Speculation: Sabres Roster Speculation - Pre-season 2023 Edition

[Irie]

One thing which doesn't get talked about enough IMO: whomever pairs with Power will start to look a lot better when he's not, you know 20.

That is the thing, and people see how composed Power is with the puck and see him intercept a pass on a two on one and then think he is a stud top four, but they aren't really paying attention to his defensive positioning or decision making in his own zone.

He was still a 19/20 year old rookie and in those areas his age and experience really showed.

Just looking at the last game when he was paired with Lyubushkin, there were several instances where Boosh read the play, saw Power was near the crease, and then went out to challenge the puck in the corner. The puck moves out and Lyubushkin looks and then realizes Power is covering the far side out closer to the dot than the crease and you can see the WTF expression on his face as he is then caught between the two highest danger threats on the ice and trying to decide which poison to pick.

Power has been alright defending the man he chooses to defend, except he much more often than not chooses the wrong threat to cover. Reading the ice and improving those decisions will happen and when they do, his partner will not have to try to defend two targets near the crease and the need for a stud defender should lessen some. For now, I am a big supporter of pairing Sammy with him(He has zero drop off playing his off side) and find Dahlin a two-way partner to compliment him (an easier task imo).

 

[joshjull]

It's been 3 offseasons of failing at it.

If you want to keep making excuses for him...feel free.

A lot of goalies move in trade. All of them better than Comrie. Any one could have gotten us to the playoffs.

Not only is the bolded not true, it’s delusional.

Yes goalies can be traded for. They can also refuse to come here if they have any sort of trade protection (like Murray did). No matter how hard you try to fight it, It’s been hard for us to attract established NHL goalies. No amount of spin can dismiss this.

Even if you ignore the Sabres struggles to attract goalies. League wide its hard to get quality goalies because there aren’t as many as there used to be. ** Our best chance to get quality NHL goalies for this new core group has always been to either (1) develop the ones already in house (UPL or Portillo) or (2) trade for one with that potential (Levi). Maybe goalies with trade protection or free agents will look at us differently after the season we just had. But I’m not holding my breath.

**Stevie Y‘s efforts to find a goalie and failing the last two offseasons has shown two things. (1) How hard it is. (2) How delusional you are to think any goalie could come in and carry us into the playoffs. Husso had a .896 sv% on team that was 13th in xGA/60 and 20th in HDCA/60. We were 26th and 29th respectively in those stats.

The funny thing is I’m not even criticizing Stevie Y. But if Adams had made those same trades, given out those same contracts and got the same results or worse. You’d be ripping him apart

Any one a better idea than throwing Levi to the wolves next year without help.

See above.

Are top 4 D impossible to get too? He's refused to address that too. At any point does it become his fault? Or does he get to stay forever...and you feel sorry for his inability to address team needs? Year 4 coming. What year can we expect you to consider holding him to a standard?

This is a just bunch of embarrassingly bad faith takes.

Year 4 coming? We both know the front office and the plan they’re implementing came into existence in 2021. You’re too smart to push something this dumb.

My take on adding a top 4 dman has been consistent since last offseason. I didn’t have a problem with their approach (Age of core with term). Even though I knew it would severely restrict their options. Chychrun was pretty much it. But I felt it fit the overall goals/focus of the season. Now that the goal/focus has shifted to playoffs for next season. I don‘t see much point in self restricting their options like they did this season.

 

[NotABadPeriod]

Lefty, but what about Vladislav Gavrikov?

Gavrikov-Dahlin
Power-Samuelsson

The only question is what kind of contract Gavrikov is going to get from someone in free agency.

 

[SnuggaRUDE]

I disagree with the boded. I don't venture over to the trade board very often - maybe it's generally better now than it used to be - but I've been watching that thread & numerous players of interest have been mentioned.

By Sabres fans

I don't think we're seeing the same thing. Fans of other teams seem quite interested in pick 13. And Kulich. And Savoie. You know, the high-end pieces we need to bring a top 4 RHD to Buffalo.

And some of the names mentioned would be fantastic.

