Taro T

Don't recall Adams ever stating that a goal was to not trade for a player on a LT contract. Do you recall when Adams said that?

Personally wanted the whole crew (except possibly Bales) sent into the sun. But not convinced that Ruff necessarily agreed. And really find it hard to believe that a guy like him that has never been shy about speaking his mind, has some of the most gravitas in the entire league, and really doesn't NEED this job would say 'ok, even though I'm getting handcuffed by keeping these clowns and I'd really rather have x, y, or z guy; I'll take the job."

You SURE that Ruff wasn't given any say in the assistant coaches? He's been unemployed for a few weeks, so he very well could've spoken to Adams prior to the decision to just jettison the new guy and reassign Mair's Ellis' duties. He's known Mair Ellis for years, interviewed Appert, and most likely was on board with keeping Bales and Wilford as well. It is the narrative, but is it actually true?

In fairness though to Adams, hadn't Vegas already traded all their good prospects away? Always thought Tuch and the 1st were the big pieces coming back and the 2nd and Krebs were the well they could be good or might not be pieces.

3 of 4 division winners and the one that wasn't has the best player on the planet and one of the other handful of best players on the planet AND got to face a division winner with their 3rd string goalie right now. Strong case can be made for at least 3 of the 4 and at this moment in time, all 4. With all due respect to the team from your hometown, would say if it isn't those 4 the straggler has to be 1 or 2 of Colorado, Vegas, or the Canes.

Who here expects Adams to spend like a drunken sailor this off-season? Can't really claim to have "heard" that here; but wasn't around much for a couple of months; maybe just missed it?

Preaching to the choir. We were told heading into last season there would be an additional emphasis on D. We were also told late in the season that the system being run was the same that was run the previous years under Granato. If you didn't change the base points of the system (positioning, coverage, when to make the decision to leave the zone, etc.) to improve the D, but you have an emphasis on better D; AND your F's noticably don't drive to the net but rather retain control of the puck; Occam's Razor says you've made a conscious decision to maintain puck control limiting transition back against your team. Which while it will/ should make the D seem better as they don't get burned on odd-man rushes as often as in the past; it also will forego a lot of transition scoring for your own team.

Except for some minor adjustments due to play, not injuries in the 1st round, the Canes never had to change their roster until the very end of the SCF when they managed to activate Eric Cole as the injury replacement. That was an unworldly run of good injury luck. Plus, they were going to lose to the Habs in round 1 until Justin Williams high sticked Koivu in the eye costing him the rest of the series. Habs didn't win another game after Saku was unavailable.

They ALL pulled up and waited for help / looked for the teammate with the clean shot away from the net rather than go for the contested shot in the slot. When 1 or 2 guys do it, it's a confidence thing. When they ALL do it, it's coaching. And it's probably a big part of why the D couldn't handle pucks going below the goalline - they never worked against it except in games. The answer to improve the D seemed to be to become a "puck possession" team. But puck possession simply for the sake of puck possession usually backfires as you squander opportunities to get high danger chances and the other team doesn't respect that you will attack, so they can pressure and pursue away from the net with little fear of getting burned. Provided the NHL hasn't passed Ruff by, there is a real good chance that the team will be improved simply by playing an NHL game and by having the kids a year closer to their primes. Cozens could be one of the biggest beneficiaries of the coaching change. He'll likely have Quinn stapled to his side most season and he won't be expected to avoid driving to the slot.

Pretty sure Patty Kane is eligible for a 1 year deal with bonuses (either due to age or games played) that would fit almost exactly as to what Adams has indicated he wants to bring in. Maybe having Ruff as the HC makes that happen this year. Find a 3C via trade or FA. Then bring in somebody cheap for the 4th line. Would still like to see a vet to compete with the 2 kids in net; but really doubt that happens. And Adams is on record several times saying how pleased he is with the D they have. So, really not seeing $'s spent on an outsider there either. The cap will go up a LOT next year. Hopefully Peterka, Quinn, and Byram don't end up getting bridged; but if 1 or 2 of them have to be to get to the point they're finally rid of Skinner's contract; so be it. They CAN buy out Skinner next year, but personally am expecting them to only buy out year 8. The East only has 5 good teams right now. So, simply having a legit system (or systems based on personnel and situations which Ruff will switch up), not having Gary Busey draw up the PP, and the youth being a year older SHOULD be enough to get that into the playoffs. If it isn't, well, guess we get to meet the new GM. As somebody around here ( @Thorny maybe?) likes to point out, this team's true "competing" window sure does seem to be aligned to Levi's timeline. They're going to shoot for the playoffs this year, but don't believe they're honestly shooting for Lord Stanley's Chalice this year; and if they do make the playoffs, unfortunately, that will be good enough realistically.

Could be. But he seems to be a pretty bright guy. If he truly reflects upon what could've been done differently this past season (just looking at game night adjustments: bring in an assistant that has a bloody clue about how to run a PP, being one; matching lines from the get go when at home rather than in just short segments of games being another; and doing something (ANYTHING) different right before the game starts to get the team ready to come out of the gate flying, being another; certainly there are things he could've done differently in practices as well), he could still at least be a good AHL coach. Not sure if he'd be too stubborn to make those sorts of changes though.

But that $17MM isn't going to go to 7 skaters. It's going to 3-5 and likely only 3-4. Plenty of $'s to bring in what he's been talking about bringing in.

Was at that one. Old man got tix to a few games from a buddy of his at the beginning of the season and it turned out that one was a pretty good one to go to. We were in the 2nd last row of the entire building (3rd, if we count the SRO behind the Oranges) but there were no bad seats in that barn. And still pretty cool to have witnessed history in the making in person, even though it wasn't the kind of history we wanted to necessarily be a part of. People very often forget that it wasn't just Gretzky to get the hatty that night. Nice to see the Twitterer note that Gilbert had a hatty as well.

