The Roster Thread, Summer 2024

[Mattilaus]

How about a-develop-and-sell-with-profit-approach to our wealth of forward prospects.
Especially Peterka seems like a good candidate for this: Play him on the top line all season, have him become a PPG player, make the playoffs in the process, trade him for a nice return (Fiala trade comes to mind as a comparable regarding value) to avoid a costly contract extension, insert e.g. Rosen into the lineup, repeat.

Thats how the good teams do it, they just usually get good before selling off their players who need a big raise.

 

[HOOats]

I honestly don't think our prospects are valued nearly as high around the league as we value them.

So the Sabres and all the public-facing prospect writers have our guys ranked highly, while the entire rest of the league doesn't?

That's one hell of a coincidence (conspiracy theory).

 

[Mattilaus]

I don't think our prospects are bad, but i do think they aren't particularly rare. We have a lot of mid to small sized wingers which pop up like weeds. We don't have the 6'3 two way C or RHD prospect that teams go nuts for. They are good prospects, just not particularly rare.

 

[Uberpecker]

Thats how the good teams do it, they just usually get good before selling off their players who need a big raise.

Well, we've got one season to achieve that goal

 

[OkimLom]

Isn’t this every prospect pool??? I think the overreaction on here is reaching epic levels - now our prospects aren’t as valued bc no one in the nhl made trades yesterday?! Geez guys you need to chill

If the prospects are as good as we think they are, then any organization, especially those that require some cap flexibility should be chomping at the bit to acquire a guy already in development that will be cheap in the near short term regardless of how their own prospect pool, which probably has many prospects at different stages of development.

 

[WhereAreTheCookies]

I think that’s all blowing smoke - there’s absolutely NO market that materialized last night bc people don’t want to trade 1st rd picks near/before or during for players anymore for some reason …so how do we know what the market is if no one’s even willing to participate in it??

I think a lot has to do with many of those players teams target can't sign extensions until July 1st. So you end up not wanting to pay the high cost for said players unless you have some sort of assurances that the player will extend with you. Some teams still make the trades believing they can get the players extended, but not as often it feels.

 

[OkimLom]

So the Sabres and all the public-facing prospect writers have our guys ranked highly, while the entire rest of the league doesn't?

That's one hell of a coincidence (conspiracy theory).

And our GM that has a surplus of those prospects can’t garner enough interest to make a trade. Something is not lining up right.

 

[TehDoak]

If this Trouba to the Red Wings smoke is real, then go hard after Roy please.

 

[HOOats]

I don't think our prospects are bad, but i do think they aren't particularly rare. We have a lot of mid to small sized wingers which pop up like weeds. We don't have the 6'3 two way C or RHD prospect that teams go nuts for. They are good prospects, just not particularly rare.

Scoring 2 PPG in the WHL is rare.

Scoring damn near 30 goals in the AHL at 18 and 19 is rare. As is being a top 10 all-time WJC scorer.

And now, scoring the second most u18 Liiga points is, you guessed it, rare.

At this point maybe it's just us against the world. Our undersized incredible prospects and LHD corps are just going to have to shut everyone up at the highest level.

Cool big, slow teams you got Anaheim and Columbus. Would be a shame if we skated them into oblivion.

 

[Sabre the Win]

The Sabres don't need a starting goalie. Texier, Magniapane, Dubois, and Walman? There are better options available in FA than those four. Guys who are rumored to be "available", yet haven't been traded for by any GM in the league are, by definition, still available. I would be p*ssed if Adams had given up anything of value for any of the skaters who have been moved so far. There's still plenty of offseason left to add a couple of skaters who will fit better and actually make an impact. GM's are waiting for the right deals for the right players. Adams should also.

It's underrated how under the radar Mangiapane is that I honestly don't believe you or others actually know of those players and are going off some misguided hearsay.

 

[HOOats]

And our GM that has a surplus of those prospects can’t garner enough interest to make a trade. Something is not lining up right.

And you can hold up the five trades that have been made around the league so far as evidence of availability of trades? Maybe the rumored Chychrun negotiation really scarred people.

I agree that something is not lining up right, but I don't think it's that our prospects aren't valuable. They've all been hitting their development checkpoints thus far.

Hate to say it, but some more patience is warranted.

And the folks talking about trading some young NHLers who establish themselves then cycling in top prospects are on to the plan. It could work incredibly well, but as discussed, we need to find some success first.

So...time to overspend on a few UFAs and let the ELC kids have a few spots to balance the cap? Maybe better than chasing trades and giving away excellent prospects.

 

[Sabre the Win]

I've been hard on Adams for being incompetent when it comes to selling the Sabres team to other players and trades but if no other teams make trades for players during the draft then I can give Adams the benefit of the doubt here.

However there's no excuse for no trade before the draft and no excuse for no trades after. It will compound these egregious sins for an effort if other teams actually make trade for players today then my annoyance and level of fed up will hit that of 1000 suns.

 

[Mattilaus]

Scoring 2 PPG in the WHL is rare.

Scoring damn near 30 goals in the AHL at 18 and 19 is rare. As is being a top 10 all-time WJC scorer.

