All Activity

Some of us like to entertain ourselves by analyzing and 'fixing' the roster.

Power was not a positive player. He was terrible defensively and was out there for ~22 minutes per game with a -13 overall. He defensive play was a big reason we had a bad season and he did not step up when Dahlin was injured. Whatever the defensive ranking % actually means, being ranked in the mid-40's is not good enough and point to the problem in the top 4 (includes Byram, Power and Muel). I can agree that Power and Muel are grossly overpaid and that Byram brough a lot of value for his salary. But here we are, not willing or not able to pay Byram so we can keep Power.

I'd rather pay Byram $7.4M than Mule and Clifton the same. I realize its not that simple. But keeping the overpaid bad players instead of overpaying the good one seems pretty Sabres-y

Those Bryson numbers... but he's happy just to be here. Wants to be here. So, we're good. And his in-season signing -- how little faith do they have in Ryan Johnson to be a #7-8 next year? I'd estimate Joker would then be something like a 33% O, 45% D while with the Sabres --- given that last season he barely played with Dahlin after the 1st month of the season (based on opening lineups).

The level of attention to detail on the “holes” on the roster comes off to me, I’m sorry, as tantamount to counting grains of sand on the beach (hyperbole): kind of pointless. It’s more akin to the sort of analysis you’d see on a team that’s made the playoffs consistently and won a few rounds but just can’t get over the last hump i *promise* you, with hockey being such a fluid game, and with our final place in the standings, and the way we’ve seen issues morph over the year with a young team, that if you attacked the roster based on ONLY the final point total, and addressed it by way of BPA, it would yield better results than sitting and trying to dial down the variables to as small as we can get them in identifying where the “issues” are and then addressing as such i guarantee you the totally blind approach would work better we finished with 79 points. Team is the issue it’s macro macro macro when you just want to get to mediocre

Carbonneau has less hitting but a better shot and better skating. I like Martin's game. I wont worry if they pick him.

I don’t disagree with this. Better is better. But, how much of Samuelsson and Clifton being bad is coaching and system related? How much better would they be on Dallas? I look around the playoffs and see all kinds of d-men who were seen as journeymen, castoffs, not good enough, in some cases by the Sabres (Stecher, Klingberg, Sandin, Benoit, McCabe, Lyubushkin, Ceci, Petrovic, Collin Miller, Gostisbehere, Schmidt, Kulikov, Mikkola). It feels a little to me like our need to improve the 4th line and then watching Okposo win a cup and Robinson and Girgensens play in the playoffs while Malenstyn, Lafferty, and Aubé-Kubel all underwhelm (to be charitable). I’m not advocating for no player changes. I’m just skeptical that the talent of the type of player we are most likely to bring in, will overcome the bad coaching and system and culture that they will encounter here.

Then, hope JBD is a valid top-4 with Power. And secondly, depending on the timing of the Byram extension, say goodbye to either Peterka or McLeod via trade or offer sheet. Or bridge every RFA and simply push the can one year down the road and start losing them then. With Adams as GM, it would look like the Montour/Reinhart/Ullmark 1-year deals all over again. Then, he'd re-panic again, and start dishing out the 7-years to all the kids: Benson, Östlund, Novikov, whoever would take them.

We're picking 9th, so Martin's skating is definitely a compromise. I just think he makes the team better than a better skater with less compete and less shot. I also feel like this is something that can be improved more than compete and grit which is just something you're born with.

The sabres were in d e a d l a s t for the vast majority of the season. They finished with 79 points. They were, nonetheless, a few games away from being definitively “in the race”. i know you know these oft-repeated facts but they bear repeating in this context to illustrate my point which is that we completely sucked and were “close”. Why? That’s the national hockey league. It’s *designed* to do that. They are ALWAYS one move away because making the playoffs i s n o t h a r d. The sabres don’t have to improve goaltending, or D, or at F. But there’s significant room for improvement *at all 3* that more than anyone one player can close the gap on, on their own. We will still get just as much value from a guy that scores 50 as one who prevents. they need to make considerable moves - position is less important

I think it means they are average at best, but mostly below average. What are their numbers away from Dahlin. JBD at 60% is adequate. Having one good defenseman (Dahlin), 1 adequate one (JBD) and the rest below average or worse is not a recipe for success. The team stats, as I mentioned about show that this team is below average defensively. There is no way to sugar coat it.

There is this, as well. He's coached 15 seasons since Briere/Drury left town and has had a playoff team 5 times. The playoffs are an outlier for when his team has an abnormal blip in defense/goaltending before plummeting back into the bottom third of the league the following year. Maybe that's enough for the Sabres fan base, though. Make the playoffs once and then disappear again for 2 years while Ruff gets replaced.

That's the other thing... what if we just paid Byram and let him play with Dahlin?

The goaltending has to improve. UPL was inconsistent, when he plays better we win more. Reimer had a nice late season stretch but you don't bank on that for next season. Levi is a gamble for next season. The Team defense is bad. That includes the forwards. Lindy complained about his centers not playing enough 2 way hockey. For long stretches the team did not look like they were playing together, especially in the defensive zone. The team loses puck battles way too often and the team goes long periods with poor puck possession time which is a reason for the blown leads. Better coaching, some tougher two way players, and better player understanding of what they are trying to accomplish. These are signs of young team that gets pushed around and is mentally unable to bear down and win close games. The 6 defensemen are decent on paper but lack the diverse combination of skills that winning teams have. We have said this for a long time - Too many puck movers, not enough body movers. They traded away Joker, they brought in Bernard Docker. He is bringing back Bryson. Adams should stop dabbling with D5, 6, 7, and 8 and get some help to the top 4. Top 4 - Dahlin, Muel, Power and Byram. Dahlin is excellent. Byram played some good hockey but apparently is not coming back, the first real sign of how bad the Power contract is right now. Power gets to stay because of his pay and his draft pedigree, not for his performance or for inspired play on the ice. Muel had a rough year. He is injury prone, seems below average on the PK, and physically he does not bring the game that we need from a big defenseman. Muel and Power both greatly underperformed last season. This team needs top 4 help. Can this GM move Byram and improve the roster? Can he get the right complimentary pieces for Dahlin and Power? It's been a question for a long time.

