The 2024-2025 Roster Thread

[Fjordy]

I would consider that recent memory. That was also a season with almost no revenue and they spent near the upper limit.

I know many of you want to believe there is a mandate to spend as little as possible ever since Pegula’s infamous “economic and efficient” comments. But there is little to support that.

Spending as little as possible would mean a payroll at or near the lower limit. They came into this season roughly 16mil above lower limit.


There are two extremes. Spending as much as possible and spending as little as possible. We fall somewhere in between. Yet many on here treat not spending as much as possible as being the same as the other extreme. Its not.

Why wasn't Ruff allowed to hire assistants? Or do you think he, like an idiot, decided to work with Appert (whom he himself said he had no idea who he was), Wilford and whoever else we have left. It's bloody weird.

 

[TageGod]

Why would you not retain on an expiring contract for more value? They paid a good % of it already. The Bills just nickel and dimed Pegula with incentive bonus stat padding that is going to cost more than retention.

Zucker is the best rental they have had in an eternity. They can 100% get a first.

 

[Fjordy]

Why would you not retain on an expiring contract for more value? They paid a good % of it already. The Bills just nickel and dimed Pegula with incentive bonus stat padding that is going to cost more than retention.

Zucker is the best rental they have had in an eternity. They can 100% get a first.

Re-sign him.

 

[TageGod]

Re-sign him.

No arguments here. Why would he stay though?

 

[Fjordy]

No arguments here. Why would he stay though?

Maybe he likes Buffalo, who knows. We have a shitty team with a bunch of kids, it's sickening, and Zucker is one of the few bright spots, plus a vet, which we already lack.

 

[KeyserSoze81]

No arguments here. Why would he stay though?

Two options, both arising from character flaws;

Low self esteem and no sense of self worth, resulting in him thinking that he doesn’t deserve better

Messiah complex, thinking he can save the team by being the only player on the roster with a brain

Or maybe he is just really inspired by Terry’s pep talks.

 

[Gras]

No but there is clearly a directive from ownership to keep things as low budget as possible. They haven’t retained on anyone in recent memory and had chances to serve as middlemen on trades and didn’t do so.

You only need to retain if the team needs the additional cap space, if retention isnt necessary the team isnt going to get paid any extra for doing so.

 

[TageGod]

Maybe he likes Buffalo, who knows. We have a shitty team with a bunch of kids, it's sickening, and Zucker is one of the few bright spots, plus a vet, which we already lack.

My thought is, take some swings, improve the roster now. At least look more attractive on paper. Maybe Zucker stays if you make some moves, maybe the promise of playing with EP makes it more likely Marner comes over. They can take heat off each other when they are disappointing fans in the playoffs.

 

[LokiDog]

I know EP’s rumored availability, age and loose association with Ras (I did the briefest research but it didn’t look like they were close, aside from one tournament together) make him seem like a sensible pickup and I’m of the opinion that he does bounce back to his 90+ point, two way level, but I’m also not convinced he’s what the Sabres need. He doesn’t seem to like being challenged or dealing with adversity and even though he’s great defensively when he’s on, he doesn’t really make the team harder to play against. By no means do I think he’s a bad get - if Buffalo ends to landing him, I’ll be happy. But it’s funny to me that Miller (even at 31) is actually probably the better fit for what Buffalo needs. I know he most likely wouldn’t ever waive his NMC for Buffalo, so it’s pretty moot, but he’s probably cheaper to acquire and has a larger impact in steering the Sabres the right way.

At the same time, if you’re looking at moving Byram/Power and Cozens/Peterka you may want to also look at packaging any of them with prospects and picks (it’s time to start spending them on finishing the roster, not continuing to stock pile, IMO) on going after Rasmus Andersson, Carlo, Parayko, etc. types.

And throw 14M at Rantanen. Him and Tage? Two towers.

 

[Fjordy]

My thought is, take some swings, improve the roster now. At least look more attractive on paper. Maybe Zucker stays if you make some moves, maybe the promise of playing with EP makes it more likely Marner comes over. They can take heat off each other when they are disappointing fans in the playoffs.

