2020 Off-season gameplan

[dudacek]

57 minutes ago, rakish said:

Didn't the Sabres sign Cozens a long time ago?

Yes

[Sabres Fan in NS]

The offseason started a month ago, eh?

[GASabresIUFAN]

Seriously,

If you are Jbot how to do you play the restart.  Does the AHL return as well.  If not, don't you want to get a head start on next season.  Do we really need to see Frolik again or even Simmonds?  

[Marvin]

10 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Seriously,

If you are Jbot how to do you play the restart.  Does the AHL return as well.  If not, don't you want to get a head start on next season.  Do we really need to see Frolik again or even Simmonds?  

You rationalize keeping them and getting Sobotka back to try and win 12 consecutive games.

[Thorner]

On 4/24/2020 at 12:06 PM, GASabresIUFAN said:

Seriously,

If you are Jbot how to do you play the restart.  Does the AHL return as well.  If not, don't you want to get a head start on next season.  Do we really need to see Frolik again or even Simmonds?  

Botterill mentioned specifically one of the reasons he brought in Simmonds was so he'd have a better shot at resigning him. 

[dudacek]

I haven't heard that he's on the market, but is Max Domi a player of interest, given his RFA status?

He had good chemistry with Reinhart as a junior and would help our top six.

[Eleven]

22 minutes ago, dudacek said:

I haven't heard that he's on the market, but is Max Domi a player of interest, given his RFA status?

He had good chemistry with Reinhart as a junior and would help our top six.

I'm all for it.  

[MakeSabresGrr8Again]

57 minutes ago, dudacek said:

I haven't heard that he's on the market, but is Max Domi a player of interest, given his RFA status?

He had good chemistry with Reinhart as a junior and would help our top six.

Here:

https://www.nhltraderumors.me/2020/02/nhltr-max-domi-going-to-tampa-bay.html

[Eleven]

2 minutes ago, MakeSabresGrr8Again said:

Here:

https://www.nhltraderumors.me/2020/02/nhltr-max-domi-going-to-tampa-bay.html

E5.  Not saying it won't happen (how is Tampa going to pay him, though?), but I could put together a BS site, too.

Edited May 3, 2020 by Eleven

[MakeSabresGrr8Again]

3 minutes ago, Eleven said:

E5.  Not saying it won't happen (how is Tampa going to pay him, though?), but I could put together a BS site, too.

It was just a quick search because I knew I had seen something in reference to him being "on the market". 

[thewookie1]

I'm kinda at a loss of what to do. 

I started with our "7th Overall" for Cirelli and Tampa's 4th and 6th rounders from other teams. (DET and OTT respectively) Then I signed him at 6.5mil for 7 years. Overpaying now for more years with the hope he can become the faster skating ROR we desire.

From there I'm now down to $27,983,333 in cap space with only 4 forwards, 5 dmen, and a goalie under contract.

Reinhart I'm giving 5 or 6 years at 7 mil. Thanks to the Skinner contract we are rather handcuffed. Now we sit with 20.983 mil cap space

Cozens will be our 2nd or 3rd line winger with a presence of mind to keep him protected and letting him grow.

Olofsson I'm giving 4/5 years at 4.5 mil per, if I can get it lower that would be great. Now we are at 15.558 mil cap space.

 Kahun at 2/3 years for 2.25 mil per

Thompson and Mitts get 925k contracts at whatever the typical year number is.

Ullmark receives 3 years at 2.9mil We are now at 9.483 mil with 10 F, 5 D, and 2 G

Pilut gets 1 or 2 years at about 1 mil per

 

Here's where the primary issue arises, what are we doing about Brandon Montour, I like him but not at 5+ mil per and thanks to Botterill's screw ups we'll be getting approximately a 1.25mil penalty.

With Montour at 5mil for 4 years and that cap penalty we end up with a whopping 2.233 mil to fill in 3C/2RW depending on where you put MOJO along with 4LW and 4C. I do have Thompson on the bench presently but I'm honestly unsure what to do with him.

Thus I call up Asplund and Ruotsalainen 

 

Here's where I am at....

