GASabresIUFAN

Even if he is willing to make changes, it takes two to tango. He is going to have to find UFAs willing to be part of this circus or trade for players without trade protection or trade for players with trade protection who are willing to come. I looked at the UFA lists and for players on cap strapped teams without trade protection and I honestly don't see many acquisition candidates. I'm sure there are more than I think, but I remember the failed Gibson and Murray trades. I just don't believe Adams is capable of fixing the roster even if the want is there. I have more faith in Lindy Ruff being a GM than I do Adams. If Adams is willing to let Ruff have a say in who is brought in, then I'd be more optimistic. Given that Lindy wasn't given any say in his Asst Coaches, I feel pretty confident that Adams won't give him much input in the roster either. Sorry Lindy. The good news for Lindy is that he'll be retained as coach or GM when Adams gets fired for failing again next season.

Do you really think TB is going to trade him or if they do, would they trade him inside the division? Do you think that Adams wants to take on the next 7 years of his contract at 6+ a season after he didn’t re-sign Mitts to avoid taking on another long-term deal. Also add that Cirelli gets trade protection after next season and so far isn’t as good offensively (best season only 45 pts) as Mitts. By the way, I mentioned Cirelli earlier as one of the few decent centers without current trade protection who could help our current lineup. However the longterm deal he’s under may be a non-starter for Adams who has yet to commit to a contract outside of “his” players beyond 3 years in either trades or free agents.

That's perfectly reasonable. However, to believe, like some here, that KA will be spending like a drunken sailor on players this off-season is not really feasible. First, odds are he still has an internal cap below the actual cap, second he has to find guys who want to come here and third he has to maintain cap flexibility long-term.

You can’t keep everyone. That’s the painful truth of the NHL salary cap. It’s even harder when the team has a lower internal cap. If you keep Power, odds are that we won’t be able to afford to keep Bryam. These are the tough choices the GM has to make. My point is make the choice now and reallocate Power’s 8 million to improve other areas of the team. Are you giving up a prime asset. Yes, of course and that’s the point. Here Power will never blossom into a No 1 D. Dahlin deservedly has that job for the longterm. That means we are paying Power like a no. 1 D, but can’t utilize him that way. That’s a waste of limited cap space imho. I also like Bryam’s game a little better.

And this is why this team doesn't move forward. He'll develop, he'll develop I hear them cry. Really he will! When? When will he become a physical force? When will he become a 50 point player? 2 years into his $8 mill deal or is it 3 or 4 or 5? Dahlin is the No. 1 D. He gets the majority of the PP time. Power and Byram are therefore 2nd fiddles. Despite having all this expensive talent on D, we are still terrible at playing defense. Something has to give. You can't keep handing out big contracts and field a complete team (see Toronto and at least they are a playoff team). KA traded Mitts because the team's budget didn't allow for another big contract. What happens after next season when the team is slated to re-sign JJP, Quinn and Byram? Buying out Skinner helps but not as much as your think. Only Greenway's salary comes off the books and truthfully we need him. So the questions becomes priorities. Who to keep and who to trade or not re-sign. The sad part is that we are making these decisions already and we aren't even a playoff team because of our clueless GM. So if you aren't moving on from Power, are you allowing JJP to walk in a year, or Quinn or whom? We don't have enough centers, but are you trading Cozens who finally seems to be blossoming at Worlds? Pick your poison. To me Power is the logical point to start now that KA acquired Byram. Dahlin and Bryam anchor the top 2 D pairings and QB the PP units. After that we have plenty of candidates, both short-term and long-term for the majority of the remaing D roles in Clifton, Joki, Mule, Johnson, Novikov, Strbak, Komarov, except D first top 4 defenseman. Maybe the assets from a Power trade bring in that piece and more center help. Remember the reason Toronto failed is that they signed Tavares for big money and all their star forward but then didn't have enough cap space to fix their D or goaltending properly. Our goaltending is becoming a strength. Our D needs more D first players to become elite and our forwards need center help. If you want to keep Power, trade Byram again and don't re-sign Joki. That's fine with me as well, but having Byram, Power, and Dahlin is not a working plan either short-term or long-term as their skill set are redundant and they don't work as D partners.

