Steven Stamkos stays in Tampa Bay, 8.5mil x 8yrs

[TrueBlueGED]

Murray says Stamkos is a center and only a center.

 

Not surprising. If we pay him $12M it's because he's Steven Stamkos, not to play running mate to Jack.

[Brawndo]

Have ROR take the Faceoffs and Stamkos carry the puck?

Also

 

Tim Murray says he believes you can win when you have a player earning $10-11 million per season.

[Eleven]

I don't know if I'm rationalizing away a future "sour grapes" mentality or what, but the more I read, the less I'm interested in the Sabres paying big money for him.  Most of the other teams with a serious interest are in the division, though.

[Brawndo]

Tim Murray notes a lot of teams will offer Stamkos a similar financial package, but not many can offer him the advantage of "geography."

[LastPommerFan]

He's already in the division, so him landing in the Atlantic would just be status quo, right?

[TrueBlueGED]

Have ROR take the Faceoffs and Stamkos carry the puck?

Also

 

Tim Murray says he believes you can win when you have a player earning $10-11 million per season.

 

Of course you can. That doesn't rebut the actual argument against signing Stamkos, however.

[Brawndo]

I don't know if I'm rationalizing away a future "sour grapes" mentality or what, but the more I read, the less I'm interested in the Sabres paying big money for him. Most of the other teams with a serious interest are in the division, though.

I worry the biggest reason I want them to sign him is it kills the "Because it's Buffalo Mantra" is clouding my rational judgement for not signing him

[Eleven]

I worry the biggest reason I want them to sign him is it kills the "Because it's Buffalo Mantra" is clouding my rational judgement for not signing him

 

Yeah, I have that, too.

[Randall Flagg]

I'm moving quickly towards "do not sign" as well. 

[dudacek]

Murray says Stamkos is a center and only a center.

Did he say the same about Jack?

And if we sign Stamkos, does that mean trading a core forward for a core defenceman becomes an option?

[Brawndo]

Tim Murray says next convo with Stamkos' agents is "if Steven is going to be available on July 1 and would he have an interest in Buffalo.”

[Hoss]

I am firmly in the "getting Stamkos would be awesome but it's a bonus I'm not concerned about if we don't fulfil."

[Brawndo]

From Puck Daddy

 

Does Tim Murray have a sense that Stamkos wants to play in Buffalo? “I have no sense, no.”

[IKnowPhysics]

We have an opportunity to land one of the greatest forwards of this decade . A type of player who would never reach free agency under normal circumstances. And getting him means he doesn't go to a future playoff rival. All for the cost of NO ASSETS except money and cap space, which we have plenty of.

 

We can't not do this. We have enough flexibility to make this work.

 

The tank is done. It's time to rebuild. We need bravery now, not courage, and there's a difference.

[sabresith]

Murray says Stamkos is a center and only a center.

My lines with the way the team sits today and signing Stamkos. First line RoR/Eichel/Ennis line two would be Kane/Stamkos/Reinhart. IMO RoR was always going to play on Jack's wing with or without a signing of Stamkos. The only weak spot on those two lines is Ennis. Hopefully Vesey signs and takes that spot. Line two I feel could be special. Just imagine the play making ability of Stamkos and Reinhart matched up with Kane's scoring ability. But I'm not interested in paying 12mill to get him

[Thorner]

I am firmly in the "getting Stamkos would be awesome but it's a bonus I'm not concerned about if we don't fulfil."

Same. I can't sweat the details on this one anymore. We could potentially add a 40 goal scorer who is 26, I'll be thrilled if we do. If we don't, I'm not going to be upset about it.

[TrueBlueGED]

Assuming Vesey does end up signing here, and after drafting Nylander...I'm even less interested in Stamkos than I was before. Not at the price being thrown around, anyway.

[dudacek]

Eichel Matthews

Reinhart Marner

Nylander Nylander

ROR Kadri

Kane JVR

Risto Reilly

Bogo Gardiner

Lehner Andersen

 

Add Stamkos to either of the columns. Which is the better group?

[Thorner]

Gotta be Sabres for both columns, I think, even without the Stamkos add. But I'm biased, of course.

[darksabre]

I was completely out on all this Stamkos stuff until this week. The prospect of him not only being on this team, but not even being the sole important piece, has me salivating. I want the super team dammit!

 

I won't be mad if it doesn't happen though. But the possibility is just too fun. Just IMAGINE the Toronto butthurt.

[Hoss]

Eichel Matthews

Reinhart Marner

Nylander Nylander

ROR Kadri

Kane JVR

Risto Reilly

Bogo Gardiner

Lehner Andersen

 

Add Stamkos to either of the columns. Which is the better group?

If I'm a player this is probably how I'm looking at it. Don't kill me for giving Matthews the slight nod, I think players will view him as the shiny new toy with the entire Canadian media behind him right now.

[TrueBlueGED]

Since it's now confirmed we're making a run at Stamkos, let's have some fun with money. We currently have 9 projected NHL forwards under contract (I'm excluding Cal O'Reilly, Rodrigues, and McCormick), four defensemen, and 1 goaltender. Our cap space (after subtracting those we will bury in Rochester or stash on LTIR) is ~$22.5 million, and we need to sign 4 forwards, 3 Dmen, and a goalie. I will also work under the assumption we retain all of our RFAs, which will take care of three forward and three defensemen spots. Just for the sake of it, I will also assume we sign Vesey and that we're not adding a meaningful piece outside of Stamkos. 

