[ESPN+ Article on Prospects]

31 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

We had the #1 rated prospect pool when Tim Murray was GM. He promptly traded most of them away for magic beans. Now that Adams has restored that pipeline people want him to act like Tim Murray again.

For those keeping track (sorry to the majority who won't)

From that "#1 rated prospect pool" Tim Murray traded away Girgorenko, Zadorov, McNabb, Armia, Lemieux and Luke Adam.

Personally, I would still give up that entire group for Ryan O'Reilly alone.

But hey, that's just me.

Edit: Missed JT Compher. Doesn't change my opinion.

[GDT - Sabres @ Lightning - Monday, April 15, 2024 - 7:00 PM (EDT)]

Woke up thinking about the kind of goals the Sabres scored last night: hard forecheck, bodies and pucks to the net.

Every single one of them.

🥹

[Some realistic UFA ideas]

8 hours ago, inkman said:

Does any NHL team besides the Sabres have a D core that soft.  Clifton is the only one with any jam, at all.  Teams need to be leery of skating near the goalie.  Dmen actually need to clear players from the crease.  It makes me terribly sad that our defenseman don’t touch anyone.  It’s a physical game.  If you don’t have players that engage physically, you are at a serious disadvantage. 

I agree with this point in general: they ain't mean enough.

Sick and tired of how everyone overlooks Dahlin in this conversation. He's an absolute prick out there and everybody seems to look right past it.

He's 6'3 and always dishing out the reverse hits, facewashes, hipchecks, ramming guys into the boards, sneaky elbows, hacks and spears: he does all that ***** people claim to want and nobody notices.

It was very nice a few weeks back to hear Torterella talking about what a competitor he is, because it seems like nobody notices.

It felt like there was at least a dozen games this year where I heard a visiting broadcaster say "Oh, and now --- is getting into it with Dahlin of all people. There's an unlikely combatant."

No it's not. Watch some ***** games. That's who he is.

[Future Playoffs]

Can always depend on Cal to express the most desolate version of Sabres fandom.

I suspect the opposite would also be true. Hope someday we get a chance to see that.

[GDT - Sabres @ Lightning - Monday, April 15, 2024 - 7:00 PM (EDT)]

48 minutes ago, Thorny said:

Dahlin and Tuch finish tied for the team lead in points at 59 apiece

Dahlin lead in assists with 39

Thompson lead in goals with 29

Some poetry in those numbers about this team, isn’t there?

[Adams & Granato to return?]

I’m obviously interested but I don’t feel particularly invested in who they keep or who they fire.

I like the people well enough and I think the assets are here to make the kind of step the Canucks took this year and the Devils took last year.

(If people don’t remember Vancouver had 83 points last year and the bubble was their only playoff appearance over the previous 8 seasons; the Devils had 63 points and had missed 4 straight and 9 out of 10.)

Just make it happen. I don’t care how. I’ll judge you on the results.

[Adams & Granato to return?]

18 minutes ago, inkman said:

Please don’t tell me you honestly put this much stock in these press conferences. It’s verbal *****. No substance, no real answers. Just spewing corporate platitudes appeasing the masses.  Or not.  They just don’t mean very much. 

I do put some stock in them, not so much as gospel in and of themselves, but as an indicator of what message they want out there, and I also like to read into how they react to the tone and the questions that are posed. What isn’t said is often the most interesting stuff.

Taken within the exact context you describe, you can find a few nuggets.

I would never expect Adams to give me the truthful answers to the questions I posed: those are more my way of telling you fine people what I think his priorities should be and what I care about when it comes to fixing the team.

I’ll get my answers by what he does this summer.

[2024 NHL DRAFT Talk]

1 hour ago, Night Train said:

OK...Grit. ..or size that isn't afraid of kittens. 

This isn’t really about prospects anyway, it’s about wanting more shift disturbers on the actual team.

The number of Tom Wilsons worthy of top 10 picks in the NHL draft are few and far between, year after year. If you’re taking the best one available ahead of a Zach Benson, or an Owen Power, you’re probably not getting the best player.

