Around the NHL 2025-26 Season

[Jorcus]

7 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

A lot of Flyers fans want him gone but I don't think Briere or Tocchet does. Having said that they want D so they'd probably find a deal that works around Samuelsson (for the lineage) or maybe Byram. 

Tippett isn't what Sabres need though. Not imo. 

I had read some random Byram for Tippett rumors a month or so ago. Tippett is certainly a player the Sabres would like because of his size and speed. It's the kind of player they go for right now. I guess it depends on who would be doing the next big trade. He does not seem to score enough for his abilities but I don't watch him on a day to day basis.

[PerreaultForever]

13 hours ago, Jorcus said:

I had read some random Byram for Tippett rumors a month or so ago. Tippett is certainly a player the Sabres would like because of his size and speed. It's the kind of player they go for right now. I guess it depends on who would be doing the next big trade. He does not seem to score enough for his abilities but I don't watch him on a day to day basis.

Flyers were looking for another D man so that rumor was a thing in the summer. Not sure now but their D isn't deep and they might still want a PP2 guy (with Drysdale as PP1). 

As an aside, it's early and a lot can change but right now Philly is in a wildcard spot and so it looks like the subtraction then culture first rebuild plan is doing better than the Sabres let the talent create the culture version. At least at the moment. 

[Brawndo]

Tuch’s Camp will use this as a framework for his deal 

[Brawndo]

 

[tom webster]

46 minutes ago, Brawndo said:

 

The AAV and the front loaded structure is what it will take to sign Tuch.

[Brawndo]

1 hour ago, tom webster said:

The AAV and the front loaded structure is what it will take to sign Tuch.

Matthew Fairburn mentioned in an article there was concern the Sabres do not do signing bonuses 

[tom webster]

2 minutes ago, Brawndo said:

Matthew Fairburn mentioned in an article there was concern the Sabres do not do signing bonuses 

Yep, I think they had less than 4% signing bonuses. 

[LGR4GM]

49 minutes ago, Brawndo said:

Matthew Fairburn mentioned in an article there was concern the Sabres do not do signing bonuses 

Them stadium over runs ain't cheap.

[PerreaultForever]

2 hours ago, tom webster said:

The AAV and the front loaded structure is what it will take to sign Tuch.

At Tuch's age 8 years for that kind of money would be a big mistake. 

Deadline deal him. He should get you a lot. Then if he really wants to be a Sabre he can come back in free agency. If he doesn't whatever. It's not like this roster is close or something. 

[sabremike]

48 minutes ago, PerreaultForever said:

At Tuch's age 8 years for that kind of money would be a big mistake. 

Deadline deal him. He should get you a lot. Then if he really wants to be a Sabre he can come back in free agency. If he doesn't whatever. It's not like this roster is close or something. 

By "A lot" you mean a late first in one of the most crap drafts in years and a mid-level prospect. Imagine walking into the locker room and telling everyone you just traded Tuch for a pile of dreck because the idiot owner didn't want to pay him?

[sabremike]

How hard is it for people to understand the devastating second order consequences of not paying Tuch: Dahlin and Tage demand out, Team's reputation around the league somehow gets even worse, Team morale completely collapses.

Edited 18 hours ago by sabremike

[PerreaultForever]

2 hours ago, sabremike said:

By "A lot" you mean a late first in one of the most crap drafts in years and a mid-level prospect. Imagine walking into the locker room and telling everyone you just traded Tuch for a pile of dreck because the idiot owner didn't want to pay him?

Ummm, so you are going to just pay him whatever? You really want to pay him over 10 for 8?

It's not a crap draft by the way. It's a very deep one as I understand it. 

Now as far as selling it to others on the team, obviously this implies that they are not a playoff team at the deadline and we are headed for a new GM and a new rebuild. Unless they want to endure that it might mean trading a lot more, like Tage and Dahlin too. 

This would not have been my preferred plan but it's what KA leaves us with. You can't just keep trying the same thing and expecting different results and if big change doesn't come that is what will happen until eventually those guys lose their love and want out anyway and if enough years go by you start to lose some of the younger guys as well. 

I mean the change should have come when Adams went to trade Cozens. Not to suggest I want Cozens back but this was the first young guy Adams rewarded early and was going to build around and he misjudged that entirely so out the door he should have gone. Instead he got to early reward Power as well. Still doing it to a lesser extent with Quinn. This GM has been an absolute clown show disaster and we need to stop pretending he isn't the worst GM in Sabres, if not NHL history. 

[PerreaultForever]

2 hours ago, sabremike said:

How hard is it for people to understand the devastating second order consequences of not paying Tuch: Dahlin and Tage demand out, Team's reputation around the league somehow gets even worse, Team morale completely collapses.

But if you reward him and we don't get any better then every other shlub demands the same reward and that's unsustainable and you still get nowhere. 

[tom webster]

6 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

At Tuch's age 8 years for that kind of money would be a big mistake. 

Deadline deal him. He should get you a lot. Then if he really wants to be a Sabre he can come back in free agency. If he doesn't whatever. It's not like this roster is close or something. 

I don’t necessarily disagree but Kempe is same age. It’s that much or lose him. If he hits free agency as the number one free agent, he will get more.

[sabremike]

4 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

Ummm, so you are going to just pay him whatever? You really want to pay him over 10 for 8?

It's not a crap draft by the way. It's a very deep one as I understand it. 

Now as far as selling it to others on the team, obviously this implies that they are not a playoff team at the deadline and we are headed for a new GM and a new rebuild. Unless they want to endure that it might mean trading a lot more, like Tage and Dahlin too. 

This would not have been my preferred plan but it's what KA leaves us with. You can't just keep trying the same thing and expecting different results and if big change doesn't come that is what will happen until eventually those guys lose their love and want out anyway and if enough years go by you start to lose some of the younger guys as well. 

