Sabres Into the Playoffs 22-23

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Created by: eyw305

Team: 2022-23 Buffalo Sabres

Initial Creation Date: Apr. 6, 2022

Published: Apr. 6, 2022

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

Description

A late season run of success has shown the NHL that the Buffalo Sabres have turned over a new leaf and are ready to be competitive.

The off-season is focused on reaching the cap floor and shoring up some positions through free agency. In order to prevent the Buffalo Sabres from starting the season as the Rochester Sabres, they focus their attention on veteran leadership for such a young group.

The Sabres need to make some tough decisions and it begins with letting Vinny Hinostroza fall to free agency. Thr feisty winger served the Sabres well, but the team no longer needs his services. He'll likely land elsewhere on a two or three year deal.

Finding a mentor for U-PL is a top priority. Craig Anderson has been great for the Sabres, but the team needs to shed about ten years off their next goaltender and look for a more durable option. Braden Holtby serves that mentorship role and has proven success in the league. He can eat 20-25 games and more importantly, cap space.

Owen Power joins the Sabres, so finding him a veteran, defensive-minded right shot defender that can allow Power to grow AND act as a mentor along the way is crucial. Buffalo hits free agency and lures Josh Manson into town to help solidify the back end. Casey Fitzgerald is the unfortunate casualty in this situation.

Asplund carves out a role with his great defensive play and joins Okposo and Girgensons in what will likely be their final season in a Sabres uniform.

Buffalo's third line is young and exciting. Mitts is developing into a low-end 2C option and can easily toggle with Cozens to mix the lineup from time to time. Jack Quinn joins them in his rookie campaign on the wing.

With Krebs still developing and falling back to third line duties, it would be best to bring in some top-6 help to provide some support for the budding youth movement. Nino Niederreiter slots into that 2LW spot for next season and profides Buffalo not only with a scoring touch, but a good back checking forward option as well. When Okposo leaves, Niederreiter falls back to 3/4 line duties and takes on a vet leadership role with the team. Krebs can easily move up to 2LW when the situation presents itself.

Free Agent Signings

RFA	YEARS	CAP HIT
Bryson, Jacob	3	$2,500,000
Olofsson, Victor	4	$4,000,000
Luukkonen, Ukko-Pekka	3	$2,500,000

UFA	YEARS	CAP HIT
Niederreiter, Nino	3	$5,000,000
Manson, Josh	3	$4,000,000
Holtby, Braden	2	$3,000,000

CREATED		YEARS	CAP HIT
Power, Owen		3	$925,000

Buyouts

Cody Hodgson: $791,667
Christian Ehrhoff: $0

Draft	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Round 6	Round 7
2022
2023
2024

ROSTER

LONG-TERM OUTLOOK

EMBED

TEXT-EMBED

ROSTER SIZE	SALARY CAP	CAP HIT	OVERAGES	BONUSES	CAP SPACE
22	$81,500,000	$63,787,500	$0	$2,112,500	$17,712,500

Left Wing	Centre	Right Wing
Skinner, Jeff $9,000,000$9,000,000 LW, RW NMC UFA - 5	Thompson, Tage $1,400,000$1,400,000 C UFA - 1	Tuch, Alex $4,750,000$4,750,000 RW, LW UFA - 4
Niederreiter, Nino $5,000,000$5,000,000 LW, RW UFA - 2	Cozens, Dylan $894,167$894,167 ($850,000$850K) C, LW UFA - 1	Olofsson, Victor $4,000,000$4,000,000 RW, LW UFA - 2
Krebs, Peyton $863,333$863,333 ($412,500$412K) C, LW RFA - 2	Mittelstadt, Casey $2,500,000$2,500,000 LW, C RFA - 2	Quinn, Jack $863,333$863,333 ($850,000$850K) RW, LW RFA - 3
Asplund, Rasmus $825,000$825,000 LW, C RFA - 1	Girgensons, Zemgus $2,200,000$2,200,000 LW, C UFA - 1	Okposo, Kyle $6,000,000$6,000,000 RW M-NTC UFA - 1

Left Defense	Right Defense	Goaltender
Dahlin, Rasmus $6,000,000$6,000,000 LD/RD UFA - 2	Jokiharju, Henri $2,500,000$2,500,000 RD RFA - 2	Holtby, Braden $3,000,000$3,000,000 G UFA
Manson, Josh $4,000,000$4,000,000 RD UFA - 4	Power, Owen $925,000$925,000	Luukkonen, Ukko-Pekka $2,500,000$2,500,000 G RFA - 2
Samuelsson, Mattias $925,000$925,000 LD UFA - 1	Bryson, Jacob $2,500,000$2,500,000 LD/RD RFA - 2

Scratches	Injured Reserve (IR)	Long Term IR (LTIR)
Bjork, Anders $1,600,000$1,600,000 LW, RW UFA - 1
Fitzgerald, Casey $750,000$750,000 RD UFA - 1

Apr. 6, 2022 at 9:10 a.m.

asauer1122

Joined: Jan. 2019

Posts: 1,638

Likes: 585

Why is Manson left and Power right. And not so sure fitz is a causality. Id say bryson is shipped before him

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Apr. 6, 2022 at 9:11 a.m.

