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To the bit about the D, yes, the Sabres would be well served to have guys that would clear the crease. They'd ALSO be served by having a coach running the D that actually emphasizes/encourages that skill. The Sabres could have the 2nd coming of Scott Stevens on the roster and they still wouldn't box guys out away from the crease as long as Wilford is gainfully employed by this organization.

POHO is a title that comes with more money and more authority. Not all GMs are POHO's.

I think that Terry Pegula has proven that the NHL doesn't need a team in Buffalo for Buffalonians to take in the NHL. My tinfoil hat is that Sabres viewership is dropping quite a bit and that there are a measurable part of the reason that MSG Networks threatened to declare bankruptcy recently. The Sabres were a steady and reliable viewership/revenue stream, and their dip causes loads of instability for a regional network. I have literally no data to back this up other than knowing that Buffalo is a major NHL TV rating for the NHL but attendance and fandom is way way down. I'm assuming that has started to leak into engaging in the teams on air games. I wouldn't be shocked to hear that Buffalo is watching a lot of hockey, just not Buffalo Sabres hockey.

To the bolded, did it? Kesselring, Doan, Danforth and Timmons are decent players but I don’t know if it’s the culmination of an organization’s offseason philosophy. They brought in a handful of players that play more like actual NHL players than the guys they replaced. Not sure if it moves the needle much overall. Real change would be moving Power in a Turgeon/LaFontaine type swap. Get another highly touted player in return. If you want to look a defenseman trades, think Pronger for Shanahan. I like Owen Power but I think the team needs their version of Tkachuk or Bennett. Get that nasty power forward leader. As far as the rest of roster, it’s inexplicable that Samuelsson wasn’t bought out (it screams cash poor franchise), and Bryson was resigned (because he likes being here despite the diminished role). We have Ryan Johnson for that who is absolutely a better NHL player than Jacob. Even without the Power move, getting Bryson & Mattias out of Buffalo should have been a priority. Instead of prioritizing getting good hockey players, Adams is working with a different agenda. One that MUST incorporate finances (like avoiding buyouts) or guys that want to be here (so what if they are garbage like Bryson). The team still needs more snarl. They’ll still get pushed around even if god forbid Mason Geertsen is somehow are part of the roster. They need at least one, preferable two crease clearing D and another forward that plays hockey and enjoys the physical aspect of the game. I seem to recall the org’s insistence on paving the way with skill over Braun. Unfortunately the rest of the league didn’t. Physical intimidation is still a large part of sports and life. Guys that are bigger, tougher and meaner than you are going to have an easier time retrieving that puck out of the corner because our skill guys are too worried about getting their heads put through the boards.

This is pretty much where I am on the deal. I'm going to add that the Sabres ineptitude in no way gives Peterka a free pass to run for the hills that way he did. If Alex Tuch says goodbye the way Sam Reinhart said goodbye there will be no ill will from me. Same with Ras, same with Tage. Those guys paid their dues, upheld their part of the bargain and earned the right to carve their own paths. To my eye, JJ was treated very well by this organization and given every opportunity to be part of the solution. Instead, he pouted and forced his way out of town at the first chance he got — seemingly because he was unlocked from Tage's wing and asked to backcheck harder. Maybe stuff will come out later that somehow justifies his entitled behaviour, but right now I don't care if this sounds like an old man rant. ***** that guy.

I think Doan is going to play higher in the lineup than most of us predict. For better or worse, what he brings the Sabres have an absolute dearth of. Tenacious forechecker, solid D, net front presence. Tuch and Benson are the only guys on the roster that resemble it even a little. Put Doan in the top 6, watch the wins unfold right before our eyes. Or something like that.

I want to make one thing clear. I think trading JJ Peterka is risky, I think the return should have been better. I still don't dislike the deal and I think Kesselring is a gem in the vein of McLeod and that Doan might at least be a 3rd liner. Still, everyone who is concerned mad or otherwise bothered by Buffalo under Adams trading away another disgruntled (because we ***** lose all the time) player for some hopes, I get that. If the Peterka trade blows up in the Sabres faces, a real possibility, it will be another in a long line of Adams being totally ***** at his job.

They brought in Jarmo and the entire roster philosophy changed overnight. First offseason with Ruff too so it’s hard to pinpoint which move is Ruff or Jarmo; but either way. I get that the masses want to see heads roll, but change just happened in a big way. Very few teams had a big UFA day that isn’t a sign of much

Quite frankly the only savings grace we have with Mattias is that he’ll miss 40-80% of the games.

Yep. There's a reason that, as bad as the Sabres have been, that ESPN & TNT keep wanting Sabres games.

“If” Samuelsson gets hurt. 🤣

Working as an aerospace engineer with a security clearance.

Levi is the only other one I'd consider and he does goalies separately. Mrtka 17, Helenius 52 and Östlund 72. Savoie was 53 for anyone who still cares.

a bunch of ppl Power and Byram are meh defensively but Bryson and Sameulsson are truly terrible. I wouldn't necessarily lump them altogether and I reject the idea that Kesselring is only a 3rd pairing defender. He's a 2nd pairing guy who was on a team with 2 more highly paid RHD that took those minutes. He was quite good when he was asked to fill in for them for over half the season.

