Current roster:
Centers: Norris, Ostlund, McLeod, Kozak, Helenius, Carrick
Center/wings: Thompson, Kulich, Danforth
Wingers: Doan, Quinn, Zucker, Greenway
Forward free agents: Malenstyn, Krebs, Benson, Tuch
Defense: Dahlin, Samuelsson, Power, Byram, Metsa, Timmins
Defense free agents: Kesselring
Goalies: UPL, Lyon, Ellis
Must go through waivers to get sent to Rochester: Johnson, Levi
29 main players the Sabres have to decide on. Some seem easy, like not affording Tuch or moving Greenway as a cap dump. Even if we don’t count the two UFAs, it’s still 27 players.
Unless Jarmo wants to start all his waiver exempt players in Rochester, there are some tough choice to make.
Cutting down on roster players usually involves the fringe guys rather than pulling the stuffing out of the middle of the lineup. Greenway remains the likely cap casualty. Krebs could be another -- while scrappy, if he goes to arbitration, that's a guy I can see being moved to a rebuilding sort of team that wants a scrappy mid-line center. McLeod could be depending on what Kekalainen thinks of how McLeod played in the playoffs.
Danforth seems like an easy waiver hide unless he impresses at camp. Dunne is another waiver guy who has shown value but most teams have someone like him. Either going on the wire is just business and I can see both clearing easily.
At this point, I'm not particularly impressed enough with Johnson to be making room for him on the big club nor do I think he has much value in a deal. The protection for the team is that he has another year on his extension at full value - I don't know a lot of teams who are going to find that desirable if they want to slide him down to their AHL team. His deal is full value, there is no AHL salary.
I like puck pedia’s GM took because it lets you see what these decisions look like.
Easy Rochester moves: Danforth, Kulich, Helenius
Cap dump: I usually send Greenway to Chicago along with the rights to Novikov for Florida’s 7th.
Waiver trade: Johnson for something. Wait until camp to see who wins Ellis vs Levi and trade the other one.
RFAs: re-sign Benson, Krebs, Kesselring
UFA: re-sign Malenstyn
Centers: Norris, McLeod, Ostlund, Carrick, Kozak, Helenius
Wing/center: Thompson
Wingers: Doan, Quinn, Zucker
Defense: Dahlin, Samuelsson, Byram, Power, Metsa, Timmins
Team on opening night (using game 7 lines as the base for accounting purposes):
Benson - Norris - Thompson
Zucker - Helenius - Quinn
Krebs - Ostlund - Doan
Malenstyn - McLeod - Carrick
x Kozak
Samuelsson - Dahlin
Byram - Power
Metsa - Timmins
x Kesselring
UPL, Lyon, Winner of Levi/Ellis
This roster is the Jarmo internal development roster. A shade over $2M in cap space.
The room to make changes:
- Don’t re-sign Krebs, Kesselring, Malenstyn
- Move McLeod
I get your point about moving fringe roster players. I don’t think we’d consider McLeod fringe. Kesselring is a sell low who no one would’ve considered fringe a year ago. Malenstyn is a 4th liner but his role was super important for the team. Krebs can be replaced but he also brings a lot to the team.
To a point you made earlier, how much smaller and less physical are we willing to make the roster? Greenway and the four mentioned above make that a reality.
I’d be willing to trade for Larkin with a package like Norris, McLeod/Quinn, etc because if you want to improve the roster, you largely have to make decisions on players which impact the middle part of the roster anyway. Though I doubt Detroit takes that package, I don’t think it puts Buffalo in a worse position. Especially when you start to find a roster spot for Kulich.