It’s not that aren’t interested in the type. The Sabres picked Wahlberg and Strbak in the 2nd round last year, they’ve got guys like Miedema, Novikov, Poltapov and Nadeau in the system.

It’s whether or not guys like that work out.

[Is the Defense actually better? Does it matter if it was?]

Always appreciate when the numbers support the eye test.

It felt like the Sabres improved in their own zone this year; if I could say it in one sentence, it would be “instead of giving guys a clear lane and a full second to shoot like last year, they were giving him partially obstructed lanes and a half-second.”

Also interested in the offensive data stating they did not create nearly as much off the rush this year. Am I correct in reading that as they were sending one guy to blow the zone instead of 2? Certainly that would affect the numbers of Tuch and Cozens, who I’ve always found to be extremely dangerous off the rush.

This also feeds into the acquisition of Byram, and type of defencemen they gravitate to: one way to compensate for fewer breakout targets is to employ accurate breakout passers.

Another thing I’m curious about is how the numbers at both ends of the ice compared from the first half to the second. I felt by eye test there were noticeable improvements as the season progressed defensively. I did not necessarily feel the same way offensively.

One would expect a break-in period at both ends of the ice, if we were dealing with a new system.

[Adams & Granato to return?]

I don't need Kevin to make me feel better with rhetoric or sacrificial lambs.

I have three questions I want answered:

1) One of the league's best offence's disappeared this season, apparently for 3 reasons: the power play was awful, the team could never get bodies and pucks to the net to score any greasy goals, and the team's 5 best goal scorers all regressed significantly.

Why did this happen and how are you going to fix it?

2) This team was absolutely terrible in the first period.

Why did this happen and how are you going to fix it?

3) Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen was among the league's best goalies since Jan. 1. Beyond that, the team and its individual players did not post particularly good numbers in any particular part of the game.

What are you going to do to make sure the Sabres won't be so reliant on one man to be the difference between winning and losing?

Good managers diagnose the root cause of problems and they make corrections.

I want to see a plan for addressing these issues and I will hold him responsible for its execution.

[Adams & Granato to return?]

2 minutes ago, inkman said:

 

If Pegula (?) waits until after then to fire these twits, this team is more ***** than I thought.  And I’m not sure I want them fired but make a decision already. 

They won’t make it until Friday if they are getting fired.

I will be shocked if Adams is fired. I don’t expect Granato to be, but I won’t be surprised if he is.

I think public relations demands some form of sacrificial lamb, but I doubt he has it in him.

Im not sure if he can do any better than “we’re committed to our plan and we will be working hard to get better”.

Which ain’t gonna cut it with this group.

[Adams & Granato to return?]

This season played out very much like 2016/17.

A 78-point season of regression after a season of hope that the rebuild was coming to a close.

It resulted in Bylsma and Murray getting shown the door.

I see 2 differences: the internal organization was far more fractured then, the fan base is far more impatient now.

[GDT - Sabres @ Lightning - Monday, April 15, 2024 - 7:00 PM (EDT)]

2 hours ago, inkman said:

I’m happy this ***** show is coming to an end. It may be the single most frustrating season I can remember.  At least the tank years were by design.  What has this abomination been?  

Officially, the 2nd most successful Buffalo Sabres season in the past 12 years?

🎉

[We have the talent. What we don't have...]

Pretty sure it’s the fanbase.

From what I hear half of them are really mean and boo the players and stuff.

And the other half has their heads buried in the sand and refuses to make the team accountable for being so goddam terrible for so goddam long.

 

 

 

 

😘

[GDT Buffalo Sabres @ Florida Panthers Sat. 4/13 5pm ESPN+ MSG & WGR Radio]

10 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

Wrong type of defenceman don't you see that?

I clearly see the argument.

I can also see how that argument falls flat if your three “skill” defencemen can also play good defence.

Nobody said the Robinson/Lapointe/Savard Canadiens had too many of the same type of defenceman. Or, if you want more recent, less once-in-a-lifetime examples, the Josi/Ellis/Subban Predators, or the Hedman/Shattenkirk/Sergachev Lightning, or the Theodore/Pietrangelo/Hanifin Knights.

