2020 Roster Speculation Part 3: Off-season Edition

[La Cosa Nostra]

I would take Kahun back in a heart beat. And for a .5 ppg forward in his mid 20s to be unsigned has to mean he is still open to coming back, right? Waiting for VO to finally get inked and then we can figure out what we can offer Kahun, even on a 1 or 2 year deal.

Kahun back on this team is a guaranteed top 10 offense.

Hall-Eichel-Olofsson
Skinner-Staal-Reinhart
Kahun-Eakin-Cozens


Tage, Girgs, Rieder, Lazar and Okposo all in the mix for the 4th line.

 

[Rowley Birkin]

Come on, you're better than believing the bolded. Different role, different spot on the roster.

Kahun should be in competition with the Tage Thompsons, the Cody Eakins, the Mittelstadts, the Cozens, of the team. And quite frankly, right now, he's the better player than all of them.

Yes they are different players - but in terms of numbers I stand by what I said.

There simply isn't room for Kahun on the current roster. If we didnt sign Hall there probably would be.

TT is making the roster. That was guaranteed when he was given a 3year/1 way deal. Cozens probably will too because there doesn't look to be anywhere else for him to go.

The likes of Eakin, Lazar, Rieder were also signed to play regularly. They bring specific skill sets. They seemed like guys who were targeted for a reason.

 

[TehDoak]

Is the WHL playing?

Montour is better than Cole.

Are you really turning down forward depth?

When we are a capped out team and have blindy the goalie slated to start 30 games?

Yes, yes I am. We've got limited space and other needs to deal with.

 

[jc17]

Yes they are different players - but in terms of numbers I stand by what I said.

There simply isn't room for Kahun on the current roster. If we didnt sign Hall there probably would be.

TT is making the roster. That was guaranteed when he was given a 3year/1 way deal. Cozens probably will too because there doesn't look to be anywhere else for him to go.

The likes of Eakin, Lazar, Rieder were also signed to play regularly. They bring specific skill sets. They seemed like guys who were targeted for a reason.

I think you're right in terms of what you think the Sabres want.

It's just frustrating they kind of handcuffed themselves to the point they are letting a player with good potential walk

 

[Fezzy126]

I can't see us signing Kahun, or anyone else for that matter unless we move a contract out.

According to CF, before signing VO we have ~$6.5M in available space.
Given that we have $1.5M bonus overage to account for, that becomes $5M in available space.
We have another $4.3 in potential bonuses this year, so if we don't want to deal with another overage next year (we certainly don't with all the expiring contracts), we really only have about $700k in space before signing VO.

The most likely scenario is that we sign VO to a short term deal, sell one of our RHD's for cheap, and move forward with this lineup and our cap sitting around $75M. Given the financial situation around the league, I do wonder if we will be able to move any contracts out though.

 

[Member 308457]

Is there any way to expose Okposo and/or Girgensons to the Seattle Krakken?

 

[Rowley Birkin]

I think you're right in terms of what you think the Sabres want.

It's just frustrating they kind of handcuffed themselves to the point they are letting a player with good potential walk

The only deal I didn't really like was Eakin but he's a natural centre & obviously someone Adams/Krueger targeted. I was a little surprised at the 3 year lengths for TT/Girgs but I like both players. Girgs is a trustworthy team player who plays Krueger hockey & I believe TT has far more potential than most realise. Lazar/Rieder are good role players & can PK.

Going back to my original point - if we're 'handcuffed' it's because we went big to get Hall. Nobody on this forum is questioning that move & rightly so. If Kahun is the sacrifice for Hall then so be it. Big picture...

 

[OkimLom]

Yes they are different players - but in terms of numbers I stand by what I said.

There simply isn't room for Kahun on the current roster. If we didnt sign Hall there probably would be.

TT is making the roster. That was guaranteed when he was given a 3year/1 way deal. Cozens probably will too because there doesn't look to be anywhere else for him to go.

The likes of Eakin, Lazar, Rieder were also signed to play regularly. They bring specific skill sets. They seemed like guys who were targeted for a reason.

Probably would be better to make the case if they didn't go after Eakin, who is a worse player, we could fit Kahun.

It would be so Buffalo to close to spend $4 million to get 3 "skill sets" to create one complete player instead of spending $2 million to get 1 more complete player though.

 

[Rowley Birkin]

I can't see us signing Kahun, or anyone else for that matter unless we move a contract out.

According to CF, before signing VO we have ~$6.5M in available space.
Given that we have $1.5M bonus overage to account for, that becomes $5M in available space.
We have another $4.3 in potential bonuses this year, so if we don't want to deal with another overage next year (we certainly don't with all the expiring contracts), we really only have about $700k in space before signing VO.

