DarthEbriate

Granato learned how to take timeouts and how to pull his goalie as the season wore on. I'm not sure you could ever quantify getting points in the standing back by swapping your goalie earlier. Usually you get shelled for 3 before you even consider a goalie change. Even with the Sabres potent offense, you're not going to win every game in which you give up 3 or 4 goals.

I think VO could very easily be a Sabre through February and get moved to a Western team needing scoring for a playoff push at the deadline (as Quinn will be back). And in the meantime, you simply rely on Greenway and Clifton being in the lineup, plus everyone's general increase in defensive acumen by being older and more aware of it.

There's still a good chance they trade UPL. But he showed some poise last season, particularly early. He stayed vertical instead of leaning forward. With better defensive structure around him, he might benefit quite well from simply being big and being consistent in his positioning. He doesn't need to steal games like Levi will, but he just can't blow the games where the offense is doing just fine. I think they waive Comrie and roll with the kids. If UPL can just be good-backup level and hit .900+ for 34 games, that's probably enough for Levi to handle the rest of the season. But if the Sabres do roll these 2 kids... I think they'll fade down the stretch, rather than ramp it up as the season progresses. Edit: Which means you're looking to pick up the veteran goalie to make a playoff run.

The team will play better defense as a unit this season. Greenway in the lineup for Olofsson (unless VO remains to cover for Quinn and PP time) and swapping Bryson's games out for Clifton. With everyone else gaining a year of knowledge, cohesion, and the realization that offense-only will only get you through January. But yes... there's no Craig Anderson security blanket. If UPL doesn't take a good step forward and Levi gets injured for any amount of time... we're picking top 12 again. And that will feel like a failure (even if 2024-25 is a meteoric NJD 22-23 rise).

I doubt it. His cap hit is $863k, there's very little financial savings to put him on LTIR. Plus, you want him back during the regular season and getting back into his groove before the playoffs. Unlike with Stone, where you can give him his surgery in-season and know that the recovery timeline meshes nicely with him coming back rested and ready (and practicing for a month) come playoff time on a prove player; with Quinn you want him working off all the rust in March and April.

You could do a trade, but I envision this after camp: Samuelsson - Dahlin (2 LHD) Power - Clifton Lyubushkin - Jokiharju (2 RHD) Stillman - E.Johnson ROC: R.Johnson - Prow Bryson - Cecconi Novikov - Metsa (AHL) Davies, Jandric (AHL), Savoie (AHL)

I think it definitely gives them a boost the next 2 seasons. Wil that be enough against Toronto, Florida, Tampa, Buffalo, and Ottawa? And Boston if Bergeron/Krejci come back? Beyond that, I think it could easily become a detriment and quickly.

Dubas' moves say he was brought in and told, "You will not rebuild. Make a run with Crosby/Malkin/Letang." He's going to crash and burn it and get fired when they finally do concede to rebuild. They say it's quite a thing to see. We can all get our popcorn to watch.

Copp is a good 3C. Compher is a good 3C. Larkin is a low-end 1C/very good 2C. If you get each of them playing at the level of a 2C, then you're in good shape. That's like the Sabres rolling something like Peca-Brown-Barnes at center. Kasper waiting in the background... That's not bad. But... to have those 3 all signed forever at $20M? That's... that's probably going to turn out pretty bad. Or at least pretty buyout-y.

I do hope this doesn't stop them from bringing back Malone. As long as his legs are still functional.

Seriously... Houser is the Sabres best goalie of the past 5 seasons. Still no love for him. And, yes, I checked. No relation to Logan Cooley, the Golden Gopher who is very much not signing with the Arizona semi-pro franchise anytime soon.

One on the one hand I get what Pittsburgh is doing. Crosby and Malkin and Letang are all around for a few more years so go out and bolster with Reilly Smith and Graves and such. On the other hand, do they not see the writing and injuries on the wall? Anyhoo, they didn't make the playoffs last season and they're not going to this year. Hey Pittsburgh. Your time has passed; this decade is our decade. So you should give us all of your drugs.

