Doohicksie

Whatever. You've got your own little obsession about how many vets can play but that's at best a sidebar to the larger conversation.

It was 104 degrees when I started my ride Sunday. Yeah, I broke a sweat.

I think that for the people who are worried about not having enough young prospects in Rochester, that is precisely the issue. But thanks for reading the thread.

.....but can you get a weight bench? 😉

It blows my mind that what was largely an administrative move by the GM to manage the salary cap is still going strong after 10 pages.

This should help the Sabres who have plenty of cap space.

The timing is driven by Dallas. They wanted the contract gone prior to negotiating their contracts for Otter and Robertson.

He just got back. They said they would tell him within a week if he got it. He felt like the interview went well.

Maybe the Ducks retain 50%? 😄

Some discussion of the refloat and rehab of The Sullivans.

All interesting choices. If Kevyn tries he might land one, maybe two of them. But none of them is a sure bet and depend on offers they get from other teams ($ and term). But if he doesn't land any of them, having the extra $5 million for the cap floor will be a good thing. (And if he lands all of them, then the Bishop cap hit can be buried on LTIR.)

No, not that no one will sign in Buffalo, but who do you expect to sign to play here for say, $5 million per year, but for only one or two years? Kevyn can't bring in expensive pieces without affecting his ability to sign the young guns over the next year or two.

Again.... who exactly.... NAME NAMES please.... who exactly are these dudes you want Kevyn to sign, and will they even sign with Buffalo for short terms? Because in 2023 and 2024 the Sabres are going have to pay some their current dudes like Thompson, Cozens, Dahlin and Samuelsson (all will require new contracts next offseason or the one after).

I'm not optimistic per se; I'm simply stating that this deal has ZERO effect and will not preclude Kevyn from making other deals. No effect. Decoupled. Totally separate.

They will be able to make Fleury the highest paid goalie in the league and still have room to spare. He won't even come close to the cap. But if he does, all he has to do is move LTIR Bishop. This has ZERO, repeat, ZERO effect on his ability to land Fleury. Fleury may choose to go elsewhere but that decision will not be affected by this deal.

What last year's goalie signings told us is that Adams genuinely believed Ullmark was returning and when he left Kevyn was totally flat footed and he scrambled to do the best he could without committing to a long term solution with UPL, Portillo and Levi in the pipeline. Remember too that his number one priority at that time was getting a good return for Jack. In the year that has passed I think he probably looks at the position differently now, and also perceives UPL, Portillo and Levi as not automatic future Sabres. I expect his approach will be considerably different his year.

I agree about the goaltenders, but if you got excited thinking Bishop was solving that issue then disappointed when you realized he isn't playing anymore, that was jumping to conclusions. This was just a mundane transaction to get to the cap while preserving future cap space when young players need to be signed. Now, if the Sabres go into next season with a goalie tandem of Anderson and Toker, then your disappointment would be justified.

Yes. This. 123%.

Yes, and what I'm saying isn't necessarily at odds with that. I get the sense that their is more trust between the Pegulas and Kevyn than with previous GMs and that the trust goes both ways. XGMTM would just bring players in he that were good players and that ended up failing. Kevyn considers team chemistry to a much greater extent. If he identified a player that broke the budget but would greatly improve the team's fortunes, I think he could lay out the logic to the Pegulas as to why it was a good move and they would agree. And in return he would stress how the Pegulas were involved in the decision, probably giving them more credit than was due them, but Kevyn is more about pumping up the team than pumping up himself. It's a more cooperative (both ways) atmosphere.

It's kind of like I said in another post: If you want to sign a FA to fill that slot, pay a lot but only for a year or two..... who is he going to sign? I think this is mostly Kevyn getting ahead of the curve. He screwed up on Ullmark and lost him and screwed up the goalie situation. I think he's learned that he can't depend on things that are other people's decisions. If the right FA or trade comes along to improve the team he will certainly get that player, but he doesn't know who really will sign and who won't, so by making this move it gives him the flexibility to maybe make a lesser move for lower money and still be cap compliant. It's good cap management. If the right players are identified and he spends $20 million on them, the Bishop contract doesn't hurt anything.

Name a name. Which UFA worth $5 million will want to come here on a one-year contract? And if that hypothetical player did gel and become a big contributor, how do pay him AND the young players who will (hopefully) be demanding big money on new contracts?

How does this deal preclude that? It doesn't. On the other hand, MAF will have options and even if Kevyn offers $10 million, MAF may choose to play on a legit contender for less. So it's not like Kevyn should be banking on landing MAF. This deal gives him some cap insurance if no player allows him to make that big splashy deal. If he does and for whatever reason the Sabres go over the cap, Bishop's contract will not count due to LTIR.

Except the NHL doesn't allow cash transactions. And it's likely that 75% of that will be paid by insurance. No because assuming Bishop goes on LTIR he wouldn't be eating cap space anyway.

Perhaps but here are quite a few of us geezers on the forum. Right @PASabreFan? Spoken like a True Accountant™

Kevyn really is handing the car keys to the kids with the new licenses. He trusts them. It may not pay off this year, but it might down the road. Tru dat.