Peterka’s next contract; trade, bridge or lock-up long-term?

[tom webster]

6 minutes ago, CallawaySabres said:

Buffalo will not offer long term because they have already ruined the next 5 years of this organization by offering it too early to others. Peterka will not want to stay, I mean, why would he. The offer sheet will come and he will happily sign it while Buffalo gets more draft picks that won't see the ice for 3-5 years. Buffalo is in a can't-win situation with any player that is worth keeping right now (and is unsigned).

This is an exaggeration. They have  one contract that looks like it won’t work out and plenty of cap space to keep whomever they want to keep. Question is whether owner will allow them to spend.

The whole contract narrative is completely off base. The number crunchers throughout the league have pretty much come to the conclusion that bridge contracts aren’t an efficient use of resources. You decide who you think is part of your future and you get them signed. The others you let walk unless they are willing to sign way below market, Some work, some don’t and the bad ones are almost always easy to rid yourself of, again, as long as the owner is willing to commit. Bad contracts aren’t the problem, ownership commitment may be.

[CallawaySabres]

14 minutes ago, tom webster said:

This is an exaggeration. They have  one contract that looks like it won’t work out and plenty of cap space to keep whomever they want to keep. Question is whether owner will allow them to spend.

The whole contract narrative is completely off base. The number crunchers throughout the league have pretty much come to the conclusion that bridge contracts aren’t an efficient use of resources. You decide who you think is part of your future and you get them signed. The others you let walk unless they are willing to sign way below market, Some work, some don’t and the bad ones are almost always easy to rid yourself of, again, as long as the owner is willing to commit. Bad contracts aren’t the problem, ownership commitment may be.

I would say Power, Muel and Cozens were pretty terrible contracts that were way premature. Not only were they undeserving, the optics are terrible, especially now that Peterka, and others will be coming up soon.

[DarthEbriate]

6 hours ago, Jorcus said:

I don't think that would work. A team would not give up a 1st and 3rd for 1 year and a promise that can be broken if the player does not like what's going on after the year is up. We could match 6.8 for one year without a problem.

There could be an agreement to the extension, but even if he says he wants out, he's still an RFA at the end of the 1-year deal with the new team. They can either trade him or bridge him to UFA.

Of course they could match, but it's Adams. He traded for Byram, McLeod, and Levi. Those RFAs are his additions to the new core. Is a scoring winger the priority over a top-4 D, 2C, or 1B goalie next season?

[tom webster]

4 hours ago, CallawaySabres said:

I would say Power, Muel and Cozens were pretty terrible contracts that were way premature. Not only were they undeserving, the optics are terrible, especially now that Peterka, and others will be coming up soon.

Only in Buffalo does anyone think Power won’t outperform his deal. Cozens was a good bet that lost but was replaced by a guy I think is worth his deal and neither deal is so egregious that it prevents anything.

Muel I would agree was pre-mature and the potential savings didn’t justify the timing.

Every team has bad contracts. The Sabres won’t lose anyone or be unable to sign anyone because of any of these contracts. It will all come down to whether ownership will change their commitment.

[GASabresIUFAN]

3 minutes ago, tom webster said:

Only in Buffalo does anyone think Power won’t outperform his deal.

The Athletic playing cards says he is only playing to 50% of the his contract amount.  Everyone agrees his defense is terrible.  As long as his defense remains terrible he'll never contribute to the level of his contract.  His contract was unearned and way premature.  

Cozens was also a stupid contract at the time it was made as Adams was paying for a breakout year that was based on an unsustainable shooting %.   Don't get me started on Samuelsson.

The Sabres, with 7 RFAs including JJP, McLeod and Byram, are going to be a max cap team next season if they run back the current roster.

The way out of cap hell and to move on from most of the D group including a trade of Clifton, a buyout of Samuelsson and a trade of either Byram or Power.  They need to be replaced by 3 veteran D who actually play D.  This is the only way to move this failing rebuild forward.  

 

 

[CallawaySabres]

21 minutes ago, tom webster said:

Only in Buffalo does anyone think Power won’t outperform his deal. Cozens was a good bet that lost but was replaced by a guy I think is worth his deal and neither deal is so egregious that it prevents anything.

Muel I would agree was pre-mature and the potential savings didn’t justify the timing.

Every team has bad contracts. The Sabres won’t lose anyone or be unable to sign anyone because of any of these contracts. It will all come down to whether ownership will change their commitment.

