Nazem Kadri - Could he change the course of this offseason and this franchise?

[GASabresIUFAN]

Lets get the prelims out of the way.  Yes Kadri is 34.  Yes he has 4 years left on his deal at 7 per season.  Yes he has a NMC.  Yes Calg said they aren't trading this offseason.

Now that the prelims are out of the way, despite comments to the contrary, I think Kadri is available in the right deal.  I'm going to assume Adams has the assets that interest Calg (we know they are interested in Byram).  The question is can Adams and Pegula convince him to come to Buffalo?

If I were Adams, I'd kick the tires and talk to the Flames and Kadri to see if there is an interest.  I think Kadri could be the piece that move the Sabres into playoff contention.  He is a veteran center with tons of playoff experience (including a Cup win in 2022).  He is a pest and very hard to play against.  He also still has his offensive game.  In fact, he out scored and out pointed JJP last season.  He is an instant culture change for this organization.  

Byram for Kadri is a good place to start.  

So who do you replace Byram on the defense with?  Well, Grzelcyk comes to mind.  Also we could promote Kesselring to play with Dahlin and then add a vet like Rutta to add depth and experience.  Or we could trade Rosen, Krebs or other prospects to get a D.  

[GASabresIUFAN]

So what would the offense look like with Kadri and then what happens with Kulich?  Kulich might get sent down at that point and is that really the worst result?  He can also play wing.   

Line 1 - Thompson Kadri Tuch

Line 2 - Benson Norris Quinn

Line 3 - Zucker McLeod Kulich

Line 4 - Doan Krebs/Kozak Greenway

(Malenstyn is an extra)

[Wyldnwoody44]

Ooof to that contract... Nope.. Pass 

Plus, I'm not sure he's a #1 center at this point, that cliff can come hard 

Edited 15 hours ago by Wyldnwoody44

[GASabresIUFAN]

16 minutes ago, Wyldnwoody44 said:

Ooof to that contract... Nope.. Pass 

Plus, I'm not sure he's a #1 center at this point, that cliff can come hard 

The cliff can, but the Sabres need to take some risks at this point to change the direction of the ship.  If we get 2 good years after the trade, then the deal is well worth it.  Also if the Sabres stink, but Kadri remains solid, he could be traded to a contender for a return of assets.  

I agree he likely isn't a No. 1 center in the McDavid sense, but he was 27th in points and 8th in goals among centers last season.  He also is incredibly durable playing 82 games each of the last 3 seasons.  

His addition would make our lineup so much more flexible in case of injury to any of the top 3 centers.  We know McLeod can play up and Kulich and Thompson can be effective at center.  

[dudacek]

Kadri would be an excellent fit to this roster.

I think Byram is a more valuable asset in a vacuum and I think a one-for-one is just filling one hole by opening another.

In conjunction with another complementary move though, it’s well worth exploring.

Edited 14 hours ago by dudacek

[thewookie1]

If we can get Kadri+ for Byram, sure

[inkman]

28 minutes ago, thewookie1 said:

If we can get Kadri+ for Byram, sure

Yeah I’d like to see a young D prospect and probably draft picks.  I think the Sabres are doing them a bit of a favor. 

[OrangeSeatVertigo]

7 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Lets get the prelims out of the way.  Yes Kadri is 34.  Yes he has 4 years left on his deal at 7 per season.  Yes he has a NMC.  Yes Calg said they aren't trading this offseason.

Now that the prelims are out of the way, despite comments to the contrary, I think Kadri is available in the right deal.  I'm going to assume Adams has the assets that interest Calg (we know they are interested in Byram).  The question is can Adams and Pegula convince him to come to Buffalo?

If I were Adams, I'd kick the tires and talk to the Flames and Kadri to see if there is an interest.  I think Kadri could be the piece that move the Sabres into playoff contention.  He is a veteran center with tons of playoff experience (including a Cup win in 2022).  He is a pest and very hard to play against.  He also still has his offensive game.  In fact, he out scored and out pointed JJP last season.  He is an instant culture change for this organization.  

Byram for Kadri is a good place to start.  

So who do you replace Byram on the defense with?  Well, Grzelcyk comes to mind.  Also we could promote Kesselring to play with Dahlin and then add a vet like Rutta to add depth and experience.  Or we could trade Rosen, Krebs or other prospects to get a D.  

any established player with an NMC (and all of them do) is not coming to the Sabres.  so move on from this one.  

[JohnC]

8 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Lets get the prelims out of the way.  Yes Kadri is 34.  Yes he has 4 years left on his deal at 7 per season.  Yes he has a NMC.  Yes Calg said they aren't trading this offseason.

Now that the prelims are out of the way, despite comments to the contrary, I think Kadri is available in the right deal.  I'm going to assume Adams has the assets that interest Calg (we know they are interested in Byram).  The question is can Adams and Pegula convince him to come to Buffalo?

If I were Adams, I'd kick the tires and talk to the Flames and Kadri to see if there is an interest.  I think Kadri could be the piece that move the Sabres into playoff contention.  He is a veteran center with tons of playoff experience (including a Cup win in 2022).  He is a pest and very hard to play against.  He also still has his offensive game.  In fact, he out scored and out pointed JJP last season.  He is an instant culture change for this organization.  