I agree. I’d trade Power. This may seem extreme but what does he bring that Dahlin and Bryam don’t? He also isn’t worth 8 mill a season imho, but given his age and draft status, I think we can get some important pieces to improve this team short and long-term.

Not on medium or long term deals. One year deals, sure, but they have to have significant open cap space after next season to re-sign JJP, Quinn and Byram. Good luck finding players that only want a one year deal and who will improve the team. Also 3 mill for a player gets you Clifton type players. Is that really going to elevate this sorry roster?

I was crunching some numbers and it doesn't look good for the Sabres being able to truly spent much this off-season unless it's on one year deals. Assuming Ryan Johnson and Levi make the team and UPL takes a 4 million contract, the Sabres will only have 17 million to sign or acquire 5 forwards and 2 D or about 2.3 per player. Unfortunately, KA must keep in mind that JJP, Quinn and Byram need new deals following next season with only Greenway's 3 mill coming off the books after next season. The way KA has structured the team isn't sustainable. If he acquires players, they'll be on short-term deals in order to be off the books after the season to clear room to at least retain JJP and Quinn. The qualifying offers for the RFA are 925K for UPL, 2.6 mill for Jokiharju, 1.9 for Bryson and 832K for Krebs. Given the Sabres budget, Krebs is sadly returning as cheap depth with upside (in theory anyway). I don't think Bryson is worth 1.9. I'd rather trade Joki than keep him, but it may be cheaper for KA to retain Joki than find a useful RHD replacement. With Savoie (887K), Krebs (2 years 1 mill per season), and Joki (3 year @ 4 per season) another nearly 6 mill will be spent on rookies and returning players. This leaves us with 11 million for 4 players and us still needing a 2/3C. Here is a link to some FA contract estimates. They look pretty good. Their UPL and Joki projections seem spot on. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1JPtGk5m_S9VuR5e7T8lb_BlilXRwJPF0V2ddQzjjpvc/edit?pli=1#gid=0

It's kind of a hard group to rank right now. I think the top 12 all have NHL futures. After the top 15, I doubt any of the others play a minute in the NHL. 1. Benson is still a prospect despite playing in the NHL last season (and again this coming season). He's 18 with only 71 games under his belt. He is still waivers exempt and can be sent back to the CHL 2. Levi - Likely UPL's 1B to start next season. Great in the AHL once sent down full time. 3. Savoie - AHL eligible next season after destroying the WHL. Could make a run at an NHL roster spot in the fall. 4. Johnson - still only 22 and earned a extended callup last season. I think he could force his way into the Sabres lineup fulltime next fall. 5. Kulich - didn't see much progress year over year in the A. Hopefully he'll take another step forward next season. 6. Rosen - Improved over the course of the season, but like Kulich struggled in the playoffs. Also needs to take another step forward next season 7. Östlund - Solid season in the SHL and a very good in the U20. Made Amerks debut. Could vault ahead of Rosen and Kulich next season 8. Novikov - Great AHL debut with 23 pts for the Big D. Might challenge for an NHL callup as early as next season. 9. Wahlberg- Solid AHL late season debut for the big center. Decent in the U20s 10. Komarov - Q D of the year for good reason. Now lets see if the O he showed in the Q carries over into the A for the big D. Skating still a concern 11. Neuchev - Came on late in the year for the Amerks. Hope to see further progress next season 12. Strbak - Another big D who had a nice freshman season in the NCAA for Mich St. 13. Lindgren - Another solid year in the WHL. Hopefully he'll be in Rochester in the fall (Sabres decide not to sign him to an ELC). 14. McCarthy - 38 games as a freshman for BU and was a +12. 15. Ratzlaff - played 52 games for Seattle in the WHL. Solid if unspectacular .905 save % 16. Kisakov - Improved in second season in Rochester, not sure what his future is however. 17. Poltapov - only 13 points in 56 KHL games. I don't expect him to come to NA. 18. Richard - Solid freshman year at UConn with 18 points in 36 games 19. Costantini - 21 year old blew up in 3rd NCAA season with 31 pts in 38 games for W Mich after on 3 pts for N Dakota the year before. 20. Sardarian - production improved in second collegiate season with 14 pts in 32 games. 21. Marjala - 40 pts in 60 Liiga games with another 9 in 9 playoffs games. No idea if he'll return to NA. 22. Kozak - 12 pts in 41 Amerks games 23. Miedema - 41 pts in 68 games in the OHL this year down from 52 in 68 last season. 24. Panocha - Solid first NA season for the German D with 15 pts in 52 games in the Q. 25. Leinonen - Former 2nd rd pick is looking like a bust. Continues to struggle in Finland. Moving to Sweden 2nd tier league next season.