Sure if you want to move 13 + one of them, which is an incredibly high ask. One which buffalo should pass on.

 

[MarkusKetterer]

I don't think we're seeing the same thing. Fans of other teams seem quite interested in pick 13. And Kulich. And Savoie. You know, the high-end pieces we need to bring a top 4 RHD to Buffalo.

And some of the names mentioned would be fantastic.

Aka they want an overpayment. Which I’m fine if the team does that. But not “13 + Kulich for Faulk” overpayment that many there want.

 

[Rowley Birkin]

By Sabres fans

I suggest you read the thread again.

 

[SnuggaRUDE]

I suggest you read the thread again.

You mean where that one dude from STL keeps pumping Paraykos tires?

There’s very few offered

-a- bruins fan brought up Carlo

Ekblad for more than a 1st, and upcoming UFA Roy for a 1st.

There’s really not an outpouring of offerings, or more tellingly people from other cities agreeing that proposals would make sense.

Most of the thread is buffalo fans shooting down ideas (rightfully so). There just aren’t available 2nd pair quality defense first RHD on the trade market.

 

[MarkusKetterer]

You mean where that one dude from STL keeps pumping Paraykos tires?

There’s very few offered

-a- bruins fan brought up Carlo

Ekblad for more than a 1st, and upcoming UFA Roy for a 1st.

There’s really not an outpouring of offerings, or more tellingly people from other cities agreeing that proposals would make sense.

Most of the thread is buffalo fans shooting down ideas (rightfully so). There just aren’t available 2nd pair quality defense first RHD on the trade market.

And at the start, a Canes fan offered up Pesce, and Columbus fans brought up Peeke and Boqvist. So there are people who are offering up something good. Unfortunately they want additions to the 1st.

The only ones I’ve seen that didn’t have the Sabres add were for Roy + 2nd and Peeke + 2nd.

 

[Der Jaeger]

And another really good thing.... I haven't seen many posts about firing players and/or coaches into the sun. That's a huge and overlooked improvement.

 

[WhereAreTheCookies]

And another really good thing.... I haven't seen many posts about firing players and/or coaches into the sun. That's a huge and overlooked improvement.

They kind of already did when they fired Bjork into the Blackhawks roster.

 

[Chainshot]

And another really good thing.... I haven't seen many posts about firing players and/or coaches into the sun. That's a huge and overlooked improvement.

Might be simpler to have them test pilot for Space X. Not nearly as far to fly.

 

[Zman5778]

And another really good thing.... I haven't seen many posts about firing players and/or coaches into the sun. That's a huge and overlooked improvement.

Whoever coached our PK needs to be fired into the sun. I'm close to that point with Bales, but am giving him another year.

 

[HogtownSabresfan]

Despite low cap the last years I just don’t get this narrative - the reason for the low salary cap is clear logistically for the last two years, which is lots of ELC players. Yes they don’t wanna give away money for third or fourth draft picks for cap dumps but those are not crucial resources anyways. They’ve always spent on the team when they needed to and they showed that money to Taylor Hall, as well as spend a lot of money on the bills - spending close to cap When it is the time to do so it’s small pittance for a billionaire and an NFL owner to boot.

Explain to me why exactly we didn't use some of our cap room to get 3rd or 4th or 5th round picks this year at deadline when it didn't impact the roster. At all. It's very simple, it required real money. Not a ton, either. You can argue it's a small pittance, but it's one ownership has not wanted to pay -- albeit only a recent phenomenon. There is little to no doubt we get a better return for Montour if we had consumed half his cap hit. We didn't. We won't use all our cap this coming year almost for sure, so taking half of Olofsson's contract will massively boost his value. If you can't see that, there is almost nothing to say.

I would be impressed if they got near 10 million below the cap. Thrilled even. If they move on from Olofsson it would mean they spent a ton of money somewhere. It would mean they had to have massively upgraded both goalie and #4 D. Even if Olofsson is somehow still here…they had to have upgraded both big time.

Even at $10 M, that's a major handicap. It's probably a good idea to use some cap for rookie bonuses and not push them into next year but there is tons of cap to be utilized strategically in 2023-24. I have full confidence Kevyn Adams could do this but he can't only plan based on what he can spend.

