Sabres Acquire The 4th Overall Pick, 45 Overall Pick and Defenseman Louis Crevier to Chicago for Bowen Byram and Jordan Greenway

[LGR4GM]

Knies stats confuse me. How on earth do you have a PDO of 93? I mean dear lord how bad is the goaltending in Toronto? Also Toronto fell off a freaking cliff this past season defensively so is Knies part of that problem or is he good and Matthews just gave up? Is he a product of Matthews? I don't know, I am honestly asking. I haven't watched much of Knies. 

[PASabreFan]

1 hour ago, Eleven said:

I don't like this.

Trust in Jarmo. He's on a real winning streak as GM.

[thewookie1]

2 minutes ago, dudacek said:

Knies is ahead of where Tuch was at the time of the Eichel trade.

Tuch was 25, with seasons of 37, 52, 17 and 33 points with a history of injury.

Knies is 23 with seasons of 35, 58 and 66.

In terms of cap percentage and term remaining at the time, the two players are on similar deals.

Knies is 230 and gets to the net. He is also a lifelong pal of Josh Doan.

Looks good for his age

[dudacek]

9 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

 

As Hoss noted this is from last summer when Byram was available. 

Right, but the OP is current and also from Dreger.

Our buddy @Brawndo is usually spot on, so my optimistic spin on the Dreger Tweet is that Byram is indeed interested in extending with Buffalo but the opening ask is high.

[Flashsabre]

One thing to remember is that Doan and Knies are best friends. Growing up playing on the same line in Arizona.

Im not saying they will make that deal just that there is a connection with a new core piece on the team.

Edited June 18 by Flashsabre

[ponokasabre]

Just now, Flashsabre said:

One thing to remember is that Doan and Knies are best friends. Growing up playing on the same line in Arizona

 

 

And Doan is locked up here long term.....so maybe just maybe he can grease the wheels, at the worst you know Knies wont be mad about coming here then

[Archie Lee]

The Sabres have so many NHL forwards that their 4 pending UFA’s forwards could all leave (and likely will), and they will still have to move out, demote, or waive a couple of forwards to get down to a 23 man roster (assuming good health). Yet, the trade activity thus far is centred around the, bit thin, D corps. 

[Brawndo]

Knies was dealing with a knee injury most of last season and has positive micro stats. These are the same stats that the Sabres Analytics Team used to predict Doan being able to make the jump.

 

Byram was on the market last summer, the biggest road block was his contract demands. No team was willing to give him top pairing money. Does that change this off-season based on his play? 
 

I would still be weary 

[dudacek]

2 minutes ago, Archie Lee said:

The Sabres have so many NHL forwards that their 4 pending UFA’s forwards could all leave (and likely will), and they will still have to move out, demote, or waive a couple of forwards to get down to a 23 man roster (assuming good health). Yet, the trade activity thus far is centred around the, bit thin, D corps. 

We’ve got 12 guys under contract, with a loaded top 4 and a strong group of youngsters.

Kesselring represents a 6/7 that creates a need to be replaced so the timing is curious.

[Brawndo]

Then comes a matter of his replacement the best free agent option is John Carlson. Per LeBrun he may get two years with $10 million AAV Philadelphia Tampa amongst some other teams are in the mix in the east Sabres would probably have to go in additional year to get him to come.

Is that  at 3×10 AAV or 3 x 9 AAV?  
 

As has been said before they’re really not in the position to allow two very good free agents to leave without any compensation in back-to-back years
 

 

[GASabresIUFAN]

10 minutes ago, Archie Lee said:

The Sabres have so many NHL forwards that their 4 pending UFA’s forwards could all leave (and likely will), and they will still have to move out, demote, or waive a couple of forwards to get down to a 23 man roster (assuming good health). Yet, the trade activity thus far is centred around the, bit thin, D corps. 

3 of the guys under contract, Kulich, Östlund and Helenius, are waivers exempt.  

[...]

1 hour ago, inkman said:

Then there is this: 

 

This would be Tuch's replacement, assuming Tuch moves on.

35 minutes ago, dudacek said:

Knies is ahead of where Tuch was at the time of the Eichel trade.

Tuch was 25, with seasons of 37, 52, 17 and 33 points with a history of injury.

Knies is 23 with seasons of 35, 58 and 66.

In terms of cap percentage and term remaining at the time, the two players are on similar deals.

Knies is 230 and gets to the net. He is also a lifelong pal of Josh Doan.

Ah, beat me to it!

[LGR4GM]

3 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

3 of the guys under contract, Kulich, Östlund and Helenius, are waivers exempt.  

Is Kulich still exempt? 

[Archie Lee]

8 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

3 of the guys under contract, Kulich, Östlund and Helenius, are waivers exempt.  

Yes, they can be demoted. 

[GASabresIUFAN]

Just now, LGR4GM said:

Is Kulich still exempt? 

Yes.  He’s only played 75 of the 160 required given his age and when he signed.  He is on the 3rd year of his ELC.  He will not be waiver exempt after next season regardless of games played. Östlund is from the same draft class and only has 71 games of the 160 he needs.

