Roster Off-Season Gameplan

[dudacek]

Just for those clamouring for roster turnover, from our opening night roster:

• Staal, Hall, Montour and Lazar are gone.
• Rieder, Sheahan, Hutton and Irwin almost certainly will be. 
• McCabe and Ullmark are UFAs and certainly could be.
• Eakin has a good chance of being waived or bought out.
• Someone (Miller, Bjork, Borgen, Asplund?) will become a Kraken

Turning over half the roster seems a given, even without a significant trade.

[Marvin]

2 minutes ago, dudacek said:

Just for those clamouring for roster turnover, from our opening night roster:

• Staal, Hall, Montour and Lazar are gone.
• Rieder, Sheahan, Hutton and Irwin almost certainly will be. 
• McCabe and Ullmark are UFAs and certainly could be.
• Eakin has a good chance of being waived or bought out.
• Someone (Miller, Bjork, Borgen, Asplund?) will become a Kraken

Turning over half the roster seems a given, even without a significant trade.

I think people want to turn over half of the current roster -- not counting the above.

[Hoss]

14 minutes ago, dudacek said:

Just for those clamouring for roster turnover, from our opening night roster:

• Staal, Hall, Montour and Lazar are gone.
• Rieder, Sheahan, Hutton and Irwin almost certainly will be. 
• McCabe and Ullmark are UFAs and certainly could be.
• Eakin has a good chance of being waived or bought out.
• Someone (Miller, Bjork, Borgen, Asplund?) will become a Kraken

Turning over half the roster seems a given, even without a significant trade.

I don't think anybody is sitting here and thinking "man, I really want roster turnover." I think they're more likely thinking "man, I really want better players."

[Marvin]

12 minutes ago, Broken Ankles said:

Top 6 is not a playoff caliber group. Skinner (until proven he can play like 2019), Olofsson and R2 are not top six players.  Victor is a nice asset on PP, and a 10-12 minute/night 5v5.   And if they somehow were carried to playoffs by a Herculean effort by Jack or Sam they would get absolutely demolished in the first round. Cozens is also a stretch on FL#1.  His scoring is at a Mitts D +2  level (.32/game).  Possibly could be a top line forward.  Only a handful in the last decade drafted outside top five have started on a top line after one NHL season and all of them showed scoring prowess immediately.  I believe he has the potential and more importantly he has other qualities desirable in this organization. It might be nice if he takes a giant leap to finish the year on the top line, but planning for him to start the season would only make me question Adams more than I do know.  

Fair enough.

IMHO, if we can't count on Skinner being top-6 even with Eichel, then we are dead in the water for at least 5 more years.  I personally would try to move Olofsson and Thompson with assets for top 6 help.

Given your evaluation, our best option would be to try the Las Vegas route and make hay in the bottom of the line-up.  Something like

(Upgrade from Olofsson)-Eichel-Reinhart

Asplund-Mittlestadt-(Upgrade from Thompson)

Skinner-Cozens-Ruotsalainen

Girgensons-(Defencive Centre)-Okposo

Upgraded reserves.

I would have one top line and essentially 3x3rd lines, with effectively a LOG line to do the heavy defencive lifting.  The reserves would be quality and not Eakin/Caggiula level.

[thewookie1]

I'm curious about Logan Couture; he's a clutch performer and loves the Bills but has a rather rough contract for his age. 

[Buffalonill]

2 minutes ago, thewookie1 said:

I'm curious about Logan Couture; he's a clutch performer and loves the Bills but has a rather rough contract for his age. 

Way to old and like you said his contract  is ugly 

[Hoss]

16 minutes ago, thewookie1 said:

I'm curious about Logan Couture; he's a clutch performer and loves the Bills but has a rather rough contract for his age. 

I've long had interest in him ... but that changed when he signed this current deal. We'd have to include Skinner in the deal which I don't think San Jose wastes any time thinking about.

[Thorner]

10 hours ago, dudacek said:

Just for those clamouring for roster turnover, from our opening night roster:

• Staal, Hall, Montour and Lazar are gone.
• Rieder, Sheahan, Hutton and Irwin almost certainly will be. 
• McCabe and Ullmark are UFAs and certainly could be.
• Eakin has a good chance of being waived or bought out.
• Someone (Miller, Bjork, Borgen, Asplund?) will become a Kraken

Turning over half the roster seems a given, even without a significant trade.

Maybe, but whether or not that represents significant turnover, in more than just quantity, remains to be seen. 

Staal, Hall, Rieder, Sheahan, Irwin, Eakin would all represent players/spots that were already turned over last season, it's not changing anything of the foundation. Eakin also is only a maybe as he's, quite unfortunately, still under contract

We'll lose a guy to the Kraken, true, but after that the list sits at Montour, Lazar, McCabe, and Ullmark. Only the latter two represent foundational pieces, and those 2 are only "maybes", I'd say, to be gone. 

It looks like a lot when you list them all like you did above but, as it stands it's more less "par for the course" turnover, I'd argue nothing substantial by itself other than potentially Ullmark and McCabe

Edited May 10, 2021 by Thorny

[dudacek]

48 minutes ago, Thorny said:

Maybe, but whether or not that represents significant turnover, in more than just quantity, remains to be seen. 

Staal, Hall, Rieder, Sheahan, Irwin, Eakin would all represent players/spots that were already turned over last season, it's not changing anything of the foundation. Eakin also is only a maybe as he's, quite unfortunately, still under contract

We'll lose a guy to the Kraken, true, but after that the list sits at Montour, Lazar, McCabe, and Ullmark. Only the latter two represent foundational pieces, and those 2 are only "maybes", I'd say, to be gone. 

