dudacek

The best reason for trading Peterka would be the return. Unlike most Sabres his value is at its apex. Unlike most Sabres the return for him might actually help. Also, he’s the best of the bunch, but JJ is also the type of player - smallish quick, skilled, defensively poor winger - we have too many of. So yes, culture change. Now if only I trusted Adams to get the proper return

Greenway playing like a bag of feces against the Sharks knowing he’s about to sign a big deal, then going down with an injury the day after he signs it would be very on brand Sabres.

Trading JJ Peterka now would be like trading Dylan Cozens 2 years ago. 😘

Further to the Benson bit, I am absolutely aware those videos show us what they want us to see, but there was a ton of tape of our Western scout, Lukas Sutter, slamming the table hard for Benson. I can absolutely accept the analytics department clinching the pick, but they weren't alone. Further to that, as much as I love Benson, do we know he was the right pick? (Yes, Jack Quinn has me really questioning my judgement 😁)

Thanks for the reply. I'm reasonably confident Forton ranked Leinonen as the best goalie in the draft. I haven't seen anything to support the idea that Forton pushed hard and convinced Adams to take him over the advice of the rest of the staff. My personal theory is that Adams was highly aware that the Sabres had taken just 2 goalies in the previous 7 drafts. Ullmark had just jilted him. Lukkonnen had bad hips, and Portillo was poised to walk. He had a gaping hole in his goalie pipeline and more high picks than he could use. He was the one who made up his mind he was using a high pick on a goalie. Forton just told him this guy's probably the best one available. I have no proof of this either. I have never seen or read anything on the Benson stuff. Would appreciate it if you could share the source material. Ventura appears in many of those videos. He rarely if ever talks. It's been highly noticeable to me. I've always chalked it up to the Sabres jealously guarding their analytics as proprietary. Can you expand on the McLeod stuff? Do you have more than "McLeod's public fancystats were good, so I'm giving the analytics department sole credit here." His acquisition also made sense from a contract standpoint, a traditional scouting standpoint and a development standpoint.

Did I come across as defending them? That wasn't my intent at all. The Sabres braintrust has clearly done a bad job as a whole. @LGR4GM offered some strong opinions on its individual components, positive and negative, and I am curious as to what fed those views.

Not saying you're wrong, but I always wonder how people develop strong opinions about the guys on the inside. We heard the analytics department was surprised by the Leinonen pick, but not who pushed the pick and why. We hear Karmanos is in charge of the Amerks and was a consideration for the Canucks GM job. We heard Forton wanted McAvoy over Nylander and watched him gush over how Adams makes sure everyone is heard. We've been told how well-respected Ventura was when he was hired, and noticed how his voice is never, ever heard in those proprietary behind-the-scenes videos. Such little information to go on. What specifically has Forton done to be fired? Or Ventura to be promoted? I have no idea what ideas either has been feeding Adams. Or what direction Adams may be giving leading either astray. Karmanos is the associate GM, so, by definition, he is the number 2 guy in the hockey department. Why have you come to these conclusions?

I like the good Greenway. And I am OK with the signing given the teams needs and reputation. But we’ve seen the good version what, 60 games over 2 years? It’s an expensive price for a player who hasn’t been very reliable. The Sabres problems are very much the forwards - specifically the fact that 1st-line winger JJ Peterka doesn’t provide 1st-line level 2-way play and 2nd-liners Jack Quinn and Dylan Cozens have been outright bad at their jobs. Neither Kulich nor Benson are anywhere near top 6 worthy as the final top 6 piece. So yeah, I’m content with Greenway as a 3rd-liner with McLeod, just like I’m content with Thompson and Tuch in the top six. The rest of the top 9 needs a drastic upgrade.

Seravalli tells Vancouver radio this morning the Sabres may flip a UFA or 2 but he'd be very surprised if they moved anyone else. Says they've received no offers they are even considering and the types of trades they are interested in for their other players aren't the types of trades that get usually made at the deadline.