And now, scoring the second most u18 Liiga points is, you guessed it, rare.

At this point maybe it's just us against the world. Our undersized incredible prospects and LHD corps are just going to have to shut everyone up at the highest level.

Cool big, slow teams you got Anaheim and Columbus. Would be a shame if we skated them into oblivion.

This seems like a bit of an overraction to what I said but i'll try to explain myself better in good faith.

I am not including Helenius in my evaluation here because we legit just got him so we couldn't have traded him prior to the draft (and i don't advocate trading him). Again, as I said in my post, I don't think our prospects are bad. To the contrary, they are good, but there are a lot of point producing mid sized winger prospects. We aren't flush when it comes to rare/coveted positions like true Cs and D. Yes Kulich has been great in the AHL, yes Savoie was great in the WHL, but that doesn't change the fact that they project to be scoring wingers rather than the C every team is looking for.

I am not letting KA off the hook, I believe there are for sure teams that would like some of our prospects and if he fails to get deals done, that's completely on him.

 

[Der Jaeger]

Isn’t that the crux of the issue? KA wants x, the seller says ok we want y with y being the more versatile player. It is a sellers market right now.

Sure. It’s doesn’t need to be “Rosen for player.”

I’d put next year’s 1st in play and add in Rosen.

Someone has to want him though.

See above. He can be part of a package deal.

 

[Sabre the Win]

Cool big, slow teams you got Anaheim and Columbus. Would be a shame if we skated them into oblivion.

It would be a shame if they just bullied us off the puck and clogged up the lanes to where we couldn't force anything. Such a shame when your goalie is screened by 2 players and nothing can be done about it because no player on the team can move them.

 

[Push Dr Tracksuit]

It's underrated how under the radar Mangiapane is that I honestly don't believe you or others actually know of those players and are going off some misguided hearsay.

Mangiapane is so under the radar that he got traded for table scraps.

 

[Sabresfansince1980]

Sure. It’s doesn’t need to be “Rosen for player.”

I’d put next year’s 1st in play and add in Rosen.

See above. He can be part of a package deal.

McGroarty for Rosen seems logical. I can't imagine Wpg saying no, and while having McG in the bottom-six next season could be dicey (if it's really part of the equation of acquiring him), it's clearly a change for the better in our prospect pool. If KA can't get teams to bite on trades for current NHLers that are tough to play against, then FFS acquire them while they're still prospects. One way or another, build a playoff caliber team.

 

[Sabre the Win]

Mangiapane is so under the radar that he got traded for table scraps.

I wouldn't call a 2nd round pick table scraps and its a shame Adams couldn't talk him into waiving to come here. He's a solid two way forward with solid defensive play that can slide up and down in your top 9 reliably putting up 40-50 points. Clearly you didn't see him play for Canada this year with Cozens.

What is your problem with a player like that? You want a one dimensional Necas?

 

[Jim Bob]

McGroarty for Rosen seems logical. I can't imagine Wpg saying no, and while having McG in the bottom-six next season could be dicey (if it's really part of the equation of acquiring him), it's clearly a change for the better in our prospect pool. If KA can't get teams to bite on trades for current NHLers that are tough to play against, then FFS acquire them while they're still prospects. One way or another, build a playoff caliber team.

Rushing a guy like McGroarty to the NHL is not the way to build a playoff caliber team, though.

 

[Sabresfansince1980]

Rushing a guy like McGroarty to the NHL is not the way to build a playoff caliber team, though.

Well at this moment I don't know enough to say whether McG is ready or not, but once he's signed and he shows he isn't ready, he can be sent down to Rochester whether he likes it or not.

 

[BFLO]

Scoring 2 PPG in the WHL is rare.

Scoring damn near 30 goals in the AHL at 18 and 19 is rare. As is being a top 10 all-time WJC scorer.

And now, scoring the second most u18 Liiga points is, you guessed it, rare.

At this point maybe it's just us against the world. Our undersized incredible prospects and LHD corps are just going to have to shut everyone up at the highest level.

Cool big, slow teams you got Anaheim and Columbus. Would be a shame if we skated them into oblivion.

Why did you pick those 2 teams as examples? We were swept by Anaheim and embarrassed by Columbus 9-4 this season.

 

[TheBarnIsElectric]

I wouldn't mind trading a couple picks for negotiating rights for key FA targets. Be aggressive.

 

[Doug Prishpreed]

Trade ostlund and Rosen - prob solved

What if no one wants them? Which is probably the case.

 

[KrakenSabresMike]

What if no one wants them? Which is probably the case.

It’s not about “ wanting them activity” it’s about matching a player someone wants to move with value - there’s no way they don’t have value. They are better than most of the prospects moved j player trades in the last 2 years

 

[sabremike]

At this point maybe it's just us against the world. Our undersized incredible prospects and LHD corps are just going to have to shut everyone up at the highest level.

You slated me for suggesting our prospects aren't as valued around the league as we think and then you essentially confirm what I said here. The idea other teams are wrong in undervaluing these prospects (and hopefully they do end up being wrong) is besides the point, the reality is that they clearly do because if they did teams would be lining up outside our door to do business.