2020 UFAs. Who do you target?

[GASabresIUFAN]

There is going to be money but not a huge amount.  Probably enough to take on one big contract and not for a huge number of years

We have 48 mill invested in 12 players.  Cozens would be the 13th. (Eichel, Skinner, KO, MoJo, Asplund, McCabe, Miller, Dahlin, Risto, Joker and Hutton).

We have 6 important RFAs,  Ullmark, Reinhart, Montour, Mitts, Olofsson and Thompson, to re-sign.  

To keep this group of 19 would cost about 71-72 mill with 3 or 4 roster spots.  Waiving Hutton opens   a roster spot and saves 1.1 on the cap. 
 

The priorities remain the same, top 6 forwards, depth scoring and a goaltender. Maybe a physical D, especially if we trade Risto to get a top 6 forward.

VO Jack ???

Skinner ???? Reinhart

MoJo Cozens Mitts

????? Asplund Thompson

KO

Dahlin Montour

McCabe Risto

Miller Joker

Borgen?

Ullmark ????

Edited December 11, 2019 by GASabresIUFAN

[Drunkard]

A real #2 center. Johansson is solid and is actually doing better than I expected him to but this team has no real center depth is the other options are 4th liners like Larsson or guys who aren't ready like Mittelstadt, Cozens, Asplund, etc. Johansson can then either move down to the 3rd line or shift to the wing so we have a backup if/when injuries occur and have some actual depth at the position.

[Zamboni]

If anyone wants to do the homework ...

what’s the average salary for 2nd line center currently playing?
 

then add on another 15-20% because UFA’s almost always cost more to sign.

my uneducated guess is $6-8 mil. for a solid 2nd line UFA center. Sabres are moving out salary in the summer. But will it be enough for a high priced 2nd line center UFA? Hmmmm 

[dudacek]

Based on what we’ve seen so far, Sam gets 6-8, Montour 4-6 and Ullmark 2-4.

Mitts and Thompson will get peanuts. Olofsson will be very interesting.

We’ll have room to add two good players, or one very good player with enough left over to fill in the final few roster spots.

[Brawndo]

icklas Backstrom	WAS	UFA	32	C	L	24	5	15	20				$6,700,000
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins	EDM	UFA	27	C	L	27	6	11	17				$6,000,000
Mikael Granlund	NSH	UFA	28	C	L	27	4	8	12				$5,750,000
Mikko Koivu	MIN	UFA	37	C	L	28	2	10	12				$5,500,000
Alex Galchenyuk	PIT	UFA	26	C	L	22	2	8	10				$4,900,000
Martin Hanzal	DAL	UFA	33	C	L								$4,750,000
Carl Soderberg	AZ	UFA	34	C	L	33	9	9	18				$4,750,000
Craig Smith	NSH	UFA	31	C	R	29	2	7	9				$4,250,000
Vladislav Namestnikov	OTT	UFA	27	C	L	28	7	9	16				$4,000,000
Cody Eakin	VGK	UFA	29	C	L	24	3	4	7				$3,850,000
Sam Gagner	VAN	UFA	31	C	R	15	1	6	7				$3,150,000
Jean-Gabriel Pageau	OTT	UFA	28	C	R	31	16	7	23				$3,100,000
Erik Haula	CAR	UFA	29	C	L	16	8	3	11				$2,750,000
Colin Wilson	COL	UFA	30	C	L	9		4	4				$2,600,000
Mattias Janmark	DAL	UFA	27	C	L	27	3	8	11				$2,300,000
Joe Thornton	SJS	UFA	41	C	L	33		10	10				$2,000,000
Melker Karlsson	SJS	UFA	25	C	R	30	3	3	6				$2,000,000
Trevor Lewis	LAK	UFA	33	C	R	24	1	4	5				$2,000,000
Tim Schaller	VAN	UFA	29	C	L	31	4		4				$1,900,000
Zemgus Girgensons	BUF	UFA	26	C	L	32	5	4	9				$1,600,000
Kyle Clifford	LAK	UFA	29	C	L	31	3	4	7				$1,600,000
Markus Granlund	EDM	UFA	27	C	L	28	3	1	4				$1,300,000
Matthew Peca	MTL	UFA	27	C	L	4							$1,300,000
Austin Czarnik	CGY	UFA	27	C	R	8	2	1	3				$1,250,000
Tyler Ennis	OTT	UFA	30	C	L	31	8	7	15				$1,216,667
Derick Brassard	NYI	UFA	33	C	L	29	7	10	17				$1,200,000
Kyle Brodziak	EDM	UFA	37	C	R								$1,150,000

Here’s the UFA Centers

[Drunkard]

54 minutes ago, Zamboni said:

If anyone wants to do the homework ...

what’s the average salary for 2nd line center currently playing?
 

then add on another 15-20% because UFA’s almost always cost more to sign.

my uneducated guess is $6-8 mil. for a solid 2nd line UFA center. Sabres are moving out salary in the summer. But will it be enough for a high priced 2nd line center UFA? Hmmmm 

Sounds about right. Hayes isn't even a top tier #2 center and he got a 7 year $50 million contract from Philly last summer. It's ridiculous but that's the going rate I'd say. And I'm going to stop here rather than re-hashing the trade that shall not be named, but first I'll state once again that Botterill should die in a fire for making 2C such a need to begin with.

