seer775
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Posts posted by seer775
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We are God awful. Like, worse than the Leafs.
Dealing Eichel was a nuclear disaster. He earned himself a close-second finish for the Conn Smythe right after he left. Worse yet, he said he would've stayed if he got the surgery.
Regeir started it with Drury/Briere. Lucic on Miller was the swan song. Now we have Pegula, one of THE WORST owners in NHL history.
I take back my initial enthusiasm. The only hope we have is for Pegula to leave the team.
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On 11/17/2023 at 6:19 PM, Thorny said:
It’s not a good argument
Just an utterly putrid line of thought imo, I’m sorry. You have to be final 4 or the season is a failure?
the rest of the post is non-sensical, but at least not putrid. Having our core locked in cheap relative to the current cap isn’t a situation that improves when the cap goes up further: the one advantage we have gets mitigated because the growing cap grants wiggle room to the teams that actually need it, when we don’t. We were going to be one of the teams NOT capstrapped and now more teams join those ranks. We aren’t even going to utilize said space anyways, given past KA precedent. Growing cap neutralizes the benefit of the strides/points of differential relative to other teams that KA made in CURRENT system
Would you say a team that doesn't make the semis had a successful season? No, that's nonsensical.
Having more capspace allows us to lock in talent in other places where it is required, namely 1A Goalie, bottom 6 F, bottom 4D. Having young promising talent allows our GM the time required to improve the rest of the roster. Timing is the key.
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Just now, PerreaultForever said:
You didn't answer the point though. Nobody is arguing that there is talent on the roster and there is potential in the prospects. That's not the point.
Your comment was that the Rangers, Carolina, etc. were paying the price for trading away picks and I said look at the standings. Then you said that was regular season and didn't count, playoffs mattered and you alluded to this team being built for the playoffs to which I said prove that. Cause we AREN'T. If there was ever a team being built for the regular season and playoff failure, this is it.
Playoff success requires great goaltending, solid defense and physicality and grit along with some scoring talent (and ideally a good PP) . That is not the Sabres and there is no sign that that will be th3e Sabres in the future either. Hence I said prove it.
Saying not that we will be bad for 3-4 years is a ridiculously low bar and it comes along with zero guarantees of future success. Why should WE as fans have to wait that long when other teams do it faster? These sort of low bar apologetics make no sense at all.
I do agree we've been mismanaged though. I think we still are being mismanaged, and I think it comes right from the top (TP).
The proof is in what actually happens, not in future forecasts, maybes and prospects. None of that matters until it becomes wins on the ice. Fool me once shame on shame on won't get fooled again.
We need three bottom 4 Defensemen and three bottom 6 forwards. Everything else for the most part is set to develop.
Forwards Out: Jost, Oloffson, Okposo. Defense Out: Joker, Clifton, EJ.
Replace them with prospects and/or trades, and we have something.
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1 hour ago, PerreaultForever said:
We do? What exactly? Prove it.
Dahlin is a Norris candidate. Thompson is an 80 point player, Skinner a 40 goal scorer, Cozens is gritty and a skilled player at 22 years old. Mittlestadt is a great bottom-6 playmaking centre. Quinn and JJP are showing great potential in terms of offense. Power is pretty darn good at 20. Levi and UPL are also showing signs of growth at young ages. Tuch is a steal at <5 mil. We have a lot of valuable assets.
Our team has been horrendously mismanaged since Briere and Drury walked. We only saw signs of improvement when Eichel was injured and we've been growing since then. Plus, we have a ton of upcoming talent that will grow with our core.
We aren't going to be good for like 3-4 years. We have young, high calibre talent at bargain rates. The salary cap is going up. Water the seeds every day, give them sunlight, and they will grow. Throw a little fertilizer in the mix (i.e someone to teach proper defense and how to be tough) and we have a team that will resemble the 05-06 Sabres.
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10 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:
What is this ANOTHER KA post?
It's a good argument EXCEPT (to the bold) Rangers and Panthers are doing very well (1st and 2nd in their divisions respectively) and Leafs and Carolina are still in playoff positions and then there's Boston to consider further. Remind me, how many of their own draft picks did Vegas have winning the cup? (I'll wait..............)
Those are the cold hard facts, not some half baked theory of development.
You do realize, at this point, that we traded Eichel for Tuch. Now I like Tuch. I'm glad he's a Sabre and imo he should have been named captain before this season BUT until the picks actually become something, all we got worth talking about was Tuch. Ponder it. We've become nothing more than a development/farm team for the rest of the league.
Reg szn don't mean squat. If you don't at least make the semis, consider it a failure. To the Hurricanes credit, they've made the semis consistently. But they still suck. The only good teams in the last decade were the Hawks, Kings, Pens, and Lightning. Mostly every other team was a one off or whiffed entirely. VGK won because the expansion draft is a load of hogwash. The Kraken made the 2nd round in their 2nd szn. That shouldn't be possible but it is. Tough.
