dudacek

I believe the experience gained this year, coupled with the additions of Levi and to a lesser extent Greenway and Stillman is enough to put them in the playoffs next year if they come back with the same roster. This does not mean it is what I would do, or what I think they will do. They have holes to fill and the means to fill them. The goal for next year is not to make the playoffs, but to arrive as team that will contend for a long time.

October 2023 Raises are due for Dahlin, Power, Mitts, Jokiharju and Krebs in October 2024

Fair comment. The same can be said for anyone on the roster not yet considered "core". My point is more about people making up their minds that Krebs is the one who "needs to go" too quickly. Let's use the time we've got to see who grows into what, and where the redundancies are.

I think all 3 of Krebs Quinn and Peterka can have NHL futures in the top 9 and agree that Quinn has the highest ceiling. I see no reason why that can't be in Buffalo. And I thought this team, of all teams, should know not to make up their minds on a player too early.

Dave? He’s a killer.

Should give credit where it was due on that one. Good post, but it wasn’t me. Just wish I could remember who. I think @Brawndo?

“I’m going to tell you what I think in a way I will pretend is a question and hope it leads you to agree with me.” Classic PHam. I will say, the players are starting to become comfortable with the media in a way I haven’t seen in a while. Ras is a little goofy and genuine, Casey has an aw shucks thing going, Tage is very focused and analytical, Tuch has them eating out his hands, and Kyle is as thoughtful and articulate as any player we’ve ever seen in front of a mike in that room. Yes, I know the circumstances have changed and that is largely why. But it certainly adds to the likability quotient these guys are building.

“I’m going to tell you what I think in a way I will pretend is a question and hope it leads you to agree with me.” Classic PHam.

You may be right. Personally, I think it’s Olofsson if it’s anyone. Then again, they need 14 forwards. They don’t have to trade anyone to add. Tage Tuch Skinner Cozens Mitts Quinn Krebs Peterka Greenway is only 9. ”Compher” is 10. That leaves 4 spots for any of Olofsson, Girgs, Kyle, Savoie, Rousek, Jost or whoever else they choose to keep, sign or promote.

The 19 million in space next fall includes Okposo, Girgensons, Hinostroza, Anderson and Jost’s contracts coming off the books. Re-signing or replacing them eats into that 19 million, even if it is just with ELC contracts and/or minimum wage guys. The bold is exactly what I am talking about: the five young guys I listed are all going to get paid by someone. The question facing the Sabres is will the Sabres pay them, or will they spend that money on somebody else? I think they already made the decision with Olofsson that they are going to pay somebody else. Personally, I see room for a $4 or $5 million defenceman with term, but anybody else they add will on an expiring contract or a very cheap one until they know what Dahlin and Power are going to cost because those guys are definitely core. And I doubt they will be close to the cap. But they won’t be at the floor. They’re already over it and they still have at least 4 or 5 players to sign.

I think things are starting to become clearer on that front. Next fall adding the raises of Tage, Mule and Cozens puts them at $19 million under the cap with 5 rosters spots open, so they can easily afford upgrades, but also will easily be over the floor. The issue is the fall of 2024, when they will have to give raises to Krebs, Mittelstadt, Jokiharju, Power and Dahlin. It’s not unreasonable to think they will have to keep maybe $15 million ish open to re-sign or replace them. So they can add to their cap this summer, but it will have to be judiciously - either not too much, or short-term. They’ll be cap team in 24-25 whether they make big moves or not, so they will have to make calls on who they extend, and making some of those calls this summer (read Dahlin, Power) will certainly give them better clarity on what else they can do.

The year-end Mitts with the concept of Savoie and the concept of Greenway is a very intriguing trio.

Where are you going with this? Bryson?

This is another thing I’ve observed and I don’t quite understand: Why do people seem to give JJ and Quinn way more slack for their inexperience than they give Krebs? You know Peyton is only 8 months older than Jack right? And that he had only 6 fewer points than JJ? And that he was playing a tougher position, often against tougher opponents and in tougher circumstances with less skilled linemates. I also think the coaching staff has asked him to change his game more than maybe any other player on the team. This shouldn’t be perceived as me liking Krebs over the other two - on the contrary, I’ve been pretty vocal about how high I am on Quinn, and his ceiling. I just think there seems to be a double standard as to how these three are rated and perceived.

Back to the point of this thread, I should add to here what I wrote earlier in the “next year” thread. When push came to shove down the stretch and the Sabres were fighting for their lives and winning, Krebs was 6th among the forwards in ice time. More than Quinn, more than Girgs and Kyle, a notable amount more than Greenway and Peterka, and a full 5 minutes a night more than Jost, who was healthy scratched twice. This is not a guy with a questionable future in the eyes of the Sabres, it’s a guy they are investing a considerable amount of time and effort to develop and expect to have a significant role moving forward.

I was going to agree with post until the last sentence. Completely agree that Granato is going to go with the lines that best serve the team, and it that means 2 “1st” lines or 3 balanced lines, I see no reason why he wouldn’t do that over an 1-2-3 rotation. But I disagree on Tage. Guy scored at a 40-goal 60-point pace to finish the year injured on the wing. As a healthy centre he was the deadliest threat this team has had since Pat Lafontaine. Centre has to be your starting point.