Maybe I am looking for something else, but Power looks like he does not even know how to play defense. Maybe if he was the 10th pick in the draft, I would not be so hard on him.

[tom webster]

9 minutes ago, CallawaySabres said:

Maybe I am looking for something else, but Power looks like he does not even know how to play defense. Maybe if he was the 10th pick in the draft, I would not be so hard on him.

He’s never going to be what some want him to be but he is going to be a very good NHL defenseman.

[GASabresIUFAN]

9 minutes ago, CallawaySabres said:

Maybe I am looking for something else, but Power looks like he does not even know how to play defense. Maybe if he was the 10th pick in the draft, I would not be so hard on him.

You are hard on him because he stinks.  He deserve every ounce of criticism he gets.  He is being paid to play like a No. 1 D, but instead only delivers a 50% effort.  You are correct, he has no idea how to play defense and is either unable or unwilling to play physically.  Until those things change, his contract is one of the worst in the NHL. 

[Thorner]

Just now, GASabresIUFAN said:

You are hard on him because he stinks.  He deserve every ounce of criticism he gets.  He is being paid to play like a No. 1 D, but instead only delivers a 50% effort.  You are correct, he has no idea how to play defense and is either unable or unwilling to play physically.  Until those things change, his contract is one of the worst in the NHL. 

So fire the damn GM who gave him the putrid contract. This isn’t that hard. Im Not paying the price as a fan for this organizations ineptitude anymore. Why should we lose power because they don’t want to develop him properly 

Because the GM paid him at the wrong time 

Again baby/bath water 

[tom webster]

20 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

The Athletic playing cards says he is only playing to 50% of the his contract amount.  Everyone agrees his defense is terrible.  As long as his defense remains terrible he'll never contribute to the level of his contract.  His contract was unearned and way premature.  

Cozens was also a stupid contract at the time it was made as Adams was paying for a breakout year that was based on an unsustainable shooting %.   Don't get me started on Samuelsson.

The Sabres, with 7 RFAs including JJP, McLeod and Byram, are going to be a max cap team next season if they run back the current roster.

The way out of cap hell and to move on from most of the D group including a trade of Clifton, a buyout of Samuelsson and a trade of either Byram or Power.  They need to be replaced by 3 veteran D who actually play D.  This is the only way to move this failing rebuild forward.  

 

 

Unless politics destroys the Canadian dollar thus blowing up the cap, the Power and Tage contracts are going to be huge bargains relative to cap percentage.

The Sabres have plenty of cap flexibilty  if they want to add whatever they want.

Also, I will be shocked if Bryam is with the team next year.

Power isn’t going anywhere unless they get the first pick in the draft and then trade Power for a number one center.

[GASabresIUFAN]

1 minute ago, Thorner said:

So fire the damn GM who gave him the putrid contract. This isn’t that hard. Im Not paying the price as a fan for this organizations ineptitude anymore. Why should we lose power because they don’t want to develop him properly 

Because the GM paid him at the wrong time 

Again baby/bath water 

I agree Adams should be gone, but because of the Power's contract and similar bad deals, we will be up against the cap just keeping our RFAs and we'll still have a bad team.  We have to get out from under some of these obligations to fix the roster.  That means moving on from either Power or Byram.  I'd prefer to keep Byram because I think he is just as good offensively as Power, he is willing to work on his defense and he is willing to hit someone.  I see no such willingness from Power to improve defensively or by physical.   

[Thorner]

Just now, GASabresIUFAN said:

I agree Adams should be gone, but because of the Power's contract and similar bad deals, we will be up against the cap just keeping our RFAs and we'll still have a bad team.  We have to get out from under some of these obligations to fix the roster.  That means moving on from either Power or Byram.  I'd prefer to keep Byram because I think he is just as good offensively as Power, he is willing to work on his defense and he is willing to hit someone.  I see no such willingness from Power to improve defensively or by physical.   

Byram is a bum. 

Also not that hard 

[PerreaultForever]

12 hours ago, SABRES 0311 said:

I worry about KA trading him. He’ll pay a bust like Quinn and get a couple picks for Peterka.

I don't worry about anything any more. I'm dead inside. Now that Boston has finally fallen and sucks too I have nothing. Lost my love for hockey I think I get that now. The games are just background noise now. I barely pay attention. 

Trade. Don't trade whatever. Who gives a f.