I mean the change should have come when Adams went to trade Cozens. Not to suggest I want Cozens back but this was the first young guy Adams rewarded early and was going to build around and he misjudged that entirely so out the door he should have gone. Instead he got to early reward Power as well. Still doing it to a lesser extent with Quinn. This GM has been an absolute clown show disaster and we need to stop pretending he isn't the worst GM in Sabres, if not NHL history. 

If he hits UFA there will be a huge line of teams willing to give him that type of deal. Tuch is literally irreplaceable, any player of his type will be impossible to acquire because of NTC's at any price. If you end up trading Dahlin and Tage they officially become the Coyotes where within 5 years Bettman will have no choice but to throw his hands in the air, admit defeat and allow Ebenezer Pegula to sell to a group that moves the team to Portland or Houston.

[Jorcus]

Rangers and Detroit got in a fight after the game for an after buzzer shot into the net. Didn't Detroit shoot at the net late after the period ended with us and Thompson went after somebody? Is this a thing with them?

 

 

[shrader]

So Quick starts something while the rags net was empty? You don’t see goalies suspended too often. 

[Brawndo]

5 hours ago, sabremike said:

If he hits UFA there will be a huge line of teams willing to give him that type of deal. Tuch is literally irreplaceable, any player of his type will be impossible to acquire because of NTC's at any price. If you end up trading Dahlin and Tage they officially become the Coyotes where within 5 years Bettman will have no choice but to throw his hands in the air, admit defeat and allow Ebenezer Pegula to sell to a group that moves the team to Portland or Houston.

If Arizona had a stable arena situation, which Buffalo does, Utah would be at the top of the NHL’s potential expansion cities list right now. 

[LGR4GM]

7 hours ago, tom webster said:

I don’t necessarily disagree but Kempe is same age. It’s that much or lose him. If he hits free agency as the number one free agent, he will get more.

Hold up. 

If he hits UFA he can only sign for 6yrs. Kempe got 10.625x8 which is 85 million over the course of the deal. That means if Tuch goes to UFA he would need what? 14 million over 6yrs to get close to that 85million number. You could argue he would get another deal at the end so that 14mil is too high but he doesn't know that. 

[tom webster]

2 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

Hold up. 

If he hits UFA he can only sign for 6yrs. Kempe got 10.625x8 which is 85 million over the course of the deal. That means if Tuch goes to UFA he would need what? 14 million over 6yrs to get close to that 85million number. You could argue he would get another deal at the end so that 14mil is too high but he doesn't know that. 

First, someone will give him a front loaded contract and the real money value of even a $13M front loaded deal will probably cover most, if not all of the loss total dollars.

Second, he can sign with someone in a no tax state.

Third, like you said, if he keeps up his level of play he will be able to make up for”total value” if that’s really a concern. If his play falls off so that he doesn’t warrant a new contract, the flip side is that Buffalo would likely buy out the last couple of years. That’s why everyone with leverage wants the money front loaded, to protect against buy out.

 

[Porous Five Hole]

Kind of funny. 
Dennis Gilbert signed in Buffalo last year and  then got traded to Ottawa in the Cozens deal. Last offseason, Gilbert left in free agency to sign with Philadelphia.
Today, Gilbert gets traded to Ottawa again just two months into this season. 

Ottawa cannot quit Dennis Gilbert. The list of teams trading for the same player in consecutive seasons has to be pretty low.  

[PerreaultForever]

11 hours ago, tom webster said:

I don’t necessarily disagree but Kempe is same age. It’s that much or lose him. If he hits free agency as the number one free agent, he will get more.

He will get a lot if he goes to free agency and if you were him wouldn't you go to free agency, get paid and get out of here? I would. 

I think the Kempe contract is a bad one. Did they have a choice to stay competitive? Probably not but the last few years of that deal won't look good. 

If we were winning with Tuch I'd feel different, but he's simply not that sort of impact player and thus I think sell high serves you better.

[PerreaultForever]

10 hours ago, sabremike said:

If he hits UFA there will be a huge line of teams willing to give him that type of deal. Tuch is literally irreplaceable, any player of his type will be impossible to acquire because of NTC's at any price. If you end up trading Dahlin and Tage they officially become the Coyotes where within 5 years Bettman will have no choice but to throw his hands in the air, admit defeat and allow Ebenezer Pegula to sell to a group that moves the team to Portland or Houston.

No, I don't see that. It requires a competent GM and a new philosophy but you can rebuild a different way. What it requires though is Pegula stepping away and letting that competent GM ruthlessly do his thing. 

[shrader]

49 minutes ago, Porous Five Hole said:

Kind of funny. 
Dennis Gilbert signed in Buffalo last year and  then got traded to Ottawa in the Cozens deal. Last offseason, Gilbert left in free agency to sign with Philadelphia.
Today, Gilbert gets traded to Ottawa again just two months into this season. 

Ottawa cannot quit Dennis Gilbert. The list of teams trading for the same player in consecutive seasons has to be pretty low.  

And they only played him for 4 games last year, so it's not like they got much of anything from him.

[tom webster]

7 minutes ago, PerreaultForever said:

He will get a lot if he goes to free agency and if you were him wouldn't you go to free agency, get paid and get out of here? I would. 

I think the Kempe contract is a bad one. Did they have a choice to stay competitive? Probably not but the last few years of that deal won't look good. 

If we were winning with Tuch I'd feel different, but he's simply not that sort of impact player and thus I think sell high serves you better.

Again, I’m not disagreeing with any of this. But if you trade him, you have to get someone that is the other teams best NHL ready prospect. Any first round pick outside the top five is five years away from being useful.