dudacek

Centre Östlund Helenius Kozak Leschsyshyn Dunne Costantini Wing Rosen Meyer Wahlberg Neuchev Geertsen Fiddler-schultz Warren Slaggert Joshua Kuntar Koppf Nadeau Defence Jones/Bryson Johnson Rathbone Novikov Metsa Komarov Beliveau Laaouan Tischke Goalie Levi Ratzlaff Leinonen

What the current Sabres have to show for the past 12 years of their own first-round picks: Kulich, Levi, Tuch, Krebs, Östlund, Greenway, Byram, Dahlin, Norris, Quinn, Power, McLeod, Benson, Malenstyn, Helenius, Mrtka and a 2026 4th-rounder. What they have to show from the rest of the draft over those 12 years: Timmins, Kozak, Kesselring, Doan, Bryson, Luukkonen, Samuelsson, various prospects What they have to show from various signings and trades not directly involving those 12 years of picks: Lyon, Danforth, Jones, Zucker, Thompson, Johnson

US has a split squad at the Summer showcase, which functions a little as a training/tryout camp for the WJC. Zeimer is alongside Hagens on the 1st line of one team, Osburn and Kleber are the 1st pair on the other.

I actually like the PK forwards: Tuch, McLeod and Greenway are very good, Benson and Malenstyn are fine, Norris PKs as does Danforth and Doan seems have the skillset. It’s the D I worry about. Clifton and Samuelsson led the team SH TOI last year and neither were great. Byram was next and Dahlin started to take Power’s minutes down the stretch. (Even though Power led the team in PP goals against per 60 for the season) Kesselring and Timmins were not regular penalty killers. Seems like a gross oversight in the offseason plan

I'm pretty sure you're correct: there was a fair share of healthy scratches in there:

In actual spending this year's Sabres are expected to pay out $108M in contracts, 21st among league teams. Last year, they spent $99.6M, ranking 27th, a figure inflated by the Skinner buyout https://www.spotrac.com/nhl/cash

Last year's Sabres spent $79.6M, which was $8.4M under the cap of $88M. They ranked 7th in unspent cap

So the Sabres have now filled out their 23-man roster and are at $90.3M under the cap, leaving them with $5.1M in space. They did not have to pay to trade Conor Clifton or not qualify Jacob Bernard-Docker to fit under the cap, which sits at $95.5M. They rank dead centre of the league in terms of cap space remaining, at 16th. It is possible that rank will change with further trades or signings around the league, but unlikely it will shift dramatically given the lack of available roster spots or expensive unsigned players. They are scheduled to spend $89.2M in actual salaries and bonuses this year, slightly less than their actual cap hit.

My pet theory is that the brain trust brainstormed exactly what undervalued player they could find that could be the kind of partner Owen Power needed and somehow arrived at Timmins as the answer. They then decided to pay whatever price was necessary in order to obtain him. It's the same theory I have for the thought process (sub in 4th-line forechecker) that led to the Malenstyn trade.

You're bang on with this. Their actions show they think Timmins is helluvalot better than I do. This is a injury-plagued player who has played 42, 37, 6, 33, 25 and 68 games respectively in each of his 6 pro seasons. He has a history of solid Corsi numbers but doesn't seem to add much in terms of production or physical play. They've chosen to invest 2 years, $4.4M and a 2nd-round draft pick in him. And giving away Clifton was not necessary under the cap in order to make that happen. Their valuation makes no sense to me.

Here’s something I have not seen posted about: If you had to identify the most frustrated Sabres last year would any of Cozens, Lafferty. Clifton, Peterka and Jokiharju not be on the list? I wonder how many of square pegs with Ruff are left? Who did they miss? Quinn maybe? Samuelsson?

Change is never non-consequential. Every piece In and out resets the chemistry and creates opportunity. Chychrun for Jensen helped both teams. Adding Steven Stamkos for nothing helped torpedo the Predators. St Louis signed 6-goal scorer Dylan Holloway and got 60-point scorer Dylan Holloway. People don’t know if the Sabres got better. And their view of the changes won’t matter. But they will continue to expect they haven’t until they do.

I still think Benson is the best choice to complement Norris and Tage: netfront presence, passing, puck possession, puck retrievals, defensive zone coverage - he’s got proficiency in areas the other two lack and he’s got enough untapped offence that he won’t slow them down in that area. Doan might work for similar reasons but I think he’s not as smart or skilled. Same with Greenway. Quinn is plenty skilled but too similar to Tage in his approach and too lacking in the off-puck areas. Kulich is too similar to Norris. Tuch would make for the strongest line, but that would expose vulnerabilities elsewhere. Zucker might work nicely.