With McLeod and other better FO/PK specialists available, I don't know that this makes a ton of sense. Jost has familiarity with the team and wants to be here, yes. And he is a center if horrid on faceoffs. I think a 3C/W could have been found that better fit the team's needs. All that said, this is a guy who has the skill and speed to move up the lineup for a short time (Quinn/Skinner). He's got useful flexibility, if not a dominant skill, particularly in an area they need.

No. Not in a fight. But I'll bet he crushes Marchand on more than one occasion this season just for the hell of it.

And Ehrhoff's cap hit wasn't bad. It was the term and structure (one-year $10M) that caused the kerfluffle [and that the league made deals like his punishable immediately thereafter rather than just grandfathering it in]. While he was here he was far and away the Sabres' best d-man with fantastic Corsi Relative. Was he a #1? Heck no. But he was a good player who was overextended and with little-to-no help from the rest of the roster. Then he was bought out to go into full tank mode.

I don't advocate splitting Muel-Dahlin, but with this pickup and Johnson, Granato can now get everyone on their natural side. Dahlin-Joker; Power-Clifton; Muel-Boushh/Johnson. Or, if Muel were to miss a couple games after blocking a shot, instead of playing Bryson, Dahlin could switch back to the left and have a RHD with him. This signing makes good sense. I think Clifton is more a 2nd/3rd pairing tweener than what we might have wanted as the true top 4 RHD, but he's 28 and right in his prime. It's not an overcommitment in term, and he could turn playing with Power into a really nice $6M deal for himself by the time Novikov/Komarov/Strbak/McCarthy are ready to step into the Sabres lineup.

I checked players with over 200 hits and his 60 PIMs are right around average. There are a couple players (Seider with 41 PIMs) on the low side, but most are right around 60 PIM if not way above.

This is fine. Would I rather have had a Schenn? Sure. But not necessarily for 3 years. This pickup is about mentoring and off-ice preparation, preparing the d-corps for playoffs, etc. This is about Johnson's work with Colorado's young studs (Makar, Girard, Graves, Byram) the last few seasons. On ice, early in the season, sure, he might be paired with Power a bit. But unless you move Joker (which I don't think you need to do, because defensive depth is critical for playoff teams) by midseason he'll be on the 7/8 pairing named Johnson & Johnson. That's what the overpay is for -- transitioning Johnson from a leadership piece to next season when he's signing somewhere on the $800k Giordano-style deal.

Good on Schenn. Tripled his previous salary and got some term out of it, too.

JVR at $1M vs. Foligno at 4 or whatever he was... that's a very solid pickup on the bottom six, even though both guys are only shells of their former selves. They'll still both give you 10 goals/30 points. (And get caved in by the Sabres speed, hopefully.)

This. Morning, 'Spacers! Time to make some coffee and settle in for some Canada Day fun. It's the Sabres so I expect 3 things today... Dahlin, Power, and some veteran signings or re-signings for Rochester.

Honestly, that's the right player. Faceoffs 60%, PK, used to running-and-gunning with the Devils. Would've led all Sabres in hits last season. Useful player and a type the Sabres don't currently have on the roster.

It'll probably get posted tomorrow. Although, I think last year they were pretty late with it and it came out the 1st day. I'm curious to see who they bring in as the extra goalies. Does Suchanek get another call?

It might take him a few years, and it might even take some time in the AHL, but if he can reinvent himself as a PK-capable guy, defensively responsible player... Like a Lazar did and countless 1st rounders before him, like Mitts is doing perhaps... then he can still carve out a long career. He seems to have a good motor and offensive awareness, but needs to do those other things because he's not a top-6 player.

Jost is an OK player, but he's got to be at the right value because he doesn't bring what teams need as a bottom-6 guy. He's a center but is a career sub 40% faceoff guy. When you make the other Sabres centers look like great faceoff artists, you're doing something wrong. But as a 13th forward, like a Hinostroza, he's a fair addition to a roster. Just gotta get paid at the Hino level.