mjd1001

I agree with what you are saying. And I know that you aren't arguing with me...but that leg injury may have put him 6 months or even farther behind where he should have been as a 10th overall pick...and even as a 10th overall pick (give or take a few spots) development time may have still been 3-4 years or more. I just think fans need to practice patience with him. He may not ever be a quality 1st or 2nd liner...and if he does become one, it might take another couple years to get to that point.

Krebs is someone that may require even more patience than what some fans want to give. Some things to remember: -He was a first round pick, but in the bottom half of the first round. He wasn't 8th overall like Jack Quinn, 7th overall like Dylan Cozens, 8th overall like Mitts or even Nylander. There was a reason why he was 17th overall, there might be some part of his game that take a little more time to develop. -Going back to his draft status...what is a 17th overall pick? Who was drafted right near him (16th to 18th) in his draft year. Alex Newhook and Thomas Hartley. Who was drafted in those positions the year before so they are a year ahead? Martin Kaut, Ty Smith, and Liam Foudy. How about we go back to guys who are 2 years older drafted in those positions? Juuso Valimaki, Timothy Lilijegren, and Urho Vaakanainen. My point being guys drafted in the middle-to-second half of the first round most often don't end up producing well at the NHL level for 4-5 years after they are drafted even they even do that. -I understand we are looking for things in Krebs and thus see some signs of things we like. But he will probably need time. Another year in the minors wouldn't be out of the question. Maybe a stint in the AHL at the end of this year and then with the Sabres next year but still not producing. That is what it may take.

to be successful next year a lot of upgrades need to happen. Of the UFA's, Hinostroza I think has earned a bottom six chance with the team next year if he wants it. Pysyk I'd like to see back also. Hagg as the 7th D-man I'd be OK with. Butcher, Caggiula, Bjork, and Eakin need to be replaced/upgraded for sure. Hayden and Jankowski I don't really have an opinion on, they aren't good enough to be a driving force on this team in anyway, but as Roch guys that could be called up in a pinch maybe...nothing more than that though.

If we are talking since 2000, On D, take of Risto, maybe replace him with Lydman and I'd even hear arguments for Warrener or Sekera over Risto. Up front I didn't 'like' Roy as a player, but he did produce, so him and Stafford (based on production) I think you need to consider. Connolly may have been near the top of the list as far as talent. We only saw it for about a half season and 1 playoff series leading up to his concussion, but at that point, no matter how short of a time that may have been, he may have been the single best player in terms of talent and production we have seen in the last 20 years (even over Eichel). Too bad that just when he got to that point, he had that serious injury.

If they are good enough I'd still say very good odds they make it here. This "war" is only a couple weeks old. A lot can happen in the next few weeks, or months. Wars can be won or lost, governments can change their positions, things can be ironed out in treaties....even whole governments can change. Those guys may not have even been contributors to the big club for 2-3 years or more. Things are likely to be a lot different then than they have been for the last 2 weeks.

I agree with that on Risto. He had/has the talent, he worked hard, he spent a lot of time here, but despite the effort and the physical talent, he just wasn't that good. For me, you don't get an honor just for 'trying hard' and 'having physical tools'...if the technique/hockey IQ is missing in a big way.

I don't know if I'd have them in Rochester next year. If it is obvious they need to be yes, but I am hopeful all of them will be old enough/have enough experience that they will be with the big club next year. With that said, I do agree with your general premise. I think almost every player needs to spend a good time in the AHL, it rarely hurts them. Too many times we have fans of the team that want to rush prospects to the big team. Despite that strategy having failed over and over and over, we still hear people that say "he was a first round pick bring him up!" or after a prospect scores 2 points in a single game in Roch, they say "he's ready, bring him up!" I want most, if not all of the Sabres prospects to have at least 1 full year in the minors. That said, I think Quinn and Krebs should be beyond that point next year and ready for a stint with the Sabres.

At this point in the Sabres 'development', I don't really care if they lose or even get blown out. It is going to happen. But I want to at least see some goals. These last 2 games have been 2 of the hardest ones to watch recently, not because they lost or how bad they are losing...its just because there are no goals. Boring.

