DarthEbriate

The only time the Sabres have "weaponized" their cap space since the beginning of the EEE phase of Pegula's ownership was to get to the cap floor with the Ben Bishop deal. They could have been gathering additional picks to move for players/first-round picks or been bringing on some poorer deals, but with those veterans who can at least provide some learnings --- think getting a bad contract veteran D + a draft pick instead of signing Erik Johnson for an overpriced one-year deal in UFA, and heck, maybe you can then retain salary, orchestrate a 3rd party GM to retain more, and ship out that bad contract as a playoff rental for another bit of draft collateral. The reason for the Sabres existence stopped being a Stanley Cup and became EEE. The owner has not spoken about moving on from EEE yet. Maybe he never will. Just so everyone remembers how much cap space has been "used" under Adams -- who claims to have full control to spend as he sees fit. Coincidentally, thanks to some breakout (i.e., statistical outlier) seasons, their best record was when they had the most space. But, wouldn't it have been nice for that 22-23 to use a bit more of that available cap to get 2 more points in the standings and end the drought? Then, you'd get playoff revenue and increased season ticket sales as a result.

Yeah. It must be nice to draft two centers back-to-back in the top-4, then have them both show lots of potential in their first full season, and knowing you'll have them for the next 10 seasons to build around..... Oh. Oh, damn. (And they have Dickinson and another top 3 pick [maybe, maybe 4th overall, if they get hot and Nashville stays awful] coming this summer.)

I think this is the offseason we see some offer sheets. The cap is rising, so UFA prices might be alarming, and St. Louis snagged a couple guys out of Edmonton last summer. If you are a GM and want that guy entering his prime and you've got a mid-to-late 1st round pick... and there are the Sabres with a bunch of guys who could be interested in getting out and playing for a real franchise. Maybe a team looks at McLeod's season and sees he'd actually be a 2C behind their top guy. $6.8M offer sheet for 1 year. That's only a 1st and a 3rd for a plug-and-play fast 2C who is also a good PK guy. The Sabres can match, but the clock is ticking. Winnipeg (1st will be after pick 24 barring a complete collapse) could take a look at JJP with Ehlers' contract coming off the books. A whole bunch of teams could fancy Byram. If any Sabres signs an offer sheet it's an obvious "I don't want to be here" and now Adams has to start looking into trade options. And no other GM fears Adams in trade negotiations. Maybe the best offer was a 1st and a 3rd?

He's 37, is losing his game, and has three more seasons at $6.1M cap hit.

The only untouchable persons are GM Sheevyn and any coach whose role they’re already paying someone to perform or is already on the payroll next season, am I right?

A Cozens assist by driving the net.

Yay! PP1 got the puck into the offensive zone!

Glad they're keeping Jokiharju out the lineup, but not actually trading him.

Montreal sleepwalking these first few shifts. But no goal to make them pay.

The Sabres play 16 games in March. I think putting the over/under at 4.5 wins would get some serious wagering on the under.

The answer is right here in this locker room! What if we just stayed right here in this room?

They can't write that!

If I'm Zucker's agent, my contract ask to re-sign with the Sabres is now $9M/season.

It's silly that of all the teams in the league, the one that is inside Buffalo's head, is the Habs.

If you're going to take another bad penalty and lose your composure, then take a real penalty and show some real loss of composure. Start a brawl and get tossed.

Sadly, the analytics are the eye test for Cozens.

Cozens easily stripped of the puck on the powerplay instead of getting the puck deep or hanging onto it. He is rewarded by being on the ice for the very next shift.

With Muel, my first assumption would always be injury.

I want the Sabres to show me they hate losing as much as I hate sand.

Tuch is a top-6 RW on 29-30 other teams in the league right now, and now also Florida with Tkachuk's injury. In 2021, Tuch was still an inconsistent 24-year-old kid. He was playing behind Stone (who is still a legit 1st liner when healthy) and a then 29-year-old Reilly Smith who hadn't yet lost a step and had a multi-season chemistry with Marchessault and William Karlsson. They also had James Neal alternating wings in their lineup that season. It was a stacked veteran crew capable of winning the Cup. If Tuch were on Vegas the past couple years he'd be on Eichel's wing whenever Stone was out of the lineup. Fun note: Victor Olofsson is currently RW2 on Vegas because of injuries.

My vision of the future: 1 team jumps them in the draft lottery. Let's say Philadelphia. Sabres draft 6th overall. To everyone's dismay, they select Frondell over Eklund. To my dismay, they take Frondell over "Star" Desnoyers. Somehow, GM Sheevyn returns. They get JJP on a big long-term contract (>$7M). They bridge all the remaining RFAs because no one is willing to sign to term. Stay the course, says Adams. We'll all be a year older!

Yes, we're probably the end of Tuch's contract away from another full "core is rotten" rebuild. If they trade Tuch or let him get to UFA, then Dahlin has to pull the plug for his career. And if Dahlin is out, it's at least another 5 years of rebuild because every top-4/top-6/1B-caliber goalie will be abandoning ship.

Additionally, Adams was unwilling to include Savoie in a trade for Chychrun. But a season and a draft later, Benson, Helenius, and Östlund's arrival made him tradeable.

Pegula still hasn't publicly stated that EEE is over. Adams will be the GM for as long as the owner is happy with the communication. In the Pegula era, the on-ice product has never been the cause of removing the GM. Maybe Regier could be argued, but they're purposefully tanking, so getting a new GM is simply part of tearing things down and setting a new beginning.

Dilfer wasn't borderline bad. He was bad. Even by 1990s standards. If he hadn't had the late '90s Buccaneers defenses propping him up, he might not even be in the league long enough to make it to Baltimore for his one Super Bowl season, even as a top-10 draft pick. He made one career Pro Bowl, basically as an alternate to an alternate. In the NFC he finished behind Young, Brad Johnson, Favre, Chandler, Kramer, Mitchell, and Aikman in yards and completion %. He did have several short TD passes that season to help him finish with 21 TDs, which was good for 6th in the League, but way off the pace of the leaders -- and 2 or fewer ahead of Brad Johnson, Chandler, Young, Mitchell, and Aikman. And this was far and away his best season. Total scrub QB with a Super Bowl ring.