[News] Buffalo to compliance buyout Ehrhoff

[KootenayFlamesFan]

The Red Wings inquired about Ehrhoff at this year's trade deadline, but the Buffalo Sabres hung onto him. Now teams don't need to part with any assets to acquire Ehrhoff after the Sabres reportedly used a compliance buyout on him.

The Red Wings' top priority is a top-four defenseman. They would prefer a right-handed shooter, but options are limited.

http://www.mlive.com/redwings/index....rested_in.html

[Jables16]

Wow, the Sabres are taking tanking to a whole new level. They are 21 million below the cap FLOOR and are offering to take other teams bad contracts in exchange for draft picks and use non-compliance buyouts on them so that it keeps their payroll up without improving the team whatsoever. Ostensibly they are a garbage dump. Got some trash? For a fee you can just toss it in the Buffalo landfill!

I get that they want to ensure picking McDavid or Eichel next year but this is embarrassing. Acquiring talent is one thing but if they slip into a losing culture to deeply it's going to be really difficult to climb out. They're giving the Oilers a run for their money as the NHL's biggest punchline.

[nik-]

Likely going to be the most blatant tank in recent memory (I was 4 when the Lemieux draft happened)

Pretty shameless "strategy" from the Sabres.

[RyZ]

Buffalo is going to be Edmonton east. Are the Oilers gonna send the "joke" title over to Buffalo after next season?

[4oh3]

They could have got something decent for him?

[transplant99]

Originally Posted by JJ1532

See, to me this is borderline circumnavigation. Paying low level guys way above their market rate just to make the floor.

I mean, whats to stop any team just packing their rosters with AHL quality players and giving them 3m for 1 year contracts? Seems wrong to me.

Nothing is stopping them...but that doesnt mean cap non-compliance.

Teams give out crazy ass deals to UFA's every year on July 1. Its impossible to tell any team in the league who they should or shouldnt be signing no for what $$.

In fact, only giving out 1-2 year deals (even if for more money) is actually a pretty smart way to go about business, as when the team does start to turn the corner, they wont be laden with a bunch of boat anchor contracts.

[fatso]

Originally Posted by RyZ

Buffalo is going to be Edmonton east. Are the Oilers gonna send the "joke" title over to Buffalo after next season?

Agreed. The question is - if two organizations are each simultaneously building "something special", is that "something" still "special"?

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by theoforever

Has there ever been a team in history of hockey that has performed bigger tank job than Sabres?

Umm yeah just last year in the Avalanche. The Avs managed to get the first overall pick with a roster good enough to make the playoffs in the toughest conference of the NHL. That actually took a lot of hard work and effort to pull off. The Sabres were going to be front and center in the McDavid/Eichel sweepstakes with or without Ehrhoff.

[jayswin]

Sabres are an absolute joke. They're closing in on Oilers territory for a being a ****y, shameless, tanking garbage organization.

That felt great to say. I hope they do poorly but go on one little run that keeps them out of the bottom two next season. Losers.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by transplant99

No....the compliance opportunity is over as of tomorrow at midninght.

Buffalo will get to the floor...it wont be that difficult either. They will be able to offer a bunch of 3/4th liners/botton pairing D 3 million a year for 1 or 2 years....money those guys will not get anywhere else.

You say this pretty glibly - examples? (they will probably need 4 or 5 of them and Buffalo will be less attractive than Edmonton this year)

[EldrickOnIce]

Erhoff a good possession guy, fwiw... and has significantly exceeded his team's corsi numbers over the last few years.

From our old friend, Mudcrutch

[transplant99]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

You say this pretty glibly - examples? (they will probably need 4 or 5 of them and Buffalo will be less attractive than Edmonton this year)

Attractive or not...$$$ talks and when you are a 4th liner/bottom pairing D looking for work in the NHL and a club offers you 3 or 4 times what you can get elsewhere, its petty easy to sign on the dotted line for a year or 2. Steve Ott would be a target i would think. Mason Raymond another.

Hell, there are pobably 100 AHL FA's that would gladly sign a 1 year 2 million dollar deal.

It simply wont be hard for Buffalo to get to the floor.