Inevitable reminder that Dahlin Byram was already the most elite pair in the NHL this year by a wide margin — even with UPL in goal — and nobody cares.

🤷‍♂️ In a league where 1/2 the players are below 50%, 45% and 48% seems like the definition of adequate to me.

W-I-l-f-o-r-d would be a start. Forwards buying into supporting the defensive end. An upgrade in net. All these things would help the D Corps tremendously.

They aren't adequate defensively.

This is what I've been thinking about a lot as well. The Sabres need to be better defensively, but they are able to outscore that when they get good goaltending. Replace 2025 UPL with 2024 UPL and we're in the race, in my opinion

The defense is terrible and the goaltending is just as bad if not worse. We allowed the 8th most high danger chance against last season (763), 3rd most the season before (793), and the 4th most in 22/23 (881). So while this improved it's still in the bottom 3rd of the league and coupled with bad goaltending, is it any wonder this team hasn't progressed? No add we allowed the 4th most shots against and the 11 most Scoring chances against and you have more evidence of an inept defense. Now add a terrible Penalty Killing (only 76.3%). I have more hope for a rebound in UPL or Levi taking over than I have in the defense as constituted. I'm ok with running back Dahlin, one of Power (of Byram) and seeing what JBD is, but after that the rest need to go.

I think we are potentially wrong about both the defense and the goaltending. That doesn’t mean upgrades aren’t warranted. Of course, better players would be better. But, there is a world where I could see the following as a playoff calibre back end as soon as this year: Dahlin/Power (could be an elite pairing) Byram/Clifton (ok together late in season) Samuelsson/BDocker (third pairing, fine) UPL (needs a bounce back) Levi (is he ready?) What I struggle to imagine, is this being good enough with Lindy Ruff as our coach. His teams have been very bad defensively for most of the years since he left Buffalo and there is no assistant on the current staff who we could count on to successfully take over the responsibility for our defensive structure. If I had to bet on the players or the coaching staff, I would bet on the players.

Jokiharju 26% O, 56% D. That seems to combine his Boston and Buffalo play, but it doesn't explicitly state that. Bryson is 17% O, 3%D, 2nd-worst ranked skater in the Atlantic Division, ahead of only Ryan Reaves.

Yes, goaltending has been way below bar. Even beyond defense Thing is there’s such a mental game back there- defender isn’t going to take that extra lunge if he doesn’t trust his goalie to stop a beach ball. He’s going to block every shot and get out of position if he follows the Ruff way and thinks he has to do it himself. The goalie is also going to be distracted and unable to track anything if defenders aren’t covering the sides because they’re concerned about what’s in front. It all falls apart quick I think the easy solution here is to look at what happens when the goalie gets replaced with an aging vet- Anderson last season. Reimer this season. Suddenly everything fell into place So yes, I blame goalies first by far. That’s why Levi is so damn important. The conundrum is whether a goalie can ever build his confidence while having defense who don’t trust them in front of him or not? Most goalie take a long time to season and I thinks it’s all mental here, so no I think they truly do need to season for longer to get their confidence in the right place. we need some defense but it isn’t the key. It’s Levi

In theory you can if you identify low-cost, high-value defence-first players like this model thinks of JDB. In practice you are probably right

Unless I'm wrong, and I'm never wrong, we're headed dead into the Fire Swamp discussion of a lack of physicality. Last season, the goaltending was poor. Reimer was fine (league average-y) and everyone else was just plain bad. Their skaters did them no favors though. 1 new defender could be enough, but it has to be Power's partner, RHD, capable of playing 22 minutes/night and killing penalties at a high level. Maybe one of these grizzled semifinals playoff teams will get disillusioned by an "early" exit this year and figure they need someone with better wheels --- ever-desperate Vegas moving Whitecloud, for example, to keep up with their competitors for next season. General fixes: 1. Forwards need to be better in their own zone. In position, active sticks, win more puck battles, and if nothing else, get it out and make RJ happy. Removing Cozens and his chasing was a good start. 2. D-men cause more offside. It feels like, Power especially, our D should be much better at negating rushes at the blueline by stepping up and using their reach and causing that extra stickhandle to force opponents offside. Limit the easy entries 3. D-men tie up sticks and box folks out. So many deflections and free rebounds. 4. Power throw 1 hit. One attacking downhill hit on some hapless winger getting the puck in his own zone along the sidewall and turning up ice OR one winger wheeling around behind the Sabres net and crushing him from the other side. Get out of position, get called for charging, leave his feet, it's all OK. Just attempt one body check that's out of character so he learns it won't hurt, it won't be the end of his career -- even a fight afterward, he can turtle bravely -- it'll all be OK. Because if he doesn't learn in the regular season, he'll disappear in the postseason and the team can't have that. Curiosity has me wondering about the rankings of Bryson and Jokiharju as well.