Edited December 11, 2019 by Drunkard

[Zamboni]

1 minute ago, Drunkard said:

Sounds about right. Hayes isn't even a top tier #2 center and he got a 7 year $50 million contract from Philly. It's ridiculous but that's the going rate I'd say. And I'm going to stop here rather than re-hashing the trade that shall not be name, after stating that Botterill should die in a fire for making it such a need to begin with.

Ok.

I’m sure your joking but ...

I wouldn’t want JB or anyone to die in a fire for a poor sports trade...

breath ...

[Mustache of God]

The problem is they need a stop-gap for a 2C for 2-3 years until Cozens is ready, so I'd be hesitant to give any of those centers on the list a long deal. The off-season will certainly be interesting considering the amount of UFAs we have this year. 

I still think Casey fits into the longer term plans, he's simply not physically ready and needs to grow into his body more. I don't understand why he's not in Rochester right now if he's being scratched or stapled to the bench when the game matters. Botts needs to swallow some pride and send him down.

I don't know enough about most of the players on this list to really target anyone, I just hope JBOT does something to address the center depth before July 1st.

[nfreeman]

Well, it looks like the Caps will have a hard time keeping Backstrom, as they already have over $76MM committed for next year.

IF (and IMHO only if) the Sabres make the playoffs this year and look like they've finally turned the corner, it's not impossible that Backstrom would consider it.

Backstrom will turn 33 one month into next season.  He's been very productive and very durable for his entire career.  He's currently making $6.7MM in the final year of a TEN-year contract.

Would he come here for, say, 4 years x $8MM?  If so, I would give him that in a heartbeat.

Or would the Sabres need to go to 5 years x $9MM?

[Weave]

35 minutes ago, Mustache of God said:

The problem is they need a stop-gap for a 2C for 2-3 years until Cozens is ready

Snipped it here.

No, they need a 2C indefinitely.  Until Cozens, Mitts, or anyone else proves they can play 2C effectively, they need a 2C.  IOW, Botts shouldn’t plan for a stopgap.  Too many guys drafted in the 7-15 range don’t develop as needed to make a decision about the position short term.

[LGR4GM]

3 minutes ago, Weave said:

Snipped it here.

No, they need a 2C indefinitely.  Until Cozens, Mitts, or anyone else proves they can play 2C effectively, they need a 2C.  IOW, Botts shouldn’t plan for a stopgap.  Too many guys drafted in the 7-15 range don’t develop as needed to make a decision about the position short term.

Which is why we should trade for someone if possible. Cirelli is still someone I wish we could entice away from TB. With their cap problems I am hoping it happens but doubtful. I just worry about paying a 30yr old center a ton of money for years on year when we know they will start to decline during the contract. 

[Drunkard]

 

1 hour ago, Zamboni said:

Ok.

I’m sure your joking but ...

I wouldn’t want JB or anyone to die in a fire for a poor sports trade...

breath …

No, I want him dead. If dying in a fire is too harsh though, I'd take his giant head on a pike instead.

16 minutes ago, Weave said:

Snipped it here.

No, they need a 2C indefinitely.  Until Cozens, Mitts, or anyone else proves they can play 2C effectively, they need a 2C.  IOW, Botts shouldn’t plan for a stopgap.  Too many guys drafted in the 7-15 range don’t develop as needed to make a decision about the position short term.

This times 1,000. There is absolutely zero reason to keep a spot warm for a damn teenager or 20 year old on an ELC. People can always be shifted to wing. If you can get a good 2C, do it. If Cozens blossoms early that's great, he can play 3C or shift to wing. If the light turns on for Mittelstadt the same thing applies. Maybe with more than one legit top 6 center in the fold we can actually fill out a top 6 that isn't held together with crazy glue and duct tape and we might actually have some depth if/when injuries hit. We can't bank on perfect health when a season lasts 6+ months. A major injury to Eichel or Johannson and we basically have to write off the entire season. Heck, just a relatively minor injury to Johansson almost put us in a hole they couldn't get out of. Imagine if he missed an extra month.

Edited December 11, 2019 by Drunkard

[OhMyDahlin]

These names are awful. Ryan Reaves? Nic Deslauriers? Radko Gudas? They are garbage and they do nothing for this team.

 

Josh Leivo? Vlad Namestnikov? Leivo is no better than Girgensons, the Rangers couldn't wait to get rid of Namestnikov.

 

Pietrangelo is not coming to Buffalo, nor should we want to pay a 30 year old that much for a 7 year deal. (He'll command at least $8M/year.)

 

Granlund and Haula sound more intriguing. However, I doubt Carolina and Nashville let Haula and Granlund go after just trading for them.

 

Toffoli should be here already, Botterill needs to step up and make a trade and he should be the target...Galchenyuk is interesting too.

 

No chance Lehner comes back, Chicago will probably dump Crawford and keep Lehner anyways...Holtby will command way too much for a 31 year old.