Byram for Kadri is a good place to start.  

So who do you replace Byram on the defense with?  Well, Grzelcyk comes to mind.  Also we could promote Kesselring to play with Dahlin and then add a vet like Rutta to add depth and experience.  Or we could trade Rosen, Krebs or other prospects to get a D.  

Hard no. Age and contract are troubling. The contract remaining bothers me more than the age. This deal should be more appealing to Calgary than it is to us. 
 

We all know that you are desperate to get the Bo issue behind us. But acting as if you are desperate doesn’t enhance your trade position, it hurts it. KA is adroitly handling the situation. When you are peddling an asset you don’t treat it as a hot potato asset you need to get rid. 

[JohnnyK]

This is exactly the type of player we need! A gritty player with some talent that can play in the top 6 in any situation!!!  It would slot the other forwards into the correct spots as well and give them some protection.  To make a move the Sabres will need to take on some extra money.   

Go Sabres.

 

[GoPuckYourself]

I would need more than Kadri for sure, that contract is brutal and I would definitely be throwing in Samuelsson as well to unload 1 of our abomination contracts. Maybe Kadri, a D prospect on the verge of coming up and a draft pick. 

[GASabresIUFAN]

2 hours ago, OrangeSeatVertigo said:

any established player with an NMC (and all of them do) is not coming to the Sabres.  so move on from this one.  

Generally I agree, but Kadri wants to come back East (based on articles I've read) and I believe he makes his offseason home in Toronto.  So if you were Kadri, do you want to play with a possible bad team close to home with less travel or play on a possible bad team 2000 miles from home?  

[inkman]

7 hours ago, inkman said:

Yeah I’d like to see a young D prospect and probably draft picks.  I think the Sabres are doing them a bit of a favor. 

 

21 minutes ago, GoPuckYourself said:

I would need more than Kadri for sure, that contract is brutal and I would definitely be throwing in Samuelsson as well to unload 1 of our abomination contracts. Maybe Kadri, a D prospect on the verge of coming up and a draft pick. 

 

[SwampD]

Absolutely. His contract is fine. I might actually watch next season if he were on the team..

[JohnC]

21 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Generally I agree, but Kadri wants to come back East (based on articles I've read) and I believe he makes his offseason home in Toronto.  So if you were Kadri, do you want to play with a possible bad team close to home with less travel or play on a possible bad team 2000 miles from home?  

For all of his career he has been on competitive teams that usually make the playoffs. Now that he is at the tail end of his career I doubt that he would find it appealing to join a franchise that hasn't been in the playoffs in a generation and is recognized by most people in the business to be a third-rate operation. If he has a no-trade clause in his contract I'm sure he would say absolutely not going to that junk yard. 

[mjd1001]

10 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

So what would the offense look like with Kadri and then what happens with Kulich?  Kulich might get sent down at that point and is that really the worst result?  He can also play wing.   

Line 1 - Thompson Kadri Tuch

Line 2 - Benson Norris Quinn

Line 3 - Zucker McLeod Kulich

Line 4 - Doan Krebs/Kozak Greenway

(Malenstyn is an extra)

I brought this up in the previous thread but I'm going to say it here again..

Kuluich and Tage together... In about 20 games, were one of the most dangerous combinations in the league. 

They scored more goals per minute, played than anybody with Matthews up in Toronto, and even slightly more than the McDavid- Draisatl combination in Edmonton.

20 games isn't a lot, but it's not a two to three game sample size either. 

Maybe it's not going to work long-term, but I want to stick with that pair and see what they can do together again... Until it doesn't work.

[ponokasabre]

36 minutes ago, mjd1001 said:

I brought this up in the previous thread but I'm going to say it here again..

Kuluich and Tage together... In about 20 games, were one of the most dangerous combinations in the league. 

They scored more goals per minute, played than anybody with Matthews up in Toronto, and even slightly more than the McDavid- Draisatl combination in Edmonton.

20 games isn't a lot, but it's not a two to three game sample size either. 

Maybe it's not going to work long-term, but I want to stick with that pair and see what they can do together again... Until it doesn't work.

Kadri would be a huge add to the team and to the top . He is originally from the Toronto so he actually may think of waiving.

its a good idea 

[JohnC]

25 minutes ago, mjd1001 said:

I brought this up in the previous thread but I'm going to say it here again..

Kuluich and Tage together... In about 20 games, were one of the most dangerous combinations in the league. 

They scored more goals per minute, played than anybody with Matthews up in Toronto, and even slightly more than the McDavid- Draisatl combination in Edmonton.

20 games isn't a lot, but it's not a two to three game sample size either. 

Maybe it's not going to work long-term, but I want to stick with that pair and see what they can do together again... Until it doesn't work.

I don't know if Kulich would be ready for a 1C or 2C role. But if he could genuinely earn either role, that would be such a bonus in assembling the lines. The next issue is whether Norris can stay healthy and assume one of the two top center roles. Any way one looks at the prospective two top lines it is evident that another forward from the outside needs to be added. Just maybe KA is counting on Byram trade bringing back such a player if he is dealt? It seems that the GM is counting on Quinn, Benson and Kulich taking some major leaps forward. To understate our roster situation, the GM has a lot of "ifs" attached to it. 

