GASabresIUFAN

The only addition by subtraction I want right now is Adams and the entire coaching staff to get fired.

How is leading the NHL in 1st period goals garbage time? Front running is valid, but garbage time would be leading the league in 3rd period scoring and still have a losing record. The Sabres scored 92, 84 & 86 by period. Those are fairly consistent numbers. They dominated the 1st with a differential of +24 (68 goals allowed). Where they failed is when the game's intensity picked up in the 2nd period, the defense and goaltending collapsed. They allowed an NHL worst 214 goals in the 2nd and 3rd period (107 each period).

This is a fair and accurate post. Hard to win if you can't stop the other team. (ask the Bills in the 4th qtr of the playoffs) Adams has had years to address the goaltending. The last game Ullmark played for the Sabres was 4/13/21. The next season, Adams gave us UPL with Anderson, Tokarski, Dell, Subban and Houser. He followed that up with UPL plus Anderson, Comrie and a late season visit from Levi. Next came UPL with Comrie and Levi followed by last season's S..t show of UPL, Reimer and Levi. Is it any wonder this team can't crawl out of the cellar. This coming season we are getting UPL with Lyons and Levi. Does anyone really expect a different result in year 5 running back the same failed strategy in goal that has failed for 4 straight seasons?

"....but he didn't want to be here"

No idea. It didn’t make sense then and doesn’t make sense now. Giving long term deals after one good season hasn’t exactly worked out for the Sabres; namely Cozens, Samuelsson, UPL to name 3 more. Given Power’s terrible defense, I’m still waiting for his good year.

Does that come at much too high a cost? Is the D too focused on creating offense that they consistently breakdown defensively? Would ten less goals by the D, lead to 20 less goals against by eliminating a significant amount of high danger chances against?

You are talking about goal differential. That is certainly a worthwhile discussion and worthy of it's own thread, but we are talking about how the Sabres replace the lost output.

If y’all want to discuss (bash?) our goaltending, please put in another thread. Thanks.

That goes to the question of whether the 5 on 5 scoring is sustainable. The blurb is missing some context. The article says they scored 90 mid range goals. Ok, but how is that defined. They also said the forwards scored 7 long range goals. That leaves 168 goals un-accounted for. Assuming some are long range D goals, that leaves about 160-165 goals scoring close in. How does that rank in the NHL? Top 5, Top 10? How do all these stats compare with teams like Florida or Edm? Assuming we scored 160+ close in, my guess is going to the net might not be as big as an issue as we thought. We also have a roster full of talented shooters like Thompson, Norris and others so maybe the mid range shooting is ideal. I honestly don’t know and wish the article gave better context.

He has made plenty of changes, just not good ones. Most of the players acquired have been depth players with limited utility and the changes have not yet to create a winning roster. The team has regressed the last two years. As I’ve said before, Adams has traded away the 5 most productive forwards drafted and developed by the Sabres since the tank (Eichel, Reinhart, Mitts, Cozens and JJP). He also let the best goaltender drafted by the Sabres walk. Change for change sake is not a good thing. Deck chairs on the Titanic. Sample moves - the parade of bad D - Lyubuskin, Clifton, E Johnson, Pysyk, Butcher, Irwin and Hagg. Parade of bad goalies since Ullmark left; Comrie, UPL, Reimer, Anderson, Tokarski, Dell and Subban.

He might get more opportunities, but he is unlikely to shoot 20%+ again. Last season he scored 20 goals on only 97 shots. The year before he scored 12 on 106 shots. What we saw last season was a career 12% shooter get significant puck luck. If he shoots at his prior career % (12%), he’s going to need to take 167 shots (or a 70% increase in shots) to match last year’s goal total. That’s is unlikely to happen. Even if you average in last season’s shooting % to give him a 14% career average, he is still going to need to increase his shots and goal total by nearly 50% to match last year’s output. I agree the offense isn’t the biggest issue the Sabres face, but it’s good to discuss where the Sabres management thinks it’s scoring is coming from.

Those are topics for different conversations.

Krebs’ best opportunity could come if Kulich falters at center and gets moved to wing or sent down.

The Sabres scored 265 goals last season. The Sabres traded or let go of JJP (27 goals), Cozens (11 goals), Clifton, Joki, Lafferty, Kubel, and JBD and lost 48 goals in the process. The Sabres also added forwards Norris (1 goal in 3 Sabres games, but 21 overall in 56 games), Doan (7 goals in 51 games) and Danforth (9 goals in 61 games) and D Kesselring (7 goals) and Timmins (3 goals). Net of these changes the Sabres are down 2 goals on paper including Norris' 20 goals with Ottawa. Based on my projections I see the Sabres at 254 goals next season. Looking at next year's roster, I see Zucker (21 goals) and McLeod (20 goals) as regression candidates. Zucker do to age and McLeod do to an abnormally high shooting %. There is hope. Benson (10 goals) and Kulich (15 goals) are youngsters who hopefully blossom with more ice time and bigger roles on the team. The key to overcoming the deficit beside Kulich and Benson improving is rebounds in healthy and production from injured players like Norris (21 goals in 56 games), Quinn (15 goals in 74 games) and Greenway (3 goals in 34 games). The last X factor is Doan. Is he a 4th line energy forward and 7-10 goals is all we can expect, or can he seize a 3rd line role and give us 15 goals?

