliber D man anchoring their D group? (Please excuse name spelling) Chi - Keith Pitt - Letang La - Doughtry Stl - Petrangelo Bos - Chara Det - Lidstrom Wash - Carlson ANA - Niedermayer NJ - Niedermayer and Stevens only the Canes in 06 come to mind, so one team in 30 years. So let’s trade Dahlin after 2 seasons. That makes sense.

While not a perfect solution, I usually look at how many faceoffs a guy takes to help determine if he really plays center now. For example Smith took 29 faceoffs last season. Tyler Johnson took 350.

We need to get a 2C. Domi, Henrique, Johnson, Strome, etc whomever. For this puzzle to work and to maximize Skinner, we need a legit 2C. Any solution that doesn't solve this issue is not a solution.

Craig Smith hasn't played center in years. It's just MoJo part 2.

Absolutely NY adds high taxes to make it really special.