We should have made some steps in the summer, then in November, now it's January and Kevyn hasn't done a damn thing, I already doubt that he can do anything worthwhile.

 

[Fjordy]

I know EP’s rumored availability, age and loose association with Ras (I did the briefest research but it didn’t look like they were close, aside from one tournament together) make him seem like a sensible pickup and I’m of the opinion that he does bounce back to his 90+ point, two way level, but I’m also not convinced he’s what the Sabres need. He doesn’t seem to like being challenged or dealing with adversity and even though he’s great defensively when he’s on, he doesn’t really make the team harder to play against. By no means do I think he’s a bad get - if Buffalo ends to landing him, I’ll be happy. But it’s funny to me that Miller (even at 31) is actually probably the better fit for what Buffalo needs. I know he most likely wouldn’t ever waive his NMC for Buffalo, so it’s pretty moot, but he’s probably cheaper to acquire and has a larger impact in steering the Sabres the right way.

At the same time, if you’re looking at moving Byram/Power and Cozens/Peterka you may want to also look at packaging any of them with prospects and picks (it’s time to start spending them on finishing the roster, not continuing to stock pile, IMO) on going after Rasmus Andersson, Carlo, Parayko, etc. types.

Pettersson > Miller (FOR BUFFALO)

It seems Pettersson and Dahlin are friends, at least I've seen reports of this from Canucks fans, plus they complimented each other a few times when they were already playing in the NHL.

JT Miller is just... the dude is a moron. I don't care that he wants to win, but he's a hypocrite.

Great quote from a Canucks fan on the main board thread and the video makes it look exactly like that.

Miller is like MacKinnon, gets on his teammates case a lot if he thinks they aren't working hard enough, but it's also really hypocritical because he's prone to taking shifts off, skating to the bench lazily, and forgetting to back check.

Pettersson is a classic Swedish star, he's quiet, keeps to himself, and isn't interested in the noise.

Presumably, Miller is hard on Pettersson because he thinks he isn't an emotional guy who gets visibly frustrated, so he probably thinks Pettersson doesn't care, but he just does things differently than Miller.

 

[Sabre the Win]

What's going to make me mad is we won't even attempt to get EP40 and Boston is going to get him because they don't care to part with players.

 

[Fjordy]

What's going to make me mad is we won't even attempt to get EP40 and Boston is going to get him because they don't care to part with players.

I would be mad if any other team get EP40, not just Boston.

 

[Faceboner]

I would be mad if any other team get EP40, not just Boston.

It is a situation where we should beat any other offer unless its some ridiculous overpayment from the other team it's hard to imagine any able to outbid cozens+sammy+1st+rosen+ostlund

 

[CaliSabresfan24]

You know its bad when we're out of the Viagra triangle..

 

[itwasaforwardpass]

I was fine with Cozens + Byram for Petterson, so I guess Cozens + Power I could live with. I dont care which one of Power or Byram they trade at this point. One of them should be out if they can get a good top 6 center or the kind of top 4 defender the team needs in return. Nucks would have to add a bit. That's a lot of cap to take.

 

[itwasaforwardpass]

Two options, both arising from character flaws;

Low self esteem and no sense of self worth, resulting in him thinking that he doesn’t deserve better

Messiah complex, thinking he can save the team by being the only player on the roster with a brain

Or maybe he is just really inspired by Terry’s pep talks.

Well if he's got character flaws maybe we don't want him.

*sarcasm face*

 

[RWatson29]

How many people would prefer Byram in an EP40 deal vs how many people would rather trade power in that trade.

Im genuinely curious to see how it stacks up amongst us sabre fans.ill try to keep a tally to see how it varies

If I had to keep one guy, as rough as he’s been lately I’d probably keep power. I just think the ceiling is higher.

 

[Chainshot]

How many people would prefer Byram in an EP40 deal vs how many people would rather trade power in that trade.

Im genuinely curious to see how it stacks up amongst us sabre fans.ill try to keep a tally to see how it varies

If I had to keep one guy, as rough as he’s been lately I’d probably keep power. I just think the ceiling is higher.

I remain in the 1-for-1 of Power for EP40 group.

