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Personally, expect you're misreading UPL. He's a guy that needs to know everybody on the team believes in him in order to believe in himself fully AND when things start to go bad he hasn't figured out how to get out of his own head. That year he finally showed that he could be what he was in Juniors prior to the hip surgeries, he did 2 things he hadn't consistently done as a pro. He kept himself more upright in his butterfly taking away the top of the net like big goalies are expected to do. AND he moved post to post explosively and didn't overshoot the far post which personally hadn't seen him do at all as a pro. (He mght've done it on occassion, but not when this kid was watching.) As he continued to do those things, the crease was his and his play was on a positive feedback loop. Near the time that Levi's college season was coming to an end, he started to falter some, and by the time the season had ended he'd played himself back into the #3 role and didn't move back up from there on his own merit, rather he got the starter's job back by default. And about the time Levi got some starts again in the NHL, UPL's play started to tail off again. IMHO, UPL's issues are primarily between the ears. And won't expect him to figure them out for good until he demonstrates he's actually figured them out for good. But IF he does do that, the team probably is good enough in front of him to make the playoffs with that. Even with the same awful coaching we've watched for so many years.

Agree that a better GM would've found a way to upgrade the D and not send out one of their best goal scorers for about 70 cents on the $. But IF Adams uses the rest of that $5MM in cap space he gained through that deal to add another top 6F, the trade gets much closer to being equal value.

Adams makes no sense at all, he tries to upgrade the defense by getting tougher and by getting more on the defensive side yet does nothing to actually improve at goalie, he picks up a backup journeyman to go along with what should be our backup goalie in UPL. This season will most likely be over in November like usual.

Isn’t that a bigger problem? Hopefully a change in personnel coupled with improvement with age/experience can reduce some high danger chances, but if you’re ranked 30 something at the basics of the position, then it’s a lost cause, no?

agree here... I think statistically that Goaltending, Defensive improvement and the development of our younger players (Benson, Kulick,Norris, Kesselring, even Krebs, Doan) rings very important here... I think the one intangible thing that is hard to mention, how will this new mix of players gel... with the be a two way team with grit and not get run over night in and night out by teams who are focused and play 60 minutes... sick and tired of the we need 60 minutes excuse... Lindy seems to understand this but was at a clear loss at getting his team to understand this... does the new mix of players allow him to have a greater effect in the locker room... so to me all this stuff is valuable... and important... but the most important thing to me is the will of the team... to quote Zach "sometimes you just have to cross check somebody in the head" not trying to be an old school ogre here... but lets face is hockey is a physical sport that attempts to intimidate... we almost never were the intimidators... and all to often the intimidatees... its not 60 minutes a night... that is an excuse... it is not taking a skate when the puck is in the corner... it being willing to initiate or take contact to control a puck... its your team mates knowing that you are jumping in when its tough and people wont easily take liberties... and to me until that dynamic changes... nothing changes... Talent will carry this team close to .500 (82pt pace) ... the above will get them in the playoffs...

Official the Seneca Nation has purchased the NLL Rochester Knighthawks

Do you think Buffalo will score 30 less goals this season because Peterka is not here? Or even 20 less goals, let's go with that. They scored 269 last year, do you think Buffalo will score 249 goals this year?

Keeping JJP and his 30 goals, while also reducing goals against were not mutually exclusive choices. The only reason we're having this discussion is because the GM wasn't creative enough to find a way to do both.... so now were trying to rationalize it... "other guys will score more", "we didn't need those goals", "he was a defensive liability"... etc etc Facts is it was a ***** trade and the team is worse because of it.

I'd line KA up in the net, and whoever takes the shot that knocks him out first, gets to pick the new GM.

The Sabres have to remove 17% of their goals against. There offensive output is borderline irrelevant without that change. Getting just average gt brings you down to only needing 10% goal reduction. That's how bad UPL and Levi were last year.

My problem with UPL is that he seems to only really be focused when he has something to play for personally. He was really good when he was trying to earn a role on the Sabres full time, and he was really good when he was in a contract year. Outside of that he has been pretty bad, and to me that just says he only really puts in the work when he has something to play for, which is not what I expect from a professional who should want to be their best every game. But this isn't all that uncommon...a lot of players treat it like a job more than something they actually love and only seem to really focus and put the extra work in when they have something to lose or gain personally.

No idea. It didn’t make sense then and doesn’t make sense now. Giving long term deals after one good season hasn’t exactly worked out for the Sabres; namely Cozens, Samuelsson, UPL to name 3 more. Given Power’s terrible defense, I’m still waiting hot his good year.

Evan Rodriguez comes to mind, although I guess he was part of the uppity group with Eichel so it was better to get rid of him too.

I don’t understand what they saw in Owen Power to extend him out at $8M per year out thru the 2030/31 season. Anybody? He’s now an albatross and I doubt you could find another team to trade for him with that deal for probably a few years.

I think there’s plenty of offense to be given from Dahlin if he is given a real partner for once and is unlocked

NHL.com breaks goalie save percentages down into three categories. Too lazy to look up the numbers again, but my memory is telling me UPL ranked in the 30s among 60ish NHL goalies in sv% the “easier” situations and nearly at the bottom in the toughest situations.

I don’t think so. I don’t see a team where the D are making a lot of bad offence-first choices and giving up a ton of chances as a consequence. I saw (in particular) Clifton, Power and Samuelsson making a lot of poor zone coverage decisions and execution. And I saw forwards (especially Quinn and Cozens) too often making a lot of bad puck decisions that flipped the ice the other way.

Does that come at much too high a cost? Is the D too focused on creating offense that they consistently breakdown defensively? Would ten less goals by the D, lead to 20 less goals against by eliminating a significant amount of high danger chances against?

Umm, isn't that an almost tautological statement? (Presuming you mean relative to his peers. But just the way that was written, it kind of seems to be a "no Schlitz, Sherlock" sort of statistic.)

Really enjoyed the "Adirondack Pale Ale" earlier today! Mostly 2-row pale malt, a little Munich, and flaked wheat. Hopped with Cascade, Citra, and Simcoe. US 05 yeast which doesn't fully clear, but tastes like it does. Pretty basic, but I would definitely make it again!

The numbers say UPL is demonstrably better in low and medium chance situations than in high danger ones.

I think one of the reasons the Sbres offence has been as effective as it has is the amount they generate from the blueline. This team has three of the top 20 even strength scoring defencemen in the league and Kesselring added another player in the top 50. Owen power was 3rd on the Sabres, but would have been 1st on 19 teams. The Sabres top 4 D accounted for 141 points last year. Colorado led the league with 132. Forwards generally find is easier to score with that kind of support from the blueline and I suspect it will help the new arrivals.

I agree with this assessment. I don't really blame UPL, because I just don't think he's the type of talent that can year over year face a lot of high danger shots. Our team defense has sucked and we do easily allow the type of players that want to, get great position in front of the net. I think we have an opportunity to be better defensively because I like the additions. I really dislike our coaching and think they're the largest problem. UPL can also be a little better if the defense is. I just think that's the thing with him.

No they don’t since they don’t operate the team the team is under NLL “AI Overview The Rochester Knighthawks are currently seeking new ownership after Terry and Kim Pegula, who also own the Buffalo Bandits, Buffalo Sabres, and Rochester Americans, decided to cease operating the team. “

Sounds like situation will work out with a happy ending.