I dont see the sabres doing this. Pretty sure the team is losing money right now, only way i see them taking on salary is if its a piece for the future or a short term cap dump that has a first round pick riding shotgun. And since the owners are likely scratching the check for any such acquisition, even that might be a stretch.

As you can see I initially agreed with your post.
I would not take on Dadonov for only a fourth as a sweetener.
Give the Knights their 2023 3rd, and make it 2022 2nd to get me interested.
While Dadonov's salary over two year would certainly command a first, but he is producing just not up to this pay rate.
Retaining 50% and he may return a 2nd.

On the other hand this season is not lost IMO.
Take out the horrible 9 game stretch where they gave up 44 goals over 9 game stretch and the team is at 9-8-4 or 86 pts over an 82 game season.
Obviously not good enough to make the playoff but very respectable.
Add Dadonov and Tuch, the RW looks more than adequate.

Subban was superb against Pittsburgh leading to Tuch calling him the most athletic GK he had seen.
Throw in Luukkonen's sub 2.00 GA and who knows, maybe Ukko-Pekka could be Buffalo's Jordan Binnington.

The line up could be:
Skinner Thompson Dadonov
Olofsson Cozens Tuch
Asplund Girgensons Okposo
Bjork Eakin Hinostroza
I am not dreaming that this team could win the cup but IMO that line up is better than MTL last year (59 pts over 56 games projects to 86 pts over 82 games) and they went to the finals.

Bottom line I agree it is unlikely the Pegula's would agree to the deal as they have already made many moves to cut payroll.
Moving up from a 3rd to a 2nd moves my needle as only Skinner and Thompson have more goals than Dadonov ytd.
I do not expect you to change your opinion, I am just offering a different POV.

The 44 goals over 9 games is a bit misleading, to me anyways. Granato has guys playing in an open system, which is a refreshing approach, but our goalies are being left out to dry, and guys like- tokarski, dell, and subban- i dont expect them to bail us out very often. I believe in cheap, average goaltending, so im not asking for any kind of overcorrection, but adams is gonna need to find another goalie, even if upl is up to the task.

Thank you for your comment.
Yes you are correct those 9 games were an anomaly, just as 14 goals in the last 6 games are.
Yes the Sabres may need to add an additional GK.
I think we will be happy with Subban.
If Tuch is correct that Subban is super athletic, we may all be surprised.
Mike Bales is considered one of the top GK coaches and may bring out the best in him, LOL, I hope I am correct,
On the other hand, I love Granato's up tempo stretch pass approach (BTW Tuch will excel in that system, just as Hinostroza has).
The last Buffalo coach to push the tempo was Paul Theriault, Ted Nolan's assistant the first year the Sabres went to the playoffs.