GASabresIUFAN

So your saying our goaltending was bad last year? Where was Hart on this list?

Not entirely. I think he’ll be waived and sent to Rochester if unclaimed. He played 19 games last season for us and gave us a .886 save %. This way he’ll be injury insurance.

Yes and No. Clearly, KA wants better goaltending than he received last season. He has stated numerous times when he acquires players that he wants youngish players with term that will fit into his locker room and can grow with the team. Who fits that description better Hart or Hellebuyck? Modern GMs certainly evaluate whether or not the player's past performance, his analytics if you will, will upgrade the roster they have. They also evaluate whether that player's contract will work under the cap and of course, how much it will cost to acquire that player. The Comrie signing was clearly done will all the above factors in mind. His analytics were good, he is by all accounts an excellent person, he was the right age, and had upside potential. He also cost nothing to acquire other than contract $ and his contract wasn't very large given the risk of his inexperience. Hart is a very similar case. His analytics are an upgrade over UPL and Comrie. He is the right age, his contract is reasonable and comes with 2 years of control. I've seen no reports of him being a locker room problem, he is vastly more experienced than any player on the roster and has significant upside. Given that KA is also going to upgrade the D group, acquiring Hart makes a lot of sense. The cost of acquisition is the biggest hurdle.

No you don’t. This is a big enough statistical difference to realize that it would have swung enough games in our favor to make us a playoff team. No team with a +26 differential has missed the playoffs in decades as far as I can tell. All you have to do is look at the Sabres record when receiving 900 Save % or better last year and look an Anderson’s record with a .905 save % to illustrate how much an impact better goaltending would have made.

@Thorny You laugh at the price tag I suggested, but what do you think it's going to cost to get a proven young goalie with cost control for the next two years? Remember that TM acquired injury-prone Robyn Lehner (and took a contract back in Legwand) for a 21st overall pick. Lehner, then 23, had 86 games (76 starts) of NHL experience at the time and had two years left on his deal (2.225 per season) and then an RFA. Hart is only 24. He has 201 games of experience (193 starts). He has 1 year left on his current deal (3.95) and then an RFA. Lehner's numbers were slightly better, but his injury history was worse and he was injured when acquired. Hart has played 100 games in the last two seasons. What is your offer for Hart? Philly is going to want more than the 39th pick.

Yes. In fact, had we had Carter Hart in net for the 51 games started by Comrie and UPL last season at Hart's .907 save% we'd have allowed 30 less goals against and we'd have easily made the playoffs with a regular season differential of 26.

What would you pay for Hart? He's the right age for our group. Has shown he can survive behind a pours defense. Despite playing for crappy Philly teams, he has played 100 games the last 2 years and posted save% of .905 or better. He has 14 games of playoff experience and was solid with a 2.23 & a .926. He has one year at 3.95 and then is an RFA. Really sounds like a perfect value pickup. Question is how much? Our 13th and UPL? More?

I love the Leonard Floyd signing. Not exactly sure how they fit him under the cap, other than the Oliver signing created cap space. Now sure what this means for Shaq Lawson, but he is an upgrade for the D front 7. https://www.buffalobills.com/news/bills-sign-edge-rusher-leonard-floyd

Actually this is in accurate. All of the Sabres D, except Samuelsson are RFAs or on one year deals. The only prospect currently in Rochester is Johnson and he is the only one close to NHL ready to possibly replace one of the guys on an expiring contract. Komarov is headed back to the CHL and Novikov, although signed, has yet to arrive in Rochester and is unlikely to be NHL ready during his first season in NA. As I also noted above, to count on either player is only a hope at this point.

No one is saying Östlund is a nobody. You have to give to get. If you trade for a good D prospect you have to give a good asset back. As to the defenders, Novikov and Komarov are at least two years from making an impact in Buffalo assuming they make the Sabres at all. Both look to have NHL potential, especially Novikov, but the last 5th round or later D to make an impact on the Sabres was Brian Campbell (D 1997). (Wideman was drafted in the 8th rd but never signed with the Sabres.) Until we see either guy with the Amerks, I’m skeptical of both players.

He’s also at least another 2 years from sniffing the NHL and even then he may be blocked by the deep young roster ahead of him. Long-term the Sabres have 3 D roster spots available and only Johnson in the pipeline to possibly take one.

Östlund, Rosen and our 13th pick are clearly our most trade-able assets. Both prospects are behind Kulich and Savoie, neither should be used on a 4th line and both have a huge uphill climb to win top 9 roles within the next few seasons. With Tuch, Tnt, Skinner, JJP, Cozens, Quinn, Mitts, Krebs, and Greenway you have 9 guys under or control for the next few years, and Kulich and Savoie pushing for roster spots as early as next season. Surely we can afford to move on from Östlund or Rosen to bolster weaknesses in on our roster and in our pipeline. FYI: The odds are the 13th pick will be a forward and a very talented one. By most accounts this is a significantly deeper and more talented draft class than last year. We need D help short and long-term. It’s time to turn some of these excess forwards into D.

