what would the sabres cap situation look like next year with Meier, he wont be cheap to extend with a 10m QO

Tage and Samuelsson locked up to team friendly deals, cap ceiling reportedly jumping at least 6 mill in the next 3 years, Okposo coming off the books, Olofsson probably replaced by a elc, tons of talent on elc or yet to sign an elc, I think it looks fantastic

its probably close to 20m to extend all the RFAs, Cozens, Asplund, Jost, Meier...assume you dont QO Bjork.
Looks pretty good, just depends on what they want to do splashing some money at a UFA or a goalie. Levi is the starter of the future but you cant hand over the reigns to him yet unil hes used to some pro hockey out of NCAA

Adams don't spend money on goaltender. To be honest, we don't even know yet what we have in UPL and Comrie. Too small sample and there were concomitant circumstances.

UPL has looked good at times, and more consistent, I think him and Comrie next year and they sign Levi at the end of the college year this year. UPLs health is probably the only big concern there

That right side of the defense looks damn scary outside of Dahlin.

thats a fair statement

Until Lybushkin gets back, Jokiharju has been fine enough but not fantastic. Better possession upfront too

I see his mistakes all the time. It is Jokiharju who has to play with a defender who is good in defense, he is just not the type of player. He wants to move the puck and go on attack.

Well, I mean, he just doesn't spend them, even if we really need a goalier. In fact, goalies mostly seem to have a mentality, you never know how it will turn out. Georgiev was bad at Rangers, and now for AVS are good. Campbell signed this terrible contract, and it's a good thing Adams didn't pay him more. Samsonov and Murray seem to have regained their game. It seems that no analytics and statis work in order to determine whether this goaltender will be good in another team and with a different game system. Although, of course, I wants a reliable good starter or tandem of goalies, and we have not had this for a very long time.

you dont have to sell me on that logic, like you said Georgiev is a great example how you can find value wihtout over paying in UFA.
Goalies are voodoo, always will be always have been. I thought Craig Anderson was washed last year, and this year hes been solid for you guys. You never know.

I feel like the sabres learned their lesson with the Carter Hutton signing. banking on on a goalie leaving a good team in a back up role to be a starter for the 1st time is buyer beware.

The team that buys LTIR players every year to hit the Cap floor? They'll be fine.

I don't see a single reason the team with the 2nd best record in the West, 4th overall, trades one of its top 6 DMen with no replacement coming back.

I would imagine San Jose points at the 7 other better prospects that Buffalo has and asks for them, just more quantity than anything, not overall a bad offer though. Would prefer prospects that aren’t already believed to not sign a ELC and become a free agent.

You're not getting Timo without at least offering Rosen and a 1st +

Johnson is one of the best Sabres prospects, Nadeau is also in the A tier. Murray is good and NHL ready, but more of a sweetener because Johnson and Portillo are NCAA prospects

Nadeau is just as good as Rosen and there is a 1st + there

if he is just as good, then keep him and send rosen right?

In fact, our GM originally seemed to want to trade for Gibson, but Gibson decline trade because NTC/NMC. Then this summer, not long before the draft, a deal was already agreed with Ottawa for Murray, and he also decline because NMC/NTC.

Sure, I thought SJ would want a bigger Q guy instead of a smaller euro because that's similar to Meier

Good thing neither went through though

I forgot about the Murray trade. But werent you guys weaponizing your cap space in that trade? Was it a pick swap and some other stuff, the 16th for the 7th right? Do you remember what the frame work of that trade was

Well, Murray seems to be playing well in Toronto, although I didn't want him to trade at the time, but it was a good deal for us because of the draft picks. Gibson hasn't been that good for a long time and his contract is big.

Murray + #7 for #16. After that, Sens traded DeBrincat

As far as I understood, this was supposed to be a deal and Murray decline. Even our GM basically confirmed this. I'm not sure if Murray would have been as good like in Toronto as we have problems on both defense, PK, and our forwards aren't great defensively, but this deal looked good for us.

he probably wouldnt have been good but it was more buying the pick with your cap space. If the Sabres had the 7th and 9th pick, is that a scenario that they were looking to jump up into the top 3?