dudacek

I've talked a bit about this roster maybe reaching critical mass in terms of talent and age. I've never really fully bought into the "guys who know how to win" thing but if it's real i wonder if reached a point where it could make a difference. Zucker played beside Crosby, McLeod with McDavid. Byram and Aube-Kubel won a cup with Colorado. Lafferty was also with the Penguins and was part of the Vancouver turnaround last year. Johnson is the only departure who had any sort of track record with excellence. Five of the six departing forwards had never played a playoff game.

I said it earlier, September is the height of hopium season. No matter what actually happened over the summer, we’ve all had enough time to convince ourselves it could work. Lindy opened the door a little more than many off-season moves might have, and a pretty much perfect pre-season has kept it there. I very much doubt we would have seen that number in mid-July, or will if we open the year at 3 and 4.

These are both solid arguments. It kinda hinges on the expectations of Reimer: if he and the team are OK with basically being an afterthought for the time being then it might work. I think we're overthinking this a little too much. Every team with 2 NHL goalies waives its 3G. You only keep a 3rd if you've got a lot of uncertainty and/or he's a valued but not-ready prospect you don't want to lose. If Levi is ready, waive Reimer. If he's not, send down Levi.

I want Luukkonen and Levi to mimic the Ullmark Swayman model and the 3rd goalie question to be as relevant as it was in the days of Miller and Hasek. I think that's what the Sabres want too. I think Reimer is aware of that. Which makes me think that if any team wanted Reimer on a $1M deal to be their #2, they could have signed him this summer, so the Sabres are probably reasonably comfortable waiving him in the flood of goalies getting waived this week. Boston claiming him wouldn't bother me at all. Effectively it probably means he will become a Sabre (Amerk) again as soon as Swayman signs. If either UPL or Levi goes down short-term the other will be capable of carrying the load even without Reimer. Long-term and they would have to spend some of that draft capital on another Reimer.

By "how will it work?" I meant how would they use the trio? They just gave UPL a 5-year deal, safe to say they expect he'll get at least half the starts. So you basically think they will stash Reimer in the press box and make Levi the #2 to start? Where each ends up depends on whether Levi sinks or swims? That's certainly possible.

Why do you think they will do this? And how do you think it will work?

The Sabres have proceeded the entire camp as if Levi is ahead Reimer. In fact, Levi has been sharing play time equally with Luukkonen, exclusively with the “real team” - the team the Sabres have been explicitly been preparing for game 1, right down to the lines and the defence pairings. In fact, I’m drawing a blank: did Reimer get any pre-season action at all? Levi has also, by all accounts, played well - or at least done nothing that should lead someone to believe he has “lost” a training camp battle. The Sabres signed Reimer with one of 2 plans in mind, either: a) he was supposed to hold the fort as the NHL backup while Levi maximized his playing time and developed, or b) he was supposed provide an excellent insurance policy as the team’s #3 if one of the presumptive duo stumbled due to poor play or misadventure. Whatever the preferred plan was (and they’re behaving like it was B) the Sabres had a pretty good idea on how they were going to handle the waiver wire when Reimer was signed, and I’ve seen nothing that’s happened that should have altered their plan. Whatever happens was probably the plan all along.

These 7 forwards are expected to be everyday players in Tampa: Paul, Atkinson, Girgensons, Sheary, Glendening, Ylonen and Chaffee.

They’re talking now like the cap is still artificially low because of the COVID advance the players got. Without that, current revenue streams dictate a $100M cap right now. I still hold out some faint hope that if the current top six doesn’t play like $7M players they’ll make a move with that money, and if they do play like $7M players, they’ll use it on their own. I have no reason to actually think that, but it’s September and my hopium is is usually at its highest levels this time of year.

And Frederic-Poitras-Brazeau, Robertson-Jarnkrok-McMann, and Girgensons-Paul-Atkinson do?

Today’s Amerks roster is going to be adding 2 part-time NHL defencemen in Johnson and Clague and 2 first-line AHL forwards in Kulich and Rousek, and quite possibly an NHL goalie to start the season. They went 3-1 mostly against teams sprinkled with NHL players, and appeared to outplay the opposition every game, save Sandstrom’s spotty 3rd period. Helenius and Östlund look like they might be able to be our 3rd rookie impact duo in 4 years, and there seems to be crazy depth. I might have to spring for the AHL package.

12 seconds. The move Östlund made to draw the penalty where they won it was a thing of beauty. That's 3 games in a row with highlight reel plays. The kid has got some skill.

None. Everything he posts goes through the filter of Sabres bad until proven otherwise, Bruins good until proven otherwise. It's the default Terry Pegula created and it's not going to change at least until the Sabres are a winning team. The only question I have is how much of a winning team it will take.

But don't the Bruins and their players do everything that right way?

To address your confusion, I expect the Sabres mid-roster forwards to be better than those of the 4 traditional playoff teams The Sabres top 3 forwards make $18M combined. Zach Benson, Jack Quinn and JJ Peterka are on entry level contracts. To answer your point Mathews and Nylander make more combined than the sabres entire top 6.

I get this in terms of the “Matthews can carry the Leafs to the playoffs in matter who is in the bottom 6” sense. But have you seen the bottom 6 for Toronto, Boston or Tampa? These are not deep teams in the sense of their 2nd and 3rd layers. If Kucherov, Pastrnak or Matthews goes down for any length of time it will hurt their teams more than the Sabres losing Thompson.

There’s a small but vocal group that’s been eager to ship him out almost since he arrived. I don’t get it. Every team can use a 230-pound defensively sound winger. Maybe it’s more about what he’s not (mean) than what he is?

I have trouble seeing the Sabres as a bubble team. This is not last year's Detroit or Washington, where if everything goes right the team can make the playoffs with a point total in the low 90s. I think there are too many players at that point in their career where they will be making a statement about who they really are, and there is a critical mass situation brewing in the room, in terms of the psychology of the team. If enough of these guys find their potential, it's going to lift the games of everyone around them and we are going to see an explosion into a 100-point squad that strides confidently into the playoffs. I call it the "Hope spring eternal" @bob_sauve28 model. And if enough of these guys struggle, they are going to weigh down the others and we will see an implosion that results in trades and firings and "i don't want to be here's" and ultimately a top 10 pick. This is the 'Same old Sabres" @PerreaultForever model. I think it's boom or bust this year.

People around here talk a lot about Adams' reticence to go get proven assets. What doesn't get talked about much is how many of Adams moves have involved acquisitions that fit the Dahlin age group (Krebs, Byram, McLeod, Levi) and involve players with the possibility of untapped upside (Tuch, Malenstyn Clifton, Comrie, Greenway) The man told us his plan 3 years ago and has definitely stuck with it.

You know Byram and Lohrei are the same age, right?

Isn't much difference? One player at 23 played 17 of the most sheltered minutes a night on one of the league’s most disciplined teams and still ended up among the team’s worst at -2. The other, at 21, played 23 hard minutes a night on a “do whatever you want” team and was +8. It’s not really hard to judge at all.

Power and Byram have each played about 160 NHL games, were the first defenceman picked in their respective drafts and have a lot of possible upside. That upside is not just in their ability to put up points. Power has elite length and his range; Byram has elite mobility and a high degree of edge to his game. Those are skills that help players play defence too. Neither were particularly effective defensively last season; plenty of players you can say that about at their level of experience. Each was drafted as a 2-way defenceman. Each has the ability to become very effective defensively in the same way Dahlin did. It may not happen overnight, but I would be surprised if they don’t get there.

Statistically, there is literally not a single thing, counting stats, eye test or analytically, but you're not accounting for the Buffalo tariff and the Boston tax

Following this through another step, I think the Bruins have the best defence corps in the division and one of the best in the league. The thought that the Sabres are some growth from a pair of 160-game defencemen picked in the top 5 of the NHL draft away from being comparable in your mind is something to think about.

I strongly doubt it. But I also think he will be better 5-on-5.