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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.

only nitpick is that Wahlberg is not a center.

Well, that's a big part of why IMHO Wilford needs to go. He needs a coach that will force him to start to do that. Could've sworn that Power has said that a big part of his lack of aggression comes from being much bigger than the other kids when he was in youth hockey and getting called for penalties any time he'd do anything more than just look ath them. He needs the coach that will force him to actually engage and also needs to hear about it everytime he holds the puck for 4 seconds just standing there when the right pass was available 2 seconds in. Pretty sure he's a bright guy, so he should be able to figure it out. But both of those he needs to be coached to trust himself to make that play and know that if he takes a penalty, it'll be forgiven (most of the time) and if he trusts himself to put the puck into a tighter area that will allow a teammate to really create chaos that an oops on that pass will get forgiven way more than going to a safe outlet 2 seconds later with that opportunity gone will.

Do you really think much changed with the coaching? Sure Ruff was behind the bench but Appert was there singing the same program that the Sabres had been playing. Wilford was there, preaching the same craptastic defensive scheme. I don't really think anything changed with the Sabres last year with regards to coaching other than Lindy Ruff being brought in as a figurehead to help placate fans into believing in the team. We know the coaching search never happened. Pegula had a hometown guy they could pump up in an effort to make fans believe that Buffalo "believes in itself". No real coaching change and no change in style. Pegula is clearly operating the Sabres as a means to accomplish some goal we've not thought of yet. As for Power, he COULD be a lot of things and I expect him to improve as would be the case with most young defenders, but right now I'm not sold that he's what the Sabres need on the blue line. Then again, I'm not sure that it matters who is on the roster when the defensive scheme is so broken.

Could have traded him, signed him way earlier (from Ullmark’s own account he was negotiating with the team in good faith for a long time before changing his mind), convinced him to stay, or, failing all of that, do the bare minimum as a GM and understand where your player’s head is at if he truly wasn’t interested in staying, and then not back yourself into a corner by leaving yourself literally no other options and having no backup plan to Ullmark if that didn’t work out. But this is Adams’ documented MO: he doesn’t have a pulse on his players. He blamed them coming into camp “too overconfident” 2 seasons ago and last year he blamed them coming in “out of shape”. He’s always surprised by where his roster is at because, professionally, he’s a buffoon “Given the circumstances.”’ Yes, Adams let the Ullmark situation slowly slip away through inaction, found himself in a corner, and did the “best he could”. How many times do we wanna see it eh

Some other notes: Jack Quinn: 30-goal top 6 winger or 35-point defensive liability? Josh Norris: 35-goal scorer or broken body waste of a roster space? Jordan Greenway: textbook big-body 3rd-line checker or broken body waste of a roster space? Mattias Samuelsson: capable #4/5 or broken body, broken spirit waste of a roster space? Michael Kesselring: emerging 2-way horse and missing piece on the blueline or serviceable 2-way #4/5? Josh Doan: hard-to-play against 20/20 grinder+ or Beck Malenstyn 2.0? Peyton Krebs: disposable JAG or emerging 2-way 3C? Ukka-Pekko Luukkonen: disposable JAG or legit NHL starter? I'm curious if any of these "roster filler" pieces have anything more to give.

Until he stops playing passive defense, he could train himself up to be a mack truck and it wouldn't matter.

Sabres also don’t have the luxury of pretending they can address their roster with the urgency the teams who haven’t missed the playoffs for 14 years show. Their results are a statistically documented, historical outlier. Their approach to fix it has to be relative. He also thinks “ppg forward” means “power play guy forward” lmao edit: Harrington, that is

Yes, and no. By bridging him and Reinhart (ostensibly because ownership was worried about cashflow in the heart of the pandemic) the Sabres created the situation where they both decided they needed a change of scenery (and Montour did and McCabe did and ...). BUT had those 2 been given real contracts at the time, really doubt that they and Eichel all want out that next year. Totally get WHY ownership would be hesitant to make the LT offer at that time. Their wealth was tied up in non-liquid assets. But had they done so, well rebuild #2 might've actually worked. Botterill's love of 3rd liners for 3rd rounders wouldn't really have done much, but a team built around Eichel, Reinhart, Dahlin, and Ullmark would have a great core to be building around.

That also happened to be without any extension

Adams has provided poor goaltending relative to the rest of the league. That’s it: that’s the equation No one has to be a professional online to prove Adams wrong. No one has to be as good of a hockey player as Casey Mittelstadt to evaluate him relative to his peers. Adams has demonstrably addressed and assembled the position over the course of half a decade in worse fashion than the vast majority of other teams that’s what actually happened: regardless of how hard you describe it to be, or how much magic you think needs to be worked into it

I thought that was pretty funny too. That broad of a net would likely be true for 80% of players.

Welcome to the club. Just so you know, I get royalties when someone says that.

Crazy pills, man. 2023 was an absurd time. The Hasek comparisons..easily the most overhyped sabres prospect of all time

Would agree with thtis IF he hadn't gotten injured right at the end of the season. Not sure that he'll have the full development this year that we are expecting/hoping. Hopefully that's just erring on the side of caution / not getting our hopes up; but expect we might not see the improvement from him from the get go like we would've had he been able to train properly the entire summer.

Remember this? This is when I struggled most with my peers

https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/news/2025-26-nhl-prospect-pool-breakdown-buffalo-sabres-top-10-helenius-mrtka-levi-scouting-reports

When did cycling helmets turn into storm trooper helmets? It’s cool.