I hope you're all capable of standing upright without feeling nauseous by the time I publish this.The Sabres have shocked just about everyone on here, myself included, with their excellent performance so far this season Linus Ullmark Pillow Cover. With them in very good shape to make the playoffs, a lot of talk has shifted to Jeff Skinner and whether or not the star winger should be traded before he likely leaves in free agency; Skinner supposedly wants to be paid as much as Nikita Kucherov https://www.buffalofanstoreonline.com/Mattias_Samuelsson_Hoodie-246.If the $9-$9.5 million figure being floated is actually what he wants, I don't think he should be re-signed. I also don't support trading him before the deadline, as the Sabres need to end the drought and this is their best chance to do so. Management needs to send a message to the fans and more importantly, the players, that they expect to win. I know some people here wouldn't want to lose Skinner for "nothing" but I'd say a playoff run is certainly not nothing. The Sabres also aren't strapped for draft picks or prospects, so trading him has less relative value than it would for most NHL teams.Assuming that Skinner leaves in the offseason, here's my plan for the Sabres:DraftI'm going to assume the Sabres have two first rounders in 2019, though I wouldn't be shocked if the Blues hire Quenneville and get out of the bottom 10. As I don't know anything about the prospects in the draft right now, I just picked two players in positions of need around where McGee had them going.Pick 22 (BUF): Pavel Dorofaev, WPick 25 (SJ): Martin Hugo Has, RHDIn the fourth round, Gary Bettman gets up on the podium and says "We have a trade to announce, and this one doesn't only involve draft picks." The crowd goes wild, expecting a blockbuster, while Bettman keeps his famous feces-eating grin on his face. Here's the trade he announces:To PHI: C/LW Vladimir Sobotka, $1.75m retainedTo BUF: PHI 2019 4thThe crowd throws rotten tomatoes at him, except for Sabres fans, who breathe a sigh of relief and then immediately forget Sobotka's name. Flyers fans are angry they got another lousy Blues C to play on their 4th line, though Sobotka is better and cheaper than Lehtera.As for the rest of the draft, I'll leave that to McGee, Seneca, and the rest of DBTB's elite scouting staff. I just hope they really restock the cupboard at wing, as well as getting a goalie and at least one, preferably two RHD.RFA'sLHD Jake McCabe, 4 years/$3 millionI based this contract off the one Markus Nutivaara signed last offseason in Columbus. McCabe gets a little extra due to cap inflation. He should be a middle-pairing fixture for the Sabres for several years to come. While he's still a little mistake prone, he's gotten back to roughly how good he was before his injury, and is even scoring more than usual.C/LW Evan Rodrigues, 4 years/$2.25 millionThis is based off the Jarnkrok deal (6 years at $2 million per), but not nearly as lopsided in the team's favor. ERod is very similar to Jarnkrok as a player, being skilled enough to play anywhere on the bottom 6, as well as on both special teams units. He's averaging .5 PPG this season despite not playing a ton of minutes and occasionally being scratched.G Linus Ullmark, 3 years/$2.33 millionUllmark earns himself a raise with his solid play backing up Hutton this year. The Sabres give up a little extra annually to get a 3rd year on the deal, which he'll still be an RFA at the end of, at least according to CapFriendly.C/LW Zemgus Girgensons, 1 year/$1.6 millionGirgs gets to stay to play on the 4th line and kill penalties. I could see C.J. Smith getting his spot in 2020 or maybe even earlier if Girgs plays poorly.LW C.J. Smith, 2 years/$800kHopefully this deal ends up like ERod's. While Smith isn't as good, they are similar players in that they're a little undersized, but make up for it with speed and skill.RW Justin Bailey, 2 years, $700kProbably a permanent AHL'er at this point. He'll provide depth while the Sabres try to refill their RW cupboard.C Sean Malone, 2 years/$750kAnother deal that I hope ends up looking like ERod's. If he can stay healthy, Malone has a decent chance of becoming the Sabres' 4C in 2020.RHD Jack Dougherty, 2 years/$700kDougherty has been decent in limited time for the Amerks this year, and is still only 22, so he gets two years to see if he can ever turn into a depth player at the NHL level.RW