All Activity

Yep. The Sabres last year ourscored the Leafs through the season. Yet Toronto finished with 108 points to Buffalo's 79. And Toronto's D-men were Morgan Reilly (who had probably his worst season of his career), Oliver Ekman Larsson (who had his game fall off a cliff over the last 3 seasons comapred to early in his career), Chris Tanev (35 years old), Jake McCabe (31 years old, given up by both Buffalo and Chicago), Simon Benoit (undrafted 26 year old who was almost a -30 2 seasons ago), and Connor Timmins (yes, the new Sabre) as their most used 6 D-men. Its the Sabres goaltending. If UPL is even half way back to where he was the 2nd half of 2023-24, they make the playoffs.

Offense wasn’t the problem sure there were games where it was completely stifled. But we were already down 2 goals and other team wasn’t opening up

I’m not worried about compensating for the loss of losing JJP’s production. Benson, Quinn and Norris collective production should more than make up for it. In addition, adding Kesserling and keeping Byrum should improve the blue line unit and lower the goals against stat. The issue that hovers over this team is the play of UPL. (As most everyone has already noted.) Two years ago, UPL gave the appearance that he could be a #1 NHL goalie. Last year, he regressed and created doubts about him. Will he regain his confidence and form next season? I don’t know? If he does, then we should be in the playoff race all season long. If not, the fanbase will be further eroded with apathy being the prevailing view toward this franchise.

I don't think it's so much overused, it just has multiple applications and forms. I'm not sure I fully understand your couplings. I think we've improved the overall toughness of the team player for player, yes. It will be up to them to translate it into the other definitions. There's plenty to complain about but not making changes can't be one of them.

Don’t disagree with any of this but the great thing about sports, at least in my opinion, is when the unexpected happens. It’s why I said regression is likely, but it’s not a given.

Soft is an overused word and one that rests on a spectrum. In terms of that spectrum, which of these players do you consider harder? Cozens Norris Mittlestadt McLeod Peterka Doan Skinner Zucker Olofsson Kulich Okposo Greenway Girgensons Malenstyn Jost Danforth Jokiharju Byram Lyubushkin Kesselring Bryson Timmons Is much as people complain Adams hasn’t made changes, this is not the same Sabres team it was.

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.