RochesterExpat

That's a bit misleading as it doesn't have qualified RFA's signed and some rosters are missing the minimum player requirement. Just looking at teams ranked around Buffalo: 9th is Minnesota: $7.5m left to resign RFAs Brandon Duhaime ($1m), Calen Addison ($1.5m) and Filip Gustavsson ($3m+). Assuming they sign those RFAs, that leaves them with 11 forwards and 6 defensemen. Assuming they are pulling up Faber ($925K) and Lettieri ($775K) and one of Fogarty/Rossi, we can just go ahead and assume another $2.5m in cap is going to get used to round out the roster from internal callups. 10th is Boston: $6.2m left to sign RFAs Ian Mitchell ($1-1.5m), Trent Frederic ($2m+) and Jeremy Swayman ($4m). Boston is in a very tricky cap situation. 11th is the Rangers: $6.1m left to sign RFAs Alexis Lafreniere (likely around $2.1m that KK got) and K'Andre Miller (who should sign a multiyear at $4m+ AAV). Considering the Rangers need to sign KK, Lindgren, and Schneider next offseason and have 5 of 13 forwards currently making $800k or less a year and will still need another backup goalie next season--ouch! 12th is Buffalo. We have 25 of 23 roster spots filled currently. The Sabres really do have $5.8m in cap space available. Murray and Weissbach need two-ways deals if we are getting really pedantic about it. 13th is San Jose at $5.7m.They've got a full roster right now. So, like Buffalo, this is real cap space. 14th is New Jersey at $5.6m. Assuming they intend to fill the 12th and 13th forward slots with rookie talent, and they sign RFA Kevin Bahl for $1.3-1.6, they've probably got around $2.7m in cap space. That's a good spot to be in for a competitive team. 15th is Edmonton with $4.8m to sign RFAs McLeod ($1.9-$2.3m) and Bouchard ($3.75m per Seravalli so lets say $3.5-4m). Ouch. So, reranking those 9th through 15th slots: 9th - Buffalo: $5.8m 10th - San Jose: $5.7m 11th - New Jersey: $2.7m 12th - Rangers - $0 13th - Minnesota - -$500K 14th - Edmonton - -$600K 15th - Boston - -$800K There really is a cap crunch in the league right now. That's not an invented issue.

This is what I expect as well, but I see a lot of references (especially on Reddit) to Johnson Jr. being a Sabre this season. I thought it odd since at no point over the last year did I think he was going to be an immediately impactful player. I wanted to make sure I wasn't totally off-base. Don't get me wrong, I'd absolutely love it if he made the team this season because it means we're only improving, but I just don't see it happening. I think part of the issue is he played with Brock Faber and Jackson LaCombe who will almost certainly see NHL time next season. Faber is virtually guaranteed a roster spot this season in Minnesota due to the salary cap (they have $7.5m and still need to sign Gustavsson and three forwards). LaCombe is similarly likely to get a crack at the Ducks' roster as the team only has four defensemen signed who played exclusively in the NHL last season (that's counting Drysdale's QO as a signing). One of those signed players is Robert Hägg so we're not exactly talking about an elite D-core. A fifth, Colton White, played the majority of the season in Anaheim, but still played some in San Diego. Of course, the Ducks also have cap space to make moves if they want to. But, as it stands now, LaCombe is likely to play in the NHL.

Honest question, but what makes people so convinced Johnson is ready for the NHL this season? I am confident in his work ethic and seriousness toward the game based on quite literally every interview about the kid I can find, but do we really expect him to make the leap this year? And, on that note, does it really benefit him any from playing third pairing minutes in the NHL as opposed to getting top minutes in the AHL if he’s not a serious improvement over the player he is replacing? Similarly, why is no one talking about Novikov? To me, if we’re talking about a mid-season rookie call up to play 3rd pair, Novikov has the edge on Johnson. Johnson has the higher ceiling, but Novikov’s floor is higher. It just depends on how his game translates to NA. Neither are slide candidates so that doesn’t influence the decision either. But, more importantly, are Johnson or Novikov better as it stands right now than Stillman, Clague or even Davies? Or is that just optimistic bias toward our own prospects? Yeah this one was disappointing. And I say that admitting I like Stillman as a 7th D that a coach can rotate in when his presence matches well against the opposing roster. His addition didn’t make a ton of sense as far as moving the bar—something Buffalo needed to do.

If he’s moved it’s either following the arbitration week when teams have a final cap picture or it’s after the season starts and he shows zero growth to round out his game. I expect him to be on the opening night roster only because the market for wingers appears soft.

