I mean, it's a bit more than 10M to work with though.
You don't sign Hinostroza (1M), Pysyk (900k), Caggiula (750k), Anderson (750k). That's 3.4M
You don't take on Butcher (2.82)
You send Eakin to the minors (+1M-ish in extra space)
So 7.22 + 10M = 17.22M in cap space to midpoint.
You also have 2x 2nds and 2x 3rds in the probably most unscoutable draft in modern NHL history, so those are all on the table, at least, IMHO.
The assets and cap space were there. And the expansion draft could have been an opportunity to improve the team as well that was floundered.
It was incredibly frustrating this summer to see the Sabres returning to the dollar bin for free agents when they had both cap space and draft capital to use to improve the team and they didn't. You could have easily assembled a .500 team, still had primary roles for the youth with entangling yourselves in regrettable contracts. Or at least you could have TRIED
The issue was that Adams refused to spend draft picks and an ownership mandate to spend as little as possible.