 

[Fjordy]

How many people would prefer Byram in an EP40 deal vs how many people would rather trade power in that trade.

Im genuinely curious to see how it stacks up amongst us sabre fans.ill try to keep a tally to see how it varies

If I had to keep one guy, as rough as he’s been lately I’d probably keep power. I just think the ceiling is higher.

It's a tough situation.

If you trade Byram, it's less risky for us than if we trade Power. Byram needs a new contract, he has a history of concussions that even put his career on hold, and does he even want to stay in Buffalo? Is this story true that he wants to be a 1D and play PP1? There are a lot of questions that have not been answered yet. He could also go to arbitration in the summer.

With Power, it's easier, he has potential, there are pluses in his game, but there are also serious minuses, mainly in defense and his unwillingness to play contact. But he is also locked in for the long haul and we don't need to worry about a contract. Obviously, at the very least, we need to find a good partner for him if we keep Power. All these experiments with Jokiharju, Bryson, Samuelsson, Clifton to hell. Go and get a normal RD who is good at defense and some other things.

The logic is that in any case, if we trade Power, Byram should take a spot on the second pair on the LD and lead his pair. I think Byram is somewhat similar to Chychrun and I don't think he will have a problem with that, he also seems to be a more versatile player than Power.

Honestly, I am ready to trade any of them and at this point I don't even have a preference who to keep, the main thing is to get Pettersson, that's target.

I remain in the 1-for-1 of Power for EP40 group.

Do you think Vancouver will agree to this? I'm not sure. If they were looking at him as a 1D on the top pair and PP1, maybe, but they have an absolute monster in Hughes for that. I would be very surprised if they agreed to such a deal.

 

[TheMistyStranger]

I remain in the 1-for-1 of Power for EP40 group.

Agreed. If Cozens is going too, there needs to be a very solid add from the Nucks

 

[SnuggaRUDE]

Why not trade and re-sign Zucker? (like they should have done with Skinner)

 

[Fjordy]

Agreed. If Cozens is going too, there needs to be a very solid add from the Nucks

I like Garland. It's just hard to find anyone else. Boeser UFA in the summer, I like Sherwood and DeBrusk, but they just signed them to UFA. There are no valuable guys there on defense, Soucy? Idk.

 

[Chainshot]

It's a tough situation.

If you trade Byram, it's less risky for us than if we trade Power. Byram needs a new contract, he has a history of concussions that even put his career on hold, and does he even want to stay in Buffalo? Is this story true that he wants to be a 1D and play PP1? There are a lot of questions that have not been answered yet. He could also go to arbitration in the summer.

With Power, it's easier, he has potential, there are pluses in his game, but there are also serious minuses, mainly in defense and his unwillingness to play contact. But he is also locked in for the long haul and we don't need to worry about a contract. Obviously, at the very least, we need to find a good partner for him if we keep Power. All these experiments with Jokiharju, Bryson, Samuelsson, Clifton to hell. Go and get a normal RD who is good at defense and some other things.

The logic is that in any case, if we trade Power, Byram should take a spot on the second pair on the LD and lead his pair. I think Byram is somewhat similar to Chychrun and I don't think he will have a problem with that, he also seems to be a more versatile player than Power.

Honestly, I am ready to trade any of them and at this point I don't even have a preference who to keep, the main thing is to get Pettersson, that's target.


Do you think Vancouver will agree to this? I'm not sure. If they were looking at him as a 1D on the top pair and PP1, maybe, but they have an absolute monster in Hughes for that. I would be very surprised if they agreed to such a deal.

Vancouver is in the market to fix a locker room issue and also fix their blueline. Offering Power straight across gives the Canucks nearly $5M in cap space going forward as well as a defenseman who has shown he can be an offensive catalyst despite playing on an inept team like Buffalo. Vancouver gets flexibility and fixes the puck moving aspect of their blueline which was essentially Quinn and no one else before Hughes went down with injury. Now it gives them a fill in for the months Hughes is out.

 

[Chainshot]

Why not trade and re-sign Zucker? (like they should have done with Skinner)

Do you mean last season or prior to Skinner signing his big deal?