dudacek

Lysowski with Jeff Marek last month was worth a watch. Starts around the 17-minute mark.

Gross: 38.5%, but their xG% was 69.3% in 133 minutes Samuelsson and Power was 51.9 real, 40.2 xGz% in 317 minutes.

And then it hit me: what if this is exactly what is happening? What if the leaked shuffle was exactly the original plan: Kevyn failing upward and Karmanos moving into the GM chair? And then the plan fell apart because either Karmanos or Terry decided Karmanos wasn’t the right fit for whatever reason? So they pivoted to bringing in “a senior advisor” with the understanding that he would transition into GM and Kevyn to POHO in the near future. Basically, Kevyn leads him through the organizational learning curve, including the draft and free agency. New guy provides his input to shape the plan and finesse through some moves while Terry watches closely and overcomes his trust issues. Its not unheard of in hockey circles. Doug Armstrong and Alex Steen are doing it right now in St. Louis. It certainly fits with the shuffle and Karmanos rumours, and with what we know about how Pegula and Adams operate.

But what about Randy Sexton? John Chayka? Doug McLean? Jay Feaster? Maybe you’re just looking in the wrong pile? 😜

See if I’m Boston, I look at a trade built around Byram for Lindholm given where the team is in terms of age and cycle. Don’t know that the Bruins will be looking to rebuild though, more likely reload. I’m confused. You dont think he’s getting traded?

I think with most of those teams you’d be talking trades, not offer sheets. I think the Filip Hronek trade (1st and 2nd in the mid teens) is a good comparable for Byram’s value in terms of picks. And really in terms of contract as well, once you add in capflation. This is the type of deal I see the Sabres chasing, either directly, or in 2 parts (like Mitts/Savoie for Byram/McLeod). They will bring in a more defensively oriented, slightly cheaper guy ready to play in the top 4 and kill penalties). It might not be a vet, more of a McLeod type. Think Braden Schneider.

I think it will be larger due to contract and chemistry situations. There are lots of teams who will see him as an upgrade to their current #3 over the next 7 years. Guys like Byram aren’t available that often. GMs will be fishing to see if they can make it fit.

Here are my biggest fears about not firing Adams now: You don’t get a fresh face in to deal with the looming Tuch, Peterka and Byram situations A new guy has a much better chance of convincing these guys to stay under a fresh regime than Kevyn would under a sinking ship. A new guy has less pressure to move these guys in a bad deal than Kevyn would under a sinking ship. Allowing Kevyn to fumble and fail now before getting fired at Christmas cements a desire in the heads of Dahlin and Thompson that its time for them to move on. Valuable development time for Levi, Kulich, Benson and Power is squandered in a toxic dressing room. Basically, I think there’s an opportunity cost to waiting. The longer you wait, the bigger the mess the next guy has to clean up: bigger cracks, depreciated assets.

It reeks of Kevyn, I want you to hire your replacement. Sounds like a great recipe for success. “More changes coming” More? That implies there have been some.

Don’t worry about Frondell, they said. He sucks but he’ll be gone well before 9, they said.

Calgary, Philadelphia, San Jose, Chicago, Nashville has Josi but he’s old and there’s no one else, Utah needs LD.

Except Mule was worse defensively than Byram was. This is not a defence of Byram, who the Sabres should not sign to the 8 by 8 deal in the OP. It’s an attempt to point out how the concept of Samuelsson does not match the reality. He was Dahlin’s worst partner and Power’s worst partner in xG% Everybody uses Dahlin’s presence to hand wave Byram. GF% Dahlin and Byram were 70%, Dahlin And Mule were 51.9%

Byram has switched agents. He’s dumped Kevin EPP (Juuse Saros, Peyton Krebs) and signed with Mitch Marner’s rep Daren Ferris, who also did Philip Broberg’s offer sheet escape from Edmonton. He gone.

So if I did the math right, signing these deals would allow the Sabres to run it back with a little under $1M left to sign a backup goalie. Signing them all to the 1-year projections would add another $7Mish.

Wonder if Tim Murray’s ready to give hockey another shot?

Where was this one reported and were they interested?

Updated for a reality check: One month after the 5th consecutive season without playoffs of the Kevyn Adams tenure and the second straight of going backwards. And they've swapped out the strength coach and hired a rookie management intern.

I had figured Okposo was going to get tapped for a role similar to what Staal just signed up for. He always struck me as a sharp guy with ambitions in that area. My inclination is to think he was sharp enough to decide there were better places to start his career than a questionable and precarious Kevyn Adams regime.

Karmanos was brought in by Adams and is (or at least has been) the #2 man in the hockey department. His future is entirely speculative, based - I believe entirely - on this paragraph in a Buffalo News story by Lance Lysowski. The Sabres have needed experienced advisers around Adams since he started, and associate general manager Jason Karmanos may not return to the organization in 2025-26, sources told The Buffalo News. He wasn’t involved in exit interviews

Matthew Barnaby, director of Mother’s Day celebrations and driving with three wheels.

He didn’t phrase it that way. He said something to the effect of “I’ve heard all the chatter too, but when I talked to my Buffalo people as recently as yesterday, they say it will be status quo.” He didn’t clarify how broad that status quo was (By that, I mostly mean Karmanos) but the implication to me was “no special advisor”.

At least some people are bringing it this off-season.

A real good example would be Jeff Chychrun. He was behind Chabot and Sanderson in Ottawa, got traded to the Caps and nearly doubled his salary by scoring 20 goals in a higher role.

He’s a restricted free agent now. And there’s a much better chance he can get the type of contract he wants elsewhere on a team lacking a defenceman as talented as he is. He gets traded to, say, Calgary who desperately needs his type of defenceman. They offer him 7 years at 7.5M using the same logic the Canucks used with Hughes, and the Sabres with Power: that he’ll make it worth their while over the term of the contract because he is going to be used like a #1 D-man and they believe he’ll thrive in that role. Or he inks a 1-year $5M deal in the hopes he earns a 7-year $9M contract by putting up 60 points next year because he believes he’ll get used like a #1 dMan and will thrive in that role.

I have no idea what the Sabres think of McQueen’s health, but if this is the way the top 8 drops, McQueen at 9 makes a mountain of sense in terms of upside and need. Like most of you, I think Martin would be ideal, but I would be good with this.