dudacek

A playoff spot, naturally.

Benson talks to it more in this interview. https://www.nhl.com/sabres/news/buffalo-sabres-zach-benson-fights-jason-zucker-jordan-greenway @Stoner your corporate messaging comment certainly applies in this message ^^^ from headquarters. I have no worries about Benson. Let’s see if this continues with his peers. @LGR4GM also some underlyings in there to underscore your faith in Benny. The kid is fun to watch. God knows the odds say someone in this massive group of 15 1st and 2nd round picks in the past five years has to break out. That is if God was a Sabre fan.

I haven’t done any research, but I’m struggling to think of a team that has backslid in consecutive years the way the Sabres have that didn’t react with an executive housecleaning of some sort. My only hope is how certain most of us were at this time last year that Granato would be back. Appert is exactly the opposite of what’s needed. And it pains me to say, but Lindy in any capacity is not the answer.

Most preseason lineups had Krebs in the press box. I believe that happened the first game of the season and not once since. He’s 4th on the team in games played. A part of that is the poor play of others, but we shouldn’t overlook the strides he’s made. He’s become an above .500 faceoff man. He is among the team leaders in hits and cut down his giveaways to the point of being one of the better players in that area as well. His analytics are OK in tough zone starts, he’s shown some versatility in terms of where he can play, he’s going to finish with 20+ points, and he’s generally going to give you energy and effort. Its not what we wanted him to be when we acquired him, but he is one of the few young players who has improved over last year. Small victories For sure, but as a 4th liner, he’s been fine.

Context matters. If you watch the actual interview, he was specifically talking about the team being more focused on/better at having each other’s backs. This was a commentary about improving the team’s “pack mentality” through on-ice behaviour like Krebs going after Howden, not about the trade deadline.

Any one recall the last time the Sabres brought that level of grit - yes, fighting, but also pushing and pushback in general - in consecutive games?

I'm very curious how Adams reacts if this smoke about JJ's unhappiness is true. He's publicly stated the team is in a 'new phase' and he's stepped back from 'blocking' concerns. I wonder if he has also stepped back from "only players who want to be here" as well? Are we in for a summer of trade rumours? Will other teams see Buffalo as a good offer sheet target? Will JJ court one? Most of the fan base will be melting down if it plays out in that direction because JJ is one of the few young players fulfilling his potential and most of you are clinging to the notion we can fix this by trading Quinn or Samuelsson or Rosen. I don't want to see him traded for a Jordan Greenway and a pick, or overpaid out of fear, or an offer sheet not matched because of Pegula/Adams stubbornness about "wanting to be here'. But I've grown tired of people complaining about the mix while at the same time pushing back at any real attempt to change it. I don't want to trade Peterka, but I would give up his goals and speed for an equal level of stops and grit. A Peterka trade — really any trade — could and should be looked at as an opportunity to make the team better. Just make my team better. Please. Good GMs capitalize on these situations all the time.

Tuch, Cozens, Samuelsson and Thompson were rotating the ‘As”. The 3 holdovers still are. Samuelsson’s problems are similar to what buried Cozens: he’s a good kid who was handed a mantle of leadership before he earned it and before he was ready. he was not given the support in the room or on the ice to deal with bumps and the pressures he’s not as good a player as the organization thought he would be when it gave him that contract. Basically, he’s a quality person handed responsibility he was not ready for by an organization that failed to consider what happens to even good people when they are put in situations they aren’t qualified to handle.

Heroes and villains, passion, anger, jubilation: I just really miss how today's game made me feel.

Von Barnekow, Meidema and Costantini are very much longshots to even be good AHLers, Marjala is only slightly better. The proper context to regard any player picked below the 2nd round is that ^^^ is the most likely outcome. You hope a few Kozaks and Novikov surface and accept most won’t do that. They’re raffle tickets and having multiple picks in that range is the same as having multiple tickets.

He's not good at faceoffs, but the rest of this is objectively incorrect. Over the past 3 seasons he has averaged 39 assists over 82 games player and has a 52.6% Goals for % This season it's 33 and 58.4%. That's as the Sabres best offensive weapon, playing against the other team's best defenders. By no measure is that 'bad'.

I'm not sure how anyone can say Thompson was masquerading as a centre given the way he's performed in the middle.

