Taro T

In large part they will run it back. But they CAN'T (they really can't, right?) be planning on having a team that if everything goes right then they could sneak into the playoffs; so they can't just run it back. Goaltending has to be set. It's possible that UPL will regain a year ago's January form; but even Adams doesn't seem to expect that. In that GR interview he said he really believes UPL CAN BE a top 15 goalie. Top 15 isn't where he was there (it was actually better than that; he was like top 5 when he was in his all too brief grove); but it seems telling that the GM views that as the ceiling he's willing to expect publicly. It's possible that Reimer can do what he did down the stretch; but expect the odds are better that some regular from this board ends up winning the Sabres alumni's 50-50 draw opening night. Levi still is likely the future, but can't believe Ruff will go along with gifting him the starter's role heading into camp. So, they pretty much have to either spend player/prospect capital on a guy that has been a top 15 (or more ideally top 10); or spend capspace on a FA that'll be more of a crapshoot. Personally would trade UPL in either a different deal or in the deal for that guy that is reasonably proven and bring in a Reimer to back him up with Levi biding his time 1 more year; or would trade Levi in that package (that one would hurt, personally) and pencil in UPL as the backup. Would do what it takes to get another top 6F in house (ideally a C, but a W can do) and would also bring in another Greenway caliber player. Would also finally get a partner to play with Power. They may see Bernard-Docker as that guy; but personally would rather see more of a vet for that role. Expect Byram and Peterka will be pieces going out the door to make some of these other moves that are necesary; but not happy about losing either (Byram because Power will probably take 1/2 a season to get even to where he was and it likely means that Samuelsson is back with Dahlin next year; and Peterka because he's fun to watch). Lines would be something like: Kulich - New Guy - Thompson Zucker - McLeod - Tuch Benson - Krebs - New Guy 2 Malenstyn - Lafferty - Kozak Spares - Norris (when in, bumps Kulich to 2nd Line and McLeod and Krebs each down 1 line with Lafferty or Kozak odd man out) and Greenway who bumps New Guy 2 to 4th line and Lafferty or Kozak out of the lineup) and because one of those 2 will almost always be out, normal spare is Quinn or a kid called up from Ra-cha-cha. Samuelsson - Dahlin Power - New Guy Bernard-Docker - Clifton Spare - Bryson (yuck) Maybe give New Guy to Dahlin and slide B-D to 2nd pairing and Muel to Clifton pairing with bottom 2 pairings effectively 2/3 interchangeably New Guy 3 Luukkonnen With all new assistant coaches who can actually implement a defensive system and run a PP that isn't bottom 5; is that enough to get into the dance?

WHEN HEALTHY, sure, it'd be fine to have Norris on the top line. You know, we know, Adams knows, and Ruff knows they can expect to have him for ~50 games but can't EXPECT him available for 1 game more than that. So, they need to enter the season with a guy they aren't just hopeful that he can be adequate in that role when Norris is out but expect that he can actually be good in that role when Norris is out. (And notice, not IF Norris is out, but WHEN Norris is out.) They'll probably get close to 120 games out of Norris and Greenway combined; but they HAVE to build a roster that doesn't NEED either of them in it to be effective. It'll be a challenge because those 2 combine for a lot of salary cap; but it isn't impossible. They'll have Benson, Kulich, and Krebs in the 12 and none of them will be making much and they'll also still have Malenstyn in the bottom 6 along with Lafferty (he can't be as bad next season as he was the 1st 75 this year, right?) and somebody else not making much money. And courtesy of Norris' 30 or so missed games and Greenway's 20+ missed there'll be a lot of opportunity to tap into LTIR should the need arise. Trade Byram for a top 6W or trade some package for a top 6C and then either sliding Thompson to C when Norris is out or having some combination of Kulich/McLeod the 2C when Norris is out and you'd likely be able to still have an effective F group as you'd have Tuch and Zucker also in your top 6 and sliding Benson into the 2nd line for 30-40 games should still leave you OK in the top 6 and other guys could slide into there for a couple of games (maybe you'll even get lucky and have Greenway available when Norris isn't available). Don't really want to trade Byram (especially with Power's early season quality of play in question) but they can't go into the season with Norris pencilled in as the 1C for 76 or so games. Past history says he won't get close to that many games in. Bring in another vet for the middle 6 via FA or via trade of a 2nd round pick and then figure out what to do with the last bottom 6 slot those games that Greenway will be out or somebody else is out and your're ok there.