I'm fine with him for now..more than fine I like him. Honestly, most of us really have no idea just how complicated coaching an NHL team can be or how in-depth game day strategy is. With that said, there are 2 things we do know. 1.) we know what his coaching style/ attitude is....some don't like it but I do like it.. 2.) He has experience, a TON of experience. Head coaching at multiple levels, experience in a development role, experience in the minors, college level kids, experience with multiple organizations as an assistant working with NHL players. Put those 2 things together, especially with me being a person who LIKES his attitude, and I'm happy he is in his role with the team.

I agree on no tribute videos. I don't like them at all in almost any circumstance. maybe, MAYBE if it was a Ryan Miller situation, or Ray Borque with Boston years ago (basically, you have to had devoted your life to the home team, played for at least 6-7 years but hopefully even more, and had memorable moments that actually contributed to team success, as well as being beloved in the community). Anything other than that, no tribute videos.

I think the 2 biggest reasons why this team is not 10 or more points better are the injuries to Mittelstadt and Girgensons. -We saw last year, Mittelstadt has the potential to be a significant contributor to scoring. Will he be that long term? Unknown yet, but he just hasn't had a chance to get into any type of flow this year even when he has played. -Girgensons. I sometimes don't understand the dislike for him on this board. The guy is 100% motor and effort when he does play. He is one of the better penalty killers and is relied on for that role. He appears to be one of the better locker room/leader guys. As a 4th liner with 10-20% less ice time than the top forwards, he produces. Over the last 3 years, not only does he have one of the better +/- ratings among forwards, but the scores at a 15+ goal pace per 82 games..again with less ice time and 4th line teammates.

I think it will help both eventually. Every year when Vegas loses in the playoffs, the days following that series were they needed a better #1 center. They now have the potential for that. Win for Vegas. For the Sabres, if Krebs progresses to even being a 'good' NHL player and Tuch plays the way he has this year (and the last couple), and throw in the value of a late first round pick..its a win for the Sabres. Personally, I am already happy with the trade. As a fan, I never connected with Eichel...and I already am more of a fan of Tuch. Krebs potential and a first rounder are just the topping on that.

I'm bringing up one that was brought up a few weeks ago but it seems to be getting worse. Serena Williams. She never was likeable or had much charisma ever, but now she doesn't even play half the time and when she does she isn't the best player anymore. Still, she is getting shoved down our throats: -Commericals. I don't know how many she is on but I know I see them almost daily. -F1 races. Why do I need to have her interviewed before a f1 race? -CNBC. I turn on a businesses network and not only is she on, but for the 30 minutes before she is on the host get all excited and keep reminding us to 'stay tuned' because she is coming up soon! -I didn't even read the article, but I saw on a news feed website yesterday an article front and center on the page about some foundation she has that someone made a mistake and credited her sister with something and Serena was mad and 'called them out'. -Now on my twitter feed also. Again, I just don't get it. Shes not the best tennis player anymore. She doesn't even play in all the tournaments. She never was someone who was likeable at all, so why is she EVERYWHERE?

Many of us feel the reason the tank/first rebuild didn't work is because they wanted it to happen to quickly. Yes, bad drafting was a part of it, but right now we finally have some prospects that appear to be 1-3 years away from being very good NHL players. I do not want that 'sped up' by a year at the expense of almost any of them.

If there is a new owner, I only want 2 things: 1.) The deal has to include a clause where the team can't be moved 2.) The new owner doesn't do anything to 'accelerate' the rebuild. Bring people in that want to do things differently? Fine, but not to make moves to abandon the youth movement and speed things up.

I tend to disagree. -In the 6 seasons prior to them taking over (including the season they took over most of the way though it as that was before their first 'offseason' retooling the team, the Sabres in the previous 6 seasons: -made the playoffs in 4 out of 6 seasons -had a positive point percentage in 7 straight seasons -1 presidents trophy -2 conference championship appearances -Averaged 100 points per season -won 4 playoff rounds in 6 years, 25 playoff wins in those 6 seasons. -1 coach in the previous 13 years. Since they bought the Sabres (starting with their first full offseason and season of ownership) -No playoffs in going on 11 seasons in a row (and many of us think that will extend to 12) -1 out of 11 seasons with a positive point percentage -Averaging 70 points per 82 games -zero playoff appearances, zero playoff wins (obviously) -5 times finishing dead last in the division, and a couple more at the bottom of the league -They are on their 7th different coach trying to make things right. Its not only how bad the results have been, but the fact they took a team that had some recent success with hardly any money/investment into it and turned it into something so bad....I have a hard time thinking of other franchises in my entire lifetime that had worse results/less success though an ownerships life.