Yes the Eichel trade was deplorable. He got his surgery and was a Conn Smythe favorite immediately after he left. Good lord above Pegula.
Thankfully, we have something going for ourselves. We have great talent locked in for cheap, and it'll get cheaper as the cap goes up. Lots of room to grow.
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On 11/15/2023 at 8:15 AM, Mr. Allen said:
No he is not. Not right now. And I fear we are ruining him by throwing him out to the wolves.
i think he will be our best goalie and could be very good. But I think he could be best benefited by spending a year in Rochester.
I’m almost every sport you see the important position players “protected”. QB’s rarely get thrown out there. Pitchers too. But goalies almost need more time than either of those guys. The best thing for Levi and the future of the Buffalo Sabres is to send him down for the year.To protect him from our defense and offer him the chance to grow into an NHL goalie, this makes sense. Maybe if our guys got lit up every game they would be compelled to learn how to play in our own end.
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On 11/15/2023 at 3:07 PM, PerreaultForever said:
@Thorny is correct. There are many ways to build a team but for success you need a solid veteran core to build around and then you ease your rookies in around that. If you create and rely on a young core it takes a lot of time for them to become veterans (so to speak) and they lack the leaders around them to learn from so their development is even slower and perhaps incomplete. Everything falls onto the coaches for leadership so at bare minimum you need a dominant figure as coach that they will all look up to and willingly learn from.
You need to look at the teams jumping over us in terms of rebuilds and consider their plans and rosters if you want proof. Compare the Montreal Boston game to the Buffalo Boston game. Watch the difference in terms of HOW they played them more than the result. Now Montreal might falter this year and we might even end up ahead of them but you can see their rebuild is on the right track and if things continue the way they are without question they will be ahead of us soon, if not already. There are other examples.
It really isn't that complicated, but TP wants fast and lots of goals. TP wants people who do what he says. TP has ruined this franchise. TP needs to sell the team and go watch tennis games when he's not lounging on his beds of money in Florida. Unless TP changes, it'll never change in Buffalo.
Most of Yzerman's key Bolts were lightning draft picks (Kuch, Stamkos, Vasilevskiy) or prospects acquired young (Sergachev). A lot of them were deep picks (Palat, Colton, Point, Cirelli). In the salary-capped NHL your talent must come primarily from the ranks at a team-friendly price. Overpaying for rentals is detrimental to team success in the long term (Rangers, Hurricanes, Panthers, Leafs).
Best we can do is age Mits/Cozens/Quinn/JJP/Dahlin/Power/Levi/UPL into a veteran core while developing other pieces over time. Pray one or more of the Amerks works out, and if they don't be prepared to sell assets sooner rather than later to make it work.
For as long as the Bills have a shot at the playoffs Pegula will be hands-off with the Sabres. This will give KA/DG the room required to develop our younger players.
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I'll be honest, Pegula has made it hard to be a Sabres fan. ROR, Eichel, and the constant GM/coach turnover has pretty much made it impossible for a hockey team to formulate. I don't know what the man was thinking when he bought the team except $$$ despite the place selling 50% of the arena for the last dozen years.
Now with KA/DG we have the chance of not being hot garbage forever. Just so long as the Pegulas keep their eyes on the Bills we might get something in a few years.
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1 hour ago, Mr. Allen said:
Is there a chance Adams sends Levi down to Rochester where he belongs?
why would he do that? Levi is our best goalie.
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12 minutes ago, LabattBlue said:
They need a real NHL coach, and a real NHL GM.
DG can go back to the US program coaching 16-18 year olds, and KA can go back to running the HarborCenter Kiddie Academy.
Friggin’ joke.
Oh my. Have you considered a career in comedy?
Youngest team in the league. Are you surprised that they aren't as good as the Bruins, Rangers, Lightning, Knights who are made of seasoned NHL veterans that've been around the block many times over before they were good?
Give our boys the space and time to make something happen.
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We are not going to make the playoffs this year. We likely aren't going to make next year either.
Guys and gals, we are the youngest team in the league. PATIENCE! We have the pieces, they aren't ready yet.
Slow and steady.. one step at a time.
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We're the youngest team in the league. It's going to take time, at least a few years.
As long as KA doesn't make some really stupid moves, we will develop into a contender in time. We have the pieces.
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Krebs is not NHL ready. Play him like we did with Mittelstadt. Send him to Rochester until he makes progress, then put him back on line 4.
Can easily sign him to a cheap 2-way contract when it comes time to sign him based on how he is playing. The hard part is developing him into a player worthy of the NHL.
