GASabresIUFAN

Maybe KA can recommend someone to take the job.

There is no counter-narrative. DG wants to get more offense out of Clifton and Greenway. He says they both have more to give, but that doesn't change why they were acquired in the first place. They were acquired to make this team harder to play against. The Athletic has pointed out today our top forwards had lousy defensive numbers last season. That fact is partly because of youth and system, but that doesn't change the fact. That doesn't mean they can't or won't improve this coming season, but they were lousy last season. The facts are also that we gave up the most high-danger chances in the league and were at or near the bottom in PK, blocked shots, and hits. Kevyn Adams on Greenway - https://www.buffalohockeybeat.com/gm-kevyn-adams-becomes-emotional-talking-about-sabres-trade-for-jordan-greenway-beefs-team-up/ Kevyn Adams on Clifton -https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/buffalo-sabres/news/connor-clifton-going-to-bring-a-lot-to-the-table-for-sabres “He’s our kind of guy,” Adams said. “He’s competitive, he’s a great character person. He’s going to help our group. He’s a good skater, physical presence."

There is a great deal of truth about a team united in their goals. If you look at the roster 23 of the 25 players vying for a roster spot in Buffalo played for the Sabres last season and the 2 new players have ties to the organization; Clifton with Granato and Johnson to Okposo. Both should feel part of the group quickly. That unity is a major reason most believe DG can get them over the hump this coming season.

Even they admit that the pt prediction seems low. That said there will be growing pains and we have a huge question in goal and our forwards have been allergic to backchecking. Also the competition in the East to deep. Ultimately this prediction won’t age well (as they predicted as well) and the Sabres make the playoffs but it’s not a guarantee.

Considering there was not a single NHL regular playing, what did u expect.

I had to turn off the sound, especially after they said Tage scored 50 last season. They were awful. Maybe it’s pre-season for them also.

Lol, KA inherited players like Skinner, Thompson, VO among others who don’t backcheck well which is why KA backfilled his roster with tougher players. Also just because you add a skill player via the draft or trade that doesn’t mean that will be their role with the Sabres. Amerks HCSA said the other day that he is working with Ryan Johnson to focus on being a stay at home D who uses his excellent skating to get the transition game going because that is his role to the NHL. Add that our 4th line is made up for 3 1st rd picks in KO, Z and either Jost or Krebs. Let’s also look at Mitt’s development. Once DG convinced to start hitting guys and muscling guys to win puck battles he blossomed offensively and defensively. Dahlin is the same story. He focus on being more physical and playing harder defensively and he blossomed on both ends. Just imagine if TNT would get the same message. The biggest change is on defense. Enter tough guys who can skate in Johnson and Clifton and out soft Bryson and Clague and pokey Lyubushkin. Let’s face it, your team doesn’t give up 300 goals, have the worst PK and lead the league in high danger chances allowed without being a little soft especially in our zone.

I’d like PPs that are interrupted by a period to start the next period in the o zone

No it’s not. This team for years has often been hemmed in our D zone by a physical forecheck. Last season was no different. KA has stated that his team needs to be tougher to play against and look who he has brought in; Lybushkin, Stillman, Greenway, Clifton, and Johnson. If management didn’t think the team needed to be harder to play against, why bring in all these tougher players?

I think there are better candidates for that role.

Agree. He is the forward they exempted from the prospect tournament.

Noooooooooooo. Yes, he is from here. Yes, he has vasts amount of playoff and Cup winning experience. He may even have something left in the tank. He might even sell a few tickets. However, he is part of that terrible culture from the Bowman era Hawks and friends in Chicago say he is far from a model citizen. I don’t want him anywhere near the youngsters.

In truth neither, but Kulich has a better shot. He still needs work on his play away from the puck and Rosen needs to show he can score more consistently.

You missed the point. The narrative of we are drafting small comes from what their stated sizes were when drafted. In the embedded draft video KA says it himself. He says, after they drafted Benson, that “they’ll say I drafted another small guy,” and then chuckles. (or something similar). This thread is not about the truth, but about the narratives surrounding this team. This is a small team (False). This is a soft team (somewhat true but being changed). We draft small skilled players (Somewhat true at forward, but not at all on defense). Just because a narrative is based on some truth doesn’t mean the team will end up small or easy to play against. I did think Neuchev was smaller than the data I had.

We all understand that the “Hit” stat varies. We get it. However, KA doesn’t agree. The 2 D he hired this summer, Clifton and Johnson, are known for hitting people. They add other attributes as well, such as experience, leadership, skating, PK etc…,but they are primarily known for hitting people,

https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/news/2023-24-nhl-team-preview-buffalo-sabres Daily Faceoff Sabres Preview.

Nhl.com preview of the Sabres https://www.nhl.com/news/buffalo-sabres-2023-24-season-preview

People don’t say this is a small team. They says it’s a transition team that isn’t very physical and can be hemmed in their own zone with physical forechecking. KA agrees and brought in Johnson, Clifton, and Greenway to help change those facts. What they do say is that most of our top prospects are smaller players. Here is a look at the top skaters from the last 3 drafts. Heights and weights listed when drafted. Our top 5 prospects are smaller forwards - Benson 5’9” 163, Savoie 5’9” 179, Östlund 5’10 163, Kulich 5’11” 172, and Rosen 5’11” 156. At forward we also have smaller forwards Kisakov (5’10” 150), Poltapov (5’11” 176), and Kozak (5’11” 173) in the pipeline. The forward group isn’t exclusively small, but talent wise the majority are smaller. The exceptions are Neuchev (6’2 165), Nadeau (6’2 204), and Wahlberg (6’3” 194). Defense is another matter. Power (6’6” 218). Strbak (6’2” 205), McCarthy (6’2” 185), Komarov (6’3” 188) and Novikov (6’3” 207) are all huge. Only Lindgren (5’11 173) is on the smaller side.

Does anyone know if the Sabres direct sports app on roku will carry the games for Sabres.com? The app has all the interviews and highlight packages on Sabres TV from the website.

I think DG’s thought right now (subject to change of course) is that he has 3 top flight scoring centers in TNT, Cozens and Mitts and he wants to insure each one has at least one top flight winger to play with. DG/KA believe they can therefore build 3 scoring lines which would make the Sabres extremely hard go defend. The only problem, as I mentioned above, is how do you allocate VO, Greenway, and Rousek?

I like this better, but how would you allocate VO, Greenway and Rousek? VO feel like a square peg for a round hole. Greenway as Tuch’s replacement on the top line?

I saw the comment on Mitts as well. Last season Mitts flourished centering the top line and playing wing on both the Cozens line and the top line. He struggled on the 3rd line when he played without as talented of players. A Rousek Mitts Greenway line looks ok on paper, but I wonder if it would cause Mitts the same problem as last year? Fairburn also wrote the following in the Athletic: https://theathletic.com/4883295/2023/09/21/buffalo-sabres-tage-thompson-training-camp/

CC has improved each year since he got his first cup of coffee with the Bruins. I wonder if seeing how a smaller but effective NHL D like CC will help Bryson?

What happened to Mr. Underhill’s American Express card?

I wouldn’t read anything into first day pairings or lines. This is a lineup about getting to see how the top prospects look with established players not about who will be playing with whom when the season begins. We will get a better feel for the end product once some of the kids start getting sent down or returned to their junior teams. I do agree that the D pairings were a little surprising and I do see the basis for these pairings, but I worry Clifton isn’t ready for 24 minutes a game.