Taro T

It did. But only because his 1st year started when seasons normally start. Granato's didn't start until 1/2 way through October. Both their teams turned into pumpkins when November rolled in.

The heck w/ that. Win all 6 & get a week off. 😉

Bandits looked very good last night. The kid who went to Albany is going to be a force. Smith still has it & Vinc still excellent in net. And the biggest shocker of all: Gurtler did really good at pbp. Guess old dogs can get taught new tricks.

Maybe Anderson wouldn't have been interested in coming to Buffalo, but my guess is that they could've gotten him in town even w/ Ullmark. (We'll never know who was right on that coun't, so am willing to agree to disagree on it.) But that makes Dell the guy that isn't brought in & Tokarski is the #3 at best & likely penciled in as the 4. A tandem of Ullmark Anderson would be serviceable & unless all heck broke out, Tokarski would never be playing more than 2 of every 5, which he's shown is a manageable workload for him. And if all 3 went out & they were down to bringing in Subban due to injuries (or maybe even Dell at that point), there is a different vibe w/in the team & they likely do suck it up & find another gear for a game or 2 to get that guy through to having one of the others back. My 2 cents. Totally speculative, but seems reasonable to this kid. YMMV.

In a vacuum, it's a great thought. Problem is, though they're trying to battle through it, & they truly are trying to do that, their defensive play has gone to absolute garbage. Realize that Granato isn't focusing on defensive play because offense is harder to teach/ work on, but it can't be completely ignored IMHO. And as long as they get the goaltending they've been getting they will develop bad habits & continue to reinforce them unless they take the focus off the offensive game. Either or both of which work against the stated goal of "development." Had Dahlin not quit on a single play or had the last game been watchable, probably wouldn't be venting so much (if at all), but both happened in the 1st game after Granato Adams "addressed" the goaltending that he still hasn't addressed since getting hired. Maybe the smart players realize it's going to be a seriously uphill slog & they're a little exhausted from 5 in 7 days (& 6 in 9) & because of that are letting us see just how bad this can get over the next 2 months of a still compressed schedule.

They absolutely should be rolling the 3 pairs (provided Butcher isn't part of 1) as at this moment they have 3 3rd pairing tandems. Would be nice to see them start to specialize the F lines rather than having hodgepodges playing all ES situations as well. At least until they get out of this funk. (Realizing, their scoring isn't in a funk, but the overall game is.)

Firing him at this point simply re-re-re-resets the clock on getting this righted. Really doubt he gets canned any time earlier than after next season & that only happens if next year is as horrible as this one is shaping up to be and he hasn't taken a legit crack at fixing the goaltending. These guys desperately need a few day break after that 5 in 7 & 6 in 9 stretch, but this is as big a break as they get prior to the February shutdown. Provided they aren't getting their psyches irreparably damaged, & they likely aren't, this team is looking to be in good shape 2-3 years from now. Problem is, we've been there for at least 7 years & this collapse is becoming a bad movie that just won't end. Totally get the frustration. Am fully on that train. But just don't see any way canning him today helps in any appreciable way & it could very well put us in even worse shape.

