The Roster Thread, Summer 2024

[joshjull]

In other news, water is wet

 

[MarkusKetterer]

Those 'trades' never happened because they were blocked.

Ok and? You didn’t ask when the last time a player waived their NTC or NMC so they could be traded to Buffalo. You asked when was the last time the Sabres tried to acquire someone with one of those.

Just because you don’t like the answer doesn’t mean you get to change the parameters of your question.

EDIT: looking back, you didn’t ask that question. So I apologize for my harsh answer towards you. But it still applies to the original poster that asked about it, so I’m gonna leave my response up.

 

[Beerz]

In all seriousness... Samuelsson, Rosen, 2025 2nd for Crouse?

Crouse has been a dream target for a few years now. Might feel pricey from our side, but we have the extra assets and we'd need to overpay to pry a key player out of Utah


Prospects are not necessarily less valuable than equivalent picks. What they are is less liquid due to individual team need and preference, which makes them harder to move but not less valuable.

Say a team loved Savoie in 2022, had him 5th on their board. He's two years closer to NHL ready than any forward not named Macklin in this years draft and has already answered nearly all of the pre-pro developmental questions that every prospect must. That GM still covets Savoie as an elite chip, now more than ever probably. He didn't depreciate 1/3 just because they didn't get to throw their jersey and hat on him and drive him off the lot themselves.


I wonder if we can't find a one-year, splash the cash deal for Stephenson or another vet who strikes out looking for a longer deal and ends up needing to prove it again to get the sunset deal he's seeking. Remove the aging curve risk and get a motivated, proven playoff performer.

Different player/role, but I'm kind of hot for Henrique. Love the positional versatility. The two-way, heady play would be an excellent influence on our young Fs. If Edmonton wins, hopefully he won't be in Cup chasing mode this summer.

We have this one-year window before the Peterka/Quinn/Byram deals balloon our cap. I hope Adams/Terry are up for taking advantage of it (though I'm not particularly hopeful).

I do it in a second... probably not enough

 

[Chainshot]

Why do people keep saying that Byram is going to jack up the cap? That career best 18-point season with a career-best 73 games played - the first time he's played more than 42 games in a regular season?

C'mon.

 

[dkollidas]

Ok and? You didn’t ask when the last time a player waived their NTC or NMC so they could be traded to Buffalo. You asked when was the last time the Sabres tried to acquire someone with one of those.

Just because you don’t like the answer doesn’t mean you get to change the parameters of your question.

EDIT: looking back, you didn’t ask that question. So I apologize for my harsh answer towards you. But it still applies to the original poster that asked about it, so I’m gonna leave my response up.

Actually I believe I worded the question as “who they traded for”.

Your mentions were “trade attempts”. I do believe as I stated it implies it was a completed trade.

 

[Fjordy]

Why do people keep saying that Byram is going to jack up the cap? That career best 18-point season with a career-best 73 games played - the first time he's played more than 42 games in a regular season?

C'mon.

Because he has one more season to do it. So I don't know what his next contract will be, it all depends on him.

 

[Fjordy]

Kakko could be interesting, I don't know what the Rangers would look for in a trade. Maybe something around Krebs or Rosen.

Goodrow controversial, overall I don't mind, but I don't like his contract, it's expensive and there's a term, seriously, we're not as good with the cap as it seemed, we'll need to get another 3C, some rumors about Necas, maybe Lindy told Adams to trade for some players. So we have to be careful.

 

[Aladyyn]

Kakko is not near enough to take on Goodrow, the Rangers would need to add more

 

[Rowley Birkin]

Why do people keep saying that Byram is going to jack up the cap? That career best 18-point season with a career-best 73 games played - the first time he's played more than 42 games in a regular season?

C'mon.

I'm as high on Byram as anyone - but people thinking he's automatically going to get a similar deal to Power are way off. Id personally like to see a long term deal based on what i believe he's currently worth - but i expect him to get some kind of bridge deal that keeps him RFA upon expiry.

 

[Jim Bob]

Why do people keep saying that Byram is going to jack up the cap? That career best 18-point season with a career-best 73 games played - the first time he's played more than 42 games in a regular season?

C'mon.

I think it is wishful thinking driven by his draft slot and the trade to acquire him.

 

[Rowley Birkin]

I think it is wishful thinking driven by his draft slot and the trade to acquire him.

Surely wishful thinking would be him getting locked up on a low cap hit like Samuelsson ? Not an over inflated one ?

