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Sabres excel at finding players that can score goals with no regard to any other aspect of their game...they will be fine, probably have another 5 of him in the pipeline.

I disagree with your negative view of Quinn. I'm hoping this will be a breakout year for him. TBD. Another player to watch is Kulich. It would be terrific id he could make a noticeable step up. I'm joining the minority group with you expecting Samuelsson to have a solid year. To state the obvious: counting on a lot of "ifs".

Cole is a lhd and has over 900 games. Pretty straight forward why he played more.

Sad thing is you don’t even need a Hasek. Just shows how inept this regime has been with the lack of trying at the position.

That may be a partial explanation but getting reduced to 12-13 minutes in many games in the last 1/3 of the season means more is going on, especially when Ian Cole is skating 20 minutes a game.

In any sport, you never really know for sure how your young players are going to develop. Some prospects that you have high expectations end up being miserable failures or simply pedestrian players. And sometimes the player that you don't expect much from become stalworth players. It's the reality of sports that there are few guarantees. The problem (as you noted) is that he had a rebuilding plan and became too committed with it without the flexibility to make adjustments when needed. Players are not stupid. They know what is going on and they know the difference between a successful and well operated franchise and a failed and poorly operated franchise. None of the players you listed such as Eichel, Reinhart, ROR and others wanted to get stuck this morass of mediocrity. What's so aggravating is that when you list the players who wanted out and got out, they should have been the foundational players for a winning franchise. And to highlight the dysfunction here, is the amateurish way our dullard GM handled the goalie position, the most important position in the sport. (As you noted.) The cycle of foolishness constantly gets repeated. And the owner continues to remain silent. Utter ridiculousness!

@Weave Well I wouldn't of traded Levi for a 1 year rental in Hellebuyck just to watch him walk

It WASN'T the same offer the Sabres made. It was better than the Sabres offer and then Adams attempted to match that offer. So, at the end of the day they both made the same offer; but the order in which the player gets them is significant IMHO. And the Sabres should've offered 1 more year than Boston in either case. Maybe then Ullmark's wanting change at that stage of his life is overrided. Maybe it isn't. But if the Sabres make the best offer, and he still leaves, then can absolve Adams for messing that negotiation up. But Adams didn't, he MATCHED the best offer.

McLeod is a good third line player. If he is playing higher up your line up, your line up isn't good enough.

If he didn't get his head out of his bippy this summer, absolutely. But would rather have him on a line getting 3rd line usage than one of the top 2 lines in either case.

Actually, expect the NIL to affect the USHL more than the ECHL. But we shall see. Could really see it doing a number on the USHL as it would no longer be as attractive an option to kids that want to play college hockey but need a little more seasoning. If they can just go to the CHL (especially if it expands into a few more US based cities) could see that really effecting the level of play in that league.

You can phrase it how you want but I think it merely came down to money. They thought he'd take their offer but then Boston swooped in with what (at the time) seemed like an overpay so he took it. There were no indicators that he wanted out at that time. Sabres haven't valued goaltending properly for a really really long time.

McLeod’s ice time late had a lot to do with Dylan Cozens being traded and Josh Norris being hurt. He may not have centred “the 1st line” but he was certainly the de facto 1C. He won’t be that as long as Norris is in the lineup and his ice time will decrease accordingly. However, unless Kulich takes a big step or Lindy changes his mind about Tage on the wing, McLeod will be the Sabres 2nd best centre. And he will get 2C ice time, regardless of what label Sabrespace puts on his line.

No, not when he was an UFA. Good question @JohnC. Adams acquired Devon Levi and a #1 pick (which became Kulich) for Sam Reinhart, a guy that Boterill did not extend beyond 1 year. Adams traded RFA Reinhart because his plan was to rebuild with players that "want to be here". Adams had his goalie in Devon Levi. It was just four days after the Reinhart trade (Levi Acquisition) that they lost Ullmark in free agency when he went to Boston for the same offer that the Sabres made. There was much turmoil between the Boterill firing and the Adams hiring - Kruger was gone, the Sabres FO and scouting departments were blown up, layoffs impacted long time Sabres rank and file employees, and the Eichel injury and the eventual trade was an on going saga. If Ullmark was going to remain a Sabre then it probably would have been Boterill that extended him, but Bots was gone the year prior. Why do I think that? Because Adams is partial to Levi, the guy he traded Reinhart away for, and Adams thought Levi could jump in and be an NHL goalie. No Blockers were his big thing back then. So during his rebuild Adams let Ullmark go and brought in such goaltending stalwarts as Dustin Tokarski, Aaron Dell, Michael Houser, Craig Anderson, Malcom Subban, Eric Comrie, James Reimer and now Alec Lyon - all with the thought of not blocking Devon Levi from taking the reigns. This season we have UPL, Lyon, and Levi vying for 2 NHL spots. Can Levi vindicate Adams by emerging as good NHL goalie and a true #1?

Every spot Ive seen Quinn in the lineup makes me shudder. Just ruins the line.

No. I think he's doing slightly better than Adams but he should be fired too. Apparently he tried for Ehlers but Ehlers "didn't want to be there". I think Detroit will finish 5-10 points ahead of the Sabres but miss the playoffs.

I'm actually serious--if anyone knows of an online sports book that takes this type of bet, please let me know.

i’ll counter with a yes and no. Yes, bridging him set up the opportunity, but his decision was an outcome of his father’s death. I can’t speculate on what led to his decision.

Personally, expect the Sabres to try to set McLeod up with a good 2 way game and have that 3rd line be the defacto 2nd line. (Similar to how Drury's line was used back in the day.) With the 2nd line being younger and more offensively focused. (Like the RAV line was used.) Of course, expected that exact same thing last year and it never materialized. So, who knows. Especially, if when the Byram saga is written and they land a Rust (or similar) to add to the top line. Rust - Norris - Thompson Benson - McLeod - Tuch Quinn - Kulich - Zucker Doan - Krebs - Greenway

McLeod’s 3rd period usage will look alot different than his usage in the 1st teo periods. He’ll end up in Kulich’s spot when the team is up and looking to keep a lead.

Some time on the PP would probably balance it out. Win draws, screen the goalie, fetch the puck.

I am not sure, but to your point, it certainly is not in Adams modus operandi.... and further I think that is the great hope... the big improvement "play" this offseason... lets get tougher and play better D and we can finally break out... we shall see.

I hope not, but it is there, the ECHL is probably most affected.

I'm going to ask the same question I have been asking for a while. I don't have an answer myself and I really want to know what other people think: How much ice time do you want McLeod playing next year? -He averaged almost 17 minutes per game last year (16:50) -As the season went on, his play seemed to improve and his ice time increased even more (the last 3 months of the season his average ice time for the month was 17:23, 18:53, 19:15 per game for each month). So, nearly 17 minutes for the year, and he played better with MORE ice time later in the year when he was averaging over 18. But 3rd line centers in this league average about 14.5 minutes, MAYBE 15. So, if McLeod is going to be the 3rd line center, are we good with him getting 2, maybe 3 minutes LESS ice time per game than even last year? Especially since it seems Lindy wanted him on the ice a lot more than that, and he seemed to do pretty well handing the additional minutes?