Roster Construction Ideas & Workshopping

[Drag0nDan]

On 5/20/2026 at 3:00 PM, HumanSlinky39 said:

Like it overall, but I still think Tuch is back, and I hope so. I know he stunk vs. the Habs, but he was an integral part of their success this season and has been one of our best players for years. Unless Kulich or Quinn take HUGE leaps, he's a much bigger asset. That might free up a younger winger (Kulich? Quinn?) to trade for another piece...defenseman? Goalie?

He's always been hot and cold is the way i see it.  When he's hot he's a relentless forecheck power forward who makes plays and can score on his own.  When hes cold he's never in the right place and ripping shots into the glass.  Just happened to go ICE cold in the playoffs.  

[thewookie1]

https://puckgm.puckpedia.com/rosters/1549180

 

A version where we keep Tuch and trade Greenway, Zucker, Kesselring and Levi

[DarthEbriate]

From the Star Wars narrative, Tuch is the son of Jackikin and Samidala and must be retained. From a rational hockey landscape, he is an excellent defensive forward who is producing as a good 1st liner with 1st line minutes. I don't build around him unless I get him at a below-market cost. I promote Doan, reinsert Kulich, and look to strengthen the roster elsewhere (goalie, in particular). But... goalies are fickle. Lyon is a quality backup who can get hot and carry a team for 2 weeks at a time. Luukkonen could still be improving (he's barely 27). If the staff believes in Luukkonen, keep him as the #1. The one thing I don't like about moving on from Luukkonen is then the options are 6'0" guys in Lyon, Ellis, and Levi. Being 6'4" and 220# has its merits in goal, and I'd prefer to have 2 different styles/sizes in my starter if they're a rotation and my starter isn't elite.

The one thing I don't understand is the Parayko offers from Jarmo. He's solid but not amazing. I would think that Muel's breakout, Byram's offense, and Power's ... growing stability?...  would make that kind of acquisition unnecessary.

Quinn is on a prove-it year to see if he can become the consistent scorer and learn how to pass and deceive defenders during PP entries.

Benson and Malenstyn are my top priorities.

Kesselring is on another prove-it deal and I hope that Ruff can let him into his good graces so we can see what he can do. I prioritize Metsa over Stanley --- I can always rent a Stanley at the deadline. You'd think that'd be backwards because of the size, but Kesselring gives me the size and is the RHD.

McLeod is the one guy I think I can improve upon in the playoff lineup, but is a key regular season contributor in Tuch's absence. He's the trickiest fit, though I believe Helenius can grow into and surpass his role -- just not likely next season.

[PerreaultForever]

On 5/20/2026 at 11:30 AM, thewookie1 said:

My starting lines are

Kulich - Thomas - Thompson

Benson - Östlund - Doan

Quinn - Helenius - Zucker

Krebs - McLeod - Malenstyn

 

I don't think your trade ideas were realistic but assuming they are (or something close) I don't think this line up has enough experience or toughness on it. You're also asking way too much of Kulich at this point and have two goal scorer types up with Thomas. I don't see this taking us any further than this team did and it might not even get out of the first round. 

[dudacek]

People tend to lean into their personal projections in these kind of exercises, which absolutely understandable and fine.

But I think something that is seldom talked about when we're arguing over Ryan McLeod versus Noah Östlund is how players were actually utilized over the course of the season.

Tthe 109-point Sabre team we just witnessed roughly had the following depth chart, based on the percentage of the available time they were actually on the ice, playing:

• Thompson 31.2%
• Tuch 30.0%
• McLeod 28.5%
• Doan 26.0%
• Quinn 25.7%
• Krebs 22.6%
• Benson 20.7%
• Zucker 19.4%
• Malenstyn 18.2%
• Östlund 16.8%
• Norris 13.9%
• Kozak 10.4%
• Greenway 10.0%
• Dunne 6.4%
• Rosen 4.0%

 

• Dahlin 37.2%
• Byram 36.6%
• Samuelsson 35.6%
• Power 35.0%
• Timmins 14.6%
• Metsa 9.4%
• Kesselring 9.1%
• Bryson 7.0%
• Stanley 5.0%
• Schenn 1.0%

 

One thing I take away from that is how Kulich, Danforth, Carrick, Helenius, and even to a lesser extent Kesselring are NHL players who are under contract for next season, but effectively had negligible roles in this season's results and for all intents and purposes should be considered additions.

