2020 Off-season gameplan

[Flashsabre]

$9 x 5 years would be my offer to Pietrangelo.  He is a great skater so he is not going to fall off a cliff.  Stick him besides Dahlin and you have one of the best d tandems in hockey while developing Dahlin into a superstar.  Great defender on both the PP and PK.  Tremendous leader with a Stanley Cup.  Go with Pietrangelo, joker, Borgen on RD and trade Risto, Montour and Miller for a 2C and an upgrade in net.

I doubt he is coming to Buffalo but if he was interested he is the type of player you have to go after to help change the franchise.

[3putt]

1 hour ago, Flashsabre said:

$9 x 5 years would be my offer to Pietrangelo.  He is a great skater so he is not going to fall off a cliff.  Stick him besides Dahlin and you have one of the best d tandems in hockey while developing Dahlin into a superstar.  Great defender on both the PP and PK.  Tremendous leader with a Stanley Cup.  Go with Pietrangelo, joker, Borgen on RD and trade Risto, Montour and Miller for a 2C and an upgrade in net.

I doubt he is coming to Buffalo but if he was interested he is the type of player you have to go after to help change the franchise.

They said the same about D Keith.  Yikes.

[Broken Ankles]

On 8/15/2020 at 7:31 AM, LGR4GM said:

Can't believe we're entertaining ecklund rumors now. 

Can't believe we're entertaining ecklund rumors now. 

Question.   Are you entertaining Chad rumors?

[In The Buff]

I remember hearing about TP really liking Pietrangelo & i can see how he'd help us, especially if we made other moves in conjunction with it. But there will be a bunch of other teams interested in him. Montreal, Vancouver, Winnipeg, Minnesota, LA, Ottawa. But most likely i see Dubas making the strongest push. Toronto moving Kapanen is largely thought of being a cap move to bring in a Dman of Pietrangelo's caliber. And he could even move out Tyson Barrie or Nylander to save additional cap & gain additional assets.

I do think we'll kick the tires on Alex, at the very least to see what it'd take, but I'd say its extremely, extremely unlikely we pay up to bring him here or that he chooses us over those other teams. Unless Terry really loves the guy so much he orders Kevyn to offer more than any other club, i just don't see it happening.

Stranger things have happened though.

[Marvin]

Let us think about this systematically.

If we ask a player to sign with us, what will the player do?  Obviously, call his potential teammates and ask how they feel about how the team.  Thus, KA, TP, and KP had all better have Eichel, Reinhart, Dahlin, etc. "on board" with their plans AND be happy with them.

Now we need to compare the Sabres' situation and offer with others'.  What could entice someone to sign with Buffalo besides money?  I personally might like the challenge of being one of the guys who change the mentality, expectations, culture, etc. around team.  Others may see that they are filling a glaring hole, like ROR and Binnington did in St. Louis.

Honestly, I would not spend a ton of money on UFA's -- IMHO, many will use the Sabres' cap situation and recent history against us to extort untenable money and/or term.  I would be targetting whom I think are 2C's in need of a chance and a G upgrade.

[Radar]

2 hours ago, Marvin, Sabres Fan said:

Let us think about this systematically.

If we ask a player to sign with us, what will the player do?  Obviously, call his potential teammates and ask how they feel about how the team.  Thus, KA, TP, and KP had all better have Eichel, Reinhart, Dahlin, etc. "on board" with their plans AND be happy with them.

Now we need to compare the Sabres' situation and offer with others'.  What could entice someone to sign with Buffalo besides money?  I personally might like the challenge of being one of the guys who change the mentality, expectations, culture, etc. around team.  Others may see that they are filling a glaring hole, like ROR and Binnington did in St. Louis.

Honestly, I would not spend a ton of money on UFA's -- IMHO, many will use the Sabres' cap situation and recent history against us to extort untenable money and/or term.  I would be targetting whom I think are 2C's in need of a chance and a G upgrade.

I agree. Just in general principle free agency is a very expensive and risky adventure. 

[sweetlou]

Is anyone else on this board wanting Alex Tuch as much as Craig Rivet and myself.

I'd trade Vegas Montour and Thompson for him.

Edited August 30, 2020 by sweetlou

[Marvin]

1 hour ago, Radar said:

I agree. Just in general principle free agency is a very expensive and risky adventure. 

