Chad D’s Latest Mock Offseason

[Brawndo]

The highlights-9OA and Samuelsson to NYI for Noah Dobson, who is signed to a 4 year 9 Million AAV contract.

Byram to San Jose for Timothy Liligren and 30th Overall. 
 
 

[LGR4GM]

I just need 9oa and Samuelsson for Dobson? Done. Sign me up. Like now. 

[kas23]

I don’t know much about Dobson. Young-ish, looks durable, and had a 70-point season 2 seasons ago, then went back to his average of 40-50. Which Dobson are we looking to add and is he worth 10+M per season?

[Mr. Allen]

19 minutes ago, Brawndo said:

The highlights-9OA and Samuelsson to NYI for Noah Dobson, who is signed to a 4 year 9 Million AAV contract.

Byram to San Jose for Timothy Liligren and 30th Overall. 
 
 

Love the Dobson deal.  &nbsp
Don’t like Byram deal at all.  Not enough of a return (unless I’m wrong about Liligren). 

[Brawndo]

11 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

I just need 9oa and Samuelsson for Dobson? Done. Sign me up. Like now. 

That doesn’t even seem close to being enough for me, but that is an easy yes 

[steveoath]

I do enjoy the expected buffalo mock off seasons. Consume as entertainment and you’ll be fine. 

[French Collection]

Just now, Mr. Allen said:

Love the Dobson deal.  &nbsp
Don’t like Byram deal at all.  Not enough of a return (unless I’m wrong about Liligren). 

Dobson is good, sign me up.

From what I know about Liligren, he is similar to Jokiharju.

Dahlin/Dobson would be one of the top pairs in the league but you could help Power more by putting him with Dobson. Rasmus would be left with Liligren or JBD unless another guy is acquired.

[ponokasabre]

5 minutes ago, French Collection said:

Dobson is good, sign me up.

From what I know about Liligren, he is similar to Jokiharju.

Dahlin/Dobson would be one of the top pairs in the league but you could help Power more by putting him with Dobson. Rasmus would be left with Liligren or JBD unless another guy is acquired.

So id swap Ferraro for Liljigren, Ferrao is left handed and he and Dahlin would be perfect together, and he has a ton of bite to his game

 

The Sammy deal is perfect, I can see NYI liking his size and the may feel they can ressurect his career, Power - Dobson would be an amazing pair, and this would be the "puck mover" type that Owen says he likes to play with. 

 

Still think you could add a vet Left handed dman to compete for the bottom pair that has some jam, someone like a Doumalin or someone like that, say a better Gilbert 

 

Then you sign Jeannot for the 4th line and think about moving Lafferty or keeping him as the 13th forward

[thewookie1]

2 hours ago, Brawndo said:

The highlights-9OA and Samuelsson to NYI for Noah Dobson, who is signed to a 4 year 9 Million AAV contract.

Byram to San Jose for Timothy Liligren and 30th Overall. 
 
 

1 hour ago, LGR4GM said:

I just need 9oa and Samuelsson for Dobson? Done. Sign me up. Like now. 

If that would be all it took I'd be on it in a heartbeat and I'm not even a huge Dobson fan or of his 9mil cap hit. He's a dynamic player 

I'd push for more from SJS but eh?

[GASabresIUFAN]

If you are bringing in Dobson, Power and Byram need to go.  We don’t need 3 offensive D.  Noah and Dahlin need to anchor their own pair.  

I’d be thrilled to have Dobson,  but it doesn’t solve the primary issue with a team defense populated with Power and Byram.  

[Palm Trees And Taxes]

I am not on the Dobson bandwagon. We need RHD options who complement Dahlin and Power perfectly.Dahlin and Power take up over 19M AAV, I don't need another 10M defenseman. Way too much $ to allocate to defense. Plus 3 #1 PP defenseman isn't an ideal use of assets.

 

[JohnC]

5 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

If you are bringing in Dobson, Power and Byram need to go.  We don’t need 3 offensive D.  Noah and Dahlin need to anchor their own pair.  

I’d be thrilled to have Dobson,  but it doesn’t solve the primary issue with a team defense populated with Power and Byram.  

It's likely that Byrum will be moved. So if Byrum is dispatched, then the return very likely be a different style of defender. Power is staying no matter who is brought in or sent out. 

[Palm Trees And Taxes]

I would agree JohnC but my thought is this:

 

Dahlin and Thompson are not going anywhere.

EVERYONE else IMO 'could' be available for the right package.

Afraid to deal Tuch? Remember when Florida dealt for Tkachuk and they traded a 100 point winger as part of that deal and Florida was ripped for it? Sabres can't be afraid right now. Be bold. Aggressive. And have the right plan to truly build a winner here.

