Sabres have 40.3 million in cap space for next year, tops in the NHL. What to do with it?

[French Collection]

3 minutes ago, Archie Lee said:

Comrie is intriguing.  He is younger and less experienced, so perhaps a higher risk as you may not know for certain what you are getting.  The flip-side is that uncertainty means he might be your long-term answer.

I like that we have 3 good young goalie prospects whose rights currently belong to us; but none of the 3 have done anything in my view to warrant the organization taking a position of not wanting to "box them out".  I don't disagree with Adams' philosophy of keeping a lane open for the kids, particularly as it applies to Cozens, Krebs, Quinn, Peterka, Power and Samuelsson.  But none of our goaltending prospects are in a position where we can say with confidence that they are going to be a good NHL goalie, for the Sabres, in the near future. 

I'm not advocating anything rash like a trade for Gibson or Binnington, but I also don't see that we currently have any goalies to box-out.  We have a kid in Rochester who has struggled to be consistent at that AHL level and to stay healthy and two college prospects who have yet to commit. Our goaltending prospects are good and I'm glad we have them and I'm not about to panic because Luukkonen has yet to take the next step or because Portillo and Levi have not signed.  We have no goalie prospects that we can be sure to count on at the NHL level anytime soon though.  

Comrie would certainly come cheaper than Fleury, Holtby or Husso. I am intrigued by Husso and the Blues are committed to Binnington, money wise.

Anyone they sign can be moved in a few years if one of the three prospects warrants a starter’s job. It is just another asset unless you give a guy a huge long term contract and he flames out.

[dudacek]

2 hours ago, Buffalonill said:

Want nothing to do with  Connor Murphy

always injured and hitting 30 those injuries are going to pile up more 

Murphy missed 30 games 4 years ago and 25 this year.

He’s missed a combined 40 games his other 7 years combined.

[dudacek]

This would be pretty much my ideal semi-reasonable summer:

• Sign Fleury 2 years, $6.5 per to replace Anderson
• Trade 2024 VGK 2nd and Anders Bjork to Chicago for Connor Murphy and Brett Connolly (buried, cap dump)
• Sign Vinnie Hinostroza 1 year, $1.5 million 
• Sign Curtis Lazar 2 years, $1 million per to replace Eakin
• Sign a handful of waivable vet tweeners for depth to replace Tokarski, Subban, Hayden, Butcher, Pysyk and Caggiula (or just re-sign them if they are willing to take a chance on Rochester.)
• Sign R2, Bryson, Murray, Biro and UPL to cheap, short-term deals.
• Sign Victor Olofsson to a 4-year $4.5 million deal
• Sign Tage Thompson to a 6-year, $6.5 million per extension
• Draft Jiricek, Gauthier, Beck and Miroshnichenko with our first 4 picks.

It would leave us above the floor at about $65 million, with a depth chart (not lines) looking something like this:

Skinner Thompson Tuch

Asplund Mittelstadt Olofsson

Girgensons Cozens Okposo

Quinn Krebs Peterka

Lazar Hinostroza

* Murray Ruotsalainen (Caggiula) (Hayden)

Samuelsson Dahlin

Power Murphy 

Bryson Jokiharju

Fitzpatrick

*(Butcher) (Pysyk)

Fleury

Lukkonnen

*(Subban) (Tokarski)

Edited May 8, 2022 by dudacek

[Flashsabre]

What is The obsession with Connor Murphy? It is right up there with the obsession over Miles Wood. 

Murphy doesn’t impress me at all.

[dudacek]

4 minutes ago, Flashsabre said:

What is The obsession with Connor Murphy? It is right up there with the obsession over Miles Wood. 

Murphy doesn’t impress me at all.

Are people obsessed with Murphy?

For me, it’s more about concept than player.

I’m looking for a reliable, right-shot 2nd pairing defenceman with character and size who can PK and I can trust in the defensive zone. He should also be someone who can stick around for a few years on a contract that fits, who might actually be available at a reasonable acquisition cost.

Murphy is one of the few names I’ve seen proposed that seems to tick all those boxes.

Who fits that profile that does impress you?

