dudacek

I wouldn't think twice about including Norris in any deal but that also applies to any player not named Tage or Rasmus. I don't put much stock in the team's performance in his absence. As long as Tage remains on the wing he sits on top of our depth chart and there is very little proven behind him.

Adams track record has been to get his Euro guys here, so you're probably right. But we have seen them sign guys and leave them there as recently as Östlund.

Fingers crossed you're wrong, specifically about Rochester. I think I'd be finding a Div. 1 team in Europe for Leinonen to reinforce his game, while Ratzlaff finds his way in Rochester or Jacksonville, supporting a more veteran goalie (Levi or another). Going into next year with Leinonen and Ratzlaff as your 3/4 would be derelict, even by Adams' standards.

The best prospects of the Adams era have been Power, Quinn, Levi and Peterka, probably in that order. Power's post-draft year, Quinn and Peterka' rookie AHL seasons and Levi's body of work at Northeastern were exceptional, even for prospects. That they have yet to continue that trajectory is a big reason why Adams' plan has failed. The Rosen, Östlund, Kulich, Helenius group is step below those guys: good showings for prospects, but nothing that indicates stardom yet for any of them. There's also a deep enough group of B prospects that I would be surprised if a few don't turn into NHLers. Benson is my choice, but also the hardest to read: the list of draft picks who went directly to the NHL and put up 30-points as an 18-year-old is small and populated mostly by stars; his offence so far hasn't tracked, but the underlying stuff and the eye test certainly do.

Previous day. It was not a draft floor trade. They made it before any players were taken. They made it seem like they were pretty confident they were going to get the guy (or one of the guys) they wanted regardless. Which I always thought was odd because the Luchenko pick was off the board. Also wondered if part of the motivation was that they weren't going to be taking Parekh or an LD due to need?

There's this narrative around Adams that he's done fine with the kids, but sucked in terms of pro personnel. I don't know that the facts bear that out at all, at least at this exact point in time. Adams has certainly been guilty of not acquiring enough veteran talent, but he's done OK with the acquisitions he has made, at least the bigger ones: Signing Zucker was a good move. Cost nothing but salary cap space and he's easily lived up to his contract. Trading Savoie for McLeod is looking to be a very good move. Not only has McLeod performed very well and filled a huge hole in the roster, but he's still young enough to remain a good fit long term Byram has performed well and is simply a better player than Mittelstadt. If I could add a Greenway clone for the 59th pick in this year's draft, I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Locking up Tage to that deal was a very smart move It's unlikely he could have done better than Tuch on that contract in terms of a real NHL player, given the Eichel circumstances They were not nearly enough, and the moves around the edges have been entirely inconsequential, but taken individually, these values have been fine. Now let's look at the kids: Jack Quinn has thus far been a disappointment at #8. Rossi, Perfetti, Lundell, Jarvis and Holloway went with 5 of the next 6 picks and have all outperformed Jack this season. Trading up for Peterka in the 2nd might be the 2nd best move in Adams' tenure. He's 5th in goals and 6th in points from his draft year. Owen Power regressed this season. He hasn't fallen out of the conversation of "best player in the draft" but he has not developed to the extent you'd have hoped a 1st overall pick would have either. 15 players from the 2021 draft have hit the 100 game mark. 19 have put up 30 or more points. Isak Rosen isn't a bust yet, but it's certainly looking like there were better options at 13. The Sabres had 2 second-rounders that year. Kisakov is a bust. Poltapov is intriguing but remains a question. There certainly were better choices (Stankoven, Knies) available. Krebs hasn't measured up to the hopes placed on him in the Eichel trade. Same with Levi in the Reinhart trade, at least not yet. Signing Cozens to a 7-year $50M deal looks like a mistake. Signing Samuelsson to a 7-year $30M deal looks like a mistake. Too early to tell on the rest, and there is still plenty of time to change the narrative, but so far, so not-good.

Although the idea of cloning Tuch is pretty creative and it does intrigue me.