If the Pegulas do sell....they may go down as the worst owners in the history of the NHL, and maybe North American pro sports, at least in terms of their teams success. No other league makes it as easy to make the playoffs as the NHL has historically, and when you look at winning percentage, playoff appearances, winning seasons, many measurables I'm not sure anyone would have owned a team as long as them and had as little success.

When they score a lot more and have players good enough to do that year after year. I just took a look at the top 5 teams in the league now in terms of points/point percentage: -Colorado: 5 players averaging more than a point per game...3 of them averaging more than 1.3 points per game -Carolina: 4 players averaging over .9 points per game. -Florida: 4 players average over 1 point per game (Huberdea at 1.42) -Tampa: 3 players over 1 point per game...a 4th at .97 points per game. -Toronto: 4 players over .9 points per game, Matthews on a 62 goal per 82 game pace. What does Buffalo have now? Tuch averageing 1 point per game (over 22 games). No one else even in the .9 range...only one player (Tage) barely holding onto .8. You need 3-4 guys at least to produce at the same level Tuch is so far, but to do it over 82 games. It goes beyond that. We LOVE what Thompson is doing, and Skinner to a certain extent. But there are 34 players with the same number of goals or more than Thompson, and 48 with the same number or more than Skinner. Sure, this team needs a good starting goaltender, I almost don't bring that up because it is so obvious. But for them to start winning, they need some players to develop a LOT more production. When you look at the better teams in the league, what the Sabres have in terms of production is way down the list. The top teams in the league are on pace for 320-340 goals for the season. Scoring is up. The Sabres are currently on pace for 217. I want to see this team find 80 more goals per year (full season), that is the starting point for when I will consider them good on a consistent basis. "learning to win" can just be being able to put away that one goal lead in the 3rd period and not blow it. But if you score like a top team in the league, you are going to 'learn to win' by simply being in a better position to win more games because of your scoring.

I know I know...there is virtually no connection from this team to that of years ago except for the fanbase.... I'm not sure what is worse..11 straight years of no playoffs and counting (good odds we get to at least 12).....or 4 out of 20 years with no playoffs (and counting). Even with those conference finals teams in 05-06 and 06-07....THAT part of the franchise (before the current playoff drought even started), had missed the playoffs in 5 out of 9 seasons in a league where half or more of the teams make the playoffs.

Sabres have lost 5 in a row. They are playing a very good team, well above .500 and playing them on the road. Logic points to the Sabres losing this one....but its time to put this losing streak to an end. Sabres win this one.

To answer your question, banning russian born players form the NHL, who may not have anything to do with this, from the NHL does NOTHING for the liberty of the people living in Ukraine. Nothing. So you ban Russia as a nations from participating in tournaments, hockey, Soccer, anything. You cancel the Russian GP in forumula one. Anything sports related professional or otherwise where Russia as a nation is represented you don't allow or cancel. But you do not ban someone or suspend someone from the NHL (or any other league) based on their nationality or the location of the plot of land they were born on. That doesn't solve the problem, all that does is give people who want to blame 'someone' for what is going on a scapegoat, and the scapegoat here might very well agree with the position you have.

Agreed he should have been higher up, but even in those years he did produce as a 4th liner. I remember many games where the Sabres lost a couple years ago where after the game Paul Hamilton (and others) would say the Larsson, Girgs, Okposo 4th line was the best line on the ice and I agreed with them. In 2018-2019-2020 seasons (where he was primarily a 4th liner) he was still the 5th best scoring forward on this team as mostly a 4th liner and that was WIITH missing games due to injury also. 4th on the team in goals those years, close to being 3rd in goals per game. Even in those years, on primarily a 4th line he was giving you 15 goals per 82 games on only about 13 minutes of ice time per game. So basically, when you stuck him on a 4th line...he still was producing goals in terms of production per 60 (per amount of ice time) at a pretty good rate. So as you said, he should have been higher up in the line rotation/ice time....unless that was done intentionally to limit his ice time due to his injuries/injury history at that time.