 

[Carmel Corn]

52 minutes ago, dudacek said:

This would be pretty much my ideal semi-reasonable summer:

• Sign Fleury 2 years, $6.5 per to replace Anderson
• Trade 2024 VGK 2nd and Anders Bjork to Chicago for Connor Murphy and Brett Connolly (buried, cap dump)
• Sign Vinnie Hinostroza 1 year, $1.5 million 
• Sign Curtis Lazar 2 years, $1 million per to replace Eakin
• Sign a handful of waivable vet tweeners for depth to replace Tokarski, Subban, Hayden, Butcher, Pysyk and Caggiula (or just re-sign them if they are willing to take a chance on Rochester.)
• Sign R2, Bryson, Murray, Biro and UPL to cheap, short-term deals.
• Sign Victor Olofsson to a 4-year $4.5 million deal
• Sign Tage Thompson to a 6-year, $6.5 million per extension
• Draft Jiricek, Gauthier, Beck and Miroshnichenko with our first 4 picks.

It would leave us above the floor at about $65 million, with a depth chart (not lines) looking something like this:

Skinner Thompson Tuch

Asplund Mittelstadt Olofsson

Girgensons Cozens Okposo

Quinn Krebs Peterka

Lazar Hinostroza

* Murray Ruotsalainen (Caggiula) (Hayden)

Samuelsson Dahlin

Power Murphy 

Bryson Jokiharju

Fitzpatrick

*(Butcher) (Pysyk)

Fleury

Lukkonnen

*(Subban) (Tokarski)

Besides locking up Tage and Victor for reasonable contracts, something that hits me about this is Curtis Lazar.  He's been noticeably active vs. Carolina with speed and energy and showing he has the game suited for playoff intensity.  I'd love to get Jiricek if he's still there for us.  I also like the idea of Connor Murphy in blue & gold.  MAF could still be good for another 2 years IMHO as well.

[Archie Lee]

1 hour ago, dudacek said:

This would be pretty much my ideal semi-reasonable summer:

• Sign Fleury 2 years, $6.5 per to replace Anderson
• Trade 2024 VGK 2nd and Anders Bjork to Chicago for Connor Murphy and Brett Connolly (buried, cap dump)
• Sign Vinnie Hinostroza 1 year, $1.5 million 
• Sign Curtis Lazar 2 years, $1 million per to replace Eakin
• Sign a handful of waivable vet tweeners for depth to replace Tokarski, Subban, Hayden, Butcher, Pysyk and Caggiula (or just re-sign them if they are willing to take a chance on Rochester.)
• Sign R2, Bryson, Murray, Biro and UPL to cheap, short-term deals.
• Sign Victor Olofsson to a 4-year $4.5 million deal
• Sign Tage Thompson to a 6-year, $6.5 million per extension
• Draft Jiricek, Gauthier, Beck and Miroshnichenko with our first 4 picks.

It would leave us above the floor at about $65 million, with a depth chart (not lines) looking something like this:

Skinner Thompson Tuch

Asplund Mittelstadt Olofsson

Girgensons Cozens Okposo

Quinn Krebs Peterka

Lazar Hinostroza

* Murray Ruotsalainen (Caggiula) (Hayden)

Samuelsson Dahlin

Power Murphy 

Bryson Jokiharju

Fitzpatrick

*(Butcher) (Pysyk)

Fleury

Lukkonnen

*(Subban) (Tokarski)

I think that looks good. The only part that I don’t think is semi-reasonable is the Fleury signing. 

[Flashsabre]

1 hour ago, dudacek said:

Are people obsessed with Murphy?

For me, it’s more about concept than player.

I’m looking for a reliable, right-shot 2nd pairing defenceman with character and size who can PK and I can trust in the defensive zone. He should also be someone who can stick around for a few years on a contract that fits, who might actually be available at a reasonable acquisition cost.

Murphy is one of the few names I’ve seen proposed that seems to tick all those boxes.

Who fits that profile that does impress you?

 

It was a general statement because I have seen people on more then a couple sites that are locked in on him. I just don’t see it.

I agree with you about the concept of a physical, defensive shutdown type to round out the corps.

Edited May 8, 2022 by Flashsabre

[sweetlou]

Didn't Lazar bad mouth Buffalo after he was traded to Boston.  Don't see him coming back.

Iv'e thought about the idea of Larsson coming back on a 2year deal and reunite the LOG line.

[Curt]

22 minutes ago, sweetlou said:

Didn't Lazar bad mouth Buffalo after he was traded to Boston.  Don't see him coming back.

Iv'e thought about the idea of Larsson coming back on a 2year deal and reunite the LOG line.

No, Lazar did not badmouth Buffalo after being traded.

[Zamboni]

1 hour ago, sweetlou said:

Didn't Lazar bad mouth Buffalo after he was traded to Boston.  Don't see him coming back.

Iv'e thought about the idea of Larsson coming back on a 2year deal and reunite the LOG line.

No

[thewookie1]

5 hours ago, sweetlou said:

Didn't Lazar bad mouth Buffalo after he was traded to Boston.  Don't see him coming back.