Trying to answer my own question, is it a quality thing, as opposed to quantity? It feels like he’s only made two moves involving buying ‘name’ players (Norris, Byram) and neither of those deals were structured or timed in a way that excited the fan base. Since the initial post-Ralph sell-off, everything has felt methodical, around the edges and ‘he did what?’, at least at the time of the moves. Are we in desperate need of something that gives off Tim Murray trading for O’Reilly or signing Okposo vibes?

I’m curious what “running it back” means to you guys. Over the past 2 years (2023 trade deadline) the Sabres have dumped: Cozens, Jokiharju, Gilbert, Aube-Kubel, Skinner, Olofsson, Okposo, Girgensons, Johnson, Robinson, Jost, Lyubushkin, Asplund, Mittelstadt, Anderson, Comrie, Granato and Christie and brought in: Norris, Bernard-Docker, Kulich, Zucker, McLeod, Malenstyn, Lafferty, Aube-Kubel, Gilbert, Reimer, Byram, Robinson, Benson, Johnson, Clifton, Greenway, Ruff and Appert I think there are 10 guys still here from before that time: Thompson, Dahlin, Tuch, Quinn, Peterka, Krebs, Power, Samuelsson, Bryson, UPL (plus Bales, Ellis and Wilford)? Quinn Peterka and Power were rookies that 2023 season. Most here think Adams is guilty of running it back despite turning over more than half the roster and replacing the head coach. I kinda agree. But I’m asking this as a serious question: What would he have to do this summer in order to have you say “at least he didn’t run it back”.

This is the list of cheap goalies signed in free agency last summer Matt Murray $.7M 1 win, .879 S% Kevin Lankinen $.8M 25 wins, .901 S% Ilya Samsonov $1.5M 16 wins .892 S% James Reimer $1M 9 wins .906 S% Chris Driedger $.8M minors Phoenix Copley $.8M 0 wins .833 S% Scott Wedgewood $1.5M 13 wins .908 S% Kappo Kahkonen $1M 1 win .800 S% Casey DeSmith $1M 14 wins, .916 S% Cam Talbot $2.5M 20 wins, .904 S% Anthony Stolarz $2.5M 19 wins .922 S% Eric Comrie .8M 9 wins .914 S% Alex Nedeljkovic $2.M 13 wins .894 S% Calvin Pickard $1M 22 wins, .902 S% Seems to be a correlation between the ones who delivered and the ones who are on good teams. But it should not be hard to sign one of these types on the idea of “You start as #2, but if UPL struggles, you’re going to get your shot” while holding the idea of Levi in your back pocket. Maybe he grabs the chance like Kevin Lankinen did. Maybe Levi forces his way into the NHL. Maybe UPL bounces back. Three guys with a clear slot, but also a clear path to improve, hold or lose it seems like the most reasonable best case scenario. Ideally, I’d like to add a clear upgrade on UPL. Those guys aren’t available. And the guys that are available are no more likely to deliver 55 starter-calibre games than UPL. Almost certainly less. I guess Reimer still fits the #2 mold I’m describing, but I’d rather bet on a 28-30 year-old no-name to be next year’s Stolarz or last year’s Charlie Lingren. I will say that I’d make an exception and pay the price if the Canucks make Thatcher Demko available because of contracts and Lankinen. Unfortunate year for him, but he’d be playing for a new contract and he’s the real deal.

He's a fantastic interview. (And seems to be doing a good job)

To those people who want to promote Ruff: why? He obviously has a ton of experience, but none of it in a management role. The team has regressed under him as coach. He has one winning season and on playoff appearance in the past 6 years. Why do you think he's the solution?

Not arguing the bold, but i think you may have misunderstood my post. I was suggesting the Canucks trade for Norris, not the Sabres trade for Hughes. The Hughes situation will be exactly like the Dahlin situation once the Canucks sign Hughes a long-term deal.

Its too bad someone like Mitch Marner isn't available. But really, our forwards are fine, right?

I might start the retool by hiring a PP coach who will build the PP around getting the puck to one of the NHL's best goal scorers. Yes, last year's PP focused way too much getting the puck to Tage at the left circle. The solution is to a) take advantage of the other openings created by teams overcommitting to Tage, and b) find ways to get the puck to Tage in other scoring positions The solution is not to stop giving the puck to Tage in scoring positions

He’s real. Saw him sitting next to Benny when Benny put on that player of the game vest. He was hard to recognize under all the gauze, but I’m positive it was him. He was wearing a “I ❤️ Brady” button.