[GASabresIUFAN]

6 minutes ago, tom webster said:

Unless politics destroys the Canadian dollar thus blowing up the cap, the Power and Tage contracts are going to be huge bargains relative to cap percentage.

The Sabres have plenty of cap flexibilty  if they want to add whatever they want.

Also, I will be shocked if Bryam is with the team next year.

Power isn’t going anywhere unless they get the first pick in the draft and then trade Power for a number one center.

Here I'll lay out the Cap situation again.  

The Sabres have 16 players under contract, plus 7 RFAs including McLeod, JJP, Byram, Quinn, Levi, Kozak and Bernard-Docker.  Keeping all 7 RFAs will cost about 24 million.  The 16 current contracts cost (with Skinner's dead money) $72,293,015.  Add 24 mill to that and we are at 96,293,015 with a cap projection of 95.5.

We have no money to work with unless we move on from Power or Byram and buyout Samuelsson.

Edited Monday at 08:29 PM by GASabresIUFAN

[Thorner]

“Bye bye first overall pick we were supposed to build around from a mere 4 years ago! You just weren’t good enough, what more did you want from us?”

”Welcome to Buffalo, newly minted top-5 draft pick! We only want guys who WANT to be here. Do you WANT to be here? We have all the resources you need.”

- - - 

****or, instead,*** we can trade the guy we unloaded a player who’s now perceived to be quite underwhelming for. Capitalize on the optics win when it’s right there even if as a managerial unit you are too incompetent to see the separation between power and Byram in an on-ice, potential sense 

Edited Monday at 08:39 PM by Thorner

[GASabresIUFAN]

6 minutes ago, Thorner said:

Byram is a bum. 

Also not that hard 

So Power, who is a defensive liability, should remain because he's helped the 2nd PP unit?

He and Byram have the same number of goals (7) and Power has 3 more assists.  However Power is a D group worst -14 (Clifton is 2nd worst at -6) while Byram is +6.

Byram has 7 EV goals and 24 of his 26 assists are at EV.  Power has 6 EV goals and 22 EV assists.  

Both players have improved their shot blocking this season.  Power has 101 and Byram 94, but Byram takes the body and leads 70 hits to 24.  

 

[Thorner]

9 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

So Power, who is a defensive liability, should remain because he's helped the 2nd PP unit?

He and Byram have the same number of goals (7) and Power has 3 more assists.  However Power is a D group worst -14 (Clifton is 2nd worst at -6) while Byram is +6.

Byram has 7 EV goals and 24 of his 26 assists are at EV.  Power has 6 EV goals and 22 EV assists.  

Both players have improved their shot blocking this season.  Power has 101 and Byram 94, but Byram takes the body and leads 70 hits to 24.  

 

-3 since being moved away from Dahlin primarily 

Dahlin Dahlin Dahlin 

Edited Monday at 08:46 PM by Thorner

[tom webster]

10 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Here I'll lay out the Cap situation again.  

The Sabres have 16 players under contract, plus 7 RFAs including McLeod, JJP, Byram, Quinn, Levi, Kozak and Bernard-Docker.  Keeping all 7 RFAs will cost about 24 million.  The 16 current contracts cost (with Skinner's dead money) $72,293,015.  Add 24 mill to that and we are at 96,293,015 with a cap projection of 95.5.

We have no money to work with unless we move on from Power or Byram and buyout Samuelsson.

Like I said, Bryam won’t be back plus a forward or two will be gone. They are not running this team back,

[GASabresIUFAN]

6 minutes ago, Thorner said:

“Bye bye first overall pick we were supposed to build around from a mere 4 years ago! You just weren’t good enough, what more did you want from us?”

”Welcome to Buffalo, newly minted top-5 draft pick! We only want guys who WANT to be here. Do you WANT to be here? We have all the resources you need.”

- - - 

****or, instead,*** we can trade the guy we unloaded a player who’s now perceived to be quite underwhelming for. Capitalize on the optics win when it’s right there even if as a managerial unit you are too incompetent to see the separation between power and Byram in an on-ice, potential sense 

 

1 minute ago, Thorner said:

-3 since being moved away from Dahlin primarily 

Dahlin Dahlin Dahlin 

... and ?  

Ultimately it doesn't matter who they move on from.  They can't keep both and have money to improve the defensive play of the D group.  I'd prefer to punt Power, but I firmly believe he'll never be a reliable defender and I believe Byram will become decent defensively and will be cheaper to retain.  It's also not like No. 1 overall D haven't been traded in the past.  Former No. 1 overall D, Erik Johnson was traded from Stl to Colorado during his 3rd NHL season.

