Taro T

Levi was coming to the Sabres this spring as soon as his season ended. He knew it, Adams knew it, we knew it, the peanut vendors knew it. Maybe if he's here a few days earlier they get the 2 points against the Habs. He's had months to figure out how he was going to get his classes finished this semester. He didn't need the extra time to figure that out. But, he did need that time to get to just enjoy the moment. And Johnson has classes to finish up this semester just like Levi does. He even had an extra year to figure out how he was going to deal with that too. He's taking in the moment. As long as he signs with the Sabres, don't really have an issue with him doing so. And, LT, should he sign an AHL ATO with the Amerks this might work out better for the Sabres than had he shown up in Buffalo 2 days ago.

Even sometimes if they do score at the AHL level they won't score in the NHL. Varada is the posterboy example of that. And agree with you. ALL players can be taught to play D (they may flat out refuse to do so, but that's on stubbornness not an inability to do so). Not everybody can create and score at the NHL level and it is way easier to get a guy to stop believing in his offensive talents (especially if he's young when he's brought up and just doesn't have the strength to keep the puck going through traffic and to get a hard enough shot off to beat a goalie from only a good, not a great, scoring chance) than to cause that creativity to blossom at the NHL level. It's going to be real interesting to see how this team plays in it's own end and in transition back towards it's own end this coming season. They'll finally have a goalie that can bail them out when they make a mistake by being overly aggressive. Expecting they'll try to stay aggressive and actually become more aggressive. They seem to let teams have the blue line a lot; expect they will cut down on that and will simply live with the occasional breakaway / 2 on 1 that creates when the defender loses that battle.

Doubt Adams would do that.

Expect most all Sabres fans would take that trade. Which makes it extremely unlikely Nashville would make it. Can't see Nashville trading him for anything less than one of Savoie or Kulich and an unprotected 1st. And can't see Adams offering that after having watched Levi in his 6 games to date.

Essensa was a worse signing. Leino might be 2nd on the list.

With Calgary's win yesterday, the only way the Sabres will be drafting 16th is if they win out, Pittsburgh stays at 90 or 91, Nashville stays at 90 or 91, and Calgary wins the lottery. (Technically, they could also get there by only passing 1 of the Pens or Preds and both 15 and 16 win the lottery. That last one is NOT happening.) So, its down to 12-15 for their place prelottery.

Could be Clague's turn.

Unless that is what the Sabres have suggested he do. Adams is big on the players being in the moment they are in. Levi took 5 days longer than he needed to to sign his deal. Wouldn't be surprised if he's been told by the team to absorb where he's at and don't miss it.

And somebody had posted that Minnesota listed him as 6'0" 190#. Which seems more likely.

No, they will technically call the 65th pick the last pick of the 2nd round that year. Provided no other 1st round picks from either 4 years ago nor 2 years ago walk on their teams that is. Don't have issue with you calling the pick a 3rd rounder as it is pretty close to the beginning of the 3rd and prior to Seattle joining the league somebody picking there would be using a 3rd rounder to make that selection.

Provided you don't show up when the anthems are starting. Only about 2k seats left available which means right now about 2k attendees won't get shirts.

As mentioned earlier, Adams stated that Johnson will be an NHLer and it was up to Johnson to decide whether he wanted to sign or not. The Sabres deciding now that they may not make him an offer doesn't ring true.

Minor point. The compensation should Johnson not sign will be the 63rd pick in the '24 draft; not this year.

Abso#######lutely. They can still get to 91 and personally want to see it happen. Puts them at a spot where one single extra win every other month puts them at 99 points and over an NHL 0.600. One extra win every month puts them at the 105 you've been talking about. Neither of those are crazy increases in productivity overall. Personally expect to be predicting 110 after this season's off-season moves are made, but we shall see what happens. This team as constituted should be able to make at least 105 an internal goal. And it looks a lot more doable with a win tomorrow over the Otters and then ending with a win against the BJ's on Friday than it does with 3 consecutive L's to close the year out. (Even though it really doesn't mean anything for next year.)

