Off-Season Roster Thread #2 -- Nothing to do but wait

[Der Jaeger]

If it were only that easy...


I wonder if they try and give each line one of Tuch, Asplund, Okposo, and Girgensons to try and spread the defensive responsibility around?

The Lightning got better once their skilled players learned to play with more grit and play defense. That's probably what'll need to happen with the Sabres.

 

[Dingo44]

Cozens is already on his way to being very good defensively. Mitts has that ability too. We have a lot of options to develop for sure.

 

[Dingo44]

Losing last year in the OHL likely didn't help. But I do wonder at why when he was with the Crunch all of last season and then didn't get offered a deal?

Says there is interest from teams so I'm guessing he'll sign somewhere. We need players for the Amerks at least.

 

[Dubi Doo]

There’s no good reason we can’t get Letang and one of the better goalies with this much space for 2 years each. Make it so they can’t say no.

Can Letang play RD? I'd love him paired with Power on a two or three year deal.

 

[MarkusKetterer]

Can Letang play RD? I'd love him paired with Power on a two or three year deal.

Yes he plays RD.

 

[Jacob582]

I would think if for some reason Letang got to the point where he is at least willing to listen to an offer; one of his main questions would be: Who is going to be your goaltender?

 

[WhereAreTheCookies]

I would think if for some reason Letang got to the point where he is at least willing to listen to an offer; one of his main questions would be: Who is going to be your goaltender?

Especially if he's signing a 2 year deal and still expects to have another contract after that. He likely doesn't want to see his numbers tank and ruin his chances at a decent end of career contract.

 

[Zach716]

Can Letang play RD? I'd love him paired with Power on a two or three year deal.

Yeah I can't think of a much better mentor in the league for Power, Dahlin and Sammy. He's still a very high caliber player. He's my #1 UFA hopeful this offseason.

 

[Dubi Doo]

I would think if for some reason Letang got to the point where he is at least willing to listen to an offer; one of his main questions would be: Who is going to be your goaltender?

A Fleury and Letang combo? Yes please!

 

[Jim Bob]

A Fleury and Letang combo? Yes please!

And then Adams just re-signs Anderson and Pysyk.

 

[TehDoak]

And then Adams just re-signs Anderson and Pysyk.

 

[Deep Blue Metallic]

Fleury and Letang would certainly fill some short-term holes, but what is the likelihood of signing them?

I understand that to a large extent we're spitballing for fun in here, but a small dose of reality would be useful.

 

[Deep Blue Metallic]

If Murray gets waived and claimed, good for Murray. If he puts in the work somehow to get more out of his skating, in whatever manner be it cardio or power or foot speed, then he may make it. And if he hasn't and goes on waivers... okay. Same with Fitzie - if a team decides he's better than whatever in-house 6/7 a team has and he were to be waived due to the number of bodies in front of him... okay. I like both players, but guys leave teams all the time that way. It's not really that big of a deal if they are doing their job to make sure they have multiple options for the 14/15 forwards and 8/9 defensemen assigned to the farm this year for injury purposes.

I love the moxie Fitz brings, because the Sabres are sorely lacking in it, but he's a fringe NHL player.

Losing guys like Murray and Fitz to waivers happens to teams with improving rosters. Embrace it.

 

[Dubi Doo]

Fleury and Letang would certainly fill some short-term holes, but what is the likelihood of signing them?

I understand that to a large extent we're spitballing for fun in here, but a small dose of reality would be useful.

Probably pretty low, but we have the cap space to maybe spark some interest.

 

[Chainshot]

I love the moxie Fitz brings, because the Sabres are sorely lacking in it, but he's a fringe NHL player.

Losing guys like Murray and Fitz to waivers happens to teams with improving rosters. Embrace it.