Skinner - Eichel - Reinhart

Olofsson - Cirelli - Johansson

Kahun - Cozens - Thompson

Ruotsalainen - Asplund - Okposo

 

Dahlin - Miller

Pilut - Ristolainen

Montour - Jokiharju

McCabe

 

Ullmark

Hutton

 

1.25mil Cap penalty

463k Cap Space Remaining

 

I'm at a loss of what else we could fiddle with, the cap not going up with the penalty hurts us rather badly. But more so the cap being unlikely to rise next year means Dahlin and Jokiharju will have only about 10 mil in cap space to eat as RFAs next year.

McCabe, Johansson, and Hutton come off the books at year's end. Along with hopefully no additional penalties. These 4 things will give us 11.350 mil and technically Dahlin and Jokiharju bring about 1.85 mil from their contracts giving us a  whopping 13.2 mil to sign Dahlin long term, Jokiharju probably mid-term and either fill in 1 F , 1 D, and 1 G with whatever remains.

We will also lose one player from the expansion draft; I'd guess Kahun/Thompson or perhaps Risto/Montour  barring the giving up of assets. Another problem is Mitts will need to be protected.

 

Ok, long post done lol 

 

 

 

[Randall Flagg]

For the record, Jason acquiring a player like Cirelli or better for 2C, in addition to typical moves, would be a ridiculously good offseason. Cirelli, and players like him in situations like Tampa's, are a unicorn in terms of YOUR favorite team pulling it off. We would be very lucky to hit on a long term 2C ready to help out now. Sure, at this point I need Jason to do it to salvage my patience with him, but that's a function of his past performance, not a characteristic of the difficulty of the task.

 

ie it will never happen but if it does I will sing in the streets

[thewookie1]

Supposedly according to some people on the HFBoards there was an interesting proposal that received positive reactions from both sides. 

Monahan for Mitts, Montour, and 7th Overall

I'd be torn as Monahan isn't a defensively gifted player thus meaning it shoves more D roles onto either Eichel or another line but it would more than likely fix our detriment in goal scoring. 

[Taro T]

6 hours ago, thewookie1 said:

I'm kinda at a loss of what to do. 

I started with our "7th Overall" for Cirelli and Tampa's 4th and 6th rounders from other teams. (DET and OTT respectively) Then I signed him at 6.5mil for 7 years. Overpaying now for more years with the hope he can become the faster skating ROR we desire.

From there I'm now down to $27,983,333 in cap space with only 4 forwards, 5 dmen, and a goalie under contract.

Reinhart I'm giving 5 or 6 years at 7 mil. Thanks to the Skinner contract we are rather handcuffed. Now we sit with 20.983 mil cap space

Cozens will be our 2nd or 3rd line winger with a presence of mind to keep him protected and letting him grow.

Olofsson I'm giving 4/5 years at 4.5 mil per, if I can get it lower that would be great. Now we are at 15.558 mil cap space.

 Kahun at 2/3 years for 2.25 mil per

Thompson and Mitts get 925k contracts at whatever the typical year number is.

Ullmark receives 3 years at 2.9mil We are now at 9.483 mil with 10 F, 5 D, and 2 G

Pilut gets 1 or 2 years at about 1 mil per

 

Here's where the primary issue arises, what are we doing about Brandon Montour, I like him but not at 5+ mil per and thanks to Botterill's screw ups we'll be getting approximately a 1.25mil penalty.

With Montour at 5mil for 4 years and that cap penalty we end up with a whopping 2.233 mil to fill in 3C/2RW depending on where you put MOJO along with 4LW and 4C. I do have Thompson on the bench presently but I'm honestly unsure what to do with him.

Thus I call up Asplund and Ruotsalainen 

 

Here's where I am at....

Skinner - Eichel - Reinhart

Olofsson - Cirelli - Johansson

Kahun - Cozens - Thompson

Ruotsalainen - Asplund - Okposo

 

Dahlin - Miller

Pilut - Ristolainen

Montour - Jokiharju

McCabe

 

Ullmark

Hutton

 

1.25mil Cap penalty

463k Cap Space Remaining

 

I'm at a loss of what else we could fiddle with, the cap not going up with the penalty hurts us rather badly. But more so the cap being unlikely to rise next year means Dahlin and Jokiharju will have only about 10 mil in cap space to eat as RFAs next year.

