GASabresIUFAN

Lighten up Francis.

Just got a chance to see the highlights of the USA/Finland game. Nice shot by Joki to get the first goal for Finland. Unfortunately for Finland the Sabres curse kicked in and they gave up 6 straight goals after taking an early lead.

Fairburn of the Athletic reviews all of Adams trades for the last 5 years. https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6132221/2025/02/13/sabres-kevyn-adams-trade-rating/ Here is his list of trades with a positive impact 1) McLeod and Tullio for Savoie - Possible long-term answer of 3C job. 2) Mitts for Byram - Mitts struggling in Colo and Byram on our top pair, but needs a new contract. 3) Greenway for a 2nd & a 5th - reliable contributor when healthy, but hasn't exceeded his career high 32 points. UFA. Big trades that aged poorly 1) Eichel for Tuch, Krebs, a 1st (Östlund) & a 2nd (used to help acquire Greenway). Eichel has a Cup and is a two way star. Tuch has been good but not Eichel and the rest have had little impact 2) Reinhart for a 1st (Kulich) and Levi - Reinhart is a star and a Cup winner. Kulich and Levi still have significant potential but.... 3) Montour for a 3rd (Sardarian) - Montour has a Cup and is now a top tier D, while Sardarian may never play for the Sabres Big trades that sucked 1) Hall & Lazar for Bjork and 2nd (Kisakov) - so basically Hall traded for nothing 2) Johansson for Staal and then Staal for a 3rd (Bloom - since traded for Stillman) and a 5th (Marjala - who returned to Finland) Trades that might still work out 1) Risto for Hagg, a 1st (Rosen), and a 2nd (Wahlberg) - Two prospect who still can make an impact in Buffalo Smaller trades that didn't make an impact 1) Lyubushkin for a 2025 4th - Lost a physical RHD which we could certainly use 2) Bloom for Stillman - Was supposed to help with physical play. LOL, played 18 games and then Rochester in year 2. 3) Malenstyn for a 2nd (Cole Hutson) - Malenstyn playing 4 minutes a night less in Buffalo than Washington. A 2nd was a steep price to pay for such a player 4) Robinson for a 7th - Having a career best season for Carolina Smaller deals that could help the Sabres. 1) Portillo for a 3rd (Gavin McCarthy) - McCarthy is still in college 2) Butcher & a 5th (Komarov) for Future Considerations - Butcher sucked in Buffalo, but Komarov has developed into a decent prospect 3) Jonas Johansson for a 6th (Novikov) - Johansson has played in the NHL and sometimes well, but Novikov has developed into a decent prospect with a shot at the NHL Conclusion My bottomline, even the 3 "decent" trades have not really improved the team. Greenway, who I like, is oft injured. McLeod is having his best season, but the Sabres were a better team with Mitts in the role. Byram has shown significant improvement this season, but still is a defensive liability, and is going to cost a large extension. Despite these "good" moves the Sabres have gone from just missing the playoffs to the bottom of the Eastern standings. Now add that Adams has failed to support the team over the last 3 seasons in season and has never truly fixed any of the real issues with his roster, I'd say all of these moves are failed moves.

How can anything cloud the judgement of someone that lacks judgement?

Was he ever? Another wasted 2nd rd pick.

He'll be long gone by the time we draft from 4th to 6th. Maybe we'll get lucky and Martone will still be available.

And he’s not carrying Byram

Levi has proven he is a great AHL goalie. Now he needs to take the next step and prove he can be a competent NHL goalie. The question is will Adams/Ruff give him the PT to prove it down the stretch. I’d love to see him get some consecutive games to try to find some form in the NHL.

It's called being a fan. I became a grandfather in Jan and immediately put the baby in a Bills onesie. I, like you, have lead a pretty blessed life, but that doesn't stop me from wanting a few things I have always wanted; championships for my teams.

It's complicated. I am a life long Sabres fan and may even want them to win a Cup more than I want the Bills to win a Super Bowl and that is saying something. From a player standpoint, I believe there are building blocks of a good NHL team. Thompson, Dahlin, Byram, Benson, JJP and maybe Kulich are something for competent management to build around. Tuch and UPL are solid pieces as well. The problem ultimately lies with ownership and management. Adams and Pegula are destroying the franchise. As long as they are in charge this team is DOA. I have tried to remain a little hopeful that they get a clue and between the approaching deadline and this coming off-season they add defensemen who can defend and a top 6 playmaker for the offense, but even that scant hope is in short supply.

Yeah, something like that.