Iv'e thought about the idea of Larsson coming back on a 2year deal and reunite the LOG line.

No that was Hall

[PerreaultForever]

6 hours ago, Curt said:

No, Lazar did not badmouth Buffalo after being traded.

As already mentioned that was Hall not Lazar. 

Lazar however has said in the Boston media that he loves it there and it's the best place he's ever played so he will want to stay if they want him. We would have to offer a fair bit more than them. 

[sweetlou]

Found quote by Lazar after being traded to Boston...

"I wish that team all the best. They have a very bright future with all those young guys that are playing the right way right now. You can see that confidence is growing. In saying that, I look forward to sticking into 'em tomorrow and next week."

 

So I'm sure theses just his competitive nature.  Looks like he could see the team was moving in the right direction.  I would sign him for 2-3 years if he would come back.  Much rather have him than Bjork.

[dudacek]

3 minutes ago, sweetlou said:

Found quote by Lazar after being traded to Boston...

"I wish that team all the best. They have a very bright future with all those young guys that are playing the right way right now. You can see that confidence is growing. In saying that, I look forward to sticking into 'em tomorrow and next week."

 

So I'm sure theses just his competitive nature.  Looks like he could see the team was moving in the right direction.  I would sign him for 2-3 years if he would come back.  Much rather have him than Bjork.

If you find the video of that quote, you will find it was delivered with the smile Lazar always has on his face.

Dude will be happy wherever he's at because that's how he approaches life.

[Pimlach]

Getting Lazar back, or adding other 4th line players,  is not going to improve this team enough to make a playoff push. 

 

Find a two-way center that is much better than Eakin and that will improve the team.  Do you not remember all the blown leads in the middle of last season?   This type of player is hard to find, so another option is adding a physical power forward winger and hope the centers that we have can get the job done over 82 games.  

Priority 1 is a goalie that can play 40+ games of NHL caliber hockey.  We also need a physical veteran defenseman - preferably a RHD of course. 

We need to get more muscle into the line up - watching the playoffs makes this clear.  

[dudacek]

8 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

Getting Lazar back, or adding other 4th line players,  is not going to improve this team enough to make a playoff push. 

 

Find a two-way center that is much better than Eakin and that will improve the team.  Do you not remember all the blown leads in the middle of last season?   This type of player is hard to find, so another option is adding a physical power forward winger and hope the centers that we have can get the job done over 82 games.  

Priority 1 is a goalie that can play 40+ games of NHL caliber hockey.  We also need a physical veteran defenseman - preferably a RHD of course. 

We need to get more muscle into the line up - watching the playoffs makes this clear.  

I agree this team need to get physically stronger and better defensively.

But the team has already identified the centre you are looking for. He wears #24.

He's going to continue learning on the job and nobody is going to be brought in to block him.

[JohnC]

3 hours ago, dudacek said:

I agree this team need to get physically stronger and better defensively.

But the team has already identified the centre you are looking for. He wears #24.

He's going to continue learning on the job and nobody is going to be brought in to block him.

Is there a Tuch like big wing player who might be available due to cap pressures? If there is, I wouldn't be averse to give up an asset such as taking on the salary of another player and a draft pick in order to get a deal done. Vegas certainly isn't going to be the only team facing a cap squeeze. 

[Pimlach]

9 hours ago, dudacek said:

I agree this team need to get physically stronger and better defensively.

But the team has already identified the centre you are looking for. He wears #24.

He's going to continue learning on the job and nobody is going to be brought in to block him.

It depends on if you want to challenge in 22-23, or not?   You don’t need an expensive blocker to improve our group.  

[JohnC]

1 hour ago, Pimlach said:

It depends on if you want to challenge in 22-23, or not?   You don’t need an expensive blocker to improve our group.  

If you look at our center group it includes Tage, Mitts, Cozens, Krebs and either Girgs or Asplund as our fourth line center. I just don't see the need for another more defensive oriented center. It might make more sense to add another bigger and scrappier winger like Asplund to the mix in order to have a more physical lineup. Or another approach that might me be more effective is to add another more rugged stay at home defenseman to the unit in order to assemble a bigger and tougher lineup.   

In general, I agree with what you are basically promoting. I'm just making the point that there are a variety of ways to get where you want to go to. 

Edited May 10, 2022 by JohnC

[matter2003]

On 5/8/2022 at 3:05 PM, Archie Lee said:

I think that looks good. The only part that I don’t think is semi-reasonable is the Fleury signing. 

I want nothing to do with old goalies ready to retire