GASabresIUFAN

It's complicated. I am a life long Sabres fan and may even want them to win a Cup more than I want the Bills to win a Super Bowl and that is saying something. From a player standpoint, I believe there are building blocks of a good NHL team. Thompson, Dahlin, Byram, Benson, JJP and maybe Kulich are something for competent management to build around. Tuch and UPL are solid pieces as well. The problem ultimately lies with ownership and management. Adams and Pegula are destroying the franchise. As long as they are in charge this team is DOA. I have tried to remain a little hopeful that they get a clue and between the approaching deadline and this coming off-season they add defensemen who can defend and a top 6 playmaker for the offense, but even that scant hope is in short supply.

Yeah, something like that.

What about avoiding actually fixing obvious team needs?

Actually his contract is central to the issue. His contract is over 10% of our internal cap, but we are only getting 50% value for the money. Even if the cap goes up, his contract remains a huge burden, especially if Pegula refuses to spend to the cap. If Power was being paid 4-5 million we could afford to be more patient with him like we were with Dahlin, however that's not the case. I also have never advocated trading Power for picks or prospects. I want NHL players back for him and I think that type of trade is possible.

Adams is Howdy Doody. However, I don’t understand the rest of your post. Yes Adams f’d up his contract, but that contract is now a huge underperforming asset to the team no different than Cozens or Samuelsson. I get that you love Power’s potential, but unfortunately that potential may never be realized and now he is at best our 3rd best blueliner (I won’t call him a defenseman since he can’t play defense). Are we really going to continue to pay him 8.35 and hope he eventually doesn’t stink defensively or can we trade him, get out from under his terrible contract, and hopefully turn him into a top 6 playmaking center or two top 4 defensive D. Which move makes the Sabres better now? 1) keeping Power and hoping he gets better 2) trading him for a top 6 center or 3) trading him and getting 2 upgrades on defense. To me the answer is obvious. It’s also not like no. 1 pick D haven’t been traded before. Erik Johnson (and other assets) was traded by St Louis at 22 year old to Colorado for Shattenkirk and other assets.

But we weren’t paying Dahlin 8.35 million to suck. We also weren’t in win now mode. Dahlin’s 2nd contract was 3 years at 6 mill which was much closer to what he had earned.

Byram. I think his O skill set is just as good as Power's. I think he is a better skater. He is obviously more physical (so is the guy in the mailroom) and he is working hard on improving defensively.

1. There are hundreds of players in the NHL without trade limitations. 2. If Adams or his successor doesn't get players who can actually play defense than this rebuild 3.0 will continue to fail 3. If Adams can't convince the necessary players to come here, than we need to replace him. This isn't fantasy land, it's how a good team should be managed. Waiting another 3 years for Power to become average defensively while wasting $8.35 mill a year on the player is simply terrible management of the roster and the cap.

Remember having Dahlin Power and Byram has yielded the top scoring D threesome in the NHL, but what has that done for the team? The PP still stinks and the team is in last place in the Eastern conference. You trade Power away to not only add defensive D, which are a much bigger need now than a 3rd offensive D, but also to free up cap space to keep vets like Zucker and Greenway. Truthfully I'm not at all worried about 3 years from now. I want to be a playoff team next season and adding defensive D will bring us much closer to that goal than keeping Power. Also by 3 years from now, Novikov, Komarov and Strbak will likely be on the Sabres hopefully giving us cheap and effective defenders who actually play defense to go with Dahlin and Byram.

We have all been conditioned to think the worst about Adams and the Sabres' ability to attract outside talent. There is no question after 14 years of failure, it's a huge factor in bringing in players. However winning isn't the only thing players care about. Money is a factor, playing time is also a factor as is proximity to family. Van just added Pettersson to play in their top 4 dropping Soucy to their bottom pair. Maybe he'd waive the NTC to get top 4 PT. There is no harm in asking. That said there are other possibilities.

Good Gm's always seem to find the right guys in trade or free agency even when their teams suck. By the way there are 2 Russian D who I would love for Adams to acquire in free agency. They are smart accomplished vets and would be good mentors for our kids and for the Russian in the AHL. They are Orlov (33) who still play 20 minutes a game for Carolina and Gavrikov (29) with is playing 24 minutes a night for LA. I don't think either team can afford to re-sign these players. I'd love both, but would settle for just one.

Further proof that Adams is incompetent and has no idea how to build or support his roster. I want him gone as much as anyone else, but realize he isn't going anywhere. Our only hope is that he somehow gets a clue and fixes the team. This maybe a forlorn hope, but it's all we got.

Adams has treated the entire team disgracefully by not acquiring defensemen who can play defense. However, while you cannot like who Power is paired with, his defensive shortcomings and unwillingness to engage physically is all on him. For example Carson Soucey is available.

So you overpay him for 5 years so that you may or may not get full value for the final 3 years of the deal? How does that make sense?

I'm sorry, but there is not enough money to keep all 3 without dumping salary elsewhere. That doesn't include any upgrades on defense or offense. By the way according to the Athletic, Power is giving us 4.4 mill in value (thus a deficiency of 4 million) while Byram is giving us 5.9 million worth of value (a $2 mill surplus on the 3.9 he's being paid.)

It's kind of sad that a team that remains at the bottom of the standings for 14 years has the 11th best pipeline, while the team leading the NHL in points Washington has the 9th best prospect pool and they have made the playoffs (& won a Cup) in 11 of the last 13 years. Minn has the 2nd best pool. They have made the playoffs 10 of 13 years and are solidly in a playoff spot this year. Has any team in NHL history been this poorly managed?

The goalie was bad last night, but the problem remains the defensemen.

What is the Sabres W/L record in games they block more shots than their opponent? In the last 10 games the Sabres are 4-6, but went 3-0 in games they blocked more shots, 1-0 in games they blocked the same number of shots and 0-6 in games they blocked less shots then their opponent. Coincidence or highly correlated to winning and losing?

Great job guys staying in the bottom 5!

You just can't trust the media anymore.

Turning the Sabres into the Lollipop Guild one player at a time.

@Brawndo If this is really Adams attitude toward his players, then Aaron is right; this team is really cooked with Adams in charge.

Let me do the math for you. If the Sabres run it back with the forwards by re-sign Zucker, Greenway, McLeod, Quinn, JJP and Kozak, the team will have 14 forwards under contract for $51638968 using AFP's contract estimates plus Skinner's buyout hit. If they re-sign Byram long-term and Reimer to back up UPL, the team will spend an additional $39764047 on 5D and 2G, leaving 2 roster spots open for additional D. That brings the Cap to 91.4 million with zero upgrades on either offense or defense and almost no money to complete the roster. With Samuelsson's injury, I believe they can no longer buy him out. There goes an opportunity to free up 3.5 in cap space. This is not a workable solution if this team is ever going to improve. A few someones have to be traded. The media "experts" have Byram and Cozens on their deadline trade boards. I'd prefer the Sabres to trade Power. Regardless, If they trade Cozens and Byram or Cozens and Power, that removes 14-15 mill in cap cost for 25/26 allowing the Sabres to improve the D and find a playmaker for the top 6 forwards. This analysis assumes that Pegula is willing to spend to the cap. What if he sets the internal cap at 85 million? What then?

Maybe we can do a injury settlement and buy him out that way.