Hopefully you like your new parents better than the old ones. Do you actually have to move to AZ though to make this one happen? 😉 Keeeding. That's truly awesome. Congrats!

If the 3rd line consisted of Benson & Danault, even if Skinner were the other winger it would still be tough to play against and it would generate a lot of chances itself. That '06 team had a 3rd line that was very tough to play against - the RAV line. It wasn't tough to play against because it was bashing guys skulls in. It was tough to play against because it had a ton of fire power for a 3rd line.

And Adams SHOULD be trying to improve the middle 6 (2W & 3C ideally) which will necessarily make the bottom 6 better too as a guy like Benson might now slide to the 3rd line. Really good teams have guys that can play in the top 6 outside the top 6. It wouldn't take a lot of change to let Buffalo be one of those teams too.

If Skinner isn't making $9MM / year does anyone see him as a #1 LW at this point in time? They can't trade him. Really doubt they buy him out (this year). So, he's going to play somewhere on this roster. He generates a higher percentage of his own chances than most other wingers do. Let him get 3rd line usage and the decrease in output due to having lesser linemates should be more than offset by his facing lesser opponents. His screwing up his linemates chances will also be less harmful to the Sabres than him messing up the top line's scoring chances. Skinner to the 3rd line seems like a win-win-win.

Guess that timeline will likely rule out Peca. (If he were even in consideration for the role with the limited about of experience he currently has.) He could be busy right up until the draft if they can find a way to get past the Swamp Cats.

If Granato were still here, would expect the D pairings in October to be: Byram - Dahlin Power - Jokiharju Clifton - Samuelsson with Johnson (or a proxy for him so he can be playing while waiting for an opening) and Bryson the spare pair. No good feel for who Ruff will put with whom, but do expect (at least to the degree that they can with only 1 true stay at home D-man out of the 8) an offensive-defensive tandem on each pair. Lines - pretty sure we're looking at Peterka - Thompson - Tuch Benson/New Guy - Cozens - Quinn Skinner - 2nd New Guy - New Guy/Benson Girgensons/4th New Guy - Krebs/3rd New Guy - Greenway With Krebs the spare F who could slot into any bottom 6 role in a pinch (the rub being just how well he could handle that; maybe he'll surprise being a year older). And still expect there's a pretty good chance that 1st New Guy is S. Buffalo native Patrick Kane. Adams was sure he had him last year until the team stunk out of the gate. Could see, just like Tuch wants to, Kane wanting to play for Ruff.

Each of the last 2 seasons (at least) every game leaguewide was on ESPN+. A handful made it to ESPN2 or ESPNU, but even those would be ESPN+ games as well. Am expecting (hoping?) they'll all be on ESPN+ next year as well; but have no idea what sort of contract the NLL & the Mouse agreed to.

And yet, Adams has flat out stated, ever since the trade deadline passed and apparently on several occassions that he wants to add a top 9 (top 6?) W and also a bottom 6C that is good on the PK and at the dot. Considering Krebs has continued to be underwhelming am really hoping that bottom 6C is another top 9 guy. Then, there could be 1 or 2 other additions to recreate the 4th line to have "an identity" though am not as convinced as others are that 1 of those 2 isn't Girgensons. Expect that he will bring in those pieces, though they may be underwhelming. Am not convinced he makes any changes to the D unless sending out Johnson or Jokiharju is necessitated to bring in one of those 1st 2 pieces. And am not convinced a vet NHL netminder gets brought in to compete with Levi &/or UPL. But do expect to see some changes in the F ranks.

IF Adams is right about how talented the young team he's assembled will be when they're hitting their primes, there's a reasonable chance you'll see one. If the coaches Adams has hired and the 2-4 vets he brings in this off-season aren't good enough to help that young team he's assembled get into the playoffs this season, we may never find out whether he was right or not as the direction will change once again. It's cool to want a SC for the Sabres. Pretty sure we all want to see that. But this team is going to need some serious luck to have that be the result of the '24-'25 season. And if nothing short of competing for a SC is enough, this upcoming season will almost certainly be a disappointment for you.

Probably.

Pardon the pun, but that was a serious dick move on Byram's part.

One thing getting neglected in your discussion w/ @Thorny (& btw, absolutely love it when you 2 are in a debate - it's always great stuff) is that the '21 Sabres wouldn't have been nearly as bad had they NOT considered an injured eyed Hutton to not just be a quality NHLer but a quality NHL STARTER. The quality of the skaters was FAR above the quality of the goaltending (especially when Ullmark being out injured is factored into it). Give that team a legit coaching staff (something we have not seen in Buffalo through Adams 1st 5 seasons) and a legit NHLer to go with Ullmark and it wouldn't have been the disaster that went 18 games without a W. Though their record was similar, they were NOT the '22 Blackhawks. And if that '21 team had been able to be kept together, they weren't that far away. Get a goalie to pair with Ullmark and Danault in FA and a couple more pieces and even though that '21-'22 team probably wouldn't have made the playoffs with losing Eichel for 1/2 a season; they SHOULD'VE been able to get in that next season. Goaltending, Eichel and Reinhart entering their primes, Dahlin and Montour along with most of the rest of the support pieces that team would've had would've been pretty good on paper. (They don't play on paper, obviously, but the talent on that team that got blown up was in reality a lot closer to the 81 point paced squad we saw the prior year than the 0.350 one we saw in '21. MHO. Clearly, ymmv.)