dudacek

They thought they had 3 top 6 centres and 3 top 4 D. They thought they were trading from a surplus to address a weakness. Whether they were right or wrong - Power, Cozens and Samuelsson didn’t live up to their expectation - the reasoning wasn’t mysterious.

How is it disingenuous? The 15,000 was pre-lockout. The season post lockout was 16,000 and something. The 2018 was after 6 straight years of no playoffs. The point was not about Buffalo’s attendance not growing as fast as the rest of the league, or about how it compares to Boston, we are discussing a fan mutiny and I was giving relevant context.

its not that I don’t see these things happening, it’s that I have seen them happen before and I think we tend to feel them more sharply when it is happening to us and those around us. And it’s certainly true that every wave of mutiny further erodes members of the fan base beyond the point of no return. And the failures of each rebound reduce the likelihood of the next one igniting (or re-igniting) new fans. But I think that following that process through to its nth degree does not end with pressuring Pegula to fix the Sabres, it ends with the Sabres ceasing to exist. It’s open question how resilient the fan base is, but the evidence suggests it is stunningly resilient. It’s still averaging 16,000 fans a night after the most stunning run of ineptitude imaginable. 14 years? And this team is actually better than about half of the other teams they’ve iced over that period? This ain’t Phoenix. The business may have bruised K-9 and many other hardcore fans beyond repair, but how many of the 1 million or so potential fans they are selling to are actually so embittered that they won’t buy a ticket if next year somehow turns into another Drury/Briere type run? People forget that the average attendance 20 years ago was a shade over 15,000 and the Sabres put more butts in the seats during the awful 62-point 2018 season than they did during the glorious 2006 season. Breaking this fan base would be the height of enormity. Call me stubborn fool, or call me a sucker. I’m not going to argue. I’ll endure the best way I can. But they ain’t going to break me.

What battle are you talking about? The battle to get the GM fired? The battle to get Terry to do something? The battle to keep your self invested as a fan? You’ve got power in all those areas. If you’re talking about the battle to fix the Buffalo Sabres you have about as much power in that battle as you did in the Sabres win last night. And no, that doesn’t mean you should stop trying. I may disagree with how that trying might manifest itself, but I don’t believe that even the biggest eeyores on this site have done that.

What is actually different from last year around this time in terms of fan attitudes? They re-ignited us a little by hiring Lindy. Just like they reignited us before that with all the goals and the mad dash to 9th by Granato’s kiddie corps And with Taylor Hall and smiling Ralph Krueger And by adding “generational defenceman” Rasmus Dahlin To go with “franchise centre” Jack Eichel And Kyle Okposo and Ryan O’Reilly and Ristolainen/Zadorov and… Fan outrage and apathy probably will force Pegula to do “something” but fix the team? I don’t buy it.

I’ve seen this movie before. I think the “I just want them to burn so badly he’ll be forced to fix it” posts are silly. If he knew how to fix it, he would. From Terry’s point of view, I’m pretty sure there’s not much difference in the state of the fan base now and when he fired Tim Murray. ”Mutiny” and “some hope” have been nadir and apex we’ve vacillated between ever since as we’ve cycled between promises and failures. Neither has “forced” Terry to do anything. He’ll do what he wants for as long as he wants to.

To me it looked like the Tkachuk line dominated whoever they played against. It also looked to me like Lindy was willing to live with that because he thought he was going to win the battle against Ottawa’s 2nd and 3rd lines. That was about as evenly balanced as you could make the Sabres top 3 lines. Ive been wanting a Benson/Thompson combo to be a thing forever; their skill sets match so well and that’s currently the franchise’s best hope for growth up front. I forgot how much chemistry Quinn and Peterka have. Brought me back to their Rochester days and hoping I might see it replicated in Buffalo. McLeod is a good choice for their centre, but I hope Lindy can shelter them a little better. And maybe the option of a healthy Norris/Tuch combo on the other line would allow them to do that? *** Note to reader: this does not mean I think we’re suddenly on the right path and everything is fine. I’ve watched 60+ games and read the board too and believe me, I do not need anyone else reminding me again it’s not. Forgive me for interjecting a bit of “maybe this might work” into our regularly scheduled “it’s never going to end” programming. The opportunities have been few and far between.

