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Timmins top pair on his off hand what could go wrong

Part of that is because they give HUGE minutes to Samuelsson and Bryson and they are bad. On top of that, Owen Power was awful under Ruff last year and I think part of that is his partner. I also think Wilford needs to go but that's another story. Basically Buffalo needs to stop playing Bryson at all and needs to put Samuelsson into the 3rd pair where he belongs. If they ran... Byram - Dahlin Kesslering - Power Timmins - Samuelsson? Literally anyone other than Byrson They would probably improve their defense quite a bit. Question becomes what if we have to run: Timmins - Dahlin Kesselring - Power Samuelsson - Johnson? Jones? The fact Buffalo thinks Zac Jones is some sort of useful NHL player is certainly something.

I appreciate the fan-exercise of discussing if a particular player would be a good addition. Put me in the YES column on Kadri. If the Sabres traded Byram, Kulich, and Quinn to Calgary for Andersson, Kadri, and Coleman, I think it would make them a playoff level team. Many fans would cringe, particularly at the Kulich part of that trade, but the Sabres would still have Benson, Helenius, Östlund, Wahlberg, Ziemer, Mrtka, Strbak, Kleber, and their 2026 1st rounder. Not to mention that Norris, Thompson, McLeod, Doan, Krebs, Dahlin, Power, Kesselring, are all under team control for the foreseeable future. Kadri is 2 years younger than Marchand, who just signed a 6 year deal with Florida. Those Panthers and their failure to think about the future! It will cost them...some day. That said, Kardi is a pipe dream at the moment. He has a full NMC. There are multiple NHL teams with boatloads of cap-space. If the Flames decide to trade him and he agrees, then Kadri will have his choice of destinations amongst multiple suitors who are better positioned to appeal to him. And, this is not a city of Buffalo thing , it's a Pegula/Adams/Ruff thing.

I mentioned it on another thread, or earlier on this thread but... Buffalo gave up 289 goals last year, and only 1 playoff team allowed more than 239. I think the team rightfully is putting their eggs in the basket of trying to give up fewer goals since that seems to be the road to the playoffs. That's going to require better goaltending, defensemen doing a better job in front of the net, and forwards putting more effort into backchecking. The PP needs to be better. The PK needs to be better.

By “a number of years” do you mean “pretty much every year”? I think that’s pretty much how it goes and has gone for a long time now, predating Pegula.

IMHO - the PP is not going to be any better than last year unless Adams acquires a forward who can carry the puck into the zone and maintain control while the other players get in and in position. To my eye, PP zone entries have been terrible.

Will Power be a better player this year? I think so. Will Samuelsson be a better player this year? I think so. Will the two new defenders improve the unit? I think so. If kept, will Bo strengthen the unit? I think so. Will Dahlin continue to play at his high level? Yes. Is this a better overall unit compared to last year? I think so. This is where we are at. There are no guarantees other than Dahlin's play. As far as I'm concerned, the biggest issue is still the caliber of our goaltending. On that issue, I just don't know. Without a doubt, there are a lot of "not sures" and few "very sures" with this roster. That's why I'm again queasy about this KA constructed team. When you have a third-rate operation you end up with a lot of "I'm not sures". Normal state of affairs for this forlorn franchise.

As bad as we've been and as bad as it looks like we'll be... We still have to make smart decisions (hopefully to not handcuff the new GM)

It's clear we haven't gotten "better", we lost our 3rd leading point producer and so far have filled him in with Jack Quinn? Who for the most part last season was a liability on the ice. We also still have a huge issue in net, Adams is solely banking on UPL reverting back to that half a season where he was dominant but the fact of the matter is the only time he played like that was in a contract year, I'm not saying he can't return to that but not doing everything possible to get a true #1 in here (I like Alex Lyon but my fear is he's going to be our #1 goalie because UPL isn't good enough) is inexcussable even though you'll hear a bunch on here defend him and say he tried but nobody would waive their NMC. We did however get tougher to play against (it only took Adams year 5 to finally realize we need to get tough) with the additions of Kesselring & Doan plus drafting some big dudes which I've been waiting the Sabres to do basically since Lucic destroyed Miller and our gutless team did nothing.

Listen to your gut. It is responding rationally. 😄

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6368342/2025/07/07/2026-nhl-mock-draft-gavin-mckenna/ I think I would lean Šimon Katolický, a Czech who plays in the Liiga system. He's got a late July bday and is a 6'4" 198lb winger who should get a bunch of playing time in the u20 Liiga system this year as a 17yr old. This draft has a bunch of big rangy wingers in it.

I agree with your overall point, but also we have fought for the most expensive blue line award the least season or two and our blue line pretty much sucks. It's already money poorly spent. Everybody gets paid and nobody plays defense.

