Trettioåtta

Not defending the contract, but Power is only 22. Most defenceman haven't even made the show regularly by then. The Sabres need to stop expecting 18-23 year olds to step up and fill sizeable holes in the line up. Power should have been penciled in for the third line with sheltered minutes whilst he got to grips with the NHL. Instead he was elevated to a 2nd NHL D man and epxected to perform like one. Power is absolutely the right mold of player for us to sell low on, and in two years be anchoring a top pairing on a contending team

I disagree. I would feel like the first team valued me at that number, and the second team was hoping to low ball me but were forced to raise their offer. It would certinaly not make me feel like a core piece to a franchise that had not made the playoffs in a decade. That would play into where I decided to go. There is a pattern of poor talent evaluation with the Sabres - Samuelsson was signed for $30 million just over a year later after we were begrudingly offering $20 million for Ulmark.

Or even trade him for a 7th rounder if he doesn't want to sign here

Did Chad specify which draft he was talking about? Maybe he meant Bo will be traded at or around the 2026 NHL draft

Yeah but sounds like Utah isnt efficient, effective and economic, so who's the real winning organisation

It's clear Adams et al are banking on young players improving. It's not an unfair hope, but I would like us to actually improve the roster and then have the internal improvement move us from bubble to competitor. Power should be better in his zone. Quinn should bounce back. Benson and Kulich should improve. Kesslering may have a breakout with more opportunity. Don't underestimate Doan being a better forechecker and defensive player than JJP. Actually JJP being a rush player means he actually may not flourish on better teams that dominate possession. Regardless, this team needs to get another one to two top 6 players and a top 4 D to actually be competitive I think. We should have used 9/26 picks / Byram to do it.

Lyon always played great against us, so if nothing else, this signing stops him stealing about 4 points from us in the standings

If the arbitration is below a certain value (about $4.8 million) the team can't walk away. So if he's given $1.5 million, you're stuck paying that for an 8th defender. If this guy was basically a thrown in for the Norris trade, it makes sense they never saw him as more than that. He also signed for basically league minimum - he clearly isn't well regarded.

Why would we need to improve? The answer's in the room.

Honestly, if I was Dahlin and I see what we've done so far, I'm going into the GM's office and saying if we don't make the playoffs you're trading me

No, you're right. I mis-remembered the max contract as UFA age. My bad.

New CBA reduces the age you become a UFA. When does that come into effect?

I assume we'll just trade him one-for-one for Rust

Yeah but we got JBD with it!!