Drag0nDan

From what i remember they divide the offer sheet total by 5 to determine draft compensation, so i doubt there would be a team offering a ton of term. So like 6yr 48M would be - 9.6M AAV which bumps up the compensation to 2 1sts, 1 2nd, and 1 3rd.

Byram's a weird one - i truly don't know what his value *is*, *should be*, or what we as fans have for him.

It definitely was an issue before, but part of me thinks they just can't upgrade over their prospects. Pretty much everyone worth a damn over the age of 26 has a clause. So now you're left with a market of talented players who other teams view as building blocks, or just slightly different young players than the ones you have.

And he probably gets non-tendered again next year for the same reason.

289 goals allowed was 2nd worst in the East, and 4th worst in the league. One playoff team allowed more than 250 goals - and that was Montreal who also had a -20 goal differential and most seasons doesn't make it. The top 7 teams in fewest goals allowed in each conference made the playoffs. If you can't get a new goalie (not sure who was wanted but demko/allen re-upped, and gibson had a M-NTC), then you have to improve the players up front. Most of the players they moved on from - Clifton, Cozens, Jokiharju, peterka, lafferty - were not putting in the level of effort needed in my opinion.

I'm not sure "balls" are the biggest factor in here, this isn't madden. Suter has to want to sign here, Dallas has to want to trade Robertson for a really weak offer, and trading for an expiring contract player who has no-trade protection.

Everyone signs cheap AHL players. It's just... most teams have other news so it isn't the only thing coming out.

I mean - they exploited the LTIR loophole last year to get the marchand and jones trades through. Then activated Tkachuk in the playoffs. If they really do enforce a cap-compliant team in the playoffs, i am not sure they could have iced last years championship roster.

Perhaps the small sample size factored into it? In a lot more minutes with everyone not named power for buffalo, and everyone he played with in ottawa, he was pretty mediocre. Lack of physicality could be it, or just that they felt he was a bit more limited in what he offered offensively. Still weird to non-tender when you could have just waived him if he didn't make the team.

I know metrics/optics looked good, but he also really didn't play that much here and most of that time was with power. Take him off Power's pair and what do you have? I guess the opinion was - replacement level defenseman.

I have no memory of watching Zary play, but Benson played like 20 more games.

I'd imagine 3yr 775K from Buffalo would indicate that even Buffalo doesn't really see him as an NHL player.

Same. So if the offers suck, play him. U can always move him later.

I like that they're buddies who are bringing an open mind and a willingness to hurt the other team.

It's looking more like they plan to just keep him for now. Market will re-materialize later when players get hurt.