If ALL of those player do well,
then losing a few of them wouldn’t matter anyways

We’re in good shape moving forward
REALLY GOOD SHAPE

Move from stocking the farm to the rental market is here, mix in some vets to steady the ship and hopefully tb/bos/Fla ready for some regression, ottawa/Buffalo ready to mess with some status quo, will be interesting going forward on how many long term contracts is too many, and some nice hungry 1 year show me deals mixed in to make it all work. Going to be a fun ride for Buffalo fans

We have such a plethora of prospects up front that we have the luxury of letting them marinate in the AHL if we want them to be a part of the future or letting them develop and then trading them for players that fill organizational holes. A guy like Mittelstadt is likely replaced unless he signs a team friendly deal. If he has another great season, we could flip him for a RHD

Interesting Ideas, I would hope Strbak is atleast in the pipeline by then with Rochester. Yes we have the luxury of some really good prospects coming. But evaluations will need to be at a utmost for the next couple years. Can let some marinate a bit, but you can't wait to long because they lose there value. Mitts and Krebs need to keep growing and adding to what they did this past year. There are only so many seats at the table and there's a bunch of young players that want those chairs.

I think there's a few things off here.

1) With the core of Tage, Cozens, Dahlin, Power and Saammy locked in for 7 or more years, we will have no cap issues.
2) With the exception of Mitts, the Sabres have the luxury of bridging these younger guys to smaller AAVs to fit under the cap.
3) I think you have got Mitts way too low. If he is a 70+ point player, look for him to sign a $7mm contract, if he's between 59-65, then it's probably $6.5mm
4) JJP, Quinn, Levi and Krebs can all sign those aforementioned bridges while we wait for the cap to rise more. I think they can all slot in around $2-3mm AAV on 2-3 year deals, if need be.
5) By 2025-26, I think we either trade/ buy out Skinner. He'll be 33 at that point and his $9mm is probably too high, given the amount of talented youth coming up that can easily replace him.

I like the forward-thinking here. I will make one of my own when I find the time.

Nice work!

What if Levi explodes, Tuch is on the last year of his deal at this point. Sabres have the luxury of ELC's and some 1st contracts. If the Sabres keep growing and get to that point where we all want them. The Cap always catches up to you.

With the team camaraderie, I think you can ask the RFAs to sign a 1 or 2 year deal, if need be, and wait for when there is more cap space available. Or you can sign them to incredibly team-friendly long-term deals.

TBL seemingly always fit everyone under the cap. It has caught up with them now, but if not for the flat-cap and expansion, they would still have a few more of those pieces.

Don't get me wrong, it will take some cap-wizardry, but it can be done...especially if the cap explodes.

Totally agree, looking forward to seeing what Adams has up his sleeve next. With as much of the Core that is locked up. Adams can really use the plethora of assets he has to supplement his roster as needed.

Yep. We're in such good shape. That's why I'm all in favor of letting the prospects sizzle. We will see if Benson and/or Savoie make it past their 9 game tryouts. Otherwise, all our prospects' contracts, except RyJo, keep sliding: Kulich, Rosen, Ostlund...

Can marinate some of them, but you have to start supplementing some sooner than later. They will lose there shine after awhile. You still need to use them as the hold value to you and around the league.

Thank you all for your comments, especially when the post does not involve a real trade.
First, as you can see Greenway and Olofsson were obvious cap casualties.
Greenway needs to really pick up his game, and Olofsson's skill set is replaced by Kulich at 1/5 the cap for the next three years.
Second, not because I expect him to do poorly, but because he is six and half years older than Benson, Casey could become the next cap casualty.
Third, In two years, let's hope either Strbak or McCarthy are NHL ready then Clifton could be move just as Lyubushkin was when better players were added to the line up.
Fourth, Let's presume we allow Rosen, Ostlund and Kulich to sizzle or marinate one more year, then who do we get to replace them, Hinnostroza or others of similar talent?
Fifth, Yes moving on from Skinner would free up sufficient cap to sign Power (as you can see in the description, his contract expires the same year as Power's), as Owen will over half Jeff's cap relief when he signs in four years for $11,000,000 or more leaving only $3,500,000 to spread around.
Looking to the next year (2025'26) without moving on from Skinner and presuming $2,000,000 cap increase, Strbak replacing Clifton adds about $2,500,000, plus this year's surplus of about $2,000,000 gives the Sabres about $6,500,000 to spread among Benson, Savoie and Tuch.
Trading Casey at the end of this season is the most logical solution and replacing him with an ELC.
Dropping his predicted $4,500,000 and replacing that with $900,000 would give the Sabres $10,000,000 to spread among 9, 93 (Bridge deals about $4,500,000) and 89 (8 years at $8,000,000) could be reasonable.

