Roster Thread (2023-2024 Season)

[thewookie1]

I assumed a bridge. We still need to get rid of one of them, and we still wouldn't be able to afford any other upgrades. We'd have to ditch like 3 players if we want to upgrade.

We are mostly stuck with the team we have for the next several years, minus at least one big piece, probably more.

I don't think people understand just how much the Power contract completely prevents any meaningful changes to this team in the medium term.

Well Power's bridge would of been at least 5.5 to 6.5 mil so we'd of had at best 2 mil extra

 

[Djp]

I'm going to update my salary spreadsheet for the next few years. Can someone (smart people ONLY please) tell me what the next contracts will look like for the following people?

(Let's assume they're all in the 3-5 years range as far as duration because I don't think we can afford any long terms ones anymore. I don't need to know the number of years)

Peterka
Quinn
Tuch
Mitts
Greenway
Krebs
Joki
Benson

Edit: I need UPL too

Thanks!

Peterka and Quinn get 2 yr bridges
Greenway can be signed for 4-5 yrs at around $4M
Krebs gets a 3 yr bridge if not traded
Benson gets a 1 yr bridge
Tuck gets a 5 yr extension using Clifton cap space

UPL gets a 4 yr contract around $4M per

i think Joker is traded.

my baseline assumption is Skinner isn’t bought out or retires.

I think one of Peterka/Brnson gets traded by 2027 summer. I think Quinn stays.

 

[Djp]

Just noticed Sabres are 9 points out, PHI holds the last spot at 67, with one extra game played.

Idk if you noticed, but Tage is very physical on the boards to take/protect the puck. Mitts is just not remotely a physical player. Why are we adding to get Brady and why are they giving up Brady?

Tampa has last WC. PHL in 3rd in division.

buffalo is down by 11 pts with 2 games in hand and they play them 2 more times

if tey win H2H and games in hand then that is a 3 pt difference.

 

[Jim Bob]

Tampa has last WC. PHL in 3rd in division.

buffalo is down by 11 pts with 2 games in hand and they play them 2 more times

if tey win H2H and games in hand then that is a 3 pt difference.

The challenge is that there are also 4 other teams between the Sabres and Tampa Bay in the Devils, Caps, Pens, and Isles.

 

[Irie]

Sorry, my eyes glazed over when you said 'Excluding the two years he did absolutely jack shit while being paid 9M per season'

Edit: Essentially, throwing out his worst two seasons because he refused to play the system the coach wanted to and got demoted for it but the very fact we have to take a minute and consider "Well will our highest paid forward actually show up if we hire this coach" if we decide to change coaches simply reinforces the fact that he's gotta go.

OK, path of false narrative it is then.

With Skinner, you are going to get a ton of consistency. If you play him in the top 6, he will score goals in bunches. If you play him with checking role players, he will not score.

So saying he is inconsistent and he will probably only score 9 goals one year is complete BS. The coaching staff has control over whether he scores 30+ or less than 10 through deployment.

You may not remember, but the 2019-20, Skinner had ten goals by early November and was on pace for 40 goals again, and then Krueger demoted him to play with Sheahan, Sobotka, Lazar, Sheary, Larsson etc... and he only potted 4 more the rest of the season.

It is fine to say that Skinner is an incomplete player and that your opinion is that the team is better when he doesn't play, but pretending his goal scoring ability is some enigma that comes and goes is dishonest.

 

[TageGod]

Tampa has last WC. PHL in 3rd in division.

buffalo is down by 11 pts with 2 games in hand and they play them 2 more times

if tey win H2H and games in hand then that is a 3 pt difference.

ESPN has philly as the 8th?

 

[Doug Prishpreed]

Peterka + Joki + Kulich + 2024 1st = Brady Tkachuk

Is that in the slightest bit realistic? I'd give up more active roster players but I'm assuming OTT can't take back any extra cap.