 

[HOOats]

Why do people keep saying that Byram is going to jack up the cap? That career best 18-point season with a career-best 73 games played - the first time he's played more than 42 games in a regular season?

C'mon.

18 points? He had 11 goals and 18 assists for a 29-point season just last year...

If he stays healthy I expect him to have a strong statistical year now that he'll be settled in Buffalo on a team that should improve under a better coach. And I know last year spooked some people from projecting age-based expected growth, but it's still very much in play for Byram. 11 goals! He could score 20 this year, his shot is one of the best on the entire team.

Of course he isn't due a 4-6x raise like Peterka and Quinn coming off their ELCs, but he still belongs in the "young guys due a raise" category. He won't get the Power deal, but he might get 6 x 6 if he puts up 15-30-45 on a playoff team and Adams wants him in the core.

I do it in a second... probably not enough

Same. What's the next level of the deal though? Sammy, Kulich, 2nd? Sammy, Rosen, 1st? Those start to feel like severe overpayments.

I'm sure Utah has no intention of moving Crouse so it's all moot, but trying to peg the value is still an interesting exercise.

 

[BFLO]

I think it is wishful thinking driven by his draft slot and the trade to acquire him.

Yeah. It's because we will have lost the trade big time if Byram's not worth signing to a big cap hit $6m+.

 

[OkimLom]

Why do people keep saying that Byram is going to jack up the cap? That career best 18-point season with a career-best 73 games played - the first time he's played more than 42 games in a regular season?

C'mon.

I just don't trust him, especially at a time where there's pressure on him and his job for once.

 

[Sabresfansince1980]

Bottom/middle-six UFAs to target -

Janmark
Foegele
Arvidsson
Joshua
Lafferty
Lindholm
Carrier
Stephenson
Duhaime
Trenin
Duchene
Monahan
Noesen
Martinook
Roslovic
Heinen
Cousins
Lomberg
Stenlund
Watson

My preferred list is a lot shorter, but there are definitely plenty of options if KA wants to go with any combo of more veteran, bigger, tougher, defensive, etc.

 

[Sabresfansince1980]

Why do people keep saying that Byram is going to jack up the cap? That career best 18-point season with a career-best 73 games played - the first time he's played more than 42 games in a regular season?

C'mon.

It seems that KA acquired Byram not for his most recent play, but for draft pedigree and a great rookie season. Just the premise of adding him to the roster gives the appearance of an over-inflated opinion of what he can do for the team. He wouldn't bring in a redundant player unless he thought Byram was the "top-4" guy he needs to round out the group. I clearly disagree and think his next contract (expecting around a 30 pt season in Buffalo) will probably put him in KA's sights for about 5 mil per, maybe more. Now that's not terrible but IMO that total cap hit with Dahlin and Power - 24 mil at least - counters any argument others have made for not wanting to pay Mittelstadt/Thompson/Cozens 21 mil total. The difference between the groups being that Byram is redundant, while Mitts brought a different skill set and IQ that the others lack.

So Byram's next deal won't necessarily break the cap, but it will heavily skew cap spending toward the D-corps, for a player that won't get the max ice time or role that would justify it.

 

[Jim Bob]

With respect to Byram's next deal, that huge gap between Quinn Hughes at #7 and Rasmus Sandin at #8 is really interesting.

 

[MOGlLNY]

We need Kevyn in Granato firing press conference mode all off-season.

 

[Matt Ress]

View attachment 879960

I just don't trust him, especially at a time where there's pressure on him and his job for once.

I'd say the eichel trade was a good amount of pressure and while we don't know a lot of behind the scenes, we were mostly happy with the return. Nonetheless, plenty of pressure at a time when not much else was happening around the league.

 

[joshjull]

View attachment 879964

With respect to Byram's next deal, that huge gap between Quinn Hughes at #7 and Rasmus Sandin at #8 is really interesting.

Sandin is definitely an interesting comparable. His deal has the same amount of RFA years (2) as Byram’s next deal will.


Not sure what relevance Quinn Hughes has to this though. His deal was signed 3yrs ago and started right after his ELC. So it has 4 RFA years in it and only 2 UFA.

What filters did you use to get that list of dmen?

 

[Archie Lee]

Why do people keep saying that Byram is going to jack up the cap? That career best 18-point season with a career-best 73 games played - the first time he's played more than 42 games in a regular season?

C'mon.

