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And this is why the Sabres are stuck where they are. Adams has been too worried about prospects blooming elsewhere. Who cares. They need to win now. Trade younger promising players for good established players.

Guys, you complain about lack of aggression and about the front office’s lack of prioritizing it. You complain about lack of NHL experience in the front office. Then you complain when they hire a front-office vet and he talks about the importance of natural aggression?

Please let it be the Red Helmet!

The Bills have been teasing a new alternate helmet for this year. And I think this is a teaser. As a guy who was a kid in the 90’s, I will be PUMPED if they bring back the red helmet!

Generally agree with your point, but McLeod and Zucker did outpoint Mitts and Skinner, Norris did outscore Cozens and Kulich matched Olofsson

UE? (Krupp?)

Like I said, this is something that a GM of a fringe major junior hockey team knows. "You can teach a guy to dial it back, but it's much harder to teach a guy to dial it up." I've been hearing variations of that for decades.

It had absolutely had the feel of -- "Jarmo, can you repeat what you just said [to the three guys nearest him] so we can get it for the video the social media team is putting out?" Also, the phrasing has a nice flair to it and Jarmo's a respected figure -- but that quote is the most basic personnel wisdom you'll ever come across.

They have to really, really hunker down defensively (the roster should be better at it than in years previously. Instead of Granato teaching them to play defense, it's a bunch of new guys.) However, none of these moves are goalies, which probably makes the greatest impact by an individual in terms of being hard to play against. What I do see in that list is that in nearly every instance it's a downgrade in points scored, the exceptions being Danforth, Byram (EJ never got 1st pair/Dahlin time), and Kesselring.

You can’t add good players without trading good players. If there is a flaw in my idea, it’s that Quinn and Samuelsson are not likely viewed as being good players by the rest of the league.

Are the Sabres harder to play against? In/out since trade deadline 2024, when they seemed to start thinking this was a thing: Granato for Ruff Christie for Appert Cozens for Norris Mittelstadt for McLeod Skinner for Zucker Peterka for Doan Olofsson for Kulich Girgensons for Danforth Okposo for Malenstyn Erik Johnson for Byram Jokiharju for Kesselring Clifton for Timmins Im thinking incrementally but not dramatically? To my eyes Olofsson and Mittelstadt are two of the least edgy players we’ve had and Peterka and Skinner among the least diligent defensively. But it’s not like they’ve added a ton of edge with the guys they’ve brought in. Also, Peterka Cozens Mittelstadt and Skinner represent a pretty significant exodus in terms of “running it back” up front. New coach plus Cozens, Girgensons and Okposo all wore letters marks a real leadership shift. Half the D is new. This might not be a better hockey team, but these are not Donnie Granato’s Sabres.

Idk if I would go as far as staged. I think it was deliberately picked to showcase both Jarmo and the stuff you are alluding too "tougher to play against".

I wasn't suggesting the return wouldn't be immediately helpful. However, I still disagree. I just believe that these two players have a lot of upsides that would turn into production. Especially for Quinn, I see him producing next season. And with Kulich, I see a lot of potential that will be realized soon.

I don’t think we read it differently. I think the two statements are different versions of the same thought. And at this level I am befuddled that it needs to be said in a draft room. Seems self evident to me, hence the this feels staged commentary.

No it wouldn’t. It would be a mistake to trade them for nothing or give them away. But trading them for veterans who help us get over this streak and into the playoffs would be a win. A huge win. I’m not suggesting they be traded for junk.

If Pegula had any brains at all he would fire Adams and make Jarmo GM with Karmanos AGM and Jerry Forton as UE

I read his comment differently. I think he is saying you can't teach aggression and I tend to agree. I think it is easier to teach Benson to shoot than it would be to teach Quinn to forecheck.

It would be a mistake to deal Kulich and/or Quinn for veteran players. If that should happen this would be another repeat tormenting scene where the players that were in our system and developed here ended up thriving wearing someone's jersey. The two players that you listed are players that we are counting on to make enough improvement where they will be positive contributors to this team. It seems to me that they have shown enough potential where we should stick with them. At least for these two players I would stay the course.

*****, does Ryan Suter wanna play 1 more year? Imagine adding a guy with 1373 NHL games to your roster. He would be the perfect #6 defender and perfect type of adult to add to that room. You hear that Kevyn! Go get Suter so our D room doesn't have the experience level of a noob in call of duty.

The Sabres will have $5 million in cap space, give or take a bit, after Timmins is signed. Take the salaries of Kulich, Quinn, and Samuelsson and they could have $14 million in space. Imagine replacing those 3 players with two veteran middle 6 forwards and a veteran 3rd pair d-man who make a combined $12-14 million. The Sabres would still be younger than average. They would still have a better than average prospect pool.

Some of you love to focus on the wrong thing. The age of the roster isn't the problem, the experience of the roster is the problem. Their 2nd most experienced defender is Jacob Bryson and he has half the games played that Rasmus Dahlin does. They should dump Bryson and sign Grzelcyk, adds 527 NHL games to the roster and he push Samuelsson down the lineup. Bring in David Savard and his 870 NHL games, sure he might not be the best anymore but even with 70% def starts for a rebuilding Montreal team, he was decent. He also shoots right and would be cheap. My point is that they should be looking to bump Bryson to #8 on the depth chart and they should be bringing in a veteran NHL defender to add to that room. None of these guys are going to cost you more than 2-3million for 1-2yrs, which is easy to fit under our cap. Being content with this level of inexperience on the defense is negligent at best. Byram - Dahlin Power - Kesselring Grzelcyk - Timmins OR Savard - Timmins Samuelsson

We just have to wait 2 more seasons until that core is 24-29. Then we'll reap all the reaped benefits of... this....

When you read these accounts of how the operation functions or may not function it just demonstrates how this is such a third-rate operation. There is little clear line of authority or even internal communication system. The lack of organizational structure is so obvious that whether one is talking about a sports franchise or any enterprise for that matter, the outcome is going result in failure. This is a Pegula designed organization. The hiring of a GM had no order or process to it other than it was an owner hiring. To say the least he made an odd selection. The same goes for the hiring of Ruff to be the HC. There was no genuine coaching search. The hiring process was a charade that was obvious to everyone. It was a nostalgic hiring by the inscrutable owner. (I'm not debating the issue whether Ruff was a good hire or not. I'm focusing on the fraudulent process.) If you ask me what is the role and influence of Karmonos, Jarmo and even Ruff relative to the GM, my response is I don't know? There seems to be no clear lines of authority. On top of that layer of confusion is an owner who presides over this hollow structure and interjects his thoughts whenever he desires to. For him, it's just about what he wants to do i.e. acting on his whimsical thoughts. Any franchise in any sport that is operated in the same disorderly way the Sabres are run is going to be a failure. This is a Terry Pegula failed production. It shouldn't be a surprise to anyone.

Yeah, no entertainment value in these videos for me. How long am I supposed to be wide eyed about the future FFS? And Jarmo’s tiger stripe comment reminds me of the “do you want to be harder to play against” comment in one of these videos the year Risto and Zadorov were drafted. I swear its staged commentary for the video.

I so agree with this. I will eventually watch this one, on a day when I’ve run out of other things that interest me to watch or listen to. But I can’t get myself to do so now. Just seeing the Jarmo quote about taming the Tiger, makes me cringe. It’s this year’s Lindy Ruff will influence the roster canard. I’m not sure if they are dumb or they think we are dumb (likely both, I guess). They needed a veteran former GM with a less than mediocre track record to come in and tell them that it is easier to get a player like Benson to stop taking bad penalties than it is to get a player like Quinn to go to the front of the net? Oh boy.