IKnowPhysics

The article I link explores this (not for the Sabres specifically, however). Regarding sliding the year of ELC: Pros: You get nine games to watch/develop the player in the zeroth year. You get three full seasons of that player at the ELC salary and salary cap hit. Cons: You only get nine games to watch the player in the zeroth year. The player could theoretically have more opportunity to develop, put up great stats, and make a case for a bigger salary/cap hit on their next contract. If you want the lower cap hit in year three, at the risk of the player demanding more money for the post-ELC years, you slide it. D-men typically take longer to develop, so you'd typically want to slide it. Also worth mentioning, if, like Eichel and presumably Dahlin, Power is really good, Sabres will simply give him an eight year contract extension after the three years of ELC, and will want to a) wait to pay him that salary/cap hit and b) want that 11th year (3 + 8 ) under contract. instead of (2 + 8 ). They won't abide another Reinhart by dicking around with shorter prove-it bridge deals. Right. Portillo and Johnson are 20, so no sliding their ELCs.

Good in-depth read that goes far deeper than your question: https://businessofhockey.wordpress.com/2017/04/03/burning-the-first-year-of-a-rookies-entry-level-contract/ There's two separate issues: Eligibility NCAA players lose NCAA eligibility the moment they sign a professional contract. Junior players do not lose any eligibility even after they sign their ELC. Sliding the first year of the ELC may occur once an NHL ELC is signed provided: Players are age 18 and 19 (see above). Players have no more than nine NHL games played. Functionally, once an ELC is signed, NCAA players can't go back to NCAA, they would go to the AHL (they could also theoretically go to the ECHL, but this doesn't happen often). CHL players can go back to CHL (and for some cases, based on the CHL-AHL transfer agreement, they must remain in the CHL).

This is what will happen, barring serious injury. Nine pro games late in the 2021-22 season, after the NCAA (Michigan) season is over. Year one of his ELC will slide to 2022-23.

His QoC was abyssmal last season, meaning his good corsi rates were potentially a product of playing very sheltered minutes. This doesn't mean he's bad, but it doesn't demonstrate that he'd be good against better competition either.

Before RFA signings.

The between-the-lines implication from KA's Sam Reinhart/draft presser was that McCabe getting injured before his UFA period hampered the Sabres' ability to trade McCabe at the deadline last season. This served as a lesson for KA regarding Sam's situation. As Sam indicated that he wouldn't resign with Buffalo, KA had to determine whether to trade him before the season or at the deadline. KA wanted to avoid a) Sam having a bad year (esp with no Eichel...?) and/or b) Sam getting injured and it zeroing his rental value like McCabe. He also wanted the higher value before the season. KA indicated be liked McCabe and implied he would have wanted to resign him. I think if KA had known before last season that McCabe wanted to go UFA, he would have faced the same decision then. Maybe he did... and maybe he decided on a deadline trade... that never panned out. Unlucky situation that likely cost us some decent rental return (maybe a 2nd in the currently hot D market, maybe more).

Another Well

A forward that can't score, even with sheltered minutes. Recorded 14P total in 126GP over the last three seasons with NJD, ARI, and CHI. Again, like so many other signings, was coached by Granato in CHI in 2017.

However, Chad blames Connor Carrick; I accept this. https://www.expectedbuffalo.com/will-butcher-mark-pysyk-acquisitions-fortify-buffalo-sabres-blue-line/

FWIW, Will Butcher played the easiest minutes of any NJD defenseman and still struggled.

Posession stats were decent in DAL, but he was the most shletered player on the team. Hard to tell how he'd do even in medium-hard or defensive-zone assignments.

Andersen, Dell, UPL, and Tokarski? I'm in. Start cranking. Let's get this ***** started. Straight to the bottom we go.

https://www.eliteprospects.com/player/91243/vinnie-hinostroza 27 year old 5'9" journeyman through CHI, ARI, FLA, and traded back to CHI for Brad Morrison in a minor swap before this year's deadline. 5G 17A 22P in 68GP in '19-20 with ARI. Decent possession and usage. 4G 8A 12P in 17GP with CHI, after 0P in 9GP with FLA. Good corsi rate stats on both sides of the puck. Somewhat high GF/60 and HDCF/60, but unremarkable GA/60- not a shutdown winger. Granato coached him in CHI in 2017-18. Could be one of those "bottom six with offensive upside" players, but just as likely to be unremarkable.

Now it's a little too quiet.

Agreed on all counts. Steady Dman that only got better. Definitely an unsung contributor.

Massive cap room, zero NHL goalies signed, and no one better available?

Getting a lot warmer. Smith: https://www.eliteprospects.com/player/33903/reilly-smith 30 year old LW/RW with 14G 11A 25P in 53GP on a down year (22G 17A 39P on an 82GP pace), but has recorded 0.72PPG over the last four seasons. $5M AAV with one year left on the contract. Player usage and possession stats look good as a good two-way forward, including even WOWY away from top linemates Marchessault and Karlsson. Smith has the best CF/60 among VGK forwards after those two. Krebs: https://www.eliteprospects.com/player/322178/peyton-krebs Krebs is the 2019 17th overall pick C/LW 5'11" that's been lighting up the WHL (13G 30A 43P in 24GP), leading the league in assists and points, and is poised to break into the NHL. His current NHLe is 44P in 82GP. Krebs is VGK's best prospect. Krebs has not yet burned a year of his ELC, which will last three more years until after 2023-24. Hague: https://www.eliteprospects.com/player/253977/nicolas-hague Hague is the 34th overall pick from 2017. 6'6" left-shooting physical two-way defenseman. 5G 12A 17P in 52GP and decent possession stats this season playing sheltered minutes for VGK. ELC expires at the end of the season. Hague had the best CA/60 and xGA/60 among VGK defensemen. 1st round pick Best guess in the 22-28 range. Definitely worthy of consideration.

Usually, yes. The trade partner would need cap space, which could come by: The trade partner having existing cap space. The trade partner returning players' salaries to the Sabres. Sabres retaining some of Eichel's salary. The trade partner having completed a different cap-clearing trade or having a player newly on LTIR. The trade waiting until later in the season, which would pro-rate the cap hit (see also: trade deadline).

That's we've been told to believe. All goalie transactions over the past four years and the next two years were to enable the development, arrival, and inevitable contender-caliber goaltending provided by UPL. Because if he didn't do it, who else was supposed to?

Agreed. Highest market fluidity was pre-draft with immediate top picks available. Once pick ~#8 was taken, the urgency to trade him cooled a little. Now teams are clearing cap in preparation for the UFA market. Eichel's value is high-ish again, as the number of teams with available cap and number of teams looking to dump cap to build around him is higher. Once the UFA period starts, contracts are signed, and cap space becomes diminished, that fluidity will decrease again and the market for Eichel may cool slightly. Once camp is over, most teams have their rosters and cap situations set, so making big trades gets harder. If we wait and get down to one or two teams willing to make the deal, it'll be a situation of we-get-what-we-get. Competition from big-cap-space teams is what we need, and that's what we have right now. Because of this, it's likely ***** or get off the pot. But, as was always the case, we cannot sacrifice quality of return.

It's Evgeny, not Andrei. After playing only 24 NHL games before this season, Evgeny played heavily sheltered minutes in DET where he went 3G-5A-8P in 21GP. His ACL injury in 2018 basically killed his development. His stats indicate he's not a very good on the defensive side of the puck (his HDCA/60 and HDCF% are real bad), which would likely need to be his usage on the Sabre bottom-six.