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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.

Lots of data there to consider. Tage, Dahlin, Tuch and many question marks. I wish I could get excited about this team.

1. https://www.nhl.com/news/topic/32-in-32/buffalo-sabres-nhl-edge-stats-for-2025-26-season-32-in-32 2. https://www.nhl.com/news/topic/32-in-32/buffalo-sabres-inside-look-for-2025-26-season-32-in-32 3. https://www.nhl.com/news/topic/32-in-32/buffalo-sabres-three-questions-for-2025-26-season-32-in-32 4. https://www.nhl.com/news/topic/32-in-32/buffalo-sabres-fantasy-projections-for-2025-26-season-32-in-32 5. https://www.nhl.com/news/topic/32-in-32/buffalo-sabres-top-prospects-for-2025-26-season-32-in-32 The most interesting stat in the Edge article (Article 1) is the Mid and long range goals scored by the Sabres last season. The Sabres were among the league leaders in mid and long range goals last season. Is that sustainable or subject to a reversal of fortune? I'd like to have seen some advanced metrics on our crap goaltending. In article 3, they got 2 of the 3 questions right (but not in the right order). McLeod building on last season is not even on the radar of a major issue other than a regression will make it even harder to replace JJP scoring. The top issue facing the Sabres is can the "revamped" defense improve defensively. The No 2 issue is UPL and goaltending and the 3rd issue is replacing JJP's scoring.

So add her to the list of people who did nothing good for the Sabres?😁

IMO, I would have liked one more center added and have Kulich moved to 4th line center. Since we haven't I would not want Kulich as the top line center. I'd make the below adjustments before I let that happen. Benson Thompson Tuch Zucker Norris Quinn Greenway McLeod Doan Krebs Kulich Danforth

I agree with your comments about the level of spending is no guarantee for success. We are in accord. However, this owner, himself, has made some critical hires in staffing that have been less than mediocre. The unimpressive results shouldn’t be surprising. The Sabres during the owner’s 15 year tenure has been a dismal failure. It’s not a surprise that this franchise is most likely to be on players’ no trade list. This is third-rate franchise that Terry P presides over. If a sense of urgency is not exhibited now, then when?

I do remember that Polian did criticize the owner’s daughter’s football acumen within the organization. Wild Bill was a terrific GM and also very volatile. I distinctly remember that Polian and Littman had ferocious clashes about spending. Supposedly, Littman told the owner that he had enough of the GM’s belligerence and either he or the GM had to go . Littman had the longer association with the owner, so Polian departed after the football season.

Ratzlaff is 20. Leinonen is 21. I assume they battle for the #2 spot with the Amerks.

Wilson's daughter, I believe her name was Linda Bogdan, was a pioneer in the NFL when few women held any positions. I don't know her level of skill as a scout, but one player she did find for the Bills was linebacker Carlton Bailey. Which led to hockey's Justin Bailey to be born in Buffalo.

It’s not about being afraid it’s about analyzing the risks and prioritizing. I’m not disagreeing with you but the fact of the matter is about one third the league will spend at all costs, one third will spend in cycles and one third will have to be convinced. It’s really a fact throughout professional sports. Most owners don’t prioritize winning as much as their fan base does.

If the owner wants an ironclad guarantee about his return on his sports investment, he should instead put his money in CDs or bonds. No one is suggesting that he should be a profligate spender. However, when you act like a chicken-shiiit owner it isn’t surprising that you get chicken-shiiit results for a generation and still counting.

There is a very dangerous combination that happens to some people as they age: 1.) As one ages, some lose their 'mind' a bit quicker than others, I think Jones is not 'senile' by any stretch, but he seems to be going down that path a bit quicker than some. 2.) He is, and always has been arrogant. Put those 2 things together and you have a recipe for some REALLY bad decisions/really bad chances to run your company/team poorly. I think that is where Jones and the Cowboys are right now.

And that's what's so friggin' frustrating about current ownership. They KNOW from past history plus how things go with the Bills and Bandits that if they put a competitive team on the ice that they'll make a lot more money. But they don't pull out all the stops to try to do so. And they're financially in a position where they should be able to absorb a downyear or 2 to get to the point they're consistently having good ones.

Everything you said about financial impact of such a move are true but none of it is guaranteed. If you could guarantee that such a move would result in increased attendance, increased success leading to increased revenue, everyone would do it. The reality is that half the league’s franchises operate within some kind of budget which leads to similar cost/benefit analysis which has led to a similar haves/ have nots league we saw before the salary cap.

Your last sentence indicating that you don’t expect the Sabres to make such a move captures why the Sabres are not considered to be a serious franchise. The irony is that making such a money $$$ decision will ultimately result in a loss of revenue.

Rust's salary is ~$5.12MM. The Sabres have $5.19MM in cap space with a full roster. Presuming no rostered players go back to the 'Burgh and there's no retention, the Sabres would have only ~$900k in space after adding Rust (presuming a guy on a 2 way deal would be the eventual casualty of Rust getting added to the roster). Personally, am OK with the Sabres running that tight to the cap (heck, wanted them to do that the past few years) but doubt Adams will be comfortable operating in that space. As soon as you have 2 guys out on IR you start to have to make use of BF-LTIR to fit everyone onto the roster. So, expect the Sabres would say no.

If the Pens say no to any retention on the cap hit, you would then say no to the deal? For the sake of argument, if Rust was a factor in a playoff run and possible qualification, the revenue return would more than compensate for not getting a Pitt’s retention. Ultimately, a nickel and dime approach to business will end up losing dollars.

IF the Sabres were to cut a deal with the Pens, would expect they'd retain ~$1MM of the cap hit. Trading Rust would cement that the Pens are in rebuild mode. And they've got ~$13MM in cap space with a full roster currently. When Malkin's deal goes away next year, they'll never even notice that $1MM they'd be retaining.