His career best season points wise is either 24 in 42 games or 29 in 73 (depends on whether you put the emphasis on points or points per game, I guess). He is a recent top 5 pick who we gave up a significant piece for. I don’t think he needs to take a big leap in performance to warrant a significant contract in AAV and term. Not a sure thing by any means, but not a huge stretch to see him move himself into the Mitts/Cozens/Thompson range of $6-7 million.

 

[Jim Bob]

Sandin is definitely an interesting comparable. His deal has the same amount of RFA years (2) as Byram’s next deal will.


Not sure what relevance Quinn Hughes has to this though. His deal was signed 3yrs ago and started right after his ELC. So it has 4 RFA years in it and only 2 UFA.

What filters did you use to get that list of dmen?

I was just looking at active contracts for D that were 25yo or younger and on standard contracts.

It was just a look at what other D in roughly the same age bracket are being paid and it was interesting to see that huge drop off from Quinn's AAV to Sandin's.

There are plenty of D coming off of bridge deals after 23-24. Dobson, Bouchard, Miller, and Byram are all in similar spots in that they are coming off of bridge deals and will be RFAs next summer.

 

[Chainshot]

It seems that KA acquired Byram not for his most recent play, but for draft pedigree and a great rookie season.

Dreams of a singular series in the Cup final in his second year perhaps, but he's had health issues and on a team fully of fraidycats, I don't see anyone being scared of dropping him the first chance they have.

Just the premise of adding him to the roster gives the appearance of an over-inflated opinion of what he can do for the team. He wouldn't bring in a redundant player unless he thought Byram was the "top-4" guy he needs to round out the group. I clearly disagree and think his next contract (expecting around a 30 pt season in Buffalo) will probably put him in KA's sights for about 5 mil per, maybe more. Now that's not terrible but IMO that total cap hit with Dahlin and Power - 24 mil at least - counters any argument others have made for not wanting to pay Mittelstadt/Thompson/Cozens 21 mil total. The difference between the groups being that Byram is redundant, while Mitts brought a different skill set and IQ that the others lack.

So Byram's next deal won't necessarily break the cap, but it will heavily skew cap spending toward the D-corps, for a player that won't get the max ice time or role that would justify it.

Maybe. I may just be strung out from the last time a GM of this team had a particular defenseman positional fetish and how that over-acquisition of RHD rippled all the way down to the development on the farm and mis-use on the big club (Montour on RW).

18 points? He had 11 goals and 18 assists for a 29-point season just last year...

Typo. One key in either direction. Still, hasn't cracked 30, still hasn't played a full season.

If he stays healthy I expect him to have a strong statistical year now that he'll be settled in Buffalo on a team that should improve under a better coach. And I know last year spooked some people from projecting age-based expected growth, but it's still very much in play for Byram. 11 goals! He could score 20 this year, his shot is one of the best on the entire team.

Of course he isn't due a 4-6x raise like Peterka and Quinn coming off their ELCs, but he still belongs in the "young guys due a raise" category. He won't get the Power deal, but he might get 6 x 6 if he puts up 15-30-45 on a playoff team and Adams wants him in the core.

Goal scoring by defensemen can be volatile. Especially ESG's.

 

[Zach716]

Interesting thought I had this morning:

In- Farabee (5m for 4 more years) for #11

Out- Skinner @ 50% retain (4.5m for 3 years) for XYZ

Only a gain of half a mil on the cap, an extra year for a young player with a lot of potential on a bad Flyers team, and I bet Skinner at 4.5m could be very valuable

Would probably have to involve a third team if Skinner was willing to waive NMC (probably the most unlikely thing about this proposal)

 

[Chainshot]

His career best season points wise is either 24 in 42 games or 29 in 73 (depends on whether you put the emphasis on points or points per game, I guess). He is a recent top 5 pick who we gave up a significant piece for. I don’t think he needs to take a big leap in performance to warrant a significant contract in AAV and term. Not a sure thing by any means, but not a huge stretch to see him move himself into the Mitts/Cozens/Thompson range of $6-7 million.

I'm as high on Byram as anyone - but people thinking he's automatically going to get a similar deal to Power are way off. Id personally like to see a long term deal based on what i believe he's currently worth - but i expect him to get some kind of bridge deal that keeps him RFA upon expiry.

He wanted a new challenge without Makar in front of him and he wound up on team with Dahlin AND Power in front of him. There is only 1 puck and normally two of the defensemen are soaking up 50-ish minutes of that between them. That doesn't leave a lot of time to leverage his skills.