[DHawerchuk10]

58 minutes ago, mjd1001 said:

I brought this up in the previous thread but I'm going to say it here again..

Kuluich and Tage together... In about 20 games, were one of the most dangerous combinations in the league. 

They scored more goals per minute, played than anybody with Matthews up in Toronto, and even slightly more than the McDavid- Draisatl combination in Edmonton.

20 games isn't a lot, but it's not a two to three game sample size either. 

Maybe it's not going to work long-term, but I want to stick with that pair and see what they can do together again... Until it doesn't work.

Great observation!  I was not aware of this.

[dudacek]

59 minutes ago, mjd1001 said:

I brought this up in the previous thread but I'm going to say it here again..

Kuluich and Tage together... In about 20 games, were one of the most dangerous combinations in the league. 

They scored more goals per minute, played than anybody with Matthews up in Toronto, and even slightly more than the McDavid- Draisatl combination in Edmonton.

20 games isn't a lot, but it's not a two to three game sample size either. 

Maybe it's not going to work long-term, but I want to stick with that pair and see what they can do together again... Until it doesn't work.

Curious how much of that included Benson on the line?

In terms of Corsi, Benson was part of 5 of the Sabres top 7 lines, and 7 of the top 10. None of those included Kulich, but a lot of them were very small sample sizes.

Benson also seems to do well in terms of expected goals with most linemates and the other guy that does that is Thompson.

So I’m wondering how much of the Kulich/Thompson success is about Kulich.

 

Edited 4 hours ago by dudacek

[dudacek]

Stumbled on an interesting fact while looking up my above post.

Remembering the much-vaunted Malenstyn-Lafferty-Aube-Kubel 4th line that got so much hype last summer and busted?

Apparently it never actually went bust.

In the 7 games it played together it had a 68.4% expected goals.

Apparently that wasn’t working for Lindy.

[Archie Lee]

46 minutes ago, dudacek said:

Stumbled on an interesting fact while looking up my above post.

Remembering the much-vaunted Malenstyn-Lafferty-Aube-Kubel 4th line that got so much hype last summer and busted?

Apparently it never actually went bust.

In the 7 games it played together it had a 68.4% expected goals.

Apparently that wasn’t working for Lindy.

Ahhh Ruff.  Remember the stretch prior to the 13 game losing streak when Thompson was injured and McLeod played in the top 6 and the team went 4-1 including 3 wins in California.  And then Thompson returned and Ruff put McLeod on the 4th line.

 

[mjd1001]

1 hour ago, dudacek said:

Curious how much of that included Benson on the line?

In terms of Corsi, Benson was part of 5 of the Sabres top 7 lines, and 7 of the top 10. None of those included Kulich, but a lot of them were very small sample sizes.

Benson also seems to do well in terms of expected goals with most linemates and the other guy that does that is Thompson.

So I’m wondering how much of the Kulich/Thompson success is about Kulich.

 

Limited time with the 3 of them being together, but even strength last year:

Tage-Kulich-Benson:  1 goal scored every 15.23 minutes  (good numbers) (152 minutes ice time), 1 goal allowed every 19 minutes

Tage-Kulich-No Benson: 1 goal scored every 11.1 minutes (unreal good numbers) (200 minutes ice time even strength), 1 goal allowed every 18.1 minutes.

The "no Benson" guy most of the time appeared to be JJ Peterka in most cases.  But it was Tuch a little, Zucker a little too.

 

The deeper analytics were good for both combos.  With Benson the deep-dive analytics seem to be "slightly" better, but that may not have translated well to goals as Benson's shooting percentage isn't all that great.

Again, I'm less worried about "Should Kulich be a first line Center" and how that looks on paper, and more concerned with keeping Tage and Kulich together to see if they can replicate ANYTHING close to what they did last year.  

If that means Kulich gets 1st line center minutes because he is playing with Thompson but the team scores a goal once ever 15 minutes or less, and allows less goals than they score....I don't give a care that Kulich is my 'first line center' if I am getting those results.

Again, maybe they won't replicate what they did last year, but I want to find out.

Edited 2 hours ago by mjd1001

[Sabres Fan in NS]

Yes, and yes.

He is exactly the type of player the Sabres need.  Tough and can score.

I think he could effectively play centre / wing with Tage and Tuch.

He would not be a 1C on the Sabres.

[ponokasabre]

24 minutes ago, Sabres Fan in NS said:

Yes, and yes.

He is exactly the type of player the Sabres need.  Tough and can score.

I think he could effectively play centre / wing with Tage and Tuch.

He would not be a 1C on the Sabres.

Center spine of Norris at the 1, Kadri at the 2 Mcloed at the 3 would be very very good, as well Kadri could take first line minute if Norris misses any time 

 

we would have to do a consolidation trade of some of your bottom six guys and young guys to clear up some spots and bring a dman to replace Byram but it’s a really good idea, if he will waive 

Edited 2 hours ago by ponokasabre