Again, not really interested in debating any of my specific examples. I think your proposed forward core as a whole needs to be harder and more reliable defensively. Your response sounds an awful lot to me like “there’s no good way to do that” I think that sounds like something Kevyn Adams would say. And we go in circles.

Not confusing that at all. Maybe a better way of saying it is: I don’t think our 9 best defensive forwards currently are good enough defensively, particularly when 2 of them are as available as Norris and Greenway. I also would say something similar about our 9 best ES forwards and or 9 best physical forwards. I like our top 9 in terms of speed and skill.

I don't want to do any of these moves specifically. I'm just providing examples of the types of moves that could be made to address holes. Of course only your way works when it's your video game, with your player and GM codes.

It's situational and more about having all 4 in the top 9. It's not really a knock on Peterka in and of himself, its because that mix forces Peterka to be your 3rd-best forward, with probably Norris, McLeod and Zucker as your 4/5/6. I think I'd be good with JJ at 3F if we had a few more McLeods behind him to lean on when we're up a goal. But Norris comes with availability questions and Zucker is more properly a 7F. I don't think Peterka manages pucks well enough yet to be a go-to in a protecting leads scenario. Wouldn't matter so much if there are multiple Mike Griers deeper in the lineup, but it does when the next guys up are Quinn and Kulich. And maybe he gets better, or maybe Kulich and Benson and Quinn do. But betting on all of them is what got us to where we are this year.

Not saying these evaluations are out to lunch, I am saying there is an issue with the mix: it's too callow. You can have Benson and Kulich on the team but not at the same time as you have Quinn and Peterka (and Kozak and/or Krebs). McLeod for Savoie was a big step in correcting that. Norris for Cozens might be another step. I think at least one more shoe has to fall. The fact you can't count on Norris and Greenway to stay healthy amplifies that.

I think the part I trip over is, you ask 'what would you do' and then immediately clamp on the restriction of "Adams won't do that." Because if it's you making the changes, it shouldn't matter what Adams will do. You're the GM now. You can trade whoever you want. You aren't stuck with Adams' choices. Example 1: Trade Peterka and Samuelsson for Cuylle and Schneider Example 2: Trade Byram and Quinn for Rasmus Andersson and Blake Coleman Example 3: trade Tuch and Norris for Petterson and Demko Example 4: trade Kulich for Ryan Nugent-Hopkins Example 5: Sign John Tavares, trade a young winger for help on defence Example 6: Sign Sam Bennett, trade a young winger for help on defence Example 7: Sign Mitch Marner, trade Zucker for a pick to clear salary You aren't married to any of these current Sabres forwards. Why are you deciding to keep them?

You think .79 pts per game in the AHL is a strong argument for 1C in the NHL 2 years later? Peyton Krebs put up better numbers in the AHL. Better numbers as an NHL rookie too.

Jiri Kulich pencilled in as 1st-line centre is the plan? Dude has played 57 NHL games and recorded 22 career points. He's never put up more than 46 points in any league anywhere. He has 8 assists, playing a majority of his year alongside one of the best goal scorers in the world. He should have 10 assists just from off pucks bouncing off his shins. Isn't this the kind of thing Kevyn Adams would do?

Tuch’s a tough one in that he’s going to get what almost certainly will be a bad contract yet typifies almost exactly what the team does not have enough of and can’t afford to lose at this juncture. Thanks Kevyn. In terms of the player as he is at this moment, he’s about as complete a package as one could ask for without being an actual “star”: rare size/speed combo, able to play in all situations with or against anyone. In terms of fandom, immensely easy to root for. Glad I haven’t seen the “3rd liner on a Stanley Cup team” BS in this thread. RW is the shallowest position, but I’d be shocked if you could name 15 better. Really interested to see how invested he is in the Sabres and this management team.He’s got a family now, his wife is from Vancouver, and he’s got a limited number of years left to enjoy playoff success. Re-signing him may not be Kevyn’s decision.