Roster Off-Season Gameplan

[sweetlou]

Trade Jack, Sam, and Risto to gain picks and more young talent.  One more season of futility and another top pick next year.  

22-23 will be the year of growth and Sabres will see the signs of life.

[Stoner]

PA will tap on his iron lung twice to have his male nurse post the flashing red light.

[Marvin]

2 hours ago, sweetlou said:

Trade Jack, Sam, and Risto to gain picks and more young talent.  One more season of futility and another top pick next year.  

22-23 will be the year of growth and Sabres will see the signs of life.

I saw this movie before and opposed it then.  You need some "now" players as well.

[jad1]

On 5/20/2021 at 5:53 PM, GASabresIUFAN said:

Correct, although if Mitts and Cozens continue to improve and a coach knows how to manage his matchups, a spine of Mitts, Cozens and Cirelli could be good.

Nowhere near as good a Eichel, Reinhart, and Mittelstadt though.

This team isn't  going to get better losing a Eichel and/or Reinhart trade.  The best course of action is to repair the bridges with these guys and continue the team's rebuild through their draft.

Adams has given every indication, though, that he's not smart enough to realize this, and the team will continue its decent into irrelevance.

[SwampD]

10 hours ago, sweetlou said:

Trade Jack, Sam, and Risto to gain picks and more young talent.  One more season of futility and another top pick next year.  

22-23 will be the year of growth and Sabres will see the signs of life.

 

8 hours ago, Marvin, Sabres Fan said:

I saw this movie before and opposed it then.  You need some "now" players as well.

The two sequels sucked ass, too.

[Hoss]

What’s our current skeleton look like without assuming trades?

XXX - Eichel - Olofsson

XXX - Reinhart - Cozens

Skinner - Mittelstadt - Thompson

Asplund/Bjork - Ruotsalainen - Okposo

Dahlin - Joker

Samuelsson - Risto

Bryson - Borgen

XXX - XXX (goalies)

 

This seem about right? Don’t put too much thought into the lines I mostly just plugged players under contract that I imagine will be in the lineup if they’re still on the roster on opening night.

Edited June 9, 2021 by Hoss

[Thorner]

Still have Cozens at C but ya pretty much 

[Hoss]

1 minute ago, Thorny said:

Still have Cozens at C but ya pretty much 

It was two of him, Mittelstadt and Reinhart so it felt like he made the most sense to move off. If we don’t make any trades with Eichel/Reinhart then we essentially have a “logjam” (in quotes because nobody else has proven themselves yet).

[Thorner]

13 minutes ago, Hoss said:

It was two of him, Mittelstadt and Reinhart so it felt like he made the most sense to move off. If we don’t make any trades with Eichel/Reinhart then we essentially have a “logjam” (in quotes because nobody else has proven themselves yet).

I still think he makes a better natural C than Casey if we need to pick between the 2, have gotten into that before. Regardless, he’d be at RW and not C I’d imagine if Cozens is indeed moved to wing. 

The “logjam” would be an actual call to optimism at a position we haven’t had it in a long time 

Edited June 9, 2021 by Thorny

[Hoss]

2 minutes ago, Thorny said:

I still think he makes a better natural C than Casey if we need to pick between the 2, have gotten into that before. Regardless, he’d be at RW and not C I’d imagine if Cozens is indeed moved to wing. 

The “logjam” would be an actual call to optimism at a position we haven’t had it in a long time 

Edited to correct Cozens to RW. If we do end up dealing both Eichel and Reinhart one of them absolutely has to net a top-six center with some NHL tread so we aren’t forced to throw all three young guys into huge minutes at the pivot.

[dudacek]

21 minutes ago, Hoss said:

What’s our current skeleton look like without assuming trades?

XXX - Eichel - Olofsson

XXX - Reinhart - Cozens

Skinner - Mittelstadt - Thompson

Asplund/Bjork - Ruotsalainen - Okposo

Dahlin - Joker

Samuelsson - Risto

Bryson - Borgen

XXX - XXX (goalies)

 

This seem about right? Don’t put too much thought into the lines I mostly just plugged players under contract that I imagine will be in the lineup if they’re still on the roster on opening night.

Girgensons will be back on the 4th line.

[nfreeman]

It just feels inevitable that Eichel and Reino are both gone.

