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Tallest to shortest in front of a brick wall! 🧱

I think we were a tougher team last year than the previous year. I expect to be even tougher this year (I'm not going to say those words, because I know they're nauseating). I feel like it's been quite some time since goals have been a huge issue. I believe we're 19th in goals over the last 5 years and 14th over the last 10. I believe we've been soft for a much longer time. I anticipate a team with more heart and grit and I think we're undervaluing the effects and importance of it. We've discussed being soft a lot but we're not talking a ton about that we're likely not now.

She didn't bend the knee to the king and friend of Epstein, Donny Boy.

Lol what? The Sabres have had terrible analytics for, idk the last decade? That's not very exciting.

They played at City Hall in Kenmore (Delaware Ave/Delaware Rd) during my visit in June. Big crowd too. 💯 agree. Gord was beloved and missed by many. Strictly was smart to fill that void.

Lots of injuries...uh oh. https://www.wivb.com/sports/buffalo-bills/bills-injury-list-grows-to-15-with-receivers-khalil-shakir-joshua-palmer-out/

That only makes it less useful. Data is data. It is. Thanks for your reply. I see how it really helps the conversation here.

Do expect the kids to be better. Am likely one of the few that expects Quinn to actually bounce back this year. But unless UPL is one of those kids to be a lot better, it likely will be for naught.

He might get more opportunities, but he is unlikely to shoot 20%+ again. Last season he scored 20 goals on only 97 shots. The year before he scored 12 on 106 shots. What we saw last season was a career 12% shooter get significant puck luck. If he shoots at his prior career % (12%), he’s going to need to take 167 shots (or a 70% increase in shots) to match last year’s goal total. That’s is unlikely to happen. Even if you average in last season’s shooting % to give him a 14% career average, he is still going to need to increase his shots and goal total by nearly 50% to match last year’s output. I agree the offense isn’t the biggest issue the Sabres face, but it’s good to discuss where the Sabres management thinks it’s scoring is coming from.

If you live in the world of stats and analytics, the Sabres are almost always exciting. If you watch hockey, they are not.

Those are topics for different conversations.

Krebs’ best opportunity could come if Kulich falters at center and gets moved to wing or sent down.

I like your style!

There’s a lot of upward mobility potential on the forward ranks. Krebs is not near the top of that list and I would be very surprised if he took a step. But I am probably in the minority here in that haven’t given up on the likelihood of a handful of the youngsters being better.

How is 265 to 254 even significant? The Sabres' problems are in goal and on defense.

I think the team is still going to be in the top half of the league for goals for. The more pertinent question is can they be in the top half for goals against?

Would be great if Krebs did take a step up. But, don't see him getting much, if any, PP time (not that THAT matters with this team). And getting primarily 4C usage, will be tough to improve significantly over that. (By that, meaning last year's #'s.)

I’m going to throw an unlikely bone into the centre ice stew. McLeod entered last year coming off a career-high 30 points in 81 games at 25 in his 3rd full NHL season. Nobody expected what he did. Peyton Krebs is coming off a career-high 28 points in 81 games at 24 in his 3rd full NHL season. 😘

We know who our veterans are but Sabres needed a couple more forwards. Adams doesn't seem to be able to get another deal done. Hope that changes. Now it's back to having youngsters or prospects making up that loss. Long shot hope.

There's also the possibility that the PP will simply have too much talent on it to be unable to overcome Appert. They weren't able to do so last year, but especially if they go to a 3-2 with Byram replacing (effectively) Cozens and Norris replacing Peterka/Quinn on that 1st unit.

I think they get a lot more scoring from third and fourth lines this year and while regression from McLeod is probably more likely, it’s also possible that he continues to improve with increased usage. I personally don’t see offense as a problem.

Thanks for posting. Goaltending is far and away the number one question mark for me although I believe it is tied to reducing the excess of Grade A chances. We’ve hashed the JJP numbers pretty thoroughly; not seeing ES scoring as an issue with this roster and the PP already sucked with him. The McLeod thing is an interesting take. Most of us agree Norris and Kulich come with question marks. We’ve kinda accepted McLeod might slip but he’s still a good 3. The idea that he could take another step is not one that I’ve seen get any traction. But really, is a 60-point McLeod any harder to foresee than a 60-point Norris or Kulich?

The Sabres scored 265 goals last season. The Sabres traded or let go of JJP (27 goals), Cozens (11 goals), Clifton, Joki, Lafferty, Kubel, and JBD and lost 48 goals in the process. The Sabres also added forwards Norris (1 goal in 3 Sabres games, but 21 overall in 56 games), Doan (7 goals in 51 games) and Danforth (9 goals in 61 games) and D Kesselring (7 goals) and Timmins (3 goals). Net of these changes the Sabres are down 2 goals on paper including Norris' 20 goals with Ottawa. Based on my projections I see the Sabres at 254 goals next season. Looking at next year's roster, I see Zucker (21 goals) and McLeod (20 goals) as regression candidates. Zucker do to age and McLeod do to an abnormally high shooting %. There is hope. Benson (10 goals) and Kulich (15 goals) are youngsters who hopefully blossom with more ice time and bigger roles on the team. The key to overcoming the deficit beside Kulich and Benson improving is rebounds in healthy and production from injured players like Norris (21 goals in 56 games), Quinn (15 goals in 74 games) and Greenway (3 goals in 34 games). The last X factor is Doan. Is he a 4th line energy forward and 7-10 goals is all we can expect, or can he seize a 3rd line role and give us 15 goals?

Tribute bands - I did see The Strictly Hip in North Tonawanda on July 4th. I sure miss Gordie.

Fabulous band. They are all true craftsmen of their instruments.