Allow me to editorialize.
How can we expect any player to take a team friendly contract in the future when Rasmus did not?
How is he worth more than Makar?
Tage and Dylan set the standard, he did not follow their lead, IMO very selfish and disappointing.

While unintentional I was taken aback when I read marinate and sizzle to describe our prospects.
They are not pieces of meat or chess pieces who can be sacrificed for the greater good.
Keeping them in the minors for an extra year, takes money away from them as they remain on their ELC's for an extra year.
Players have feelings, they are people, keeping them down on the farm may help the team but it will not make them team loyal.

I am done with my weekly tome, sorry if any one is offended.

How about Mature a bit more, but agree there's a bunch pushing for a seat at the table. Can only wait so long.

Dahlin got paid what he is worth. Simple as that. If Makar was getting signed now he would be making 12.5+ . Its a lot of money but as the cap continues to rise you are going to see #1 D getting paid similarly and Dahlin is in the cream of the crop as we all know. I wouldn't pick apart my usage of the word "marinate" in describing Sabres prospects. Its the simple reality of our team having a potent offense currently and a plethora of forward prospects that are all exciting. I'd much rather let them get huge minutes in the AHL for an additional year than have them on the NHL roster in an extremely limited role. That is better for their development as players and for their confidence. I'm not proposing an ABB situation where the guy dominates the AHL for years and still doesn't get any chance in Tampa. I'm just saying that why would you want Rosen on the 4th line in the NHL where he won't get to play his style of game effectively when he could simply spend another year in the AHL and be an absolute force? I don't know if that's the right thing to do, but thankfully I am not the GM and don't have to make those kind of very difficult calls.

Regardless, its a great problem to have so much talent in the system that you are left wondering where there will be room for all of the players.

Not offended.

That is what good hockey teams do. They let their players develop. Maybe that is a better word.

There is no reason, financially, or otherwise to rush players along. Playing in the AHL can do a world of good for players.

As Sabres fans, we should reaalize that rushing Grigorenko, Myers, Risto....the list goes on....hurt the team and the player.

The NHL is a league of men...not 18-21 year olds.

And no, Dahlin did not get overpaid. He's a Norris candidate for the next 9 years...in a Sabres sweater.

Great shape, looked great tonight!

Ahh, the person who only sees 1 tree, when there is an entire forest

LOL, I guess Sabre fans do not like a teaspoon of reality.
World and Sky have taken great umbridge to your comments, which as you may have noticed, I gave likes to both of them.
The truth hurts every once in a while.
It appeared Dahlin could not skate with all of the new cash in his hockey shorts.
Buffalo was schooled by the Rangers on how to crash the net and prevent offensive zone entries.
The worse beat down the Sabres experienced in a very long time.

I used this post to give the Sabre fans a wake up call to the problems the long term contracts given to Power and Dahlin will create, but as you can see, they ignore the truth and instead attack me for calling out their insensitive adjectives to describe prospects.

You're not allowed to criticize this team, ever. I really don't get it, did we miss a playoff appearance or stanley cup win during the drought? Cause that would explain it lol

Interesting

Yes it is.
9-37-12 Best line at least for the first two games.
Benson appears to be a keeper.
Not just his two points but his over all hustle and how well he fits into that line.
What will Casey want if he gets 70 pts this season?
53-72-89 played well just could not finish, but they will find the twine soon.

Very difficult to win games losing 2 out of every 3 face offs.

Line looks great, Greenway looks like he's having fun out there. I was told Faceoffs don't matter, but when your chasing the puck 65% of the time it matters. And are "Hope" to be that top 4 RD doesn't look to good right now. And Olofsson is already creating that vortex, need to remove him from Cozens wing before it explodes and takes Cozens with him.