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Preach

Change is never non-consequential. Every piece In and out resets the chemistry and creates opportunity. Chychrun for Jensen helped both teams. Adding Steven Stamkos for nothing helped torpedo the Predators. St Louis signed 6-goal scorer Dylan Holloway and got 60-point scorer Dylan Holloway. People don’t know if the Sabres got better. And their view of the changes won’t matter. But they will continue to expect they haven’t until they do.

That's debatable. Highly debatable based on what we know.

Sometimes it is semantics. I think Kesselring was the main piece in the trade, but I don't think Doan was a throw in, and positionally, Peterka is a RW subtraction and Doan is an addition, though obviously not of equal value. And this is going outside this specific question, but while I agree that the overall performance of the team is ultimately what matters, that is almost axiomatic, I still think there is value in analyzing the parts. In terms of the latter, I think positional comparison the more straight forward. If others find other ways of analysis more helpful or interesting, naturally, that is an individual prerogative.

Those are the MAIN PIECES. The other bigger change is Cozens/Norris as I've said repeatedly. The rest is non consequential.

Well that's kind of my point. They threw him in as an extra. They saw him as a replaceable bottom end player. People here are talking like he's going to be a top line power forward. It's a little far fetched to say the least. Doan could be an upgrade from our bottom 3 of last year but I really don't see him above Krebs level. Don't remember the details or perceptions at that time so I can't really say.

I don't think so, you've shifted the conversation multiple times. The off season isn't summed up as JJ out Kesselring in. You've admitted as such. So then you disagree with PF that the comparison is losing JJ for Kesselring.

"I am a real American...fight for the rights of every man..."

Vancouver didn’t have high regard for Michael Peca when they included him in the Mogilny deal.

Maybe with Adams. I think the rest of the world knows that he's not very good.

My understanding is that KA wouldn't accept a one for one (JJP for Keisseiring) deal. So Doan was added to the deal to satisfy KA. How good will each of our new acquisitions play for us? TBD. For me, this was a fair deal for both sides.

You're just wishing and hoping. It's all they leave us with every year. If this guy if that guy maybe him maybe maybe maybe. Rarely doe much of it come to fruition though. Utah obviously didn't feel this way about Doan or they wouldn't have made the deal.

I am not sure i have a feeling about Doan... I just do... If he is the anti Peterka with 70% of his numbers you have a guy that plays two ways produces maybe at a 20 goal 45pt pace has size and grit we need 4 more of that

Another thrilling offseason conversation. All that matters is the sum of the parts.

We have them here, at least in one network. Apparently some of the good old boys need to hear a male voice, no matter how muffled it is.

Woo-Hoo! Looks good. I like fruity beer but most of the commercial fruit beers taste more like soda pop than beer. Sometimes less is more. Hope it tastes great.

Really never heard of that...

Trump lying? Who’d have thunk it? Everyone in that administration lies with alacrity. Gabbard told a few whoppers in order to bolster the case against Obama and several former CIA and FBI operatives. Too bad that pesky bipartisan Senate committee report that Marco Rubio chaired and the Mueller report refute everything Gabbard and the ridiculous GOP House report says.

One more top 6 F would really help us theoretically shuffle the lines without the fear of not having the right mix. Unfortunately, we have a GM that is unwilling or incapable of making such a move. I still have a nagging feeling that this season we are going to deal with some injuries and we simply don't have the quality depth at this point to insulate the team from anything that is going to be medium term in nature. Overall, I do think this offseason was a failure in the grand playoff scheme (would Love to be incorrect); this coming after a season ending meeting where our franchise Dman was clearly Unhappy, this is what you do to placate?! Maybe Ras is happy with the moves and he just wanted some better D and JJ gone, hard to speculate, but that's like me going to admin and asking for more help and instead they upgrade the fridge in the break room.

No. You're twisting the words. You include Cozens as well then. You can then make the argument that Cozens production was crap (which it was) but then also Norris was injured and didn't produce much for them. So last year they expected Cozens to step up. This year they expect Norris to stay healthy. There's always a hope and pray aspect and a young guy stepping up aspect to the Sabres. They don't build with established veterans. So if Benson and Kulich step up or Quinn re-emerges then I guess your forwards aren't terrible but as usual we are relying on a bunch of kids to leap forward and the one kid who did leap forward is gone.

Personally, don't like Kulich with Thompson because he isn't ready for true 1st line usage IMHO, but expect he meshes better with Tommer than Norris will. Would have Norris with Tuch and Tommer with Juri and then figure out the LWs from there. And expect Benson would fit very well with those 2, especially if he managed to put on some more upper body strength (not that he was weak last year, but he is smallish and should be able to put on muscle pretty easily at his age). Then it becomes which of Doan, Quinn, or Zucker do you want working with Norris and Tuch. And expect that could very well vary on a game by game or even period by period basis. Kind of the way how Roy bounced from Drury and Grier to the RAV line depending upon health and circumstances. And, with that said, do expect you are correct that Norris is pencilled in with Tommer. Just personally would rather those 2 be on different lines.

I still think Benson is the best choice to complement Norris and Tage: netfront presence, passing, puck possession, puck retrievals, defensive zone coverage - he’s got proficiency in areas the other two lack and he’s got enough untapped offence that he won’t slow them down in that area. Doan might work for similar reasons but I think he’s not as smart or skilled. Same with Greenway. Quinn is plenty skilled but too similar to Tage in his approach and too lacking in the off-puck areas. Kulich is too similar to Norris. Tuch would make for the strongest line, but that would expose vulnerabilities elsewhere. Zucker might work nicely.

Well, Cozens and Norris are both centers. If one looks at positional symmetry, Josh Doan is the replacement for Peterka, though he isn't a top six.

After the “core four” I see three groups of three battling for ice time and to carve out a specific role for themselves. The third group is the easiest to identify: Krebs, Danforth and Malenstyn, the energy guys. These are the role players who will typically get 4th line minutes and bump up the roster to keep the rest honest. Think Mair, Gaustad Group 2 is the scorers Zucker, Quinn and Kulich who will battle for PP time and offensive opportunities. Think Dumont, Afinogenov And group 3 is the “hard-to-play against” group of Benson, Greenway and Doan who will battle for shutdown time and the dirty work with skill guys. Hecht, Grier. Im really curious how much scoring we can get from Group 3 and how much defence from group 2 - I think rounding out their games will be key to their ice time, and how Lindy will mix and match in terms of lines and deployment. I see those 6 with more or less equal opportunity to fill out the top 9 in myriad ways based not only on how well they play, but what kind of identity Lindy wants to establish. Some will sink and some will swim.