GASabresIUFAN

I apologize in advance for asking you to defend your grading system again, but it feels a little subjective. I'm not sure what your expectations were for DC, but he finished with 31 goals and 68 points, which tied him for 27th in pts by an NHL center and 23rd in goals. That's 1st line center production from a 22 year old center. Last season he had 38 pts and only 13 goals. That's a 79% increase in points and a 139% increase in goals. I'm not sure how much more you could have asked from the 21-22 year old kid in the NHL. It's kind of scary to think how good he'll become when he's physically mature in a few more years. For me at least this was an A+ season.

Ultimately, Rousek has a real shot in Buffalo this coming season or the following one. KO’s time in Buffalo is coming to an end. I believe KA views Rousek as KO’s replacement. The only question is whether KO returns for next season. If KO returns Rousek probably spends most of next season in Roch. If KO moves on, Rousek makes the Sabres.

Wouldn't that be nice. I'd love to see Neuchev on the Amerks. FYI all 4 remaining Sabres CHL prospects remain alive in the playoffs in their respective leagues Savoie's Wpg Ice are up 3-2 over Moose Jaw. Matt has 9g and 16 pts in 9 playoff games so far (3g 4a in this series). Their next game is Monday. Lindgren's Red Deer Rebels lead 3-2 over Saskatoon, but lead this series 3-0, before losing the last 2. Mats has 2g and 6a in 10 playoff games so far, but only 1a in this series. They play tomorrow. Over in the Q, Nadeau's Gatineau Olympiques buried the Huskies 4-0 and by a collective score of 23-4. Nadeau had 7 goals in the series. Komarov's Quebec Rampants also won in 4 straight. Komarov was +4 with 2a and 9 hits.

That's fair, but it still seems a bit disingenuous after heaping praise on the kid.

I took some time today to draft my first "consensus" draft list. I found 8 solid lists from March and April. 1. Tier by himself - Bedard 2. Firm next 5 after Bedard - Fantilli, Michkov, Carlsson, Will Smith, & Zach Benson 3. Next 6 - Barlow, Leonard, Moore, Cristall, Reinbacher, Dvorsky - at least one of these guys will likely be available to us at 13. 4. 13-18 - Sale, Yager, Sandin-Pellikka, Danielson, Heidt, Honzek 5. 19-24 - Perreault, Wood, Gulyaev, Ritchie, Musty (from Hamburg, NY), and Gauthier - last group with very firm 1st rd grades 6. 25-28 - Brindley, Gauthier, Stenberg, Dragicevic, and But - someone from here will fall from the 1st rd 7. 29-31 - Nadeau, Bonk, and Stramel - I'd trade up to get Bonk. 8. 32-34 - Willander, Simashev, Ziemmer - 2 more D to at here, maybe we get lucky and they fall to 39. 9. 35-39 - Perron, Haltunnen, Sawchyn, Lardis, and Molendyk - Molendyk only D in this group at spot 39 10. 40-44 - Dower-Nilsson, Ciernik, Lindstein, Hrabel, and Strbak - Lindstein & Strbak D to look at here for pick 45 11. 45-49 - Brzustewicz, Rehkopf, Allen, Pitre, and Price. - Brzustewucz and Allen another two D of note. Pick 13 - Ideally Reinbacher falls to us. Doubtful. Love Leonard and Moore. Like Barlow as well. If somehow the top 12 on my list are all gone at 13, Sale is my current favorite, but Heidt is a pure playmaker worth watching. Picks 39 & 45 - If we don't get a D at 13, I'd like to take 2 D at 39 and 45. Lindstein, Willander, Bonk, Simashev, Strbak, and Price should all be on the radar.

Patrick Kane by a marathon. How many posts, threads, and news stories about bringing Kane home? 1000s.

It may come down to the Sabres saying to him that he has a real shot at making the roster next season. He clearly can play at the NHL level and we desperately need players like him in the bottom 6. Biron on a recent podcast was discussing how much we really need guys like him to complete the roster. KA has his work cut out for him deciding on the internal forward group this fall.

They won't be re-signing Orlov. Go get him Adams!

Sort of. So under your grading system TNT is going to have to improve to 110 pts to get an A. If he only puts up 90 points will you give him a C?

