Thorny

So a guy for the first pairing, and a guy in the mould of one of the best defencemen to play for the sabres ever. and then i woke up power continuing to substantially develop after the nearly past his prime age of…22 is within the realm of the living. And then some

On a bridge and staple him to Dahlin, sure. But he’s bad away from Dahlin. Dunno what having those two has to do with ditching Power - we already need help on D. He can anchor a second pair with a proper partner

Get him a proper partner first on a non disfunctional team Or live or regret it Wookie’s worst nightmare

The rub is that Adams *does* have authority to make decisions - because Terry trusts Adams. That’s the underplayed aspect I’ve been saying all along - of course he wants his voice heard, but he doesn’t need to force Adams to do things: he hired Adams specifically because he liked what he was going to do - and how he operates. The Marek segment illustrated this - that Adams is the one declining experience being added to the fold. He’s in charge. It comes to the same issue in that the better candidates are seemingly unavailable to us, but it’s that Terry wouldn’t hire them at all, not that he’d egregiously interfere after they are hired. Adams has rope because Terry trusts him.

Sounds much more like it’s Adams resistant to adding experience Adams is calling the shots. Terry demands to be heard but the point that’s underplayed is he TRUSTS Adams. People say that and then are flippantly like “oh and he orders him around.” Enough - he’s a grown man. He doesn’t have to order him around because he trusts his (awful) judgment They’ve known eachother and worked together for 13 years they said

At least we are a soap opera

Exactly. He phrases it like it was Adams wanting to run the show. His idea to remain very inexperienced, front office and otherwise. I think we’ve somehow been easy on Adams Apparently Peterka is Terry’s favourite because there’s a connection with his kid? Dear lord

Adams wanted Appert as coach? lmao of course he did. He’s so threatened

Lance saying “definitely” to whether the success of the bills has come at the expense of the sabres.. that’s such a gut punch for a non buffalo guy with no particular ties to Bills

Lance really hammers in on specifically Adams’ resistance to bringing in experienced help. That he wanted people with lesser experience in roles around him Fairly damning “there is a distrust between players and management. In terms of, they don’t agree with the direction of this franchise.”

I mean this can be totally true - but it’s contingent on literally one person’s whim. How set in stone can it be? It’s true as of Pegula’s mindset right now. Predicting how that mindset could shift over the course of a number of, even weeks, would I say be a dicey proposition

I feel dumb for not thinking more about Granato’s aptitude, particularly with younger players it’s like Adams wanted the coach for a team he didn’t build Two wrongs don’t make a right

He’s saying EXACTLY what I (and others) say yet he’s far more positive on twitter imo. Very interesting imo. Didn’t really expect him to be this blunt certainly leaves door open for Adams firing

So that’s what Lance sounds like

Should I watch it? What was particularly disheartening about it

Eichel was a treat. People can probably see now just how good his playmaking truly was, the way he could enter the zone almost effortlessly and then set up shop, qb like, find the open man. I think Tuch can pass but yes he doesn’t command the ice with poise and vision and feather to the open man like Eichel does (honestly my favourite hockey skill to watch) but not many do I used to be so surprised his playmaking wasn’t more of a talking point and would mention it. It was always more so about his shot. His shot was good and he took a lot of shots but even his shooting was often as an avenue to playmaking. Shooting for rebounds. We can see now that’s he’s fully rounded out just how exceptional that aspect of his game is

I agree with this mostly, though Tuch is a good passer of the puck and honestly last I looked throughly Peterka seemed to be, too: but frankly I haven’t watched a full 60 this year so that could be dated. Pretty confident on Tuch, though. But yes Marner would drastically outstrip them. Marner and a partner for Power would be the two big adds. Then take another shot at 4C and add a defensive D for the bottom pair and I think we might be ok. The key aspect is the big swing upfront. It’s not just the player; it’s the message it would send to *all the other* players and perhaps goes somewhat of the way to shrinking the inconsistencies that arise from the constant doubt they must feel regarding the team’s commitment to winning

Quinn’s results this year have been quite shocking to me. Seems miles from figuring it out from all accounts, yet this is a player I was projecting to maybe be our best F in several years in the mould of Mark Stone. So those are now at wildly opposite ends. I don’t think I’d be selling low. I still think he’s got a reasonable shot of figuring it out - not that I wouldn’t include him in a deal that makes us better now

I do too but I think i want to shelter/work Benson with Tage even more and I really think Tage needs to get back to C to stabilize the spine there’s a few different ways to do it. Tuch and Peterka can pass, Benson might pass best but he’s unproven. But that’s a reasonable playmaking start on the wings t6 IF they make one more sizeable wing add there. im starting to get tunnel vision on Mitch because of how perfect I think he’d be. Not that it’s going to happen But he’s the exact playmaking from wing player that would fit in well imo

Marner would be the elixir that stirs the drink up top. I’ll hold out hope I guess

Was looking at the video pack of Norris’ 35 goals from 21-22 and he really does have an accurate, deceptive shot with a fun release. Key was Batherson getting him the puck on almost every play - but Norris was very adept at finding the soft spots to make himself available. Good hockey sense. So a huge key will be pairing him with a strong playmaking winger like Tuch. I’d imagine Norris would be a focal point of a revamped PP as well. Edit - looking at the stats Tuch seems to have taken a bit of a step back on the playmaking front this year but I’d argue the track record is there - at least relative to our other players

Was corrected on twitter about this, it probably IS easier / more likely we add a top 6 RW this summer than a c, as they are harder to come by. We know Thompson works at C so the bare minimum side of things could easily read: Benson - Thompson - ??? Peterka - Norris - Tuch Zucker - McLeod - Kulich Greenway - ??? - Malenstyn/Quinn To my eye it’s a Marner sized hole (we won’t get Marner). But for me same logic applies: whether it’s top 6 C or W the need is there we have the means we have the drought

I’ve always felt that Han tried a little bit harder to make sure he shot that last TIE fighter after luke shot 2 in a row, his first time in the chair “Hey kid don’t get too comfortable..”