Thanks for the opportunity to reinforce where I was headed with my earlier post. I doubt there is a single person on this site pencilling Peyton Krebs into a top 6 role next year. Looking at these numbers, I'd say it would be prudent to treat Benson, Kulich and Quinn the same way until proven otherwise.

Can Benson produce the type of offensive numbers that elevate him from a good checking winger into a good top 6 winger? That’s the question that’s grown in my mind watching him this season. What’s the upside? He’s got the brain and the work ethic. Does he have the physical gifts? Im sure it was argument in the scouting meetings as well.

I don’t think we’re really arguing here. Benson is a good defensive forward and his expected goals % shows that. Your initial post was good and relevant to my initial post. I think Benson has been a better player than the other 3 this year.

Since he seems incapable of scoring goals from outside of 12 feet, it’s good to see that he takes most of his shots from inside that range. Sure wish he took more actual shots and put more of them in the net though. Krebs is objectively terrible at both, but Zach has not been good at those things either. That probably sounds snarkier than intended. It’s a good thing Benson gets to the net and my eye test also says his backchecking this year is better than Kulich and is miles better than Quinn. But let’s not confuse his expected goals for with his ability to produce offence.

All four of these players have ES ATOI within 40 seconds of each other. Krebs ES points: 17; Goals For %: 46.3; SAT 50.9%; most common linemates Lafferty/Malenstyn Benson ES points: 18; Goals For % 46.7; SAT 55.7%; most common linemates Krebs/Quinn Kulich ES points: 19; Goals For % 50.0; SAT 52.1%; most common linemates Tage/Peterka Quinn ES points: 14; Goals For % 40.0; SAT 50.2%; most common linemates Peterka/Cozens Benson’s shot attempt stats and Quinn’s +/- stick out, but I find it really hard to find compelling statistical evidence to support any of them as being significantly better than the others. Particularly when linemates are taken into account.

So basically the same forwards that matter as this year, except swapping Cozens for Norris? Locked in? Are you saying this is what you like, or what Adams will do?

This just seems inevitable.

I just don’t know if people appreciate how many goals Tage scores that only a handful of players can score. Dude seems to never pop in the easy ones: they’re all power drives to the net, sick dangles, laser wrist shots and absolute bazookas. It’s a ***** shame he and Ras are surrounded by this supporting cast because for me they might be the two most entertaining highlight reel skaters this team has had since 16 and 89 were tearing it up 30 years ago, and I’m including studs like Eichel and Briere.

Probably just wishful think from me, because ^^^ has certainly been his MO. But the Cozens trade says maybe that’s changing: he dumped one of his long-term guys and he did it for a guy of similar stature but a different game, with an eye on creating a better fit. I don’t want people to get caught up on the names, but is it possible to leverage the talent we all know is there for better roster fits? Can we trade a Bo Byram type for a Boone Jenner type? A Konsta Helenius type for a Brett Pesce type? Or a JJ Peterka type for a Sam Bennett type? I took the trade, his presser and even today’s Dahlin shitstorm as a general acknowledgement that this core isn’t working and more significant surgery is going to be needed.

The more I think about it, if you want real change, the most logical guys to move are the most hurtful: Peterka and Power. The only way you’re bringing in pieces of significance is by moving out pieces of value.

So you’re going to fix this by trading 3 guys getting healthy scratched from a basement dweller, plus Bo Byram and spending maybe $10M in free agency? With that, you’re going to add a top 6 forward and upgrade 4 starting D in Byram/Muel/Clifton/Joker? Meanwhile, you’re still running back Power and Lukkonen in key roles while - I assume - playing Benson and Kulich in your top 9? And finding the backup goalie and 4th line in house or through minimum wage pickups? Isnt this why we’re in 29th right now?

This may have been true once, but it’s not been the case this season. His on-ice goals for percentage this year is 58.4% - those are very good 2-way numbers, tied with Point and just ahead of Draisaitl and Marner. He consistently faces the other team’s best defenders and consistently wins those battles, despite playing for the Sabres. https://www.nhl.com/stats/skaters?report=puckPossessions&reportType=season&seasonFrom=20242025&seasonTo=20242025&gameType=2&position=F&filter=timeOnIcePerGame5v5,gte,13&filter=gamesPlayed,gte,50&sort=goalsPct&page=0&pageSize=50

So there's no way they move on from one or more of Tuch, Peterka, Quinn, Benson, Kulich, Power, Samuelsson, Byram and Clifton?