 

Girgensons: $2M x2

Foligno: $2.5M x3

Ristolainen: $5.3M x6 (you could argue to bridge here, but I don't see any way his camp agrees to it)

McCabe: $2M x3

Nelson: $925k x2

Vesey: $925k x2

Backup goalie: $1.5M x2

==$15.15M

Total cap space = $7.35M

 

So if we go with the Stamkos at $11M figure, we need to free up ~$4M without opening up any holes in the roster. For hockey purposes I think it'd be best to send Moulson to Rochester and replace him with an ELC, but that exercise doesn't actually save money. Buying him out would save ~$1.1M more than burying him, so it's an option, though I don't think a good one (raise your hand if you want him on the books for $900k for three more seasons to save $1M now). So let's set Moulson aside for now.

 

The obvious first step is looking to the Gorges/Franson combo on the blue line. Gorges makes $3.9M and Franson $3.325M. If we could trade both of them without retaining salary while replacing both with an ELC, boom, done. I'm not sure how realistic that is. Buying out Franson would save $1.3M this year, but most of that savings would probably be eaten up by his replacement (not to mention the $670k cap hit next season). Doable, but not super attractive in my estimation. I don't think we can get rid of both Gorges and Franson without retaining any salary and/or replace them with pure $1M players, but let's just go with the optimistic scenario we can because I'm tired of typing. Roster would look something like:

 

O'Reilly-Stamkos-Ennis

Vesey-Eichel-Reinhart 

Kane-Girgensons-Fasching

Foligno-Larsson-Gionta

Deslauriers

 

Kulikov-Ristolainen

McCabe-Bogosian

Scrub #1-Nelson

Scrub #2

 

Lehner

Backupnobodycaresaboutuntillehnergetshurtagain

 

**Note: I didn't put a ton of thought into the lines, just threw them together quick. And yes. Moulson is in Rochester for Fasching.

 

As expected, that forward group is utterly stacked. Wowza. Not sure how anyone could look at that group and not get excited. But holy hell that blue line makes me want to go over the Falls in a cardboard barrel. Playoff team? I think so. Swept in the first round? Quite possibly :lol:

[darksabre]

Since it's now confirmed we're making a run at Stamkos, let's have some fun with money. We currently have 9 projected NHL forwards under contract (I'm excluding Cal O'Reilly, Rodrigues, and McCormick), four defensemen, and 1 goaltender. Our cap space (after subtracting those we will bury in Rochester or stash on LTIR) is ~$22.5 million, and we need to sign 4 forwards, 3 Dmen, and a goalie. I will also work under the assumption we retain all of our RFAs, which will take care of three forward and three defensemen spots. Just for the sake of it, I will also assume we sign Vesey and that we're not adding a meaningful piece outside of Stamkos.

 

Girgensons: $2M x2

Foligno: $2.5M x3

Ristolainen: $5.3M x6 (you could argue to bridge here, but I don't see any way his camp agrees to it)

McCabe: $2M x3

Nelson: $925k x2

Vesey: $925k x2

Backup goalie: $1.5M x2

==$15.15M

Total cap space = $7.35M

 

So if we go with the Stamkos at $11M figure, we need to free up ~$4M without opening up any holes in the roster. For hockey purposes I think it'd be best to send Moulson to Rochester and replace him with an ELC, but that exercise doesn't actually save money. Buying him out would save ~$1.1M more than burying him, so it's an option, though I don't think a good one (raise your hand if you want him on the books for $900k for three more seasons to save $1M now). So let's set Moulson aside for now.

 

The obvious first step is looking to the Gorges/Franson combo on the blue line. Gorges makes $3.9M and Franson $3.325M. If we could trade both of them without retaining salary while replacing both with an ELC, boom, done. I'm not sure how realistic that is. Buying out Franson would save $1.3M this year, but most of that savings would probably be eaten up by his replacement (not to mention the $670k cap hit next season). Doable, but not super attractive in my estimation. I don't think we can get rid of both Gorges and Franson without retaining any salary and/or replace them with pure $1M players, but let's just go with the optimistic scenario we can because I'm tired of typing. Roster would look something like:

 

O'Reilly-Stamkos-Ennis

Vesey-Eichel-Reinhart

Kane-Girgensons-Fasching

Foligno-Larsson-Gionta

Deslauriers

 

Kulikov-Ristolainen

McCabe-Bogosian

Scrub #1-Nelson

Scrub #2

 

Lehner

Backupnobodycaresaboutuntillehnergetshurtagain

 

**Note: I didn't put a ton of thought into the lines, just threw them together quick. And yes. Moulson is in Rochester for Fasching.

 

As expected, that forward group is utterly stacked. Wowza. Not sure how anyone could look at that group and not get excited. But holy hell that blue line makes me want to go over the Falls in a cardboard barrel. Playoff team? I think so. Swept in the first round? Quite possibly :lol:

I think moving some guys at forward to get a D man is the easiest way to get this done while clearing cap space. Which forwards could we replace with guys from Roch and cheap free agents?

[TrueBlueGED]

I think moving some guys at forward to get a D man is the easiest way to get this done while clearing cap space. Which forwards could we replace with guys from Roch and cheap free agents?

 

Can you imagine this current defense with Bogo's inevitable 20 game absence?  :sick:

 

More to the point, Ennis is the obvious name, but his trade value is poop (or less). I believe Girgensons and Foligno likely have legitimate value, but move them out for a real Dman and you're not clearing any space at all, just flipping the dollars around. I really don't think this works paying Gorges and Franson over $7M combined--that has to change one way or another. That ###### Moulson contract.  :wallbash:

 

Edit: Looking at it like this, I can see why Freeman thinks Murray wants to go bridge deal with Risto. I just think if we try to push bridge deal, his agent solicits an offer sheet elsewhere.

Edited June 25, 2016 by TrueBlueGED

[Hoss]

More to the point, Ennis is the obvious name, but his trade value is poop (or less).

So we can expect a third-round pick for him? Somewhere around pick 69 (or less)?