[tom webster]

1 hour ago, Hoss said:

Friendly reminder of how much this was pushed last offseason, as well. 

Multiple reporters on multiple occasions suggested things were "heating up" and even getting close for nothing to happen. That doesn't mean those reports weren't true and we just held onto Byram, but I wonder how much of this all is just Ferris pushing the buttons to either get an above-market deal or get his player to a team willing to sign that deal.

Hey old friend, this has long been my thinking, too. I also think we can't ignore the few black hole games Byram had against Montreal.

Do you guys realize how much the cap is going up. They can easily afford to pay Byram $10M if they want. Whether it’s smart or not is another question but they will have at least $15M more to play with next year and another $10M the year after. They could afford Byram and Thomas.

[Derrico]

How high is the cap projected to increase over the next 5 years?  If it's significant then I'm open to paying Byram $10 or $11.  Our top 4 is why we were so good.  He's in his prime.  He's won a cup and Conn Smythe.  He looked like one of our best players in the playoffs and better than Dahlin many of those nights.  I think he's someone worth paying.   

[dudacek]

18 minutes ago, tom webster said:

Do you guys realize how much the cap is going up. They can easily afford to pay Byram $10M if they want. Whether it’s smart or not is another question but they will have at least $15M more to play with next year and another $10M the year after. They could afford Byram and Thomas.

People are still arguing under the premise of $8M being 1st-line/pair money.

[Jorcus]

54 minutes ago, ponokasabre said:

Knies would be a real add, make no mistake about it

Everything about him fits with what we want to do

I am fine giving Byram up for Knies

How do we replace a Byram on the back end is my only concern

It just feels like so much change on a team that was one goal away from the Eastern Conference final

I like Knies. He fills the top line left wing spot we need. As far as being a product of who he plays with I see a lot of similarities between Matthews and Thompson so why would Knies not work? I  don't think he replaces Tuch. Ideally you would have the 3 as big tough first line. That may not be realistic but I would like to see it. 

Byram is already projected around 10 million per season. Forget getting him for 8.

[Derrico]

41 minutes ago, Brawndo said:

Then comes a matter of his replacement the best free agent option is John Carlson. Per LeBrun he may get two years with $10 million AAV Philadelphia Tampa amongst some other teams are in the mix in the east Sabres would probably have to go in additional year to get him to come.

Is that  at 3×10 AAV or 3 x 9 AAV?  
 

As has been said before they’re really not in the position to allow two very good free agents to leave without any compensation in back-to-back years
 

 

If this is the replacement cost and the cap is projected to jump, I think Jarmo's smart to see if someone blows him away with a trade offer first.  But knowing he's willing to sign for that price if there's no significant trade out there. 

Edited June 18 by Derrico

[LGR4GM]

6 minutes ago, Derrico said:

How high is the cap projected to increase over the next 5 years?  If it's significant then I'm open to paying Byram $10 or $11.  Our top 4 is why we were so good.  He's in his prime.  He's won a cup and Conn Smythe.  He looked like one of our best players in the playoffs and better than Dahlin many of those nights.  I think he's someone worth paying.   

about 30 million dollars 5 years from now

[Second Line Center]

9 minutes ago, Derrico said:

How high is the cap projected to increase over the next 5 years?  If it's significant then I'm open to paying Byram $10 or $11.  Our top 4 is why we were so good.  He's in his prime.  He's won a cup and Conn Smythe.  He looked like one of our best players in the playoffs and better than Dahlin many of those nights.  I think he's someone worth paying.   

Exactly.  Lean in to that.  Give him 10 mil aav.  
 

He might get 12 plus next summer.  Wouldn’t you want that guy here?   

 

If this team’s top 4 D in October is Dahlin, Muel, Power, and Timmons we aren’t a playoff team.  
 

I don’t care what you do with the forward group - which based on what’s available ain’t much.   

 

[HoosierDaddy]

1 hour ago, dudacek said:

Dreger has been a notable Ferris water carrier over the years.

Hopefully it’s noise aimed at getting Bo an extravagant contract in Buffalo, not at getting Bo moved.

I'm not hip to the hockey "insiders." So Dreger is Adam Schefter, whose sources are almost all agents? Who's Canadian Ian Rappaport, whose sources are all front office execs? 

[LGR4GM]

4 minutes ago, HoosierDaddy said:

I'm not hip to the hockey "insiders." So Dreger is Adam Schefter, whose sources are almost all agents? Who's Canadian Ian Rappaport, whose sources are all front office execs? 

Serivelli (sp) has front office ppl on his dial I think. Also agents in hockey are on all the insiders call list. 

Friedman also has a lot of front office contacts

[Mango]

1 hour ago, elijah said:

The idea of resigning Bo at $7M-$8M and locking up that top 4 defense for a long time was very intriguing

The report of Bo asking for $10M+ made that idea not very intriguing. I don’t mind moving Bo for another legitimate top 6 forward, as long as it doesn’t come with the ramification of signing Stanley to top 4 money and playing him top 4 minutes

I would seriously consider Bo at $10M and moving Power. 

The issue isn't Bos value at $10M. I think that's fair. It's our second pairing at $18M