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Benson - Norris - Tage Zucker - Kulich/McLeod - Tuch Quinn - McLeod - Doan Greenway - Krebs - Danforth Byram - Dahlin Power - Kesselring Samuelsson - Timmins

Zach Benson is already a solid nhl player. Idk why we have to have this conversation repeatedly. Fully agree on the gt issue. Greenway staying healthy doesn't matter. Zucker hopefully does, Norris too, agree there. I worry less about power and Kesselring overall and more that Wilford was retained and Ruff is mediocre.

Do you not understand how elite Benson already is defensively? You don't think the points are going to come when he's getting time with good players and more than Ruffs stupid 14mins a game? Zach Benson is going to explode in terms of production.

Zucker Norris TNT Quinn Kulich Tuch Greenway McLeod Benson Malenstyn Krebs Doan Dahlin Byram Power Kesselring Timmins Samuelsson

Unconventional and not going to happen, but I'd like to see the below offense be given a shot at working. I'd like to find a combo that puts Power on the 3rd pairing until he earns moving up but I don't like he and Samuelsson as left shots together. Benson Thompson Tuch Quinn Norris Zucker Greenway McLeod Doan Danforth Kulich Krebs Dahlin Kesselring Byram Timmins Samuelsson Power Luukkonen Lyon Spares: Malenstyn, Jones

idk, we never know. I just don't see the urgency or the true commitment to trying to win now. Doing everything possible. I see a hole in the line up. I see these things as all potential recipes for disaster: 1) Reliance on young scoring players emerging rather than going with proven vets. 2) Hope the goaltending rebounds. 3) Hope the injury prone roster stays healthy. 4) Hope that Power develops given a better partner to play with. I see all of these as potential flaws. Now the die hard optimist might say: 1)Quinn will rebound and emerge. Benson and Kulich will become solid NHLers. 2)UPL will rebound and Lyon will give us a solid reliable tandem 3)Norris, Zucker, Greenway etc. will actually stay relatively healthy and provide solid veteran play 4)Power and Kesselring will click and arguably become a top pairing giving us a solid D for the first time in years. Possible, but I'd say improbable. Could be some mix of both scenarios but I guess I see the probability of the bad much more than the good. I just don't feel optimistic about this line up.

The problem is there are about 3 teams actually selling and the rest are in either holding or buy stances. Could we beat an offer for Rust or Rakell, sure; but I sure as hell wouldn't bother because they'll be looking for our unprotected 1st or a protected 1st and Helenius.

Time is up for Quinn. imo he was rewarded for failure with the deal they gave him. So yes, there's an expectation, but I do not have the faith Adams has in him. Benson is 20 years old. He is a kid and he should not be top 6. We are pushing Kulich too fast and too much and I expect a sophomore slump scenario. Hope that's wrong. Power should start to show signs of getting it and maybe Kesselring helps further that but idk as we have not been developing him properly. Sabres are just "get in the deep end and swim kid" and maybe eventually he's good enough to get it on his own but have to see it to know. Doan I am not commenting on since I just haven't seen him play as I've said before. A veteran top 6 forward allows Benson to play on the third line where he belongs this year.

Sure, you can party there but Golf? You can’t golf there in the summer, it’s ungodly hot and $hitty, most of the players are probably elsewhere. The hockey season is fall, winter, spring - no time for golf.

Fair enough. Adams has been willing to trade younger core players for similarly aged players, when the team is out of it at the deadline or when the player makes it clear he doesn’t want to be a Sabre. Of course, for all I know he is working the phones daily trying to move Quinn and Samuelsson and a prospect or two for more experienced players.

This is very close to what I would go with. I actually really like the roster, from a talent perspective and from the angle of potential for future success. Of that roster though, how many players would you say have most likely already played the best hockey of their careers, or the best that is expected of them? I would say 5 or 6. Tuch, Zucker, Greenway, Danforth, Lyon. Maybe Thompson. Now do the same with the teams that made the playoffs last year. You need to get down to Montreal and Ottawa to get close. That’s great if we are still primarily focused on building for the future, and we are just hoping that this is the year we sneak into WC2. But it’s still a roster built largely on hope. If we are really serious about playoffs, this is the year to better balance the roster.

Actually, I was referring to Mittelstadt, Cozens and Peterka. And he would say all three (I just watched him say it in the case of Peterka) although he’s probably lying to himself in the case of Peterka.

I agree. I like all of those young players also. I’m not suggesting we dump them for futures. It’s time to move a younger player or two (or three) for a good veteran or two who can help us win now. This doesn’t have to be about sacrificing the future. A good GM can manage winning now while not forsaking the years to come.