Tonight was kinda the Sabres season in microcosm: They were the better team 5-on-5. The PK failed them when they needed it The PP failed them when they needed it Tuch, Thompson and Dahlin provided offence The rest of the team did not provide enough Dylan Cozens turned what should have been a routine play into a high-risk play that eventually ended up in our net Our goalie failed to make a save when he had to it was close but the Sabres found a way to lose Not really related, but I'm so disappointed in Lindy; he's brought nothing to this team.

Pettersson is to 1st-line centres right now as Dylan Cozens is to 2n-line centres.

Alex Tuch is better player than Elias Pettersson right now and has been all season. Anyone saying differently has not watched the Canucks play very often. Tuch’s counting stats are pretty much identical to Brady Tkachuk’s and his analytics are better. I think he’s the latest to fall victim to “Sam Reinhart syndrome” around here: the old “we don’t win so our top players aren’t good” thinking. I do think that Tuch is much more of a potential flight risk than Bowen Byram in terms of the potential for long-term signing: older guy more cognizant of the limited time he has left in pro hockey, with more leverage in terms of dictating where he goes and how much you’ll have to pay to keep him. So I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s moved in that context. And Jim Rutherford would take Tuch straight across for Petersson’s contract, play, and attitude in a heartbeat right now. I guarantee it.

Shh.. Lets pretend he’s not the 10th-highest scoring RW in the NHL over the past 3 seasons while being a consistent plus player over that span, unlike 5 of the nine guys ahead of him. He’s put up 184 points An above-average 2nd line RW has maybe cracked 100 points in that span. An average 3rd liner has about 50. https://www.nhl.com/stats/skaters?reportType=season&seasonFrom=20222023&seasonTo=20242025&gameType=2&position=R&sort=points,a_gamesPlayed&page=0&pageSize=50 Sabres suck. Alex Tuch is a very good hockey player, who as also been a good Sabre.

It's a statistical evaluation built around the team's linchpin forward. From the article: We’ll begin by identifying every team’s No. 1 center as a proxy for the first line and then examining the results when that player is on the ice. There will be exceptions for teams whose top center has moved up and down the lineup, as opposed to staying fixed on the first line, or has missed significant time with injury. In those cases, we chose a winger to represent his team’s top-line minutes (e.g. Kirill Marchenko for Columbus, Mitch Marner for Toronto, David Pastrnak for Boston, etc). To measure performance, we’ll look at the goals for and against differential when that first line is deployed at five-on-five. As an example, it means we’re looking at how many goals Edmonton scores and how many it allows with Connor McDavid on the ice at even strength. So both offence and defence. It's 'best' in terms of how much the line has outscored the opposition on a per 60 basis. There's a built-in assumption that these are the lines the opposing coach is most concerned about and generally trying to match up against.

I’ve been thinking that lost in this painful season has been the fact that Tage Thompson has been having a fine year. Apparently it’s been better than I thought. The Athletic has published a piece ranking the NHL’s best first lines based on 5-on-5 goals for and against differential over 60. As the thread says, Buffalo ranks 6th. https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6160282/2025/02/27/nhl-top-lines-2024-2025-analysis/ Buffalo Sabres It is almost hard to believe the Sabres rank this high and are still nowhere close to the playoff race. Buffalo’s first line has piled up 3.91 goals for per 60, which is the second-highest rate among all top lines. Tage Thompson’s huge bounce-back has been the main driver — he leads the NHL with 22 five-on-five goals despite having played several fewer games than the players right behind him. Thompson’s linemates have fluctuated — Alex Tuch, JJ Peterka, Jason Zucker and Jiri Kulich have all gotten looks — but most have supported him well. The Sabres’ underwhelming second line (Dylan Cozens and Jack Quinn have had miserable years), woeful 27th-ranked power play, poor defensive play, subpar goaltending and below-average penalty kill are some of the reasons the club is so far out of the playoff conversation despite its top line clicking at a strong level.

They're family.