If KA can make a deal that pushes Greenway to the 4th line, that’s a step in the right direction. I like Greenway and am glad he is here. I do think if we made a 4th line staring Greenway, a decent center and another smart effort player, we could have a very effective and disruptive “4th” line. When I look at the returning forwards I see 4 top 6 players (Quinn, TNT, Tuch and JJP), 3 players who could be in the top 6 but shouldn’t be yet (or anymore) in Skinner, Benson and Cozens and a 3/4 liner in Greenway. In Adam’s world the forwards probably look something like this JJP TNT Tuch Benson Cozens Quinn Skinner ???? Greenway ????? Krebs ????? What he should be looking at JJP TNT Tuch Benson ???? Quinn Skinner Cozens ???? ???? ???? Greenway We need a top6/9 center, a top 9 RW, a 4th LW and Center.

KA is not a proactive GM when it comes finding veteran talent for his roster. Every major deal has been reactive. He's told to sign Hall, he signs Hall. He is told to redo the rebuild and he trade Risto, Eichel and Reinhart. He fails to sign Ullmark and has no plan B, thus signs Dell and Anderson. The team is up against the internal cap because of the long-term extensions, so he can't re-sign Mitts and therefore trades him for whatever he can get even if that player doesn't really fit any need on the roster. I guess the only thing he is proactive about is signing players to long-term deals after one good year. Makes you wonder how he is going to be able to retain JJP and Quinn when they have another big year this coming season? Trading for Necas is arguably again reactive since he doesn't have any centers after TNT and Cozens. At least it would be a move to add depth and talent where it's needed and Necas is at least a legit player.

As I said in my post, I'm not against the move, but it would be contrary to KA stated objective. There is no question that we need to upgrade the center position. He's a reasonable replacement for Mitts with potentially better goal scoring upside. I also don't think KA has the b.... to make such a big trade. If the trade were made Krebs, 11 and a mid level prospect for Necas and 28 maybe?

Let me see if I understand your post. We should trade two 1sts (or equivalent) for a less physical and less defensively aware version of Mitts and give him the same money that re-signing Mitts would have cost? If that's the case, why trade Mitts? I thought the whole point of trading Mitts was for KA to avoid another long-term big forward contract. I'm not against this move per se, but if this was the plan, why not re-sign Mitts and use the 2 1sts on a top 4 D, who adds a skill set we don't already have?

The Sabres have needed better asset management for 13 years, but Adams has been particularly awful. Okposo and Girgensons should have been gone 2 years ago. Jost should not have been re-signed. It’s not the so much money, but it’s about getting your money’s worth on the ice. KO, Jost, Robinson, and Z gave us 49 points (205 games) for almost $ 9 Million. We could have paid 4-5 million for the same production and had money left over to improve the team in other areas like real center depth, a top 4 D etc…. I keep asking people why they are so hopeful Adams will finally make the correct move to improve the team when he has no track record of making good pro level acquisitions. Other than UPL not a single UFA or RFA should return next season, and that includes Joki and Krebs. As to the thread title, I’d like to see a UFA list of players that can help this team who might actually want to play here. I’ve mentioned Monahan, who grew up in southern Ontario, as a remote possibility (I know Wpg wants to keep him). Who else?

I was looking at the ex-Sabres in this playoffs Casey 3-6-9 in 10 Samson 5-4-9 in 10 Montour 3-5-8 in 10 Zadorov 4-4-8 in 10 Eichel 3-4-7 in 7 ERod 3-3-6 in 10 McNabb 2-3-5 in 7 Kane 2-3-5 in 9 Nothing spectacular, but a core of very solid performers.