Danny O'Regan, 1 year/$800kHasn't panned out since the Kane trade, but is still doing well in Rochester.C/RW Eric Cornel, 1 year/$700kCornel's been a valuable grinder in Rochester, so he gets another year.Released: LHD Nathan Beaulieu, C Johan Larsson, LW Remi Elie, LHD Brycen MartinUFA'sRW Jason Pominville, 2 years/$3 millionProbably Pommer's last contract. It's likely an overpay, but it's one the Sabres can easily afford.LHD Kevin Gravel, 1 year/$1 millionThis could be any journeyman defenseman, but Gravel's got solid possession numbers in Edmonton this year. I also really like his name.LW Andrew Agozzino, 2 years/$700kDepth signing for the Amerks.C Mason Jobst, 2 years/$750kThe Sabres get a Buckeye. Despite going undrafted, Jobst has put up some ridiculous numbers in Columbus, scoring 138 points in 126 games. While he's not the fastest player, he has great hands and hockey sense, as well as being a power play specialist. He should be one of the top college free agents at the end of the season.Offseason TradesTo SJ: C/LW Scott WilsonTo BUF: LHD Jacob MiddletonWilson goes somewhere he may actually get 4th line minutes, and the Sabres get more depth in Rochester, with Middleton being a potential young call-up option as well.To NSH: LHD Marco Scandella ($2m retained)To BUF: C/RW Craig Smith https://www.buffalofanstoreonline.com/Brett_Murray_Face_Mask-105, 2020 4thTwo rentals traded for each other. While Scandy has disappointed this season, he'd be a great 3rd pairing player, and a noticeable upgrade over Yannick Weber, Matt Irwin, and Anthony Bitteto, who've rotated there for the Preds this season. Smith is expendable since Eeli Tolvanen will likely be in the NHL full time next year.Smith brings skating ability and versatility to the Sabres. He'll basically be filling Sobotka's role as 2/3C, and is a noticeable upgrade in that regard, though he's not a defensive specialist like Sobotka is. He's averaged 42 points/season for the last five seasons https://www.buffalofanstoreonline.com/Sam_Reinhart_Flag-214, and should be able to either keep the 2C spot warm for Mitts or the 3C spot warm for ERod/Asplund before likely moving on at the end of the year. The Sabres also get a draft pick in return for retaining half of Scandy's salary.Amerks Opening Night LineupSmith-Asplund-BaileyAgozzino-Malone-DORSimpson-Porter-OglevieGlotov-Jobst-CornelMiddleton-RedmondHickey-BorgenPaetsch-DoughertyStephensWedgewoodJohanssonDefinitely a weaker iteration of the Amerks this year, with so many players moving up to the NHL and their replacements still either in Europe or college. Still, this is a team which is strong down the middle and should be in the playoff picture. I just don't expect them to make a deep run. I'm also intrigued by how that middle pairing will do, as both Borgen and Hickey should both be making a good case to be in the NHL full-time come the 2020 season opener.Sabres Opening Night LineupNylander-Eichel-ReinoSheary-Mitts-OkposoOlofsson-Smith-TageGirgs-ERod-PommerBerglundMcCabe-DahlinGuhle-RistoPilut-BogoGravel-NelsonHuttonUllmarkCap Hit: $69 https://www.buffalofanstoreonline.com/Dustin_Tokarski_Pillow_Cover-143.5/$83.5 millionNylander has been excellent for the Amerks since the turn of the year, and gets rewarded with top-line minutes. The second line stays intact, though I could see Tage or Olofsson getting promoted by the end of the season. The two young wingers on the 3rd line are anchored by a vet in Craig Smith, and should get relatively sheltered minutes. I'd love to see what Olofsson could do on the first PP unit. The 4th line should be able to play 10+ minutes a night to keep the rest of the team fresh, as well as putting up some decent numbers of their own.While he's not an ideal 1st pairing player, McCabe's style complements Dahlin very well. Risto finally gets off the first pairing, which gives him a real chance to be dominant playing around 20-22 minutes a night. He played well with Guhle last year, so I wouldn't mind seeing them together again Zemgus Girgensons Pillow Cover. Bogo has made some boneheaded mistakes this season, but has generally been a solid partner to Dahlin; he should be the same for Pilut before moving on in the offseason. Gravel and Nelson are both more than capable of stepping up when injuries inevitably occur.Goaltender seems pretty set for the next two seasons at least, with Ullmark probably getting a few more games next year.