Yes, this all makes sense. I tend to read into what the coach does more than anything else, especially when he and the GM seem to be on the same page. On the 12-game run to end the season with the playoffs on the line: Mittelstadt and Cozens played 17:30 per night, 2nd only to Tuch Krebs played more than 15 minutes a night, 6th among forwards. Okposo and Girgensons each played more than 14 minutes a night Upon returning from injury, Greenway played mostly on lines with skilled players. Olofsson was healthy scratched 5 times Jost was healthy scratched twice and played only 10 minutes a night Jokiharju played 21 minutes a night Lyubushkin played 15, and less when Mule was healthy Stillman was healthy scratched 3 times and played less than 12 minutes a night Bryson was healthy scratched 6 times and played less than 10 minutes a night Clague played just 2 games Levi started 7 of the 9 games he was available UPL started just twice and only once after Levi arrived Comrie started just twice and not at all after Levi arrived. This should inform a lot of how we perceive where certain players stand.

It may mean absolutely nothing, but I couldn’t help but notice that we got every regular on locker room cleanout day except the bottom (edit) 4 5 on defence - Stillman, Lyubushkin, Clague, Bryson and Jokiharju. Seemed oddly specific to me; four of the five have contracts for next year. Adams has kinda conditioned us to expect warm and fuzzy, rather than coldly accountable. But part of a “development year” is seeing what pieces fit moving forward, and which ones didn’t measure up. Changes to the blueline, the crease and portions of the coaching staff responsible for particular areas can certainly be justified. It will be interesting to see what they have in store for us.

If Kyle Okposo retires, he will be one. I’ve previously shared my feelings the Ryan Miller may be another. Role TBA, but I’d imagine it would be less about filling a hole and more about adding what they have to offer in terms of relationships and understanding the game and it’s players: good, thoughtful people, passionate about the club and its direction, adding their voices to the pool. Hockey is no different than any other industry: people start in a department with a particular area of expertise and expand their knowledge and understanding of other areas through experience until they gain a broad understanding of how things work and are qualified for senior positions overseeing broad departments. Ventura has spent 2 years in the Sabres inner circle and has certainly acquired a lot of knowledge about ownership, contracts, administration, scouting, coaching and player development in the process. And that is on top of whatever he picked up in PIttsburgh. Whether he’s ready is up for debate, but he’s certainly advanced to a place where he can start entering the conversation. I suspect the Ventura to PIttsburgh chatter has more to do about where he comes from and from Fenway Sports affection for analytics than anything else. But I’m kinda comforted by the idea that other organizations might actually be considering raiding our organization for off-ice talent, which was apparently also the case with Karmanos. When was the last time that has happened?

I gotta disagree with this. I find Team Storm Cloud, such as it is, is largely populated with thoughtful people who can articulate the “why” behind their views and bring pertinent ideas to the discussion that are worth exploring, no matter where my level of agreement ultimately lands. We have plenty of stubborn and passionate posters, but very few who represent the “drunk loudmouth at the end of the bar” element of ill-informed obnoxiousness. Those that pop up generally don’t stick around. Spend 10 minutes on the site he’s referring to and the difference is strikingly obvious.

This. I’d go as far as to say that the family’s plan 7 years ago was to play out the contract and retire back home to Minnesota. Now that the time has arrived, the family has to decide if they want to stick with the plan. I hope he comes back. I’ll be very curious who they target his important skill set if he doesn’t. It won’t be Jiri Kulich.

I don’t buy the popular narrative that Ullmark wasn’t all that with the Sabres. He had 3 seasons as a regular, more wins than losses in each and save percentages of .905, .915, and .917. He was not great, but he was good.

It definitely ties into previous quotes we’ve heard about players being afraid to be themselves and may tie into quotes about guys being genuinely happy for each other’s successes and becoming comfortable in their own skins. Kinda sounds like the team had kind of a culture fraught with bullying and jealousy. As for the who, you know people are going to point fingers at Jack, but Kyle and Jack have been publicly supportive of each other and Kyle has been here a long time and through a lot of leadership groups: Botterill, Krueger, Housley, Murray, Bylsma, O’Reilly, Kane, Bogosian, McCabe, Reinhart, Ristolainen, Larsson, Gionta, Gorges, Ullmark, Lehner, and whole litany of transitory people like the Montours and the Shearys, and the hockey department staff that was purged a few years back… it was almost certainly as much the product of a mix of personalities as a single person or two. But this is the part that gets forgotten when we are playing video game GM around here: these are people and how they interact matters. The reason Adams gets my full support regardless of the trades he has or hasn’t made, is that he recognized this was a problem and he has fixed it.

The 3rd-line centre role is his unless he sucks in camp, or someone like Savoie blows up. I think it’s what they are training him for long-term. I get the “but Mitts looks good at centre” thing, but to me that’s more of a “between Tuch and Skinner” thing. I also wouldn’t get too caught up on positions, linemates or roles; Donnie and Kevyn have designed this team with the idea of having multiple guys who play centre and they can and will be shifted as circumstances demand. So when I say 3C for Krebs, I mean he will mostly play centre and get middle-of-the-pack ice time.

Is sub planting sorta like sub tweeting? Im not real good with you kids and all that social media stuff.