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Patchwork Panthers May Be Blueprint For Sabres

April 22, 2014, 2:04 PM ET [801 Comments]
Augello: Team North America
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It is uncertain what blueprint GM Tim Murray will follow to reassemble the Buffalo Sabres over the next few seasons, but if you take into account the track record of the club’s hierarchy (advisors Craig Patrick, Ken Sawyer and team president Ted Black, who were part of the Penguins organization that drafted Marc-Andre Fleury, Evgeni Malkin, Sidney Crosby and Jordan Staal first or second in the draft over a decade ago), it is assumed that they will aim for the prizes of at the top of the 2015 Draft, Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel, along with whoever they select with the second overall pick this June to form the young core for the foreseeable future.

While a sizeable portion of the fan base would be on board with this plan, a number of fans(including season ticket holders) may have little interest in seeing a team struggling through another season as the 2013-14 Sabres did.

The organization cannot be perceived as throwing a season away for the hope of hitting
the jackpot in next April’s draft lottery, but what can be done is to give their young prospects proper development time and experience in junior, the American Hockey League or in the NHL while finishing at the bottom of the standings at the same time.

A hint at what Buffalo may do next season may have been revealed by Murray in his end-of-the-season press conference last week, as he indicated that the club will not be expecting their top pick this year to make the club and help fill the offensive void left by the departure of Thomas Vanek and Matt Moulson, but that his goal will be to improve the depth at forward.

“I think we can make improvements certainly to our bottom six, I believe that is very achievable.” Murray said. “I think the top six is going to improve by having more support in the bottom six, by a guy like Zemgus(Girgensons) getting older and more mature and by (Cody) Hodgson getting older and more mature.”

Buffalo will have adequate goaltending with the combo of Michal Neuvirth and Jhonas Enroth to get through the season and can re-sign veterans Jamie McBain and Alexander Sulzer as place holders until the likes of Mark Pysyk, Ramsus Ristolainen, Jake McCabe and Nikita Zadorov are ready to play in the NHL.

The club will likely use one of their compliance buyouts to wipe the remaining three years of Ville Leino’s contract off the books, but that will remove one problem and create another.

According to Cap Geek, the Sabres with the buyout of Leino will have just $34.5 Million in team salary. If the projected salary cap ceiling is $71.1 Million as was discussed last December, the cap floor will be in the neighborhood of $52 Million, which would give the Sabres the task of adding $18 Million in salary this summer.

Part of that amount will be taken up by signing RFA’s Tyler Ennis, Marcus Foligno and Cory Conacher to short term bridge deals, but the majority will have to be accounted for by signing UFA’s or acquiring salaried players in trades.

Trades will cost the Sabres draft picks or prospects that they plan on using for their rebuild, whereas signing free agents would only cost them money, which they have plenty of.

The return of Steve Ott could be possible, as the popular forward will be unrestricted on July 1, but what Murray may have planned is to follow the model of the Florida Panthers, who added veterans such as former Sabre Brad Boyes, Scott Gomez, Tom Gilbert, Ryan Whitney and Tim Thomas just before the start of 2013-14 season.

GM Dale Tallon flipped Thomas to the Dallas Stars at the trade deadline and got contributions out of Gilbert and Boyes, who signed a two-year contract extension in March.

The Sabres could offer short term, high dollar contracts to available free agents with character and leadership abilities, who could have a positive influence on their young core, but if they make a bid for some of the more notable targets on the market, such as
Tampa’s Ryan Callahan or Colorado’s Paul Stastny, they may improve the club enough to decrease their chances to get a franchise player in the summer of 2015.

Are you on board with the Sabres being bad for another season??

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