What about avoiding actually fixing obvious team needs?

Actually his contract is central to the issue. His contract is over 10% of our internal cap, but we are only getting 50% value for the money. Even if the cap goes up, his contract remains a huge burden, especially if Pegula refuses to spend to the cap. If Power was being paid 4-5 million we could afford to be more patient with him like we were with Dahlin, however that's not the case. I also have never advocated trading Power for picks or prospects. I want NHL players back for him and I think that type of trade is possible.

Adams is Howdy Doody. However, I don’t understand the rest of your post. Yes Adams f’d up his contract, but that contract is now a huge underperforming asset to the team no different than Cozens or Samuelsson. I get that you love Power’s potential, but unfortunately that potential may never be realized and now he is at best our 3rd best blueliner (I won’t call him a defenseman since he can’t play defense). Are we really going to continue to pay him 8.35 and hope he eventually doesn’t stink defensively or can we trade him, get out from under his terrible contract, and hopefully turn him into a top 6 playmaking center or two top 4 defensive D. Which move makes the Sabres better now? 1) keeping Power and hoping he gets better 2) trading him for a top 6 center or 3) trading him and getting 2 upgrades on defense. To me the answer is obvious. It’s also not like no. 1 pick D haven’t been traded before. Erik Johnson (and other assets) was traded by St Louis at 22 year old to Colorado for Shattenkirk and other assets.

But we weren’t paying Dahlin 8.35 million to suck. We also weren’t in win now mode. Dahlin’s 2nd contract was 3 years at 6 mill which was much closer to what he had earned.

Byram. I think his O skill set is just as good as Power's. I think he is a better skater. He is obviously more physical (so is the guy in the mailroom) and he is working hard on improving defensively.

1. There are hundreds of players in the NHL without trade limitations. 2. If Adams or his successor doesn't get players who can actually play defense than this rebuild 3.0 will continue to fail 3. If Adams can't convince the necessary players to come here, than we need to replace him. This isn't fantasy land, it's how a good team should be managed. Waiting another 3 years for Power to become average defensively while wasting $8.35 mill a year on the player is simply terrible management of the roster and the cap.

Remember having Dahlin Power and Byram has yielded the top scoring D threesome in the NHL, but what has that done for the team? The PP still stinks and the team is in last place in the Eastern conference. You trade Power away to not only add defensive D, which are a much bigger need now than a 3rd offensive D, but also to free up cap space to keep vets like Zucker and Greenway. Truthfully I'm not at all worried about 3 years from now. I want to be a playoff team next season and adding defensive D will bring us much closer to that goal than keeping Power. Also by 3 years from now, Novikov, Komarov and Strbak will likely be on the Sabres hopefully giving us cheap and effective defenders who actually play defense to go with Dahlin and Byram.

We have all been conditioned to think the worst about Adams and the Sabres' ability to attract outside talent. There is no question after 14 years of failure, it's a huge factor in bringing in players. However winning isn't the only thing players care about. Money is a factor, playing time is also a factor as is proximity to family. Van just added Pettersson to play in their top 4 dropping Soucy to their bottom pair. Maybe he'd waive the NTC to get top 4 PT. There is no harm in asking. That said there are other possibilities.

Good Gm's always seem to find the right guys in trade or free agency even when their teams suck. By the way there are 2 Russian D who I would love for Adams to acquire in free agency. They are smart accomplished vets and would be good mentors for our kids and for the Russian in the AHL. They are Orlov (33) who still play 20 minutes a game for Carolina and Gavrikov (29) with is playing 24 minutes a night for LA. I don't think either team can afford to re-sign these players. I'd love both, but would settle for just one.

Further proof that Adams is incompetent and has no idea how to build or support his roster. I want him gone as much as anyone else, but realize he isn't going anywhere. Our only hope is that he somehow gets a clue and fixes the team. This maybe a forlorn hope, but it's all we got.

Adams has treated the entire team disgracefully by not acquiring defensemen who can play defense. However, while you cannot like who Power is paired with, his defensive shortcomings and unwillingness to engage physically is all on him. For example Carson Soucey is available.

So you overpay him for 5 years so that you may or may not get full value for the final 3 years of the deal? How does that make sense?

I'm sorry, but there is not enough money to keep all 3 without dumping salary elsewhere. That doesn't include any upgrades on defense or offense. By the way according to the Athletic, Power is giving us 4.4 mill in value (thus a deficiency of 4 million) while Byram is giving us 5.9 million worth of value (a $2 mill surplus on the 3.9 he's being paid.)