thewookie1

I'd say its a bit of both. It's an accomplishment for Dahlin in regards to his skill and stamina But an indictment of depth; but more so after Power's return. Prior to that we were down our #3 & #4 or #2 & #4 depending on your rank of Power and most teams aren't equipped to simply replace those minutes with AHLers.

I think to start the year it also was a perfect storm of injuries, trying a more defensive system, and some goaltending variability. Usually teams have their core players go through downturns at different times but we effectively had everyone cold for the first two months and seemed unable to escape it. Goaltending was between a rock and a hard place; to get Levi to sign we had to promise him a chance to make the team and after his solid starts last season in clutch situations Adams really couldn't argue that he wasn't ready and jettison him to Rochester day 1. (This was mentioned by a few ESPN analysts when talking about Levi's agent being very much against Buffalo bringing in a vet goalie. UPL, thankfully still had supporters on the staff, and Comrie was sort of just a guy who they had expected at least some degree of competence out of. Granato needed to certainly do better at snapping them out of the funk they were in, how I have no idea but that's what the staff is paid for. Veteran leadership is a very amorphous measurement since it can only be judged based on the success you do or don't have. While Erik Johnson hasn't been Teppo Numminen by any means, he was the type of move I hoped for when Pesce denied us for a depth role. (7th/8th Dman) Clifton brought his experience from Boston as well so I can't say Adams didn't even try to bring in more experience. Where he stumbled was bringing back Jost and not bringing in a body to fill in for Quinn.

A combination of 3 things: 1. Thompson, Cozens & Tuch Issues early - Thompson's offseason was likely delayed by his end of season back injury; he is a proven slow starter as well but by the time he got going he ended up hurt 6wks + (Only since the All Star Break has he looked more akin to himself) Cozens went into the season feeling the weight of his new contract as well as Quinn's injury and overplayed everything to start the year, became agitated and got his face broken by a much bigger Flyer, couldn't see the puck with the full bubble and didn't seem to settle back in until Quinn returned and seemed to reset his brain. (He's weird sort of center who thrives on playing a more "winger-like" north-south style and does so when with Quinn and Peterka or when he plays wing/center with Mitts) Tuch's early season issues seemed to keep him slow and less explosive and I honestly don't think he really knew what to do without his above average speed to help in forechecking. (If you put cinderblocks on a guy who plays a very fast paced pressure style; it isn't going to look pretty) 2. Eric Comrie, and the unstable goaltending situation - Levi and UPL played very inconsistently with Levi actually having the Goalie lead for quite some time. Add that to Comrie's continuous issues both due to himself and the team's inability to give him goal support seemed to create a nigh-endless teeter-tauter. Additionally, due to Vasilevskiy's injury, Tampa was hunting the waiver wires for goalies (especially when they had to start random dudes) for any NHL goalie. 4 teams including the Sabres were literally trapped with 3 goalies to prevent Tampa from poaching them. And since Levi was in the Top 2 and they wanted to still give Comrie a shot, we ran with 3 goalies. I believe if Tampa had their goalie, Comrie is likely sent down mid-November and then brought up occasionally until Levi either seized the job or lost it. This uncertainty undoubtedly caused the players to feel less comfortable to take risks. 3. Overachievements in 22-23 didn't just level out, they went the opposite direction. People here have claimed all the career years were bound to regress to the mean; and there is merit to that in regards to players like Tuch and Skinner but for younger players, career years aren't finalities and can just as easily be breakout seasons to lead onto greater achievements. However, instead of basic regressions and experience gain we've had catastrophic underachievement in part due to injury as well as unusually bad luck. Teams rarely take a nose-dive in GpG between seasons like we have and the power play's inability to function seemed to sap the confidence out of the team. Injuries not only derailed players like Dahlin, Samuelsson and the three mentioned earlier but eliminated Quinn entirely while leaving lines in shambles adjusting the losses. Once you lose your confidence and start pressing, things are only going to spiral however this team seemed perpetually trapped in a wind tunnel never bottoming out but never getting anywhere either.

Yeah, honestly I want a Stolarz or Dostal type 1B style backup for next season and let Levi cook in Rochester the whole year.

The Montour one was hilarious as well, an ENG SHG and then he scores with less than a minute 5v5 with a goalie.

Bastards won

Frankly I disagree only because the players seemed very positive about Levi. If anything I’d say Comrie’s performance was more of the stab in back versus them going in disinterested.

When I was a child I was a huge Nascar fan; especially of my favorite driver, Dale Earnhardt. One of my favorite parts of Nascar wasn't truly the crashes but watching the pit crews and drivers try to get the car back out there again during a race. Something about seeing a car with its back spoiler and "trunk" being held on by tape to the back window. For what ever reason that was just so cool to me. However when Dale died I lost practically all interest in Nascar. In the end my favorite crashes were always the ones with no injuries but a cool damage that the crews need to try to fix to keep it going.

It was more the fact Benson was interfered with which cause him to trip the guy than the actual trip I believe. Montour gave him a full side hug which cause Benson to lose his balance and poke the skates out from under the other Panther.

Levi was promised an opportunity to prove his readiness UPL needed waivers to get to Rochester Comrie was the vet of the 3 When Vasy got hurt, 4 teams held onto 3 goalies due to Tampa lurking. The rest is agreeable

Well it was talked about for months so obviously he had an interest.

No, McDavid is a different story but Draisaitl is only under contract 1x8.5 and he's going to be asking for a metric ton

My guess is Edmonton offered the 1st, not us.

Sorta with both of you simultaneously; the Sabres have looked slower and somewhat stiff these last few games yet I also definitely see that unwillingness to give up persona they showed last year. A low energy variant of it at very least.

I frankly don't have an issue with the outcome. We had no need for Bush with the acquisition of Clifton + E. Johnson and got a 4th in 2025 To get a 3rd in 2025 the Ducks required deadline pricing, and 50% retention.

Leafs traded a 3rd and 6th to get an analytics nightmare but a good dude.

Well at very least this wasn't another Scandella situation. We got a '25 4th for full price Bush Anaheim gets a 3rd for a 50% off Bush.

Gutsy win. I'm getting this weird feeling that had they played looser to start the season we'd be in the playoffs atm. Last year we won games with high scoring games and struggled with close games. This year we've actually looked better when teams started to lock things down after Jan 1st.

As much as I wish to agree with you, we may need all 3 retention slots for our own player trades.

Don't know enough about the prospect to make a comment on him Actually its a 3-way trade '24 2nd, Artem Grushnikov and the Conditional '26 3rd (transfers if Dallas makes the Playoffs) goes to CGY NJD retained 50% of the remaining 50% of Tanev's contract and got a '26 4th from DAL for the trouble DAL got Tanev at 25% and some guy named Cole Brady

I get the sense this was a contract argument that went public.

Well average players aren’t going to cut it if I’m trading a high tier prospect. That’s how you end up trading Filip Forsburg for Martin Erat

Guy has elite talent and pedigree from his draft spot and junior stats. Barring injuries he’ll at worst bounce around for 5 to 10 years based on how GMs view Top 10 picks. Just look at Alex Nylander and you can see how much better Savoie is. If I’m trading the kid I’m not taking a run of the mill 3rd liner

That’s my guess; either that or he’s literally insane based on some of his posts.