DarthEbriate

Sarich 6 Rasmussen 9 Remembering some guys. Rasmussen was in the league for 9 seasons (7th overall a career fourth liner is a bit disappointing, for sure). But Sarich played 15 solid years, won a Cup, and fell a half-season short of 1000 games played. Sabres after dark.

Certainly not by accident. Whether it's clever is up for debate. Now, when the starting lineup is Benson-Norris-Thompson and they go stand in line for the anthems (in the playoffs), will I snicker? Also up for debate.

Swap Tuch out for Zucker and you’re probably spot on (with Byram if they ever add the D2). Zucker is better on the PP historically than Tuch has ever been, including saving the PP from being league-worst single-handedly last season. Zucker gets deflections, goes to the net, and wins possessions. Save Tuch for PK1 and PP2.

If they make the playoffs, it’s in spite of the GM, owner, and the bulk of the coaching staff. This franchise should be 5 years advanced of where it is currently — consistently a threat for the top 3 in the division.

Adams and Appert yes. Wilford, definitely. Ellis is assigned back to the staff. Ruff retires but gets an over-top-celebration and a banner next season. Jarmo takes a job elsewhere in the next offseason.

Dragon Con is still pretty fun. However, there are fewer quiet places now. The one Hilton outdoor courtyard used to be a chill spot with a little bar setup and tables. Now, it’s another overvolumed DJ station. I’m old….

Entries and faceoff/possession at the start of the power play are the first two issues. Resolve those and they can get up to 18%. The second is Tage. Good shot, yes. Winning possession back on the wall. Helping with entries… Not really. He needs to begin to outwork the PK in addition to out-heighting them. Do that and a good PP is possible. And Ppwer needs to own PP2.

@sabremike is the context. I look at the Sabres center spine vs the rest of the division. I think 92 is possible, however unlikely. They might find an opponent’s weakness and exploit it.

He’s taller.

Ninety-four? Ninety-four???

The coaches are the same. Are the players better able to execute? Will it matter if it’s Wilford? Or if Luukkonen can’t replicate his good half season? Joker was coachable. He got into Quenneville’s lineup as a rookie kid. He did just fine in Boston. He did what he was told. Which comes back to the question, is the Sabres coaching staff any good? Can the staff improve itself?

I’d bet Buffalo is on his no trade list.

Pronman at the Athletic ranked the Sabres 13th in terms of prospect pool. This includes #1 overall Power at the top of the pool. Paywall article: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6493709/2025/08/27/buffalo-sabres-nhl-pipeline-rankings-2025/ Having a 1st overall in the pool and already in the NHL, but outside the top 10 seems especially disheartening. 1. Power, 2 Mrtka, 3 Benson, 4 Kulich, 5 Helenius From my POV, I wouldn’t include Power in the pool. Too old! Too old (in NHL seasons) to be in the kiddie pool.

First thought: Wow, that's a lot to pay for a 4th liner. (re: Rossi's playoff usage) Second thought: That is an easily traded contract. All the local media in Minnesota have been discussing Rossi as a trade target for 2 seasons, knowing that Guerin doesn't like his size at center. Rossi was BPA but didn't fit the team's thresholds. Guerin is an interesting GM. They had the massive buyouts of Suter/Parise that were as much as 14M against the cap during the flat cap seasons, never seem to show any care in the center position (Eriksson Ek is a very good defensive-first center who is playing a line too high on the Wild every single year), and still managed to make the playoffs 4-of-5 seasons. They got an All-Star for a 5th round pick in Kaprizov and a defensive-minded 1st pairing D from his very first shift in Faber. And the fringes of the roster are ex-Sabres: Bogosian, MoJo - re-signed again!, and Aube-Kubel, with Hinostroza and Cal Petersen in the minors. (At this point, it's hard to call Foligno an ex-Sabre he's been a Wild so long.)

D'oh! Twice. Boychuk and Bishop.

If my AHL coach is skating my 19 year-old #1 prospect forward 25+ min/game in regular season action against 30 year-olds and AHL/ECHL-level scrubs, I'm firing that coach into the nearest exogorth. All situations, key shifts at game's end? Absolutely. But I'm not running them into the ground. I'm emphasizing NHL-length shifts and quality over quantity. Give me a prospect with 17-18 targeted minutes a night vs. overextending.

So in addition to Brian Savage's son, they'll have Curtis Leschyshyn's son, and Les Kuntar's son? Leschyshyn was a Nordique in 1994, otherwise it could've been a full 1994 Habs kids reunion.

I'm not sure Olofsson is going to fit in the Avalanche's or McKinnon's worldview any better than Mittelstadt did. But I do see lots of opportunities for him to play, and with top 6 time with just a single injury. Makar alone could pick up at least five 5-on-5 primary assists to VO while VO just camps on the right dot. VO should get 18+ goals barring a top-6 acquisition early in the season to push him further down the lineup.

They'd better have a good (relatively) draft grade. They've drafted in the top ten in 11 of the previous 13 seasons.

Really can't see how they managed to get a D- when F was right there. They've weaponized all that cap space once -- for 211th overall (Linus Sjodin) and to acquire Ben Bishop's contract to get to the cap floor. Once.

Tuch: I'm Tuch Icewalker. I'm here to rescue you. I've brought your R2-D6 and I'm here with the Son of Ben. And I just signed a new long-term extension.... now let's get you out of your AHL cell so you can... Levi: Somebody has to save our skins!

GM Sheevyn knew that the addition by subtraction was Dahlin, Thompson, and Tuch all along. Think of the futures!

Funny thing about hockey, and other sporting league offseasons... they last for months. You can jettison an underperforming coach right at the end of the season. Then, when you do go coach-searching: the people you interview know that you're serious. You're not just having investigatory conversations. You're hosting a real search and real interviews. Serious coaches, and their agents, may even reach out to you because... Dahlin, Power, Byram. That's a pretty solid D-corps that I <insert headstrong and self-confident coach name> think I can get more out of than the Sabres have seen.

This is an interesting facet of this offseason's transactions: Out: 622 career GP JJP - 238 Clifton - 384 (career 6/7 D) In: 675 career GP Danforth - 183 Doan - 62 Jones - 115 Kesselring - 156 Timmins - 159 Did they get older and more experienced? Not really. Definitely not if Danforth is a scratch. They could be better, but it's another kick of the can into the future because you can't be certain what you're going to get.

After the exhaustive coaching search (or just promotion from interim label if Ruff is fired mid-season), will Appert be able to make them look like a properly coached team? Will Appert keep Wilford on his staff for "continuity" and because they're already familiar with each other? Would Appert be able to, and permitted to, get a more expensive and more playoff-experienced defensive coach?