McCabe, Johansson, and Hutton come off the books at year's end. Along with hopefully no additional penalties. These 4 things will give us 11.350 mil and technically Dahlin and Jokiharju bring about 1.85 mil from their contracts giving us a  whopping 13.2 mil to sign Dahlin long term, Jokiharju probably mid-term and either fill in 1 F , 1 D, and 1 G with whatever remains.

We will also lose one player from the expansion draft; I'd guess Kahun/Thompson or perhaps Risto/Montour  barring the giving up of assets. Another problem is Mitts will need to be protected.

 

Ok, long post done lol 

 

 

 

One of the RHD will be gone as part of the deal for a 2C and that will free up enough cap to make this offseason work.

And Thompson will likely be exposed in the expansion draft (assuming Botterill adds a 2C) but it still looks like the player Seattle gets handed will be a D-man.  Expecting Dahlin, Jokiharju, & top veteran RHD to be the 3 protected leaving either the 2nd remaining RHD, Pilut, or McCabe to be the player selected.  Still hating that draft sliding back a year as the Sabres literally lose nobody from their LT plans if the draft were this summer but they will lose a useful player next summer.

[Taro T]

And towards the Botterill having messed up this year's cap by signing Frolik thus costing the Sabres the ability to get EHC bonuses earned this year coming out of this year's cap; remember:

in order for the Sabres to be able to bank any cap savings to go toward bonuses they needed to have actual cap room daily while including Hunwick's, Sobotka's, and Thompson's salaries all in that total (plus the carryover penalty from Hodgson's contract).  After trading Sheary & Rodrigues they might have been in a spot to do so (haven't looked closely at where they are post trade deadline) but even without Frolik they wouldn't have been there prior to that trade.

And in a Frolik-less Sabres universe that includes daily cap banking, any day that they'd've been over the cap later due to bringing up an injury replacement would've eaten into that saved cap.  They really weren't in a spot to be banking much, if any, savings even without Frolik due to having ~$6.7MM in salary sitting in the press box every night.

Theoretically, they could've banked ~$2MM (~1/2 of Frolik's full season contract, he arrived early January) by not having him provided they moved some additional salary to be that much below the cap including all the injured players' contracts & the carryover.  But additional moves were necessary to see any banking.  And if they'd've kept Scandella until the trade deadline instead, there were no opportunities to bank cap either.

Players being good enough to earn ELC performance bonuses is a good thing.  Them having to pay Dahlin, Jokiharju, and Olofsson extra is actually good though it may keep them from being able to bring back Girgensons (should he be willing to come back).  Am much less frustrated about those payments than the possibility of bringing back Simmonds at $2+.

Edited May 6, 2020 by Taro T

[Eleven]

12 hours ago, thewookie1 said:

I started with our "7th Overall" for Cirelli and Tampa's 4th and 6th rounders from other teams. (DET and OTT respectively)

Hang on.  Tampa is not only going to trade Cirelli for the 7th pick, but is going to sweeten the deal?

Who is the hypothetical Tampa GM in this scenario and what color is the crayon is he using to sign this trade?

Edited May 6, 2020 by Eleven

[LGR4GM]

8 hours ago, thewookie1 said:

Supposedly according to some people on the HFBoards there was an interesting proposal that received positive reactions from both sides. 

Monahan for Mitts, Montour, and 7th Overall

I'd be torn as Monahan isn't a defensively gifted player thus meaning it shoves more D roles onto either Eichel or another line but it would more than likely fix our detriment in goal scoring. 

I'm sorry what? 

[Curt]

27 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

I'm sorry what? 

Sean Monahan’s play on the defensive end leaves something to be desired.  If heard that expressed multiple times.  I honestly don’t know how true it is.

[thewookie1]

2 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

I'm sorry what? 

 

1 hour ago, Curt said:

Sean Monahan’s play on the defensive end leaves something to be desired.  If heard that expressed multiple times.  I honestly don’t know how true it is.

 

As Curt said Monahan is no where near a defensive stalwart. I'm always in favor of different styles of Center leading the way and Monahan won't be winning any Selke's anytime soon.

In addition, to be honest, based on his goals I'd even say he's more of a secondary player/triggerman than a puck driver. He may just be deferring to Gaudreau  but if not that would be a tad concerning seeing as almost every goal he scored in 18-19 was either set up for a one timer or a rebound. At most 1 or 2 out of 34 were him doing something 1v1 or the like.

