Roster thread: Get To Work (2022-2023 Season)

[The Blunder Years]

I’m going to be all aboard the Damon Severson train this off-season.

 

[La Cosa Nostra]

Olofsson has to be worth a 1st right now. 19 goals in 44 games. Will likely hit 30. In his 20s and not that expensive.

 

[Jim Bob]

Toews is much worse than Kane. Kane if healthy can up his game in playoffs. The issue on giving up a 1st is the playoffs is very competitive so teams aren’t moving a 1st.

Toews brings some things to the table that are very valuable that Kane does not.

For instance, of players that have taken 200+ faceoffs this season, Toews has the best FOW% in the NHL at 63.9% with Bergeron #2 at 62.7%.

And Toews only has 2 fewer points than Kane has this season.

 

[Jim Bob]

Down Goes Brown: Which teams should make a trade deadline blockbuster?

We’ve got 32 teams, and 32 reasons for their GMs to swing for the fences this upcoming trade deadline.

theathletic.com

Buffalo Sabres​

The fans deserve it. Tage Thompson deserves it. And maybe most important of all: You guys are just weirdly good at midseason trades. They’re how you got Pat LaFontaine, Danny Briere and Rene Robert. You turned the Jack Eichel mess into a win. Even the Ryan Miller trade worked out OK. And if that’s not enough, we’re coming up on the 30-year anniversary of your 1993 trade for Grant Fuhr, and that trade directly preceded eight years of the greatest goaltending in franchise history. That last sentence is factually correct, don’t think too hard about it.

 

[TehDoak]

Cant wait to return the same team next year.

Poor Granato when it doesn’t work and blame has to go to the wrong person

While I'm assuming with Girgensons and Okposo being UFAs there will be some natural cycling, but seeing the needs (help on PK, faceoffs, add some physicality), I'd like to think the front office will make some moves....but there are some misguided principals running the team ATM, so this is probably mostly accurate.

 

[Djp]

Toews brings some things to the table that are very valuable that Kane does not.

For instance, of players that have taken 200+ faceoffs this season, Toews has the best FOW% in the NHL at 63.9% with Bergeron #2 at 62.7%.

And Toews only has 2 fewer points than Kane has this season.

the Isdue with him is the cap hit. A 3 rd team woukd need to be involved. He a role player. Kane healthy in playoffs could still have a much bigger impact. You need to factor in motivation.
remrmber how Buffalo played when thry made an effort to tank?

 

[Gabrielor]

I’m going to be all aboard the Damon Severson train this off-season.

There should be a lot of solid RD options, depending on how we want to fill it.

I'm a big Gudas and Mayfield fan. Schenn's also interesting.

 

[WiHockeyGuy]

There should be a lot of solid RD options, depending on how we want to fill it.

View attachment 638466

I'm a big Gudas and Mayfield fan. Schenn's also interesting.

I can't get behind Gudas. I get he is one of those guys you probably love to have on your team, hate to play against, but I just can't support the dude. I still 'member the Catenacci hit.

 

[Bendium]

I’m going to be all aboard the Damon Severson train this off-season.

Rasmus Ristolainen 647 games 49 goals 217 asst 266 pts (-176) diff 351 pen min
Damon Severson ... 610 games 55 goals 189 asst 244 pts (-123) diff 378 pen min

Wow! There are two of them!

Hard pass!

 

[Jim Bob]

the Isdue with him is the cap hit. A 3 rd team woukd need to be involved. He a role player. Kane healthy in playoffs could still have a much bigger impact. You need to factor in motivation.
remrmber how Buffalo played when thry made an effort to tank?

They both have the same cap hit and they both are playing in the same tanking environment.

I do not know how either of those two factors are supposed to change things when comparing Kane to Toews.

I can't get behind Gudas. I get he is one of those guys you probably love to have on your team, hate to play against, but I just can't support the dude. I still 'member the Catenacci hit.

Gudas hasn't had too many really dirty plays of late.

He has developed into a better version of Boosh for me. I wouldn't mind it at all if the Sabres were able to add him to the blueline.

 

[Fly Boy]

Give me Mayfield. There's your 2nd Sammy.

 

[BUCKSHOT]

While I'm assuming with Girgensons and Okposo being UFAs there will be some natural cycling, but seeing the needs (help on PK, faceoffs, add some physicality), I'd like to think the front office will make some moves....but there are some misguided principals running the team ATM, so this is probably mostly accurate.

think those things (to some extent) can be done with some of the players here

This team is young, inexperienced and physically immature 'kids' (right now)

 

[Djp]

Give me Mayfield. There's your 2nd Sammy.

he doesn’t do 20+ min a game.

 

[Fly Boy]

he doesn’t do 20+ min a game.

He wouldn't need to.

 

[joshjull]

 

[TehDoak]

think those things (to some extent) can be done with some of the players here

This team is young, inexperienced and physically immature 'kids' (right now)

...which is why you bring in veterans for immediate help. This whole 'gotta get the right age' stuff Adams is spewing is pure horseshit. The pieces they need (Physical Wingers, a defensive center who can help on faceoffs and the PK, and 2nd pair RD to steady Power) aren't pieces in the system currently, or even close, or on the team currently. The forward group has two scoring lines (one that is going to be wildly inconsistent because of their age) and two lines of square pegs and round holes.