Don't recall Adams exact quote now and don't feel like looking it up, but when he was asked about Johnson at the STH event he said that he'll be an NHLer and whether he signs or not is Johnson's decision. He prides himself on speaking truthfully, so would be surprised if the Sabres are now balking on whether to make him a legit offer. (Realizing Lance is usually quite accurate with his stories. Something isn't quite adding up right now. If Johnson really believes he should be guaranteed a spot on the roster next year, well, could see the Sabres walk away from that. But also have a hard time believing a player with his dad actually in the NHL would expect he could get a guaranteed slot onto an NHL team at this point in his career. And can't see many better situations for a young D-man to step into. Yeah, the Sabres will bring in at least 1 more D-man this off-season and hopefully 2, but with injuries and what not he could see some time in Buffalo next year and if he's as good as he expects he'll be then he'll earn a spot soon anyway.) Still would like to see him sign with the Sabres. But if he doesn't, that's on him, not them.

Or they're playing 3D chess here. Let him walk into free agency then sign him as a free agent. Get the player and the draft pick.

Well, wanting to stay an Aisle, and actually doing that when he sees the offers he receives are not necessarily the same thing.

Have been advocating using Olofsson as part of the package to land a 3/4D. If that is available in FA, then convert him into a future asset. Now that they're finally good enough to afford the luxury of a 1 dimensional player, they don't have room for him.

Can't recall if Clague was with the Amerks on deadline day or not. Don't believe he was. If not, he can't play for them in the playoffs either. Levi can't play for them in the playoffs. The only reinforcement that MAY be coming is Johnson.

If that's the case, then trade Olofsson for a '25 1st rounder and hope the team he goes to bottoms out hard over the next 2 years.

My understanding is that he essentially offered what the Otters were offering but he wanted to keep the 1st top 12 protected. He wasn't given an opportunity to match the Otters offer as the Desert Dogs wanted at least one of Savoie or Kulich in the deal and those were deal breakers to Adams.

To the bolded, therein lies the rub. He played well enough this year that somebody could definitely make a claim on him should they try to send him to Ra-cha-cha. And if they try to keep 3 goalies in Buffalo, they could very well find themselves in a position of needing to either place a player on IR (out 7 days minimum) when he's just day to day because they only have room for 1 healthy scratch on D and on O or risk losing a servicable spare part like Jost or Stillman to have a spare guy with the team should somebody's pregame meal not agree with them or send a guy that would've been in the lineup like Quinn or Peterka to the AHL for the day on paper to keep from exceeding the 23 player limit. Expect UPL would garner more in a trade than Comrie would and also that there's a greater likelihood he's claimed if he's sent to Ra-cha-cha. Which is part of the frustration about hardly playing Comrie at all this year. They still don't know if he'd be an adequate backup for Levi should something go kerplewy this season. (They don't know for sure about UPL either, but that's not from lack of seeing him play. If anything, it's the opposite.) So, they definitely need 1 more goalie that they know they can reasonably rely on, but bringing that guy in pretty much guarantees they have to get rid of 1 of UPL or Comrie and they might lose both. (Not the worst thing in the world, but would like to keep 1 or both to have actual goaltending depth should the Sabres need to go 3 or 4 deep in net next year due to injuries or whatever.)

And yet he brought Anderson in two separate times. Neither of which was he "in his prime." Levi is his LT #1. It is obvious when he talks about him. (We all should be so fortunate to have someone look at us the way he looks at Levi.) So, he very well could prefer a Varlamov to a Hill as Varlomov has been there and done that as the starter and also as the backup after being the starter. Every year on the Island he saw his ice time decrease and he's been tremendously supportive of Sorokin. He seems to be the perfect Martin Gerber to Devon Levi's Cam Ward. He can be the mentor and actually win a game or 10 should Levi have a rough patch. Adams philosophy on goaltending doesn't seem to mesh perfectly with his philosophy on other positions.

At this point, that's the potential consolation but it isn't very likely and personally want to see them drafting 6th as they move ahead of the 3 they can still catch and end with 91 and then get a blue chip prospect at 6 winning that lottery for the 1st time ever when they didn't have the best odds of winning it.

Yes, but it will only net them somewhere between 2-6 as they'll end up in the 12-16th slot. (They're currently in 13th; only the Otters can catch them and they can catch Pittsburgh, Nashville, and Calgary.)