How would you retool this team this summer?

[LGR4GM]

4 minutes ago, dudacek said:

Honest question because I have yet to do any homework on Byram’s comparables:

How many D 2 years away from UFA, with a career high of 38 points and stats that crater away from a stud like Dahlin have signed for anywhere near $8M? I mean besides Owen Power 😁?

The Sabres don’t have to give him term. I can’t see him getting that kind of coin in arbitration with his numbers.

I regards to your bigger question, the first thing I would do is dump Samuelsson, a much inferior player on a far worse contract.

The second thing I would do is fix or trade Power, preferably fix, because the idea of those 3 D at their peak on the same team excites me.

Like you, I’m not a GM either. That’s all I got.

Isn't 7.7mil being thrown around for Byram?

[dudacek]

5 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

Isn't 7.7mil being thrown around for Byram?

I believe the number GA quoted was something like that over 7 years. I want to say $7.3M maybe?

Edited 18 hours ago by dudacek

[LabattBlue]

4 hours ago, dudacek said:

 

I’d be more interested in discussing this if I thought you’d actually watched him play.

Okay.  

[dudacek]

On 4/24/2025 at 1:49 PM, GASabresIUFAN said:

What is #3 $.  The Athletic said he gave us $5.3 mill worth of value last season.  They gave Power a $4.7 mill valuation. 

Cap wages estimates 7 years at 7.277 for Byram. 

 

[LGR4GM]

7 minutes ago, dudacek said:

 

I'd sign Byram for 4yrs at 5.5. I don't think he'll do that though. 

[Thorny]

Don’t trade Power 

There’s an easy freebie

[LGR4GM]

Just now, Thorny said:

Don’t trade Power 

Ok, so we're trading Byram in your scenario. 

[dudacek]

Just now, LGR4GM said:

I'd sign Byram for 4yrs at 5.5. I don't think he'll do that though. 

I agree with both points. With the cap rising the way it is though, he’s going to want more. I think $5.5 this coming year equals $6.8 in year three.

If he’s going to play hardball, I’d be tempted to let him go to arbitration, although the threat of an offer sheet looms over that.

But it will buy us a year to make a decision on him and Power and leave us room to dump Samuelsson and slide in a $5-6M real RHD like a Pulock into his spot. 

[dudacek]

8 minutes ago, Thorny said:

Don’t trade Power 

There’s an easy freebie

When I look at ways to improve next year’s team, can’t think of a better bang for my buck than Owen replicating what Rasmus did in year 4 after a bad year 3.

I still see the high-end potential and think the coaching staff/system change/contract got in his head this year.

[Carmel Corn]

I'd keep Power (vs. Byrum) IF they get a legit stay at home RH defender to partner with Power.  If they refuse, then trade either Power or Byrum to get a legit 1C or 2C.  I get it that Byrum alone won't fetch that return by himself, so picks and/or prospects needed to be included.  

I know there are many who feel the Sabres score enough goals, but I think they are still lacking a playmaking center who can control play and make zone entries on the powerplay.  IMHO - our powerplay will suck until they can add that type of player to the team.

Edited 16 hours ago by Carmel Corn

[LGR4GM]

1 hour ago, dudacek said:

When I look at ways to improve next year’s team, can’t think of a better bang for my buck than Owen replicating what Rasmus did in year 4 after a bad year 3.

I still see the high-end potential and think the coaching staff/system change/contract got in his head this year.

Except Dahlin only had a bad year 3 because of Barf Kruger. 

[dudacek]

3 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

Except Dahlin only had a bad year 3 because of Barf Kruger. 

Yes, but I think that still fits, despite the fact Ruff is clearly more qualified than Krueger.

A big part of Dahlin's struggle was Krueger trying to change the way he played and all the mistakes were a factor of Ras trying to do things that didn't come naturally to him.

I think there was definitely some of that going on with Power, who had never had an NHL coach besides Granato.

Remember how much Byram struggled in his own zone when he first arrived? And then how he talked about being much more comfortable in Ruff's system, and it showed?

Power went from +8 to -13 on a team that generally improved at 5-on-5 and was noticeably more mistake prone

[sabremike]

They literally aren't going to do *****.

[Broken Ankles]

3 hours ago, Taro T said:

The 2 didn't really get split up until the trade deadline.  Ballparking that time from them realizing Samuelsson was a dumpster fire early to the trade deadline as 60%.  Didn't go back game by game on it.

And he was their primary D-man when Dahlin was out the 10 games, too.

Natural stat trick shows Ras and Bo played ~40% of minutes together 5v5. 

https://www.naturalstattrick.com/linestats.php?fromseason=20242025&thruseason=20242025&stype=2&sit=5v5&score=all&rate=n&team=BUF&vteam=ALL&view=wowy&loc=B&gpfilt=none&fd=2024-10-04&td=2025-04-17&tgp=2000&strict=incl&p1=8481524&p2=8480839&p3=0&p4=0&p5=0

To point about salary cap - Sabres are 4th in Cap on Defense next year with 4.35 FTE’s signed.  Those above the Sabres have 6-8 signed.  Washington is tops at $6m more than Buffalo.  If you get an arbitration/2 year deal for BB and an RFA for Bernard Docker you are adding $8m (?) and surpass Washington.  And unless you can somehow move Clifton or Samuelson without retention you have no room to sign a better, stronger Right handed D to support Power.  So how is that improving the overall D?  I remember when the Kings won the cup here in LA.  Jake Muzzin was Doughty partner and he was a classic stay at home D man.  Maybe on a bridge contract - 23 years old, 6’3/220.   
Dahlin and Bo pairing - maybe they did have the best analytics stats.  But maybe a Zack Whitecloud type player with a $3m contract might be just as good when paired with Ras, and allow you to sign or trade for a vet on your second line to support Power/Byrum.  I fall on the side of not having 3 D that make $8M +.  I’m also moving Power first b/c his contract has cost certainty which is valuable with a cap that is going up. I think he delivers a much better return. 