 

[Djp]

He wouldn't need to.

Playing with Power, he would.

 

[Zman5778]

Playing with Power, he would.

Nah. Joker and Mayfield can split shifts with Power depending on the situation.

 

[Fly Boy]

Playing with Power, he would.

He is quite literally playing 20:46 ATOI this year, while Joker who is Power's actual partner is playing 20:38. The Islanders also have Pelech, Pulock and Dobson as RHD, so their time is split pretty evenly when you look at it. Mayfield has never needed to, nor had the opportunity to play large minutes. I'm sure he can manage just fine.

 

[Gabrielor]

It's likely not in season, but at some point, 1 or multiple forward for dmen trades are coming.

Could be a big Chychrun deal. Could be a sneaky Mitts for XXX 1 for 1. Could be prospect for prospect.

We have endless forward prospect depth right now, and NHL/AHL lineup depth. We have next to nothing on defense coming to support the big 3 (and jokiharju, joker fans).

 

[Der Jaeger]

The nice part about the way the Sabres are playing is that Adams doesn't need to force kids into the lineup. Mittelstadt may not ever be the top 6 scoring center he was projected to be, but he is developing into a very good playmaking top 9 winger who can drive possession. Jost has been a great waiver pick up, and Olofsson is finally making an impact.

Peterka and Quinn earned their way with a year in the AHL. Rosen and Kulich are doing that now along with Kisakov. Maybe they can spend another year there, or maybe they slot into Girgensons and Okposo's spots and Adams doesn't have an energy line.

Peterka and Quinn earned the call up after Peterka was a PPG player and Quinn exploded as an AHL player. Let Kulich and Rosen develop and get to that level (both are close to PPG now).

Ostlund has years to develop. Savoie is likely going back to Winnipeg, and then a year in the AHL before he's on the Sabres.

Aside from replacing or re-signing Okposo and Girgensons, the Sabres don't need to do a thing for their forwards until 2024-25.

 

[Djp]

He is quite literally playing 20:46 ATOI this year, while Joker who is Power's actual partner is playing 20:38. The Islanders also have Pelech, Pulock and Dobson as RHD, so their time is split pretty evenly when you look at it. Mayfield has never needed to, nor had the opportunity to play large minutes. I'm sure he can manage just fine.

I got some land to sell ya…..

Mayfield hasn’t done more because he can’t.he isn’t some 23 yr old.

same issue with Bryson.

 

[Der Jaeger]

Doing some projections on Capfriendly. Mostly kept the team together.

Cozens signed 8 x $7M
Jost signed 3 x $2.5M
Asplund signed 1 x $1M
Clague signed 1 x $1M
Girgensons signed 1 x $2M
Okposo signed 1 x $1M

Traded Flyers 2nd and Portillo to Nashville for Fabbro, signed 3 x $2.8M

That gets the Sabres to 22 players (13/7/2) and almost $71M. No need for the Boychuk's or Bishop's of the world anymore.
---------------------------------
Argue with what I did above, but what was interesting was the cap available for the future and what the Sabres need to do. After next season, Adams has to:

Re-sign Dahlin. That's going to be around $10M.
Re-sign Power. He's probably going to want to avoid a bridge, so that's going to be around $7-8M.
Re-sign Luukkonen. That's going to be around $6-7M.

Krebs, Mittelstadt, Jokiharju, and Bryson all need new contracts. Collectively, that's $10-12M.

Adams will need to add $33-37M in contracts after next season. Dahlin, Power, Luukkonen, Krebs, Mittelstadt, Jokiharju, and Bryson collectively make around $15.5M, so Adams is adding around $17-21M in additional cap to these players.

The assumed Okposo and Girgensons contracts come off the books ($6M - which doesn't matter anyway since they were assumed as 1 years deals, so that money is available regardless). Olofsson, Comrie, and Lyubushkin are free agents, with a combined salary of $9.3M.

Assuming all the estimates are close-ish (with a trade for Fabbro, assuming that the Sabres will make some kind of move), that gets the Sabres to ~$76M on the high end, maybe ~$72M on the lower end.

And the next season, Quinn and Peterka are due contract extensions.

So what? That's get the Sabres in the neighborhood of the cap limit, with key young players still coming up, and not a lot of room left unless the cap goes up. I think Adams may be well served by laying off the big trades, at least until Skinner's contract is off the books. He's got lots of contract work to do in the meantime.

 

[Jim Bob]

I am guessing it is in here given the description of the episode.

 

[DustyZ]

For whatever reason, every time I say something somewhat controversial it gets odd responses I believe, but hear me out.

Love Quinn and his potential but for now at least, I'm sick of seeing him either miss the net or shoot it into the crest of the jersey.

How about we take a look at VO over there at this point?

I'll hang up and get crucified