Any word on Johnson and Portillo signing? Were they both at prospect camp? Portillo being 3rd in line, Levi and UPL, and Johnson being 4th or 5th LHD, doesn't lead to lucrative careers.

Johnson is going back for his last year of collegiate eligibility which will lead him into the final few months of Buffalo's ownership of his rights. After that season, he will only have to wait a few months for his rights to expire with Buffalo to have the ability to sign with any team he wants. Adams has stopped talking about both Johnson and Portillo give that both have declined offers. It would make more sense to trade them to teams they will want to play for and get picks in return while the Sabres can and have that right as opposed to waiting and loosing them for nothing.

Portillo is set on finishing his degree. Everything points to him signing. Sabres get a compensatory 2nd round pick of Johnson signs elsewhere which is probably more value than they would get currently

Portillo is a crap shoot. We don't really know. It's understood that Buffalo would get a 2nd for Johnson, but it would be better to get that pick in 2023 which is not likely if he sits out until his eligibility is up with Buffalo. The Sabres need to draft three to four good defensive prospects to fill out the already stacked pool they have. It would be better to get those all selected in 2023 to fast-track the development to move forward.

Not sure what is considered a 'year' but Samuelsson has 5 left, Power has 6 and Bryson 3. Dahlin has 2. All LHD. I realize Dahlin is playing RD. LHD seems pretty well taken care of.

I don't see Bryson as top six on a contender, but I could be wrong. Depending on what Johnson shows, Bryson could be replaced as early as next year. If Johnson wants to sign, of course.

They have Lindgren and Novikov already in the system. What they really need is for two of Mitts, Cozens, Krebs, Savoie to hit their upside C potential and for one of UPL, Levi, Portillo to be a legit 1A goalie. Everything else can be filled in through judicious trades/UFA.

Meantime, keep taking BPA in every round.

What they need is the owners to stop 'trading' for LTIR contracts to hit the cap floor. They should have been all over Monahan deal.

I like him, but as a 7th that can play both sides. Lots of ways to build a team, I think I would rather have somebody bigger on my third pair. He is a good skating, calm defenseman, won't put up big points, and occasionally he gets pushed around. Unfortunately for him, left d is a very easy position to find depth players.

I don't want them taking garbage for late round picks, but sure, taking Monahan for a first sounds like something we should have been in on. Grabbing bishop for cap doesn't make much difference here, all it does is give us leverage. As it stands, we don't "need" to do anything. Pegula has signed off on going past self imposed caps, I'm thinking specifically of Taylor hall, we were going to have an internal 70m cap until hall agreed to sign here, pegula thought it was too good to be true and signed off. Again, this isn't adding garbage for a late pick, that does far more good for the other team.

A 70 mil 'self-imposed cap'. They're barely at 63 right now.

Those late 1sts. Johnson. Kulich Samuelsson. They still selected them. Always pass on late 1sts? Traded up in the 2nd for JPP. Hate to have him with a late 1st.

I'd say sell the team but they're just a tax write off for the loads he's making on the Bills. Worst they are, more they lose the happier he is.

That Shea Weber contract looks like a Sabres dream contract. One mil cash a year for almost 8 mil cap.

The 70 million internal cap was before the Taylor hall season. And they should be looking for first round picks, I'm all for it. I don't want Weber, he has 4 seasons left. Even if it's beneficial right now, it could be a problem in years 3 and 4. I wouldn't assume that another team would be trying to circumvent the cap and he could just be given away at a later date.

Never just fill current roster spots given injuries are a real thing, most players need time off and having too much at any position generates trade potential to fill out other spots that might not be the strongest.