 

[brian_griffin]

<snipped more goalie rant/rebuttal>

Season 1: Team had a clear, urgent need. GM did not address need.
Season 2: Team had a clear, urgent need, GM did not address need.
Season 3: Team had a clear, urgent need, GM did not address need.

That's it. That is the story of Adams and goaltending. You can try to give him excuses all you want.

But in the end, multiple seasons with the same need and the GM never addresses it? The GM done f***ed up. Add in the fact that goaltending imploding down the stretch was the REASON you missed the playoffs? The GM REALLY f***ed up.

(and)

Enough retreads in goal. Guy didn't play in the NHL at all last year. He is coming off a major knee injury.

We've rolled the dice enough. Spend the assets, get a starter.

What's your plan B if the Sabres don't/won't offersheet Swayman? $9M for 1 year of Varlamov and $6M for 1 year of Korpisalo?

Yea. Okposo is McDavid compared to Lucic. I mean, he was never quick, but he’s slower than the breakdown of plastic in the wild. Hence why I’d rather go for Watson if he’s a FA. Hell, give Watson the same contract as you gave Lucic and I won’t complain.

Props for the metaphor...

The one thing we've learned about Adams and Co in his 3 years of GM is that he isn't going to leverage cap space when it involves spending cash. And they certainly aren't fans of spending money on a buyout.

So, Buffalo could have bought out Bjork last year and saved 1.2M in actual cash. Instead, they opted to send him to the AHL.

Nearly every cap transaction they've done has been for a player on LTIR, to minimize cash spent. The only real actual "cap space leverage" deal was we took a 5th to take on Will Butcher from the Devils in 2021. And even then the Devils retained 25% of his deal. But we needed a d-man at that point and needed to get to the cap floor.

There have been a ton of opportunities for Buffalo to leverage the cap space, but Buffalo never does because they don't want to spend the cash.

But, they aren't going to take on a body just to buy them out, even if it reduces the cost of something.

Pretty sure all 32 NHL teams would prefer that approach first. Just because BUF does it doesn't accrue some stain on the Sabres.

 

[TehDoak]

(and)

What's your plan B if the Sabres don't/won't offersheet Swayman? $9M for 1 year of Varlamov and $6M for 1 year of Korpisalo?

I think UFA wise, Andersen makes the most sense. Very much a 'seen it all' vet. Injury history is less of an issue if you are going to have some ungodly 3 headed UPL/Levi/Vet goalie mashup. Jarry also makes some sense. Raanta is right there too. Varlamov/Korpisalo are other options, though I think both of them stay with their current squads.

Trade wise, Vladar from Calgary seems like an easy pickup. I think you can keep an eye on Swayman and see what Boston wants. They are in cap trouble so maybe you can reduce the price on him by taking on some dead cap if they can't afford to sign him, though I imagine they want to move him out of conference and certainly not within the division. If Philly wants to move on from Hart, that is also an option worth exploring.

Pretty sure all 32 NHL teams would prefer that approach first. Just because BUF does it doesn't accrue some stain on the Sabres.

Well, it just goes under weaponizing space and, essentially, buying draft capital.

It circles back to the promise the Pegula's made to Sabres fans about spending on the team that they've essentially reneged on. Yes, it doesn't always make sense to spend cash to get extra draft capital...but sometimes it does. The Sabres haven't under the Adams regime. or really weaponized the cap space at all.

 

[Jim Bob]

No matter what they do, they must keep the vibes immaculate.

 

[SnuggaRUDE]

I will be absolutely floored if Boston trades Swayman to Buffalo.

 

[TehDoak]

I will be absolutely floored if Boston trades Swayman to Buffalo.

That is my feel as well. San Jose seems like a natural fit if they can't sign him. They've got an extra 1st and some cap space. We'd have to offersheet him to get him, which i doubt the current front office has the stomach for.

 

[Uberpecker]

No matter what they do, they must keep the vibes immaculate.

