Idk that it would be smart of us to get Power a high paid partner
Just get him another “Samuelsson” type
He doesn’t need an AllStar for a partner

I also think Meier is gonna cost more than I’d like to get him
Certainly a good player though

Thank you!

Dumba is a interesting case, good enough skater to play in are D system or the kinda system we play. Never was the same after that one fight where he tore up his chest and shoulder I believe. He's not gonna get a huge contract. His numbers aren't great this year, but could be a decent get.

I think Dumba is gonna stay around 6M AAV for his next deal. It's not that high, especially with the Cap going up.
The reality is Samuelsson is a steal of a contract and we're not likely to find another one.

Be surprised if he got 6m a year, a lot of teams still very tight to the Cap next year.

Definitely not! I am the biggest Dumba defender in Minnesota and even I wouldn’t give him that! I think he will get something like 4-5 years at $4m per.

Exactly so there is no reason to discount him as a target for Buffalo. There's a few frequent flyers on this site who are just terrified of Dahlin and Power's next contracts. It's absurd. And when we get down the line a few years from now, good teams lose good "middle-six" players because they get overpaid raises. See guys like Goodrow, Donskoi, etc. You just gotta hope you make the right choices and don't lose out on Artemi Panarin to keep Artem Anisimov.

Dumba is a solid player and would certainly be a good add to our team. However, as others have stated, the best kind of partner for Power would be a stay-at-home guy. Dumba is not that kind of player, and I'm concerned about what kind of money he'd want on a long-term deal. The perfect player for us would be a guy like Mayfield or Borgen (sad). Neither are going to be available this season. Perhaps Mayfield could sign as a FA and Borgen could be had but likely at a high cost since he's been so good for the Kraken

Dumba is gonna get a raise
As u said, the Cap is going up- & I’m sure his agent will point that out
Also, we should be getting a more defensive partner for Power
Dumba isn’t a great fit imo

I think Power's skating and current level of defensive prowess will lead to him not needing a true stay-at-home dman. He's a better skater than Dahlin already and is more responsible defensively than Dahlin was in his rookie season. I think this allows for another "complete player" to compliment him well. I may be wrong, but that's my assessment. I think we're hung up on the fact that Dahlin and Samuelsson work so well together. Devon Toews isn't a true "stay-at-home" and he works with Makar. Same as Weegar and Ekblad in recent history. Just need someone who is willing to let Power be Power and work off of him/support him, most of the time.

1 says raise. 1 says pay-cut. 1 says roughly the same AAV.
I'm gonna hold fast and disagree with you.

Fair but I don't believe Dumba to be that kind of player, at least not consistently

I also think some of that has to do with who he has played with. He's been playing with one of the truest "stay-at-home" dmen in the modern era in Jonas Brodin. I think that has put him in a spot to have to try and do too much offensively when he is better suited to the type of role that would come with playing with Power. He can still take his chances from time to time and activate offensively but he's the supporting player at the end of the day.

All depends on long term plan, hence extensions. If Sabres would be able to keep both at same cap hit combined, I would do it.

I would be willing to go up to 14M combined as long as Dumba's is a 4 year deal or less. That way it's moveable if you get "stuck" with too many prospects panning out. But I think 8x8 for Meier and 4x4 for Dumba is the ideal scenario.

If Dumba wants term it is 4x4. If he wants AAV - 2x6 it is duable but slight overpayment.

First Dumba would be a great add at $4,000,000 but not $6,000,000.
Second, was I dreaming and imagining the on ice action, but that may have been one the best games Jokiharju played this year.
Some how he was paired with Bryson on Martin's goal, tied up Bailey and Tuch allowed Martin to skate in un-checked.
He and Power have developed a GREAT on ice chemistry.
IMO we have our top 4 and just need to upgrade our undersized Bryson, and hit hungry Lyubushkin.
But on the other hand I may not know how to evaluate whether a D-man played well or not.

As an aside Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen stole that game (as he did the Predators and Wild, even though he gave up 5 goals).
He may not have faced as many shots as Sorokin, but he shut down many scoring opportunities.
At this point in his career he is more advanced than Ullmark was.
Let's make sure we do not lose him while dreaming of Levi and Portillo.

First agreed but 4x4 or 2x6 would both work for me I think.

Second Jokiharju struggled immensely with the puck in the Isles game. He is still getting better which is nice to see but I think he makes our bottom pair better by being a part of it. I don't think he's a top4 dman on a cup winning team.

Last UPL was amazing and that's what we needed that night. I wouldn't say he stole the game because Sorokin was gonna steal it for the Isles. We outplayed them in every aspect that matters. I want UPL to continue to hold onto that crease. It's his. And then I want Levi to come and be so good that he rips it away from him. And we have the top tandem in the league for a couple years before trading UPL to get even better. In an ideal world that is lol

And then Leinonen takes it from Levi and the Sabres pipeline of Goalie factory is restored.

Wait, what?

I'm not a Leinonen fan tbh. Hated the draft pick. I wanted Tristan Luneau. That being said sure. Also Owen Power is a better skater than Dahlin. Dahlin is a better player obviously but Power is the better skater.

I've seen Dahlin skate through/around 3-4 players several times. I've never once seen Power do that. Power skates well, but he plays a pretty simple (and really really good) game. Get puck, pass puck. Dahlin skates up and down the ice like a ballerina with the puck glued to his stick, ready to skate around anyone he wants to, when he wants to.

Here's an exhibit of Dahlin's skate work. I've never once seen Power move like this:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/_EApcfSCkPg

I would not say "Jokiharju struggled immensely with the puck" (that description does fit Lyubushkin) just he is not Power nor Dahlin.
His made numerous outstanding defensive plays last night and over the season only Samuelson has more PK time than which is what I want from a RHD playing with Power.
He has performed as well as could be expected, which makes the Sabres top 4 solid and they need to find upgrades for Bryson and Lyubushkin not a new pairing for Power.

As to Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, yes the Sabres were the vastly superior team which quite honestly was understood without mentioning if you go back and reread my post "He may not have faced as many shots as Sorokin". Without his strong performance the Sabres lose.
One may disagree with the definition of "stole" but he was outstanding and the Sabres won because of him.

Joker is definitely fine as Power's partner. I certainly wouldn't mind an upgrade and place Joker on the third pairing, but at EV, BUF's got:

Sammy-Dahlin 59.57 GF%, 58.01xGF%
Power-Joker 51.72 GF%, 50.23xGF%

Top 4 is damn good. The 5-6-7-8 spots could use some upgrades. Bryson is definitely better on the 3rd pairing than the 1st pairing, so a lot of his play this year is skewed from playing way out of his comfort zone. But would be great if Bryson, Boosh, Klague are our 7-8-9 D-men.

That being said, our 3rd pairing plays like 7-10mins a night.

It's really hard to believe watching him play, but Power is a rookie. Sammy just crossed the 82GP plateau. And Dahlin and Sammy are only 22 years old and Joker is only 23.

BUF's defense will solidify next year after a season together and UPLs play will rise too after spending so much time with them and getting NHL experience. I'm wishfully hoping Johnson sees our team success and youth and bright future and inks a deal in BUF. That would immediately solve our Defense. We'd just be searching for a #6 D-man, which is cheap to acquire, or just wait on Lindgren to arrive.