The most likely scenario is that we sign VO to a short term deal, sell one of our RHD's for cheap, and move forward with this lineup and our cap sitting around $75M. Given the financial situation around the league, I do wonder if we will be able to move any contracts out though.

Agree with the majority of your points.

I still think there will be a market for one of our RHDs although the return won't be as good as it would have been in normal circumstances.

In the unlikely event we are forced to hang on to all of them I predict Montour will have strong value at the TDL.

In an ideal world we find a RHD for LHD swap kinda like Pysyk/Kulikov (but with better results) . It might need to be a three way though because I don't see many ideal situations currently. Maybe Martinez/LV?

 

[Rowley Birkin]

Is there any way to expose Okposo and/or Girgensons to the Seattle Krakken?

One of those things is not like the other...

I expect both will be exposed. Girgs might even be attractive to them ...

 

[Rowley Birkin]

Probably would be better to make the case if they didn't go after Eakin, who is a worse player, we could fit Kahun.

It would be so Buffalo to close to spend $4 million to get 3 "skill sets" to create one complete player instead of spending $2 million to get 1 more complete player though.

Eakin plays centre while Kahun doesn't.

We have spent what feels like forever complaining about shoehorning wingers in at C - so it would be foolish to hate on a GM for granting us this wish...

 

[Zman5778]

Is there any way to expose Okposo and/or Girgensons to the Seattle Krakken?

It would be up to Okposo.....he would have to waive his NTC.

Girgensons has no such protection, and I doubt we protect him.....so he's going to be exposed.

That said -- if you want Seattle to take them, you'd have to pony up. Okposo would likely require something significant heading to Seattle. Girgensons would likely be a case where we'd say to Seattle "Hey, don't take X or Y.....take anyone else and we'll give you Girgensons too". Though unless they're looking to us for AHL depth, I can't imagine Girgensons plus whatever would really hold any value to them at all.

If we re-sign Hall, then Mittelstadt or Thompson get exposed. If we don't, expect Seattle to take a HARD run at Hall. But otherwise, I think Seattle is probably snagging either Hall or a D from us (specifically Borgen, Risto or Miller...or maybe they try to snag Montour).

 

[Jim Bob]

It would be up to Okposo.....he would have to waive his NTC.

Girgensons has no such protection, and I doubt we protect him.....so he's going to be exposed.

NTC doesn't affect the expansion draft. Only full NMCs like Skinner has.

Both Girgensons and Okposo can, and probably will, be exposed in the Seattle expansion draft.

 

[Der Jaeger]

When we are a capped out team and have blindy the goalie slated to start 30 games?

Yes, yes I am. We've got limited space and other needs to deal with.

I think you're missing something here. Any team that can ice a competitive roster under the cap limit is going to have options. Sabres might be able to do a 2 for one deal with a team close to the cap. Eg: Miller and Hutton for a goalie where money is relatively even. Sabres get the better player; cap tight team gets two players for the money.

 

[jc17]

The only deal I didn't really like was Eakin but he's a natural centre & obviously someone Adams/Krueger targeted. I was a little surprised at the 3 year lengths for TT/Girgs but I like both players. Girgs is a trustworthy team player who plays Krueger hockey & I believe TT has far more potential than most realise. Lazar/Rieder are good role players & can PK.

Going back to my original point - if we're 'handcuffed' it's because we went big to get Hall. Nobody on this forum is questioning that move & rightly so. If Kahun is the sacrifice for Hall then so be it. Big picture...

Regarding the role players, I can see the importance but at the end of the day isn't the better "asset management" to get the skill? Guys like Rieder, Eakin, Girgensons, Lazar, should be much easier to find.

If Kahun breaks out somewhere else, that opportunity for us is just gone and its much harder to get a comparable player. If he breaks out here, but doesn't fit the team style or whatever we can still trade him for a strong return. And if we sign him, and he doesn't break out, it might not be ideal but he's probably not killing the team. It just seems like Kahun is low risk, high reward and was passed over for guys that are low risk, low reward.

 

[Jim Bob]

Regarding the role players, I can see the importance but at the end of the day isn't the better "asset management" to get the skill? Guys like Rieder, Eakin, Girgensons, Lazar, should be much easier to find.

If Kahun breaks out somewhere else, that opportunity for us is just gone and its much harder to get a comparable player. If he breaks out here, but doesn't fit the team style or whatever we can still trade him for a strong return. And if we sign him, and he doesn't break out, it might not be ideal but he's probably not killing the team. It just seems like Kahun is low risk, high reward and was passed over for guys that are low risk, low reward.