Would be perfectly fine with giving Peca a shot on this staff if Ruff wants him here. He CAN'T be any worse than the bozos they've had working for Granato and Ruff the past 4 years. Would REALLY like to see them add 3 or 4 highly rated younger coaches with them knowing that one of them will be Ruff's replacement after the season. (And yes, know THAT won't happen; but they should be able to find at least one and likely 2 that would be significantly better than "heir apparent" Seth friggin' Appert.) Hoping they clean house. Believe it's possible they'll clean house. Will believe it'll actually happen when they tell us they've actually cleaned house. (And Adams has shown a willingness to do so in the past. Granted, it wasn't of staff he'd had a hand in bringing in; but he's been the architect of a rather deep house cleaning already. And personally, don't see Adams getting punted this off-season. But what a rush it would be if that expectation isn't correct.)

Not thrilled at the thought of Reimer coming back next year UNLESS UPL has been traded and they've brought in somebody else to be the presumptive #1. Would still rather they get someone younger; but if Reimer wants to be back and he's CLEARLY pencilled in as the #2 behinds somebody that would be viewed outside SHK III Plaza to be a legit #1, he'd be a decent plan B or C for the backup role.

The 4 game losing streak came after the "early renewal" period. So, doubt THAT factors in much at all as to whether people renew or not. As for the compete (intensity) level; fix the coaching and you'll fix a lot of the compete issues. Moving towards the median on team age would help in that regard as well. Fixing the goaltending too would be hitting the trifecta. Know Ruff would like to see the 2nd item addressed, he's pretty much advocated for hit; expect he'd like to see the 1st and 3rd addressed as well though haven't heard him actually state it out loud.

Fair read. Another thing that was interesting at the B&GI's was Ruff saying (and am paraphrasing here) when asked about leadership from the players (in relation to 1 of the leaders getting traded and another being healthy scratched earlier in the year) that things look different from inside the organization than from outside and his preconceived notions on some of the players that he'd developed from playing against them were off. And he did mention how the team did have a lot of leadership, mentioning Greenway and Zucker by name as guys that helped the team's leadership group; personally got the impression that if he had it to do over again he'd likely have either just gone with Dahlin, Tuch, and Thompson as the captains (C,A,A) or added the other 2 mentioned to those 3.

Can't and won't speak for anyone else, but after Quinn got Peterka's 2nd goal called back for goalie interference and then Tuch got called for the trip with ~2:26 to go that the game was going to be a complete microcosm of the Sabres season. Came out of the gate much better than the opponent. Got kinda lulled to sleep in the 2nd period after building up a 4-1 lead in a game the opponent was ready to just quit especially had the Sabres scored on the PP to make it a 5-1 game; but instead they gave up about 4 glorious chances on their own PP and eventually gave up a shortie on it and then let Filly score right off the opening faceoff in the 3rd to make it a game. REALLY expected Filly to tie in, especially when the puck bounced to Michkov (sp?) in front of Reimer in the last minute; and then to lose in OT. But they hung on and Alex Tuch's special night didn't get ruined. (And, turns out Ruff got the 900th win of his career. Should've happend against the Loafs, but that night their goalie stood on his head when the Sabres weren't fumbling away chances that he'd've had no humanly possible chance to stop. Hoping THAT's all out of his system; the Loafs going on a deep run would really stink. F them AND ESPECIALLY their fans.) Cheered them on; but really hope some major changes to the coaching staff happen this off-season; a defensive minded / 2 way D-man is brought in to partner w/ Power should he get back healthy from the leg; a veteran top 6 guy come in (ala Zucker); a veteran middle 6 guy (ala Greenway) come in; and they bring somebody in to be the pencilled in starter. They can't go into next season with any of the 3 they have now just given the reins. (Hoping now that Miller seems to have more ties to the team/organization again that he gives UPL the number of his sports psychologist, couldn't hurt any.) AND that they figure out a legit plan for handling 1C when Norris is out the 30 or so games he's going to miss. Kulich showed this week that he simply can't be that guy at this point in his career against legit true NHL #1 lines.

Wadr, don't believe it was anywhere close to 50-50. Would say it was 3 or 4 -1 Loafs fans to Sabres fans. Though it was interesting to see ~1,500 or so empty seats. Not sure if it was because it was a Tuesday and folks had to work the next day so didn't want to drive down or some other reason; but it seemed to be the most empty the barn was for Sabres - Loafs in years. (And, its been a while since this kid's been to a weeknight Loafs game; so maybe it was a standard issue crowd. Always go to the ones on the weekend; and those are fully packed.) As for the "covert mission of ... diplomacy" am quite convinced everybody in our section was (at least all the Yanks were) definitely part of it as there was a grandfather, father, and 7 year old kid that were doing their darnedess to let the kid cause all their arses to be kicked but that didn't happen. The kid's screaming non-stop at the top of his lungs in a voice that was only about 2 octaves higher than Victoria Jackson's SNL personas for his team was annoying, but nothing out of the norm. (And hey, you have a ticket, cheer away.) BUT his spending the better part of the second 1/2 of the game screaming "Buffalo you suck" repetitively was starting to get a wee bit annoying by the end. Not surprising the dad was wearing the same Loafs jammies as sonny boy. Just shocked he wasn't wearing a hockey helmet up in the 300's to go with the jammies.