The one inexpensive purchase that we might be able to make with a UFA would be an G.

[Shootica]

12 hours ago, sweetlou said:

Is anyone else on this board wanting Alex Tuch as much as Craig Rivet and myself.

I'd trade Vegas Montour and Thompson for him.

You're not the only one, and I'd do that in a heartbeat. 

Tuch is probably my favorite semi-realistic trade target right now.  I absolutely love his game, he is exactly what this team is lacking at a position we need, is locked up long term at a reasonable rate, and is an upstate NY guy to boot.

I was surprised to hear his name thrown around this year as a potential cap casualty for Vegas, and if that was true I hope his playoff performance hasn't fully taken him off the trade block.

[LGR4GM]

I like the idea of Phillip Denault as a center for us. Would really be the perfect time of guy to be a 2c for couple years and then slide into that 3c role down the line. 

[Kr632]

1 minute ago, LGR4GM said:

I like the idea of Phillip Denault as a center for us. Would really be the perfect time of guy to be a 2c for couple years and then slide into that 3c role down the line. 

What do you think it would cost to get him?

 

[MakeSabresGrr8Again]

20 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

I like the idea of Phillip Denault as a center for us. Would really be the perfect time of guy to be a 2c for couple years and then slide into that 3c role down the line. 

Why not both him and Tuch? Great 2nd line players.

[Gabrielor]

https://hockeybuzz.com/blog/Eklund/Sabres-and-Taylor-Hall--The-Chances-Increasing/1/107164

 

It's Eklund nonsense, but this doesn't make sense to me. Hall is prioritizing winning, and here we are, the team that's done the least amount of that the last decade. Also, a super expensive winger isn't what the team is missing. Trades for William Nylander, or Nikolaj Ehlers, or FA moves for Granlund or Hall, these aren't the moves that will get us to where we want to go.

The simple Tierney, Copp, or Danault trades, will. 

[LGR4GM]

56 minutes ago, Kr632 said:

What do you think it would cost to get him?

I honestly have no idea. 

3 minutes ago, Gabrielor said:

https://hockeybuzz.com/blog/Eklund/Sabres-and-Taylor-Hall--The-Chances-Increasing/1/107164

 

It's Eklund nonsense, but this doesn't make sense to me. Hall is prioritizing winning, and here we are, the team that's done the least amount of that the last decade. Also, a super expensive winger isn't what the team is missing. Trades for William Nylander, or Nikolaj Ehlers, or FA moves for Granlund or Hall, these aren't the moves that will get us to where we want to go.

The simple Tierney, Copp, or Danault trades, will. 

Buffalo Sabres, only left wings and right handed defenders... what could go wrong?

[Brawndo]

Terry is onboard with AP.

 

[Flashsabre]

5 minutes ago, Brawndo said:

Terry is onboard with AP.

 

OK Adams: Danault, Kuemper, Pietrangelo, Tuch, and re-sign Larsson.  You have your marching orders, make it happen.?

[Gabrielor]

14 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

I honestly have no idea. 

Buffalo Sabres, only left wings and right handed defenders... what could go wrong?

It's summer of 2018 in a loop.

Pre-Skinner trade, we actually did need both of those. Skinner,Olof weren't here, Scott ***** Wilson was a top 6 LW, and Bogosian ensured our RD would forever be Ristolainen and 2 dead bodies, in this case Casey Nelson and Nathan Beaulieu.

The idea machine must've 404'd, so we're stuck eternally filling these now non-needs.

Edited August 31, 2020 by Gabrielor

[Weave]

1 hour ago, Brawndo said:

Terry is onboard with AP.

 

Christian Ehrhoff all over agin, innit?  Wasn’t it Terry who drove the Ehrhoff signing because he liked his game?

[Marvin]

3 hours ago, Shootica said:

You're not the only one, and I'd do that in a heartbeat. 

Tuch is probably my favorite semi-realistic trade target right now.  I absolutely love his game, he is exactly what this team is lacking at a position we need, is locked up long term at a reasonable rate, and is an upstate NY guy to boot.

I was surprised to hear his name thrown around this year as a potential cap casualty for Vegas, and if that was true I hope his playoff performance hasn't fully taken him off the trade block.