Another is how little any of the defencemen outside the big 4 contributed to the team's success.

Tuch's impact in terms of how much he was leaned on is significant and his departure would create a major ice time hole that would need to be filled.

Health tempered the impact of Benson, Norris, Zucker and Östlund relative to their roster status, but the team had the depth to withstand that.

And finally, availability is an ability and McLeod and Krebs played a much larger role than their "3C", and "10th forward" labels would suggest.

Edited May 22 by dudacek

[triumph_communes]

Drop Tuch. Sign Malenstyn again if you can. Trade Krebs don’t give him a raise, he is no replacement for Malenstyn. Trade Greenway as a cap casualty someone always wants a player like him. Lean into the youth

 

We have McLeod for 3 more years whether you like him or not. I doubt we get much in a trade for him. Let him play 3C and move Thompson to wing if it makes sense. Norris Östlund McLeod Carrick is a fine center spine. 
 

if you trade Norris for Thomas or some other blockbuster now sure.  But that center spine is quite good. What you really want is a power forward to replace Tuch. And maybe one with actual oomph this time 

 

Power stepped up. I didn’t have faith but give credit where it’s due.  You don’t move Power unless Byram is locked up and there’s no guarantee Byram will sign for something reasonable 

 

Kesselring will be cheap prove it bridge. He was hurt he may bounce back. If he doesn’t you can find defenseman at the deadline again to back fill, we just won’t have second round picks ever again. I bet Stanley will take big money elsewhere but sign him cheap if he doesn’t 

 

Levi will be our savior with real defense in front of him. Ellis/Lyon backs him up. You’ll lose on to waivers don’t sweat it. Get UPL off of our books. He ain’t it and that’s all you need from a goalie. He is our biggest anchor contract beyond Skinner 

Edited May 22 by triumph_communes

[PerreaultForever]

41 minutes ago, triumph_communes said:

 Trade Greenway as a cap casualty someone always wants a player like him.

not with a 4M AAV they don't. 

[Flashsabre]

On 5/20/2026 at 9:23 PM, BullBuchanan said:

I don't think Tuch agrees to a sign and trade. More realistic he just walks.

I'm trading Greenway and Zucker as contract dumps. Kozak, Carrick, Danforth are your new 4th line.

I'm going to try to trade 3 goalies and get Connor Hellebuyck. Maybe a UPL + Levi trade is part of a package and then we keep Ellis or we keep Levi.

If we can move Kulich/Quinn/McLeod for an upgrade, I'm doing it.

I'm looking to move one of our top 4 defensemen, for a high level physical defenseman. Ideally this is Power, given his contract.

My lines: 
TBD - Thomas - Thompson

Benson - Östlund - Doan

Kulich - Helenius - Quinn

Kozak- Carrick- Danforth

 

Realistic except for trading Power. That will be a massive mistake. High level physical defencemen like who? These players are myths these days. Power came on huge to end the season. He is just scratching the surface of what he will be.

[Archie Lee]

25 minutes ago, Flashsabre said:

Realistic except for trading Power. That will be a massive mistake. High level physical defencemen like who? These players are myths these days. Power came on huge to end the season. He is just scratching the surface of what he will be.

Jarmo’s praise of Power said a lot. Jarmo gets it. Power will never be a “killer”.  But he is so smart and so talented and he erases so many opposition opportunities with his length, skating, and brains. And, in his way, Power is plenty tough enough. What a luxury to have Dahlin anchoring the 1st pair and Power the 2nd.

[Scottysabres]

On 5/20/2026 at 2:30 PM, thewookie1 said:

Puckpedia has its PuckGM mode and with the logjam we have in legit players as well as some cap issues I was wondering what everyone was thinking?