 

2 hours ago, Eleven said:

Hang on.  Tampa is not only going to trade Cirelli for the 7th pick, but is going to sweeten the deal?

Who is the hypothetical Tampa GM in this scenario and what color is the crayon is he using to sign this trade?

 

7th for Cirelli looks boring thus I like to add in spices lol

Edited May 6, 2020 by thewookie1

[GASabresIUFAN]

He is a random thought on a value RFA that would be good 3rd/4th line C insurance.  What about Calg's Mark Jankowski?  Shouldn't cost much to acquire and then given his terrible season this year, shouldn't cost much to retain.  However he is only 25, and prior to last year, he put up 25 and 32 pt seasons.  He is also ok in the faceoff circle. 

This is my vision for this deal.  I'm going to assume that Jbot/GM acquires a 2C.  Henrique, Cirelli, Strome, Johnson etc... Whomever.  I'm also going to assume he re-signs Lazar and wants one of Cozens or Mittsto be the 3C when the team breaks camp.  If he re-signs Larsson, great!  Now your spine is Jack, 2C, Cozens/Mitts and Larsson with Lazar replacing Z as the 4th LW.  But what is we can't re-sign Larsson and/or Cozens/Mitts aren't ready for the 3C role? What do you do?  Having Jankowski answers those questions.

No Larsson then you have Jack, 2C, Mitts/Cozens and Jankowski.

No Cozens/Mitts but re-sign Larsson, then you have Jack 2C, Jankowski, Larsson.

No Larsson and no Cozens/Mitts,  You still are ok with Jack, 2C, Jankowsk, Lazar.  

The bottom line is getting a Jankowski gives management so much more flexibility.  They won't have to rush either Mitts or Cozens and they have a backup plan if Larsson walks.

So what would be cost?  Calg needs value RHD defense with 5 UFAs on defense.  Would they do Miller and a pick for Jankowski and Kylington?

Edited May 6, 2020 by GASabresIUFAN

[Eleven]

5 hours ago, thewookie1 said:

7th for Cirelli looks boring thus I like to add in spices lol

The spices are in the wrong pot.

[GASabresIUFAN]

https://buffalonews.com/2020/05/09/buffalo-sabres-jason-botterill-ralph-krueger-carter-hutton-nhl-opinion-2020/

 

[Eleven]

49 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

https://buffalonews.com/2020/05/09/buffalo-sabres-jason-botterill-ralph-krueger-carter-hutton-nhl-opinion-2020/

 

Ugh.

This is by Lance Lysowski. It's opinion, and it I don't care for much of it. Anyway:

--Botterill likely will be retained because COVID.

--The team's "core" is already set.  (WHAT?!)

--The Sabres need to bring back Girgensons (?!) and Larsson.

--Krueger won't have much of a role on draft day.

--Sabres might have to keep Hutton.

--Sabres should draft a forward and not a defenseman in the first round.

--Cap isn't likely to increase; Sabres aren't likely to be major players in FA.

--Sabres are likely to lose Montour in FA.

[Taro T]

Just now, Eleven said:

Ugh.

This is by Lance Lysowski. It's opinion, and it I don't care for much of it. Anyway:

--Botterill likely will be retained because COVID.

--The team's "core" is already set.  (WHAT?!)

--The Sabres need to bring back Girgensons (?!) and Larsson.

--Krueger won't have much of a role on draft day.

--Sabres might have to keep Hutton.

--Sabres should draft a forward and not a defenseman in the first round.

--Cap isn't likely to increase; Sabres aren't likely to be major players in FA.

--Sabres are likely to lose Montour in FA.

Have exceeded the # of free articles and don't want to clear cookies to get around that.  Any particular reason he expects Montour to walk as a FA?  He's an RFA this year and won't be THAT expensive.

[GASabresIUFAN]

7 minutes ago, Taro T said:

Have exceeded the # of free articles and don't want to clear cookies to get around that.  Any particular reason he expects Montour to walk as a FA?  He's an RFA this year and won't be THAT expensive.

LL is right about one of Montour or Risto being traded this off-season to upgrade the forwards.  However, I would expand that list to Miller and McCabe also.