Taro T

And IF Norris can stay healthy AND Kulich doesn't have any of the sophomore slump, the Sabres could actually have a good C spine. But they REALLY need to stay healthy AND they can't regress (even a smidge) and that includes Krebs there. One more item Adams MIGHT have in OK condition, but soooooo many things have to break his way for us to be able to say it is.

Yeah, but Dahlin had a mean streak as a junior. Back when he was the same size (or bigger) than the players he was up against he had a bit of nasty in his own end. Now that he's the same size (or larger than some) as those he plays against he has a bit of nasty in his own end. Power's never been that guy. He's much more in the European Lidstrom or Tallinder mold.

It WASN'T the same offer the Sabres made. It was better than the Sabres offer and then Adams attempted to match that offer. So, at the end of the day they both made the same offer; but the order in which the player gets them is significant IMHO. And the Sabres should've offered 1 more year than Boston in either case. Maybe then Ullmark's wanting change at that stage of his life is overrided. Maybe it isn't. But if the Sabres make the best offer, and he still leaves, then can absolve Adams for messing that negotiation up. But Adams didn't, he MATCHED the best offer.

If he didn't get his head out of his bippy this summer, absolutely. But would rather have him on a line getting 3rd line usage than one of the top 2 lines in either case.

Actually, expect the NIL to affect the USHL more than the ECHL. But we shall see. Could really see it doing a number on the USHL as it would no longer be as attractive an option to kids that want to play college hockey but need a little more seasoning. If they can just go to the CHL (especially if it expands into a few more US based cities) could see that really effecting the level of play in that league.

Personally, expect the Sabres to try to set McLeod up with a good 2 way game and have that 3rd line be the defacto 2nd line. (Similar to how Drury's line was used back in the day.) With the 2nd line being younger and more offensively focused. (Like the RAV line was used.) Of course, expected that exact same thing last year and it never materialized. So, who knows. Especially, if when the Byram saga is written and they land a Rust (or similar) to add to the top line. Rust - Norris - Thompson Benson - McLeod - Tuch Quinn - Kulich - Zucker Doan - Krebs - Greenway

Wadr, not a chance. Even with baseball becoming a much bigger NCAA thing than it was 20-30 years ago, college ball isn't anywhere near replacing the minor leagues. Hockey's been on a similar model to how baseball is organized since forever. Can't see NCAA replacing minors either. Just don't see it happening.

Again, we're in Act 2 of a 3 act 1 GM play. 😉

Don't believe Lidstrom is a coach. He'd be a great mentor though should he be willing to do that. The guy that would be the ideal coach would be Mike Ramsey. But he's not leaving his beloved Minnesota. Wonder if they could convince him to be an advisor and just come to town for TC and conversations every so often via Zoom or the like.

Well, that's a big part of why IMHO Wilford needs to go. He needs a coach that will force him to start to do that. Could've sworn that Power has said that a big part of his lack of aggression comes from being much bigger than the other kids when he was in youth hockey and getting called for penalties any time he'd do anything more than just look ath them. He needs the coach that will force him to actually engage and also needs to hear about it everytime he holds the puck for 4 seconds just standing there when the right pass was available 2 seconds in. Pretty sure he's a bright guy, so he should be able to figure it out. But both of those he needs to be coached to trust himself to make that play and know that if he takes a penalty, it'll be forgiven (most of the time) and if he trusts himself to put the puck into a tighter area that will allow a teammate to really create chaos that an oops on that pass will get forgiven way more than going to a safe outlet 2 seconds later with that opportunity gone will.

Yes, and no. By bridging him and Reinhart (ostensibly because ownership was worried about cashflow in the heart of the pandemic) the Sabres created the situation where they both decided they needed a change of scenery (and Montour did and McCabe did and ...). BUT had those 2 been given real contracts at the time, really doubt that they and Eichel all want out that next year. Totally get WHY ownership would be hesitant to make the LT offer at that time. Their wealth was tied up in non-liquid assets. But had they done so, well rebuild #2 might've actually worked. Botterill's love of 3rd liners for 3rd rounders wouldn't really have done much, but a team built around Eichel, Reinhart, Dahlin, and Ullmark would have a great core to be building around.

Would agree with thtis IF he hadn't gotten injured right at the end of the season. Not sure that he'll have the full development this year that we are expecting/hoping. Hopefully that's just erring on the side of caution / not getting our hopes up; but expect we might not see the improvement from him from the get go like we would've had he been able to train properly the entire summer.

But, it worked for the Swamp Cats. Having Alex as the backup HAS to be a plan.

Yep. Billionaire owners and ran one of the lowest team salaries in the league every year but the 1st year Adams was the GM (and apparently this year too; but will wait until all the dust settles to say that for sure) and never ONCE took on a bad salary for a prospect or a pick nor acted as the intermediary in a 3 way trade to take on salary for a prospect or a pick. And every single time that cap space that they hoarded every year evaporated the day the regular season ended. Wouldn't it have been nice to have 2 more 2nd round picks, 1 more 3rd and another Savoie that could've been moved for players to help today? But courtesy of buying out Skinner in a season they didn't have to and in a season they didn't bother replacing his salary, they're running with $4MM less cap space than they could've and next year they run with $6MM less cap space. Soooooo frustrating. They may get lucky one of these years; maybe even this one. But planning on getting lucky when you aren't Leonardo DiCaprio probably isn't the best plan.

