I've seen a few posts (good ones too!) regarding the future cap structure of the Buffalo Sabres and how we look for the future. In this 'dead period' of hockey (can someone please write about the scrimmage and the upcoming 3-on-3 tournament! I'm dying to know what this board has thought about some of the prospects) I thought I'd write a bit about what I've come to the conclusion about Jimmy Vesey and my overall love of what General Manager Tim Murray has done.

I've been in the midst of a move and family gatherings since the night of the 2016 NHL Draft so I've really watched from afar what has gone on. I was in the car when the Free Agency period opened, was streaming WGR through my car (I live out of state) and scared the living hell out of my family when I heard about the Kyle Okposo signing. The rest of the car ride I spent thinking about this subject - why do I agree with everything GMTM has done?

If you wanted to quit reading right now, the short answer is: Because everything Murray does gives us ways to maneuver along the way. He refuses to put his eggs in one basket.

I'll spend the rest of the post explaining what I mean.

Why Vesey's decision doesn't matter: The forwards of the future.

Let me start by saying I do not care about #Veseywatch. Murray signed the best available winger on the opening day of free agency, and drafted Alexander Nylander. Our future top-6 is well in tact even without Vesey. We'll have Okposo, Tyler Ennis, Sam Reinhart, Ryan O'Reilly, Jack Eichel, and Evander Kane together for at least the next two years, at which point if Kane walks we will be able to put Nylander up at the big club.

We drafted a very highly skilled Rasmus Asplund who has the ability to play a two-way game to act as our 3rd line center if he develops correctly. That doesn't even account for Justin Bailey (who is receiving rave reviews after development camp), Hudson Fasching, Zemgus Girgensons, and the development of the later draft picks (most excitingly, Cliff Pu). We have managed to not trade our future draft picks while doing this and will be able to fill out depth through our system as well.

Signing Vesey is a luxury at this point, and insurance against Ennis' health. It also would allow us to take a hit if we decided that the dumping of Matt Moulson's contract in the future means we'll have to give up a pick we wouldn't want to lose otherwise. Vesey is in dangerous territory right now in terms of expections/hype: the more attention that comes onto him, the more pressure he's going to have to be a 50-60 point player right off the bat. GMTM has done his part in both swinging for the fences with Vesey, and covering all angles to make sure our team will be a playoff-contender.

Planning for expansion: The Defense.

When I saw the trade on day two of the draft... I was not happy. I did not understand why we were trading away Mark Pysyk for Dmitry Kulikov, as I had firmly planted my flag in the "Pysyk should get top 4 consideration" camp. However, now I firmly believe that Kulikov serves one of two purposes:

1.) A trade chip for the deadline to send to a team that is bottoming out and needs people to put on the expansion draft list (hello Columbus) or

2.) Gives wiggle room for the expansion draft when deciding who is going to be made available. We now firmly have the 3 defensemen we will keep if we go 7-3-1, while also making our team as competitive as it was before we made the trade.

Asplund vs Mascherin will be the ultimate deciding factor of this trade... and T McGee and I have disagreed... but I thought Adam Mascherin was very underrated going into this draft and I think Asplund comes with just enough question marks that it seemed like a wash switching picks (especially with Libor Hajek on the board as a project LHD we could've used).

How the cap plays out over the next year, the free agent class of Kevin Shattenkirk and Brent Burns (I don't see either getting to FA but we shall see), the expansion draft, and having all picks currently intact should mean that we have a LOT of options going forward to shape the d-corps. Finding a bottom pairing RHD as the one hole on our roster (can Cody Franson bounce back?) is not a bad place to be in.

The future

It's too early for me to speculate what our team will look like after the 2017-18 season. I feel that Murray has too many options at the moment that looking that far into the future is a lost cause as we're one signing (Vesey in particular) away from the whole plan shifting narratives and perspectives. If Vesey signs...we then can trade Ennis, trade Kane, or deal a 2/3 round pick to get out from under Moulson's contract. If Kulikov impresses and we resign him....then it shifts the narrative of the expansion draft and makes it a bit more interesting. Going into the season I'm excited to see: what Eichel does at the World Cup of hockey, how the elder prospects that dominated development camp (Bailey, Nick Baptiste, William Carrier) perform at training camp, and if our back-up goaltending is sufficient enough. We have a lot of wiggle room with the cap after this year.

Conclusion

Murray did what any good GM should do...build the most competitive roster without leaving his team in a future-less void. To put all his eggs in a basket for Steven Stamkos would've been the Hail Mary of all Hail Mary's. We go into this season with a lot of fluid parts, a competitive roster, and without the fear of the expansion draft.

It will be an exciting year, and we can thank GMTM for that.