I’ll be honest and say I’m in his camp that this is news to me. I’ve heard very little as far as people from Buffalo doubting the pick. Admittedly, I think they drafted well so it’s possible I’m suffering confirmation bias. It could also simply be that it’s the summer and I just spent a weekend building a greenhouse. I’m not following hockey as closely as I do when the season is ongoing.

It’s hard to score goals when you’re not in the lineup because the coach considers you a liability.

Maybe I’m in a field of my own, but I seem to think Ryan Johnson is further away from the NHL than most people here do. Among prospects, Novikov is probably closer to NHL ready (after his NA-adjustment period for the first few months this year end).

If we do that I really hope it’s a 4C we can put in the dot for critical face offs.

I’m so jaded I don’t believe this will happen, but this guy and Tokes signing suggests we’re either set on running 3 goalies again or we’re about to trade. I hope it isn’t the three headed monster.

We got our guy.

Hurts because the term is perfect for us.

Boston’s 2nd pair RD for the last few seasons. He’s a real Top 4 guy. This isn’t a stretch of signing a 6th spot dude and hoping for the best.

My guesses: Bryson is out. Stillman is 7th. Joki/Boosh will be getting shopped. Likely Joki is moved because age* *makes it easier to move

Connor Clifton is a good add for the PK.

He’s 6’5”. They’re hoping his height rubs off on Levi. Imagine the riots…

If that’s a 5/6 add I’m all for it, but not for a 4D and not if that’s the only move.

Little disappointed Suchanek didn’t get an invite.

This is what I get for reading from my phone in bed. My brain made a weird jump there by the time I got caught up to the rest of the thread.

I’ll bet $25 he doesn’t play a game before December if I can specify my donation will go to the Ronald McDonald House Charities. A friend utilized the charity before when his infant son was having bypass surgery and I have zero qualms about donating to them.

It’s hard to rate prospects and I think I know where you’re coming from and I don’t totally disagree. With that being said, I think Kulich is further ahead than Savoie and Benson if we’re talking about the floor, but both Savoie and Benson have higher ceilings with Benson having the highest ceiling as he’s a bonafide two way player. Kulich needs to take the next steps in his defensive game and play a consistent pace for the duration of his shift. If he fixes those issues, he will be a top 6 player. If he doesn’t, he’s destined for VO 2.0. To put it another way, I think Rosen’s floor is a tweener and his ceiling is a third liner. Kulich’s ceiling is 2nd line and his floor is third line/role player/perennially fan frustration. I’m most confident with these assumptions because I watched the majority of Rochester games. Because Kulich has the higher floor, he’s the highest prospect in my mind. Savoie could be a top line player but I honestly could see him being a tweener just as easily if he doesn’t adjust his game. The AHL playoffs were a poor sample for him. He is a boom or bust for me. I realize that’s likely not a shared opinion. Benson’s ceiling could be Jeff Skinner last season. His floor could be Jeff Skinner under Krueger. More appropriately put, I do believe his floor is already that of an NHL player (13th forwards are NHL players after all) which puts him ahead of Savoie. I don’t have a fair assessment on Östlund from the past year as he doesn’t play in a league I watch regularly. I’d like to add that Rousek, at least to me, has the ceiling of a third liner and the floor of a 13th forward. That would put him ahead of most on the list. I could make a similar argument for Weissbach as well.

Same, but it's late enough it isn't a big deal.

I'm hopeful this is how it plays out.

5 (first) + 3 (second) + 1 (late) + 3 (intriguing) = 12. A roster-sized prospect pool.

Wonder why he fell past his consensus ranking. Size?

The actual CHL- NHL agreement states there are three options for a player to move to the AHL. 1) Player turns 20 before January 1st 2) Player completes "four full seasons" of CHL hockey 3) The CHL team agrees to release the player to the AHL (yes, this is in there and, no, it does not happen). If the CHL doesn't want to count a player playing in 24 of 24 scheduled games (remember, this season was planned to be only 24 games) then I'd get a lawyer and take them to town. There's no way a reasonable person doesn't consider that a full season played. Importantly, contrary to what people seem to think, there is no minimum games definition or anything similar for what constitutes a full season. A player could miss half a season due to injury and still (potentially) count it as a full season played. There may be an unofficial agreement between the CHL and the NHL as far as how that's defined, but the language of the signed agreement doesn't specify. Per the language of the agreement, it's hard to argue that Benson is not entering his fourth season.