Off-season Game Plan 2024

[LGR4GM]

4 minutes ago, dudacek said:

This is him responding to patterns he wants to see the Sabres break through the lens of evidence today that they won’t.

 

[thewookie1]

3 minutes ago, SwampD said:

I’m surprised that so many take into account the cap when thinking about future personnel decisions. Nothing like putting the cart before the horse. Maybe if the Sabres were a perennial deep playoff team and we had to figure out who to keep and who to let go, but, c’mon, they still suck. I just don’t think it plays even a little bit into their decision making yet. Can we, at least, wait until they are good to talk about them like they actually are good? It’s not like they’re going to run up against the cap any time soon.

I think actual salary matters more right now.

They will very likely run into the cap this year if not at latest next season.

[dudacek]

32 minutes ago, thewookie1 said:

They will very likely run into the cap this year if not at latest next season.

Cap space this year is only an issue if they add some expensive players this summer.

Its only an issue next year if Peterka and Quinn break out. And if that happens, they do what good teams do, they move a contract out and backfill with one of the many prospects they have accumulated.

That’s kinda the whole purpose of accumulating prospects and locking up your core long-term.

 

 

[Doohicksie]

28 minutes ago, dudacek said:

Its only an issue next year if Peterka and Quinn break out.

I think those horses are already out of the barn, more or less.

If they regress we've got bigger issues than the salary cap.

[Flashsabre]

The offseason hasn’t officially started for everyone yet. Let’s atleast get there before we start the “it’s obvious he’s not bringing in any good talent” narratives.

Edited May 13 by Flashsabre

[steveoath]

who’s the UFAs you would target?

Not saying all of these but….

Hronek, Stephenson, Sean walker, Nick Cousins (I know), Jake DeBrusk, Bertuzzi?!?!?

 

[Flashsabre]

Ummmmmmmmmmmmm😳

[steveoath]

6 minutes ago, Flashsabre said:

Ummmmmmmmmmmmm😳

Saw this on Instagram. I thought there were some awful proposals on here. But man, leaf fans are delusional. 

[nfreeman]

I kinda think they are going to bring in a couple of real vet forwards with the goal that they will flex between the 2nd and 3rd lines.

We shouldn't kid ourselves though -- no one good enough to fill that role well will come here on a 1- or 2-year deal.  It's going to be at least 3 years, and the AAV will seem too high given the player's production.  That's how it goes when NHL Siberia is shopping in the UFA market.

I'm not expecting a good vet defenseman -- I think they are going to go with the guys they have, although a trade of Joki or Muel wouldn't shock me.

[dudacek]

25 minutes ago, nfreeman said:

I kinda think they are going to bring in a couple of real vet forwards with the goal that they will flex between the 2nd and 3rd lines.

We shouldn't kid ourselves though -- no one good enough to fill that role well will come here on a 1- or 2-year deal.  It's going to be at least 3 years, and the AAV will seem too high given the player's production.  That's how it goes when NHL Siberia is shopping in the UFA market.

I'm not expecting a good vet defenseman -- I think they are going to go with the guys they have, although a trade of Joki or Muel wouldn't shock me.

I'd be surprised if they sign a free agent better or more expensive than Clifton.

And I'm actually OK with that because those deals generally aren't the answer.

I think better answers can be found in trade

[thewookie1]

36 minutes ago, nfreeman said:

I kinda think they are going to bring in a couple of real vet forwards with the goal that they will flex between the 2nd and 3rd lines.

We shouldn't kid ourselves though -- no one good enough to fill that role well will come here on a 1- or 2-year deal.  It's going to be at least 3 years, and the AAV will seem too high given the player's production.  That's how it goes when NHL Siberia is shopping in the UFA market.

I'm not expecting a good vet defenseman -- I think they are going to go with the guys they have, although a trade of Joki or Muel wouldn't shock me.

A few options via trade:

3Cs

Yanni Gourde 1x5.1

John Tavares(50-75%) 1x 5.5/2.75mil

Phil Danault 3x5.5mil

4Cs

Radek Fafsa 1x3.25

 

 

 

[Doohicksie]

Oh, that'll work.

[Archie Lee]

8 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

Im sorry but this is short sighted and doesn't view the cap ramifications over time. In 2026-2027 the cap hit for Jeff is 6.4 million and then it is 2.44million for 3 years after that if you buy him out this offseason. You do get a savings this offseason, but who cares? This is the least important offseason to have that cap savings as the Sabres A. already have the space to bring in a higher end player (which they wont) and B. don't have to worry about Quinn and JJP next contract, so having that space is superfluous. Meanwhile if you simply wait until next offseason, you save 2.4million in 2029/30. You save 445k every single other year and still save 5million on the cap for year 1 of the new Quinn/JJP deal. It makes far more logical sense to wait one year, especially when as I noted it gives you depth. Jeff Skinner isn't a bad player, he just isn't worth 9million. 

Buy him out next year and spend this year trying to trade him. You can always use him on lines 1-3 and he is almost guaranteed to be better under Ruff and have a bounce back year. 

We just disagree. I think it is short-sighted to be worrying about an extra $450k in cap hit from 25-26 to 28-29 and a $2.5 million hit in 29-30 when the cap could be over $100 million. 

The Canucks bought out OEL last June. They saved almost $8 million in space this year. That’s JT Miller. Or Lindholm and Zadorov. For the next 7 years the buyout cap hit is 2.3, 4.7, 4.7, 2.1, 2.1, 2.1, 2.1.  Few Canuck fans are lamenting the buyout right now (it will hurt at some point though).  