This is year two of this argument. That the Sabres are not a group of kids on ELCs who nobody should have expectations for. You are right. They are not kids. But it remains that they will be one of the 2-4 youngest teams in the league. There is no question that they could all be transplanted to a playoff or contending team and play a meaningful role; in some cases they could play the very role on a contender that is expected of them with the Sabres. But collectively they lack age, leadership, and experience. Maybe this is the year where they reach a critical mass of key players reaching a point where skill overcomes collective youth and from here they are on their way. Maybe.

Yes. I’m referring to players who Adams would consider core players. And you are right, he traded Eichel, Reinhart, and Peterka. Now, which of those players did he decide to trade with the goal of being better in the moment?

The first part of your post was excellent but I have to quibble bit with this one: I can think of three absolute core players traded in the NHL over the past 5 years (Rantanen, Tkachuk and Eichel, and Adams traded one of them. They just don’t get traded unless GMs are forced. if your broadening your definition of core, Adams has traded 3 top six forwards in the past 18 months. How many GMs can say that? He certainly is the author of his demise, but I think this particular concern has kinda faded. Again, I agree with the gist of this post, just questioning whether it’s time to move past a detail: Kulich and Doan are heading into their 2nd NHL seasons, Benson his third, Power and Quinn their 4th. There should be no rookies on the roster come October. These are “the kids.” When does the statute of limitations run out on them “needing more time”?

I'm not sure the opening day lineup matters. it's about who ends up making a positive impact of the NHL roster and who doesn't. Last year Adams "revamped" the 4th line to be tougher to play against and 2/3 of that group are gone and the 3rd, Malenstyn is likely the 13th or 14th forward heading into camp. Last year UPL was coming off a great season with a new big $ deal and of course flopped. Last year Kulich was slated to spend all of last season helping the Amerks. Instead he became an impact player for the Sabres. The real question is how healthy can a lineup that includes Greenway, Norris, Quinn, and Samuelsson stay? Can guys like Timmins, Johnson and Doan, who have never played a full NHL season, be relied upon? Who is this year's Kulich? Östlund? Helenius? Rosen? I wouldn't be surprised by early this season if one of the big Russian D emerge and play in our top 6.

You don’t make progress when you trade away NHL stars such as Eichel and Reinhart to teams where they become instrumental players for SC teams. The problem isn’t the young players you listed. The setbacks that this franchised has endured are self-inflicted. An accumulation of bad decisions has created a deep hole that we are still climbing out of.

@LGR4GM check out what Adams says about Power’s partner starting at 47:30ish in the context of what he said about Timmins and what we know of Kesselring’s game. It explains where I’m coming from https://www.nhl.com/sabres/video/topic/sabres-coaches/ruff-and-adams-locker-cleanout-6371704447112 And the last piece is in Adams post July 1 session where he makes reference to having “two big shutdown guys” together as an option for Lindy. You can squint and call that Timmins and Mule, but to me, that sounds like Mule and Kesselring

Fair of you to ask. No thoughts, just sharing articles from left wing pundits that otherwise would never see the light of day in our tiny corner of the internet. Whether the trade deal with the EU turns out to be positive or negative remains to be seen.

Rust was supposed to be on the block. Rumor has it that Pavel Zacha is on the trade block. There are players out there that could fill in for Peterka's loss and give the kids a little more time and ease.

Because they don’t tie themselves to waiting for players like Quinn and Samuelsson and Power to earn their roster spots and contracts. They trade them for players who are good now. And then they dump those players when someone better is available.

Sorry, I guess I didn’t make my point very well. You’ve made it better. Yes, they could have easily kept Peterka (or added Marner, or Ehlers, or Gavrikov, or all of them), from a cap perspective, but not without moving out other pieces. They could have traded Quinn or Greenway or Samuelsson. But they weren’t going to do that. I’m not defending Adams as a victim of the cap. There was no way to keep all the RFA’s AND enhance the line-up with additions, unless Adams was willing to move out players more meaningful to him than Clifton and Lafferty. Even now they could add a Peterka level contract or higher, but not without Adams having the courage to trade a more core piece. He continues to be the author of his own demise.

Who was or is available that they could spend the money on? On likely a one year deal if you want to extend Tuch? Would people be happy if we tossed oloffson 4m for one year? There are teams with almost 20m of cap space right now. 5M is a rounding error for an nfl owner.

They're not in 'cap trouble". That is utter nonsense. They choose to spend under the cap, but in no way shape or form are they in cap trouble. Also going to have tons of cap space when Dahlin demands a trade. 🙂