The tough part with Kahun is that we have no idea what the contract talks were like. And the fact that he's still unsigned makes me wonder if he and his agent way overplayed their hand.

 

[jc17]

The tough part with Kahun is that we have no idea what the contract talks were like. And the fact that he's still unsigned makes me wonder if he and his agent way overplayed their hand.

Agreed, just under the assumption that the price was reasonable I dont think you prioritize a role player over someone who can score. If the ask was absurd then I understand the rationale more, although I think there are still ways to make it work.

 

[Rowley Birkin]

Regarding the role players, I can see the importance but at the end of the day isn't the better "asset management" to get the skill? Guys like Rieder, Eakin, Girgensons, Lazar, should be much easier to find.

If Kahun breaks out somewhere else, that opportunity for us is just gone and its much harder to get a comparable player. If he breaks out here, but doesn't fit the team style or whatever we can still trade him for a strong return. And if we sign him, and he doesn't break out, it might not be ideal but he's probably not killing the team. It just seems like Kahun is low risk, high reward and was passed over for guys that are low risk, low reward.

Skill was addressed in abundance with Hall.

 

[coastal]

The league doesn’t have the bandwidth for hopeful, high dollar contracts anymore.

players like Kahun are on the outside looking in... the big dollars and long terms are gone.

he’s signing on the cheap with someone. Here’s hoping it’s with the Sabres.

 

[VaporTrail]

Is there any way to expose Okposo and/or Girgensons to the Seattle Krakken?

There's no way the Kraken would want those contracts

 

[SabresFanNorthPortFL]

Our roster would look pretty damn good with Kahun, as he would displace one of the handful of tweeners that have plagued our roster every year for as long as I care to remember. He's a legit middle-six guy who's smart and hustles. I'd like to avoid guaranteeing a spot to Thompson, Eakin, Lazar, etc if their play doesn't flat out earn it.

Or what are you paying Kahun and substitute him with Haula.....proven center

now do a depth chart with him instead of a mostly unproven Kahun

 

[jc17]

Skill was addressed in abundance with Hall.

Not my point.

Even if you think our roster needs no more skill, its at a premium around the league. If you have too much skill you can always move some out and get a decent return. If you don't have enough, its hard to come by without paying a lot if you want more. That's why I said asset management, having good players allows us more flexibility.

Pretend you're on a gameshow and you get your choice of prize between a 2019 Toyota Camry and an ipad. You may already have a 2020 camry and no ipad, but you still take the car because it has value and you can almost be positive you'll be able to get an ipad if you really want in the near future. Oversimplified but you get the point. Again, this is assuming the ask wasn't and absurd amount

 

[Rowley Birkin]

Not my point.

Even if you think our roster needs no more skill, its at a premium around the league. If you have too much skill you can always move some out and get a decent return. If you don't have enough, its hard to come by without paying a lot if you want more. That's why I said asset management, having good players allows us more flexibility.

Pretend you're on a gameshow and you get your choice of prize between a 2019 Toyota Camry and an ipad. You may already have a 2020 camry and no ipad, but you still take the car because it has value and you can almost be positive you'll be able to get an ipad if you really want in the near future. Oversimplified but you get the point. Again, this is assuming the ask wasn't and absurd amount

Does Kahun have that much value though?

We are a couple of weeks into FA now & he's still not signed anywhere...

 

[Fjordy]

For a start, I would try to solve the problem with Hutton and trade RD for LD, and then, if there was room left in the cap to sign Kahun, I do not see a priority in him.

 

[Sabrehack]

I can't see us signing Kahun, or anyone else for that matter unless we move a contract out.

According to CF, before signing VO we have ~$6.5M in available space.
Given that we have $1.5M bonus overage to account for, that becomes $5M in available space.
We have another $4.3 in potential bonuses this year, so if we don't want to deal with another overage next year (we certainly don't with all the expiring contracts), we really only have about $700k in space before signing VO.

The most likely scenario is that we sign VO to a short term deal, sell one of our RHD's for cheap, and move forward with this lineup and our cap sitting around $75M. Given the financial situation around the league, I do wonder if we will be able to move any contracts out though.

I believe the current carryover bonuses are already accounted for with the 6.5, but I agree they'd rather eat the current year bonuses than have them tighten things further in 2021/22. Do you know of any site that identifies what the bonus criteria are for these contracts so we can gauge how realistic some are and which are longshots.