1. https://www.nhl.com/news/topic/32-in-32/buffalo-sabres-nhl-edge-stats-for-2025-26-season-32-in-32 2. https://www.nhl.com/news/topic/32-in-32/buffalo-sabres-inside-look-for-2025-26-season-32-in-32 3. https://www.nhl.com/news/topic/32-in-32/buffalo-sabres-three-questions-for-2025-26-season-32-in-32 4. https://www.nhl.com/news/topic/32-in-32/buffalo-sabres-fantasy-projections-for-2025-26-season-32-in-32 5. https://www.nhl.com/news/topic/32-in-32/buffalo-sabres-top-prospects-for-2025-26-season-32-in-32 The most interesting stat in the Edge article (Article 1) is the Mid and long range goals scored by the Sabres last season. The Sabres were among the league leaders in mid and long range goals last season. Is that sustainable or subject to a reversal of fortune? I'd like to have seen some advanced metrics on our crap goaltending. In article 3, they got 2 of the 3 questions right (but not in the right order). McLeod building on last season is not even on the radar of a major issue other than a regression will make it even harder to replace JJP scoring. The top issue facing the Sabres is can the "revamped" defense improve defensively. The No 2 issue is UPL and goaltending and the 3rd issue is replacing JJP's scoring.

You mean other than the 6 D 6'0 or taller all weighing 195 to 220 lbs with two of the top 3 6'4 or taller? (and the entire top 4 6'1 or taller and all 200 to 220 lbs. All of these D registered 82 or more hits with Kulikov at 114 and Mikkola at 137. They also all block shots.

Why? They have an internal salary cap. Why? They aren’t committed to winning. Why? Because younger and cheaper is the motto of the franchise. Why? Because they have never given out a long term deal to a veteran player. Why? Because under Adams they have traded away every productive forward when their contracts came due (Eichel, Mitts, Reinhart and JJP) downgrading the talent on the roster each time. Why? They still have a ton of dead weight contracts in Power, UPL, Norris and Samuelsson. If the Sabres were committed to keeping Tuch, the deal would already be done. So much for “wants to be here”

If Quinn rebound, Benson matures and Kulich continues to improve there is a significant likelihood that Tuch isn’t re-signed.

I may be in the minority on this one, but I actually like the Sabres prospect pool. I readily acknowledge the lack of huge star power, but there are a ton of solid players who will likely make the middle of our lineup better in the years to come on both offense and defense. At forward I really like Helenius, Ziemer and Östlund. I believe all 3 have solid NHL futures. I also think Richard and Wahlberg could earn their way to the NHL. Rosen also has NHL potential, but probably elsewhere. Defense is chock full of D who I can see contributing in the NHL. Novikov, Komarov, Strbak, Kleber, and Mrtka should make the NHL, with Strbak and Mrtka being top 4 players. I also like Osburn and McCarthy as potential NHLers. The most impressive thing about this D group is size, size and more size. They kind of remind me of the Hajt, Korab, Schoenfeld, Guevremont era of the Sabres when teams had to skate throw those surprisingly mobile redwoods. All 4 guys were 6'2 or taller and well over 200 lbs.

That said, I actually agree with management on this one. I think Kulich's best position long-term in the NHL is center. Tage, imho, is not a center but a gifted goal scorer whose best position is on the wing even though he has played center with success in the NHL. In the last few seasons he has looked better on the wing vs at center. Given the likelihood that Norris (and others) will miss time with an injuries during the season there is a high probability that we'll see Norris, Tage, McLeod, Kulich, Östlund, Krebs and Kozak all play center for the Sabres at times this season.

Management has said that Kulich is a center.

I wrote in the lineup thread that there is about 50 ways to make this years forward combo since no one, including management, knows where to slot the centers and where to play them. If Kulich draws in with Thompson and plays well, he could be a 50 pt player. If he draws in with Greenway and Quinn, he could end up back in Rochester. I really like Kulich and I think he handles the moment well and produces. I think we’ll see more assists than goals this year in support of guys like Thompson. Something like 21g 27a. If Kulich can handle top 6 minutes successfully, the Sabres offense slots together so much easier and shouldn’t miss a beat 5 on 5.

Maybe a better title would have been is Kulich the lynchpin for the offense. There I might agree.

No and not even close. The lynchpins, such as they are, are all the D not named Dahlin and UPL (or Levi). Until this team proves that it can play defense and has a goalie that can be effective for at least 35-40 games, this team is DOA. Kulich's emergence may help the offense replace JJP, but it does nothing to solve the fundamental flaws of this team under Howdy Doody.

Nothing has changed that opinion.