GASabresIUFAN

This is so Buffalo.

Agreed, but Martone is the pick if available.

What else have we got to discuss? We do probably need more Amerks talk. They at least have a chance to win every night.

Crazy. There are teams that want to win and then there is the Sabres.

This is not what I said. I said Power doesn't give us more offense than Byram. Here is the exact quote. My statement is true. They have produced the same number of points 5 on 5 and Power is the bigger liability on defense. His one extra goal this season came on the PP which Byram doesn't play.

Kind of sad. KA's big move and he's just another waste of a "talented" young player who lacks the necessary fundamentals to succeed long-term. Good thing we are about to hand him a long-term $7 mill a season deal.

Even if your happy about some of his moves and drafting, his failure to recognize simple and obvious roster issues like a proper partner for Power, defenders who can defend and playmakers who can drive offense makes him incompetent and not worth retaining.

True and another reason Adams needs to go and soon. It's his job to put his players in the best situation to succeed. If you invest $8 mill a season in a young 1st overall pick, how hard is it really to find a decent partner for that key player? However, 2 years on, there is still no partner for Power.

? Their 5 on 5 offense is identical and Byram doesn't get PP time. Power's 1 extra goal is on the PP. By the way Byram is +6 while Power is -11. We can sign Byram long-term for 7 million. What do we need Power for if trading him can fix holes in the roster? The one thing we can't do is investment nearly 27 million in 3 offensive LHD. It's a luxury we can no longer afford.

I’d add 8.35 for Power. That’s 15 mill (or nearly 20% of the cap) for terrible defensive play. I also don’t know why Power is a sacred cow for people here. Who cares if he was a 1st overall pick if he doesn’t pull his weight. He doesn’t give more offense than Byram, he isn’t physical despite his size, is terrible in D zone coverage and isn’t fast enough to fix his mistakes. He certainly isn’t giving us $4 mill worth of value much less 8.35. If we can get him off the books we free up his cap to find guys who actually play defense. If you move on from Byram. We really don’t have the money to pay for all 3 of Dahlin, Power and Byram. Sinking 27 million in 3 offensive D would be terrible cap management.

The math says they will be the youngest team again and I agree the UFAs are unlikely to return. The issue is even with letting the UFAs walk, just keeping the RFAs puts this mess at 85 to 86 million. Crazy! How can a team this bad spend that much and literally have nothing to show for it. The answer is the investments in Cozens, Power, and Samuelsson. Now add in 4.4 for Skinner.

No we don’t, but the current management doesn’t have the ability to fix this mess without blowing it up. I’ve been very vocal in my disdain for the Adams administration, but between TNT, Tuch, Benson, JJP, Dahlin, Kulich, Byram, UPL and maybe Quinn there are pieces here of a good team. The roster is just designed so badly and without a real vision how to win in the NHL, they can’t win.

What a joke.

That doesn’t exactly “help.” All it does is add more dead money and create another bottom of the roster spot that needs to be filled. I agree he isn’t worth the money nor has earned his contract, but the real change in this roster needs to be finding partners for our top 2 D and real O help. Dumping Samuelsson does nothing to fix those holes unless they can find a top 4 D for the money saved by dumping Samuelsson.

They won’t need to get to the cap floor. That’s not an issue. The issue is once they re-sign their RFAs, they won’t have any internal cap left to fix the roster.

?

Which is why we need to trade him.

That's very optimistic of you. From your lips to G-d's ears.

And this is why I started the thread. Running it back one more time runs us into both the internal cap and possibly the actual cap without any real improvement in the roster. I honestly didn’t think the mis-management could get any worse until I started running numbers using the projections.

He won’t.

So dump more vets, get younger, don’t improve the defense, stay at the internal cap and actually get worse again. What a plan.

First the 13 players under contract for nearly 62 million is fact. Second we have 4 current RFAs on the roster who will almost certainly be retained and AFP's models have been very good. So if you follow the model and the players under contract you come up with 17 players for about 80 million (using only bridge deals) with no upgrades. This may not be "fact" but it's simple logic given Adams' operating history and the players involved. This is before trying to keep either vet (Greenway or Zucker), going against the grain and not locking up either Byram or JJP long-term or even completing the roster. No matter how you spin it, the Sabres are in a difficult starting position to upgrade the roster. So yes this needs it's own thread and needs to be discussed. I'm not even suggesting what I truly want done. I'm only going where the number say we are going and trying to look at it from the Adams/TP point of view. If you read the number differently please show us.

The cap for next year could be as high as $93 million, but we all know that the team has an internal cap. If they bring back most of this current failed squad they will have zero $ for actual upgrades without moving on from Power, Cozens and/ or some other high priced player(s). Here is the situation in a nutshell. There are 13 current Sabres under contract for next season for 61.793 million (including 4.44 to Skinner) Forwards: The Sabres have 8 forwards under contract (TNT, Cozens, Tuch, Lafferty, Malenstyn, Krebs, Benson and Kulich). Cap cost 25.629 Defense: 4 "Defenders" (and I use that term loosely) are under contract for nearly $27 million (Clifton, Dahlin, Samuelsson, & Power). Goaltending: 1 UPL 4.75 https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1EIVzd3tGEpaoQXCXkE3DkiksczGJvlc8GywXZl0Twjo/edit?gid=1769332179#gid=1769332179 Mid-season contract projections from AFP Sabres UFAs - Zucker (2 years $5 per season), Greenway (4 year 3.74) RFAs = McLeod (3 years 2.947); Byram (ST) (2 years 5.073), (LT) (7 years 7.045); Quinn (ST) (2 year 3.371), (LT) (6 years 5.624); JJP (ST) (2 years 4.091), (LT) (6 Years 5.624) Using these contract estimates and bringing back all the RFAs and UFAs listed with LT deals for Byram and JJP and a bridge for Quinn, the Sabres would have a cap of 90.364 million for only 19 players (13F, 5D & 1G). Obviously this isn't sustainable, it would still be a horrible roster and at 90 million, it will be above TP's internal cap. We still be missing defenders who can defend and playmakers to make the offense go. It's a pretty grim state of affairs. Here is what that roster would look like. JJP Cozens Thompson Benson Kulich Tuch Zucker McLeod Quinn Greenway Krebs Malenstyn (Lafferty) Dahlin ????? Byram Power Clifton Samuelsson UPL ????? My guess is that the internal cap for next season with be about 85 to 86 million. To get there, Adams will have to let Greenway walk (allowing Kozak to take his job) and bridging all the RFAs. Those decisions will bring the projected cap back down to about 81.5 million, but still leave us short one goalie, a partner for Dahlin, 2 depth defensemen and without any help on offense. I don't see how Adams can reasonably fix all those holes, much less improve the squad of 4.5 to 6 million. The only way to fix this crap roster is to move on from at least 2 major contracts and use the saving to fix other roster holes. Step 1 is deciding to keep either Power or Byram and then trading the other. Step 2 is trading Cozens. These two moves clears $15 million from the internal cap allowing money to be invested in actually defensemen and maybe, just maybe a top 6 center.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6037690/2025/01/14/nhl-prospects-rankings-under-23-2025/ (139 players rated) Power 18th. JJP 43rd Kulich 79th Benson 83rd Helenius 85th Östlund 87th Wahlberg 101st Kleber 125th

He is, but why pay him $4 mill when Kulich and Kozak combine for 1.6 mill? Thompson is the No. 1 C The Sabres need to find a 2 Kulich 3 Kozak 4 with Krebs as a floater.