[Hoss]

5 minutes ago, dudacek said:

Girgensons will be back on the 4th line.

I’m not sure he will but we’ve got a ton of bottom six players so really any combo in there will work. Eakin is also still under contract. 🤮 

Just now, nfreeman said:

It just feels inevitable that Eichel and Reino are both gone.

It does, doesn’t it? When I slow down and think about it it obviously sucks but it certainly can be entertaining to look at other teams and come up with packages. They’ve sucked the emotion out of being a fan.

[dudacek]

Just now, Hoss said:

I’m not sure he will but we’ve got a ton of bottom six players so really any combo in there will work. Eakin is also still under contract. 🤮 

What makes you say that?

[Hoss]

Just now, dudacek said:

What makes you say that?

He was just out for an entire year with an injury and there’s a lot of guys that either need minutes or need to be moved (him included). It’s not like he’s a stalwart must-start player.

[Thorner]

11 minutes ago, dudacek said:

Girgensons will be back on the 4th line.

He’s making like what, 5 million next season? Definitely back 

[dudacek]

6 minutes ago, Hoss said:

He was just out for an entire year with an injury and there’s a lot of guys that either need minutes or need to be moved (him included). It’s not like he’s a stalwart must-start player.

He’s under contract for two more years. I mean I get what you’re saying, but he’s not Eakin. And he’s not behind many of those other guys in the bottom 7 in terms of what he’s proven. I see him as NHL player.

Edited June 9, 2021 by dudacek

[Hoss]

Got bored killing time on an overnight shift and threw the entire roster into a blender over in Armchair GM.

Eichel and Olofsson for Byfield, Kempe, Helge Grans (RHD prospect who needs two more years of development), 2021 LAK 1st (10th overall)

Reinhart and Risto for Sean Monahan, Rasmus Andersson, 2021 CGY 2nd

Tage, 2021 BOS 2nd and 2021 CGY 2nd for rights to Arizona RFA RW Conor Garland

Asplund and Bryson to Colorado for Tyson Jost (playing RW in my lineup but his versatility is key)

Signing LW Jaden Schwartz (STL)

Signing G Antti Raanta and Chris Driedger

 

Lineup:

Schwartz - Monahan - Garland

Cozens - Byfield - Kempe

Skinner - Mittelstadt - Jost

Ruotsalainen - Girgensons - Bjork

 

Dahlin - Andersson

Power - Jokiharju

Samuelsson - Borgen

 

Raanta - Driedger

[bob_sauve28]

11 hours ago, nfreeman said:

It just feels inevitable that Eichel and Reino are both gone.

I just don't see it. Reino is basically a rental player now (sure he could reach a deal with another team as part of a trade, but that's a tough needle to thread) and Jack is injured. 

[nfreeman]

1 minute ago, bob_sauve28 said:

I just don't see it. Reino is basically a rental player now (sure he could reach a deal with another team as part of a trade, but that's a tough needle to thread) and Jack is injured. 

Very fair counterpoint.  With Reino, IMHO there's a pretty good likelihood that either he works out an extension as part of a trade or that a team will trade for him on the assumption that if all goes well he will re-sign -- but you're right that his contract status affects the demand for him.  With Eichel, it all depends on what teams are willing to offer for him, i.e. how much the offers are discounted due to his injury.  It could go either way on both of them.

[thewookie1]

1 hour ago, Hoss said:

Got bored killing time on an overnight shift and threw the entire roster into a blender over in Armchair GM.

Eichel and Olofsson for Byfield, Kempe, Helge Grans (RHD prospect who needs two more years of development), 2021 LAK 1st (10th overall)

Reinhart and Risto for Sean Monahan, Rasmus Andersson, 2021 CGY 2nd

Tage, 2021 BOS 2nd and 2021 CGY 2nd for rights to Arizona RFA RW Conor Garland

Asplund and Bryson to Colorado for Tyson Jost (playing RW in my lineup but his versatility is key)

Signing LW Jaden Schwartz (STL)

Signing G Antti Raanta and Chris Driedger

 

Lineup:

Schwartz - Monahan - Garland

Cozens - Byfield - Kempe

Skinner - Mittelstadt - Jost

Ruotsalainen - Girgensons - Bjork

 

Dahlin - Andersson

Power - Jokiharju

Samuelsson - Borgen

 

Raanta - Driedger

1st trade is ok, but I'd want an extra conditional 2nd in 2022 that becomes a protected 1st in 2022 based on Eichel's games played/points.

