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I feel like Benson is a playmaker outright unlike the others mentioned No, I’m serious. You are explaining the exact thinking Adams must be using on the forwards. How can yo be offended by that? You don’t think you are hitting on the reasons he’s using to explain it to himself? Do you think he’s just randomly throwing it together and you are coming up with reasons it could work he didn’t think of?

Speaking of which, wonder just how much of standing pat at the trade deadline 2 years ago (edit, eh, 3 years now actually) was Granato believing he had what they needed in the room, Pegula not wanting to spend any more than he already'd agreed to, and Adams not wanting to lose any of his precious prospects? Expecting it was most likely most heavily Donny's beief in his room that led to that. And he was literally 2 goals from the trade deadline on away from being right. 2 more goals in any game they lost in regulation by 1 goal and he was right and the whole trajectory of how things are going and viewed changes. Of course, make an adjustment to something that happened that's that small and maybe Teddy Roosevelt never becomes President. Wonder if Granato ever says, yeah, we should've finalized that offer of x and a lottery protected 1st for y. Should've bought in on that one. We were THAT friggin' close.

This is getting old Thorny. Whenever someone disagrees with you, you throw out this little childish barb that they are in line with or in agreement with or as dumb as Kevyn Adams. I don't see it like kev and your dismissive tone here is kinda how you've been around here for months. If ppl don't see it your way, they are dumb kevyn adams lovers. It's weak sauce.

Alex Tuch and Tage Thompson aren’t playmakers in the Dale Hawerchuk/Tim Connolly sense that they look to pass, but they are in the sense that they get the puck up ice and to the net and they create space and opportunity others can exploit. Peterka was the same way Zach Benson and Jack Quinn aren’t there yet, but they have that skillset. Norris and Kulich need those types of wingers to be successful, but the flip side is that they do complement those types of wingers.

“Norris will be fine” does seem to be the crux of their thinking

Bryam and a 2026 second and third for Byfield, don’t give two shits about losing picks!

Peterka is good at one thing we should be concerned about, it isn't shooting. Peterka was very good at bringing the puck up ice into the offensive zone. It is probably a contributing factor to his 2nd assist totals.

Imagine playing more than an 82 game season and having 2 primary assists lol I wish I could see it like you and Kev I really do

You using averages that don't account for games played in the years you are talking about is a major issue in this analysis. But yea, I don't worry about the playmaking part of things. I think between the defense and the rest of the forwards Norris will be fine and Tage already has improved his playmaking over the years. Cozens was SO BAD defensively that any playmaking we lose with him gone is made up for by having even an average defensive forward.

I know dude but you can’t just ignore the playmaking in totality which you completely did in you’re initial write up - no mention of it when Norris was supposedly replacing cozens AND jj’s offence - think of what you are saying. It can’t be made out a a negligent factor when it’s a severe weakness of Norris. It’s particularly egregious to not mention it when 24 goals represents 9 more than his career average I think we can agree that’s no sure thing Desperate need for a facilitator I’m having to remind myself of Benson just to cheer myself up! A kid!

I think of this when people float the idea of Brock Boeser. He’s a finisher who requires a playmaker. I can’t think of a worse fit for the rest of our top six 6 at the price he’s going to demand.

And he can’t stay healthy. I can’t believe we are arguing about Josh Norris in 2025 on verge of 15. Cannot believe it not a commentary on you merely the absurd stances the sabres force you to take

I don't need him to pass, I need him to get to 24goals.

Byram is a legit top-pairing defenseman. Why the constant rumors about trying to trade him pretty much since he got here? The defensive issues have been the 2nd and 3rd pairings which have gotten significantly better now, so I'd just keep him and see if we have a solid D with this group.

Norris has the worst primary assist rate among forwards like ever Norris has 2 primary assists his last 105 games played 2 He can’t pass

They only have 8 forwards coming to dev camp... yeesh.

As @PromoTheRobot keeps pointing out, Marner not only is from TO but also has a brand new baby. With the cap going up significantly, and with his baby so young with family nearby should he stay relatively near the shores of Lake Ontario, taking a 2 year overpay deal with a team that he can live 20 minutes away from the rink and only be an hour or so from home MIGHT have some appeal to him. Especially if he holds some bitterness over being the local guy blamed for the playoff failures of his favorite team when the Swedish guy and the Yank from the place that doesn't even have a team anymore are seemingly getting free passes. Wouldn't he like to play against TO 4x per year? Sure the odds of it happening are slim. What were the odds prelottery that the Sabres would pick 9th?

JJ Peterka had 23 secondary assists. He had empty calorie assists, because he played with Tage Thompson most of the year. In fact Peterka had only 4 more primary assists than Zach Benson. What I am getting at is I don't think JJs assists are making up the difference here. There is no massive monday stretching at all. In fact I even showed my work. Josh Norris 1.1g/60, Dylan Cozens 0.9g/60. Further Cozens has eclipsed your goal average exactly 2 times. Once when he had 18 (wow) and then the outlier year where he shot 14.7% which is almost 5% over his career average. You wanna dismiss my arguments that is fine, but you wanna talk monday morning stretching, well you just did the same thing by averaging in a 31g year for a guy who hasn't even made it to 20g since. I used his 11g because that is how many Cozens contributed to Buffalo this past season. Norris has 3 20g seasons and you are right, he gets injured which is an issue. However, I think the shoulder injury which robbed him of his 23yr old season and lingered into his 24yr old season before being corrected is now corrected and I do have some faith he can get 70games in. If he does that, getting 24g (seems pretty low when he had 20 last year in 56 games) is very reasonable. Again, I showed my work so you little dismissive comment is notwithstanding. Cozens verse Norris in assists is something interesting but that wasn't the OG point. It was that regurgitated line "we have to replace 27g from Peterka!" when in reality we probably have to replace 10g and in reality reality we need to drastically reduce goals against.

cool. Cya in 2028

I’d love to put you in the chair, right now Just, as is. Get to work.

As @PromoTheRobot keeps pointing out, Marner not only is from TO but also has a brand new baby. With the cap going up significantly, and with his baby so young with family nearby should he stay relatively near the shores of Lake Ontario, taking a 2 year overpay deal with a team that he can live 20 minutes away from the rink and only be an hour or so from home MIGHT have some appeal to him. Especially if he holds some bitterness over being the local guy blamed for the playoff failures of his favorite team when the Swedish guy and the Yank from the place that doesn't even have a team anymore are seemingly getting free passes. Wouldn't he like to play against TO 4x per year?

The yacht is going to be so polished this year.

I was wrong yes it was 8 years ago and stopped lol. But I see it trying to come back