We still would need a centre.  Hence...

2 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

I like the idea of Phillip Denault as a center for us. Would really be the perfect time of guy to be a 2c for couple years and then slide into that 3c role down the line. 

If memory serves me right, the one potential hitch for us is that he is 1 year to UFA.

35 minutes ago, Weave said:

Christian Ehrhoff all over agin, innit?  Wasn’t it Terry who drove the Ehrhoff signing because he liked his game?

True, but Darcy wanted him to as a partner for Myers.  Here, we would need to move both Ristolainen and Montour to fit his likely salary.  Can we live with that? 

[dudacek]

I’m just happy because I get a growing sense that the Sabres will very active this off-season, there are plenty of options available, and that the focus will be on re-balancing the roster and shaping it for the game the coach wants to play.

[IKnowPhysics]

Pietrangelo is a right shot RD.  Bringing him in means the following right-shot D: Pietrangelo, Ristolainen, Montour, Miller, plus Dahlin (left shot) on the right.  If you bring him in, you're all but forced to move someone in that list out.  Maybe that means making another move for some good forward return or an LD; maybe Risto goes.  The only left shot D that's been playing LD now with Pilut gone is McCabe.  Botterill left us a ***** mess.

Pietrangelo's a good player, and a good player is a manageable asset, and with enough mangeable assets, you can make moves (as long as everyone's not locked into NMCs).

I'm also not surprised by any UFA talk, because we have cap space and willpower to acquire UFAs, and any top-flight UFA available will come up in coversation around us, as we have many needs.  Pietrangelo is the best D available, Hall is the best forward, and I imagine it's only a matter of time before someone mentions Holtby or Crawford.  Callahan, Granlund, Byfuglien, and Schultz round out the front page of CapFriendly UFAs.

30 minutes ago, dudacek said:

I’m just happy because I get a growing sense that the Sabres will very active this off-season, there are plenty of options available, and that the focus will be on re-balancing the roster and shaping it for the game the coach wants to play.

We need to be.  Botterill left us a ***** mess.  But I'm optimistic.

[LGR4GM]

20 minutes ago, IKnowPhysics said:

Pietrangelo is a right shot RD.  Bringing him in means the following right-shot ? Pietrangelo, Ristolainen, Montour, Miller, plus Dahlin (left shot) on the right.  If you bring him in, you're all but forced to move someone in that list out.  Maybe that means making another move for some good forward return or an LD; maybe Risto goes.  The only left shot D that's been playing LD now with Pilut gone is McCabe.  Botterill left us a ***** mess.

Pietrangelo's a good player, and a good player is a manageable asset, and with enough mangeable assets, you can make moves (as long as everyone's not locked into NMCs).

I'm also not surprised by any UFA talk, because we have cap space and willpower to acquire UFAs, and any top-flight UFA available will come up in coversation around us, as we have many needs.  Pietrangelo is the best D available, Hall is the best forward, and I imagine it's only a matter of time before someone mentions Holtby or Crawford.  Callahan, Granlund, Byfuglien, and Schultz round out the front page of CapFriendly UFAs.

We need to be.  Botterill left us a ***** mess.  But I'm optimistic.

You mean Jokiharju

I am fairly sure Dahlin only played the left last year, all year in fact. 

[IKnowPhysics]

2 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

You mean Jokiharju

I am fairly sure Dahlin only played the left last year, all year in fact. 

I forgot Jokiahrju (right shot) from the list, yes.  I think I keep getting confused because I think Dahlin (left shot) lines up on the left, but many of his highlights, even non-PP highlights are him working the right point where his stick side is towards center ice/the net.  He's an efficient puck mover on his stick side (left shot/LD), but he's a sickeningly lethal playmaker on his offside (left shot/RD).

Nonetheless, still jammed on RD, with only McCabe and Dahlin lining up LD.

[sabresparaavida]

I would only even consider Pietrangelo if I knew I could move both Ristolainen and Montour at decent returns. 

[thewookie1]

2 hours ago, sabresparaavida said:

I would only even consider Pietrangelo if I knew I could move both Ristolainen and Montour at decent returns. 

Anything pop up as of late; it is understandable though if you are still busy getting into the school swing of things.