Of course, I know that the Sabres aren’t buying out Skinner. Their recent coaching moves show they are less than courageous when it comes to bold moves. For discussion purposes though, imagine an off-season where they do the things you are hoping they do, and they clear up $7.5 million in space to add two players that are currently not accessible due to cap limitations. Dare to dream. 

[nfreeman]

7 hours ago, dudacek said:

I'd be surprised if they sign a free agent better or more expensive than Clifton.

And I'm actually OK with that because those deals generally aren't the answer.

I think better answers can be found in trade

Interesting.  I certainly wouldn’t be surprised.

Like the Byram-Mitts trade, any real trade this summer will be informative as to KA’s pro talent evaluation abilities.  So far I think the jury is still out.  

[GASabresIUFAN]

1 hour ago, nfreeman said:

Interesting.  I certainly wouldn’t be surprised.

Like the Byram-Mitts trade, any real trade this summer will be informative as to KA’s pro talent evaluation abilities.  So far I think the jury is still out.  

You think the jury is still out on KA as a pro player evaluator? I think the jury has returned a verdict.   He’s guilty of being terrible.

Good - Tuch

Mediocre - Greenway, Anderson, and Clifton

Bad - Comrie, Bjork, Lyubushkin, E Johnson, Robinson, Hall, E Staal, Krebs, Jost, Stillman, Dell, Pysyk, Eakin, Hagg, Butcher, Hayden and Subban.  

You can add his terrible decisions to re-sign Okposo, Jost, and Girgensons and the failure to move on from Olofsson.  

I’d say that’s a piss poor record of pro talent evaluation.  That’s what you get when you shop at the clearance bin at Walmart and have no clue how to construct a roster.

Edited May 14 by GASabresIUFAN

[Thorner]

Big part of the reason season was so disappointing is again alluded to here by KO. 

The bit specifically about how they “knew” in *OCTOBER* things weren’t right.

So if they knew so soon things weren’t right, and they knew the locker room was feeling entitled (KA’s press conference), how did it get to a situation it went south so fast? If it was imminently obvious that quickly, presumably it was discoverable or even obvious before the season started? Why did the GM allow the situation to exist, and the fester for so long?

At this point the discussion on the failure of this season is sort of getting redundant, what matters now is the coming season: it’s just disheartening we keep getting forced to come back to the analysis cause we keep getting more hard-line confirmation they really were lost right out of the gate 

[thewookie1]

6 minutes ago, Thorny said:

Big part of the reason season was so disappointing is again alluded to here by KO. 

The bit specifically about how they “knew” in *OCTOBER* things weren’t right.

So if they knew so soon things weren’t right, and they knew the locker room was feeling entitled (KA’s press conference), how did it get to a situation it went south so fast? If it was imminently obvious that quickly, presumably it was discoverable or even obvious before the season started? Why did the GM allow the situation to exist, and the fester for so long?

At this point the discussion on the failure of this season is sort of getting redundant, what matters now is the coming season: it’s just disheartening we keep getting forced to come back to the analysis cause we keep getting more hard-line confirmation they really were lost right out of the gate 

Feels like many players likely felt it was doomed from the start and felt it was an inevitability they’d miss

[Thorner]

22 minutes ago, thewookie1 said:

Feels like many players likely felt it was doomed from the start and felt it was an inevitability they’d miss

Such an odd vibe. Not what I expected from the group at all honestly, and I’ve had my beefs obviously. So much we are hearing is just so weird. 
 

Tuch’s comments *during the season*/playoff push on a podcast that “we are young, we’ll eventually get there.” Why? Why throw the towel in verbally when you are still in it 

EDIT - just realized there’s a thread for this specific discussion already, my mistake 

Edited May 14 by Thorny

[LGR4GM]

1 hour ago, Thorny said:

Such an odd vibe. Not what I expected from the group at all honestly, and I’ve had my beefs obviously. So much we are hearing is just so weird. 
 

Tuch’s comments *during the season*/playoff push on a podcast that “we are young, we’ll eventually get there.” Why? Why throw the towel in verbally when you are still in it 

EDIT - just realized there’s a thread for this specific discussion already, my mistake 

Because Tuch was regurgitating Kevyn Adams excuses. The team bought the bs Adams and Granato were peddling. 

[Flashsabre]

I will give credit to a guy named Jim Bob on hfboards who created this. 
 

Who do you sign or trade for this summer:

Edited May 14 by Flashsabre

[LGR4GM]

46 minutes ago, Flashsabre said:

I will give credit to a guy named Jim Bob on hfboards who created this. 
 

Who do you sign or trade for this summer:

I'd pull forechecking stats for them and go after as many as I can get. 

[Brawndo]

Sam Bennett is the type of mother ***** this team needs. Good analytics, would be a good 2-3 C. 
 

Oh and the Bruins hate him 

[SwampD]

2 minutes ago, seer775 said:

To quote former Sabres Captain Ryan O'Reilly:

"I lost my love of the game in Buffalo".

Former Captain Jack Eichel:

"Vegas made so much sense to me. They want to win every year".

And recent former Captain Kyle Okposo:

"We knew we were screwed in the beginning".

The Buffalo Sabres are a team where top talent is drafted, then paid to leave.

This is not a new phenomenon. 

[Doohicksie]

11 minutes ago, seer775 said:

It worked for Eichel.

Eichel didn't have a NMC in effect yet.  He was traded in November, 2021, and his NMC kicked in at the start of the 22-23 season.

[Doohicksie]

Just now, seer775 said:

He would have left willingly regardless.

Well yeah.  He asked for the trade.