3 minutes ago, tom webster said:

Like I said, Bryam won’t be back plus a forward or two will be gone. They are not running this team back,

I hope your correct, but with Adams and Pegula, you never know.  Which forward are you punting by the way?  Quinn? JJP? McLeod? Kulich? Who?

[Thorner]

And : 

 

we always do the “ya he’s got an injury history, but… well he’s never maintained those numbers over a full season, but….

...he plays with Dahlin, but..”

Nah, he *plays with Dahlin.* Rasmus is one of the very best players in the nhl

- - -

we don’t need Bowen Byram. We need what power may become. And I’m not punting the time line back 4 years for some draft pick either

 

If Adams is going to be here, help him out. Charging him with making a reasonable trade for Byram is a far lower degree of difficult than a finicky trade for a D-man with power’s ceiling going through (common) growing pains especially on a bad team 

Edited Monday at 08:49 PM by Thorner

[GASabresIUFAN]

13 minutes ago, tom webster said:

Like I said, Bryam won’t be back plus a forward or two will be gone. They are not running this team back,

Which forwards are you punting?

[dudacek]

1 hour ago, tom webster said:

Unless politics destroys the Canadian dollar thus blowing up the cap, the Power and Tage contracts are going to be huge bargains relative to cap percentage.

The Sabres have plenty of cap flexibilty  if they want to add whatever they want.

Also, I will be shocked if Bryam is with the team next year.

Power isn’t going anywhere unless they get the first pick in the draft and then trade Power for a number one center.

If I was named GM, I would be ecstatic to be handed a team with :

• A an elite NHL goal scorer in his prime, locked up to a bargain contract
• B an elite NHL defenceman beginning his prime, locked up to a fair contract
• C a large cache of cheap young talent accumulated over the Adams period
• D a fair amount of flexibility under the cap

 

I would take a long hard look at the rest of my "core" and flush a large part of it in order to acquire players that help me now. (yes, like Adams did with Cozens)

This means shopping:

• Byram and Peterka as in-demand talents needing new contracts who might be redundant.
• Samuelsson and Quinn as the most broken/disappointing pieces from the current build
• Alex Tuch as a soon-to-be UFA aging out of my window
• UPL as a guy I'm not entirely sold on as my future
• a top 5 pick in the coming draft
• Owen Power as my most valuable remaining asset

I'm not giving these assets away, and I don't have to trade them all. But i want to see what they can buy me, especially if I can offer some futures or eat some cap to upgrade at their roster slots. And I have to move some of them in order to send a message .

The goal should be adding 2 new top 4 defencemen and 2 new top 6 forwards for the new coaching staff to work with. You're not going to get that by clinging to the broken dreams of the current roster.

Fix the chemistry. Rasmus and Tage deserve it.

Edited Monday at 09:27 PM by dudacek

[SABRES 0311]

1 hour ago, PerreaultForever said:

I don't worry about anything any more. I'm dead inside. Now that Boston has finally fallen and sucks too I have nothing. Lost my love for hockey I think I get that now. The games are just background noise now. I barely pay attention. 

Trade. Don't trade whatever. Who gives a f.

[dudacek]

2 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Here I'll lay out the Cap situation again.  

The Sabres have 16 players under contract, plus 7 RFAs including McLeod, JJP, Byram, Quinn, Levi, Kozak and Bernard-Docker.  Keeping all 7 RFAs will cost about 24 million.  The 16 current contracts cost (with Skinner's dead money) $72,293,015.  Add 24 mill to that and we are at 96,293,015 with a cap projection of 95.5.

We have no money to work with unless we move on from Power or Byram and buyout Samuelsson.

Again, we have about $24M to work with - more than half the league.

You’re looking at this through extremely rigid parameters. The solution is obviously trades and we have cap flexibility to make them.

We don’t have to keep any of the free agents, we don’t have to keep any of the already signed players. Qualifying offers for the 7 RFAs total something like $10-12M. Only Byram and McLeod have arbitration rights. Yes, we are vulnerable to offer sheets, but only if our GM lets it get to that point.

The only way we have “no money to work with” if we sign our RFAs to big long-term deals and roll back the same roster.

Edited Monday at 10:48 PM by dudacek

[Sidc3000]

For those saying bridge. Out of the “core” name one bridge contract that Adams gave?   He doesn’t do bridge contracts.