The Toronto based Insiders didn’t watch Dylan Cozens play for Buffalo the past 2 years, but they did see him fill the net at the Worlds and the World Juniors, and the draft hype documentaries about the Workhorse from Whitehorse. It’s not a Canadian bias so much as a bias toward what you've seen and how it made you feel, amplified by your neighbourhood echo chamber. So basically no different than any other segment of society.

Lot of overthinking here. McLeod seems like the definition of a good 3C. Pay him like one, use him like one, support him like one.

Yep, don't read that as 4 stars, and don't read it as in addition to what we have now. Don't focus on the exact trades here; I'm not even sure I'd make these moves, it's just a rough illustration Three moves: Peterka and Samuelsson to the Rangers for Will Cuylle and K'Andre Miller. Byram to Calgary for Rasmus Andersson Sign John Tavares 3 years $7.5M Don't get bogged down on the moves themselves. I'm not trying to make you like these particular deals. It's really more about proposals that aren't outlandish: the types of players we might be looking for, approximate values our pieces might return, and changing the identity. The trades are kinda modelled on Cozens for Norris — good players who come with question marks. Let the GMs figure out the sweeteners. If we've got one thing it's the throw-ins pieces to complete a deal. Cap's not a worry. These moves leave you with about $16M to re-sign McLeod, Miller and Cuylle and to add pieces around the edges. To round out the lineup, you could plug Benson in as the final top 6 forward, shop Quinn for another blueliner, and make Kulich wait his turn, or force his way past the rest like Krebs did this year. You've got Norris, Tavares, Cuylle, Andersson and Miller instead of Cozens, Quinn Peterka, Byram and Samuelsson. Can't guarantee this improves the overall talent level of the roster, but it significantly changes the identity. I'm just trying to show Swamp the possibilities, assuming we've got a GM who can identify what might actually be the right moves, then execute them.

Been there. Done all that research, but you're fighting a losing battle. My favourite is "Alex Tuch is a 3rd-liner on a good team." Alex Tuch is the 10th-highest scoring Right Wing in the NHL over the past 3 seasons. Stanley Cup champion Florida's 7, 8, 9 forwards in scoring last year got 35, 27 and 15 points (Lundell, Luostarinen and Cousins) respectively. None of that matters. People think it's still a 21-team league and Stanley Cup winners have 3 20-goal scorers on their 3rd line.

It would seem to be the most Sabreish thing to play hardball with an unheralded player they watch emerging before their eyes while ignoring lack of same with their touted high picks. Yet this is the same leadership that went all in on Tage Thompson, so perhaps that comment isn’t fair at all. I just wish I had more reason to trust their judgement.

The only thing that keeps me resolute in these endless dark times is your unwavering faith and steadfast optimism.

i said it in more detail up-thread: I add 2 top 6 F and 2 top 4 D by moving any required pieces not named Dahlin and Thompson

Passing definitive judgment on a 7-year contract one year into said contract is kinda silly IMO. The entire point from the team’s perspective is you pay more than you have to now in order to get more than you paid for later. And given the status of the Sabres organization in terms attracting and retaining talent, locking up premier homegrown talent you believe in long-term and early seems to be a prudent strategy to me in general terms. I wish it was what we had done with Sam Reinhart. Easy to jump on those particular deals in hindsight. Just like it is easy to say in hindsight the Thompson extension was a great one. Given the pedigree and trajectory of Cozens and Power at the time of those deals, I have no argument with Adams making those bets. We’ll see how they look in 2029. Given the pedigree and trajectory of Samuelsson, that one was poorly conceived from the get-go. There was no need for it. I shrugged at the time because I liked Samuelsson, but it was clearly coming from a place of hubris. Kudos to those who called it out for what it was at the time.

Again, we have about $24M to work with - more than half the league. You’re looking at this through extremely rigid parameters. The solution is obviously trades and we have cap flexibility to make them. We don’t have to keep any of the free agents, we don’t have to keep any of the already signed players. Qualifying offers for the 7 RFAs total something like $10-12M. Only Byram and McLeod have arbitration rights. Yes, we are vulnerable to offer sheets, but only if our GM lets it get to that point. The only way we have “no money to work with” if we sign our RFAs to big long-term deals and roll back the same roster.