DG said in the presser it was a matter of "confidence" whatever that means. What was wrong with the PK? The guys taking the faceoffs were a league-worst 38% The two main goalies, Comrie and UPL had under 840 save % on the PK. Our scheme was terrible and the coaches failed to make the necessary changes. Could it be they lacked the personnel to run an effective PK? Absolutely.

He was asked about the goaltending, but he did not have to praise UPL because he comes off as disingenuous. All he had to say was he saw progress in a young goalie and we’ll evaluate our goaltending this off-season. That way he is free to proceed with any solution. Now, if he trades UPL after praising him he going to look worse. What’s he going to say then? We traded UPL because we didn’t want that much youth in goal? Or We wanted a more veteran presence with Levi? Or we just thought he wasn’t good enough and we traded him because we didn’t want to lose him for nothing when we send him down.

You are a tough grader. To give two rookies who played to or above most expectations a "C" seems a little harsh. If you had a vet in a top 9 role and they only produce 30-35 points I can see a grade for not meeting expectations, but really what more did you want from the 2 kids? 50-60 points? I expected them to look like rookies that showed a great deal of promise and they did just that. I give them both a solid B. I'd also give both Cozens and Mitts an A. Both far exceeded the expectations people here set for them.

How about don’t mention them at all?

Yes, that will be a disappointment because it probably means that the defense and goaltending only improved marginally if at all.

The next step isn't slipping into the playoffs with 95 points. We are there already. The next step is being a solid playoff team. That means competing with the TB and Torontos of the world. It means having a reasonable chance of winning a playoff series or two. Unless the D he acquires is significantly better than Jokiharju, you will again be asking a lot of your goaltenders. Right now we were the 3rd highest-scoring team in the NHL and only high-scoring team in the league not to make the playoffs. We gave up nearly 300 goals this season. That number has to decrease by at least 30 goals next season for us to be up there with Toronto and TB. Adding 1 quality defender won't be enough to accomplish that. The advanced stats say UPL regressed this past season. That means that if he and Levi are the goalies next season Levi is going to have to be excellent or better and start 50 games if we are to achieve a top 3 Atlantic finish.

That confirms the eye test and the lack of progress in the basic stats. I just don't see what management sees in these two. I don't know why anyone if they had a choice would want either guy back except as deep depth. Playing Joki 21 minutes a night was just like Risto 24 minutes a night. You did it because you had no choice because all the other options were worse. I'm sorry, but KA has enough cap space to drop Joki down the depth chart and build real D depth this off-season.

KA/DG singled out Joki and UPL in the press conferences. Is there someone here with access to the advanced stats who can illustrate using analytics that these two players have improved over the last few years? The eye test and the basic stats say otherwise. For Joki, his Corsi, Fenwick, and PDO also say otherwise. I really want to know what management sees in these two players.

The difference is that we could see the forwards improving. Dahlin has improved, but the overall defense hasn't improved with him. As I mentioned above, I've never seen any real improvement in UPL's game for years. I also don't think Joki is much improved over the last few seasons, and Bryson has played himself off the roster. The additions of Lyubushkin and Stillman also failed to improve the group. In truth, KA has a great base to work on with Levi, Dahlin, Mule, and Power. Power will continue to improve, but if truth be told I don't think any of your guys 4-8 would be anything but depth players on a good team. If it up to me Joki would be my 6, Bush the 7 and I'd bring in two quality vets to give us good minutes and mentor the top 3. Moves like this would go a long way toward easing the pressure on Levi to be the Savior, helping limit the HDC against, and giving us the depth necessary to survive injuries to the top 3 which we couldn't do this season.

The problem with waiting for UPL to develop (if he ever does), is that the team can no longer afford mediocre to bad goaltending. UPL's and Comrie's most lousy play cost us the playoffs this season. We have one of the top 5 offenses in the league and didn't make the playoffs. In fact, every team that scored over 270 goals made the playoffs except one. The one is us and we actually finished 3rd in goals scored at 293. Only Boston and Edmonton scored more. Also part of the problem with UPL is that his numbers in the AHL and NHL are bad. This is not Ullmark, whose numbers incrementally improved every year. UPL's numbers aren't showing any real improvement. Sometimes you just have to move on and I think this is one of those times.

From his positive comments on UPL and Joki, I worry that he isn’t fully grasping the problems. We can’t forget that we aren’t the only improving team. Det and Ott are also improving and Pitt and Wash won’t go away quietly. Ultimately I hope you are right and KA makes the right choices to fix the obvious issues.

