#offseason

[dbollife]

Nathan Wyld

[dbollife]

[dbollife]

Daniel Goss

[panarin-archive]

Training at ArenaPlay

[panarin-archive]

Match of the Year 2026 Draft via matchgoda vikispn91, artemiypanarin.video IG

[dbollife]

Robin Strand

Always big and bloated

[dbollife]

Lars Haouas

[anthonybialy]

Buffalo Sabres Keep Those Who Want to Stay

Everyone in Buffalo is thrilled to be in the city at all times.  Sure, we may occasionally kvetch about our limited standing grievance list, but otherwise every resident is constantly elated about where they reside to the point you shouldn’t even ask if I’m sorta joking.  Residents genuinely embrace their city with wholehearted affection despite a handful of drawbacks.  That’s why players who relocated here for a job transferring elsewhere is so perplexing.

A Buffalo Sabres offseason featuring three unique player situations who didn’t want to be here might’ve seemed like a condemnation of the franchise’s status as recently as last summer.  But they’ve remade themselves to the point where we can properly blame those who switched companies and not their last employer even if three of them makes enough for a trend.

The best hope is Alex Tuch was too nice to fire his agent.  Not budging is considered a challenging negotiation strategy.  He owes me a refund on my 500 Level shirt featuring him.  It’s not like he has to choose between doing the decent thing and bus fare.  There’s always someone who will overpay for goals.  In this case, that person is Ted Leonsis.

Tuch will accumulate the same playoff production with the Capitals for the Sabres as he did during the second round.  Trying to focus on his good play despite going pointless became a formidable task.  It’s easier to list the negative qualities of someone who dumped us.

Washington surely thinks they’ll never rue a Jeff Skinner-type deal.  The Sabres by contrast learned from experience.  You may as well learn from your dumb mistakes.  Life only gets worse when repeating what made it difficult to begin with.  While it’s best to not screw up in the first place, the agony of a buyout is a helpful teacher.  I look forward to the Capitals learning.

One needn’t be a comrade railing against kulaks to suggest maybe being a bit flexible about salary demands could be prudent.  It’s not presuming athletes have enough cash.  Earning 100 million dollars means a chance to get to 101 million.  It means someone thought your work was valuable enough to throw fortunes at you.

But there’s enough of a cushion at some point to think about other goals like team success and a hospitable work environment.  There’s precedent in the same state.  My basketball BFF Jalen Brunson took less currency in exchange for carrying around his league’s most prestigious trophy along with his Finals MVP award.  Tuch preferred holding cash.

Why don’t you make less money?  This isn’t about me, so stop being selfish.  Massive metropolis Buffalo being unable to re-sign players due to artificially limited overhead space is an argument against a salary cap, which if you recall is supposed to help oh so oppressed small markets.  Franchises that are allegedly based in glorified large towns will never be able to afford things like staff.  Multibillionaires claiming they’re too poor to conduct business figured out a way to get fans to clip coupons on their behalf.  There’s already enough stress from following a team without doing an owner’s bidding.

Meanwhile, others pout their way out because they crave status.  The lure can be as tempting as cash for some and nearly as treacherous.  Bowen Byram is obsessed with being a number one defenseman like David Letterman was at taking over The Tonight Show.  Byram could have been pleased with playing well at 12:35.

Being happy in one’s present role is a sign of a healthy life approach.  Byram is now a higher executive job at a struggling company, so congratulations on his alleged promotion.  See the contract he got and be glad a relationship ended in what’s a trend.

The third man out doesn’t seem like as much of a drama queen, at least by comparison.  Michael Kesselring was too low on the totem pole to anticipate moving up.  That’s tricky with the carvings in place.  A fresh start is way easier for establishing a new order.

But who’d leave?  Observers might figure players would want to remain part of a club that just spurred delightfully rabid lunacy in a fanbase where that characteristic had remained dormant for a decade and a half.  Making the playoffs means not having to beg.

Telling someone leaving that you’ll see them later is fittingly abrupt.  The goodbye could be technically true: the Sabres will play the Capitals this upcoming season.  Eric Cartmanez telling those departing “We will miss you” almost sounds sincere.  It’s not to be brainlessly optimistic to predict that the Sabres can sustain momentum without those who left.  But good teams learn to replace those who skipped town.  Conditions allow the Sabres to show they can sustain with a real-world example.

Keeping staffers they already had doesn’t seem exciting.  Don’t tell your spouse.  Appreciating who’s been around is part of contentment.  Spiritual carny Zach Benson can set up his amusements semipermanently in Buffalo.  And retaining Beck Malenstyn for Malensix seasons brings comfort as reliable as he is.

Framing a lack of spectacular moves as a positive is like saying there’s not much traffic.  It’s possible to miss the downside.  But steady competence can take the form of not overreaching and overpaying to win July.  There’s a few months before games count in case anyone forgot.

Trusting prospects are developing properly isn’t unjustified faith for those who’ve done their tasks.  Anticipating that, say, Konsta Helenius will improve upon his auspicious small playoff sample size is a reflection of a competent organization.

The summer’s not over in case you are still in the mood to listen to the Beach Boys in a Sonic stall.  The Sabres might still get Connor Hellebuyck, which would entice Connor McDavid to engineer a trade to join him.  I’m allowed to get ahead of myself by proposing crazy deals while dreaming that the suggestion is the first step toward creation in reality because I’m not presently the general manager.

Jarmo’s greatest strength is standing by his word.  Accountability set in as soon as he took over.  The lack of nonsense is itself refreshing even if it can be tough to notice a missing negative.  Similarly, retaining talent means a chance to reboot last season, which finally isn’t a threat with the Sabres.

Only those interested remain, which is part of developing an appealing culture.  Players who don’t want to remain joined in can seek fulfillment elsewhere. The Sabres have reduced ruing.