Meh. Those ”look how great a bunch of friends we are" mic wearing videos are a as meaningless as the newspaper of ten years ago.

Can't for the life of me figure out why anyone seriously would want to watch this.

They are professional athletes, not professional nice guys. I don't give a flying f*** about their private lives, how many piglets their WAGS crank out where they vacation or whether they get along as friends.

They're professionals and their job is to entertain us by winning. How they do it, I don't really care, as long as they manage to behave as reasonably honorable members of the community.

But, by God, spare me this cheesy sentimental "family, friends and nice guy" crap. It makes me wanna puke.

 

[Jim Bob]

Meh. Those ”look how great a bunch of friends we are" mic wearing videos are a as meaningless as the newspaper of ten years ago.

Can't for the life of me figure out why anyone seriously would want to watch this.

They are professional athletes, not professional nice guys. I don't give a flying f*** about their private lives, how many piglets their WAGS crank out where they vacation or whether they get along as friends.

They're professionals and their job is to entertain us by winning. How they do it, I don't really care, as long as they manage to behave as reasonably honorable members of the community.

But, by God, spare me this cheesy sentimental "family, friends and nice guy" crap. It makes me wanna puke.

Tell me you didn't watch the video without telling me you didn't watch the video.

 

[CowbellConray]

Meh. Those ”look how great a bunch of friends we are" mic wearing videos are a as meaningless as the newspaper of ten years ago.

Can't for the life of me figure out why anyone seriously would want to watch this.

They are professional athletes, not professional nice guys. I don't give a flying f*** about their private lives, how many piglets their WAGS crank out where they vacation or whether they get along as friends.

They're professionals and their job is to entertain us by winning. How they do it, I don't really care, as long as they manage to behave as reasonably honorable members of the community.

But, by God, spare me this cheesy sentimental "family, friends and nice guy" crap. It makes me wanna puke.

Go outside and enjoy the beautiful weather.

 

[thewookie1]

Meh. Those ”look how great a bunch of friends we are" mic wearing videos are a as meaningless as the newspaper of ten years ago.

Can't for the life of me figure out why anyone seriously would want to watch this.

They are professional athletes, not professional nice guys. I don't give a flying f*** about their private lives, how many piglets their WAGS crank out where they vacation or whether they get along as friends.

They're professionals and their job is to entertain us by winning. How they do it, I don't really care, as long as they manage to behave as reasonably honorable members of the community.

But, by God, spare me this cheesy sentimental "family, friends and nice guy" crap. It makes me wanna puke.

Be careful, Adams may trade you away due to your negative vibes

 

[TheMistyStranger]

Might be simpler to have them test pilot for Space X. Not nearly as far to fly.

That last mission went swimmingly

 

[BFLO]

The more I see of the first round the more I see the successful playoff power plays all have a lethal bumper man. We either lack, or just don’t scheme to use the bumper guy enough.

The threat from the bumper forces the PKers to stay in the slot, leaving the slapper from the face off dot wide open.

The threat of the face off slapper gets the PKers cheating to the perimeter, leaving the bumper guy open.

We have the best guy in the league at slapping dingers from the dots. But our over reliance on forcing everything through him neuters the overall effectiveness of our PP. There are usually multiple time per PP where I’m screaming at the TV that the slot is wide open, but we continue to force perimeter passes between Tage and Dahlin until we turn it over, as the PKers cheat further and further away from the slot

 

[Dingo44]

Meh. Those ”look how great a bunch of friends we are" mic wearing videos are a as meaningless as the newspaper of ten years ago.

Can't for the life of me figure out why anyone seriously would want to watch this.

They are professional athletes, not professional nice guys. I don't give a flying f*** about their private lives, how many piglets their WAGS crank out where they vacation or whether they get along as friends.

They're professionals and their job is to entertain us by winning. How they do it, I don't really care, as long as they manage to behave as reasonably honorable members of the community.

But, by God, spare me this cheesy sentimental "family, friends and nice guy" crap. It makes me wanna puke.

Can you imagine this being your reaction to that video? I can't imagine being that miserable about anything that harmless and fun.