GASabresIUFAN

Does Adams have it in him to be as aggressive as the Panthers to re-shape and improve his club? I went and looked at the Panthers roster, only Barkov, Lundell, Ekblad and Knight are draft picks. The rest are mostly trades and free agents plus one critical waiver pickup in Forsling. Over the course of 15 months the Panthers acquired Montour and Reinhart from us plus Bennett and Tkachuk from Calgary to significantly help re-shape their team. You could argue that the Mitts trade was the first step in that direction. Possibly, the next few weeks will tell the tale. The trade market, with 30 teams now home should begin to heat up.

Yes we are over spending on defense with nothing to show for it. Don’t forget this group allowed the 7th most HDC last season. If (when?) KA re-signs Joki and Bryson we will be making the over spend worse. This group is a miss-mash of parts that don’t quite fit together into a cohesive group. They currently have two legit top 4 D in Dahlin and Power. The rest are 3rd pairing players. Mule is slated for the top 4 and maybe if he could stay healthy he’d fit there. Maybe! We certainly could use an effective physical stay at home D there. Clifton is a bottom pair player. Joki, despite top 4 pt, grades out as a 5 and his skill set doesn’t really work with Dahlin or Power. Bryam is a ball of occasionally effective raw talent. It’s why Col traded him. 4 good games followed by 12 bad ones does not a top 4 D make. The best thing KA can do for this group is move on from Joki. Avoid another longterm deal. Find a vet stay at home D to bridge until Johnson or Novikov are ready to earn the job.

I may be in the minority on this take, but I believe Savoie will make the Sabres out of camp. What impact he'll have is another question, but we really don't have a ton of internal options that are at or near NHL ready. I know some in the media have Rosen as near ready and possibly Kulich also, but their play in the AHL playoffs wasn't great and indicates to me that they aren't quite ready. Savoie's globetrotting season 1 game in Buffalo - 0 pts 6 games in Rochester - 2g, 3a 5pts Wenatchee - 11 WHL games - 11g, 13a 24 pts Moose Jaw - 23 WHL games - 19g, 28 a 47pts, plus 19 playoff games with 10g 14a 24pts Combined RS & P games in the WHL 53games 40g 55a for 95 pts. Also toss in 4 U20 games - 1a The kids was probably worn out by the time the Memorial Cup was played. I don't think he has much to gain from playing the A next season. Also the Sabres will likely need some cheap talent on the roster if KA actually swings for the fences this off-season. @dudacek You asked up thread about our center depth Savoie, Kulich, Östlund and Wahlberg, but nothing really beyond them. These are all future NHL players. The question is how high in the lineup can they go. All have different skill sets. Östlund is a playmaker and good 2 way forward. Kulich seems like a future grit goal scoring 3rd line center. Savoie is a small center with a nose for the net and Wahlberg is a power forward. It's really a nice group.

I think he is saying sign Kane and acquire a 3C, and then combine them with JJP, Quinn, TNT, Tuch, Cozens, Skinner and Benson to form the top 9. This potentially creates the foundations of a very good 4th line with Greenway and Krebs. I suggested up thread you can accomplish the same thing with a top 3C like Karlsson, promoting Savoie to the third line with Skinner and Karlsson. This then also pushes Greenway and Krebs to the 4th line and leaves money left over to sign Blueger to center the 4th line.

No question this should be the objective this summer. The better we can make the 3rd and 4th lines the harder it will be to defend the team. Since we don't have any superstar forwards, beating teams with relentless pressure through 4 capable lines should be the objective.