No, do not address goaltending in the abstract. Address goaltending in the NOW. And btw, by not addressing it once in 5 years, he STILL isn't addressing it NOW. The set of years that covers the last 5 also includes now. He has not done addressed goaltending in the now one single solitary time. Not with anything more than a HOPE that it MIGHT work. Well, he brought it Comrie - a career backup. Well, he brought in Anderson - a 40 year old. Well, he brought in Reimer - at this point, a career backup. Well, he brought in Lyon - a career backup who's high point is a platooned starter. Notice a trend here, perhaps? He literally brought the guy that played way above his typical level and kept the Sabres out of the playoffs in '23 to keep them out of the playoffs again in '26. He has set the Sabres to have a strong possibility of having good goaltending somewhere 3-5 years from now. IF he's really lucky, they'll have good goaltending next season. But if they miss the playoffs again this year and next waiting for that 3 year down the road goaltending savior to show up; guess what, they lose Dahlin and Tuch and Thompson. They'd be in a better spot than they were in '15 or in '18, or in '21 when they retooled as they've got a legit farm club this time and those players would likely bring something back in return; but you're looking at a playoffless drought at that time that ends up dwarfing the Bills playoffless drought. Would love to see Levi dominate this year. Having watched him some down the stretch, am not expecting that yet. So, realistically, we're looking at UPL and Lyon as the tandem. That looks like a top 24 pairing. Yes, they could catch lightning in a bottle and be a top 12 tandem; and then the Sabres have a shot at the playoffs. But for crying out loud, how about JUST ONE ####ING TIME in FIVE ####ing YEARS start the year with a tandem that is EXPECTED to be TOP 12. JUST ONE ####ING TIME. At some point, don't you get tired of them being below average for almost an entire decade and a half? Like Morissey asked:

3 years left. No remote salary cap issues this year or next. Likely none in year 3 either as the cap will be significantly higher by then. They can only retain a little over $2.5MM anyhow as the salary is just a smidge over $5MM. Where the Pens currently are, don't see why they wouldn't want an extra pick or prospect for the If the Sabres were to land him under that scenario, it would essentially cover the Skinner cap hit 3 years from now and a little over 1/2 of it this year and a little over 1/3 of it next year.

Wouldn't be surprised. Would expect the Pens would have to retain salary, and they probably would want to as they've got a full 23 man roster signed with over $15MM in cap space left.

Now, now, be fair to Mr. Adams, whatever could he POSSIBLY have done differently? We KNOW there were no other options available because he didn't do anything differently. We, and he, are left with raising our arms and shouting at the sky because there were LITERALLY no other options available to him.

He's had 5 YEARS to address the need. What is the excuse the OTHER 4 years? Yes, it is easy to come up with hypotheticals. It's even easier to just shrug and say "well, there's absolutely nothing he could have done."

Hated, and still hate to this day, losing Ullmark.

So, YOU'RE the one that made Zucker take that penalty that blew everything up at the end? Sheesh, like the soup Nazi says: No Sabres for YOU!!!! 😉

Really? A guy pencilled in to be the backup as he's been a career backup pretty much every year in the league except 1 where he was the definition of a platoon starter is your example of Adams "addressing goaltending." This team sets itself up annually to in a best case, if everything goes right to have a 100 point season. And EVERYTHING never goes right, ever. Realize it was a tough ask this year to put a goaltending tandem on the ice that would be clearly better than last season's tandem as the few goalies that moved aren't worldbeaters. But Vancouver, at a minimum, is in a place that they've essentially got 3 GOOD goalies and are on the verge (1 year away) of only have 2 spots available for them all. Why not make an offer that they can't turn down, ideally to land Demko. But if not, to land the backup that they locked up LT. Get yourself a little breathing room to not need every single thing go right. Why not make an offer on somebody else (other than Gibson; he won't come to Buffalo and he fades badly down the stretch)? If the Swamp Cats needed a goalie, you know darn well that Zito would've found a way to get one. Vegas would too.

We're all hoping for that. Hope ain't a plan.

You ever see how good he is on this tire fire? Imagine what he could do with teammates that can play this sport.

See, that's the thing, IF Byram is traded (and persoanally expect that to be less likely by the day, but it is still realistically possible) really expect him to be traded for a package that returns about $6MM worth of salary. Except for McLeod, they don't make trades where they get the best player. (Want to say there was one other small one that the Sabres got the best player, but darned if it's coming to mind right now.) So, $6MM, $1.5-2MM, & $1.5-2MM of which only $0.5-1MM counts against the cap initially though as injuries hit, they'll burn that back. So, somewhere a bit above $3.5MM in space. If Byram gets an $8MM award and they keep him, they're looking at ~$2MM in cap. So, the pointless buying out of Skinner last year lets them appear to be spending to the cap on players this year. (Technically they will be close, but they'd be well over $6MM below the cap without that hit.)