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but very Adams. He gets to keep a 1st rd pick while still getting a viable 3C. He is a physical player, has been solid in the faceoff circle over his career, has 2 years left on a reasonable contract at $3 mill for a 40 pt player. He also has playoff experience. Overall not a bad choice. I also think he can probably keep the 11th and just trade Philly Rosen and a pick for him.

It’s more about the proven chemistry between Ek and Greenway.

Eichel, Dahlin, Reinhart?

There was a reason that he was 6th and in the 1st tier on my consensus draft board last year. I used 17 rankings last year and 15 had Benson ranked from 4 to 9, only Pronman (@LGR4GM's favorite) and my favorite Button had him outside the top 10. Pronman had him 17th and Button 14th.

The goal is to build 3 lethal scoring lines and the Cozens line would actually be the 2nd line, but it was easier to leave to the formatting the same. Quinn will get significant PT during the PP to utilize his O skills.

Fixed

What made Krebs a 1st rd pick was that his skating and passing skills made him an offensive catalyst at all levels up to the NHL. Even in the AHL Krebs had only 5 goals in 25 games while creating 20 assists. Taking a kid with that skill set and pigeon holing him as an energy forward with linemates who can't convert passes is a waste. To Krebs' credit he has embraced the role. He actually had over 100 hits last year. However, he isn't good at faceoffs, isn't good at takeways and doesn't block shots very well. He's just not a fit as a 4th line forward. He needs to be utilized where his playmaking skills can develop at the NHL level. That opportunity no longer exists in Buffalo.

I love the idea of Eriksson-Ek, and he maybe a better fit for the needs of the 2024 Sabres. He is certainly a better goal scorer and a more physical player, but Mitts is a a much better playmaker, and as he is two years younger than Ek, Mitts has yet to reach his full potential. I'm also not yet convinced that Byram is all that. The jury is still out, but he wasn't exactly good after the hot start. As to your comparison of Byram and Ek vs Mitts and prospects, it's a bit of a straw man. You have no idea whether KA would then turn those prospects into a top 4 D even if he choose to retain Mitts. Don't forget Ek still has 5 years at 5.25 per season. AFP projects Mitts at 5 years 5.9. We are not talking a great deal of savings here. What happens if we can't secure Bennett, Karlsson or Ek to anchor our 3rd line? Would be better off with Mitts and a top 4 D acquired with prospects or Byram and Kerfoot, Domi, Roslovic or Gourde?

I don't doubt KA is going to keep Krebs. I have projected that he'll re-sign him to a 2 year deal @1.25 per season in all my projections on capfriendly and here. Just because I think that is what KA will do doesn't make it a smart decision for Krebs or the Sabres. Krebs, IMHO, needs to an opportunity to play in the top nine on a developing team like SJ, CHI etc.... We don't fit that description anymore with potentially 8 of our top 9 forwards penciled in already with TNT, Tuch, Skinner, Cozens, Benson, JJP, Quinn, & Greenway (or Savoie if he makes the team). Krebs has already failed at the one open job (3C) and we can't afford to take the risk again in this must make the playoffs season.

His Q-offer is 2.6 and the AFP projections are about 3.3 for one year and over 4 for a multi-year deal. So no, I don't think he is worth keeping at any of these prices. Moving on from Joki and allowing Johnson to take the 3rd pair with Clifton saves the team 2.4. to 3 mill in cap which then can be utilized to build out an effective 4th line. He had his best year as a pro last season, but KA brought in Byram to be a top 4 D. Time for KA to cash in on that season and move him for the best offer he can get. We can't keep everyone.

I brought up previously Fla going for it by acquiring Bennett, Reinhart, Tkachuk and Montour. We are kind of in the same situation they were when they made those dramatic moves. I don't think we need to do anything that dramatic. We need the best 2/3C we can get to create 3 good scoring lines, a good 4C and at least one good stay at home D. But perfect. I'd give them 3 good pieces for him.

I looked that up as well. Sadly he hasn't built on that promise.

Exactly. There are at least a dozen UFAs that can give us what Krebs does but are more suited for a depth role. Guys like Amadio, Carrier, Blueger, Trenin etc… We don’t have the patience anymore to continue to wait for guys to develop. Mitts and TNT were lucky that they were here when we started from scratch and we had the time and inclination to let them develop slowly. We don’t have that luxury anymore. How long are we supposed to wait on Krebs to make the meaningful contribution when the playoffs are the objective now? Krebs reminds me of another 17th overall pick and that is Curtis Lazar. Not only can we find UFAs to replace Krebs more suited for a depth role. We also have a stockpile of prospects like Savoie, Rosen and Kulich who can come in and give us more than we got from Krebs. Savoie’s NHLe on his WHL season was 41 points. Kulich’s was 31 points and Rosen’s 30.

Why? Right now Krebs has been passed on the depth chart by Benson, JJP, Quinn and probably Savoie with Kulich hot on his heals. Had he developed as hoped he'd be in line to replace Mitts when Mitts was traded. Instead, he stunk in that role after the trade and now pretty much everyone agrees we need to bring in outside talent to replace Mitts. Where does that leave Krebs? Either on the 4th line or in the pressbox. If he still has value, trade him and give him a fresh start elsewhere before he becomes Asplund 2.0.