The more we discuss the various and infinite scenarios for this off-season, two decisions seem to be the linchpins of the offseason. 1) What to do with Skinner. There are 4 options. A) Find a trade partner, assuming Skinner is willing to be traded. Salary retention will be part of the equation, but better than the cap hit from option B. If possible this could free up about $6 mill a year for the next 3 seasons. This is the most unlikely option. B) Buyout. This would leave a cap burden for the next 6 years. It would save over 7.5 this coming season, 4.5 in 25/26, and only 2.5 in 26/27. We then be on the hook for 3 more years at 2.45 per season. Not a huge fan of this move, but is would help KA afford to make a big swing on a top6/top 2 pair skater. I also doubt TP will sign off on paying $14.67 million to Skinner not to play for us. C) Keep Skinner in the top 6. Here his poor defense is least likely to harm the team and it would best utilize his skillset. Playing him down the lineup is a mistake. Leaving him in the top 4 might allow KA to focus on building a strong 2 way 3rd line featuring Benson and Greenway with a strong 2 way center like Wennberg, Kerfoot or Bennett. This is turn might free up money to upgrade Jokiharju. D) Play Skinner on the 3rd line. If this is the plan, KA better find away to get someone like Karlsson, Duchene or Monahan to center the 3rd line or we'll be wasting Skinner's O talent and making his lack of a 2 way game more pronounced. Spending big on a 3C, then also limits how much can we spent replacing Girgensons, Robinson and KO on the 4th line. If we could some get Monahan or Karlsson, I'd be on board with this plan. but I think plan C is the most likely outcome. 2) What to do with Jokiharju? How do the Sabres really view Jokiharju's talent level? Is he a bonfide top 4 D? There are 3 options here as well. The Sabresm without Joki already have 6 D under contract for next season A) Re-sign him for a year or 2 to see if he continues to improve and becomes a bona fide top 4 D. This would lower the cap hit some on the extension and allow Joki to serve as a bridge until Novikov and or Komarov are NHL ready. AFP projects a 1 year deal at 3.328 B) Re-sign Joki to a long-term extension. Please, please Adams don't do this. We can find better stay at home D to pair with Dahlin or Power for less than the AFP projections. AFP projections his long-term deal at 3 years 4.016 C) Trade him for other assets and players. I'm hopeful that this is the path they take. Teams need R shot D and we don't need another long-term contract for a D on the books. He just isn't worth it. These two decisions will ultimately determine how much cap KA has to work with over the summer and what positions on the roster need to filled by outside talent.

Make reasonable well thought out suggestions and there should be no problem. Say we should trade our 11th overall pick for Jeannot and a 7th and .......... Speaking of the NHL draft. Two former Sabres' son are in this year's draft class. Max Plante, son of Derek, looks like a 3rd round pick. The other is Miro Satan Jr. The kid is 6'7" 190. Talk about needing time to fill out. He was 51st on Central Scouting EU list. Looks like a late round pick.

Yeah Adams is going to trade the 11th overall pick to NJ for former 2016 12th overall Michael McLeod.

I'm honestly more worried about the young D group. I kind of want Byram to anchor the 3rd pair and for KA to find a defensive RHD to play with Power. As to the forwards, adding Karlson, Lafferty and Blueger brings in much needed veteran presence, who, unlike Okposo and Girgensons, are still very productive players. Benson, JJP, Quinn all have 1-2 years of experience and given the improvement in Quinn (104 NHL games) and JJP (161 NHL games), I'm not really worried about the top 6. Only Savoie would be a rookie and he is lining up with two 10+ year veterans. Last year's team also featured 5 forwards 23 and under in Cozens, Benson, JJP, Quinn and Krebs. The youth "issue" isn't going away anytime soon with Östlund, Kulich, Wahlberg and Rosen working their way to the NHL over the next 1-3 years. I actually need to redo the pairings Dahlin Byram Power Samuelsson Johnson Clifton