The 2nd trade feels to risky on our part. Reinhart has got better every year whereas Monahan has become far worse these past two seasons and I see no reason to believe he'd bounce back due to the trade. Rasmus Andersson is a certainly interesting player but this past year and 2 years ago he was only a tad better than Risto analytically while logging easier minutes. So I'd have to pass as of now.

Trade #3 is obviously tied to Trade #2 but in a vacuum I don't have a problem with it. Garland just seems ready to take off while presently not breaking the bank to sign him.

Trade #4 again isn't terrible, although trading Asplund and Bryson for only a slightly better version of Asplund seems redundant.

I'm not a fan of Schwartz, he hasn't played all that well since the Blues Cup run and will be looking for a long term lucrative contract. 

Goaltending is a fickle thing, I have difficulty trusting Driedger due to his 1 hit wonder potential. Raanta is a solid goalie but often injured. To be honest I'd rather just keep Ullmark over Raanta due to age, seeing as both miss 40% of the season anyway. Driedger would be a very cap hit based decision. 

 

All in all, interesting but there are some serious frightful outcomes that could spiral from this roster. The Defense, for instance would be fielding 3 rookies, 2 players coming off their ELCs and a guy who is coming off his worst season of his career. (Not exactly a great situation)  

[JohnC]

20 hours ago, jad1 said:

Nowhere near as good a Eichel, Reinhart, and Mittelstadt though.

This team isn't  going to get better losing a Eichel and/or Reinhart trade.  The best course of action is to repair the bridges with these guys and continue the team's rebuild through their draft.

Adams has given every indication, though, that he's not smart enough to realize this, and the team will continue its decent into irrelevance.

You are portraying our GM as being naive. He may not be experienced but he is not dumb. Odds are that he would prefer signing Reinhart to an extended contract. However, if Reinhart gives indications that he is only willing to sign a one year deal and maintain his UFA status for next year then it is smart to trade him this offseason rather than getting lesser offers this season with UFA approaching.  

Eichel is one of the best players in the league. The GM is aware of that.  But because of his serious injury and the disagreement between the parties as to the best course of treatment his status is unsettled. Does the star player want to remain with this floundering franchise or is he determined to move on to a better situation? Don't be surprised if the GM has a good feel for knowing what Jack's thoughts actually are. As with the Reinhart situation there are contract considerations that give the GM more options to trade Jack this year compared to next year when the player has a say as to where he can be dealt. 

The ideal situation is to sign Reinhart to a long term deal and get Jack healthy and retain him. But if both players want out then the time to move them is this offseason instead of waiting when the organization loses leverage. As in life you can't always control a difficult situation but you can make the best of it even when it doesn't reach the level of an ideal situation.   

 

[Curt]

12 hours ago, Thorny said:

He’s making like what, 5 million next season? Definitely back 

No.  $2.2M

[Thorner]

2 hours ago, Curt said:

No.  $2.2M

17 hours ago, SwampD said:

 

The two sequels sucked ass, too.

And our franchise doesn't even star Megan Fox

[Thorner]

6 hours ago, Hoss said:

Got bored killing time on an overnight shift and threw the entire roster into a blender over in Armchair GM.

Eichel and Olofsson for Byfield, Kempe, Helge Grans (RHD prospect who needs two more years of development), 2021 LAK 1st (10th overall)

Reinhart and Risto for Sean Monahan, Rasmus Andersson, 2021 CGY 2nd

Tage, 2021 BOS 2nd and 2021 CGY 2nd for rights to Arizona RFA RW Conor Garland

Asplund and Bryson to Colorado for Tyson Jost (playing RW in my lineup but his versatility is key)

Signing LW Jaden Schwartz (STL)

Signing G Antti Raanta and Chris Driedger

 

Lineup:

Schwartz - Monahan - Garland

Cozens - Byfield - Kempe

Skinner - Mittelstadt - Jost

Ruotsalainen - Girgensons - Bjork

 

Dahlin - Andersson

Power - Jokiharju

Samuelsson - Borgen

 

Raanta - Driedger

Looks kinda fun. I'm switching Cozens (again lol) and Kempe though. Not that it really matters with F.