Yeah, I'm not losing sleep if they get a full-time gig somewhere else. And yes, they have things the team needs but the packages thus far have not been complete enough to worry overly much. There will be guys on almost every team who are similar and in similar positions. Let's face it, if someone wants an AHL winger with size and jam... AJ Greer just rubbed the Amerks faces in it just a couple weeks ago and has all sorts of good things that Murray brings and is group VI UFA.

 

[truthbluth]

Fleury and Letang is a nice combo, but if we’re going for team vibes, it’s gotta be Fluery (king of vibes) and Subban (prince of vibes).

 

[NotABadPeriod]

Losing last year in the OHL likely didn't help. But I do wonder at why when he was with the Crunch all of last season and then didn't get offered a deal?

It is odd, but I know in the past you've suggested the Sabres would do well to find sign some local kids to see if they maybe give just a little bit extra to play for the hometown team. Unless maybe he turned a deal down to become a free agent (close the NCAA CHL loophole?).

 

[Asymmetric Solution]

Yeah I can't think of a much better mentor in the league for Power, Dahlin and Sammy. He's still a very high caliber player. He's my #1 UFA hopeful this offseason.

He’s already got a couple cups. We give him 9x2 and he’ll like be happy anyway making that money towards his twilight.

 

[SundherDome]

I love Gibson but he has been bad and I don't think the team around him is that bad.

 

[Djp]

There’s no good reason we can’t get Letang and one of the better goalies with this much space for 2 years each. Make it so they can’t say no.

yes they have capspace this year and next. In 2024… they need to be smart and not sign any UFAs beyond the 23/34 season.

what is the cap floor next year? That’s more important.

 

[alehman42]

He’s already got a couple cups. We give him 9x2 and he’ll like be happy anyway making that money towards his twilight.

He's hitting free agency because he asked for $35mil over 5 years from Pittsburgh, which not surprisingly led to a breakdown in talks. Ice Breakers: Penguins, Kris Letang have big gap to bridge in negotiations

He appears to be looking for one last long-term contract, so I doubt he'd take a 2 year deal for anything short of obscene money.

My guess is he'll end up getting 4 years and somewhere between $25-28mil. If that were front-loaded and didn't include trade protection...I might actually be in favor of the Sabres going there.

 

[Djp]

Really the only way to realistically make this happen is to go a high signing bonus style deal to escape escrow. Letang is 35+ so he likely won't get more than a 3 or 4 year deal, so if we offered him, for example, a 2 year, 20M deal with 18M of it via signing bonus and a full NMC, that would be difficult for another team to compete with. It really depends on what his priorities are this summer. And it would also involve ownership be willing to invest heavily like that as that would be very cash heavy investment.

after signing RFAs and promoting some players theyare going to be about $10M below the cap. I’m fine acquiring / signing a $6M+ player and getting a $4M goalie

even looking ahead to summer 2023, e en resigning RFAs and some UFAs they are likely to still be below the cap floor. resigning Tage,Girgs, and KO ..I don’t see much gain on their current cap hits.

by 2024 there will be a bunch of contracts coming up. I have concern on acquiring/ signing 3 yr or longer contracts

There’s no good reason we can’t get Letang and one of the better goalies with this much space for 2 years each. Make it so they can’t say no.

just because Buffalo has space…don’t be stupid

 

[Ace]

yes they have capspace this year and next. In 2024… they need to be smart and not sign any UFAs beyond the 23/34 season.

what is the cap floor next year? That’s more important.

Way way above where they’ll be just signing Olofsson.

they need to spend a lot of money. Over 10 million dollars. With limited positions available.

 

[WhereAreTheCookies]

Way way above where they’ll be just signing Olofsson.

they need to spend a lot of money. Over 10 million dollars. With limited positions available.

Contracts out there like Ferland they can and will likely grab I'm sure.

Cap floor is I think 60.8 million now since it was 60.2 this past season. Basically they need to be at 61 million or higher.

 

[Zach716]

just because Buffalo has space…don’t be stupid

I don’t see how a 2 year deal when we need to get to the cap floor anyways is stupid