The 2024-2025 Roster Thread

[Fjordy]

I’m not opposed to trading Cozens. But, with the cap increases coming, by year 4-5 of his contract, when he is still just 25-27 years old, $7.1 million for a big, fast, hard to play against winger, who scores 20-25 goals and 45-50 points, won’t be at all crazy.

The problem is they don't see him as a winger and they don't play him there and we also need a top 6 C. Put him on the winger position right now and see what happens or just trade him. We don't need another experiment with the roster next season to miss the playoffs again.

 

[Jim Bob]

NHL player poll: Best/worst facilities? NBA-style tournament? Season too long? Should Bettman retire?

The Athletic polled 111 players on eight questions covering a variety of topics, granting them anonymity so they could speak freely.

www.nytimes.com

Poor Winnipeg. All the Jets have done is put themselves atop the league standings while playing in arguably the best in-game atmosphere in the NHL. Things are good enough up north for Connor Hellebuyck and Mark Scheifele to sign eight-year deals when the hockey world assumed they’d walk.

And yet, the Jets “win” this category running away. Every time.

“There’s not much to do out there,” one player said. “It’s f—ing cold. I haven’t heard a guy go to Winnipeg and be like, 'This is going to be my forever home.’”

"Nothing to do, bad food, freezing,” another said.

Here’s one Jets player’s defense of his city, noting that the drive from the airport to downtown isn’t exactly the scenic route: “I remember when I first did it, it was underwhelming. There are parts of the city that are great, but you don't see that (as a visiting player). I always wish that they'd stay down at the Forks or somewhere like that. I don't think that hotel meets the criteria for the league, but it would be better than staying downtown."

A few players offered a blanket rejection of the seven Canadian teams, given the weather and the taxes and the scrutiny. But just across Niagara Falls is another frequently cited spot, as the Sabres hurtle toward their 14th straight season without a playoff appearance.

"The way it's going there, Buffalo — it's just been kind of mucky there forever,” one player said. “And for me right now in my career, I don't really need that. It's not gonna help me."

"High taxes, the organization hasn't been that strong recently,” another player said. “They haven't made the playoffs in like 14 years. In saying that, I have some friends there and they love playing there."

“All they do is lose,” another player said.

One player just really, really, really disliked Philadelphia, to the point where you have to wonder if Gritty picked on him as a child.

"Honestly, I wouldn't even mind Winnipeg,” he said. “It's not that nice, but I just hate Philly. I just hate Philly. I can't stand it. I can't stand the city, everything. It's the rink. It's just one city that I absolutely despise. I can't stand it. I'd be sick if I got traded there. If I had a one-team no-trade list, they'd be on it in a second."

Not everybody is so picky, though.

“I’d feel lucky to play anywhere,” one player said.

 

[Sabreality]

“I’d feel lucky to play anywhere,” one player said.

Go get him KevYn lol

 

[jc17]

I’m not opposed to trading Cozens. But, with the cap increases coming, by year 4-5 of his contract, when he is still just 25-27 years old, $7.1 million for a big, fast, hard to play against winger, who scores 20-25 goals and 45-50 points, won’t be at all crazy.

It's a good point.

But you can also argue that his trade value increases because the risk for the other team isn't as high with the rising cap.

 

[Fjordy]

There are a lot of players there without trade protection.

 

[jc17]

NHL player poll: Best/worst facilities? NBA-style tournament? Season too long? Should Bettman retire?

The Athletic polled 111 players on eight questions covering a variety of topics, granting them anonymity so they could speak freely.

www.nytimes.com

View attachment 972908

The comments about winning, as it pertains to Buffalo, is expected and reasonable.

But Winnipeg being at the top of the list despite recent success is proof that there was way more truth to the palm trees statement than people want to admit, and people unwilling to even entertain it are just burying their heads in the sand....or snow

 

[Sabresfansince1980]

Probably unpopular but I would have traded Samuelsson for a 3rd round pick yesterday to send a message.

Problem with that is...then half the locker room goes out and lays down in order to get the F out of this trash organization.

 

[Jim Bob]

The comments about winning, as it pertains to Buffalo, is expected and reasonable.

But Winnipeg being at the top of the list despite recent success is proof that there was way more truth to the palm trees statement than people want to admit, and people unwilling to even entertain it are just burying their heads in the sand....or snow

And then you have this comment about Buffalo: "I have some friends there and they love playing there."

The weather is the weather. And if the player, or his significant other, wants to live somewhere warmer, there is nothing they can do.

There is somewhat of a "low cost of living offsets the state income taxes" argument to be made.

But, while one argument that former players don't live in Winnipeg is an argument against Winnipeg, that is not an argument you can make against Buffalo.

And it's not just guys that work for the team that stick around. You have Peters and Rivet still here after choosing to walk away from being censored by the team.

It does come down to winning...