In over their heads - Adams, Thompson, and Cozens. (Pegula) Not enough info - Mair & Ventura Not proven yet but possible - UPL, Samuelsson, and Power Qualified and good at their jobs - Karmanos, Forton, Ruff, Tuch, and Dahlin Depends on the week and the season - Skinner - will likely be surpassed this coming season by JJP and Quinn.

I’m interested in guys like Stephenson and Bennett, but I don’t see them coming here unless we pay stupid money. In fact, I’ve yet to see a list of available players where I look and think that’s a guy who can help us and would be willing to come to Buffalo given the state of our franchise. I’m curious if fellow Sabrespacers have seen a list of UFAs or even available contracted players with trade protection who you think would want to come here. Who are some of the players on that list?

That's the only issue. I love how much this kid has progressed and am looking forward to see him the Rochester in the fall. If can improve his skating, the Sabres will have discovered a gem.

I'm not pissed that he traded Casey. If you look at my posts from last off-season, I felt even before the season that KA would trade Casey. I was pissed that he was traded without an immediate and adequate backup plan at 3C and a for a redundant defenseman. Also your "66 goals" post is a silly stat. Casey's job was to create for his teammates which he did very well. He has 77 assists for the Sabres in his last 144 games (last 2 season before the trade) with the club including 59 at EV. Tuch is the only other playmaking forward on the team as good as Casey was. I understand that you still have hope that this leopard will change his spots and will finally do what must be done. I get it. Unfortunately, he has had multiple opportunities to get the necessary upgrades and we have yet to see him make the necessary move. I truly don't understand why you think it will be different this time. For all of our sakes, I hope you prove me wrong!

He was supposed to put his big boy pants on last off-season and he did spend the most he has spent an UFAs. He spent 10 million on Clifton (3 x 3.33) and 3.25 on one year of Eric Johnson; one 3rd pairing player and one player working his way out of the NHL when he needed partner for either Dahlin or Power. How has that worked out? The 2 years prior he desperately needed goaltending to bridge the gap until his prospects developed and instead of investing in real goaltending to support the rebuild he gave us Dell, Anderson and Comrie. You can't tell me there weren't better options available. In addition he has completely failed to properly support the team in season. Jost and Robinson isn't support. Getting crap players like Stillman at the deadline isn't support. Trading your 3rd line center while in contention without a backup plan for a redundant D isn't support. The only quality deadline move so far is a 2nd for Greenway and he was having a terrible season when acquired. This team has missed the playoff the last 2 seasons because our terrible GM has no idea how to fix the problems with his roster. All he is going to do this off-season is more Taylor Hall type gestures.

You think the jury is still out on KA as a pro player evaluator? I think the jury has returned a verdict. He’s guilty of being terrible. Good - Tuch Mediocre - Greenway, Anderson, and Clifton Bad - Comrie, Bjork, Lyubushkin, E Johnson, Robinson, Hall, E Staal, Krebs, Jost, Stillman, Dell, Pysyk, Eakin, Hagg, Butcher, Hayden and Subban. You can add his terrible decisions to re-sign Okposo, Jost, and Girgensons and the failure to move on from Olofsson. I’d say that’s a piss poor record of pro talent evaluation. That’s what you get when you shop at the clearance bin at Walmart and have no clue how to construct a roster.

More a function of UPL than the defense. The Sabres allowed the 6th most high danger chances (791) and allowed 7th most high danger shots (505). So while UPL was stopping the puck, the defense continually put him behind the 8 ball. It’s why we were always playing from behind, it’s one of the key factors in why the Sabres gave up a league worst 97 1st period goals.

He was a D coach last year and the defenders are still lousy in our zone and it was part of his job to fix it.

How do you convince players to come and play here if you can't even find good coaches to come and coach here?

Keeping Ellis and Wilford on this staff is 4 things 1. A proof that this organization has no clue how to build and run a winning organization. 2. It’s also may be proof that no one in NHL circles with a functioning brain wants to works for Adams and the Pegulas. 3. It’s also proof that you can’t fix a problem that you can’t identify even if it’s obvious to everyone else. 4. It’s also a giant FU to the fans.