The Tuch comparisons are apt in my view, because their physical gifts are very similar. Tuch is a far better player (underrated in my view) because he forces turnovers instead of gifting them to the other team, wins a majority of his contested pucks, and makes smart decisions, with and without the puck. Cozens plays with a little more snark. Minus that, Tuch is what Cozens could (should?) be.

The bold is right there in my first paragraph 😁 I was a little surprised to see the Sabres have only lost twice outright (with 2 OT losses) when leading after 2 this year. It felt like more. I wonder how much responsibility Ruff owns for that. When he took over it was a stated goal to teach the team how to finish games. He's .810 (17-2-2) when leading after 2, good for 24th in the league. Granato was 53-1-5 over the 2 previous years, .898 and good for 4th overall.

I'll bite. He is 6'3" right-handed centre who competes hard and can skate and shoot the puck at speeds in the upper 3rd to quarter of the league. The concept of Cozens ticks a lot of scouting boxes. Too bad about his ability to use those tools.

Hard to fathom given our lived experience, but the Sabres are a slightly above average ES team. They are 14th in Shot attempt % They are 12th (at +10) in ES goal differential. They are 3rd in the NHL in goals for at 5on5. Their goals against 5on5 isn't good (21st) but it is almost identical to Carolina and Vegas. Individually they have a number of players that stack up well Dahlin is 4th and Byram 14th in ES points by defencemen. Tage is tied with Jack Hughes and Artemi Panarin, ahead of players like Nylander, Reinhart and Point. JJ Peterka's ES production is the similar to Austin Matthews Ryan McLeod is comparable to Anton Lundell, Alex Tuch to Tim Stutzle and Sebastian Aho Jason Zucker's numbers echo Mark's Stone's, albeit in more games played All five of those Sabre forwards are among the league's top 80 in ES points. All seven of those players save Peterka (-3) are + hockey players; the Sabres are winning the battle 5 on 5 when they are on the ice. Basically, we have three players in significant roles who are failing 5-on-5: Cozens Quinn and (defensively only) Power So why do we suck? Our PK is -32 this year, good for 23rd in the NHL. Our PP is +22, good for 26th We've allowed 18 goals when the opponent pulls the goalie, 1 off the league worst. We've scored just 7 empty netters, good for 25th Basically, we're fine overall playing 5-on-5, but we're a disaster in most areas when we're not.

If you look at the 64ish NHL centres getting middle six ice time (15:40 to 19:10 per game) McLeod ranks 40th in points, 9th in plus/minus Mittelstadt is 35th in points, 57th in plus/minus Cozens is 50th in points, 61st in plus/minus McLeod has been one of the league's best 3rd-line centres. Cozens and Mittlestadt two of its worst 2nd-line centres

Lot of bitching about Adams not acquiring the right players to surround his kids with. i don’t think that’s exactly right. Byram has been a good sidekick for Dahlin. McLeod has been a good 3C. Zucker has been everything they were hoping for in the middle six. He overpaid for Malenstyn, but the guy is what you want in a 4th line winger. The issue is the kids themselves: this management team expected UPL, Samuelson, Power, Cozens, Quinn and Peterka to be rounding out a playoff core by now. None have been better than middling contributors and all save maybe Peterka have been below average at best for where they should be relative to their roles.

And before anyone jumps on me, I’m not drawing any conclusions other than the Sabres are indeed playing firewagon hockey and for a longer period and a higher degree than the OP suggests

I dont think you guys are paying enough attention. Since the end of 13 games that crushed their season, the Sabres have been the highest-powered offence in the league. Over the last 2 months - 21 games - they lead the league with 3.86 goals per game. Only 8 teams are averaging even 3.10. Caps are 2nd at 3.6 and the Jets 3rd at 3.5. Over that same span they are 24th in goals against https://www.nhl.com/stats/teams?reportType=game&dateFrom=2024-12-22&dateTo=2025-02-23&gameType=2&sort=goalsForPerGame&page=0&pageSize=50