I'll respectfully disagree. Also, let's say for argument's sake that Reinbacher would fall to us at 13. Who would you rather have in the pipeline, a top-tier D man or another smallish forward?

I know I may be in the minority here, but I'd rather trade Östlund in a goalie deal than our 13th pick this year.

What does this even mean? WPG as a team was significantly better defensively than the Sabres. The Sabres gave up the 4th most HDCA at 888. WPG was significantly better at only 752.

I’m against trading for Hellebuyck as well, nor am I interested in giving him a huge extension. I’m not interested in a rental either. We need a stable tandem for about 3 years. After that we need to develop a backup for Levi or just get a FA backup that fits the cap. To many reasonable options out there to waste big assets on a one year rental. Also if I were KA I’d be a little nervous in the transition for someone like Helle from the WPG system to our very open very high event style.

Take the ROR trade for example. We certainly "lost" that trade initially, but now that trade gave us our No. 1 center for the years to come and potentially a solid D man in Johnson who if he develops well could possibly end up in our top 4 (plus a draft pick used to acquire Colin Miller.)

I disagree. KA realizes from his time as a player how fleeting being a Cup contender can be. Levi is certainly part of the equation next year but KA can’t afford to allow another season to go to waste with bad goaltending. If he gets a good vet and Levi proves to be the real deal the worst that happens is we have good goaltending for 82 games. If Levi isn’t ready to be a starter then having the good vet insures quality goaltending most of the season.

The more I read about Moore, he's the player I hope slips to us at 13. Of the group 12-17 I'm not a huge fan of Barlow, and I worry about Perreault's skating. I really like what I've read about Sale. In the 2nd round, I like the big body of Bonk. Morin is an excellent skater. I doubt Dragiecevic falls to 39. At 45 there should be plenty of D to choose from. One sleeper is Max Strbak. He's another bigger D who skates well, has a solid 2 way game and is rated as high at 34 on one of the rankings I collected.

I have compiled the rankings from 11 sources. Most are from May, but Button is from March and Dobber from April. Round 1 (plus 1) 1 - Bedard 2-7 - Fantilli, Michkov, Carlsson, Smith, Benson and Leonard 8-11 - Dvorsky, Moore, Pellikka, and Reinbacher 12-17 - Danielson, Barlow, Perreault, Sale, Wood, and Honzek 18-27 - Yager, Cristall, Gulyaev, Stenberg, Brindley, Heidt, Ritchie, Simashev, Musty, and Willander. (Note: This is a large group with players seemingly heading in opposite directions: Up: Simashev, Stenberg and Willander; Down: Heidt, Brindely, and Ritchie). 28 - But 29-33 - Perron, Dragicevic, Nadeau, Gauthier and Haltunnen Round 2 34-38 - Ziemmer, Bonk, Lardis, Stramel, and Morin 39-44 - Hrabel, Cagnoni, Ciernik, Wahlberg, Augustine, and Lindstein 45-49 - Sawchyn, Edstrom (player on the rise), Price, Molendyk, and Lind 50-53 - Dower-Nilsson, Akey, Pitre, and Hameenaho 54-56 - Bjarnason, Kiiskinen, and Brzustewicz 57-59 - Rehkopf, Minnetian, and Allen 60-64 - Molgaard (player on the rise), Strbak, Nelson, Pinelli, and Caraford

That might be true if they didn’t have the younger, cheaper and probably just as good goalie in Swayman already on the team and ready to be a No. 1 guy. Goalie is where their depth is. They need centers and D and don’t have much room to pay them.

Depends. They need cap space and they need warm bodies in their empty prospects pool. Ullmark’s value might never be higher.

There are other facts that fueled the speculation. His Dad, former NHLer Craig Johnson, is the Co-HC (w Chris Hajt) of LA’s affiliate the Ontario Reign. Honestly getting him signed was very important for the Sabres. KA’s plan to build and sign a young core and then supplement from his pipeline as they develop needs layers of prospects to work. Last season we had no near ready kids in Roch and it cost us. The Johnson signing changes that. He now sits on top of the D layers 1) Johnson 2) Novikov 3) Komarov and Lindgren Still very thin, but at least the all 4 showed well last season. Another positive aspect of this is that Johnson choose to be here. He could have easily walked on August.

3-2 USA after 2

2 straight for the Germans. PP goal and a defensive D scores. 2-2 4 minutes left in the 1st