By the way John, this is where asset management comes in. You don't trade Johnson and then keep Jokiharju. Joki is going to cost about $4 mill per season for the next 3 to 4 years to keep. Why would you trade away Johnson to keep another big contract, especially when I'm not sure Joki is really that much better than Johnson? Joki is certainly not $3 mill better than Johnson.

Finally collected 8 different rankings with at least 64 players ranked. Here are the tiers so far. (EDIT: Updated) TOP 32 1 - Celebrini 2- Demidov, Levshunov, Buium, & Parekh 3 - Dickinson, Catton, Lindstrom, Silayev, Helenius & Iginla 4 - Eiserman, Yakemchuk, Sennecke & Brandsegg-Nygard 5 - Chernyshov, Connelly, Hage, Greentree, & Jiricek (large gap the next tier) 6 - Artamonov, Boisvert, Solberg, Luchanko, and Hemming 7a - Parascak and Emery (last 2 with a 1st rd grade) 7b - Sahlin Wallenius, Elick, Ritchie, Beaudoin, and Basha 33-65 8 - Surin, Mews, Pettersson, & Gridin 9 - Kiviharju, Masse, Pulkkien, & Freij 10 - Hutson, Badnicka, Howe, Eriksson, Miettinen & Stiga 11 - Vanacker, Shuravin, Jecho, Mustard, and Brunicke 12 - Kleber, and O'Reilly 13 - Galvas, Muggli, and Danford 14 - Bednarik, Skakan, and Plante (last 3 with a 2nd rd grade) 15 - Vaisanen, Marrelli & Poirier 16 - George, Zetterberg, & Letourneau

Pleasantly or un-pleasantly surprised?

When I look at the Sabres, I see a team that has 5-6 good to excellent forward prospects (not including Benson) in this order: Savoie, Kulich Östlund, Rosen, Wahlberg and Neuchev. On defense I see Johnson, Novikov, Komarov and Strbak as future NHLers. Of these 2 groups I think only Johnson and Savoie could step in and contribute to the Sabres is a meaningful way to start the season. Kulich, Rosen and Novikov may be ready by mid to late season. If you are the Sabres, how many of these guys would you make available in trade? Of the forwards, I'm inclined to move as many as 3, but if I go to 3, I'm keeping the 11th overall pick. On defense, I'd prefer to keep Johnson so that I can trade Joki. The other 3 I have no interest in trading, but can understand if someone wanted Komarov in a deal. Strbak is still much too green to be of much trade value.

Biggest issue is the 6 years remaining on his deal. What will he be at 35? 36?

For me, his outstanding performance at the U20's was a better indicator of his develop than his point totals in the SHL where he was the youngest player to receive regular PT. His SHL roster ranged from Noah at 19 to Peter Rosen at 36. Most of the roster are men 27+. At the U20s he put up 17 pts in 12 games against his peers and to lead the Swedish team in scoring. In the WJC U20 he put up 10 pts in 7 games to tie for the team lead. By comparison he has 5 pts in 9 games in the U20 the year prior and 4 in 7 in the WJC U20. We'll get a much better feel for where his future lies in NA when he plays for Rochester in the fall.

Certainly Fla’s GM wasn’t afraid when he acquired Tkachuk for Huberdeau and Weeger. Would Ottawa trade us Brady?

Florida acquired Bennett when still as RFA for a 2nd and a former 2nd rd prospect. While he might be a better 2 way player today, an acquiring team only gets one year and no control. This is why I created this thread. John wants to throw in the kitchen sink to get Bennett, while I see considerably less value. I might do our 2nd and Rosen, but nothing more for a rental. My fear is Adams is desperate to win this season. Other GMs will smell the blood in the water and demand higher prices from Adams than they would from others. We have seen this in the past with the proposed Chychrun trade. Adams was correct to say no then, but will he be so disciplined now with his job on the line?

I was going through some of the trades in the 1st rd the last couple of years in an attempt to try and gauge what type of players, picks or prospects we might receive in trade for our top tradeable assets. For example: What kind of asset can we expect in return for the 11th over pick? I really couldn't find a straight up swap involving the top 12 pick for a specific player. Most of the deals, like ours for Risto involve a package such as a 1st, a 2nd and a cap dump. What can we get for our top prospects like Rosen, Kulich or Östlund? Do Joki, Krebs or even Ryan Johnson have any trade value?

Kevyn always been known for his great pro talent evaluation skills after all. 😉 As to Greenway, outside of the 20/21 when he had 32 pts in 56 games, he’s basically been what we saw this past season; a 28 pt player who also contributes off the puck. My hope is that that makes him a 4th line player for the Sabres next fall. This is not a criticism of Greenway, but I realization that 5/6 of our top 6 is set with only a debate between Skinner and Benson for the 6th slot. With either Skinner or Benson, I want to build a scoring line around that skill player. My preference is to move Skinner to the 3rd line and invest in a very good 3rd line center. Nothing wrong with Greenway on the 3rd line and Ruff may go that route. However, as I have posted previously, if Savoie makes the team, I think I’d rather have him on the wing with Skinner and the new 3C to create a potentially very skilled 3rd scoring line. I’d then try to build a physically powerful 4th energy line centered on Greenway.