For instance here's my first go of it

https://puckgm.puckpedia.com/rosters/1544432

I did a sign and trade with Tuch with Seattle to garner Tampa's 1st (The 8th year is a big deal since otherwise they can only offer, at July 1st, 6 years)

Greenway leaves in a minor pick swap of 27' picks with Chicago

Traded Norris, Mrtka, and our 26 1st for Thomas and a 4th (The idea is, if Brady Tkachuk is actually on the market, what better way to lure him to the Blues than with his great friend)

Then I'm at a loss how to solve the roster spots and goalie issues.

 

My starting lines are

Kulich - Thomas - Thompson

Benson - Östlund - Doan

Quinn - Helenius - Zucker

Krebs - McLeod - Malenstyn

 

I'm keeping Zucker because with Greenway and Tuch departing we still need a vet presence in the day to day lineup  

There is 0 chance I’m putting Thomas with Thompson. I’ll be putting Thomas centering Doan and Benson. Thomas is a top three er playmaker, he can feed those 2 all day long as opposed to Thompson who clearly wouldn’t be able to keep up with Thomas nor would his inability to get in to open spaces benefit either player.

[dudacek]

3 minutes ago, Scottysabres said:

There is 0 chance I’m putting Thomas with Thompson. I’ll be putting Thomas centering Doan and Benson. Thomas is a top three er playmaker, he can feed those 2 all day long as opposed to Thompson who clearly wouldn’t be able to keep up with Thomas nor would his inability to get in to open spaces benefit either player.

Are we really going to adopt the narrative that Thompson is slow and can’t get open?

Isn’t Tage measurably faster than Doan and Benson?

Didnt he score more goals on his own than the two of them combined?

[Scottysabres]

1 hour ago, dudacek said:

Are we really going to adopt the narrative that Thompson is slow and can’t get open?

Isn’t Tage measurably faster than Doan and Benson?

Didnt he score more goals on his own than the two of them combined?

I’m not saying he’s slow, I’m saying putting Thomas with Thompson wouldn’t be maximizing Thomas’s abilities and listed my reasons as to why, which in point of fact is true based on what we’ve seen out of Tage on the rush and in the zone.

I’ve seen nothing in Tage to indicate he’s faster than either Doan or Benson, both of whom have shown much more consistency in carrying the puck in to the offensive zone than Tage has, who loses the handle with an alarming regularity.

Is this a bash Tage thing? Well, no, just pointing out my reasoning for putting Thomas with Doan and Benson over Tage.

Edited May 22 by Scottysabres

[BullBuchanan]

On 5/22/2026 at 6:52 AM, Flashsabre said:

Realistic except for trading Power. That will be a massive mistake. High level physical defencemen like who? These players are myths these days. Power came on huge to end the season. He is just scratching the surface of what he will be.

Not so much physical, but elite stick work and position play would be Gustav Forsling, Jacob Slavin, Devon Toews etc who would help us a lot by shutting down dangerous plays before they have a chance to materialize.

Getting physical and high level players in the same body is hard. Most of the players I know are later int heir career and not coming here like Hedman.

[dudacek]

5 hours ago, BullBuchanan said:

Not so much physical, but elite stick work and position play would be Gustav Forsling, Jacob Slavin, Devon Toews etc who would help us a lot by shutting down dangerous plays before they have a chance to materialize.

Somebody like the player Owen Power is turning into?

53% SA, 55.1% xG, 58.3% GF% in the playoffs. Better than Slavin in all 3 categories. Better than Toews in 2 and just 1 % point back in SA.

[BullBuchanan]

2 hours ago, dudacek said:

Somebody like the player Owen Power is turning into?

53% SA, 55.1% xG, 58.3% GF% in the playoffs. Better than Slavin in all 3 categories. Better than Toews in 2 and just 1 % point back in SA.

No, I've seen enough of Owen Power. The stats say one thing, the play says another.

[Flashsabre]

We’ll happily hold onto Power. He’s just scratching the surface of his final form.

[thewookie1]

https://puckgm.puckpedia.com/rosters/1608250

 

With Tuch at 8x9.5 and Benson at 2x4.85

 

Made a pair of smaller moves to open up space and have 2.4mil in room for 1 more LHD.

Would trade Krebs in this scenario as well.

 

[Scottysabres]

On 5/23/2026 at 8:31 PM, Flashsabre said:

We’ll happily hold onto Power. He’s just scratching the surface of his final form.