The odds of Skinner being bought out are pretty slim. I won't say none because Diggs got traded by the Bills so anything can happen. Skinner is a black hole defensively, especially when he plays with lower level players. Placing him with Krebs late last season was a disaster. Skinner needs to play in the top 6 or with a very capable 3rd line center to maximize his value to the Sabres. Acquiring someone like Monahan, Duchene or Karlsson might allow Skinner to be played on the 3rd line. @Taro T I'm not sure there is enough money for the Sabres to bring in a top 6 winger and a center capable of maximizing Skinner's ability on the 3rd line, while filling the other needs on the team. I think we can accomplish much the same thing with a 3rd line of Skinner, Karlsson, and Savoie (assuming he's ready). I'd still like to see Blueger signed for the 4th line center job. Sign Blueger and you have a 4th line of Krebs, Blueger and Greenway. I wouldn't mind also looking at Sam Lafferty instead of Krebs on the 4th line. This gives us the ablility to push Greenway back into the top 9 if Savoie isn't ready. To get Karlsson, I traded Rosen plus a 2nd in 2024 & a 3rd in 2025. I used AFP for most of the contracts except I think we can re-sign UPL at 4 million (3 years) and Krebs at 1.25 (2 years). I re-signed Bryson (2 years @ 1.25); signed Blueger (2 years & 2.25) and Lafferty (2 years at 2.5) By bolstering the team with Karlson, I was forced to elevate Ryan Johnson to the 3rd pair with Clifton and pair Byram with Power. I ran this team on capfriendly and the cap hit came to 84.4 in 2024. JJP TNT Tuch Benson Cozens Quinn Skinner Karlson Savoie Lafferty Blueger Greenway (Krebs) Dahlin Samuelsson Power Byram Johnson Clifton (Bryson) UPL Levi

I looked at capfriendly and 101 players have full NMC/NTCs. Skinner's deal is not unusual at all. In fact, 221 players have some sort of trade protection or about 30% of the league. 8 teams have 9 or more with trade protection. 10 teams have 5 or more guys with full NMC/NTCs. I do agree that full NMC/NTCs are dumb, especially on long-term contracts, but there is plenty of dumb to go around in the NHL. Guys like Eric Haula and Nick Paul have full NTCs. Giving Hall an NTC likely cost us a 1st rd pick. Skinner's is keeping us from moving on from a player who needs to move on.

@dudacek Why would you give 2.7 to Trenin who is 17 pt player? Two 3rds for Jeannot? The guy had 14 pts last year on a 2.65 cap hit. These guys had 2 pts total in 14 playoff games this season. These are 2 overpayments for 4th line players. We can do better for that money and assets.

if they are morons for giving a NMC so if every other GM in the NHL. Look at every roster in the NHL. Go find a top 9 forward or a top 4 D on a veteran contract and you’ll see some type of NMC. Adams gave Hall a full NTC on a one year deal. Yzerman is one the worst offenders. According to capfriendly, nearly every player we have discussed, like Larson, Karlsson, Gourde, Jeannot and Kerfoot all have at least a M-NTC. Cirelli’s kicks in next season. Even Connor Sheary has some trade protection. The truth is Adams should have tried to move Skinner at the deadline to a team desperate for scoring. He should have retained 3 mill a season for the remainder of his deal as an inducement. Other GMs find way to move players with NTCs. It’s time for Adams to grow a pair and find a solution.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1JPtGk5m_S9VuR5e7T8lb_BlilXRwJPF0V2ddQzjjpvc/edit#gid=0 I used what I thought they'd sign for based on their production and role on the Sabres and/or their current team. I still like the 100K per point rule of thumb, especially for forwards. That said, here is what an analytics group came us with. Amadio 3 year - 3.169 Blueger 2 year - 2.168 (They have him closer to your prediction than mine). I'm good with that. Bryson 2 year - 1.2 Krebs 2 year - 1.777 (I don't think so; although that would be 100K per point from last season, except he has no leverage) UPL 4 year - 4.7 or 1 year 3.3. One good year and with Levi coming up behind him, I doubt he gets a 4 year deal.

Bryson’s Q-offer is 1.9. No way the Sabres retain him at that price. He’ll be lucky to get 1.25 from us as a 7/8 D. Kreb’s offer is 832K. He has no leverage and no arbitration rights. At 17 points in 80 games last season, he likely can be kept for the Q-offer on a one year deal. If he re-ups for 2 years, he might get over a $1 mill. Kerfoot is 3.5. I think we can get Amadio and Blueger for around 3 mill each for 2-3 years. UPL should cost around 3.5 for 3 years. The question is does Adams add a 2nd pair D to play with Power. Here is how the team we are discussing would look cap wise. https://www.capfriendly.com/armchair-gm/team/5201642 Even in this scenario there is still room at add someone like Larsson and push Johnson back to Rochester. A move like that would reduce the available cap by 3 mill.

