Speculation: Sabres Roster Speculation - Pre-season 2023 Edition

[Zman5778]

They are overreacting to some things that have happened and ignore that Brisson is the agent for Okposo, Power, and Samuelsson.

Didn't realize he was Sammy's agent. Knew he was Power's and Okie's.

 

[Jim Bob]

Didn't realize he was Sammy's agent. Knew he was Power's and Okie's.

NHL Contracts by Agent Pat Brisson | Puckpedia

See the active player contracts and client list for Pat Brisson at CAA Sports LLC on PuckPedia.

puckpedia.com

Samuelsson is a CAA client and may have had one of their other agents do his ELC and Brisson did the extension.

CAA resents Eichel, which is where the Brisson vs the Sabres stuff started. They also represent Jost.

 

[TehDoak]

Circling back to Olofsson....I don't think he's going to have much value, if at all.

Olofsson, to be productive, needs PP time and high offensive starts.

On contenders, those sheltered minutes (and cap space) is already all used up. If they need scoring depth, they will try to use ELC contracts and if that doesn't work out, add at the deadline. Scoring depth is one of the easiest pieces to get.

The target audience is going to be bad teams. Teams that want to pick up scoring for cheap and flip him at the deadline for assets. Off the top of my head, Montreal, Arizona, Chicago, maybe San Jose if they want to replace some of the scoring they lost from Meier. And they won't be paying much. Sheary/Vesey prices. A 3rd if we retain some is probably about spot on. Because they are going to try to turn him into a 2nd at the deadline.

he also could be a toss in for a bigger trade if we are taking on salary to even things out.

 

[toddkaz]

Gudas would be a fine target for a limited bottom pair role if Jokiharju & Lyubushkin weren't on the team IMO.

He & Stillman would probably make for a fun, old school type of bottom pairing.

How do they not call a penalty? I know its Marchand but damn its anything goes off the top buckle refereeing.

 

[Chainshot]

Circling back to Olofsson....I don't think he's going to have much value, if at all.

Olofsson, to be productive, needs PP time and high offensive starts.

On contenders, those sheltered minutes (and cap space) is already all used up. If they need scoring depth, they will try to use ELC contracts and if that doesn't work out, add at the deadline. Scoring depth is one of the easiest pieces to get.

The target audience is going to be bad teams. Teams that want to pick up scoring for cheap and flip him at the deadline for assets. Off the top of my head, Montreal, Arizona, Chicago, maybe San Jose if they want to replace some of the scoring they lost from Meier. And they won't be paying much. Sheary/Vesey prices. A 3rd if we retain some is probably about spot on. Because they are going to try to turn him into a 2nd at the deadline.

he also could be a toss in for a bigger trade if we are taking on salary to even things out.

I've been saying right along that Vic's use is to provide some scoring for rebuilding/tanking teams. I expect him to be in Chicago next year honestly. I don't expect it to be more than a 3rd at the very best.

 

[Ace]

The big assumption when looking at other goalies numbers is that they would be the same playing behind BUF skaters.

What you don’t have to assume is that Adams sat back and let every other team pick first…and then took the leftover cheap option. Got what he paid for. Again.

 

[BFLO]

The big assumption when looking at other goalies numbers is that they would be the same playing behind BUF skaters.

I'm not looking at the counting stats. I'm looking at the advanced stats that attempt to take shot difficulty faced into consideration.

Money Puck Goals saved above expected/60:

Ilya Samsonov 0.436
Devon Levi 0.434
Alexandar Georgiev 0.355
Darcy Kuemper 0.164
Vitek Vanecek 0.105
Craig Anderson 0.016
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen -0.157
Ville Husso -0.274
Eric Comrie -0.372
Jack Campbell -0.542

So yes, their counting stats would have been worse playing in Buffalo, but still better than what our goalies produced.

Husso fell apart over the course of the season, couldn't handle a starters work load.

 

[Gras]

What you don’t have to assume is that Adams sat back and let every other team pick first…and then took the leftover cheap option. Got what he paid for. Again.

That is an assumption, considering GMKA made the first move in the offseason goalie market when he acquired Ben Bishop.

Comrie was also one of the first goalies sign on the first day of FA so he wasn't a "left-over" Samsonov signed for the same cap hit, Campbell, Jones and Kuemper were the only FA goalies that signed for a higher cap hit than Comrie.

Pretty much every single goalie that singed contracts in FA was cheap outside of two of them.

 

[Ace]

I'm not looking at the counting stats. I'm looking at the advanced stats that attempt to take shot difficulty faced into consideration.

Money Puck Goals saved above expected/60:

Ilya Samsonov 0.436
Devon Levi 0.434
Alexandar Georgiev 0.355
Darcy Kuemper 0.164
Vitek Vanecek 0.105
Craig Anderson 0.016
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen -0.157
Ville Husso -0.274
Eric Comrie -0.372
Jack Campbell -0.542

So yes, their counting stats would have been worse playing in Buffalo, but still better than what our goalies produced.

Husso fell apart over the course of the season, couldn't handle a starters work load.

You don’t have to work that hard. 33 Sabres games were played by goalies that weren’t league leftover Comrie and UP(isn’t even good in the AH)L

behind the same players with the same system with the same excuses.

with much, much better results for the counting stat crew

 

[Sebastien]

I like a lot of these ideas.

I think the key for moving Olofsson will be:

- Teams that need a PP and scoring inject for a relatively low cap hit (if the Sabres retain 50%). Nashville, the Islanders, and Minnesota come to mind as playoff teams that could use some help.