To the bolded, at this point for the players, there are no acceptable/productive alternatives. Adams could continue the search for an acceptable goalie & ideally actually find the price acceptable & pull the trigger. It would be like a drowning man being able to grasp onto the life preserver thrown to him for these kids. There is absolutely nothing any of us or even Adams can do to change the fact he lowballed Ullmark & then only brought in a retirement contemplating 40 yo Anderson & a his best days are past him Dell as the plan B. We're just shouting at the sky right now. But, at least it's something. 😉 Watching Dahlin quit on the SH breakaway & then just look at the rafters as the rebound got passed to the trailer that was ahead of Mittelstadt was gut wrenching. He's really friggin' close to breaking, if he hasn't already. Don't believe that's a permanent condition, but how much "developing" is he going to undergo with that mindset. Adams chose 2 mutually exclusive goals this year - lose while letting the kids "develop." He was walking that tightrope while Anderson was healthy. Without Anderson & now without Tokarski, he's nowhere near the rope and neither Subban nor Dell are going to be the net he needs. (Positive Dell can't be. 90% sure Subban won't be able to be that either.) IMHO, he needed to put more emphasis on the development goal & have preferably a better plan B or at a minimum a realistic plan C. Considering he lowballed Ullmark, not sure there was even a plan A. Agree that players shouldn't be given built in excuses to fail. Really wish Adams hadn't set them up w/ a massive one this off-season. Anderson hasn't played since the 1st game in November. The team didn't crash hard until the Calgary game. (Yes, they were losing before that, but they were in all the games until then. Since, not so much.) So, IMHO, they didn't just accept the losing & quit. But, as others have said, you can just take so much of an untenable situation before losing hope. Adams misjudged how untenable a situation he'd created by not addressing the goaltending. There's a lot of stuff to like about what he's done. But this is a MAJOR failure 2 years running to date.

Minnesota down big against Detroit at the 1/2, but it's Detroit, so there should've been no panic. With 6+ minutes in the 3rd, they get a TD to make it 20-15. Rather than simply kick the PAT, the Vikes go for it & fail. This puts them in position in the final 2 minutes of needed to go for 2 to get to a 6 point lead. They fail that as well. So rather than having a 6 point lead had they kicked the 2 PAT'S, they have a 4 point lead with 1:50 left to play. BTW, Detroit has a rookie kicker in his 1st game. Of course Detroit goes down the field & scores on 4th down as time expires. Had it been a 6 point lead prior to the 4th down then the kicker needs to actually perform to keep from going to OT yet again. Friggin' Chargers of the NFC find another unlikely way to steal defeat from the jaws of victory. NEVER go for 2 before the 4th Q unless you're down by at least 24. It nearly ALWAYS bites coaches in the bippy.

Perhaps. But when healthy he's pretty much matched or bettered MacKinnon's stats on an draft year/age based comparison on typically significantly worse teams. He's also had arguably the worst coaching in the league during the bulk of his tenure.

So, he's going to be Crosby or McDavid when healed? Doubt that highly. MacKinnon when healthy? That's who he's always been when healthy.

If you're right that Adams didn't know what caliber of a goalie Ullmark would be, then he needs to recuse himself from all goaltending decisions in the future. He's been peripheral to the team at a minimum during Ullmark's entire time in the Sabres system and was running the team his last year there. He had all the data necessary to make that assessment. If he couldn't figure it out, Lord help us. Thing is, really believe that development IS roughly as big a goal as the stealth tank is. But by not having competent goaltending the dichotomy of the 2 goals can't be bridged IMHO. And that development goal is on the verge of being torpedoed. (Hopefully that's overly reactionary to the past 3 games, but expecting it isn't. The fear is that Dahlin's the canary in the coal mine. Still hoping, but not very hopeful at present.)

During the season? No, it did not. Pilot walked because he didn't see a path onto the Sabres not because he didn't want to be a Sabre. He walked because he wanted to be a Sabre but couldn't get there. TOTALLY different to your scenario.

On the Ullmark negotiation, Adams made his "final" offer to Ullmark & Ullmark told him that he'd sign it unless it was beaten. There was almost no way THAT offer wouldn't be beaten and it in fact was. Ullmark worked out a better deal w/ Boston. To get Linus to remain a Sabre at that point, he now needed to top this better offer. Had he made the Boston offer before FA hit, then Boston would have had to top that offer, rather than the other way around. Really not sure what's confusing/controversial about that. And, it's pretty obvious that the plan was for a stealth tank. But it's also pretty obvious that Adams underestimated how the lack of goaltending would affect the play of the rest of the team. And it was predicted that it would be worse than he expected and that it would stymie the declared season goal - development. And your fear, as we'd expected, seems to be bearing out frustratingly predictably.

You really think guys would rather retire or play in Russia rather than play for the Sabres? Yes, they have no choice.