It looks like a lot when you list them all like you did above but, as it stands it's more less "par for the course" turnover, I'd argue nothing substantial by itself other than potentially Ullmark and McCabe

Right, so the turnover people are looking for are in the players that have been here for a while: essentially Eichel, Reinhart, Skinner, Okposo, Girgensons, McCabe, Risto, Ullmark

[Thorner]

17 minutes ago, dudacek said:

Right, so the turnover people are looking for are in the players that have been here for a while: essentially Eichel, Reinhart, Skinner, Okposo, Girgensons, McCabe, Risto, Ullmark

Agree, word for word just like you typed it 

[GASabresIUFAN]

1 hour ago, dudacek said:

Right, so the turnover people are looking for are in the players that have been here for a while: essentially Eichel, Reinhart, Skinner, Okposo, Girgensons, McCabe, Risto, Ullmark

Apparently, but how do we replace Jack and Sam and if we trade them how will that make us better? 

No one cares if Girgensons returns or not, but a buyout is unlikely.  We all want KO to go, but it's virtually impossible and a buyout makes no cap or financial sense next season.  Skinner's deal is worse. 

That leaves McCabe (UFA), Ullmark (UFA) and Risto.  the first two may leave on their own accord thus KA will have to replace our best (only?) defensive D man and the goalie that finished 5th in the NHL (11th overall) in save %.  Good luck KA.  As to Risto, no question he has faults and maybe both parties need a fresh start, but find me a physical D who can put up 30-40 points a season to replace him for 5 mill or under.   Now also tell me what assets we can get for Risto and what assets we'd have to spend to get him and lets see if it's actually worth while.  

[Weave]

Well, the offseason gameplan just got a bit bigger, eh?

[WildCard]

Might make the playoffs by 2025 lol

[Norcal]

Hire the right coach. Get the trades and FA acquisitions right and this team can put the losers in its rear view and focus on a winning future.

***** any of em that don't want to be a part of that. 

[Marvin]

29 minutes ago, Weave said:

Well, the offseason gameplan just got a bit bigger, eh?

Just a wee bit.

22 minutes ago, WildCard said:

Might make the playoffs by 2025 lol

I hope.

The coach has to be right and the trades of Eichel, Reinhart, and Ristolainen need to bring back quality in volume rather than stars. We need to go the Las Vegas route.

[Weave]

The post season interviews now fully illuminate the scope of the mess.

The return for the Trade of Jack will be hampered by his injury situation.  He’s officially damaged goods until proven otherwise.

And the return for the Trade of Sam is muddled by his contract situation.  There is no certainty regarding cost or term.  How much does that limit the return we get for Sam?

This is pretty close to worst case scenario.

[Thorner]

12 minutes ago, Weave said:

The post season interviews now fully illuminate the scope of the mess.

The return for the Trade of Jack will be hampered by his injury situation.  He’s officially damaged goods until proven otherwise.

And the return for the Trade of Sam is muddled by his contract situation.  There is no certainty regarding cost or term.  How much does that limit the return we get for Sam?

This is pretty close to worst case scenario.

"I see no reason Sam isn't a Centre going forward" - Granato 

Edited May 10, 2021 by Thorny

[Flashsabre]

off-season Plans

[Gatorman0519]

43 minutes ago, Weave said:

The post season interviews now fully illuminate the scope of the mess.

The return for the Trade of Jack will be hampered by his injury situation.  He’s officially damaged goods until proven otherwise.

And the return for the Trade of Sam is muddled by his contract situation.  There is no certainty regarding cost or term.  How much does that limit the return we get for Sam?

This is pretty close to worst case scenario.

Agreed. Coupled with a GM over his head and every potential contender will be circling KA like sharks that smell a wounded animal in the water. 

[Taro T]

6 minutes ago, Gatorman0519 said:

Agreed. Coupled with a GM over his head and every potential contender will be circling KA like sharks that smell a wounded animal in the water. 

But, the teams aren't competing with the Sabres to land Eichel, Reinhart, & Ristolainen.  They're competing against 30 other teams.  The sell-off will bring legit assets.  The problem is, those assets in all likelihood won't help in '21-'22.

It's the true hockey trades that have a greater likelihood of blowing up.

The Sabres are poised to be the youngest team in the league next year.

Hoping Adams has more Sakic in him than Stellick.  The emotion of the day makes it hard to believe it's the former & not the latter.

[Taro T]

On the plus side, the Skinner & Okposo contracts no longer seem limiting.  Okposo will be gone before they're close to the cap again & Skinner will only have 3 years at most left.

[#freejame]

1 minute ago, Taro T said:

On the plus side, the Skinner & Okposo contracts no longer seem limiting.  Okposo will be gone before they're close to the cap again & Skinner will only have 3 years at most left.

I would advocate for a whole thread of plus sides, but I am having trouble finding more. On the plus side, we won't need to look at Eichel's hair? On the plus side, we can at least build our team from the net out this time?

[Thorner]

10 minutes ago, Taro T said:

On the plus side, the Skinner & Okposo contracts no longer seem limiting.  Okposo will be gone before they're close to the cap again & Skinner will only have 3 years at most left.

This is a plus side to rival the worst plus sides I've seen 

[Taro T]

10 minutes ago, Thorny said:

This is a plus side to rival the worst plus sides I've seen 

Probably because it is.

(And in fairness, expected that post script to be a part of the prior post; not a stand alone.)

[Weave]

14 minutes ago, Thorny said:

This is a plus side to rival the worst plus sides I've seen 

Its the Matt Ellis of plus sides.