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Sabres' D-zone play is still pretty ugly. The games I've seen so far feature 4-5 minutes of solid offense, then 3-4 minutes of defensive meltdown ala Chernobyl. On a good night, they'll pot a few pretty goals and UPL/Levi save the day. On a bad night, our goalies are getting lit up like a Christmas tree and we are making highlight reel memories for the bad guys.
We need to tighten up the defensive zone play if we're gonna have any chance in making the playoffs. Problem is, our bottom 4 D are not excellent and our young guns (Skinner, TT, JJP, Krebs, Oloffsson) are not physically imposing in the slightest. We need to feed the boys lots of chicken and turn them into men. Maybe some roids.
On one hand, we've had a ton of injuries, so shakey performance is not unexpected. I think we need a few more years before we are sure to make the playoffs and contend for the Cup.
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7 hours ago, LGR4GM said:
They are much better defensively this year. Currently 15th in goals against.
Last year they finished 26th in goals against.
Let's get thru November intact before we put our money in.
Re: thread.
Granato said "we ran our budding #1 goalie into an injury because we are bad at defense. Oops!"
"Don't ask for a plastic disk in your neck when the team gets too heavy to carry though ;)"
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6 hours ago, Marvin said:
Welcome back!
I personally think that we can win now. I just do not know if the team has the mindset that they will win now.
I would love for them to win now.
Last year, we finished 7th last in terms of goals against. Erik Johnson said "we won't win much if we don't commit to team defense". Their play so far has not been indicative of a significant improvement in this department. We are the youngest team in the league and have big shoes to fill before we are a contender. That begins with playing good defense in front of Levi/UPL.
I'm not going to get my hopes up until our goals allowed per game takes a big dive.
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We never should've let go of Ullmark. That was mistake #1. Maybe it was impossible to keep him for a reasonable price. Mistake #2 was bridging Dahlin, we could've got him for a few mil less than $11M AAV. Moving forward, I see two options:
Option #1 (win sooner):
Get a #1.5 rental goalie on the FA market (costing dearly) until Levi and UPL are ready to step into #1 and #2 (1-3 years).
This means our hands are completely tied with upgrading the D and F positions, especially as Dahlin and Power's cap boost kicks in. We will have to play some of the Rochester boys at bottom 6 F and bottom 4 D. This assumes also that the upcoming cap increase is rather significant (~5 mil minimum) and we shed Oloffson while retaining 1-2 of our fourth liners for the cheap. Kinda tried this with Anderson and it failed miserably.
Option #2 (win later):
Rotate Comrie, UPL, and Levi. Miss the next few years until UPL and Levi get good enough to carry the team. Upgrade the bottom 4 D and leave some cap to sign 1-2 youngsters from Rochester that break out (if they do, otherwise sell them). Re-sign Quinn with term, maybe Krebs (bridge).
Bottom line:
It's win now (1-3 yrs) or win later. I think we have to win later. We simply don't have the cap space + the chemistry + the grit and will-to-win to commit anyone besides Tuch, TT, Dahlin, Power, Skinner, and Cozens. The time to be win-now is right around when Tuch's contract is up. Until then, build slowly and steadily to a contender.
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On 11/7/2023 at 3:11 PM, PerreaultForever said:
Until we win, yes, because I have been consistent from day 1 that I think their plan is backwards and I don't see how it can work. If I'm wrong and they start winning consistently and then make the playoffs, great, happy to be wrong. But until that time I will be sticking with the old mantra, YOU BUILD A TEAM FROM THE GOALIE OUT not the top line down.
Three "offensively dangerous" lines is the plan, that's clear, but there's no checking line. There's no shut down. The Okposo line isn't it. That's a has been cast off pile of crap. So they want to run and gun and win 6-5 rather than 2-1, that's clear, and it will work when they play the Leafs or some other similar team but it's a flawed idea when the checking gets tight.
Pessimism or truth, you can label it what you want but it is what it is. Reality.
This is correct. Sabres were nothing without Hasek and Miller. Levi and UPL are decent, but we are not doing them any favors by playing terrible defense.
We were the 3rd best scoring team last year. How the hell did we miss the playoffs? It's because our goalie and defense situation is awful. Defense as in every single player is a liability on 75% of the ice surface. How did this happen? Because teams draft the guys who score the most points. You can't measure defense like you can measure offense except for picking someone big and who has a lot of hits. Defense is about the whole team adhering to a strict system and having enough conditioning to play hard in our end FIRST, then scoring.
Ok, what do we do about it? First of all: get a #1 Goalie. Next, work on team defense. Screw scoring, we have that. Throw away anyone not willing to play with grit in our end because they won't increase our chances of winning period. Talent we have in bushels. MAKE THEM PLAY DEFENSE.
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Armia & Lemieux
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It Is Time: Fire the GM, the Coaching Staff, get some experience in here. Fans deserve better!!!
in The Aud Club
Posted · Edited by seer775
Can we fire Pegula, and how?