Edmundson and Dvorak for CM and a top 10 protected 1st

Dvorak is too much cap for what he offers. I believe Montreal would need to pay a bit to unload him at this point.

Definitely not on your proposal.

Evan Rodriguez ran himself out of town the first time he was here. Not only do I doubt he would come back, I very much doubt the Sabres would have any interest in bringing him back, especially for $3 million a year. You’re suggesting what is nearly a complete overhaul of the roster, which really isn’t practical. I like the defensive targets you want to add, but one year contracts isn’t logical, unless those guys are resigning. Kampf could make sense, and one of those defenseman being traded for, especially if the Sabres could get him to sign a multiyear deal. I don’t see them trading for another goaltender, I expect they will run with what they have with a hopefully improved defense corps in front of them.

They won’t run it back with the same 3 goalies. I wouldn’t be surprised if they replace all 3 they are the sole reason why the Sabres are going to miss the playoffs.

Good thing they have the best goalie prospect in the world right now in Devon Levi. I just think it's best to not rush him and start him in the AHL.

MTL take that

This is nonsense, he's a valuable piece who doesn't fit in MTL style of play, not a cap dump

He isn't a bad player at all. But he has not played up to his 4.45m a year contract. Maybe a team takes a chance on him for free (like in the Kapanen situation) but I don't see a team actually paying for him, unless retention is involved. Cap is super valuable now a days.

Cap dump doesn't always involve useless players. Sometimes it is players who have contracts that are bigger than what they have shown so far. I believe that this is the case with Dvorak.

I’d do Edmundson & Dvorak for Mittelstadt.

BUF gets a faceoff guy for deeper in the lineup and solid leadership and defensive/physical play from Edmunson.

Montreal can’t take Mittelstadt and keep Dvorak.

I would personally steer clear from that trade if I were Buffalo. Too much cap coming back and Dvorak is signed for too long at that cap hit. Adding Dvorak decreases the value of the package coming to Buffalo in my mind.

Also Montreal can take Mittlestadt without trading Dvorak. Too many centres isn't a bad thing. Not enough centres is a very bad thing.

For teams like montreal and Buffalo his contract isn't an issue

Anderson is likely done at the end of this season. He has nothing left to prove, and no reason to keep playing. I expect that Levi will be given every opportunity to make the team in training camp, and if he does they may be looking to trade Eric Comrie if they don’t think he would clear waivers to go to Rochester. I fully expect Luukkonen will be part of the goalie tandem in Buffalo next season, whether he is splitting games with Comrie, or if Levi takes the other spot remains to be seen. Levi may have to be unbeatable in training camp in order for the Sabres to push him into the starting lineup from the very beginning of the year, since he obviously has AHL eligibility and the other two don’t. But it could happen.

For teams like Buffalo his contract would become a problem very quick.

Dahlin and Power are up for new contracts after next season. It would be reasonable to expect Power at 6m a year (5m raise) and Dahlin at potentially 9m a year (3m raise). Cap gets tight VERY quickly.

That is incredibly shortsighted. Paying your third line center $4.5 million a year could definitely become a problem. They will already be paying Thompson and Cozens a combined $14 million next season, and they have to negotiate extensions for Dahlin and Power. They may have a lot of cap space right now, but when you consider all of those extensions most of that money will be gone.

The Sabres don't need to add forwards, they have Savoie and probably Kulich coming up next year and I can guarantee the plan is UPL Comrie Levi for next year.

I looked at all of Buffalo's prospects before making this. None of them seemed to have dominated enough this year to justify them being in the NHL next year. Give those guys more time to dominate the AHL before you pencil them into an NHL roster.

Guys like Kampf and Rodrgiuez will make their prospect lives sooooo much easier moving forward.

Buffalo need as many good defensive players are possible right now, to compliment their young offensive guys.

Unless both guys are excellent defensively (not their game as far as I know) I wouldn’t expect both to be in the lineup regularly next year. The Sabres play wide-open style, which led to them scoring a lot of goals this year. However, it’s lead to them giving up the among most scoring chances and almost the most goals in the entire league. They could use a defensive minded, third line center who wins a lot of face-offs, and can kill penalties very well. The penalty kill is pretty terrible and desperately needs improvement. Winning draws improves your possession numbers, which hopefully improves defense by default. Add in a defensively responsible veteran defenseman to play with Power, and the team could be considerably better and very much a playoff caliber team.

Savoie and Kulich have

Kulich is doing another year in the AHL. Savoie will only get 9 games.

The Sabres forward are maybe 20% of the defensive problems. Dahlin is the only Dman hitting his potential. Power plateaued and has had some rough games and Samuelsson has had his growing pains. The rest of the defense has been miserable at best. I don't see them not adding offensive prospects because their D is garbage. They can replace Okposo and maybe Jost and they'll have the summer to work with Greenway, other than that they need to figure out a partner for Power.

Quinn didn't. Peterka didn't...

Kulich has 19 goals, 37 pts in 52 games in the AHL at 18 years old. Very good numbers but not dominant. Keep him in the AHL for another year.
Savoie has 94 pts in 61 games in the OHL. The year before he has 90pts in 65 games. His numbers are a tad better than the year before. He was a +54 2 years ago and a +57 this year. Points wise in the OHL he is doing very good but not dominant. In terms of overall play, he is definitely very dominant at that level. I would see if he can get close to a point per game in the AHL before putting him on an NHL roster. Don't rush him.

Quinn was also a year older and dropped 61 points in the AHL in 45 games. That is DOMINANT. Actually, those are numbers that are almost unheard of for a guy his age in the AHL.
Peterka also dropped 68 points in 70 AHL games and was a year older.

Those are different scenarios than Kulich dropping 37 pts in 52 games.

ALSO, keep in mind that Buffalo is now a much better and deeper organization. So Kulich will have a harder time cracking the line up than Quinn and Peterka did.

Quinn did 2 years in the AHL. Peterka one because he had 68 points in 70 games and 12 points in 10 playoff games.

Great point and counter points, excellent conversations.

Next year, Bishop and Anderson come off the cap $6,500,000 reduction.
Hinnostroza $1,700,000, Girgensons $2,200,000 and Okposo $6,000,000 are UFA's and it is most likely their combined $10,000,000 will be reduced to less than $5,000,000 next year, another $5,000,000 reduction.
Clague $750,000, and Jost $2,000,000 are RFA's and Buffalo may sign both of them for nearly the same cap hit.
Samuelsson, Cozens and Thompson Cap of $3,300,000 will jump to $18,000,000
If my math is correct Buffalo's cap will increase by $7,000,000 to $72,000,000 next year with the over all cap rising to $83,500,000

The following year:
Olofsson's $4,750,000 (hard to believe he has the same AVV as Tuch) will be gone replace by an ELC a $3,800,000 reduction.
Krebs, Lyubushkin, Dahlin, Jokiharju, Stillman, and Power $863,333; $2,750,000; $6,000,000; $2,500,000 $1,350,000 and $916,000 $14,500,000 will become $2,200,000; $3,000,000; $9,500,000; $3,000,000; $1,500,000; and $7,500,000 $27,000,000

Presuming both Edmundson and Dvorak for Mittelstadt, Buffalo adds $5,500,000 cap, as much as I would like to have a third line center who can win face offs, I do not see how Buffalo could fit him under the cap unless one could predict the cap to rise significantly by then.