There’s no doubt Power and Byram have to get a lot better in their own zone. Considering they’ve played 162 and 163 games respectively, I expect they will.

How much better they get will ultimately decide if the trade made sense or not.

[Some realistic UFA ideas]

Just now, PromoTheRobot said:

What exactly is a "proven NHL backup?" Eric Comrie fit that description in Winnipeg.

I'd tend to hope that guy should have a longer resume than Eric Comrie's one 19-game season as an NHL backup. A Casey DeSmith/Jake Allen/Kevin Lankinen level guy maybe?

But I actually think a guy like the Comrie of 2 years ago is the type of signing we're going to end up with: Adin Hill, Laurent Broissoit, Alex Lyon, Charlie Lindgren...

Not necessarily those guys right now, but a guy in a similar situation to where they were a few years ago: 25-30, tasted the NHL, never quite cracked it.

[GDT Buffalo Sabres @ Florida Panthers Sat. 4/13 5pm ESPN+ MSG & WGR Radio]

6 minutes ago, PerreaultForever said:

Well you're sort of right but only partly. No, I don't like the plan. But, while I do believe you build a winning team primarily via the draft, I think you have to build the culture FIRST. That's the part I disagree with. His idea that they grow into that culture collectively is, imo, inherently flawed. 

I also do not believe that just throwing players into the NHL and having them learn that way is the best way either. Most teams use the AHL to teach and players only make the big club when they are ready. Most teams aren't willing to sacrifice entire seasons for "development". I think a roster needs to be balanced between rookies, young players and veterans, pros. Young guys developing in the minors and working hard and pressing veterans for opportunities and jobs. It's the cycle of hockey life. 

When a pile of kids knows they have the jobs and they get pampered and given free reign to "grow" they don't learn that work ethic. They can instead get spoiled and lazy. The competitive pressure just isn't there. In any event I do not think throwing players into the NHL accelerates their development. They need to learn good habits early and they need the proper development paths. Look at Mitts and Thompson. They only started to come into their own AFTER being sent down and humbled.

As for the trades and signings, they are minimal. I do not see Byrum for Mitts filling a need. Perhaps you could explain that? I see it as creating a hole at center. We already have enough puck moving offensive D men. What we need is Samuelsson back and adding another defensive D man, not a Dahlin-lite. All he did was toss Montour away and now replaced him. Holes created and filled like rearranging deck chairs on the titanic. 

I was for the Clifton signing and I think it was fine. He's overpaid, but that's how we got him. That's how you get free agents. Greenway trade was fine, even if his inconsistency annoys me but it's fine. I can't count Tuch and Krebs as great acquisitions because we tossed Eichel away. So far we have less than we had. Maybe Adams had no choice, but it's not a great accomplishment in terms of a plan. There's more tear down than build up there (so far). 

Adams hasn't filled the holes we have and we are a team that imo underachieves due to the poor coaching and the lack of leadership and key veterans on the roster. There are simply far too many errors in the Pegula era and so far, we just swap parts and spin our wheels. 

Like I said, you don't really like the plan and you really don't like the execution 😁.

My only point is that the hand hasn't fully played out yet.

As to the bold, I think we all wanted Adams to use his depth in young, talented forwards to acquire a top 4 defenceman

That's exactly what he did.

You might say (many did) "not that young, talented forward for that top 4 defenceman".

We shall see.

[GDT Buffalo Sabres @ Florida Panthers Sat. 4/13 5pm ESPN+ MSG & WGR Radio]

6 hours ago, PASabreFan said:

If it's often what it looks like, there must be other examples besides Carolina.

There are plenty.

Chicago, Colorado and Tampa cup winners seemed too obvious and too successful.

But they fit.

This year's Vancouver team fits. New Jersey.

The current Winnipeg Jets are product of this method. Ottawa is trying and thus far failing. Montreal has just started.

The Florida Panthers tried and failed in the years around when Pegula bought the Sabres (22 years without a playoff series win, 19 of those without the playoffs at all) and finally got good when they tried a different path

Sometimes it's just the darkness before dawn. Sometimes the sun doesn't rise at all.

