All are on the low side for a full year of those players. Especially the retained ones.

Should be able to get a first with Conor

Maybe not buffalos first but they’ll have another first by trade deadline

Yeah I figured a young goalie and a 2nd would be equivalent
I think UPL could be started but will be eclipsed by Devi

I was meaning a first with UPL Connor is worth a lot especially half retained Buffalo will have another teams first by trade deadline

I’ve been giving a lot of credit to Buffalo’s young D core, but by doing that … it makes me question UPL’s ability at the NHL level. Am I overrating the young Buffalo D core?

I rather have Lysell and a 1st

Kind of
Our defense was kind of a mess last year with injuries

Obviously Dahlin & Power have all the talent in the world.
Samuelsson has proven to be a key member as well.

The other half of our defense is a question mark

That’s fair. Every time I watched Buffalo, I think I was very critical of UPL. To the point where I wondered aloud whether I would take him over Ken Keyser, Providence’s backup goaltender (who BTW would be a sneaky acquisition for a team wanting a possible developmental talent for cheap)

UPL was GREAT for us during a stretch where he went 12-3 with a .909 save%

The rest of his games were very up & down though
In his 11 losses on the season, he gave up 4 or more goals in 9 of them- partly on him at times, partly on spotty defense

We don’t play great “team defense” either
That’s one reason you’ll see Sabres fans want to ship out a guy like Olofsson, who isn’t good in his own end. Frankly, only a few of our forwards actually are, & that’s gonna have to change if we wanna become a legit team that can win in the playoffs

UPL showed enough good play imo to make me think his upside is an ok 1b starter, or a good backup
He doesn’t appear to be a franchise type goalie

But Ullmark looked pretty average on the Sabres for years as well before going to Boston & winning the Vezina last year

A lot of ppl think the Sabres are “a goalie away” from being a legit contender
But that’s only partly true, as we need to play better team defense (especially including the forwards) in front of whatever goalie we’re playing

Ullmark was before Power and Dahlin wasn’t what he was last year when Linus was there. Like I said, I do think it’s a bias because I give Buffalo’s young talent more credit than I should. Team defense is massively underrated and if your forwards don’t engage, it creates more opportunities for your defense to deal with

DeMelo half retained has value but Ottawa would be stupid to trade Brannstrom like that

Not only they already stupidly traded DeMelo for a 3rd in the past but Brannstrom is quite underrated on this site (because he was the main return for Stone and he was overhyped)

The only smart way to trade him would be for a similar young rising 2-way forward on cost controlled years

And they don't really need any D-men for the moment

I think that's the issue with Brannstrom, he's not going to be cost controlled and when you start paying 2.5, 3, 3.5 to third pairing players it's not gonna work out great.

I could see DeMelo sign a 3 year 2 million ish deal to stay on a competitive team like Ottawa

If Bucky and Scheifle are playing the way they can, those prices would go up at the deadline...like way up (if that's where you are going with this).
Nino should get a 2nd and maybe a bit more since he's versatile and plays a playoff style of hockey. Same for Demelo...the guy quietly goes about his business and does it well. Plus he's cheap and a RSD. Jets would have little to no interest in Brannstrom IMO

Yeah, Brannstrom will eventually be too expensive and he needs a bigger role anyway. In Ottawa, there's already Sanderson, Chabot and Chychrun as LHDs (although Chyc is supposed to play RD) and there's Tyler Kleven that they can't wait to get in the lineup. Brannstrom has an history of playing RD too but they only want to play him on LD for technical reasons

I wouldn't mind acquiring DeMelo again but I wouldn't mind waiting for the next off-season and try to sign him as a UFA. Even then, there's going to be a log jam already, which could only be helped if they trade Brannstrom for a young forward

If they do :

Sanderson - Zub
Chabot - DeMelo
Kleven - Chychrun

Roll the 3 pairings like mofos

I'd see more DeMelo with Kleven, I think he'd be the right mentor for a young D.

Overall I agree and I saw the trade working for Winnipeg because Brannstrom is comfortable and has a track record.of playing on the right

I have him with Chabot because of past chemistry. And like I said, I hope they trade Brannstrom for a young forward who has 2-way upside