[SabreFinn]

The best way to get a good stay at home RHD might be to trade a decent winger to a team like Devils or Vegas. Are we willing to do that? And in that case who?

[dudacek]

41 minutes ago, SabreFinn said:

The best way to get a good stay at home RHD might be to trade a decent winger to a team like Devils or Vegas. Are we willing to do that? And in that case who?

I wonder what a Rosen/Clifton or Quinn/Clifton pairing could get, in terms of an upgrade on Clifton.

I've also wondered what overpaid but still useful veteran RHD a futures/Samuelsson pairing might fetch from a team looking to dump salary.

[SabreFinn]

5 minutes ago, dudacek said:

I wonder what a Rosen/Clifton or Quinn/Clifton pairing could get, in terms of an upgrade on Clifton.

I've also wondered what overpaid but still useful veteran RHD a futures/Samuelsson pairing might fetch from a team looking to dump salary.

Rosen is the player I have in mind also, and pairing him with Clifton is a good idea. Hard to know however how highly teams value an AHL top scorer. Playing good in the Calder playoff might help us. I see Devils as a team that could be interested in Rosen, a swede about same size as Bratt.

An upgrade over Samuelsson would be nice. Wonder how San Jose are thinking with Ferraro, do they want to trade him on deadline för pics or could they take on a player signed long term along with a sweetener?

[Taro T]

10 hours ago, Broken Ankles said:

Natural stat trick shows Ras and Bo played ~40% of minutes together 5v5. 

https://www.naturalstattrick.com/linestats.php?fromseason=20242025&thruseason=20242025&stype=2&sit=5v5&score=all&rate=n&team=BUF&vteam=ALL&view=wowy&loc=B&gpfilt=none&fd=2024-10-04&td=2025-04-17&tgp=2000&strict=incl&p1=8481524&p2=8480839&p3=0&p4=0&p5=0

To point about salary cap - Sabres are 4th in Cap on Defense next year with 4.35 FTE’s signed.  Those above the Sabres have 6-8 signed.  Washington is tops at $6m more than Buffalo.  If you get an arbitration/2 year deal for BB and an RFA for Bernard Docker you are adding $8m (?) and surpass Washington.  And unless you can somehow move Clifton or Samuelson without retention you have no room to sign a better, stronger Right handed D to support Power.  So how is that improving the overall D?  I remember when the Kings won the cup here in LA.  Jake Muzzin was Doughty partner and he was a classic stay at home D man.  Maybe on a bridge contract - 23 years old, 6’3/220.   
Dahlin and Bo pairing - maybe they did have the best analytics stats.  But maybe a Zack Whitecloud type player with a $3m contract might be just as good when paired with Ras, and allow you to sign or trade for a vet on your second line to support Power/Byrum.  I fall on the side of not having 3 D that make $8M +.  I’m also moving Power first b/c his contract has cost certainty which is valuable with a cap that is going up. I think he delivers a much better return. 

 

Thank you for the link to that data.

Looking closer at it, Byram was on the ice for 46% of Dahlin's 5v5 minutes plus Dahlin missed another 12% of the season during which Byram was usually, if not always, their top guy in ice time.

So, @dudacek's contention that Byram faced the other team's best forwards more often than not looks to be correct.

[bob_sauve28]

14 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

Ok, so we're trading Byram in your scenario. 

Can't we keep them all? How does Florida afford all those great players? 

[DarthEbriate]

42 minutes ago, bob_sauve28 said:

Can't we keep them all? How does Florida afford all those great players? 

They care about winning. And winning breeds winning (and palm trees).

They also have had a hefty albatross of a goalie contract that should’ve been their undoing but is aging just fine. Meanwhile, the Sabres haven’t had a plan for a #1 in net since GMTM traded for Lehner. Can’t even say they had a plan for Ullmark despite trading a 6th to keep him but then never negotiated an even mid-term deal. JBott and Adams both only gave him 1-year deals (before his father’s passing). 

[LGR4GM]

1 hour ago, bob_sauve28 said:

Can't we keep them all? How does Florida afford all those great players? 

Florida doesn't have 30% of their cap tied up in 4 lhd, 3 of which we could argue provide a similar style of player. 

Also Adams sucks at contracts outside of Tages.

[Thorny]

6 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

Adams sucks

 

[Flashsabre]

I would take a shot at signing Freddie Andersen and punting UPL.

Andersen gets hurt but he’s a hell of a goalie when he can play. 
 

Get a couple quality defensive Dmen.

Biggest thing is change up the coaching staff. Someone who excels at special teams and a D coach that can implement structure.