GenW

TNT

Joined: Jun. 2021

Posts: 568

Likes: 338

Peterka? Man is murdering the AHL right now. He will get a shot up in Buffalo

gretzkyghosts liked this.

Apr. 6, 2022 at 9:19 a.m.

Boos

Joined: Apr. 2020

Posts: 1,121

Likes: 664

Edited Apr. 6, 2022 at 9:26 a.m.

Love this approach. 1-goalie, 1-rhd, 1-top six winger, all vets. Getting Niederreiter to sign in Buffalo would be huge, always loved his game. And btw, no need to send Fitz to Rochester as there's an open slot on the roster. (Oops, just saw him in the press box. I'm good)

Only other thing I got is Bjorkie. He can go unless he has a great camp.

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Apr. 6, 2022 at 9:22 a.m.

Boos

Joined: Apr. 2020

Posts: 1,121

Likes: 664

Quoting: GenW

Peterka? Man is murdering the AHL right now. He will get a shot up in Buffalo

Might be hard to send him back to Rochester with the way he's killing it in the AHL. Tough call but the best approach might be for him to have a split season between Amerks and Sabres. They'll have a group of youngins playing key roles with two of rookies, Quinn and Power, being in the mix so they might need (want) to move a little slower with him.

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Apr. 6, 2022 at 9:31 a.m.

eyw305

Thread Starter

Joined: Apr. 2021

Posts: 37

Likes: 12

Quoting: GenW

Peterka? Man is murdering the AHL right now. He will get a shot up in Buffalo

Let's face it: Buffalo has too many good prospects that are ready to be competitive at the NHL level now. Not a bad problem to have, but some tough decisions need to be made, unfortunately. There's no doubt he's the first call for an injury, but who are you taking out of this lineup for JJ?

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Apr. 6, 2022 at 9:37 a.m.

GenW

TNT

Joined: Jun. 2021

Posts: 568

Likes: 338

Quoting: eyw305

Im not signing Nino. I'm using that money to improve on Jokiharju or Bryson

gretzkyghosts liked this.

Apr. 6, 2022 at 9:44 a.m.

eyw305

Thread Starter

Joined: Apr. 2021

Posts: 37

Likes: 12

Quoting: GenW

Im not signing Nino. I'm using that money to improve on Jokiharju or Bryson

I'll go along with it. You cut Nino's contract and the 5 million dollars his contract eats up. Where are you getting your defenseman and how are you reaching the cap floor?

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Apr. 6, 2022 at 10:21 a.m.

GenW

TNT

Joined: Jun. 2021

Posts: 568

Likes: 338

Quoting: eyw305

I'll go along with it. You cut Nino's contract and the 5 million dollars his contract eats up. Where are you getting your defenseman and how are you reaching the cap floor?

Tons of UFA D Klingberg comes to mind
You could try and swing a trade involving one of Bryson/Jokiharju/Fitz and a pick/picks for someone like Bear / Gudas / Murphy(though hes likely not for sale) or Severson
Adam Larsson is an interesting name that also pops into my head here

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Apr. 6, 2022 at 10:43 a.m.

eyw305

Thread Starter

Joined: Apr. 2021

Posts: 37

Likes: 12

Quoting: GenW

Dahlin and Joker have worked well together this season and I imagine they stay together next year, too. Gudas is an interesting idea, though. Didn't think of him. Reliable, physical backstop.

I imagine a traffic cone could be a more reliable defender than Damon Severson, though.

I guess it all depends on how they want to develop Power. If they're going to use him on the power play in a more offensive role, pairing him with Klingberg doesn't seem like a great idea. Someone will need to play defense in that scenario.

Apr. 6, 2022 at 10:54 a.m.

#10

GenW

TNT

Joined: Jun. 2021

Posts: 568

Likes: 338

Quoting: eyw305

Dahlin and Joker have most certainly not worked well lol. "According to Evolving Hockey’s model, among pairs to play at least 150 minutes together (114 pairs) they are the second-worst defensive duo in on-ice score and venue adjusted shot quality at 5 on 5 (36.85%)."
To me, Jokiharju probably tops out as a very good bottom pair D on most teams, and a great option as a 7th D for a playoff run. I've been fairly underwhelmed with his performance on ice...just seems lost a lot of the time.

Klingberg/Larsson to me would go with Dahlin and you get the defensive defenseman for Power in a perfect world. But i dont know what they're thinking so its hard to say

Apr. 6, 2022 at 1:27 p.m.

#11

AudioCats

Ryan Miller Is God

Joined: Feb. 2019

Posts: 273

Likes: 180

Quoting: GenW

Yuck. You talk about Dahlin & Joker being bad defensively... and boy, do I have news for you about Klingberg. He has the defensive ability of Ristolainen--are you sure that's who you want playing with Dahlin?

Someone is going to give him 8.5x7 and that contract is gonna look terrible unless that team has a peak Hjalmarsson holding his hand the whole time.

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