GASabresIUFAN

With the playoffs out of reach and UPL playing pretty well, time to make Levi the starter in Rochester. With 33 games left UPL will probably play 23 of them. I have zero problem will letting Comrie play a few starts and Levi getting a spot start here and there. However, I want to maximize how many games Levi plays the rest of the season and to accomplish that he needs to be w the Amerks.

Casey Mittelstadt 2.0

Don’t let the last 11 games fool you. This is still a bad hockey team. They just came through their easiest stretch of the season and only one of the 7 wins was against a team (the Kings) currently in a playoff spot. The Kings only have 22 wins on the season; one more than the Sabres 21. Also they still can’t start a game to save their lives. On the road trip, they gave up the first goal in all three games and trailed by 2 goals or more in all three games. This is not how good teams play. Do what they did against good teams and you lose. In fact, in the last 6 losses by the Sabres, they gave up the first goal in 5 of the games and gave up the first 2 goals in 4 of the 6 games. They also have yet to win 3 in a row.

As expected. The Amerks play 3 games from 1/31 to 2/3. Levi will be starting at least 2 of those games. No benefit to having Levi sit during the NHL all-star break.

What in Adams' history as the Sabres' GM makes you think he'll be aggressive to improve the team? What RFA did he not re-sign? Since the TM core teardown, what important player has he traded away? Asplund? What top 6 forward or top 4 did he acquire? What prospect did he trade away to substantially upgrade his current roster? Since the teardown, the best assets he acquired were Greenway (for a 2nd) and Clifton (a 3-year UFA contract). Both are solid depth players, but neither has elevated the team. The rest have been junk in Eakin, Stillman, Lyubushkin, Comrie, Clague, Subban, Anderson, Dell, Pysyk, Bjork, Hagg, Hinostroza, Butcher, etc.....

and now you know why KA isn't able to build a winner.

Let's see, our GM's motto is to do the absolute minimum and take the least amount of risk with FAs. Thus I expect 1) UPL/Levi to be the goalies next season 2) Defense - with 5 guys under contract and a 6th (Joki) an RFA, I expect more of the same with one depth signing. 3) Forwards - 8 are under contract - Skinner, Thompson, Tuch, Cozens, Quinn, JJP, Greenway and Benson. Mitts and Krebs are RFA. He'll re-sign Robinson and promote at least 1 of Savoie, Rosen, or Kulich. Those 12 will be the forwards for 2024/25 with again one FA depth signing. Don't you feel better already about next season? Didn't think so!

Do I have to answer? I don’t know if this is a “better,” but I have really liked JJP since I watched him at the U18s.

The reason for the slower play is the move to try to improve the defense. I don't think they realized that the move to be more defensive would sap the offense as much as it did. Ralph Kreuger would be proud.

The only runs the Sabres are going on is in the bathroom.

He should have been fired already. How many slow starts do you have to watch until you realize that the coach can’t motivate the team? How do you keep a coach who can’t make adjustments to try to get his PP working? How do you keep a coach whose team has regressed so substantially?

It’s not about what assets we receive it about clearing the dead wood from the roster and opening up roster spots for better players assuming KA can figure out what an actual good player looks like.

They still suck.

Sabres wake up in the 2nd and win as LA falls apart. Good thing they didn’t play yesterday or they wouldn’t have had their legs in the 3rd.

I wanted Benson sent back to Jrs. I argued then that keeping him was a 2 year commitment because he is still to young to play in the AHL next season. However, had he gone back to Jrs, it would have been his 4th CHL season and then would have been exempt from the age rules and could have been AHL bound next year. Oh well.

Much easier to fire the coaches and see if the team responds.

No, not with this coaching staff and GM.

Rock meet Bottom. I've been fighting it for weeks, but DG must go. I wouldn't mind KA going with him, but sadly that's not happening. We have too much talent to look this inept. They have no structure, no jump, and they are giving no effort, just gliding along in circles trying to run out the clock. It's now time that the clock runs out on DG, his coaches, and the guy in charge. Enought!

I agree with you in general. It's a legit issue. How do you keep paying guys when they have accomplished nothing from a team standpoint? I guess it comes down to whether the GM thinks a player is part of the solution or part of the problem. Given how many of our forwards are allergic to 2-way play, I'd argue the problem lies elsewhere. IMHO Skinner, Cozens, and Power are players we could trade to create cap space if necessary. I don't like not bridging Power. Of all the guys we signed an extension to, his contract seems like the biggest miscalculation so far. Regardless of whether we pay Mitts 6 or 7 per season, there are no cap issues next season. They may start in 2025, but I don't think we can worry about that at this point.

https://buffalonews.com/sports/professional/nhl/sabres/as-rumor-mill-turns-casey-mittelstadt-expresses-desire-to-remain-with-sabres/article_c874c16a-b933-11ee-b3a3-77dc5e1b38e5.html I’m not sure how KA navigates the cap issues he created, but see how this team moves forward without Mitts. As TBN points put, he is our best forward along the boards, our most versatile forward, one of if not the best 2 way forward, our leading playmaker and this season our leading scorer. I think the News is wrong about not being able to afford another long term deal.

Those guys always come later in the draft. McNabb was a 3rd. Cernak a 2nd. Samuelsson was a 2nd. Strbak a 2nd. Novikov fell to the 6th.

Can you believe it, but another smaller Euro forward right there at 8 just where the Sabres will be drafting. Just what the Sabres need.

Have you forgotten the WS win in 2021? My office is across the street from the Braves stadium.

Who cares at this point. Deck chairs on the Titanic.

Bass has a dead cap higher than his salary so I suspect he'll return. We do get cap savings moving on from Martin, but was he really an issue? His injury was the cause of the issues yesterday. I definitely want at least 2 WRs in the draft both pretty early. Safety is a must in the draft. Having additional depth at CB may or may not be a must depending on how management feels about Elam and Dane Jackson.