As a fan I would continue to root for the long term good than a one playoff year and then done.

The Sabres are a bottom 5 destination in the NHL full stop. A franchise that was once (the day Pegula purchased) the 4 most winning franchise in the league (total P%) has plummeted to 14th in 14 years. I don't think you understand just how consistently bad a team has to be to do that so that me explain what it would take to try and climb out of that hole. If you took Scotty Bowman's 10 best individual years as a HC, and you linked them allllllll together for Buffalo, the Sabres still wouldn't get back to 4th. You'd take the 10 best years ever, from the best NHL coach ever, win 6 Stanley Cups, and still that would not be enough to correct this teams historical stats. That's insane. The Sabres under Pegula have literally been worse than Scotty Bowman was great. So much worse that the greatest 10 year run to ever (hypothetically) be coached wouldn't be enough to average it out. If we're not the Coyotes then we're pretty effing close.

My theory is that Terry was cash poor at the time and that has continued with the stadium costs. The result is that he has worried less about the Sabres because he doesn't have (in relative terms, I am sure he has 10million but if he can save it, that helps) the liquid assets to deal with the 10million a year or so he loses there. He keeps that as low as possible so it isn't 15million a year or more and that way he has just a smidge more liquid to pay for his yacht maintenance and the stadium.

Doesn't matter a team like the Sabres doesn't have the luxury of being picky.

A team that has not made the playoffs in a record setting number of years is not in need of cap watching.

Create a perennial contender and they absolutely will... the taxes and palm trees excuse is horrific. Players who want to win as part of their DNA want to go to winners.... the ones that want a country club or just to get paid I don't want. Look at the Bills... people are taking pay cuts to stay here... win, create a winning culture and attract players that find this valuable... and this narrative goes away. Continue to let the Eichel's and the Reinhardts of the world walk or the Dahlin's and the Tuch's and Thompsons into the future and you get what you always got... this isnt about geography, its about culture and opportunity.

I'd imagine its cashflow for the Bills stadium more than anything. They sold ownership stake for cash for overruns too. I think the sabres were in the red for a number of years, and he needs them to not be costing millions of dollars in extras until the new stadium is completed.

This may be unpopular... I absolutely think we need a better combination of youth with vet leadership... but to me taking on a big contract of a 34 yr old player that might get you into rd 1 of the playoffs at the expense of a promising player isnt where I am at... now maybe thats because I am concerned we are too far gone to "re-tool" or maybe because the playoffs arent my goal... a cup is... or maybe because I dont have faith that Adams has the accumen to make a trade like this and make us better in the long term... That said, I do know that getting into the playoffs for our existing roster like Tuch, Dahlin, Thompson etc... is pretty much paramount... how can anyone expect them to go thru 3 more years of not ever even being in the playoffs and actually not force their way out... In the end even if we do make the playoffs and are a 4-1 first round exit in a beat down... not sure that prevents those players from wanting out... I think I think we are too far gone... that Adams will eventually be fired and some other GM may want to tear it down again... I don't know... I would probably be excited if we did do a deal, but my gut tells me when you are dealing from a position of extreme desperation and weakness that bad things happen... I'll hang up and listen LOL...

It's difficult to get into the head of this reticent and withdrawn owner. I sense, as you seem to do, that he made a decision that he wasn't going to allow his hockey franchise to be a $$$$ drain for him. The irony is that if he was wise enough to hire the right staff and be committed to building a winning franchise, he would end up generating more revenue and profits. Take the Bandits as an example of the better business pathway. He hired good staff that not only put together a talented team that wins and competes for championships but is also tremendously entertaining. When the Bandits play the place is rocking and rolling with all the adults sucking up a copious amount of overpriced beer. The same scenario should be playing out for his hockey franchise located in a good hockey market. His own ineptitude has ended up sabotaging his franchise and demoralizing his fading fanbase. Ineptitude and hubris can be financially costly.

Pronman at the Athletic has his “way too early” 2026 mock draft up today. The draft order for the mock was set using current betting lines. The Sabres draft 6th in the mock. Only Pittsburgh from the East draft earlier than the Sabres. Pretty useless info, but nonetheless an early indicator of how some view the Sabre off-season. Utah picked 17th. The Sabres took Ethan Belchatz, a RW from Windsor.

If there was a sweetener with Kadri due to age and such Id be all about this. Kadri put up quality numbers with an underperforming team starting a retool.

This is a smart move by Adams. Gives an amount of cost certainty and means there can't be an offer sheet that is insane. I still think the Sabres will sign Bo(hemian) to a 4 year $6.5 to $6.75 AAV contract and this case never gets ruled on. When do we know what the Sabres are offering in arbitration?