Without being in the room speaking with Linus & Kevyn, yes, am positive that Adams didn't make the offer to Ullmark that he signed when he was in position to have that be the offer to match. And, pretty darn sure that the stealth tank is the plan. Which is why people are so irate in this thread.

Yes, he put a value on Ullmark. And we expect that he refused to exceed it. Except the reports are that after Boston offered their deal to Ullmark, he upped his offer to Ullmark. So, he either didn't offer him what he believed he was worth (and remember, he was designated to be their starter this coming season) or was was willing to exceed that value. And, realizing that he does want a "stealth tank" this year, so maybe he could/can identify good goaltending without that constraint of not doing TOO well. (He did trade for Levi & that is looking ridiculously promising.) But with the exception of trading for Levi and having Tokarski as his AHL guy, he hasn't come close to finding an answer for today & neither is an answer for today. And until he finds an answer, won't know he can w/out lucking into it. And the goaltending situation is what had yours truly so ticked about the off-season. Did not agree w/ the reset, but that die was cast. It was possible to have an entertaining product without the "tank fruit" core. But without goaltending, entertainment is hard to provide without something else truly special. And, after dismantling what they had, we were told Ullmark was going to be the piece that would keep the kids from getting blown up. Except they low balled him without an actual Plan B. Guess all that was a long winded way of saying agree with the bolded. 😉

Expect him to do? Not a God blessed thing. Expected him to do? Give Ullmark the contract offer before FA opened that he received after it opened. Hoped he'd've done? Taken a flier on Nedelkovic when it would only have cost a $500 waiver claim. Or better yet, pulled the trigger on at least 1 of the 3 deals he was "close" on back coming out of the leaguewide COVID shutdown. This lack of capable goaltending IS affecting their play. Dahlin was a mess last night. Back in October & most of the 1st half of November he was arguably their best D-man and wasn't a disaster in his own zone. They weren't getting hemmed in every single night when Anderson was still available. They are now. Yes, the competition is tougher, but not THAT much every night. That poor goaltending would affect their play was predicted by several of us here and Adams is bright enough that he should have & likely did realize that as well. And that's why it's so darn frustrating. It was obvious that this was a very likely development.

9 different goalies in less than 1 normal season's worth of games. (79 games) ~2-1/2 wins per goalie. (23) Awesome. 😒

Realize this is Subban's thread, but this is 2x that Dell has come in cold & played well. Wonder how long it would take for him & the other goalies to figure out what Bales was up to if the other guy started every game but Dell came in the take over the next period whenever they were behind heading into intermission. 😄

Khudobin's the big guy that can't move laterally, right? Can't say he'd help much, but if they bring him in, they get 3 things: 1. the Amerks goaltending is quite good by AHL standards & Cincy could have downright Hasek-esqe goaltending by comparison to the rest of the ECHL; 2. the Sabres could go through 6 goalies this year just like they did last year; and 3. Adams will have used more different goaltenders in 2 seasons (1 of which was shortened) than Regier used in over a decade. So, sure, why not give him a shot. 😉

Still believe that as long as the skate stays on the ice, like w/ that play, the goal should count. Scoring is low enough in this league that on a play where there is no safety risk to the other players, they shouldn't cut down on scoring even more.

Is Hagg hurt or benched?

One thing getting forgotten in this is that except for the TB game, in the games that Anderson played, the team didn't get hemmed in their zone much at all. Having faith in the goaltending goes a long way to playing the right way inside their own zone. Fix the goaltending & the in-zone play will improve appreciably. "Fix" the D & Tokarski looks serviceable again. Dell would still be costing them games. The easier & quicker fix is to get a guy in the lineup that can bump Tokarski or Subban to backup & should he ever play again Anderson to that role. It'd take at least 2 other D & possibly 2-3 forwards to cover for the current goaltending. (And this post wasn't specifically directed at you. Just your post seemed a reasonable spot for this reply.)

You kidding? The "snow globe" game vs the Fish was awesome. Ricky Williams ran roughshod in the 1st half. Then it started snowing, hard. And the Fishies quit. Truly awesome. "Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!"