[GDT Buffalo Sabres @ Florida Panthers Sat. 4/13 5pm ESPN+ MSG & WGR Radio]

4 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

I want to respond to the last sentence. Giving Adams a "chance to finish what he started" is okay if and only if there is a plan to finish things and the plan isn't simply to carry on until you get enough of your own draft picks to have a winning roster. 

I look at a trade like the Mitts Byram trade and I don't really see it filling a hole or making us better. I just see it as Adams avoiding a potential problem in signing Mitts and getting the best player that was available to get rid of Mitts and that problem. Byram is a highly skilled player, but he's not really the type of player we needed. We already have highly skilled D men with offensive skills. We need defenders. 

It's not like we have a diverse pipeline either. It's highly slanted towards fast, often small or smallish, skilled offensive forwards. To me it's like Adams plan is keep drafting the same guy and maybe if we do that odds are one or more of them will hit and be a star. It's time now to fill the needs of this roster so it's time to make some deals and/or sign some free agents. So if he does that, if things shift in that direction, maybe then I will join you in "letting him finish" but I do need to get a sense that there actually is a finishing plan. It's time. 

Lastly, the coach has to change. Granato may have been a decent development guy but he's not a good game management coach and he's not the coach we need to get to the level we want to be. Change there might also signal a finishing part of the plan. 

I know you and Adams don't like the same players and that makes it really difficult for you to endorse his plan.

But he's hardly building his roster solely through the draft. In the past 2 1/2 season he has acquired Tuch, Krebs, Lyubuskin, Comrie, Greenway, Clifton, Johnson and Byrum to augment his NHL roster and he'll almost certainly add a few more more over the next 2 or 3 months.

They've been a pretty mixed bag and you can rightfully criticize his choices. But it's wrong to imply he's not interested in adding from outside the organization, and Tuch and Byrum say it's wrong to say he's not willing to make bigger moves.

I don't think it's any secret what you don't like is that he has chosen to ice rookies like Benson and Quinn and Power instead of players who are better than those guys right now. But that wasn't the plan. And the plan isn't to keep adding more and more rookies.

The plan was to accelerate the development of Tage, Dahlin, Mittelstadt, Cozens, Quinn, Peterka, Krebs, Samuelsson and Power by letting them learn in the NHL and fill in the gaps in that core as needed.

Other than the 1st 3 players, the development part hasn't fully played out yet. Whether you like it or not, Mitts for Byrum was the first significant move to fill the gaps.

It's the plan itself you don't like and that can absolutely be supported by the facts.

But he hasn't finished what he started.

[Some realistic UFA ideas]

Up front is where I am most active.

Jost, Olofsson and Robinson need to be significantly upgraded and another centre has to be acquired to fill the hole created by Mitts.

I am looking to overhaul the identity of the bottom 6 and want to add two wingers who can bring the speed and hustle of Robinson, but with a degree more skill and a lot more meanness. I’d look hard at Dakota Joshua and Will Carrier: two guys who will punish on the forecheck and get to the net.

My biggest investment comes at centre. I am still banking on Cozens as a legit 2C, and don’t need to bring in an upgrade, but a guy who can fill that role like a Stephenson works. I’m also fine with a more natural 3C. Just get me a warrior who can win faceoffs and score more than Johan Larsson. I think we’re more likely to target this guy in a trade.

Girgs can play for my team if he wants to, but not at the expense of adding the above.

[Some realistic UFA ideas]

Id kick tires on a proven NHL backup to provide a safety net and make Levi earn the NHL.

I think that will be hard because the more capable options will be reluctant to sign with Levi looking over their shoulders.

They will sign someone. Fingers crossed he will be better than Dustin Tokarski and Malcolm Subban.

[Some realistic UFA ideas]

1 hour ago, Flashsabre said:

I see 2C and top 4 RHD as big holes.

Cozens needs to be 3C or RW.

Chandler Stephenson, Monahan and Duchene  are 3 guys that could fill that role.

Demelo, Matt Roy, longer shot:Pesce, would help Power immensely.

If they could add one up front and one on the backend I think it would go along way.

I fully expect UPL-Levi next year.

 

A Stephenson- Roy offseason seems the most realistic especially with Vegas just extending Hanifin.