 

[thewookie1]

Peterka + Joki + Kulich + 2024 1st = Matt Tkachuk

Is that in the slightest bit realistic? I'd give up more active roster players but I'm assuming OTT can't take back any extra cap.

Brady Tkachuk

 

[TageGod]

Peterka + Joki + Kulich + 2024 1st = Matt Tkachuk

Is that in the slightest bit realistic? I'd give up more active roster players but I'm assuming OTT can't take back any extra cap.

2025 first. Ours belongs to Celebrini already.

 

[Zman5778]

Mitts is just not remotely a physical player.

He might not throw hits, but dude is an animal along the boards and super strong on the puck. He doesn't shrink from physical play at all, even if he doesn't initiate.

 

[Beerz]

Dahlin has definitely been playing like an 11 million dollar dman recently.

 

[K8fool]

Brady Tkachuk

Tkschuks are cheap scum. They can come to buffalo as a ritual sacrifice in the fountain or we can ignore their lame slow witted existence.

 

[K8fool]

He might not throw hits, but dude is an animal along the boards and super strong on the puck. He doesn't shrink from physical play at all, even if he doesn't initiate.

Yes he has matured w pride in improving the right parts of his game. The whole group will be quite good as the become men over 25 and teaching the younger guys to dominate individual battles. Adams may be right keeping thrm all and adding two honorable physical guys to help making teams dread playing us.

 

[Chainshot]

People would be saying KA was an idiot he was for making those trades because they would not have changed the teams standings.

If you don’t think 40-ish 5-on-5 goals for the season doesn’t shift this position in the standings…

 

[TageGod]

He might not throw hits, but dude is an animal along the boards and super strong on the puck. He doesn't shrink from physical play at all, even if he doesn't initiate.

That is well and good, but so does Thompson who is on Tuch's level of ability to pressure and steal pucks. I am merely stating the reason for you trading Thompson does not line up with his play. Mitts is just good at everything, but exceptional at nothing. Thompson is our only true game breaking player, we will have no 1C and we can't live in that world.

 

[zenthusiast]

Toronto retained 1.2M on a Kessel trade and that ended up hurting them very quickly. When you're that close to the cap you need all the room you can get. Having that empty cap hit is rough. It's not attached to a player that's filling a lineup spot. It's not a cap hit you can send down. It's not a cap hit you can trade away. It's just there. A cap hit for 6 years is a long time.

The leafs might have struggled ten years ago but the panthers are doing fine with Yandle’s dead hit now. Good, well-managed and -coached teams find a way, which is where the Sabres could run into problems

 

[Zman5778]

That is well and good, but so does Thompson who is on Tuch's level of ability to pressure and steal pucks. I am merely stating the reason for you trading Thompson does not line up with his play. Mitts is just good at everything, but exceptional at nothing. Thompson is our only true game breaking player, we will have no 1C and we can't live in that world.

I'm not advocating for trading Tage. But, I would have zero issue with it if we're trading him for a better 1C.

And I would call Mitts' puck possession ability exceptional. Once he gets the puck, it's REAL hard to take it away from him.

 

[Doug Prishpreed]

We need to find trade targets on CHEAP contracts, and then "overpay" for them (it's not really overpay since you're paying for the cheap AAV).

Any suggestions for players on such deals? Bottom 6 is more than fine.

 

[start winnin]

That is well and good, but so does Thompson who is on Tuch's level of ability to pressure and steal pucks. I am merely stating the reason for you trading Thompson does not line up with his play. Mitts is just good at everything, but exceptional at nothing. Thompson is our only true game breaking player, we will have no 1C and we can't live in that world.

Yet he is substantially better than Thompson this year? I don't know how you can watch this team and come to the conclusion that Thompson is better than Mittelstadt on the boards, that's just an insane take to me. You may be correct in your assessment that Thompson has more game breaking ability, but this is because he is simply a physical freak, Mittelstadt plays a more intelligent and responsible game, to me that is more valuable than Thompson's game.

