Team: 2017-18 Buffalo Sabres

Initial Creation Date: Jun. 13, 2017

Published: Jun. 13, 2017

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

So here is what ive got for the Sabres next year. List of things to do:
1) Fix the defense for the love of god!!!
2) Get Jack a left wing that can match his talent and skill.
3) Fix the farm team in Rochester
4)Get rid of Matt Moulson
5)Make room to resign Jack and Sam to long term contracts
6) Resign Lehner
7) See what i can get for Ennis

What i did:
1) Fix the D, I added Trevor Daley as a free agent who can play on the second pairing, i traded for B. Dillon to solidify the second or third pairing. I feel that both Guhle and Antipin have a solid shot at being able to play top minutes with Ristolainen but i may very well be wrong i would rather take a chance on this then trading away Reinhart to get a guy that may or may not be able to compliment Ristolainen. In addition i added solid depth to the defense by adding Devon Toews off the Islanders and Ian McCoshen off the Panthers.

I could still add Karl Alzner for around $4.5 million a year but i held off for now.

In both of these trades i feel i gave both the Islanders and Panthers useful pieces moving forward. I may be wrong maybe Kane is not the top six forward the Islanders want because of his past issues or maybe they don't believe in his talent. In the Florida trade it is clear that they need bottom six talent to stabilize and play a variety of roles at a low cost. Girgensons could very well be this player for them his ability to play on the wing or center is attractive plus the addition of Casey Nelson who i honestly think just needs a change of scenery to find his game gives a defense man back to the Florida system who could be productive in the NHL with more seasoning in the AHL.

The Brenden Dillon trade provides the Sabres with a stay at home defensemen who can play either on the second pairing with Daley or on the third pairing with Antipin. I think Dillon is ready for second line minutes personally but its hard to say. I am really not sure though if i gave the Sharks the right kind of compensation by providing Marcus Foligno and a 3rd round pick. It is clear that the Sharks will need a left winger if Marleau for whatever reason is no longer on the team. My concern here is that Foligno is not a top six player. So is this a player that they would even want on their team? If not is Kane a better move here?

2) Jacks left wing, I traded for Palat out of Tampa Bay. Palat has proven he can play with high speed high talent players in Tampa so i believe he is the perfect left winger for Jack Eichel. I thought that this would provide some cap relief to Tampa but also i had to give up a solid defensive player in McCabe. Tampa needed a low cost left defense man well McCabe is that guy, In order to sweeten the deal sense I see Tampa fans complaining that McCabe is not really proven yet as a second line defenseman i added a third round pick. This works for both teams as now the Lightning no longer need to trade Drouin to get a left shot d-man. Everyone wins in this trade. What is your though Tampa fans?

3)Fix the farm, the Sabres new GM Botterill has said that the farm system in Buffalo needs to be fixed. What i did to add depth to the farm system was go out and trade for other teams defensive prospects of McCoshen and Toews. This will stabilize the blue line in RocWith that said i feel that their are a few mid level prospects in Rochester that have offensive talent. Fasching, Bailey, and Baptise just to name a few. The only high talent offensive prospect in Rochester at the moment is Nylander. That said i think it is important to try and keep these guys down in Rochester as much as possible to continue to develop. So i believe that Botterill will need to shop around for some free agents to put in Rochester that can come up when needed rather than constantly calling up the kids.

4) Get rid of Moulson, Matt Moulson is not a horrible player but at $5 million a year im good ive had my fill. I feel that by providing Vegas with this years second round pick it should be enough compensation to get Vegas to take Moulson off our hands. Until Vegas actually makes a deal with another team no one knows what the correct compensation will be to get Vegas to take a bad contract so on this one guys i would say lets wait a few days and see what is actually realistic. At this point your guess is as good as mine.

5) Make room to sign Jack and Sam, Looking at the long term picture it is clear that both Jack Eichel and Sam Reinhart will need new contracts. Given the recent deals of high level offensive forwards at their age i would say that Jack will get somewhere between $7-8 million per year and Sam will get $5.5-6.5 million a year. On the high end the total is $14.5 million for both contracts. That will leave $9.5 million in cap space to resign Antipin and Carrier. I don't see that as any real issue considering how even if Antipin plays extremely and earns a long term extension the Sabres could just make cap room via buyouts trades ect.

6) Resign Lehner, In recent days rumors have been swirling about Lehner and that he is looking for a contract in the neighborhood of $5 million a year. If this is the case im not paying it. I will pay Lehner no more than between $3.5-4.4 million a year. I dont believe in the need to pay goalies over this amount because they are replaceable to some extent. That said i feel a contract at about 4 million a year is very reasonable for a goalie of Lehner's caliber.

7) Trade Ennis, Im sorry to see Tyler Ennis go but its time. He still has some skill and speed as well as a variety of experience moving forward. This will be useful to a team like Arizona who has a young core of extremely talented players. On the other side Anthony Duclair has fell out of favor and down the depth chart in Arizona so this trade i think works for both teams.

Thank you for checking out my team please provide feedback.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.