Example: I may catch flak for this, but if Jason Robertson was every truly available (highly doubt it now) but I would not be afraid to include Tuch. 

Players like Robertson do not grow on trees.

[JohnC]

15 minutes ago, Palm Trees And Taxes said:

I would agree JohnC but my thought is this:

 

Dahlin and Thompson are not going anywhere.

EVERYONE else IMO 'could' be available for the right package.

Afraid to deal Tuch? Remember when Florida dealt for Tkachuk and they traded a 100 point winger as part of that deal and Florida was ripped for it? Sabres can't be afraid right now. Be bold. Aggressive. And have the right plan to truly build a winner here.

Example: I may catch flak for this, but if Jason Robertson was every truly available (highly doubt it now) but I would not be afraid to include Tuch. 

Players like Robertson do not grow on trees.

Tuch may be another player who might not want to be here. We'll have to wait to see how things materialize with him. If the team struggles next season and is out of the playoffs he might prefer to be somewhere else. 

[Huckleberry]

3 hours ago, steveoath said:

I do enjoy the expected buffalo mock off seasons. Consume as entertainment and you’ll be fine. 

This entire board is entertainment since 2 months for me, every piece of media , youtuber that said stuff about the sabres been responded by

(I get its hard 15yr playoff dirt)

1.  No one wants to play in buffalo

2. Pegula don't care and should sell the team

3. Houston Sabres

4. .... Any past GM/Coach in last 15 years

5 ... list is long and distinguished 

[SwampD]

13 hours ago, JohnC said:

Tuch may be another player who might not want to be here. We'll have to wait to see how things materialize with him. If the team struggles next season and is out of the playoffs he might prefer to be somewhere else. 

I would find that really hard to believe.

[JohnC]

16 minutes ago, SwampD said:

I would find that really hard to believe.

His contract year is coming up next year. Another season of team failure will get him into thinking of his options. I'm not saying that I have inside information but what I do know is that the level of internal disgruntlement will increase if this team doesn't get on a better track. 

This topic about Tuch's not too distant options that related to his expiring contract (next year) was discussed on WGR by Paul Hamiliton. It should be remembered that Tuch was traded from a Cup winning team to a team that hasn't even sniffed the playoffs since he arrived at his new destination. There is no question that losing is demoralizing to the competitive spirit in players. 

[SwampD]

25 minutes ago, JohnC said:

His contract year is coming up next year. Another season of team failure will get him into thinking of his options. I'm not saying that I have inside information but what I do know is that the level of internal disgruntlement will increase if this team doesn't get on a better track. 

This topic about Tuch's not too distant options that related to his expiring contract (next year) was discussed on WGR by Paul Hamiliton. It should be remembered that Tuch was traded from a Cup winning team to a team that hasn't even sniffed the playoffs since he arrived at his new destination. There is no question that losing is demoralizing to the competitive spirit in players. 

I would still find it hard to believe.

Two things.

One. He wasn’t traded from a Cup winning team. He was traded from a team that went on to win the Cup. There is a difference.

Two. Internal Disgruntlement. Love that band. Their third album was a masterpiece.

[Archie Lee]

13 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

If you are bringing in Dobson, Power and Byram need to go.  We don’t need 3 offensive D.  Noah and Dahlin need to anchor their own pair.  

I’d be thrilled to have Dobson,  but it doesn’t solve the primary issue with a team defense populated with Power and Byram.  

I agree with this.  Maybe I'm missing something about Dobson's game, but isn't he a right-shot hybrid of Byram and Power?  Or is he closer to a Bouchard level talent?

In a perfect world, at least one of Dahlin, Byram, or Power would be a right shot.  But all of them can play the right side.  Of all the redundancies in their games, handedness seems like the least of them. 

At this point I'm 95% certain that Byram is gone. I would bet (not a lot) that we open the season with Samuelsson and Dahlin as pair #1 and that a new veteran is brought in to play with Power.  Rasmus Andersson makes sense, if the Sabres aren't on his no-trade list, which is only 6 teams; maybe he hates palm-trees. The 3rd pair will be a combo of Clifton, B-Docker, Bryson, and Johnson, and it would not shock me if we re-signed Gilbert. 

 

 

 

[inkman]

9 minutes ago, Archie Lee said:

I agree with this.  Maybe I'm missing something about Dobson's game, but isn't he a right-shot hybrid of Byram and Power?  Or is he closer to a Bouchard level talent?

In a perfect world, at least one of Dahlin, Byram, or Power would be a right shot.  But all of them can play the right side.  Of all the redundancies in their games, handedness seems like the least of them. 

