dudacek

Seeing a lot of talk around this issue, curious to know what the consensus is. I’m going to post a similar thread for the backup position.

@SwampD, you will be happy to know that as of today, the Sabres are about $16 million over the cap floor and are no longer paying anyone to not play for them, not even Cody Hodgson. Terry Pegula will be spending about $85 million in actual dollars on players salaries in the coming year. The scouting staff is still below it’s pre-purge level (it went from 21 to 7 and is now at 13) but the coaching, player development and analytics staff are all well above where they were in the Botterill era. Anyone who thought the Sabres COVID era cutbacks were permanent was wrong.

The fact that Adams has strengthened the roster while keeping the door wide open to strengthen it further strikes me as more evidence he’s competent and calculated. If the right goalie or defenceman becomes available at the right price - none of the rumoured targets have moved - he has the flexibility and the assets to act. I get why others question his willingness to act, but I don’t feel that way. You don’t position yourself the way he has without intent.

Thanks for the link. I did not know he was called the Condor. Fantastic nickname and he sounds like a fantastic teammate. Not sure what he’s got left on ice; hope he can roll back the clock one last time. But I very much think he’s going to replace Andy in the room and grow the culture. I like this move.

To me this clearly means they intend to make a trade. Tokarski wasn’t‘t signed, and didn’t sign, to be 4th on the pecking order and an AHL backup.

And it might actually be a good one given what each of those guys could offer: some real complementary skill sets there. What that loses in scoring it might make up in D. Curious what we have in Rousek.

I’m coming around more to the idea that down the stretch last year Don only had 4 defencemen he was comfortable playing. He now has 5 and there is nothing wrong with Johnson, Stillman and Boosh fighting it out for #6 instead of Clague, Pilut and Bryson. Still want a Pesce or a Hanifin, but we have improved our depth considerably.

People around here tend to confuse what Mule will be with what he is. Absolutely love him, but he’s played 109 NHL games. He’s behind Cozens and ahead of Krebs on his journey to where he’s going.

Adams looks to have properly used free agency: Fill in your holes without tying yourself into any anchor contracts. Still would like a better D than Clifton, but UFA was never the place we were going to get that. Dahlin/Power/trade/Samuelsson/Clifton/Johnson/any of the others is a D corps that can contend.

Pretty sure @PerreaultForever has been banging this drum for months. He’ll be happy.

Might be as simple as moving either UPL or Comrie out, moving on from Subban, and running Levi/UPL/Tokarski/Cooley. And adding Johnson and Clifton while dumping Clague and pushing Stillman and Bryson down the depth chart. But it also still leaves us open for bigger acquisitions as well if they wish

I’m starting to wonder if Adams isn’t setting up for a bigger overhaul than we thought: We now have 5 goalies and 9 defencemen. We’ve moved on from Clague and Anderson already and Im wondering how many of Boosh, Stillman, Bryson, Jokiharju, Comrie and UPL will be elsewhere before the fall. Everyone was in general agreement that the crease and the blueline needed change but I don’t know that we expected the change to be sweeping.

Maybe @Thorny is getting his wish and we will follow the handedness chart: Dahlin Clifton Power Johnson Samuelsson Jokiharju as a base, drop to: Mule Dahlin Power Clifton When we are protecting a lead and Mule Dahlin Power Joki when we need a goal? He’d still be getting lots of minutes with his PK time and when the bench gets shortened.

Posted this in another thread, but it better fits here. Dont think he’s slated to be Power’s partner, at least not on a regular basis. I kinda expect him to be a 6/7 guy who can PK and move up the lineup in a pinch in a way Clague and Bryson could not.

I think I agree with this. Johnson got 17 minutes a night and a lot of PK time but played less when the Avs were healthy. I kinda expect him to be a 6/7 guy who can play PK and move up the lineup in a pinch in a way Clague and Bryson could not.

Joki usually played with Power and got 21 minutes a game with a lot of PK time. Clifton was 3rd pair for the Bruins after they got Orlov, at about 18 per

It does look like a Pesce move is inevitable, but it doesn’t look like the Sabres are a good match any more, even if they trade Jokiharju.

Am I wrong to think he’s kinda what Connor Clifton was 4 or 5 years ago?

Pretty sure Clifton is going to get the Joki minutes since he profiles similarly. I think Henri gets traded, but there’s no way he’s sitting for Stillman and he shouldn’t be sitting for Johnson unless Johnson has more left than I think.

And he’s physical. It’s the PK numbers that really catch my eye. Its an area we badly needed to target and it looks like we have here.

OK, does this mean Lyubushkin, Bryson and/or Jokiharju are on the move? IMO, the depth chart looks kinda like this at the moment: Dahlin Power Samuelsson Clifton Jokiharju Lyubushkin E Johnson Stillman Bryson R Johnson That’s probably too many D on NHL contracts.

I thought the thread title said Cliff Clavin at first.

6’6” 215 6’4 225 6’4” 225 6’3 215 6’2 205 6’0 200 Is our starting 6 at the moment. That’s a large D-core

Wonder if he is being pencilled in as a Joki replacement while Joki gets flipped for a real #4?

I think I posted this one months ago as a veteran former first overall with a ring who they might think Power could lean on and learn from, and LGR choked on his Ovaltine. Fits the Jeep/Teppo role better than OEL in my books, not sure what he’s got left. This.