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This is my point about this team. Adams is gambling on everyone staying healthy, producing and miraculously learning to play defense. He is praying that a goalie (UPL) with one good professional season in 5 has another breakout season and if he fails Adams is hoping that another prospect, who can’t seem to handle the NHL game, finally figures it out. I think Adams has a better chance of winning the Powerball.

Dom Hasek isn't walking through that door.

Kesselring never skated over 20 minutes in a game after game 49 last season. After that his ice time diminished. From games 54-73 he skated between 12-15 nearly every game. This looks very much like the coaching staff in Utah lost some confidence in Kesselring. His offense decreased and he went from +10 in the first 49 to -6 in the last 33.

I think JK is steering most of these deals/signings. Lindy has his input as well. There is a marked shift from speed/skill towards toughness/grit.

It has an effect. Losing hurts the most but don't kid yourself. The sunny, low-tax markets have an advantage. This isn't the 1980's NHL anymore.

I’m tired of crossing my fingers for players, but that’s been the Sabre way for 5 years now. To my eyes there’s a fair amount of potential upside on this roster. But there is an equal amount of downside, and only three players (Tuch, Thompson, Dahlin) that I’m reasonably comfortable that I know what I’m going to get. Sometimes, for some teams, the dice rolls the right way, like it did for Montreal last year and Vancouver 2 years ago. Never does for us. And it would be nice to stop depending on dice.

Hey, is it possible to place a bet on who will win the 2026 draft lottery? I'm not much of a gambler but I'd put down $100 that somehow the Penguins win.

Auto-correct sucks

Do not agree. I think Kesselring playing an extra 5 shifts a game won't be much of a problem considering he did it at various times in Utah.

UPL - 1 good season in 5 professional seasons. JAG Krebs - JAG Doan - 4th line grinder. Kesselring - 17:30 minute a night guy. Likely asking too much for him to move up to 22 minutes a night. 3rd pairing guy on a good team Samuelsson - Bust. Should have been bought out. Greenway - loved the Minn Greenway. His injuries have robbed him of that physical game most nights. JAG Norris - Will score goals when healthy, which is never. Quinn - still has a chance to be a good NHLer. Has to stay healthy. Very cautiously optimistic. All could make an impact with Kesselring and Quinn being the most likely. Unfortunately, your analysis starts with 3 guys with significant injury histories (should be 4 w Quinn) the odds of getting and keeping all of them healthy for the majority of the season is unlikely. Sadly, Adams is trusting all these guys to make an impact. What’s the odds of that?

yeh tired on the tail end of a double at the Hospital... brain fried

I disagree. Minor point: Appert was new to the NHL staff and it was neither clear how much his Amerks system had in common with Granato’s Sabres system, nor how much influence he had on Ruff’s system last season. More importantly, this was Ruff’s system, not Granato’s. I’ll defer to better systems minds than mine as to what the differences were, but there were differences, and it was reported that there was pushback from the players about those differences, particularly when things started falling apart in the fall. To my eyes, Bo Byram’s play notably elevated from what we saw at the end of the previous season, largely because the Ruff system had much more in common with the Colorado system he was used to. Meanwhile, his teammates on the blueline (with the exception of Dahlin) notably regressed to my eyes. Clifton’s drop-off was precipitous largely due to terrible reads. Power was visibly thinking instead of acting on a consistent basis. Samuelsson never looked comfortable. Luukkonen started guessing and overplaying things because he could no longer trust what his defencemen would do. Similarly, other players who played well under Ruff - I’m thinking specifically McLeod, Tuch, Zucker - were guys with a lot of games played outside Granato. Add in the defensive struggles of Quinn, Cozens and Peterka - all of whom had almost exclusively played a go-for-broke style under Granato for their NHL careers - and I think all the signs were there of an out-of-sync collection of players. To my eye, the team looked poorly coached. Personally, I never thought Granato was a terrible coach, and I do wonder whether the game has passed Lindy by. But I don’t think either man is completely incompetent. I think there was a concerted effort to change the way the team played that resulted in rough transition for a number of players, and eventually coach-driven changes to a roster that seems to have been a poor match to what the coach wanted to do. Theoretically, the learning curve should be over and the roster changes should result in a better fit. Neither are things we can count on though, especially when the quality of the roster, and the coaching staff remain questionable.

LOL not a big fan of Adams name

Luke Osburn is someone to keep an eye on. Richard too.

Hard pass. After his legal issues which MSG had to pay off to make disappear and the fact he plays when he feels like it that’s a hard no from me dawg

I think Ratzlaff, maybe Strbak might become something, the rest seem like longshot of them outside top 10

Hard no.

None of this matters we still don’t have a goalie.

Don't believe Lidstrom is a coach. He'd be a great mentor though should he be willing to do that. The guy that would be the ideal coach would be Mike Ramsey. But he's not leaving his beloved Minnesota. Wonder if they could convince him to be an advisor and just come to town for TC and conversations every so often via Zoom or the like.

They do make a heck of a sammich

There is a precipitous drop off after the top 10. I suppose that’s fairly standard but it’s a massive cliff.

It depends what else the Flames or Rangers going to give as giving up a 24 year old for a 30 plus old is foolish for this team that isn't one player away from winning a Cup.

He needs Nick Lindstrom to coach him

I can't give him one at this time. I don't like him, I know that. I don't agree with how he handles most things. I think he's surrounded (publicly) by idiots and I don't think he's all that bright himself. What am I grading him against though? I'd have to actually sit down and do an analysis to really go deeper. And, I am waiting to see where things go.