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While I agree that is certainly possible with Power, the same can be said for Byram who is only 23. The biggest issue with Power is that he will never be an elite D in the NHL because of his refusal to engage physically, and I don’t see that ever changing. He also isn’t on the O level of a Karlsson, Makar or Quinn Hughes to make up for the lack of solid D. IMHO he will never be more that a 2nd pair D and I’d rather have Byram for that job. Don’t forget he’s already played 242 NHL games. He are getting close to the point that he is what he is.

Not defending the contract, but Power is only 22. Most defenceman haven't even made the show regularly by then. The Sabres need to stop expecting 18-23 year olds to step up and fill sizeable holes in the line up. Power should have been penciled in for the third line with sheltered minutes whilst he got to grips with the NHL. Instead he was elevated to a 2nd NHL D man and epxected to perform like one. Power is absolutely the right mold of player for us to sell low on, and in two years be anchoring a top pairing on a contending team

This team has allowed 282+ goals against 2 of the last 3 seasons. 18 teams over the last 3 years have allowed 282 or more. Over that period the Sabres gave up an average of 3.36 goals against per game. Even if the Sabres manage to score 270 +, they won’t stop enough goals to net a positive differential and make the playoffs. PS Even when they scored 293 they allowed 297, a -4 differential, and missed the playoffs. The additions of Kesselring, Timmins and Lyon, aren’t enough to change the defensive/goaltending shortcomings of this team.

Right, other schools and conferences will adjust. Penn State won't be the only one for very long.

You can’t tell the public Epstein isn’t worth talking about because of everything else going on. All of a sudden those terabytes of content were what Epstein downloaded, not recorded himself. So Maxwell is in jail for something they say/elude didn’t happen then? Yeah, ok. Next someone is gonna say everyday there’s a whole minute missing from a prison camera that just never gets fixed…. Protect your women and children because I think this will embolden the traffickers. They’re going to want to rebuild what these raids are tearing down.

Interesting. And one of them was the Sabres, 293 wasn’t it? Im inclined to agree with you if I was a betting man. But after doing this I also think it’s not out of line to believe this team is capable of overcoming the loss of Peterka’s goals. Scoring 19 goals? No. Being a positive player? Yes

You don’t consider Quinn a big question mark?

So they have an executive assistant, and a senior advisor to the executive assistant. 🤦‍♂️

Now run a projection of goals against. By the way, in the last 3 years only 13 teams finished the season with 282 goals or more. This Sabres group won't approach that number.

Sir! Sir! This is absofreakinlutely not up for debate anymore. The other reality here: Terry’s actually more the GM than POHO. Adams is essentially executive assistant to and spox for the GM.

I don’t buy it.

I ran a bit of inexact model that tries to project what kind of offence we could reasonably expect from the current lineup. I took the three-year average of each player, added a % to the U25 kids who have yet to break the 250 game mark (Power, Byram, Kulich, Doan, Benson and Quinn) and subtracted a % for the vets who have passed their peak and the age 30 threshold (Danforth and Zucker). The percentage was based on this model. https://medium.com/@mattdesfosses/the-hockey-aging-curve-b0f33b91d1e4 And I got something that looks like this: Thompson 44/37/81 Tuch 33/39/72 Dahlin 18/53/71 Norris 34/28/62 Quinn 19/29/48 Zucker 21/24/45 Power 7/36/43 Byram 10/32/42 Benson 15/26/41 Doan 17/24/41 *(rookie, small sample size) Kulich 25/15/40 *(rookie, small sample size) McLeod 16/24/40 Danforth 12/16/28 Kesselring 6/22/28 Greenway 10/14/24 Krebs 8/15/23 Timmins 4/18/22 Samuelsson 4/12/16 Basically, the above is based on all 18 projected starters playing the full 82 games, which won't happen, and no one else playing at all, which also won't happen. The fill-ins almost certainly won't be scoring at the same rate as the starters so it trends to the optimistic. To factor in injuries, I took 89% (the mean NHL games lost to injury is 11%) of the above total (303->270)) then added in the amount of goals scored by Sabres skaters not in the top 18 for games played last year (12). And I ended with a grand total of 282 goals. The NHL median last year was 245. Obviously this is math and what actually will happen is impossible to predict and we'll all apply our own biases (Quinn will get 30! Doan might not even make the team!) But I think the logic is pretty sound in terms of giving us a ballpark figure of what this roster might be capable of and it's better than I would have expected given our moves. EDIT: the single biggest question mark to me here is pretty obviously Norris and his availability, then the small sample sizes of Doan and Kulich.

You think Power is a top 20 D in the NHL? Not even in scoring. When you add defensive play he's not in the top 100. Last season he had 7g 33a, good for 29th in the NHL in scoring by a D. Byram had 7g and 31a for 36th. Power had 6 PP points to Byram's 2, meaning that Byram actually outscored Power at EV with 7g to 6 and 29a to 28. The Athletics estimated he gave the Sabres about 4.7 mill worth in value and that was entirely offense. If this continues, he is a $3.7 mill drag on the Sabres cap. They state that Byram gave the Sabres 5.3 mill worth of value. They have Power's 5 on 5 defense as a -10 putting him in the bottom 27% of all NHL D. Byram at only -1 putting him in the middle of NHL D. https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6048291/2025/03/09/nhl-player-cards-atlantic/ As I have said many times, for this defense to improve one of Power or Byram need to go. Adams (I think he is making the wrong choice as usual) looks to want to trade Byram. I believe Byram is the better player and should be anchoring the 2nd pair. He is just as good offensively, he actually hits people on occasion, and is better defensively (but that isn't saying much. I think Adams would get more for Power (only because of his draft pedigree) and be able to get out from under that terrible contract.

