SabresBaltimore

Definitely glad we didn't trade for Hellebuyck now

I'm not sure there were goalies out there to be had. Pretty much all the FA goalies stayed put. And the 2 being that were reported of being on the trade market didn't go anywhere. Defenders I'm not sure what options we had in free agency. Really I'm just not sure if we mostly stayed put because they aren't being allowed to spend like the Bills, they are expecting to need the cap space to pay our upcoming players, or simply because they didn't find anyone they liked for the price it would cost. Time will tell if that comes back to haunt them or not.

I can't wait for the Sabres to hire someone from this forums to be GM or Coach to finally show us how it's done. We'll have a Stanley cup in no time. Personally I'm not going to hold the drought against Adams or Granato. This team has gotten better each season under them both. Not as quickly as I'd like sure, but I think the future looks bright. It's easy to sit here on the internet and dream up fantasy scenarios of players we want to have as it's as simple as playing a video game. I find it sad at how upset people are at this team when we haven't even played a single regular season game yet.

I think it's way too early/too small of a sample size to draw any conclusions about the defensive pairings. I'm definitely underwhelmed so far. If this goes on for a long stretch and he doesn't try swapping up pairs, then I'll be more concerned. With regards to goaltending I'm no more concerned now than I was before. Which is to say a fair bit of concern. We have a rookie goaltender who could be great but is being asked to do far too much. I don't have a ton of faith in either of the others to be a consistent backup. I'd give the edge to Comrie though

The top line is re-united I guess. Benson with Mitts and Greenway. Otherwise I had it right I think.

I'd prefer those pairs as well, but I kind of expect that Granato will try the pairs I posted to start with.

I'm hoping Benson's play just motivates Savoie. The timing of the injury really sucks and we'll never know what the competition would look like if both of them played most of the preseason, but so far his younger teammate has made the case to be on the team ahead of him.

So line-up will probably be: Skinner-TNT-Benson Greenway-Mitts-Tuch Peterka-Cozens-Olofsson Girgs-Krebs/Jost-Krebs/Jost Dahlin-Clifton Power-Joker Mule-RJohnson Levi UPL I don't think some of those combinations looked great last game, and Granato made adjustments as the game went on. But I kind of expect him to try them again at least to start the game.

Good to see both Cozens and Erik Johnson playing

Wouldn't that be great. I'm not as down on Joki as some are here, but I'd prefer him as a 3rd pair guy and have someone better with Power. If he can step up his game and change my mind all the better.

Same, but that's in part why I wanted Comrie to get the nod tonight. But it's good to get Levi another game too

I put it in the original post. Granato announced Levi starting yesterday.

Yeah. I have both so it doesn't matter to me. I would have preferred ESPN+, but I'll take what I can get.

1. Sabres win and point totals 43-31-9 - 95 points 2. Do the Sabres make the playoffs and if so how far do they go? Yes, but out in the first round 3. Team MVP: Dahlin 4. Team ROY Levi 5. Most Improved player Peterka 6. Team leader in goals, assists and points: Goals: TNT, Assists: Dahlin, Points: TNT 7. NHL Award candidates (Norris, Vezina, Selke, Calder, Richard, MVP etc)? Any winners? Dahlin for the Norris, Levi for Calder but neither winning 8. How many players score 10 or more goals? Who? 9: TNT, Skinner, Tuch, Dahlin, Cozens, Mitts, Olofsson, Peterka, Krebs 9. How many players score 20 or more goals? Who? 4-5: TNT, Skinner, Tuch, Cozens then one of Peterka (most likely), Dahlin or Mitts 10. Does anyone from Rochester get callup and stay with the Sabres (such as Pominville back in the day)? Not unless we have a long term defensive injury. Then Ryan Johnson maybe 11. Which Eastern playoffs team (s) miss the playoffs and who replaces them? No clue really. Bolts and Rangers out. Sabres and Detroit in 12. Stanley Cup champions 2023-24? No clue really. I don't really follow the league that closely beyond the Sabres, so I'll just guess based on who was good last year and say the Devils make the jump this year. Maybe that's wishful thinking because I like Lindy Ruff 13. Other predictions you'd like to share? Nope

Per: https://www.nhl.com/sabres/news/how-to-watch-buffalo-sabres-preseason-games-2023 Friday, Oct. 6 vs. Pittsburgh – 7 p.m. Watch: MSG (Dan Dunleavy and Rob Ray; pregame starting at 6:30 p.m.) Listen: WGR 550 (Radio Simulcast) I figured I wouldn't get to watch this one, but like the last MSG game, it looks like it will also be on NHL Network for anyone who has that/is out of market. It was announced yesterday that Levi is starting (which I find a bit of a surprise after how bad UPL played, I thought it would be Comrie). Both Cozens and Eric Johnson were out practicing with the team too. So far I haven't any other roster announcements. I'm hoping they put out most of their starters.

