LGR4GM

Im not sure the Sabres were that bad on faceoffs this season.

Analytics original job was to give market inequities and capitalize on them. A lot sports ppl forgot that along the way.

I don't honestly care. Hellebuyck isn't available. And 3/8 is only 37.5% although tbf, that's not all on Hellebuyck. To the Yzerman point.. what? Your counter argument to "get more high floor guys" is that Yzerman doing just that and failing is an outlier? I don't agree. Buffalo has both high floor and high ceiling players. They missed the playoffs because their only good defender got hurt and UPL turned back into the player he's basically always been. Sure, add more high floor guys to the defense or the bottom 6. I'm good with that. But that's not why we're here. At least impo. They should but just like puck moving defenders can be physical, here to often it's 1 or the other.

I don't care about making the playoffs. I care about winning playoff series. To the bold, that's been Yzermans plan. Hasn't worked great.

One could argue Adams has been addressing overall talent. I still don't want Hellebuyck. He turns into UPL during the playoffs.

I don't agree. You have finite assets, just acquiring the best say LW is silly. We need a defender, you only pigeon hole yourself if you decide you must make a move. If you can't find that veteran defender, you do have to hold. I do agree that it's harder because Adams is up against it.

If you can get Byram for that for 6yrs no more, and then move at least Samuelsson out, I can see this working but 7.5x6yrs is the ceiling.

Carbonneau has less hitting but a better shot and better skating. I like Martin's game. I wont worry if they pick him.

That's the other thing... what if we just paid Byram and let him play with Dahlin?

One thing. You can't do this last part and pay Byram and Power.

Sake of conversation

But does the defense look worse because of Goaltending as opposed to the prevailing theory that defense made gt bad?

Speaking of goaltending:

Martin? Idk if he's slow but his skating stride needs some love. His effort makes up for a lack of top end speed. I'd label his skating speed a 5 and his agility a 6. 4 is below NHL avg 5 is NHL avg 9 is McDavid Mrtka leaves me wanting more.

Hi. Hello. I've been beating my fist on the table to change up the defense. I've argued that we need 3 new defenders and others have been very critical as well... but what if the defense isn't bad, it's just the goaltending was truly atrocious. You may be thinking, "wtf are you talking about Liger?!" Hear me out though. Let's talk about WAR. Ooo yea what is it good for? Absolutely SOMETHING. WAR stands for wins above replacement. The idea being what if you could replace a player with your average NHL guy at the same spot. I was shocked to find this chart while reading about the Redwings. You may notice that Buffalo isn't near the bottom. In fact we're pretty good. Some of that is Dahlin is truly special and some of that is they only pulled the 6 guys with the must TOI so that limits our analysis but what if this defense group is actually fairly good, just unlucky because of atrocious gt? What if the answer is simple? Switch out 1 defender and upgrade UPL? Is there some modicum of hope that this team actually isn't *****? https://mystaes.substack.com/p/why-the-detroit-red-wings-missed

I do not agree.

Kulich has more goal scoring upside but idk about offensive upside. Zach Benson feeds pucks into HD areas with a skill the Sabres haven't yet capitalized on. Benson is superior defensively. I like Kulich a lot and his skating is faster than Benson which gives him an advantage.

Marty. He's quite good at adding context.

Except Östlund is older and hit the AHL fresh off time in the SHL versus Peterka coming out of the DEL.

This has ended for now and Musks cronies were denied access. Musk wants access so he can use copyright info to train his AI and take competition information. It's all about positioning himself ahead in business and taking protected information to do it. He's stealing.

Zach Benson is already better than Kulich. I think this board is way too low on Helenius. Kulich and Helenius though could be put next to each other.

Came here to say this. I would have signed Metsa and dumped Bryson. Metsa is at least a right shot. Honestly Buffalo needs to get rid of Samuelsson, Bryson, Clifton, and either Power or Byram.

Nightingale and Forton probably won't shut up about him being tall.