GASabresIUFAN

There are clearly some kind of spending limitations. There is no way the team trades Mitts and buys out Skinner to save real $ and then doesn't replace them except with cheaper and historically less productive players. Last season we were paying Skinner, Mitts, VO, KO, Z, Jost and Robinson $24.85 million. Their replacements, Zucker, McLeod, Lafferty, Kubel, Malenstyn and Kulich are earning 12.83 (plus 1.44 in dead cap for Skinner).

https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/sabres-showing-interest-in-canucks-elias-pettersson/ Take this for what it's worth. Friedman "knows" the teams have talked and thinks Van may have an interest in Cozens and/or Byram and the Sabres may have an interest in Pettersson, but he he has no idea whether any of those 3 players are actually in discussions between the two teams. For all we know the Sabres may have an interest in the other Elias Pettersson, a 6'3 209 lbs LHD drafted by Van in 2022, who was just called up by Van from the AHL.

Come on folks, what are the odds of Adams completing a deal like this for any price? Honestly, I doubt even Adams would be stupid enough to trade a top 5 pick, but given how well managed this team is, I wouldn’t put anything past him which is why I put forth the Power and pick idea. I also think Cozens and Byram won’t be enough to get the deal done. Van is trying to save money. They won’t want the 14-15 million liability that comes with those two players. I could see Power and Benson for Pettersson. If Van is moving on from Miller and Pettersson, they are going to want some real forward talent back. They may not think anyone in the Sabres system brings that except our top 5 pick. Van’s pick is 12th currently. Maybe the deal includes a swap of 1sts. Friedman can report what he wants, but I don’t see Adams pulling off the deal.

Sure, why not. Power and our top 5 pick.

Love Misa's offense, but Martone is the only Tkachuk kind of guy in the early draft and brings the O as well. We need to size and power upfront

Aube-Kubel. He hasn't played since 12/17. Send him down on a conditioning assignment or waive him out-right. If he gets claimed TP gets to save some $. Works for everyone.

That's not exactly a high bar to climb over. Kulich outplayed Cozens. Kozak outplays Cozens when in town. Even Krebs has outplayed Cozens of late.

This is so Buffalo.

Agreed, but Martone is the pick if available.

What else have we got to discuss? We do probably need more Amerks talk. They at least have a chance to win every night.

Crazy. There are teams that want to win and then there is the Sabres.

This is not what I said. I said Power doesn't give us more offense than Byram. Here is the exact quote. My statement is true. They have produced the same number of points 5 on 5 and Power is the bigger liability on defense. His one extra goal this season came on the PP which Byram doesn't play.

Kind of sad. KA's big move and he's just another waste of a "talented" young player who lacks the necessary fundamentals to succeed long-term. Good thing we are about to hand him a long-term $7 mill a season deal.

Even if your happy about some of his moves and drafting, his failure to recognize simple and obvious roster issues like a proper partner for Power, defenders who can defend and playmakers who can drive offense makes him incompetent and not worth retaining.

True and another reason Adams needs to go and soon. It's his job to put his players in the best situation to succeed. If you invest $8 mill a season in a young 1st overall pick, how hard is it really to find a decent partner for that key player? However, 2 years on, there is still no partner for Power.

? Their 5 on 5 offense is identical and Byram doesn't get PP time. Power's 1 extra goal is on the PP. By the way Byram is +6 while Power is -11. We can sign Byram long-term for 7 million. What do we need Power for if trading him can fix holes in the roster? The one thing we can't do is investment nearly 27 million in 3 offensive LHD. It's a luxury we can no longer afford.

I’d add 8.35 for Power. That’s 15 mill (or nearly 20% of the cap) for terrible defensive play. I also don’t know why Power is a sacred cow for people here. Who cares if he was a 1st overall pick if he doesn’t pull his weight. He doesn’t give more offense than Byram, he isn’t physical despite his size, is terrible in D zone coverage and isn’t fast enough to fix his mistakes. He certainly isn’t giving us $4 mill worth of value much less 8.35. If we can get him off the books we free up his cap to find guys who actually play defense. If you move on from Byram. We really don’t have the money to pay for all 3 of Dahlin, Power and Byram. Sinking 27 million in 3 offensive D would be terrible cap management.

The math says they will be the youngest team again and I agree the UFAs are unlikely to return. The issue is even with letting the UFAs walk, just keeping the RFAs puts this mess at 85 to 86 million. Crazy! How can a team this bad spend that much and literally have nothing to show for it. The answer is the investments in Cozens, Power, and Samuelsson. Now add in 4.4 for Skinner.

No we don’t, but the current management doesn’t have the ability to fix this mess without blowing it up. I’ve been very vocal in my disdain for the Adams administration, but between TNT, Tuch, Benson, JJP, Dahlin, Kulich, Byram, UPL and maybe Quinn there are pieces here of a good team. The roster is just designed so badly and without a real vision how to win in the NHL, they can’t win.

What a joke.

That doesn’t exactly “help.” All it does is add more dead money and create another bottom of the roster spot that needs to be filled. I agree he isn’t worth the money nor has earned his contract, but the real change in this roster needs to be finding partners for our top 2 D and real O help. Dumping Samuelsson does nothing to fix those holes unless they can find a top 4 D for the money saved by dumping Samuelsson.

They won’t need to get to the cap floor. That’s not an issue. The issue is once they re-sign their RFAs, they won’t have any internal cap left to fix the roster.

?

Which is why we need to trade him.

That's very optimistic of you. From your lips to G-d's ears.