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If the question is now whether or not Mittelstadt could help the Sabres when an injury occurs... the answer would be, most likely. However, no one is injured yet. And if you distill it down what is being asked is "Is there a player available in the NHL who could help the Sabres by only giving up a second round or third round pick, in case the Sabres suffer an injury?" I think the answer, at any point in the season would be.. yes. So why go get Mittelstadt now? Nothing sways my opinion. He was moved for a reason, he was moved again for a reason and now the team that ended up with him is willing to move him again. That's the only red flag I need.

I attended the event that the Golisano school hosted a while back -- was it last year? -- where he announced millions and millions of dollars in gifts to a variety of worthy nonprofits (including colleges and universities) from Western NY and the Finger Lakes region. And now a big ol' gift to Buffalo's Children's Hospital? All jokes aside: I have enormous respect for the guy. Most (damn near all) billionaires do not thusly deal with their money. I wish more did.

Really? Shame on me! Yes, I know how it's spelled. The older I get, the more careless my fingers get while typing.

Really?

https://buffalonews.com/news/local/business/health-care/article_fc290fce-0a18-4bf2-9091-dcbf84ba46a6.html In other news, Larry Quinn will be in charge of hiring surgeons and approving medical procedures.

Tuch on the national team's 4th (3rd?) line would make a ton of sense. Dude can PK as well, obviously.

Can confirm; sat next to PTR for part of the game. I think 4500 is generous, actually.

My take, unsupported by analytics: He's crashed out since he was asked/forced to do more than play fire wagon hockey for Good Vibes Only FHC DG.

A few of the young guys they sprinkled in are interesting choices.

I went to college in the Albany area. I think part of the problem is that the Capital District is kind of spread out in a tri-city area (Albany-Schenectady-Troy), and there is competition from Siena basketball and Union and RPI hockey, plus local fans are rooting for Boston and NYC NBA/NHL teams. I don't think the local population "needs" another sport to support. I get the sense that NLL exploded in popularity in Buffalo because the Bandits brought championships and the Sabres have sucked ass for so long.

Will be good for these guys to see what it feels like to be a winner.

Yep. The only set piece to the formula is you have to be getting at least above average goaltending when playing the top teams to be able to move on. Whether it's because you truly have a world class goalie (Bobrovsky, Vasilievsky (sp?)) or just a tandem that plays like them for 20 or so games (Ward & Gerber); you have to have very good goaltending to truly succeed.

Would've been shocked if either didn't get invited. And honestly expect both to make the team/play if they're healthy when the Olympic break hits.

There's competition and depth, provided everyone stays healthy. As soon as injuries start to hit, you are forcing youth back up into taking on too big a role at too high (minutes wise) a level against tougher competition. This team needs at least 1 more (and ideally 2, but no way we see that now IMHO) veteran that can legitimately play in the top 6 to make this work with even a bit of adversity thrown against them. In a vacuum, any of the players you mentioned could bump up into the top 6 without missing a beat. But there'll come stretches when 2 or all 3 of them need to bump up. And that puts a lot of extra pressure on them and the healthy vets that are still trying to do their jobs and be ready to cover for the youthful ooopses that necessarily happen. And, yes, realize you agree that the Sabres need another vet.

Not sure why Albany didn't draw better. Their college team, ever since the Thompsons played there, has been solid to great and it really seemed like the area was going to become a hotbed. The team has been entertaining too. Built a bit like the Sabres with a lot of offense and youth and not much idea of what to do on their own side of the restraining line. But unlike the Sabres, they had a nice playoff run 2 years ago. Too bad. Wonder if they'll get another crack at a franchise again. Could see it happening but wouldn't have money on it.

The bolded, counterintuitively, is one small reason to have hope that this season going kerplewy again (and as it stands, that's the most likely outcome with the current coaching and roster) it won't see Dahlin, Tuch, and Thompson all clamor to leave. Fixing the coaching, and had read here earlier that ALL of the coaches contracts are up after this season, while keeping this roster mostly intact with all having an additional 50-80 games under their belts could see this team have the necessary huge jump in the standings NEXT year especially if the goaltending finally gets solid (either via growth or additional move). With all the coaches getting changed out, it's POSSIBLE (not likely, but possible) that Adams might have a change in title as well and have a lesser role than the final decision maker on the 50 or so contracts. Not even remotely sold on Kekalainen (personally expect the majority of his success was due to having a true star directly under him in Zito), but trust him and Karmanos more than Adams. Bring in a couple of leadership vets who've been through long playoff runs consistently to go with the added experience and a coach that can actually get better play out of his players and that team could be poised to make the 20 point leap to 103 from 83. The canary in the coalmine for that is does Tuch sign an extension. If he does, though this season could be extremely frustrating, it won't necessarily lead to yet another rebuild. If he doesn't, expect all of the "big 3" to want out, and we get reduced to hoping that the supporting pieces have matured enough and whatever the Sabres get back for Dahlin and Thompson and Tuch's cap space round it out, and they pull a Columbus next year with an improved coaching staff. And, am still hoping for at least 1 more move at F, and ideally 2 but realistically that isn't realistic, to give a bit more depth and one of the 3 goalies (most likely UPL or Levi) finds a top 10 or so game, to make everything said above moot. This team COULD make the playoffs, if a whole lot of stuff breaks their way. But with this coaching staff wouldn't put any money at all on it happening. But what a truly frustrating off-season this has been that the expected improvement based on the moves made will result in 4-6 points better than last year; when they really needed to be trying for a 20 point improvement.

Wasn't it reported or at least rumored that Ruff had replacements under consideration for Wilford but the option/s declined?

The Buffalo Sabres have 5,996 games of NHL experience based on their current roster on EP. https://www.eliteprospects.com/team/53/buffalo-sabres/experience/2025-2026/all?league=nhl Montreal is next closest with 6,582 games and then Chicago at 6,945. Edmonton has 10,991 and Florida 12,384 for comparison. The Sabres are not only dead last but outside of Montreal, the next team is 1,000 more games of NHL experience. This team does not have enough experience and Adams has failed in almost every trade or signing where he has tried to add experience because he is a bad gm, with a bad sales pitch. The Sabres will only have 2 players with more than 500 games played, 5 players with more than 400 games played, 12 players with at least 200 games played when they start the next season. That means that almost half the roster will have played less than 3 full NHL seasons when we start the year but somehow we will magically make the playoffs with bad coaching and the what? Shonen Anime trope of willpower and friendship?

I’ve said it before that if the team was “finding ways for it work” in the way you consistently outline, not in similar fashion but literally just employing the mindset and tactics that would lead to the same conclusions your draw, it would necessarily be far more likely to yield a playoff team than whatever malarkey they’ve been engaging in

Plausible. I’ll accept it.

This is an interesting facet of this offseason's transactions: Out: 622 career GP JJP - 238 Clifton - 384 (career 6/7 D) In: 675 career GP Danforth - 183 Doan - 62 Jones - 115 Kesselring - 156 Timmins - 159 Did they get older and more experienced? Not really. Definitely not if Danforth is a scratch. They could be better, but it's another kick of the can into the future because you can't be certain what you're going to get.

With respect to counting on UPL, I agree with you that the GM is taking a big gamble. Not adequately addressing the most important position has put this team in a vulnerable position. To make things worse, he never has had an adequate backup plan if things didn’t work as he wanted to. I hope that UPL can re-establish his game. But I can’t say that I’m confident about him.