If I was named GM, I would be ecstatic to be handed a team with : A an elite NHL goal scorer in his prime, locked up to a bargain contract B an elite NHL defenceman beginning his prime, locked up to a fair contract C a large cache of cheap young talent accumulated over the Adams period D a fair amount of flexibility under the cap I would take a long hard look at the rest of my "core" and flush a large part of it in order to acquire players that help me now. (yes, like Adams did with Cozens) This means shopping: Byram and Peterka as in-demand talents needing new contracts who might be redundant. Samuelsson and Quinn as the most broken/disappointing pieces from the current build Alex Tuch as a soon-to-be UFA aging out of my window UPL as a guy I'm not entirely sold on as my future a top 5 pick in the coming draft Owen Power as my most valuable remaining asset I'm not giving these assets away, and I don't have to trade them all. But i want to see what they can buy me, especially if I can offer some futures or eat some cap to upgrade at their roster slots. And I have to move some of them in order to send a message . The goal should be adding 2 new top 4 defencemen and 2 new top 6 forwards for the new coaching staff to work with. You're not going to get that by clinging to the broken dreams of the current roster. Fix the chemistry. Rasmus and Tage deserve it.

Are most of you resigned to more of the same? Or does Pegula’s presence on the road trip mean something? As in: He is considering replacing Adams and wanted to spend more time around the team to get a sense of where it is? He is considering Adams’ plan for fixing this and wanted to spend more time around the team to get a sense of where it is? The yacht is being painted and Beane and McDermott requested some quiet time before they presented him with their draft board. As I’ve said before, it is hard to remember an NHL team that has charted the same path as the Sabres have over the past two years and didn’t make major changes.

I’d give up Matt Savoie

Athletic look based mostly on 5-on-5 goal differential. https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6217351/2025/03/22/nhl-top-defense-pairs-rankings/ It’s a shame that the Sabres are clouded in negative storylines because Rasmus Dahlin’s ascension as a superstar defenseman probably deserves more league-wide recognition. Buffalo’s top pair is crushing opponents, controlling nearly 56 percent of shot attempts and 57 percent of goals. Dahlin is clicking at a near point-per-game rate while also driving high-end defensive numbers, which is impressive considering the club’s overall defensive struggles. Bowen Byram also deserves credit for excelling in a supporting role as Dahlin’s partner for most of the season

If you struggle to attract free agents from elsewhere, signing your own at least protects an asset and covers your ass from the potential for having to replace Greenway, Zucker and Bryson with, say, Craig Smith, Tanner Pearson and Kale Clague? That’s all I got 🤷. Any big changes this summer were and still are always going to be about trades.

Has Topias Leinonen shown the most improvement of any prospect this y3ar? 13/10/1 with a 2.31 average and a .910 save percentage and 4 shutouts (5, 6, and 2 among starters) splitting the starts this year is pretty solid. But he seems to have grabbed the reins entirely down the stretch and into the playoffs. eliteprospects has him with a .929 S% over his past 10 games and .946 over his past 5. To be clear, these are Swedish D2 numbers, but Sweden seems to have been good for him after being absolutely brutal in Finland the 2 years since he was drafted.

Among the 40 defencemen who have played 55 games and average 22 minutes TOI a game, he's second in the league, behind only Aaron Ekblad https://www.nhl.com/stats/skaters?report=penalties&reportType=season&seasonFrom=20242025&seasonTo=20242025&gameType=2&position=D&filter=gamesPlayed,gte,55&filter=timeOnIcePerGame,gte,22&sort=netPenalties&page=0&pageSize=50 But the other thing to consider is how penalties are a two-way street. From the same sample, Dahlin is tied with Makar for 1st in penalties drawn. https://www.nhl.com/stats/skaters?report=penalties&reportType=season&seasonFrom=20242025&seasonTo=20242025&gameType=2&position=D&filter=gamesPlayed,gte,55&filter=timeOnIcePerGame,gte,22&sort=netPenalties&page=0&pageSize=50 Overall, most of these guys are a net negative in penalty differential. Dhalin, at -2 is pretty mid in 20th https://www.nhl.com/stats/skaters?report=penalties&reportType=season&seasonFrom=20242025&seasonTo=20242025&gameType=2&position=D&filter=gamesPlayed,gte,55&filter=timeOnIcePerGame,gte,22&sort=netPenalties&page=0&pageSize=50

1) They have a crazy number of misconducts padding their stats (see MJD's post above) 2) nobody fights anymore so the Sabres 21 majors actually rank relatively high

I think it shows what a small role the Donnybrook plays in today’s game. Id bet good money the Sabres were nowhere near the top prior to piling up 114 minutes in their last 3 games, 83 of them versus Detroit. That’s more than 1/10 of their total minutes for the season in a single game.