GASabresIUFAN

“Will” what?

The Sabres have decided to go without a goalie and skate the whole season 6 on 5.

If Ullmark bolts what is plan B? I don’t think there is one.

That’s fine. He is a step down from Ullmark. My suggestion of him was that he was the best I thought we could do when Ullmark bolted

Especially if you are in your prime and contenders are knocking at your door with similar money. If I was Ullmark I’d take Toronto’s money also. I’ve said for weeks that Anderson will be our starter next season and I haven’t seen anything to dissuade me from that belief. I can see us signing someone like Jones as his backup.

But he has KA over a barrel. Who wants to play here

Let me begin by saying that Danault isn't going to sign here, but he would be the perfect guy to play 1st line center and protect Mitts and Cozens. He is a solid shutdown center who can play against the other team's top centers while still adding offense.

I once heard a GM say a team should draft or sign an undrafted FA goalie every year in order to have a good goalie pipeline. We used to believe that. From 1975, when we drafted Sauve (1st rd) and Edwards) to 2007 we drafted at least one goalie every but 4 (1976, 1981, 1985 and 2001) taking 36 different goalies over those 33 drafts). Then things changed somewhat with the shortening of the draft probably as a partial excuse. From 2008 to 2021, we have gone 7 drafts in which we didn't draft a goalie. KA has yet to draft a goalie (although he acquired Levi) and TM didn't draft one after drafting Johansson in 2014. Food for thought.

Amen Brother! Fire KA. TP sell the team.

Congrats Drake. Should signed here in the first place. You are now the 13th highest paid Sabre behind Coho. PS KAs big FA signee this season.

https://www.thefourthperiod.com/top-30-ufa-list-2021 They have us linked to unsurprisingly 3 goalies Grubauer, Anderson and Ullmark.

I’m confused. So we give the Leafs Eichel and Dahlin and they give us Marner and Reilly? Why would anyone be interested in that? Eichel for Marner plus is a start but I’d never ever trade Eichel to the Leafs.

Serious question, whom might the Sabres look at in free agency. I doubt we'll see any big contracts. I also doubt we'll see any long term deals. I can see a couple of guys who need to "prove it" like Wennberg, Hinostroza, Hamonic and Mike Stone being on the radar.

Hughes brothers in NJ? Staal brothers without a job?

Agree

I beginning to believe Eichel to LV. They cleared Fleury off the books today.

Did you even look at UIlmark's or UPL numbers before this post? UPL is almost on the exact trajectory as Ullmark completed to get to the NHL. UPL's 21 year old season is a little more fractured because COVID, but he is tracking just like Ullmark. Ullmark played in the AHL for most of 3 seasons at 21 - 3.41 gaa and .902 save % at 22 - 2.87 gaa and .909 save % at 23 - 2.44 gaa and .922 save % UPL actually made the AHL at 20, and last season split his time in Roch and the SM-Ligga at 20 - 3.15 and .874 at 21 (SM-Liiga) 2.52 & .908, AHL - 3.60 & .888 at 22 ??? He'll be the starter in Rochester this season and if continues to progress, he'll be in Buffalo at age 24, 2 more seasons from now, likely serving as Ullmark's backup.

That would make sense. Money isn't an issue here, it shows faith in Linus and bridges the team until UPL is ready.

Interesting trades. I would like to grab Donato and the Calg deal is interesting. I'm not sure Johnson has anything left. My biggest comment would be that it's about 10 mill more then TP wants to spend this year. I do think it's a reasonable competitive roster.

So does Eklund

Ok KA. We know you are going to get fleeced on the deal. Might as well dump him already and move on.

I did my list to 128 players. Next year I’ll try to add a full list

I guess Pronman and the Sabres has a similar rating on Nadeau.

I'm so numb from the pain how can another bad signing really hurt that bad. WE ARE ALREADY THE WORST TEAM IN THE LEAGUE!

So KA's gameplan so far is to dump the tank core (Eichel, Reinhart, & Risto). 2/3 of this goal is complete only Eichel remains. Heading into free agency we have 9 signed forwards including R2 (without Eichel) plus 2 qualified RFAs (Mitts and Asplund) and 3 signed D in Miller, Hagg and Bryson with 2 qualified RFAs (Dahlin and Jokiharju). No goalies. Cap sans Eichel (but with CoHo) is 34.475. I'm allocating about 10 mill for the 4 RFAs. That leaves us at approx 44.5 mill in cap. Questions 1) Who is playing Goalie? Ullmark according to Tom and Chad D is close to re-signing, but who might be his back-up? What does KA get if Ullmark walks instead? 2) Does Power sign instead of returning to college? If he does, that gives us 6 signed D, but very limited experience and only two RD one of whom is Miller. Does KA get a stay at home RHD (or two) in Free agency to balance the group both by hand and style of plan. Will McCabe return? 3) Who plays center besides Mitts and Cozens once Jack buggies? Asplund, Eakin, Girgensons, and R2 all have center experience, but will DG play Eakin? Does Ka bring back guys like Caggiula or Sheahan? Does he get a bridge center to protect Mitts and Cozens? Right now I see only a couple of depth skaters signed and a few more for Rochester. I think he is going to keep the cap expense under 60 mill for the season. The only real money I see KA spending is on goaltending help.