I don't think Rousek has to pass through waivers yet. Also, if we do waive UPL, I think they're more likely to risk Biro to waivers than Clague, but I could be wrong.

I think it's the latter, but I worry the team is expecting the former. I would have loved for UPL to come out like the good version we saw on those 12 occasions and make himself our backup. Age/contract wise he is the better fit. But he didn't do anything to instill confidence for me.

I hope you're right. I think they will keep 3, but I don't want them to. Ideally we can get UPL back to Rochester. But if we lose him to another team, I still think it's better than keeping 3 goalies. I'm hoping all the public facing talk about all 3 is just to try to help KA trade Comrie or UPL if they feel like UPL can't get through waivers. Either way our current goalie pipeline is a mess.

I would agree if they somehow don't end up keeping 3 goalies. If not, though they only have room to keep 7 on my list.

I posted this in another thread but it looks like I agree with Fairburn I guess. So I won't repost my list. I don't want to keep 3 goalies, but I'm kind of leaning towards that's what will end up happening. I think Biro has looked good and there is a slight chance someone might claim him if we waive him, but Benson has made it impossible to fit him into the roster spots right now. Maybe they call him up later. If by chance we do waive or trade a goalie, then I'd have Clague as an 8th defensemen. Possibly Byron, but I hope not. Sabres seem to like him far more than I do. I'm also not sure what we do when his 9 games are up and we send Benson down. Probably bring up Clague or Byrson to be our 8th defenseman. But I'll worry about that later since this is just opening night projections though.

I think UPL showed last season he could win them games when they played bad. To me the issue is consistency. After a great stretch of games last season, he slumped and then never recovered. With Levi the clear #1 on the team, you just need someone who can go in and win you a game every now and again to give him a break. The breaks may be even more important this year too since Levi's a rookie who hasn't played even played a longer AHL season, let alone something like the grind of an 82 game NHL season. Comrie was a decent backup before we signed him. We thought maybe he could be a stop gap starter, but that hasn't shown to be the case. However when healthy he's looked like a manageable backup. Sure we'd all love to have a veteran starter who could transition to backup as Levi get acclimated, but that's not happening. At best we'll get other AHL starters or unproven backups. UPL started out terrible last night through 1 and a bit periods, but then seemed to settle in for most of the 2nd and 3rd. The team played terrible in front of him. They always seems to play terrible in front of him. That's my biggest concern. We saw late last year this team play much better defensively. Part of that is likely the pressure of a playoff push, but I think a large factor is Levi. Comrie put up a better showing with mostly AHL defenders against a fairly close to regular season Pens team. But the team hasn't shown to play that much better in front of him compared to Levi either. Personally I think we should keep Comrie and trade/waive UPL, but I think the team is still hoping to get a more consistent version of UPL that looks like what we saw when he had that good stretch last season. It's kind of why I think they are going to go with 3 goalie, maybe at least until Quinn is back or they finally rip the band aid off and pick 1 back-up

Here's my tentative 23 man roster pending something changing with tomorrow night's game. The lists aren't exactly ordered except the ones I'm less confident/are on the bubble are listed at the end of their respective position groups 13 Forwards Thompson Skinner Tuch Cozens Mittelstadt Peterka Greenway Girgensons Krebs Okposo Jost Olofsson Benson (9 game trial) 7 Defenseman Dahlin Power Clifton Samuelsson EJohnson Jokiharju Stillman 3 Goalies Levi Comrie UPL I don't want to keep 3 goalies, but I'm kind of leaning towards that's what will end up happening. I think Biro has looked good and there is a slight chance someone might claim him if we waive him, but Benson has made it impossible to fit him into the roster spots right now. Maybe they call him up later. If by chance we do waive or trade a goalie, then I'd have Clague as an 8th defensemen. Possibly Byron, but I hope not. Sabres seem to like him far more than I do.

I have Johnson as the #7 on our depth chart right now. I'd probably put Stillman 8, Clague 9 and Byrson 10. But I agree with others that Johnson gets sent down to get more playtime. I think they'll keep Stillman as the defacto 7th instead and waive Clague and Byrson.

Feed is live: https://www.nhl.com/sabres/video/buffalo-sabres-live-stream-6336966456112