I HAVE NO CONFIDENCE IN ANY OF THIS HAPPENING 😁

I’m probably in the minority, but I have no interest in adding a big ticket veteran free agent defenceman.

If I could effectively flip Jokiharju or Bryson for a stouter RHD I would, but I think we have our top 4 already and am not ready to make a significant investment in another.

A bottom 4 of Clifton, Jokiharju, Johnson and Bryson as a worst-case scenario is fine by me. Cliffy and Joki as the 5/6 are far from the problem with this team, both have looked pretty good in the 4/5 role in the back half of this season. Bryson appears to have recovered from the disaster that was the fall of 2022 and is far enough away from a top 4 slot to ease my worries.

The quickest, most efficient way to improve is for Mule to play 70 games and Byram and Power to play to their draft status. Power has shown a lot better over the season’s second half. Hopefully Byram will fully embrace the team and the opportunity. I wonder about his friendship with Cozens and whether it will help feed each other’s commitment or do the opposite.

[Some realistic UFA ideas]

4 minutes ago, kas23 said:

Funny thing is we’ll have to pay that 2C what we could’ve paid Mitts. 

Sure, but we will have that C and Byrum.

[GDT Buffalo Sabres @ Florida Panthers Sat. 4/13 5pm ESPN+ MSG & WGR Radio]

37 minutes ago, PerreaultForever said:

So let's address this point by point.

1) negativity to players comes from poor efforts and losing. They win and they get much love. They work hard and they get even more love. Nobody drives anybody out of town (we do not have that power). I've seen every Sabres game this year and every Bruins game. Bruins were booed by their own fans 3 times if I remember correctly. Once quite loudly. Nobody complained or left town. They worked harder. Sabres were booed a few more times, but not really much louder or much more often. Certainly not sustained. 

2)"elsewhere" players are treated better? You must be f'n kidding me. The bar is so incredibly low here. You want to see scorn for your own team and players go look in on a Flyers site sometime. Bruins fans are far more critical. The standard on other teams is much higher. At least most teams. Sabres media is incredibly soft as well. Softer than the team, and that's really soft. 

3)Detroit wrong? Detroit was 11 points behind us last year and they are still alive down to the wire (but will probably just miss). They passed us and they have not had the #1 overall draft pick once, not to mention twice. Best they've had is 4th overall. They are better than us. Not a lot better, but better. 

4)Young as an excuse? They CHOSE to be young. It was a management decision and thus they can be held accountable for it and they do not get to use a self fulfilling prophecy as an excuse. 

The reality is the team is poorly coached, the team is pampered and spoiled and not held accountable (the bar is too low), they keep hiring inexperienced management that learns on the job and makes mistakes. They keep changing plans and deconstructing and then reconstructing in a perpetual cycle. They play soft and have inconsistent efforts. They are simply a badly run organization and a bad hockey team and without  changes, they will be the exact same thing again next year.

Theres a lot in here I agree with and some I don’t, but what I want to respond to is this:

They keep changing plans and deconstructing and then reconstructing in a perpetual cycle.

It’s the single-most destructive, damaging aspect of the Pegula reign and the one that is hardest to overcome. it’s why I really want to give Adams a chance to finish what he started.

[GDT Buffalo Sabres @ Florida Panthers Sat. 4/13 5pm ESPN+ MSG & WGR Radio]

12 minutes ago, Archie Lee said:

You are correct that much of my thoughts are “in hindsight”. I don’t know how else to evaluate the situation.  I was onboard with much of what he did and did not do last offseason. Now that the season is over it is time to evaluate the results.

In hindsight, what’s worse for the future: That Adams didn’t have the urgent conviction of getting this team to the playoffs?  Or that he so badly misunderstood where the team was that he thought Clifton and Johnson were the missing pieces?

Maybe I’m the optimistic one. I think the organization can shift its level of conviction and urgency this off-season. I’m not sure we can overcome a GM who thinks that what we needed to take the next step was to replace Lyubushkin and Stillman with Clifton and Johnson. 

Fair enough.

What I want most from next season is a GM who is right about Thompson, and Quinn and Cozens and Power.