LGR4GM

Just because Kevyn Adams was dumb enough to overpay power, doesn't mean he should overpay Byram. I think Byram is open to staying but the issue is he's not a 9 million defender. 7, sure, 8, no. 9, hell no.

They are worth about 5x what he paid for them, because he has degraded the product. You're right though, he hasn't liquidated the Sabres assets like Harbor Center or the other things attached to the team he controls. To the bold, you are arguing about the total value of the team which is less than if it were a model franchise competing for cups. I think terry believes his investment is rising and that he doesn't have to go more in the red for that to continue. On top of that I think he prefers not to spend to the cap because it eases financial things around his empire. 10million buys a lot of Yacht fuel. Basically, Terry Pegula looks at the Sabres as an asset that will continue to increase in value even if he underfunds them some. It's a win win for an investor. Why put in more money when the product is increasing its value anyways? But again, I also fully believe Terry is so focused on the Bills that that is where he is spending at the expense of the Sabres.

All the owner stuff you added. I am perfectly aware that 20% isn't controlling interest... because 20% is about 31% away from that. You give me another reason why Terry has spent under the cap every single year for half a decade, sometimes by almost 10mil. I think it is to balance the books because the Sabres aren't making him money. Wouldn't that be good business? Lots of businesses run that way, they cut costs and degrade their products and then liquidate what's left and move on.

NHL teams can sell up to 20% to private equity firms. Figure he could probably say the Sabres are worth 1.5billion on the open market... he could get 300million-ish

Not that I am aware. With an offer sheet you have to keep the player for 1 year before trading if you match but arbitration has no requirement I know of.

He sold a 20% stake in the Bills to get a Billion in cash for stadium over-runs. At some point in the past they had to cut Sabres costs to maintain the family lifestyle, we've literally never recovered from that in 2020.

Mildly improved GT because Lyons can play more than Reimer did. Also, I would hope that Ruff learned not to give UPL 400000 starts because he can't handle it.

Another thought... I wonder if you could trade Byram and Krebs to Anaheim for McTavish. They have Carlsson, Strome, Poehling, and Granlund with McQueen and Sennecke in the pipe... I wonder if they would be willing to move McTavish to upgrade their defense. Unsure but just a random thought of the day.

If I were Buffalo at this stage, I would do Byram - Dahlin Power - Kesselring Samuelsson - Timmins

The Florida Panthers do what Buffalo has failed to do for years, pack mentality. Not some pugilist who you need to protect the frail and soft willed players like Samuelsson but a pack mentality where if Thompson gets run, no one waits to see what they should do or ask for their fighter buddy to handle it, nope you just drop gloves and start firing. Sabres haven't had that since Chris Drury got screwed and Drew Stafford didn't hesitate... see Miller Lucic.

The problem with the PP is coaching. That and they insist on running it through the point which is super easy to defend, you just stay in the box and barely slide when it goes to the half wall... because all the Sabres do is stand around.

Fully disagree here. Timmins pushes Samuelsson and Bryson down another slot, he is very much needed. I also don't think an "offense first" defender is going to clock a whopping 15pts, that doesn't scream offense first as Samuelsson had 14pts, is he offense first? You don't pair Timmins with Karlsson if you want Timmins to be offense first. I understand about the limited PK work but that could be personnel related or Timmins related. Maybe he won't be used on the PK here or maybe he will. With the PP slots taken by Dahlin and Power, it seems unlikely that Timmins won't be used on the PK here and if he is the 2nd PK unit behind Kesselring/Samuelsson or Power/Samuelsson or whatever, so we shall see.

So we're trading a defender who was better last year for one who was worst and has already said they want to sign in vegas We're trading a winger for a winger 10 years older who had the same point total and we're trading a young goal scoring center for an old goal scoring center which for next year is probably making us better as Kadri is better than Kulich. To summarize, we are trading Byram who is better than Andersson (who we get for 1 year), Quinn who is the same as Coleman (who we get for 2 years), and Kulich for Kadri (who we at least get for 4 years). This trade sucks IMPO. The only clear win is Kulich for Kadri and that is probably only for a year or two (if Kulich gets better). NOTE: Ftr I understand that Coleman is better at 5v5 defensively but idk, just seems meh to trade Quinn for him.

They would probably move Dahlin back to the left which he is also very good at.

Part of that is because they give HUGE minutes to Samuelsson and Bryson and they are bad. On top of that, Owen Power was awful under Ruff last year and I think part of that is his partner. I also think Wilford needs to go but that's another story. Basically Buffalo needs to stop playing Bryson at all and needs to put Samuelsson into the 3rd pair where he belongs. If they ran... Byram - Dahlin Kesslering - Power Timmins - Samuelsson? Literally anyone other than Byrson They would probably improve their defense quite a bit. Question becomes what if we have to run: Timmins - Dahlin Kesselring - Power Samuelsson - Johnson? Jones? The fact Buffalo thinks Zac Jones is some sort of useful NHL player is certainly something.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6368342/2025/07/07/2026-nhl-mock-draft-gavin-mckenna/ I think I would lean Šimon Katolický, a Czech who plays in the Liiga system. He's got a late July bday and is a 6'4" 198lb winger who should get a bunch of playing time in the u20 Liiga system this year as a 17yr old. This draft has a bunch of big rangy wingers in it.

My theory is that Terry was cash poor at the time and that has continued with the stadium costs. The result is that he has worried less about the Sabres because he doesn't have (in relative terms, I am sure he has 10million but if he can save it, that helps) the liquid assets to deal with the 10million a year or so he loses there. He keeps that as low as possible so it isn't 15million a year or more and that way he has just a smidge more liquid to pay for his yacht maintenance and the stadium.

He bought the Bills. They got really good. He's building a stadium for the Bills. That's what changed impo.

I want to add because it's part of your argument, I do agree that if Adams is getting trash offers that he should continue to do what he's doing.

That's because Friedman gets his into fed to him by player agents but that's not what he's going to get in arbitration and not what the Sabres offered or he'd be signed.

I'm good with 3 years of Byram in exchange for 6 months of Mitts. At this point, I think Byram on defense makes us better than Ryan Johnson or Bryson or more minutes for Samuelsson

Yea... sure he could. "According to AFP Analytics’ offseason contract projections, Byram is worth roughly $5.2 million on a one-year contract. That’s a useful starting point for estimating his award." https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6477038/2025/07/06/bowen-byram-sabres-salary-arbitration/ A couple days in UFA is what? 85% of all unrestricted free agents gone.

Ftr, I think Adams picking arbitration and removing an offer sheet, while also setting a deadline basically, is smart.

Didn't you just say "Waiting for the Byram saga to end may have hindered getting one of the remaining free agent forwards signed"? Make up your mind. No he won't. Also, man, you wanna talk about reading takes again... see what I just quoted.

Not what I'm saying. I'm good with arbitration but this could have been sorted out sooner. No. Like trading prospects for a legit top 6 player