Brawndo

A few defenseman listed.

The Kings signed Erik Portillo to a 2 year ELC through the 2023-24 season

With the caveat I’m a huge Adams Fan, Karmanos is an associate GM and only took the position after being guaranteed those responsibilities. Karmanos is also responsible for the Sabres Analytics Department. His pitch to the Pegula’s in Boca Raton a month after being hired green lighted the expansion and it was His Relationship with Sam Ventura is the reason he came to Buffalo.

15 players signed and 5 million in cap space, better win that cup this year.

I think possible presence of Nikita Novikov makes Johnson expendable

The Rangers have 17 Skaters signed for next season, only have 10 million in cap space and Miller and Alexis Lafrenière needing new deals and Schneider a RFA after next season. There is a strong possibility they will need to move someone. A Top 15 Pick probably moves that process along

With apologies to Botterill going over the cap with Simmons and Kahun, I believe there is a very good reason Mark Jakubowski has remained employed as the Sabres Cap Guru since GMTM was here

I listened to Dreger on Sabres Live yesterday and it sounds like it’s more speculation from Dreger that he is ready for a GM position, not that he is a leading candidate for the Pittsburgh Position now. Karmanos and Ventura are heavily involved in the decision making process and Adams listens to them.

Here is a SportsNet Article detailing the salary cap over the next three seasons https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/bettman-says-nhl-projects-salary-cap-will-increase-by-1-million-next-season/

According to Evolving Hockey’s Model he would have had the second best defensive metrics amongst defenseman on the team behind Dahlin and the third best offensive metrics behind Dahlin and Power

13th for K’Andre Miller, do you make the move?

Joki went from super crappy to just plain crappy UPL took a step back Both on Evolving Hockey Model

Its absolutely fair to criticize how the goaltending has evolved over the past years. Just spit balling here, after listening to Adams and Levi after Devon signed it sounded as Levi wanted to to be able to see a clear pathway to the Sabres Crease, would acquiring a bonafide starting goalie hurt the chances of him signing? Only Adams, Levi and His Agent would be accurately able to answer that.

They drafted Owen Power, when there was internal debate on whether to take Matty Beniers, and traded for Devon Levi. They appear to be some significant upgrades on defense and goaltending

Seriously? Besides the fact they had their best record in 12 seasons as Matter pointed out. Why do you think Adams insisted on Tuch being part of the Eichel return? It wasn’t just because he wanted to be a Sabre. Why do you think Levi was part of the Reinhart Return? Why do you think that are drafting better? Why do you think they are developing players better? Why do you think Tage, Cozens, Samuelsson we’re locked into long term team friendly deals with Power slated to be next Ullmark was a mistake, but by Linus own admission the Boston Goaltending Coach made a tweak in his style that elevated him to a Vezina Finalist and Boston plays much better defense. I agree with Chz, Bales needs to go. Krueger killed any desire that Montour had to re-sign in Buffalo along with his trade value. Hagg was a cap dump as part of the Risto. Boosh had very good metrics when he wasn’t injured. Yes he had some boneheaded plays, but the entire team did as well Stillman had better metrics than Chychurn and Schenn and had more points than the latter. Clague was a young AAAA level defenseman who was signed to a one year deal for Rochester and had some good stints with Power this season. Bryson was given the opportunity to take the next step as a NHL Defenseman, much like rest of the younger players, but failed to do so. Based on the rotation of the defenseman towards the end of the season, neither appears to be in the long term plans Comrie missed time with injuries, had quite a few rough patches and played liked ***** at times but still was 5-1-1 in His last seven starts. One of the biggest takeaways from Adams and Levi was both saying Devon wanted to see a clear pathway to the Sabres Crease when he was deciding to sign with the Sabres. NHL Reporters and Insiders have remarked other front offices are very impressed by the FO that Adams has assembled and the direction of the franchise. When the ownership group of a franchise that has won three out of the last fourteen cups and made the playoffs for 16 consecutive years is very interested in members of your leadership group, that’s a excellent indication you would be better off as franchise holding onto them.

Yes, the Sabres Store actually sold T Shirts with Donny Meatballs on it

The Front Office staying intact will help with both of those

That the front office will be staying intact

It’s rumored that there is a power sharing agreement already in place and the plan all along was to have Karmanos promoted to GM with Adams moving to a President Role. This is the reason behind Karmanos being named Associate and not Assistant GM Karmanos most likely takes Sam Ventura with Him to Pittsburgh and that would hurt tremendously

Karmanos and Ventura’s Families still live in Pittsburgh, that being said what is the better situation moving forward from a management standpoint. Since most of the hockey ops decisions are made with input from multiple sources, changing the structure of the front office as mentioned above to Adams POHO Karmanos GM Ventura AGM is probably the best way to go and I believe that was the plan all along, Adams new deal would be converted to POHO.

From 32 Thoughts by Eliotte Friedman 12. Kyle Okposo’s exit interview made it sound like he might be retiring, but I don’t think that’s the case. Expectation is he’s going to play in 2023-24.