Hoping they called Primeau up. He was by far the difference in the game they clinched the division.

The reasoning given back at the B&GI's was that per the CBA the team can't force them to stay in Buffalo in the off-season (that rings true) and that they had limited communications with the individual player's personal trainers in the off-season as well (which didn't seem as true). At that, Ruff said that he plans on taking a significantly different approach to the off-season. It sounded like he wants the players and team to agree to individualized training plans; which one would've expected was already happening. Would really like to see the entirety of the coaching staff under Ruff (with the POSSIBLE exception of Bales) canned. But wouldn't be surprised if they only can some of the training staff (gotta have scapegoats) while bringing the rest of the staff back en masse. And, can believe that some of the players didn't "train the right way" through the summer as so many of them are kids, they might simply not know any better and the fact that they're pro athletes in their early 20's (for the most part) would have them getting faster and stronger simply by getting closer to their primes. But IF that is actually the case; then a WHOLE lot of management and the hockey department need to be gone; because THEY aren't kids and SHOULD know their roles within a professional athletic program.

A few items Adams said that caught this kid's attention. Mentioned they need to find a partner for Power. Also mentioned the shake up of the D was to see if Samuelsson could regain his 'top 4 level of play' or something to that effect. He projects the roster will be close to the cap next year 1 way or another. Adams was very noncommittal as to whether Byram would be back. Personally expect this is because if Samuelsson can be effective as Dahlin's partner over the final 20 or so games (or however long they keep the experiment going before giving up on it once again) then Byram is going to get traded this off-season either for a piece to improve the top 6F's and a package will go out for that guy to play with Owen or he'll be directly traded for that partner for Power. If Samuelsson CAN'T get back to what he was about 3 years ago, expecting they do re-sign Byram to give Dahlin a partner he's comfortable with and they either try again in FA to find that 4D or they get one in a package. Wouldn't be at all surprised to see Peterka part of that package trying to fix the D (too much smoke yesterday to believe there weren't some embers there). And am not expecting much of any other moves in the off-season as raises to guys coming off ELCs and bridges up the overall spend. Would really like to see at least 1 more good vet F come in, but haven't looked at how the rest is going to have them situated against the cap. (And with that said, likely will see people again sometime in April.)

There is ONE item that is earning Ruff a pass on this debacle of a season. The team almost always scores the 1st goal. They're ready to play. That wasn't the case the previous few years. The HC sets the tone. The assistants install the X's and O's. This team hasn't been able to figure out who is the X and who is the O in their own end since at least Krueger's tenure (and THAT team had no idea how to play beyond its own blue line). Every single AC (w/ the possible exception of Bales but would lean towards canning him too) should be gone. If Adams could get Gallant to take over as HC, then sure, can Lindy too. The fact this team is so young falls on Adams. The fact this team still doesn't execute effective systems is on the coaching staff. Again, the HC (or somebody, am expecting it's the HC, maybe it's somebody else) typically motivates them well enough to get out to a lead. And then the other team settles in and the wheels fall off. And being too young with no clue how to adjust within game explain away a large portion of that. Add a veteran partner for Power (will have something to say about that in the Adams presser thread) and add another Zucker ideally or at least another Greenway and fix the mf coaching staff and then let's see what they can do. Those changes might be enough to get them to a point they don't need to roll box cars 10 times in a row to make the dance.

The issue with trading for futures at this point is 2 fold: 1. The kids need to learn how to be pros at this level and there are precious few guys that have been around / have been a part of a winner at this level that sending the few they have out the door quite possibly lengthens that learning curve even more - so is the SLIGHTLY better player they end up with or slightly better fit to where the holes on this roster exist worth the increase in the learning curve on how to be a pro at this level? And 2. Does anybody fully expect that Adams will be able to work a 2 moving part trade to the Sabres net advantage at this point in time? Both of those make a trade for futures at this moment "no bueno" IMHO.

Sadly, that does seem to be SOP at 1 Seymour Knox III Plaza.

