dudacek

If this is the point, then why were Krebs, Fitz and Mule sent down then immediately called up? We don’t need them in Buffalo right now with Miller Pysyk Butcher Bjork and Hayden all available. Separate discussion: Krebs, Mule and Fitz are going to benefit more from playing against NHL competition than AHL competition.

Adams said in his presser he was cleared to play prior to being sent down and recalled.

I’m not suggesting spending money to just to spend money and it’s certainly not about tying money up in the wrong players. I am suggesting that we had $20 million available under the cap that could have and should have been used to make this team better. Most of you seem to think that there was nothing out there worth spending that money on. I think that’s ridiculous. Why do you assume it would automatically have to be a lout like Hall? Craig at $750,000 is definitely better value than Freddie at $6 million. But Freddie is the better goalie and value is meaningless when you are so far under the cap and you aren’t getting tied down to a long-term commitment. Why do you care about Pegula’s money?

Pretty sure the NHL season ends and the AHL playoffs start around the same time. At least one player will have to go down when Power signs, well before then. If it was up to me, the Sabres dress Fitz/Mule/Bryson/Jokiharju/Dahlin and one of Pysyk/Miller until Power signs, about 2 weeks from now. Then I send Fitz and Mule down to finish the AHL season while Power joins a Miller Pysyk Butcher rotation to finish the NHL season. I would have rather traded Miller and kept Fitz and Mule here longer. They’ll learn more up here and our team will be better for having them in the roster.

This year’s cap space is now expired, never to be used again. Next year’s is a different pot. I hope they do better. I agree it was likely a business decision.

It’s not about the deadline and I don’t buy the implication that there was nothing they could have done. If we had offered Frederick Anderson$12 million over 2 years in the summer, he should have taken it and we would have been better off. If we had offered to trade Boychuk’s contract to the Coyotes for Phil Kessel and a 3rd they would have taken it and we would have been better off, even if we sent Kessel to the KHL. Just 2 over-the-top examples off the top of my head to make the point. In a more realistic vein, overpay on a one-year deal for a better player than Pysyk last summer and maybe you are able to get a 2nd round pick by retaining on that player today, just like we did with Hall. Adams needs to explore every avenue he can in order to make the team better. We left money on the table that could have been used to do just that.

It’s bigger than the trade deadline. We left 16 million unspent under the cap.

That quote was about the AHL playoffs, which could have and would have happened irrespective of keeping Miller or not. Mule, Fitz and Miller are 3 of 8 D currently on the NHL roster. Power will be the 9th.

Adams very baldly said he has the framework of a deal (deals?) with a team in place that the other team was not ready to pull the trigger on because they want to hang on to said player now for a playoff run. Cap compliance won't be an issue. Somebody somewhere will always want to take your money. He will be our 9th NHL rostered defenceman when he signs.

And immediately called back up. This was a paper move to make them eligible for an Amerks playoff run. The Sabres have one more non-emergency call-up allowed. Also have 8 NHL defencemen on the roster. EDIT: and remember we all expect Power to be the 9th. There was no reason to hang on to Miller.

Pretty clear Hagg was the exception to the "not trading for peanuts" philosophy in order to create space for Power

@PASabreFan has to be thrilled about how much emphasis Adams is putting on the final 19 games.

Maybe. But all the spacve we had this season has been squandered and it's not coming back. As little as it might be, any value Pysyk, Miller and Eakin may have had is restricted to 20 games (likely less) of possible "culture" benefits. Anderson and Hinostroza should at least help a bit on the ice. Anyone hoping to get an extended look at Quinn or Peterka or Johnson or Levi or Portillo down the stretch should probably forget it. I wonder if the same might be said for Fitz and Samuelsson.

I think it was a minor fail that the Sabres did not move out any expiring contract save Hagg. I think it was a major fail that the Sabres have been effectively below the cap floor the entire season and did not use any of that considerable asset to improve the team for this season or the future.

I don’t want to belabour what is not really a huge deal, but keeping Butcher, Pysyk and Miller in Buffalo while sending down Mule Fitzpatrick and Power won’t help the players, and won’t help the Sabres.

Keeping Colin Miller is not going to help Mule or Fitz or Power or Johnson. On the contrary.

If you valued Miller at a 2nd and the market says he’s worth a 5th, your evaluations suck. The logic has merit with players like Eichel. Miller is a 3rd tier expiring contract.

Salary laundering does not seem to be a thing this year. Those are pretty complicated deals to drop last minute, but I guess we will see.

If he doesn’t sell Eakin it’s because nobody wanted him. If he doesn’t sell Hinostroza or Anderson it’s because they were more valuable to the stretch run than the offers were to the rebuild. If he doesn’t sell Miller, it’s an out-and-out failure. We don’t need him, there should be a market, but no one is going to overpay. And no one is going to respect Adams less because he stood firm on a 2nd when no one offered more than a 5th. Colin Miller is not a player you draw a line in the sand on.

They can be, but this is hardly an example. Dahlin had a rough two-week stretch and people overreacted to a handful of high-profile blunders in back-to-back games. He was good to start the season prior to that stretch and - other than that blip - his play has been steadily improving basically since Krueger got fired. The number of bad hockey takes in November was embarrassing and saying that “Dahlin sucks” should be the default view until “games count” is another example.

I'd rather not trade from the Dahlin, Power, Jokiharju, Samuelsson, Levi, Portillo, Cozens, Quinn, Peterka, Krebs group until their values and roles become more established, unless they are being traded for someone who adds to that group. Mayfield would be a fine add, but he is not that.

That's someone I could see Adams being interested in.

Not arguing your point. Food for thought: in Makar's rookie season he was 21, the same age Dahlin is now.

Canes, Rangers, Pens, Caps, Preds, Wild, Knights,Stars, Kings, Oilers… Still plenty of quiet teams in a race, and pretty tight to the cap. More shoes to drop.

This isn’t a question to me. Quinn is a big part of the Sabres future and already has it. The only way Power takes 22 from Quinn is if Quinn lets him. Power’s other number (Team Canada) is 25, which is also taken, but by R2, a player with a much more tenuous Sabres future. That is more interesting. Personally, I’d love to see Power grab 5, or even 3 or 6 - great defencemen numbers. Ideally, he’d be 2, but that door has been closed (wrongly, IMO, but that’s another discussion).