As others have said, it depends on a lot of things, mostly what moves are made in the offseason. -The Sabres are looking like a 60-65 point team this year. Thats really bad. Only the 2 tank year teams were worse. They actually are on a slightly worse pace for points this year than they were the year they finished last and drafted Dhalin. But I feel a little better about this team than any of those. Not a lot, but a little, and I'm slightly more entertained watching them. -Next year, I expect UPL to be the main goaltended, with a decent backup. So overall I think the Goaltending situation will be slightly to moderately better than this year. -I expect all the young guys to be slightly better. Do I think they will all take a leap in stats like Tage did this year? No, but I think they will all be at least slightly overall better players. -I expect the bottom six to be slightly to moderately better. Either some young guys in Roch move to the big club and take those spots (less NHL experience but more talent that what is there now) or I expect some signings of not-great-but-slightly-better than what they have now guys. probably a blend of both. I do not expect the playoffs. A large part of that, and a reason this team might be 'good' next year but even then struggle to get a point total in the 80's is the division. This division is going to be bad for a while. Tampa and Florida are/will still be elite teams. Toronto in the regular season is bordering on elite. (basically, 3 of the top 6 teams in the league this year are in our division). Boston I REALLY do think is sliding now but they are still above average. Detroit and Ottawa have a lot of young talent and may be a year or two ahead of the Sabres on their rise up. Montreal will not be as bad last year as they are this year. You have a lot of division games against what will probably be the best division in hockey next year. I'm still hoping for 80 points next year out of this team...that in another division could/might challenge for 90 points.

I'm thinking, at least for this year, Okposo might actually be WORTH his contract (or more.) For years most of us have said it was a bad contract, and a year or two ago many of us said it was the 2nd worst contract on the team (behind only Skinner) and were desperate for the Sabres to get out of it. I always liked the guy but I had times I wished he would have retired due to injuries. The way he played the end of last year (taking out his injuries) and how he is playing this year, I don't want to say he is a BARGAIN, but I think he is worth what he is getting paid. -Hes on a 23 goal, 50+ point pace over 82 games this year. Earth shattering? No. But he is doing that without getting top line minutes or getting top line line-mates to help him produce. If he was on the top line, I think you could add a few goals and points to that total. Hes also only getting 2nd unit PP time and not even on the pp at all (he is tied for 10th on the team in average ice time on the PP among forwards). Bottom line is he is getting pretty good production for 2nd/3rd line duty/linemates/ice time on a below average team. -Despite him being only 10th among forwards in PP ice time, he is 2nd on the team in PP goals (only 1 behind tage) and 2nd in PP points. -He does play on the PP, he does kill penalties on a regular basis. He scraps to stick up for his teammates. He is 3rd on the team in scoring. His goals come both on the PP and even strength. He can play anywhere effectively from the 4th line to filling in on the first line. -Everything we hear from him directly, we hear from his teammates, from the coaches, say he is one of the best locker room guys around and a huge leader on this team. $6 million a year isn't chump change, and with his injuries in the past he didn't always bring much to this team in the past. But right now, I'm happy the Sabres are paying him $6 million for what he is bringing to this team for what it is.

I'm very confident they will be better next year than they are this year. That doesn't mean they will make the playoffs, but I'm hoping for at least a 10 point improvement next year, maybe more, compared to this year. UPL starting with the team next year will help, and/or another goaltender being brought in to start of backup UPL. All the young guys (Mitts, Cozens, Dhalin, Joker, hopefully Quinn, Krebs, Asplund) should be at least slightly better. The nature of the NHL says their stats may or may not be better, but all those guys have raw talent and they will be better with more experience. Basically, there are more young guys on this team that matter that are maturing than they are important guys on the wrong side of 30. The bottom 6? It shouldn't be worse than it is now, and hopefully it will be slightly better with Roch guys graduating to the big club (bringing more talent if not more experience) or signing guys that may not be big name free agents but at least are more than minimum salary guys. With the young talent coming up or continuing to mature, there is no way this team will not be better next year unless they TRY t be bad again (not happening) or they are hit with a massive wave of injuries we have never seen before.