Archie, if we acquire Kerfoot, Joki is probably part of that deal. I’d also move on from Bryson, unless he’ll return for $1 mill. UPL is the only RFA we should keep, but I fully acknowledge that Krebs will also be re-signed. Krebs’ Qoffer is only 832k and he’s not getting much more than that. That team would have about 2.5 mill in cap space.

You mean the same guy who failed to get adequate goaltenders for 3 years and just traded his 3C/2C without an adequate internal replacement. Given KA’s history, I think it’s perfectly reasonable to question his ability to recognize and properly fill roster needs.

I do think we are over spending on D long-term, which is why I’m dead set against re-sign Joki. However, Adams should be in go for it mode for next season and despite the addition of Byram, we are still short a legit top 4 D. We have the cap space to afford one year rentals like Larsson and Theodore. I’m in agreement on Larsson over Theodore, and that Theodore is another puck mover. I raised him, because he is available and I wanted to see what people thought his market was.

Former Sabre prospect Josh Bloom score the Memorial Cup winning goal for Saginaw. One of things I've noticed while watching the Memorial Cup is how many of their forwards crash the net. Why do they forget this skill set when playing for the Sabres?

By the way bolstering the bottom 6 is not a bad plan this offseason. If you ask Lindy, he'll want to be able to roll 4 good to decent lines and if we get reasonable production from the 3rd and 4th lines for a change, it will take a lot of pressure off TNT and Cozens to carry the team. I also like the idea of adding guys like Amadio and Blueger to our bottom 6. These are guys that don't take playing in the NHL for granted and play they have to earn it every shift. There are incumbent players who would benefit from working with those kind of players. Skinner Kerfoot Greenway - Greenway attacks the net and Kerfoot creates for Skinner Krebs Blueger Amadio - Hard working guys who hopefully rub off on Krebs. Also swapping one Latvian (Girgensons) for another (Blueger). That's a significantly upgraded bottom 6 over the mess we had last season. If Savoie earns a slot, Greenway goes down to the 4th line and Krebs to the bench.

The problem is does Adams even recognize the need? Will he try to default to Krebs, Kulich or Savoie, or will he finally grasp the obvious and make a necessary move to bolster the center position?

The more I think about the best trade candidate for the Sabres at 3C, I keep coming back to Alex Kerfoot. Kerfoot is a playmaking C, who plays a 200 foot game, is one of the top Pkers in the NHL, he put up 45 pts last season, is on reasonable contract with one year left (@3.5 million) and has limited trade protection (10 teams). He even had 73 hits last season, with 76 blocks as well as 47 takeaways (to only 27 giveaways). Arizona is in desperate need of defenseman. Joki for Kerfoot seems like a place to start on a deal. Other trade candidates I want Bennett, but I doubt Florida wants to part with him and certainly not in the division. He had 41 pts (20 goals) this season. I year left at 4 mill Gourde has been talked about ad nauseum. He has 33 pts last season and has one year left at 5.16 with a M-NTC Cirelli has also been talked about often. He had 45 pts last season and has 7 years left at 6.25. I doubt TB wants to trade him either and certainly not in the division. I think the $ and term make him a non-starter for Adams. Another very interesting trade prospect is Nic Roy from LV. He had 41 pts last year and has 3 years left @ 3 per season. LV needs to shed salary, but I think they'd like to move other players like Karlsson and Shea Theodore before Roy. Roy would be a good fit here Williams Karlsson - LV needs to move salary and he is coming off a good rebound year with 30 goals and 60 points. I'd love to see KA get him. However he has a M-NTC. Not sure why he'd waive it to come to Buffalo. He has 3 year's left at 5.9 per season. A note a LV. Chandler Stephenson is moving on. Their top 2 C are Eichel and Hertl. They also have rookie Brendan Brisson who is going to earn a job in LV next season. Odds are that at least one center is going to be moved. What would you pay for Kerfoot or Roy?

Back on topic what would you pay for Theodore or Larsson?

Finally some good news.