 

I'd rather let our kids battle for open spots. Sign a top NCAA UFA or two (which Botterill hasn't done) and trade for some 24-27 year olds. No need to overspend on aging players who don't fit the core and timeline of this team. We don't need "grit," we need talent. Be smart like the Bills, find good players that other teams don't want.

We have Reinhart, Dahlin, Olofsson, Mittelstadt, and Ullmark, who all need new deals. Draft, develop, keep your own. That's the smart strategy.

EDIT: If we wanted toughness, we should've traded for someone like JT Miller...a tough player who can also put up points.

Edited December 11, 2019 by OhMyDahlin

[triumph_communes]

Girgensons/Larsson, Vesey if small deal, Holtby if term can be short, Namestikov, Dadonov, Pageau, Kassian

I'm really just looking for a right wing and a 3/4C, which I'm hoping a trade resolves before UFA anyway.  You gun for Holtby if you can get him without a stupid contract though, and deal Hutton away if needed.

 

 

[Carmel Corn]

2 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

Which is why we should trade for someone if possible. Cirelli is still someone I wish we could entice away from TB. With their cap problems I am hoping it happens but doubtful. I just worry about paying a 30yr old center a ton of money for years on year when we know they will start to decline during the contract. 

This....I know this is a UFA thread, but I agree the best way to address 2C is by trade, not UFA signing.  Going UFA will likely mean somebody past their prime looking for an above market salary.

[Curt]

RNH has said glowing things about Krueger, so maybe there is something there, and I think he would be a nice fit.  Unfortunately, he isn’t actually a UFA until after the 2020-21 season.

[PerreaultForever]

12 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

Which is why we should trade for someone if possible. Cirelli is still someone I wish we could entice away from TB. With their cap problems I am hoping it happens but doubtful. I just worry about paying a 30yr old center a ton of money for years on year when we know they will start to decline during the contract. 

I would totally be behind trading for Cirelli but I doubt Tampa will ditch any players that have any level of grit due to their early exit last year and previous softness issues. 

[sweetlou]

not interested in UFA center...we need stop gap for a couple of years not someone for the next five.  I would rather trade for someone who is already signed for the next couple of years.  I'm looking more for guys like...bjugstad, Stepan, trocheck.  I'd also be interested in upcoming RFA's like Tierney, Faska, or Cirelli.

 

[LGR4GM]

6 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

I would totally be behind trading for Cirelli but I doubt Tampa will ditch any players that have any level of grit due to their early exit last year and previous softness issues. 

I don't think he's available because he is good. That said they have about 8.5mil in cap space, figure that goes up to 10mil with the cap going up. That means they have to sign 12ish players with that money. They need at least 4 defenders next season to sign. It will be a very tight fit to get Cirelli in and under the cap. He currently has 21pts in 28 games. 

[GASabresIUFAN]

11 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

I don't think he's available because he is good. That said they have about 8.5mil in cap space, figure that goes up to 10mil with the cap going up. That means they have to sign 12ish players with that money. They need at least 4 defenders next season to sign. It will be a very tight fit to get Cirelli in and under the cap. He currently has 21pts in 28 games. 

We have been saying for years that they need to do something major to fit everyone under the cap.  Now it may finally happen with Cirelli and Sergachev to re-sign.  At least one, maybe two of Palat, Kilhorn or Johnson will need to waive their NTC to give them enough cap space to re-sign the two young star and fill out the roster.  That will be an interesting off-season story. The 

[Weave]

33 minutes ago, sweetlou said:

not interested in UFA center...we need stop gap for a couple of years not someone for the next five.  I would rather trade for someone who is already signed for the next couple of years.  I'm looking more for guys like...bjugstad, Stepan, trocheck.  I'd also be interested in upcoming RFA's like Tierney, Faska, or Cirelli.

 

I addressed this idea upthread, but it bears repeating.  We don’t need a stopgap at 2C.  A stopgap assumes we have the next 2C in the waiting.  And we don’t know that we do.  We need a 2C for the foreseeable future.  If we happen to develop one a couple years down the road we have depth (good) or we have trade assets (also good).  But we should not be assuming we have a 2C for later until we actually have evidence of that players existence.  Performance in junior hockey is not evidence.

[Drunkard]

1 hour ago, sweetlou said:

not interested in UFA center...we need stop gap for a couple of years not someone for the next five.  I would rather trade for someone who is already signed for the next couple of years.  I'm looking more for guys like...bjugstad, Stepan, trocheck.  I'd also be interested in upcoming RFA's like Tierney, Faska, or Cirelli.

 

It's that line of thinking that got us Berglund and Sobotka. No need to keep a good long term center like O'Reilly. All we need is a stop gap to keep the seat warm for Mittelstadt. Botterill counted that egg before it hatched and 1.5 seasons later it still hasn't.

I'd rather not give a 7 year deal to some 28 year old center either, but I wouldn't effectively take half our options off the table just to pencil Cozens into the 2C spot when he hasn't played a single minute in the NHL yet, let alone proven he can be the #2 center behind Eichel. He may not be good enough, he may prove to be better on the wing, and even if he works out as planned you can always shift someone else to wing and actually build some center depth in the top 6 for when injuries hit.