Look if I'm manager I approach every player like this. This Is Dhalin, Top 5 D in NHL, took a team friendly deal. He will be your captain. Below him we got Power locked up, he is in the top 20. Now here comes Byram into play, he is not top 20, but In some ways he fits Dhalin, we now have Kesserling, who can be with Power for , but also can fit Dhalin. Adams is not doing much wrong here. Also a good fith wiht Power was johnson I believe. So Byram take the 7 mill deal, or go to the palm trees please 😛

And as Zucker said, "hope isn't a strategy"

https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nhl/news/series-buffalo-sabres-offseason-recap/19e6b936c937b3f3f32ec2a0 This franchise has turned into a steaming giant pile of horse manure.

What also became clear during a Zoom conference call with the owners was their sudden focus on keeping costs in line, with Terry Pegula twice mentioning a need to have an effectively, efficiently and economically run franchise, while adding: “We’re going to get leaner.” https://apnews.com/article/9e7f7c5302fec2382c8046cdfcf39057?utm_source=chatgpt.com Sorry, not sure if Zito would’ve thrived under this. It’s an incredible “what if?” experiment though

Efficient economic excrement. They should have hats made.

Sorry. Who/what is EEE?

ChatGPT on why Terry Pegula fired Jason Botterill: Terry and Kim Pegula dismissed Jason Botterill as Sabres GM on June 16, 2020, citing several key reasons: 🔍 Key Reasons for Botterill’s Firing Philosophical & Communication Breakdown Pegula stated they had "too many differences in opinion" about the direction of the franchise and felt Botterill's vision did not align with theirs going forward Reddit+15NHL+15AP News+15AP News+7WIVB+7Reddit+7. He added, “we felt like we weren’t being heard,” emphasizing that Botterill hadn’t embraced their new efficiency-focused philosophy NHL+5AP News+5Reddit+5. Sharpened Focus on Cost Efficiencies The pandemic forced the team to reevaluate expenses. Terry Pegula emphasized the need to run an "effectively, efficiently and economically" operation, declaring, “We’re going to get leaner”buffalohockeybeat.com+4AP News+4iNFOnews+4. Botterill clashed with ownership over implementing austerity measures—especially across scouting and hockey operations NHL+15Buffalo News+15Reddit+15. Rapid Change of Heart in 3 Weeks Just three weeks after co-owner Kim Pegula publicly said Botterill would remain, a deeper evaluation (especially with the delayed draft) revealed misalignments. Ownership decided that Botterill didn’t match their evolving vision WIVB+1AP News+1Reddit+15NHL+15AP News+15. 📋 Summary In short, Botterill’s dismissal stemmed from a philosophical split with team owners over the bullpen’s hockey vision and strategic approach, compounded by his reluctance to enact the strict cost-cutting measures demanded due to the pandemic. As Pegula noted, it wasn’t just about wins and losses—it was about alignment of vision and operational efficiency. Ownership quickly replaced him with Kevyn Adams, who they felt was more in tune with their vision for a leaner, more collaborative structure Reddit+9AP News+9WIVB+9. But, I agree He wasn’t killing it on the ice. But this isn’t how Terry measures success If you remember, he had given Botts the vote of confidence and said he was he was going to continue 3 weeks before his firing. Then suddenly it was: “We need to make adjustments in the business side of our operations that we provide that foresight to the operation. And we felt like we weren’t being heard,” he added. “I’m not going to sit here and dish on Jason Botterill, but we have a vision and we want to see our vision succeed.” https://apnews.com/article/9e7f7c5302fec2382c8046cdfcf39057?utm_source=chatgpt.com

WTF are you even talking about and how does it have anything at all to do with my post? Never mind. Your snark is old and not productive. Have a nice evening.

It certainly feels true doesn't it? Confirmation that Terry is the de facto Director of Hockey Ops really wouldn't surprise anyone here. It's also confirmation of the problem.

As a one year fill if he was moving Byram out. Dumba would be overpaid but he's better than our bottom pair and veterans on the roster is what is always lacking on this team. The thing about that trade is they are giving you something to take him. That's a win for a season. Only thing it costs you is money and that doesn't affect us now does it.

He was fired due to performance. Let's not pretend that he was doing a great job and wanted to make sure he had the resources to continue. If memory serves his walking papers were probably being drafted on kids day at the arena where the camera was on him throwing water bottles and paper.

I'd agree. There's nothing profound there but "The Hockey Guy" rarely is. He's usually pretty objective and just summarizes the facts. Only time I've seen him get passionate was his recent one about Sportsnet's huge price increase. I think all of Canada is pissed off about that.