GASabresIUFAN

Let me see if I understand the Bills situation. Elam is looking like a bust at DB, but Benford, a late rd pick who they thought about converting to safety, may now be the front runner for the starting CB job opposite White. We lack anyone better than AJ Klein at middle linebacker to replace the departed Edmunds and have zero adequate depth behind Milano. Are we allowed to question Beane’s drafting decisions? Elam, Basham, Benard, Espenesa, Moss, Singletary among others. To keep this team at or near the top some of these draft picks in the top 3 rounds are going to have to produce and become part of the core.. Rouseau, Ed Oliver and maybe Knox are his biggest successes and the jury is still out on Cook and Spenser Brown.

In 1972 no less.

Luce also wore 14

Conor Bedard. We lack a "franchise forward" in the pipeline. I agree our pipeline is deeper, but that was probably Pronman's deciding factor.

Which makes the rankings a little suspect. Also no way Krebs, who I like, has more upside potential than Levi. I think Corey size bias is showing.

https://theathletic.com/4794167/2023/08/24/buffalo-sabres-nhl-prospect-pipeline-rankings/ Buffalo 3rd on Pronman’s list behind Anaheim and Chicago. Montreal, Ottawa and Det 6-8 respectively. As this is a list of all players 22 and under, Cozens is 1 and Power 2. Quinn 3, Benson 4, JJP 5, Kulich 6, Östlund 7, Savoie 8, Krebs 9, and Wahlberg 10. Surprises besides Wahlberg at 10. On the negative, Levi at 12, Rosen 15, Johnson 17, Poltapov at 19 and Novikov in others. Positive surprises were Strbak at 11, Nadeau 13 and McCarthy 14. In Pronman’s defense on some of these rankings he is looking at where he thinks they’ll fit in the NHL at their peak. Personally I find it hard to agree that McCarthy is more likely to be a solid NHLer than Novikov. I also think Johnson has as good if not better of a future as Strbak but I’m pleased with his positive opinion of Max.

I think you missed the point. I'm hoping the Sabres do something similar as UGA did for Munson for RJ at Sabres home games. I think hearing RJ before every game would energize the crowd.

What? Why should the franchise move on from one of its iconic people? It's like saying we should forget about Hasek and the French Connection. The hype video isn't for it's for getting the fan at the game up for the game. At UGA the Munson soundtrack is a general one with the video people creating a highlight package of GA players dominating that week's opponents over the years. It's called "the Battle Hymn of the Bulldog Nation" and this is followed by "it's Saturday in Athens." While the Sabres have plenty of sound bites of RJ's great calls, I don't know if they have something like the Larry Munson recording UGA uses.

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Guys, 55-60 pt players with arbitration rights arent taking $5 mill for 3-4 years. Mitts is also very close to Dahlin and Cozens, two key pieces of KA's rebuild. If he has another solid season, KA to going to keep him and pay him. Remember that KA wants to keep the guys who want to be here and Mitts is part of the that group. Don't forget that KA is paying his forwards $100K per point when they break out. Tage signed for 7.15 after his 38g 68 pt season and Cozens signed his extension in February at 7.1 during his 31g 68 pt campaign last year. As I illustrated in the op, we have the money to get Casey locked up if KA is so inclined.

Pronman’s updates on team’s pipelines. https://theathletic.com/4778405/2023/08/22/nhl-pipeline-rankings-2023-prospects/ The Atlantic is getting deeper by the day. The 4 playoff teams have nearly barren pipelines ranking 23-32, while Mon, Buf, Ott and Det all rank in the top 8.

It’s the Ted Darling booth, what will they do for RJ? I assume the team will wear a patch on the jersey’s all next season. At UGA they do a hype video before each game with a recorded soundtrack from beloved UGA announcer Larry Munson. It would be great if the Sabres would do a similar thing with a recording from RJ if they have one.

Coming down the home stretch it’s RJ’s Ice for the win. My roommate in college is from Louisville. I’ll have to go visit him to see RJ’s Ice in the Derby.