Which is so maddeningly frustrating. He let the Bills players earn about $12MM worth of bonuses in the last RS game of the year. And he sat on Skinner's $6MM the entire year. Were he to have been willing to weaponize some of the crazy amounts of cap space he's thrown away every year of the Adams era the Sabres could be sitting on easily the deepest prospect / pick pool and they'd be in a spot to make about 4 McLeod for a reasonably highly rated prospect deals which would improve the current team (read next year's club, this season is done) and they'd still have a deep prospect pool. It's beyond time to give the team more than a lottery ticket's chance of coming through into the playoffs and relevancy. The Bills are a team NFL players want to be a part of; the Bandits are a team NLLers want to play for; the Sabres are the J-E-S-T jest Jest JEST of the NHL.

Presuming your question is Sabres specific. With the possible exceptions of Jokiharju, Greenway, &/or Zucker could see the Sabres go the entire deadline with no moves other than something that might bolster Ra-cha-cha's chance of winning the Calder. Would figure Jokiharju going out the door at ~50%, Greenway ~15%, and Zucker ~8%. Making a true NHL hockey trade ~5% (with Cozens making up 80% of that and Samuelsson the bulk of the rest of it). Doing anything else <1%.

To a degree. Still expect that having a true top 4 veteran D-man who is preferrably stay at home or at minimum a solid 2 way guy to play with Power would do wonders for the unit overall. Getting 1 more Zucker preferrably or even another Greenway for the top 6 would be 2nd on this kid's list. Why are ANY of the coaches not named Ruff (and possibly Bales) still employed. What have ANY of them done to improve the output of this (or any other recent) Sabres roster?

80's. Pretty sure PART of the issue is with revenue sharing, both the owners and especially the players have a significant incentive to want to increase immediate revenues at the expense of using the broadcast availabilty to not just increase revenues today but to build a loyal future customer base that will lead to increased revenues in the future as well. Players careers are short and roughly every extra $1,400 in league revenues is an extra $ in every player's pocket.

Umm, violation of the Logan Act. Not saying they should be prosecuted for it, but that is what legitimate charge would/could be brought.

Yes, there were claims that Housley was a D coaching genius, but it NEVER made any sense. That D that Nashville had was absolutely stacked and they were great before Housley ever showed up. He didn't make them any better than they'd already been. He also had nothing to do with Rinne and Saros being absolute studs. Claiming he was a genius was akin to saying Adam Gase was one because Peyton Manning liked him and played well when he was his OC. Sure, people said it, but they were oh so very wrong.

Depends on whether you do the early bird renewal every year or not. If you do, it's ballpark a 5% increase (just like every other year) taking out the fact that they're selling 44 games (41 RS, 3 exhibitions w/ barely 50% NHLers playing) vs 43 (40/3) last year. Don't know if it'll be worth renewing but they were better this season about promoting the perks of being a STHer. Expecting that'll be the case again next year. Again, not sure that'd be enough to flip the switch from no to yes for anyone else.

Would be very surprised if the Sabres make more than just a small move along the fringes of the roster. They have more prospects than they know what to do with and absolutely don't need to get any younger so it isn't likely they'll be sellers. They'd need to win about 20 of their last 25 games to have any shot at the playoffs and that ain't happening so they aren't going to be buying a rental. Really don't see Adams going anywhere this offseason so don't see him being in desperation mode, again leaning towards them not buying a rental. Maybe there's a real hockey trade to be made like the Byram for Mittelstadt deal last year a smidge before the deadline, but can't see a team looking to trade a 1 for 1 guy that is on the same timeline as what we'd be sending out and can't see a point to getting the younger guy AGAIN so don't see that happening either. Used to be one of the funnest days of the year. Not even sure will even be spot checking in for updates on what happened that day. We really are in purgatory, aren't we?

Htf do the cockroaches always survive? Like that Ruff has them ready to play from the get go almost always. Hate that the same schmucks that couldn't teach X's and O's the past 2 years (once by choice and once by ummm not choice) were brought back this past season. Would really like to see some serious up & comers brought onto the staff and absolutely hate the idea of Appert being the heir apparent. Back to the thread. Expecting very minimal changes in the roster before October. If Levi has to clear waivers, Reimer is definitely gone. Could see Jokiharju leaving as they try to find a true vet with either stay at home or 2 way pedigree to take the 4th D role. Not expecting any changes at F providing Zucker and Greenway are willing to come back. Would really like to see at least one more Zucker/Greenway brought in to help teach the youth how adults play hockey in the best league in the world. Wouldn't be surprised if we don't even get that. 100% expect Adams and Ruff both back.

How ####ing hard is it to go with the obvious: the Utah Fighting Mormons (Mormen?). Either that or play off the Jazz with the Utah Punk Rock. They could use that same logo that was proposed for the Hockey Club. 😉

Pretty sure we're reacting to the expectation that the guy assembling the roster may be considering him a 1C; as he currently is this team's 1C.