At this point I'm 95% certain that Byram is gone. I would bet (not a lot) that we open the season with Samuelsson and Dahlin as pair #1 and that a new veteran is brought in to play with Power.  Rasmus Andersson makes sense, if the Sabres aren't on his no-trade list, which is only 6 teams; maybe he hates palm-trees. The 3rd pair will be a combo of Clifton, B-Docker, Bryson, and Johnson, and it would not shock me if we re-signed Gilbert. 

 

 

 

I thought Mattias played his way off th stop two pairs?  How much ice time did he get with Rasmus last season?  If Samuelsson is on the top pair to start the 2025-2026 season, the Sabres will be vying for the top pick once again. 

[JohnC]

36 minutes ago, SwampD said:

I would still find it hard to believe.

Two things.

One. He wasn’t traded from a Cup winning team. He was traded from a team that went on to win the Cup. There is a difference.

Two. Internal Disgruntlement. Love that band. Their third album was a masterpiece.

When it comes to music I'm a dullard. The era I'm still musically attached to is MoTown.  Don't mock me because I deserve empathy for being so far out of touch. 

 

[Thorny]

The idea we keep seeing floated that we’ll only deal out 1st if we replace it with another later 1st is rankling 

17 hours ago, Palm Trees And Taxes said:

I would agree JohnC but my thought is this:

 

Dahlin and Thompson are not going anywhere.

EVERYONE else IMO 'could' be available for the right package.

Afraid to deal Tuch? Remember when Florida dealt for Tkachuk and they traded a 100 point winger as part of that deal and Florida was ripped for it? Sabres can't be afraid right now. Be bold. Aggressive. And have the right plan to truly build a winner here.

Example: I may catch flak for this, but if Jason Robertson was every truly available (highly doubt it now) but I would not be afraid to include Tuch. 

Players like Robertson do not grow on trees.

Absolutely - we squandered Tuch’s best years at his bargain cap hit. His production will decrease and his cap hit is going up - Not an opinion 

[Thorny]

17 hours ago, JohnC said:

Tuch may be another player who might not want to be here. We'll have to wait to see how things materialize with him. If the team struggles next season and is out of the playoffs he might prefer to be somewhere else. 

There’s a non negligible chance the $ we’d have to pay is a non starter. If Tuch’s goal is to maximize his contract I don’t think we should play ball 

3 hours ago, JohnC said:

His contract year is coming up next year. Another season of team failure will get him into thinking of his options. I'm not saying that I have inside information but what I do know is that the level of internal disgruntlement will increase if this team doesn't get on a better track. 

This topic about Tuch's not too distant options that related to his expiring contract (next year) was discussed on WGR by Paul Hamiliton. It should be remembered that Tuch was traded from a Cup winning team to a team that hasn't even sniffed the playoffs since he arrived at his new destination. There is no question that losing is demoralizing to the competitive spirit in players. 

It’ll come down to money. Have you seen his deal? This next contact is his one and only chance to break bank 

[GASabresIUFAN]

First things first: Dahlin/Dobson is a non-starter.  Dahlin prefers the right side and although we have seen time and again Dahlin can play with anyone, if we are bringing in a Dobson he needs to anchor his own pair. 

We need a partner for Power (if we are keeping him) and while Dobson is an experienced RHD, Dobson's game doesn't not match up well with Power as they are similar style players except Dobson is slightly more aware defensively.  Dobson was most effective the last 2 season playing with the physical Alex Romanov.  

If we are bringing in Dobson, we need to move on from Clifton, Power, Byram and probably Samuelsson.  

?????  Dahlin

????? Dobson

Samuelsson?  JBD

 

[Archie Lee]

2 hours ago, inkman said:

I thought Mattias played his way off th stop two pairs?  How much ice time did he get with Rasmus last season?  If Samuelsson is on the top pair to start the 2025-2026 season, the Sabres will be vying for the top pick once again. 

Samuelsson's 2 most common partners, by a lot, were Dahlin and Power.  And, unless I'm recalling incorrectly, he ended the season back with Dahlin (Byram with Clifton, Power with Bernard-Docker). I don't think Samuelsson is going anywhere.

This might be a hot-take, but I think there are many head coaches in the league, and a few who are currently unemployed, who would look at a 6 man D of Dahlin, Byram, Power, Samuelsson, Clifton, and B-Docker, and view them as more than good enough to be in the playoffs with.  Contend with?  No.  But wild-card and make some playoff noise?

I apologize to all if my comments on Ruff are getting repetitive and boring, but he was a huge mistake.