I assume this is for Pesce. 5 years is probably the max term. The $ will depend on how he plays but 6 per year is sufficient. He had 59 points last season. 100k per point is the in the ballpark if he has a similar season this coming year.

Would the ability to re-sign Pesce and not Hellebuyck tip the scales the other way?

The discussions about acquiring Hellebuyck or Pesce as one year rentals and whether Bush was dumped to help facilitate such an acquisition made me want to look to see if we could reasonably afford to sign Pesce or Hellebuyck long-term. The answer on Helle was no and I don’t think KA would have an interest. On the other hand, I do think we might be able to swing re-signing Pesce if there was a mutual interest. Here is the math. The Sabres have only 11 players (8F, 2D and 1G) under contract for 2024/25 (including Rousek and Levi) for a cap hit of 42 million. Assuming KA re-signs Dahlin (8 x 10.5), Power (4 x 6) and Krebs (3x3) and the following at least 3 kids make the team (I’m figuring Johnson, Kulich and Savoie), that would bring the roster to 11F, 5D and 1G for 64.3 million. Mitts’ new contract would be the biggest internal question. If Mitts would return for 3 years @ 5.7 to 6 per season, that would leave plenty of money to given Pesce a new contract.

Yep, but what a D group if KA was able to add Pesce to this team. Given the state of the Sabres roster, which rental would you rather have Pesce or Hellebuyck?

If you get a chance, I’d suggest watching the video of Dahlin attached to the story. They talk about his improved 2-way play and that he is now one of the best 2 way D in the NHL. They mentioned that no D since Burns in 2016 had reached the levels of hits, block and scoring Dahlin achieved last season. They also called him a one man break out. I know I’m a biased Sabres fan, but given Dahlin season last year and knowing it was somewhat slowed by nagging injuries and assuming he stays healthy, he shoudl be the favorite for the Norris this coming year. I also think Fox, Makar, and Heiskenan all benefit from playing on better teams and that Hedman is the best all around D in the NHL (with Dahlin hot on his tail).

Two good points he made. 1) Sabres were 32nd in Hits per game. (Team leaders - Samuelsson 107 and Dahlin 105) 2) Sabres were 31st in blocked shots. (Team leader - Dahlin 132) (Note: Lyubushkin was 2nd in blocks with 104 and 3rd in hits with 99) KA's response - sign Clifton (Hits 208 - Boston's team leader; Blocked shots 120 - 2nd on the Bruins) and sign Eric Johnson (Hits 121 - Avs team leader; blocked shots 102 - 3rd on the Avs).

https://www.nhl.com/news/rick-jeanneret-longtime-buffalo-sabres-announcer-dies-at-81/c-345619774 Really nice article. RIP RJ.

https://www.nhl.com/news/nhl-current-players-ranked-top-20-defensemen/c-345580664

Spot

I friggin tragedy if you ask me. To bad the Rags don't follow suit.

It’s not handwringing, but an honest assessment and a little frustration that this move is a small step in the wrong direction. KA took two large positive steps forward by adding Clifton and Johnson, but we all know how important D depth is to surviving a long season. When you trade away your top depth piece it’s reasonable to question why. Prior to the trade my view of the Sabres D was as follows: 1) High Caliber top 3 - Dahlin, Power, And Mule 2) good players with upside - Clifton 3) Solid Veteran depth - Johnson 4) NHL depth - Jokiharju and Lyubushkin 5) AAAA players -Bryson, Stillman and Clague From my standpoint we have removed a legit NHL player and elevated a AAAA player to his role. Without a corresponding positive move, this trade is a step in the wrong direction. In all honesty, I did expect a move such as this after last season, but I thought it would be Joki and as part of a deal to bring in goaltending help or a partner for Power. Once he added D through free agency, I thought the plan had changed to insure good NHL depth and create competition for the 6th slot. I guess the hope is Stillman steps up and plays to the level he did when with Florida a few years ago. I’m also hopefully that KA was clearing cap to add Hellebuyck. 🙂