- Teams that don't mind taking a scoring forward that doesn't add much physically or defensively. Washington, Montreal, and Pittsburgh come to mind.

I'm not sure that Olofsson is a fit in Anaheim. With 1 year left on his deal, he's likely not a good fit for that group, especially giving up and asset like Warren.

Olofsson was drafted by Tim Murray, but entered the league under Botterill. I wonder if that's a fit.

Minnesota and islanders would be the last two teams that would want him in show any type of interest. Minnesota Their gm / coach have run off any players that doesn't play a two way game including fiala.

 

[WhereAreTheCookies]

Minnesota and islanders would be the last two teams that would want him in show any type of interest. Minnesota Their gm / coach have run off any players that doesn't play a two way game including fiala.

They couldn't afford to keep Fiala, if they didn't have 12+ million in dead cap do you really think they still would have traded him?

 

[RefsIdeas]

They couldn't afford to keep Fiala, if they didn't have 12+ million in dead cap do you really think they still would have traded him?

They opted trading him over trading Dumba

 

[Der Jaeger]

Minnesota and islanders would be the last two teams that would want him in show any type of interest. Minnesota Their gm / coach have run off any players that doesn't play a two way game including fiala.

Just examples based off goals scored.

 

[WhereAreTheCookies]

They opted trading him over trading Dumba

This year that might have been workable. Next season Fiala's cap hit would have been near impossible for them to fit without trading another contract they probably don't want to trade. They would have likely been forced to give Boldy a bridge to make it work and not lose one of their other players making >4m.

 

[Sebastien]

This year that might have been workable. Next season Fiala's cap hit would have been near impossible for them to fit without trading another contract they probably don't want to trade. They would have likely been forced to give Boldy a bridge to make it work and not lose one of their other players making >4m.

I live in Minnesota. It was also reported their gm choose their coach over fiala. Apparently fiala threw thrantrums and refused to play a two way game. Calen addison is doing same and has been benched since trade deadline

 

[Ehran]

I don't know if he can handle top 4 minutes, but I would like Gudas over Jokiharju.

Power-Dahlin
Samuelsson-Gudas
Stillman-Lyubushkin
Jokiharju

Those would be instant penalties, no questions asked, if he played for the Sabres, unfortunately.

Didn't hate to see it, though.

 

[Dirty Dog]

He also traded for Levi.

Shhhhhh.

 

[SundherDome]

Yes, because dating an actress and securing a goalie are the same.




We're 100% a playoff team if we signed Kuemper. .908 SP and a sub 3 GAA? 5 shutouts?

We might be playing Toronto in the 1st round if we had Kuemper.




Again, this has been an issue for YEARS.

If we had a major injury or simply traded for an established starter and it didn't work out, it would be one thing.

But that hasn't been the case. I'd much rather have tried what Yzerman did and it not work out than to do nothing and wonder why the goaltending sucks.

You missed the point on all three and the walked into the last point face first.

 

[Nikolajs Sillers]

Olofsson definitely can play in this league. Need to play on the team with strong defence. Say Canes?

 

[Nikolajs Sillers]

Girgs did that to somebody, was that Detroit? Can't remember. Shit happens.

Did to P.K.Subban years ago.

 

[Push Dr Tracksuit]

Olofsson definitely can play in this league. Need to play on the team with strong defence. Say Canes?

Teams with strong defenses have strong defenses because they don’t tend to
Keep guys like VO kicking around.

 

[Chainshot]

Olofsson definitely can play in this league. Need to play on the team with strong defence. Say Canes?

RBA requires all of his forwards buy in to playing a 200' game. He'd never go for him, nor would their analytics department think he was a good fit. It's either a team that ignores those things (like say, the Rangers who some criticize for Drury's dismissing data) or a team where it doesn't matter (Chicago, maybe Anaheim, San Jose, Arizona).

 

[CowbellConray]

Talbot isn’t getting a deal for Ottawa.

Would certainly consider a 1 year deal to see if he rebounds. Ottawa can’t play defense either so I’d think he couldn’t be worse than what he was this season…

 

[NotABadPeriod]

Talbot isn’t getting a deal for Ottawa.

Would certainly consider a 1 year deal to see if he rebounds. Ottawa can’t play defense either so I’d think he couldn’t be worse than what he was this season…

Looks like Talbot wants a 2 year deal:

 

[Irie]

You don’t have to work that hard. 33 Sabres games were played by goalies that weren’t league leftover Comrie and UP(isn’t even good in the AH)L

behind the same players with the same system with the same excuses.

with much, much better results for the counting stat crew

You post everyday how Adams blew it with Comrie last offseason, but last offseason you seemed to be on the Comrie bandwagon before the signing:

Feeling the way this is trending I’d rather sign Comrie than trade for Hill. I’m going to assume any goalie who has any track record will tell us to piss off

Comrie at least presents the possibility of being good. You just dont know. Which beats Anderson/Tokarski/Dell where you already knew.

Everyday you also repeat the same narrative that so and so sucks, and Adams blew this and that, but what are your realistic solutions? Just saying a "real goalie" and "A top 4 defender" is not an actual solution.

Every team is looking for the same thing, so these things are not easy to acquire. Buffalo is on most players NTCs and no top level talent seems to prioritize signing here.

You act like Adams should be able to walk up to the NHL trade vending machine, put in a 1st round token, a Isak Rosen token and a Victor Olofsson token, push the "solid top 4 D" or "Franchise goalie" buttons and poof, problem solved.

What are actual realistic solutions? Complaining about something without offering a realistic course of action is counter-productive.

These threads need less jaded complaining/doom forecasting and more constructive problem solving.