Last year, Thompson's flaws were evident but acceptable as he scored at an unprecedented rate. And to preface, I don't think it's all his fault as Skinner and Tuch are playing at a much lower level this year. However his quite frankly, brain-dead play this year is so tiring. If he can get back to the same level as last year, I'll agree with you, but until I see that Thompson back, Mittelstadt who has been our most consistent offensive and more importantly one of our most responsible forwards holds more value to me.

 

[Zman5778]

Listen to the last few week’s worth of presser’s from Granato. He emphasizes that Skinner isn’t injured

Sounds like he's injured now. Question is -- is it a re-aggravation or escalation of something that's been going on or something new?

My bet is that it's a re-aggravation of whatever has (IMO, clearly) been bothering him the last month or so.

I do not trust DG when it comes to injury reporting. One bit.

 

[Jim Bob]

Jost gets the call up with Skinner hurt.

 

[TehDoak]

OK, path of false narrative it is then.

With Skinner, you are going to get a ton of consistency. If you play him in the top 6, he will score goals in bunches. If you play him with checking role players, he will not score.

So saying he is inconsistent and he will probably only score 9 goals one year is complete BS. The coaching staff has control over whether he scores 30+ or less than 10 through deployment.

You may not remember, but the 2019-20, Skinner had ten goals by early November and was on pace for 40 goals again, and then Krueger demoted him to play with Sheahan, Sobotka, Lazar, Sheary, Larsson etc... and he only potted 4 more the rest of the season.

It is fine to say that Skinner is an incomplete player and that your opinion is that the team is better when he doesn't play, but pretending his goal scoring ability is some enigma that comes and goes is dishonest.

I never doubted Skinner's goal scoring ability.

The problem is that there was one thing Krueger was right about. That's all there is to his game. He's supremely talented from the faceoff dots down in the offensive zone. Probably some of the best hands in he league.

But that is all there is to his game. If he isn't handed those high o-zone starts, he doesn't have the hockey sense to create those chances for himself. And in the one area he SHOULD be lethal at, the power play, he's terrible at. He's a low IQ, one dimensional player who is lethal around the net. He's not good in transition. He's awful in his own zone.

And yes, if you feed him high ozone starts, regardless of effort, he will produce. But that's the problem. He can't drive his own line. You are paying him 9M dollar to spoon feed him goals.

We'd win more games without Skinner than we will win with him. The negative aspects to his game (and the bad example he sets for the younger players) outweigh his goal scoring prowess. We have enough depth that we can replace 75% of his production at a fraction of the cost if we spoon fed another player his same ice time along with having better play in the other two zones.

 

[HOOats]

Jeez, we have a shitty team

We don't have a shitty team. We have an average team that had six shitty weeks in November/December, mainly failed by the PP and our stars.

We weren't supposed to be shitty this year and we haven't been playing shitty for a while now. I'm interested to see how long this reflexive narrative lasts if they keep up the solid play through the end of the season. I'd imagine parts of it leak into next season no matter what.

Almost every team in the league would still trade their future setup for ours.

 

[Doug Prishpreed]

We don't have a shitty team. We have an average team that had six shitty weeks in November/December, mainly failed by the PP and our stars.

We weren't supposed to be shitty this year and we haven't been playing shitty for a while now. I'm interested to see how long this reflexive narrative lasts if they keep up the solid play through the end of the season. I'd imagine parts of it leak into next season no matter what.

Almost every team in the league would still trade their future setup for ours.

True, it's just a shitty team compared to other NHL teams.

Individually, the players are great and would thrive on other teams -- totally agreed there. We've seen it over and over the past decade. But they're not built to compete in the NHL over a full season.

We're still mostly playing back-up goalies and still can't be competitive for more than a game or two at a time.

 

[Mattilaus]

I'm interested to see how long this reflexive narrative lasts if they keep up the solid play through the end of the season. I'd imagine parts of it leak into next season no matter what.

Just like last year into the beginning of this year right?