[Ashasx]

You would think Edmonton would like to add another German to their roster.

[Sylvanfan]

Edmonton is bad due to incompetence. Buffalo is intentionally trying to put the worst team in the NHL on the ice.

[theoforever]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Umm yeah just last year in the Avalanche. The Avs managed to get the first overall pick with a roster good enough to make the playoffs in the toughest conference of the NHL. That actually took a lot of hard work and effort to pull off. The Sabres were going to be front and center in the McDavid/Eichel sweepstakes with or without Ehrhoff.

It's different type of a tank.
Avalanche kept the worst coach in NHL and made no effort to win.
Sabres are selling assets, they are in it for the long haul.

Either way is despicable.

[Oling_Roachinen]

Originally Posted by RyZ

Buffalo is going to be Edmonton east. Are the Oilers gonna send the "joke" title over to Buffalo after next season?

Strongly disagree with this. As despicable the obvious tank job is, I think Buffalo has done a much better job at setting the foundation.

You have a potential of seeing one of the biggest defensive corps in the league in a couple years:
6'8'' Myers
6'5'' Zadorov (16th overall)
6'4'' Ristolainen (8th overall)

Down center they have potentially:
6'1'' Reinhart (should end up a little bigger) (2nd overall)
6'3'' Grigorenko (12th overall)

On the wing you've got potentially:
6'3'' Armia (16th overall)
6'2'' Girgensons (14th overall)

Throw in some other skilled prospects like Psysk (23rd overall), Compher (35th overall), McCabe, some decent vets like Hodgson and Ennis, some role players like the recently drafted Lemieux (31st overall) and Marcus Foligno.

Top off it with McDavid or Eichel and a big UFA signing (they'll have the cap space) and that's a potentially scaring looking line-up of skill and size. They also have 2 other first round picks in 2015.

I think what separates the Sabres and Edmonton is a plan. They have the pieces coming together for when/if they end up drafting 1st/2nd overall in 2015. They wont be scrambling to try and fit a bunch of circle pegs in a bunch of different shaped holes.

[Cali Panthers Fan]

I actually think Buffalo's defense might be pretty good next year if the prospects they have continue developing. If Ehrhoff was a cancer it will help the rest of the team come together and play as a unit. We all saw last year what a strong team ethic can do for a lack of talent. This doesn't look like a bad defense group, just a little inexperienced.

Myers-Pysyk
McBain-Ristolainen
Tallinder-McCabe?/Zadorov?

[Sylvanfan]

Originally Posted by theoforever

It's different type of a tank.
Avalanche kept the worst coach in NHL and made no effort to win.
Sabres are selling assets, they are in it for the long haul.

Either way is despicable.

Who is one of Buffalo's assistant coaches....oh right Joe Sacco. A true expert on not winning. Granted he is no longer on the staff.

[Calgary4LIfe]

Disagree on this being a tanking move. Ehrhoff isn't a long term solution, and his contract is too long. This is the last year teams are able to use a compliance buy-out.

He becomes difficult to trade because the cap-recapture penalties can come back to haunt Buffalo.

Really, this is the only window Buffalo gets to remove a player who doesn't want to be there and who they can't really trade anyways. Rangers would never have traded Brad Richards for the same reason - cap recapture. Buffalo is just making up for its' mistake of signing him when they tried to compete.

Let's wait until the season is about to start before we point at them while yelling "tankers!".

[theoforever]

Originally Posted by Calgary4LIfe

Disagree on this being a tanking move. Ehrhoff isn't a long term solution, and his contract is too long. This is the last year teams are able to use a compliance buy-out.

He becomes difficult to trade because the cap-recapture penalties can come back to haunt Buffalo.

Really, this is the only window Buffalo gets to remove a player who doesn't want to be there and who they can't really trade anyways. Rangers would never have traded Brad Richards for the same reason - cap recapture. Buffalo is just making up for its' mistake of signing him when they tried to compete.

Let's wait until the season is about to start before we point at them while yelling "tankers!".

Actually Sabres already tanked last season so we don't have to wait before we called them that as they have a proven tanking record.