He’s 23, be 24 this November. He’s well past scratching the surface at this point. I’d say he’s well over mid-point of what we’re going to see from him. And that’s not say it’s bad by any stretch, but if your holding out hope he’ll be a game changer I wouldn’t hold my breathe on that.

[#freejame]

54 minutes ago, Scottysabres said:

He’s 23, be 24 this November. He’s well past scratching the surface at this point. I’d say he’s well over mid-point of what we’re going to see from him. And that’s not say it’s bad by any stretch, but if your holding out hope he’ll be a game changer I wouldn’t hold my breathe on that.

This is the kind of thinking that leads to people believing Jack Eichel was never going to improve on his play here. Owen Power took massive steps last season and will be a top 30 defenseman in the league next year. I’d bet dollars to donuts on that. 

[Doohickie]

On 5/20/2026 at 2:10 PM, Pimlach said:

No Tuch, no Norris, no Greenway, no Carrick?    

He explained all those except Carrick.  And while Carrick put up some great numbers with the Sabres prior to bowing out with injury, his past history suggests he's really just a Vladimir Sabotka type.

[dudacek]

I think it is a myth that good teams hang on to good players.

Rantanen, Kadri, Byram, Kuemper were all key members of an Avs cup team that moved on.

Stephenson, Marchesseault, Smith, Pietrangelo - that’s 4 of 5 leading scorers from Vegas’ first cup team that went out the door, yet here we are.

The key is who moves and how do you replace them?

I think the Sabres have an extraordinarily deep pile of assets that cannot all be kept due to roster and cap realities.

What is the opportunity cost of Tuch and Byram? Keeping or moving?

How can you leverage their situations to make your team better?

Who among your younger or secondary players is ready to add responsibility?

Who on roster should you be selling high?

Who outside the organization can you buy low?

Who are the glue guys creating the sense of team that obviously played a big role in Buffalo’s success?

Jarmo has a lot of choices to make and the structure - particularly given recent franchise history - is fragile.

Two years ago the Vancouver Canucks were a 109-point team.

They made bad choices bet on the wrong people and two years later are a complete disaster.

Choose wisely.

[Nacho Libre]

7 hours ago, #freejame said:

This is the kind of thinking that leads to people believing Jack Eichel was never going to improve on his play here. Owen Power took massive steps last season and will be a top 30 defenseman in the league next year. I’d bet dollars to donuts on that. 

Exactly. We had even *seen* the improved 2 way game in Jack’s last full season here and it still gets swept under the rug

I hate that they came out with that “a player’s prime is in their early 20s” stuff that gets parroted now because that’s only *raw offensive output* prime. Crosby wasn’t his best at 19. 

The two way game, the element that actual creates separation in these players continues developing 

[GASabresIUFAN]

I’ve said this before but how much change does Jarmo really want to make this season?  His top 4 D are set, his 5th D (Timmins) is under contract and a 6th under control (Kesselring).  He has his 3 top goalies under contract. He also has 13 forwards under contract and another 2 under control (Krebs and Benson). His only important UFA is Tuch, with Malenstyn, Metsa, and Stanley are other interesting UFAs.

He literally could just re-sign Kesselring, Benson and Metsa and field a complete team.

Benson Thompson Östlund

Kulich Norris Doan

Helenius McLeod Quinn

Zucker Carrick Greenway (Danforth, Kozak)

Samuelsson Dahlin

Power Byram

Kesselring Timmins (Metsa)

UPL, Lyon and Ellis

I think this roster is the starting point.  This roster, with Benson extended long-term, is under next years cap about $3 million.  You are basically sacrificing Tuch so that you can extend Benson long-term and you are putting off major roster surgery another year when you have more flexibility when Skinner’s cap hit drops 4 million and Lyon, Zucker, Greenway, Danforth, Timmins, and Carrick’s contracts expire opening about 15+ in cap space.  The only other major decision is getting Byram extended as he is a UFA after next season.  

With this backdrop, I think you can afford to re-sign Malenstyn and Krebs if Jarmo can dump Greenway and Danforth.  Those are moves I would certainly make, especially given Norris’ injury history.  

