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Who cares? I'm half serious, here. If the Sabres acquire a "real" goaltender and need to trade UPL (full salary) for a fourth round pick, fine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdFjEtyXYKs No embedding allowed of this video. "Behind the scenes with HBO's Hard Knocks at Buffalo Bills training camp" Director Pat Harris of Hard Knocks is actually a life long Bills fan.

Intriguing slotting for forwards and defenders. All your slotting makes sense except the Power pairing. I see him most likely paired with Kesseiring, as noted by@LGR4GM. What’s interesting with all the slotting you project is the flexibility of other mixing and matching. (As you also noted.) And what is also notable is that you see fewer people slotted higher than where they should be. That’s an indication that this roster is fuller than previous years.

Kesselring would be the #4 in terms of ice time, 18-19 minutes a game. Doan I see as a guy who works his way up. i really see Doan Benson Kulich Quinn Zucker Greenway (and maybe to a lesser extent Krebs, because I think Lindy likes Krebs more than we do) as more or less on an even keel to start ice time wise. How that unfolds will depend on their play Seriously, I have not once heard Adams directly link the two but maybe I’ve missed it? Hes talked about needing a partner for Power and separately about needing a big RHD and Kesselring fitting the bill perfectly. I’ve not heard him link the two. And when I’ve heard him talk about a Power partner I’ve heard him talk about that partner needing to be a calm smooth efficient quick touch puck mover, which sounds more to me like Timmins than Kesselring. I’ve also heard them talk about “playing the big guys together” Maybe he meant Power, but I didn’t read it that way. Im fully aware I’m on my own with this line of thought and the more obvious answer is usually the correct one. We shall see. The idea of Greenway getting Wally Pipped has certainly crossed my mind.

What town is Snyder’s Beach in?

Benson Kulich Thompson Quinn Norris Tuch Greenway McLeod Zucker Danforth Kozak Doan Byram Dahlin Power Kesselring Samuelsson Timmins Luukkonen Lyon Spares: Krebs, Malenstyn

Adams? With his back to the wall. The rest, I'm not sure yet.

Think you missed the point: It's money not actually being spent so from an actual spending perspective we are $9.5 million below the cap. We are a poverty franchise and will continue to be one for the foreseeable future.

I think Doan overtakes Greenway within 2 months.

Kesselring is going to end up with Owen Power. It is almost all Adams has spoken about in regards to that trade, "finding a partner for Power".

But Ruff (and Granato -- by necessity) loves some kid lines. I do not want to see Benson-Kulich-Quinn in the top 6, but it wouldn't shock me if it happens. I would put Timmins on the 3rd D-pair, because I don't see him getting more ice time than Kesselring. Pre-preseason, I'd go: Benson - Norris - Thompson Quinn - McLeod - Tuch Zucker - Kulich - Doan Greenway - Krebs - Danforth (Malenstyn) Byram - Dahlin Power - Kesselring Samuelsson - Timmins (Jones Bryson: he wants to be here) Luukkonen Lyon

Isn’t a generation of excuses enough for you? You get judged on your record. And if that is the measure, this Pegula franchise is a dismal failure. End of the story. The Buffalo Bills are a successful franchise in the same/similar area where the Sabres are located? Why such disparity between the two franchises? There is a major difference in staff running the respective franchises. No more ridiculous excuses when judging the Sabres. Your record is your record. You can’t excuse your way out that.

I can’t even believe people believe this. He didn’t want to play here it had nothing to do with cap, there will be plenty more to follow if we continue our losing ways which I suspect will happen this year.

In front of a firing squad?

I really think the goaltending will improve from the better defensive play I'm hoping we will get now. And not just the D, but forwards taking better care with the puck. Other teams used to attack us on the point, especially on power plays, because they know we'd cough up the puck and then it was off to the races. That needs to be addressed, even if we have to resort to dump and chase.

I’m not saying you’re wrong. But if we gave up Peterka for a 4th line guy and a bottom pairing defenseman, I’m gonna think we got hosed worse than I do now.

