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Counter point, Jake Richard has been in Buffalo the past month training at the Academy of Hockey. He is training and staying with Gavin McCarthy (who is Kevyn Adams Neighbor) He has another local connection who I believe is also training with them in Joey Muldowney (a SJ Draft Pick). Richard and Muldowney are roommates at UCONN and both are receiving NIL deals next season. As of now the plan is to sign an ELC with Buffalo in the Spring.

The goaltending argument is letting Adams and Ruff off the hook in my view. It’s putting the outcome of the season on an unpredictable variable: Is this the year they get better than average goaltending (they did in 23-24 and it didn’t get them in). As though roster construction, experience, talent, coaching, special teams, culture, etc., are inconsequential in their impacts on the final result.

Interesting comment by JJP.

Dumb or not, he has been incompetent to this point as GM of this team and his redundant line of bull$hit every time he gets behind a mic has worn quite thin.

Well, Malenstyn did play 10:30 a night last year, by far the lowest of the leftover Sabre regulars I think its inevitable that fans be skeptical of most things the Adams regime does because of their track record. In terms of the 4th line, I wonder how much of last season was chicken and how much egg: did Lindy limit their usage because their play was disappointing, or was their play disappointing because Lindy limited their usage? Lafferty's play surprised me. I liked his game as a Canuck, and he seemed to be a decent, energetic role player in his other stops. He was a non-entity here — he didn't play like I remembered him playing — and I have no idea why. My expectations of Danforth this summer are kinda like my expectations for Lafferty last summer; that's who he's been, albeit maybe for a shorter period of time. My expectations for Aube-Kubel were less. He'd never been a fulltime skater anywhere else and he wasn't young. Sometimes those guys land in the perfect spot and reel off a decent year. More times they don't. He didn't. Doan is not like the others. He has excellent grinder qualities, but he's not some longshot minor league vet persevering on the margins of the NHL. He's a legitimate NHL prospect with a higher-end toolbox: a former high 2nd-rounder entering his 3rd year pro. I posted this previously along with the note that Doan is two years older: Career pro stats Kulich NHL GP: 63 15/9/24 Doan NHL GP: 62 12/16/28 Kulich AHL GP: 123 53/41/94 Doan AHL GP: 104 40/38/78 There's an upside with this one

How do you like them apples? There were more people at that scrimmage than most games this year. It’s just disgustingly depressing what has been done to this team.

I think he does. He's gambling that there will be enough internal improvement to be on the fringe boundary for a playoff team. The big issue is the goaltending. Is it good enough? He may think so. To put it mildly, I'm very queasy about that critical issue. Unless that positional issue is addressed, all the other roster machinations will mean little. It's a gamble where the house has the advantage over the novice at the table.

Does Adams honestly think he has done enough to field a playoff team?

It's an ugly reality that players don't want to come here and even worse players here want out. The blame for this plight is internal. When you shoot yourself in the foot you don't run well. My worry is if the situation isn't turned around soon then players such as Dahlin, Tage and Tuch say enough. Get me out of here. In my view, I agree with you that there hasn't been much of a roster change. The biggest altering impact is not going to come from the recent roster alterations. It will be the caliber of our goaltending this upcoming season. That's the biggest issue for me and question mark for me. If the play from that position isn't elevated, then all the other actions don't matter. That's how I see it.

I had no issues with Malenstyn’s play other than he doesn’t score much. He was high energy, good on puck battles, throwing his body around so no wonder Ruff doesn’t like him, he’s not a cream puff like Power. Also where are you getting this information from?

I don't think he wanted to play in Buffalo for a quite a long time.

I'll reserve judgment. For now, I see a GM whose off-season has been dictated to him by a couple of young players who don't want to be here. I don't see a GM who is proactively working a plan to take his team into the playoffs.

I'm not as down on our forward prospects as some here are, and i like Richard a lot, but he seems like a easy candidate to play it out and leave. I believe he can become a UFA in August 2026, similarly like Jimmy Vesey was.

I forget who said it but there was recently some talk that maybe Sardarian was leaving college to play pro in Europe (presumably in Russia) but i can't find it now.

I think it is just that 9 million isn't what it used to be. It's July 4th and there are 19 teams with $5 million in cap space and 14 with $10 million. And many of those teams have no notable RFA's left to sign. I don't think he will get $9, but the floating of $9 maybe gets him $8 - $8.5.

It appears that last year's lower line remake is being disassembled into another this year's remake. Step forward and then step back. It's called the cha cha strategy. Back and forth and back and forth.

No reason really. Probably cant be worse though. Doan has some scoring upside that none of the others do

Lund...very nice.

It looks worse then what it is. Kulich and Benson are not considered prospects because they're on the main club but most teams don't have a 20 and 19 year old play a full season for them. Helenius, Wahlberg, Östlund, Rosen all look promising. Neuchev also did until his injury.

If Byram is as good as he believes to be then possibly his best contract enhancing strategy should be to take is a bridge deal. He then will have the opportunity to demonstrate his current and future market value. The cap is going up so that should also increase his future value. The advantage for Buffalo is that if he plays well, he helps the team. And if his potential future salary becomes too big to handle, then his trade value also increases. What it comes down to for the GM is that a Byram trade either returns a commensurate asset or he is retained and helps the team right now. I have been a harsh critic of KA. But in his handling of the Byram situation he is doing it deftly.

where do you see a suggestion? Did you watch his latest press conference? I didn’t call him dumb but I do think he is a very poor GM, not dumb, just bad at his job and his record reflects that. Sorry if that offends you.

General question, not directed specifically to you: Why should a fan believe that Danforth and Doan are different than Lafferty, Aube-Kubel, and Malenstyn?

The agent is making the noise

I don't understand the thought process for $9 million per year. Is he a high draft pick with potential? I guess so. But nothing in his play, even if you dig deep into the advanced stats, says $9 million per year... Or even close to that.

A Zucker type can be signed in the weeks to come after the Byram thing works itself out