 

Edited June 9 by GASabresIUFAN

[Archie Lee]

27 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

I’ve said this before but how much change does Jarmo really want to make this season?  His top 4 D are set, his 5th D (Timmins) is under contract and a 6th under control (Kesselring).  He has his 3 top goalies under contract. He also has 13 forwards under contract and another 2 under control (Krebs and Benson). His only important UFA is Tuch, with Malenstyn, Metsa, and Stanley are other interesting UFAs.

He literally could just re-sign Kesselring, Benson and Metsa and field a complete team.

Benson Thompson Östlund

Kulich Norris Doan

Helenius McLeod Quinn

Zucker Carrick Greenway (Danforth, Kozak)

Samuelsson Dahlin

Power Byram

Kesselring Timmins (Metsa)

UPL, Lyon and Ellis

I think this roster is the starting point.  This roster, with Benson extended long-term, is under next years cap about $3 million.  You are basically sacrificing Tuch so that you can extend Benson long-term and you are putting off major roster surgery another year when you have more flexibility when Skinner’s cap hit drops 4 million and Lyon, Zucker, Greenway, Danforth, Timmins, and Carrick’s contracts expire opening about 15+ in cap space.  The only other major decision is getting Byram extended as he is a UFA after next season.  

With this backdrop, I think you can afford to re-sign Malenstyn and Krebs if Jarmo can dump Greenway and Danforth.  Those are moves I would certainly make, especially given Norris’ injury history.  

 

I mostly agree. The simplest thing for Jarmo to do would be to just let his UFA’s walk, sign his RFA’s, and determine what to do with some players on the fringe. 

Using your roster, if they bought out Greenway, and waived Danforth, and extended Krebs at $3.75(ish), the roster comes in right around $102 million. 
 

 

[Nacho Libre]

1 hour ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

I’ve said this before but how much change does Jarmo really want to make this season?  His top 4 D are set, his 5th D (Timmins) is under contract and a 6th under control (Kesselring).  He has his 3 top goalies under contract. He also has 13 forwards under contract and another 2 under control (Krebs and Benson). His only important UFA is Tuch, with Malenstyn, Metsa, and Stanley are other interesting UFAs.

He literally could just re-sign Kesselring, Benson and Metsa and field a complete team.

Benson Thompson Östlund

Kulich Norris Doan

Helenius McLeod Quinn

Zucker Carrick Greenway (Danforth, Kozak)

Samuelsson Dahlin

Power Byram

Kesselring Timmins (Metsa)

UPL, Lyon and Ellis

I think this roster is the starting point.  This roster, with Benson extended long-term, is under next years cap about $3 million.  You are basically sacrificing Tuch so that you can extend Benson long-term and you are putting off major roster surgery another year when you have more flexibility when Skinner’s cap hit drops 4 million and Lyon, Zucker, Greenway, Danforth, Timmins, and Carrick’s contracts expire opening about 15+ in cap space.  The only other major decision is getting Byram extended as he is a UFA after next season.  

With this backdrop, I think you can afford to re-sign Malenstyn and Krebs if Jarmo can dump Greenway and Danforth.  Those are moves I would certainly make, especially given Norris’ injury history.  

 

Ymmv but this would be terrifyingly risky for me. Sacrificing Tuch so we could preserve “most” of what we had but sans our probably actual best forward, when our window is now, seems really dicey 

we should be looking to make the net output of the roster for next year *at least* as apt as this year’s so if we lose our best/one of our best forwards the current roster aptitude should be of paramount concern 

you don’t want to make moves that will handcuff you in the future, but you certainly don’t want to sacrifice anything from the current to prioritize that future, either. The best tact for ensuring the future we want indeed arises lies in continuing to mount strong years in the now for said future to be solidly built upon. Up to and including culture, expectation, and team standard. Our identity as Winners, that we took so painstakingly long to establish, is the priority 

We don’t have to sign Tuch, but replacing him with players we can say to a near certainly are going to be weaker than him next year would be a mistake in my view 

We waited a long time for the young players actually needing to FORCE their way onto the roster, I’m not looking to get back into the business of granting spots

Edited June 9 by Nacho Libre