And in between (the goalie parade), they had a season of 60 and 56 points, respectively. They improved. But my point is that they are top-30 centers in the league -- either would immediately be the Sabres #1C. Add in the solid D-corps with established veterans (Hamilton 29, Severson 28, Graves 27, Siegenthaler 25, Marino 25, Brendan Smith 33. Bahl age 22 was #7 and kids Okhotyuk and Luke Hughes combined for 12 games). The Sabres "long-term" D-corps is still 2+ years from those ages and more importantly, games played. (Note: Siegenthaler and Kesselring were at similar GP levels heading into 22-23 for Siegenthaler and Kesselring this season.)

Like it, and do expect Norris to be with Thompson. But for some reason just don't expect that to work. So expect fairly early in the season we see Kulich, Norris, and McLeod all slide one spot with Kulich moving to the top line (which he ain't ready for) and the other 2 sliding down 1 spot. And expect late in periods and the 2nd 1/2 of the 3rd to have much mixing of those lines as Ruff tries to limit Kulich's ice time.

Don't expect to get much at all for him. And it IS possbile that the lightbulb will click on and stay on for him and he'll be not just a servicable goalie but an actual honest to goodness good one. But, at this point, they really shouldn't be worrying about what they'd get in return for UPL or Lyon (or even the guy that could be their future); but rather what do they need to give up to get a sure fire (well, as sure fire as such a thing is in this league) top 10 goalie. If they had one of those, a playoff spot would be theirs to lose, not theirs to steal like it is now. Also, if they did get another goalie (and we all know they won't, but will state this anyhow) they should keep all 4 into TC and see if a goalie gets injured somewhere else in TC. Maybe for once, the puck luck will bounce the Sabres way, and instead of getting a 2nd rounder for a guy that could be useful they might get a 1st or a legit NHLer for the odd man out. Goalies are weird and there aren't enough legit goalies to fully go around, so the market for goalies is always weird in itself. Heck, the Avs managed to trade Georgiev last year and he was absolute hot trash when San Jose took him. Even bad goalies on bad contracts can get moved.

One of the things I like about my forward lines is that for the first time in recent memory each of the top 3 lines is anchored by a veteran pair. There are no kid lines, the most inexperienced forwards are spread out and supported.

He turned out to be a terrible signing. I knew what kind of player we were getting and hoped the risk aspect of his game would be outweighed by the reward and he would settle into a solid #5 for us. Turned out he was largely a creation of the Boston system and the players he was surrounded with and is actually a 6/7. We should have paid more attention to the analytics and less to the character references.

It’s possible, but Doan adds more of the dog to a dog pack line and Greenway more of physical and defensive presence for Kulich. There’s also a part of me that says they didn’t sign Greenway for $4M to play on the 4th line. Curious to see how others think Lindy will line them up.

Byram and Dahlin is a proven NHL top pairing that can win their matchups regardless of their opponent. I think Kesselring’s game is too aggressive (in terms of risk/reward) to make him an ideal Power partner. It think Timmins low-risk smooth game is a better fit and I think the Sabres do too. I’m hoping Kesselring can help bring some edge to Mule’s game while he takes care of the offence there. I see those 2 getting matched up against the physical lines while roughly getting similar ES minutes to the Power pair. Power and Kesselring will get more minutes than their partners due to situational play and shortened benches.

Swap Doan for Greenway. I still think a move is coming and someone on the current roster is going.

Reasoning: Thompson/Norris is our best offensive combo, McLeod/Tuch our best matchup pair. Benson best elevates and complements the Norris pairing in terms of 5-on-5 all-around play and vice versa. Quinn best elevates the offensive potential of the McLeod pairing and they best insulate his flaws. Zucker has become a mentor to Kulich and he and Greenway flanking Jiri on a 3rd line puts him in a great position to win his matchups. Any of the 3rd-liners can easily be bumped up to bring a different element to Quinn or Benson if needed. The same can be said for Doan who became the odd man out from my top 9. The 4th line consists of 3 dogs, a proper energy line who can create havoc on the forecheck and score more than most 4th lines