dudacek

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.

I wasn't referring to play style, more demographics. All their top producers are kids having career/breakout years and they've more or less employed a no-blocking strategy, with those kids lining up in the key roles Matheson is the only veteran D playing more than 18 minutes a game, Evans the only veteran forward playing more than 15. And sure they've got guys like Gallagher and Savard, but we had guys like Okposo and Craig Anderson.

Montreal is having pretty much the year the Sabres had two years ago, with a roster built of similar pieces at similar ages with similar expectations to start the year. It will be interesting to see who continues to grow and how they are supported.

One of the things that I cling to about Benson is how many people around here said Sam Reinhart was too slow, too weak, couldn't stay on his skates and couldn't shoot. Sam's NHL totals before he turned 20: 22 games played, 2 goals, 4 assists, 6 points Zach's NHL totals before he turned 20: 131 games played, 21 goals, 32 assists, 53 points And Zach has another 16 games available to add to that total.

Any interest in veteran former captain who can put up 30/30, always scores on the PP, is one of the league's best at faceoffs, has had a positive X goals for 7 straight years, and has never had a negative Corsi in his career? John Tavares is available this summer for nothing but cash.

A playoff spot, naturally.

Benson talks to it more in this interview. https://www.nhl.com/sabres/news/buffalo-sabres-zach-benson-fights-jason-zucker-jordan-greenway @Stoner your corporate messaging comment certainly applies in this message ^^^ from headquarters. I have no worries about Benson. Let’s see if this continues with his peers. @LGR4GM also some underlyings in there to underscore your faith in Benny. The kid is fun to watch. God knows the odds say someone in this massive group of 15 1st and 2nd round picks in the past five years has to break out. That is if God was a Sabre fan.

I haven’t done any research, but I’m struggling to think of a team that has backslid in consecutive years the way the Sabres have that didn’t react with an executive housecleaning of some sort. My only hope is how certain most of us were at this time last year that Granato would be back. Appert is exactly the opposite of what’s needed. And it pains me to say, but Lindy in any capacity is not the answer.

Most preseason lineups had Krebs in the press box. I believe that happened the first game of the season and not once since. He’s 4th on the team in games played. A part of that is the poor play of others, but we shouldn’t overlook the strides he’s made. He’s become an above .500 faceoff man. He is among the team leaders in hits and cut down his giveaways to the point of being one of the better players in that area as well. His analytics are OK in tough zone starts, he’s shown some versatility in terms of where he can play, he’s going to finish with 20+ points, and he’s generally going to give you energy and effort. Its not what we wanted him to be when we acquired him, but he is one of the few young players who has improved over last year. Small victories For sure, but as a 4th liner, he’s been fine.

Context matters. If you watch the actual interview, he was specifically talking about the team being more focused on/better at having each other’s backs. This was a commentary about improving the team’s “pack mentality” through on-ice behaviour like Krebs going after Howden, not about the trade deadline.

Any one recall the last time the Sabres brought that level of grit - yes, fighting, but also pushing and pushback in general - in consecutive games?

I'm very curious how Adams reacts if this smoke about JJ's unhappiness is true. He's publicly stated the team is in a 'new phase' and he's stepped back from 'blocking' concerns. I wonder if he has also stepped back from "only players who want to be here" as well? Are we in for a summer of trade rumours? Will other teams see Buffalo as a good offer sheet target? Will JJ court one? Most of the fan base will be melting down if it plays out in that direction because JJ is one of the few young players fulfilling his potential and most of you are clinging to the notion we can fix this by trading Quinn or Samuelsson or Rosen. I don't want to see him traded for a Jordan Greenway and a pick, or overpaid out of fear, or an offer sheet not matched because of Pegula/Adams stubbornness about "wanting to be here'. But I've grown tired of people complaining about the mix while at the same time pushing back at any real attempt to change it. I don't want to trade Peterka, but I would give up his goals and speed for an equal level of stops and grit. A Peterka trade — really any trade — could and should be looked at as an opportunity to make the team better. Just make my team better. Please. Good GMs capitalize on these situations all the time.