 

[Fjordy]

Did someone ask Adams to build a team through UFA? No, 80% of the league doesn't have trade protection, he still can't get a top 4 RD and a top 6 forward, and now we need a top 6 C after he signed guy for 7 million failed at that position. So this nonsense about palm trees and taxes does not work with trades.

 

[Archie Lee]

The comments about winning, as it pertains to Buffalo, is expected and reasonable.

But Winnipeg being at the top of the list despite recent success is proof that there was way more truth to the palm trees statement than people want to admit, and people unwilling to even entertain it are just burying their heads in the sand....or snow

Interesting take. Mine is the opposite. What the poll proves is that good management can overcome obstacles and build a successful team.

 

[jc17]

And then you have this comment about Buffalo: "I have some friends there and they love playing there."

The weather is the weather. And if the player, or his significant other, wants to live somewhere warmer, there is nothing they can do.

There is somewhat of a "low cost of living offsets the state income taxes" argument to be made.

But, while one argument that former players don't live in Winnipeg is an argument against Winnipeg, that is not an argument you can make against Buffalo.

And it's not just guys that work for the team that stick around. You have Peters and Rivet still here after choosing to walk away from being censored by the team.

It does come down to winning...

It doesn't operate in absolutes though

The players themselves clearly state weather and tax are an issue. Those factors hurt even decent teams.

There are certainly positives to being in Buffalo, but we inherently don't have 2 very big things players say they value. So the issue is that other teams with sunshine and low tax can still attract guys even if they aren't winning.

Again, no absolutes. Doesn't mean every guy wants a bad team and sunshine,or no one ever wants to come to Buffalo, but it's a legitimate "headwind"

 

[HOOats]

Samuelsson played the final shift against NJ. He did miss a couple shifts in the third.

No word of injury (that I heard) until yesterday afternoon before the CBJ game, a day after the team meeting.

Then he's shuffled to IR to make room for an emergency goalie call up.

At the very least it looks like he could be getting some time off to think about things.

Or it's possible that they're actually exploring a trade.

 

[Jim Bob]

It doesn't operate in absolutes though

The players themselves clearly state weather and tax are an issue. Those factors hurt even decent teams.

There are certainly positives to being in Buffalo, but we inherently don't have 2 very big things players say they value. So the issue is that other teams with sunshine and low tax can still attract guys even if they aren't winning.

Again, no absolutes. Doesn't mean every guy wants a bad team and sunshine,or no one ever wants to come to Buffalo, but it's a legitimate "headwind"

I agree.

It comes down to winning. And this makes it harder to get there.

But, it still comes down to winning because you can't change the weather or tax situation without moving the team to Houston.

 

[joshjull]

 

[TehDoak]

I mean, the NTC thing and Buffalo isn't exactly new.

Its a high tax, bad climate, small city.

I'd say its in the same tier as Pittsburgh and Columbus.

Buffalo has to actively work on recruiting by making its player facilities top notch, sell its positive points (lower cost of living, good place to raise families, etc). You aren't going to get the NCAA free agents, but guys looking for a place to raise their families and settle down a bit, we should be competitive.

But we aren't even close. Last big UFA was Okposo.

From his accounts of trying to recruit players, Adams sounds like he gives up the minute any player has any objection about Buffalo at all rather than being recruiter in chief. If the GM isn't excited to talk about the great things about Buffalo, why would a player want to come here?

In the end though, its a moot point, because no one is coming to a team that can't finish in the top half of the standings even when things break their way.

 

[Ygo88]

Pham on wgr pregame. After the non retaliation from the Jersey game he thinks both Samuellsson and Power will need to be traded at some point (for doing nothing).

I cannot find Power in any of the replays, he was in the middle of a change with Byram (you can see Byram going off the ice in the pic)... he is way behind Sammy and Zucker skating into the scrum (was it even a scrum?). Zucker is nearby, but it looks like he is looking away at the time (Given the earlier incident, he could have responded anyway). Sammy and Kulich are looking at it when it happens. I mean, I am not sure that Power would do anything anyway, but I do give him the benefit of the doubt.

 

[Fjordy]

I mean, the NTC thing and Buffalo isn't exactly new.

Its a high tax, bad climate, small city.

I'd say its in the same tier as Pittsburgh and Columbus.

Buffalo has to actively work on recruiting by making its player facilities top notch, sell its positive points (lower cost of living, good place to raise families, etc). You aren't going to get the NCAA free agents, but guys looking for a place to raise their families and settle down a bit, we should be competitive.

But we aren't even close. Last big UFA was Okposo.

From his accounts of trying to recruit players, Adams sounds like he gives up the minute any player has any objection about Buffalo at all rather than being recruiter in chief. If the GM isn't excited to talk about the great things about Buffalo, why would a player want to come here?