After the “core four” I see three groups of three battling for ice time and to carve out a specific role for themselves. The third group is the easiest to identify: Krebs, Danforth and Malenstyn, the energy guys. These are the role players who will typically get 4th line minutes and bump up the roster to keep the rest honest. Think Mair, Gaustad Group 2 is the scorers Zucker, Quinn and Kulich who will battle for PP time and offensive opportunities. Think Dumont, Afinogenov And group 3 is the “hard-to-play against” group of Benson, Greenway and Doan who will battle for shutdown time and the dirty work with skill guys. Hecht, Grier. Im really curious how much scoring we can get from Group 3 and how much defence from group 2 - I think rounding out their games will be key to their ice time, and how Lindy will mix and match in terms of lines and deployment. I see those 6 with more or less equal opportunity to fill out the top 9 in myriad ways based not only on how well they play, but what kind of identity Lindy wants to establish. Some will sink and some will swim.

Oh I would have. I’m a Sabrespacer, we know better. 😜

I am real curious about what Lindy’s plans are for this group of forwards, if it’s indeed what they start the season with. I don’t think there is much debate about Thompson and Tuch being our top 2 forwards and the guys who are going to top the ice time charts. And Lindy seemed to make it clear down the stretch that he prefers Thompson on the wing, which is probably going to put these two on different lines. It was made pretty clear when they acquired him that they intend to lean on Norris heavily in a top 6 role. Whether that’s with Tage as in his brief trial, remains to be seen. And for all the Kulich chatter, Lindy playing McLeod 19 minutes a night as he registered a point per game makes it pretty clear who his other top centre is. It’s possible McLeod ends up centring a “3rd” (checking) line of some sort. But personally I think he and Tuch will be a hard-minute pairing on the “2nd” line deployed like the Drury line back in the day, while Tage and Norris are the first choice in offensive situations. Regardless of lines, I think it’s pretty clear these are the four guys starting at the top of the depth chart in terms of ice time.

If I was coaching any member of this defence corps I would be entirely comfortable saying “you’re not a kid anymore, you should know better by now”

I think you missed my point: accusing me of hiding something I specifically pointed out myself is odd. I have no problem with your opinion on games played. I agree it is a flaw in the composition of the defence corps. That’s why pointed it out.

I stand by my point: they are not grizzled veterans, but these are also not boys getting their first exposure to pro hockey. Physically and mentally, for the most part, they are men.

That seems an oddly inflammatory response to a post that specifically said

UPL has an .898 career save percentage and was .910 2 years ago. Last year he was .887. The league average was exactly .900. Statistically speaking, his play was a significant factor in the Sabres poor record. Statistically speaking, based on his track record, we should expect him to be better this year. Im kinda expecting Lindy to treat him like the unquestioned starter in camp and out of the gate this year - 6 or 8 starts in the first 10 games and give him a chance to run with it. But I get the feeling that the belief in him is forced and his leash will be short if he drops the ball

I’ve said it earlier, but I think the team will sink or swim with this defence corps and how close each player performs to the concept of what they could be. In terms of tools, this group is upper-echelon - there aren’t many this big, and there aren’t many this mobile. The skill level is off the charts. The questions are twofold: can they defend, and can the coaching staff unleash all that talent? I foresee Timmins getting 15 minutes a night as Power’s base partner, mostly against lesser lines. If you listen to what Adams said he was looking for in a Power partner, it sounded a lot more like the safer Timmins than the more aggressive Kesselring. Situational play and shortened benches will have Power up around 22 minutes. Dahlin and Byram (24 and 22 minutes) will be the top ES pairing. And Samuelsson and Kesselring will get 17 and 19 minutes respectively, often against bigger forwards. As a group they are exceptionally inexperienced in terms of games played, but at the same time there aren’t any rookies here, or neophytes needing to be sheltered as they learn the league. This is Dahlin’s 8th year as a pro, year 7 for Timmins, the 5th for Kesselring, Byram and Samuelsson, and #4 for Power. They’ve been around the block, experienced their share of adversity and are at the point in their careers where it’s time to ***** or get off the pot.

Reimer -> Lyon Clifton ->Timmins Jokiharju -> Kesselring Peterka -> Doan Cozens -> Norris Lafferty -> Danforth

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.