I wonder who has been saying that for 4 years? As I have said 1000 times, the offense isn't the issue. UPL has had 1 good year in 5 as a pro, and we are returning a group of inept defensive players in Power, Byram, Bryson and Samuelsson, who we will be paying 20 mill or more for their services. Add the nearly $7 mill for terrible tandem of Lyons and UPL and is it any wonder this team can't win? Adams is betting that two new 3rd pairing D (Kesselring and Timmins) with 300 games of NHL experience between them are going to solve the defensive problems with the roster.

Buffalo has the most hockey viewers per capita and best TV ratings out of any US market. Even factoring in population size (viewers * ratings), they're still pretty high (though I don't have recent numbers on this). Growing the TV contract is Bettman's job #1. The league needs Buffalo and it's viewers, along with all the Buffalo ex-pats across the US.

Pretty much. Everyone wants to say "WE SUBTRACTRED 27g" but how many we did subtract is far more complicated and the Sabres biggest issue is goals against. Edmonton scored 259, Florida scored 252. Buffalo scored 269 with a terrible PP. Edmonton allowed 236ga, Florida allowed 223ga. Buffalo allowed 289. While everyone is yelling about dropping from 269gf down to the 250's I am looking at this trying to figure out how we cut out 30+ goals against. Peterka was no where near bad enough defensively to be solely responsible for such a swing when you count in his goal scoring. That's not the point of this post, but the equation isn't just "we gotta replace Peterka's goals" which is what it primarily has become. Let's set JJP aside for a minute. If we eliminated 30 goals against, that only gets us to the level of Detroit, 259ga. Only 1 team last year had more than 259ga and made the playoffs, that was Montreal. The next closest team to make the playoffs is at 239ga. That means realistically Buffalo needs to cut out around 50 goals against to make the playoffs. That's 17% reduction in goals against. Outside of the season we decided to play defense and then pay UPL, another mistake, we have had 300, 290, and 289ga. The good defensive season we had 244ga. This team has had almost the exact same ***** defense (meaning team defense, forwards, defenders, and goalies) since 2021 Y'all wanna be upset about Peterka, I can be on board with that. I struggled with the trade and ultimately ended up saying it probably makes us marginally better. But at the end of the day Buffalo's biggest problem is an abysmal team defense under Ruff and Wilford, and atrocious GT. UPL alone accounts for 20ga that a league average goalie would stop. Levi gets you another 9 (he was atrocious last year). Unless goaltending and defense improve, we'd have to score 300 goals to outscore our mistakes and have a playoff look. It is why not qualifying JBD but keeping Bryson is such a damnable offense. I doubt very much taking out Peterka, Cozens (Cozens was awful at defense), Clifton, Jokiharju, and 4thliners and replacing them with Kesselring, Timmins, Doan, Norris, and different 4th liners moves the needle enough in that goals against category to get us where we want to be. Lyon alone isn't good enough and won't be given enough games if UPL flames out again. Levi, who knows when or if he'll be ready. We can handle losing the few goals in aggregate I think we probably sacrifice in the equation of Peterka Cozens Clifton Joker (47goals last year) v. Kesselring, Doan, Timmins, Norris (40goals last year). The issue is are we going to play defense and use these supposedly better defensive players to reduce the goals against by 17% to actually get us somewhere.

I understand why you feel like you do when smugness is exhibited by outsiders. However, what's more upsetting is not the smugness directed toward this puny franchise as to why it happens. It's embarrassing that when Toronto plays Buffalo in our home arena that there are more Toronto fans. They literally have taken over the building so much so that if you were watching the game and didn't know where it was played you would assume that it was in Toronto. Our franchise has been degraded. And it was done by its own regime.

Isn't the Sacramento stadium a temporary situation until the Vegas stadium is built? When you get to the point where you are comparing your owner with the worst owner in sports (as you describe it), then you are at a bad point. The sad, if not ironic, thing about the Sabres and its financial situation is that if the owner had a serious team, the cash/flow and revenue return would put him in a healthier financial position. Penny wise and dollar foolish. Buffalo and the surrounding area are a terrific hockey market. The owner squashed it by how he has mangled this franchise.

Mrtka, Helenius, and Östlund are the only 3 Sabres to make Wheelers top 100 prospects list. https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6469634/2025/07/14/nhl-top-prospects-ranking-2025-schaefer/

Went thru this with my Oakland A’s. Somehow their A-hole owner convinced the other owners he was in a small market in a city in the SF Bay Area and continued to get revenue sharing until they saw he wasn’t spending any on the team. Then for some reason they started giving it to him again. Now, they’re playing in a Triple A stadium here in the Sacramento area rent free and they have the highest average ticket price in MLB. As bad as you guys may think Terry is, John Fisher is definitely one of the worst sports owners of all time.

I don't think there's a parallel universe where Benson is worse at defense than Peterka. Edmonton had 259 and Florida had 252 I think. The problem is we don't have good gt and have a questionable defence system.

Probably not. I do t think the Trump administration fully regains support after this. Social media such as Bongino’s FB page look split in the comments.

So basically two shifts in the model: you used actual player games missed histories instead league averages. you didn’t adjust for typical growth/decline patterns. And we still can expect an offence in the league’s top half without Greenway and Norris getting healthy. Interesting. Maybe there’s more there than it appears.

That is a whole lot of what ifs there but I guess we'll just have to wait and see. I'm pretty sure I know the ending to this story as it's been replayed over a decade and a half now and like my good friend at Shawshank once said "Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane".