dudacek

I’d add balance/chemistry/roster building or whatever label you want to put on a well-rounded team. Part of why I was in favour of a Peterka trade well before it happened was because he was the biggest chip we had toward swiftly addressing that. I have no idea if Doan and Kesselring are part of the solution, but the concept of them certainly is.

Talent is not this team’s core problem.

I think anyone watching knows how often plays died on Cozens stick and structure broke down because of it.

As well-considered and rational as this is, what we should find amazing is how few hockey players seem to think this way. What do retired players say most often when looking back at their careers? It’s how much they miss the room. Hockey culture is peculiarly tribal and the team has a talismanic quality, a reverence drilled into players from the first time they put on skates. “Have each others backs” “the crest on the front not the name on the back” “this stays in the room”. Belonging is a crucial psychological element in the indoctrination. Once established it can be hard to shake. The typical player does not maximize his earnings over a series of short-term deals and highly leveraged negotiations, he chases security and term and signs for a home-town discount before ever hitting the open market. Even in such a “toxic” situation as Buffalo you get: Luukkonen 5 years Thompson 7 years Samuelsson 7 years Power 7 years Cozens 7 years Dahlin 8 years You don’t think Zucker could have got his deal somewhere else this summer? Or Greenway? Ryan McLeod just signed on for 4 more seasons. People are constantly throwing out “no one wants to be in Buffalo” And yet… Im not suggesting that none of the above decisions were free of business considerations. I am saying that it is actually crazy how frequently those considerations can take a back seat to loyalty, the desire to feel needed and the need to belong.

Fantastic post. (Doesnt apply to JJ Peterka in the slightest, but I digress 😘) You’ve taken my post in a very different but thoughtful direction. I was musing at the executive level: I think Bylsma won a cup mostly because he’s lucky and Zito mostly because he’s good. I think most GMs and coaches are smart; they have to be to reach the apex of a highly competitive profession. I think the smartest coaches and executives are in the NHL but the 64 in the NHL aren’t the 64 smartest. How good do they have to be to win? How bad do they have to be not to have a chance? Because at some point they’ll be facing the very best. What is the Jay Feaster line and where are Kevyn Adams and Lindy Ruff in relation to it?

I just listened to a podcast of Rick Tocchet talking hockey, not in front of post-game media crowd, or on a intermission panel, but honestly breaking down the game nerd-fashion with a couple other hockey nerds. I’ve listened to Donnie Granato and other pros in similar settings and it gave me the same vibe. My takeaway in general is that the pros are by and large not the idiots fans make them out to be. They get where they are because they’re smart and they’re passionate. My Habs fan buddy always talks about pissed off he’d get with Marc Bergevin. And then he’d listen to him explain himself and 10 minutes later he’d be “wow, that totally makes sense! We’re gonna be fine!” it really makes me curious as to how overmatched our brain trust really is.

Maybe I’m wrong, but isn’t this what usually happens? It’s never the teams that win the offseason, it’s the teams where enough things go surprisingly right. Maybe UPL has a career year like Logan Thompson, Krebs comes out of nowhere like Protas, Kesselring is the missing ingredient like Chychrun, Quinn takes a leap like McMichael and Norris isn’t the waste he appeared to be like Dubois. I mean the miracle of 14 years is that even the sloppiest franchises seem to back their way in at some point.

Both can be true and probably are. As far as Buffalo goes, it’s kinda Deja vu all over again. Instead of crossing our fingers that Cozens, Krebs, Peterka and Quinn can buttress a legit middle six, we’re doing the same for Benson, Doan, Kulich and Quinn. Maybe Norris, Zucker, McLeod and Greenway are better insulation than Mittelstadt, Skinner, Olofsson and Okposo? Or maybe hope is, once again, the strategy in Buffalo

The Tage thing was more for sake of discussion than literal. That said, I’m not really a “top six” kinda guy when it comes to lines. I think Doan is skilled enough to be the grinder on a skill line if needed. Forgive me if you’ve read this before: Kulich AHL 123 53/41/94 Doan AHL 104 40/38/78 Kulich NHL 63 15/9/24 Doan NHL 62 12/16/28 Kulich was the 28th pick in the 2022 draft, Doan the 37th a year earlier. The popular wisdom that Kulich is way ahead of Doan isn’t reality. They’re at similar levels in their development.

The trade off is will Doan bury Tage rebounds, or feed him off the cycle the way JJ did not? Will Samuelsson be able to be more assertive closing his gap because he doesn’t have to worry about JJ’s man being uncovered? We all know we had to get better at prevention and that we’d likely have to sacrifice offence to do so. Its what they’ve obviously tried to do.

One thing Peterka is elite at is rush offence and his departure is going to be felt because his skill set fit perfectly with the strength of our team, the backline transition skill. The game Scenario I posted up thread illustrates it perfectly There’s no way it doesn’t blunt Dahlin and Power’s breakout passing giving those passes to Doan instead of Peterka. Similarly, there’s no way Tage doesn’t get fewer rush opportunities if it’s Doan feeding him. Bht that works both ways: Ian Cole isn’t going to hit JJ in flight like Byram would and Nick Schmaltz isn’t going to bury pucks like Tage.

The context was Perreault’s post. The part you bolded is me disagreeing with his numbers on his terms. The part you considered extra was me framing the argument in my own terms, the terms I think are relevant And I’d apply that argument against your assist argument as well. For example. JJ Peterka’s assist would not exist without Byram forcing Marner to rush his shot so UPL could make a clean save directing the puck to Dahlin’s corner where he quickly flipped it to Tuch who happened to be exactly where he should be and fed it to Peterka streaking up the opposite boards who took the D wide and dropped it back to a space created by Byram rushing the net for Tage who beat Woll with a perfect wrister. Every player on the ice contributed, not just Peterka and Tuch with the assists.

Why did Dylan Holloway jump from 6 goals and 9 points to 26 and 63 last year? Nothing in his resume suggested that was coming. Who expected Tage Thompson to suddenly erupt with 38 goals when he did? Five years ago thinking Gustav Forsling the best D on a cup winner? Yeah, right. Player performance can be as much about opportunity and circumstance as it is skill.

I’m not sure how this is much different from my post you disagreed with. Honing it down to simply goals scored by Peterka and stopped by Kesselring is dramatically oversimplifying how hockey works. .

The interesting complement to my post above, is that Lyon is kinda the opposite of UPL. Hes a guy who can get leaky when the team is playing solid hockey, then stand on his head when things break down. The key to making the playoffs might be having the right goalie in to match whatever Sabre defence decides to show up.

I think one thing that got overlooked in the big losing streak last season was how it effectively broke UPL. After a slowish start, he had an excellent November with a .926 SP and a GAA under 2. To my eyes, he reacted to the losses piling up in December by trying to do too much, overextending and getting caught out of position and his mechanics reverted to the AHL UPL. I think he’s an average goalie who can win a lot of games behind a structured defence. At least that’s what he showed 2 years ago. But he can get inside his own head and he’s out of his element when things break down. I think his success or lack thereof will hinge on the predictability of the play in front of him.

This is our best hope: that the talent on this blue line has experienced enough that it can realize its potential.

Absolutely true, but you’re projecting this on to Peterka without any evidence it was actually the case. Also, you have experienced 14 years of dispiriting losing. The JJ Peterka-era Sabres have gone 117/109/14. Poor little baby, who could blame him for quitting after living through that nightmare? ***** JJ Peterka

I don’t see it this way at all even if you simplify it down to just players in, players out and ignore the depth guys. it’s Norris Kesselring Doan for Cozens Jokiharju and Peterka. Goals scored that’s 34 in, 46 out. It’s not 20 or 30 the defence needs to make up, it’s 12. But it’s way more complicated than that. How will the moves affect the power play, the PK, line chemistry, line matchups, situational deployments, the forecheck, the backcheck, puck battles, rush offence, rush defence, exits and entries, the cycle game, getting to the net, blocking out, D zone structure, the room…? Hockey is a complicated soup.

I meant literally: Kulich and Olofsson each scored 15 goals last year, Norris had 20 to Cozens 16. Mittelstadt and Skinner combined for 69 points

Fairburn with a Doan feature that will inject some hopium. If toxicity and apathy are issues, he sounds like part of the cure. https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6502688/2025/07/22/buffalo-sabres-josh-doan/

Still waiting for somebody to show me where the futility of the Sabres was the reason for Peterka’s departure. I’ve heard he didn’t like the city. He acted like he didn’t like the coach(es)

200 games to find your way in the NHL, 400 to be a “veteran”. Zucker 770 Tuch 536 Dahlin 509 Thompson 448 Greenway 435 McLeod 298 Krebs 296 Bryson 254 Byram 246 Power 242 Norris 239 Samuelsson 212 Less than 200 Quinn, Doan, Benson, Kulich, Danforth, Kesselring, Malenstyn, Timmins So literally every add this summer is inexperienced.

Guys, you complain about lack of aggression and about the front office’s lack of prioritizing it. You complain about lack of NHL experience in the front office. Then you complain when they hire a front-office vet and he talks about the importance of natural aggression?

Generally agree with your point, but McLeod and Zucker did outpoint Mitts and Skinner, Norris did outscore Cozens and Kulich matched Olofsson