I’ve never said that. I said entering last year the offense was going to be excellent, but they needed to shave about 30 goals against off last year’s totals to get to a plus differential to make the playoffs. I was correct. The goaltending this season was again subpar and the defense, especially if anyone in the top 3 was hurt, was trash. Now we head into next season with what will be the same forward group. Even assuming that group will be equally productive next season, we are still going to have to get the GA down. If you bring back basically the same groups in goal and on defense how much of a different result can you expect unless the one new variable, Levi, is excellent? If Levi is just league average then we won’t be much improved, because he’ll be sharing the net with lousy players. Might it help us sneak into the playoffs? Sure, but is sneaking into the playoffs the goal? It seems to me that with our offense the goal should be to compete with Tor and TB for solid playoff position and a chance to win a round or two in the playoffs. To reach that goal without other substantive changes on defense, Levi will have to be spectacular. Don’t BS me and say you’ll be happy next season if they earn 95 points and slip into the playoffs with a WC. This offense is to good for that to be the goal.

You realize Dahlin, Mule and Joki are all from the prior administration. This team competed for a playoff spot solely on the spectacular offense. The defense and goaltending were worse for than last year and are over half a goal worse than 3 years ago. Despite the 4th or 5th best offense in the NHL, the team still has a negative differential and allowed nearly 300 goals against. The goal of every NHL team is to compete for championships. This team as currently constructed with only 3 good defenseman and a lack of goaltending is not in a position to compete for a championship. If Levi is the next Ryan Miller that fixes part of the issue, but rolling forward with guys like UPL, Comrie, Bryson, Lyubushkin, Stillman, and Girgensons doesn’t fix the defense.

Sadly, I’m worried that we’ll only see one notable acquisition and that will be on defense. I expect all the forwards to be players on the roster or in our pipeline and it looks like they still believe in UPL. If they only add one D, this team won’t make the playoffs next year either unless Levi stands on his head and runs away with the Calder. There was one answer from DG that was awful. He basically said his players lacked confidence on the PK. I wonder why? Maybe the coaching of the PK sucked and maybe the goaltending also sucked.

Post press conference 2023/24 Buffalo Sabres Skinner TNT Tuch JJP Cozens Quinn Savoie Mitts Greenway Rousek Krebs KO (Jost or Z) Dahlin Samuelsson Power ????? Jokiharju Lyubuskin (Stillman) Levi UPL (Comrie to Roch) After the press conferences, I’m expecting one notable acquisition and that is a single D. This team won’t be taking the next step next season under this plan unless Levi is spectacular.

Here is what I came away with from those two press conferences. 1. Our media have no idea how to ask a question. 2. The playoffs are the goal next season. That’s what the players want and that’s what DG/KA believe. My impression is KA is not sure how to fix the issues without straying from his core principal of draft and develop. 3. KA knows the defense needs fixing, but still thinks Joki is in the mix. They did say that some players didn’t step up like they would have hoped when the Samuelsson went down and as Dahlin played through injuries. Hopefully this means those players will be replaced. Personally I thought Joki didn’t step up. 4. One or two forward spots will be opened to make room for Rousek and Savoie. Adams was very clear that when prospects are ready they’ll be in Buffalo. To me that means it could happen organically with Z and KO choosing not to come back or moving VO out and not re-signing Jost. 5. Goaltending. Levi is part of the tandem next season. For reasons not visible to fans, Marty Biron, the media or any interested observer, KA/Dg still think UPL has a future as an NHL netminder and he might very well share the net with Levi. 6. KA brought up NJs improvement, but doesn’t seem inclined to take the same steps they did. This is disappointing consider the steps they took were mostly to add quality D. 7. KA understands that once he locks up Dahlin and Power he’s going to have cap challenges, which is why he is overly cautious about vet additions. However, I don’t think he can fix the issues with the Sabres without doing what NJ did on defense. Adding another Lyubushkin won’t fix the problem. 8. If there are changes on the coaching staff Bales won’t be one of them. He was specifically mentioned for his excellent work. Overall there wasn’t much specific to glean from these press conferences other than they are happy with the direction of the club and happy with how the season went overall and think they should be a playoff caliber team next year. The status quo roster I posted seems to be very much in play.