In the end though, its a moot point, because no one is coming to a team that can't finish in the top half of the standings even when things break their way.

Apparently NMС/NTС prevented Adams from getting Marino (he didn't have trade protection at the time), Kovacevic, Jensen, Fabbro, Borgen or Carrier.

And now Adams says we have a lot of LD and we don't have enough RD, what an idiot.

 

[joshjull]

The comments about winning, as it pertains to Buffalo, is expected and reasonable.

But Winnipeg being at the top of the list despite recent success is proof that there was way more truth to the palm trees statement than people want to admit, and people unwilling to even entertain it are just burying their heads in the sand....or snow

Not really, Winnipeg is unique case. It’s a small city in the middle of nowhere, not really near any other cities and also has crappy weather. I’ll assume the taxes are at least on par with what we have in Buffalo.

Buffalo is within a 6-7 hr drive of the birthplace of a sizable amount of Canadian born players. A lot are only 2-3hrs away. Allows extended families to be more involved in their lives. Buffalo is also only 2hr drive from Toronto one of the biggest metro areas in North America. It’s also a short flight to many other cities. So many options to do more if Buffalo doesn’t provide enough. These things aren’t really options in Winnipeg.

We can certainly run into issues due to weather and taxes. But nothing is killing us more than incompetence. It’s not even close.

 

[joshjull]

It’s kind of telling how unique Winnipeg’s situation is by how far out in first they are at 48.78% with a successful team. Even with 14yrs of futility, similar weather and similar taxes we are less than half that (19.51%) in 2nd place.


The top of the list in general shows there are a variety of factors in play.

Winnipeg—-> 48.78%
Buffalo ——-> 19.51%
San Jose —-> 8.54%
Calgary ——-> 3.66%
Ottawa ———> 3.66%
Anaheim ——> 2.44%
NY Rangers -> 2.44%


I have little doubt being a successful team would put us in the single digits. I don’t know what Winnipeg could do to change their status. Since they have that % with a very successful team.

 

[Der Jaeger]

Not really, Winnipeg is unique case. It’s a small city in the middle of nowhere, not really near any other cities and also has crappy weather. I’ll assume the taxes are at least on par with what we have in Buffalo.

Buffalo is within a 6-7 hr drive of the birthplace of a sizable amount of Canadian players. A lot are only 2-3hrs away. Allows extended families to be more involved in their lives. Buffalo is also only 2hr drive from Toronto one of the biggest metro areas in North America. It’s also a short flight to many other cities. So many options to do more if Buffalo doesn’t provide enough. These things aren’t really options in Winnipeg.

We can certainly run into issues due to weather and taxes. But nothing is killing us more than incompetence. It’s not even close.

I might be different, but I love smaller cities. I'd be cool living in Winnipeg.

Give me a small city like Savannah over a place like NYC any day.

 

[joshjull]

I might we different, but I love smaller cities. I'd be cool living in Winnipeg.

Give me a small city like Savannah over a place like NYC any day.

You would definitely be very very cool.

EDIT: Thats quite a different vibe between Winnipeg and Savannah.

Aside from the weather. Savannah, like Buffalo, isn’t far from a decent amount of large to mid sized metro areas.

It’s kind of wild how uniquely isolated Winnipeg is for a NHL city. Edmonton and Calgary at least have each other.

 

[TageGod]

Players love it here though. Bills and Sabres former players stay here.

 

[Zman5778]

Players love it here though.

Once they get here. Getting them here is the hard part, especially given how utterly incompetent the Sabres have been. Once (if?) we start winning again (akin to the Bills).......we'll be able to attract players and get off no-trade lists.

Winning solves everything.

 

[BFLO]

I’m not opposed to trading Cozens. But, with the cap increases coming, by year 4-5 of his contract, when he is still just 25-27 years old, $7.1 million for a big, fast, hard to play against winger, who scores 20-25 goals and 45-50 points, won’t be at all crazy.

The flaw here is that Dylan Cozens is one of the easiest players to play against in the league.

 

[Fezzy126]

I might we different, but I love smaller cities. I'd be cool living in Winnipeg.

Give me a small city like Savannah over a place like NYC any day.

Same, I've traveled for work for the past 25 years, and I have never enjoyed my extended stays in large cities (i.e. LA, NYC, DC, Chicago, Houston, Dallas). Of course I'm older and have a family now so my perspective is a little different. But even when I was younger large cities were great to visit, not so great to live in or try and raise a family.

I also lived in Florida earlier in my life and couldn't stand the heat and humidity, now that I'm getting older the cold, dryness, and lack of sun for 7 months has my wife and I planning for snow bird life, so I honestly get the palm trees narrative

Just stating this because everyone is different, so I never buy into the general "no one wants to live in this region" nonsense. Buffalo is a great place, the people are amazing, and there's tons to do here. The quality of the team continues to be the biggest issue attracting players here.