GASabresIUFAN

The Braves and Bulldogs are certainly 1 and 2 in the city Another genius comment. Take your political garbage elsewhere. I didn’t live here then. I was still in Buffalo, but people say the Flames were a lot of fun.

It’s wasn’t so much sabotage as disinterest, incompetence and a lack of proper marketing. One of the principal owners was Ted Turner’s son in law who I know well and he and his partners had little or no knowledge of hockey. The group also was fractured from Day 1 as none were rich enough to be the primary owner. You had different pieces of the group running the Thrashers vs the Hawks. Like the Braves in Buffalo, Hockey was secondary. GM Don Waddell also did a horrendous job. When you get a chance go look at how the Thrashers drafted. Not one 2nd rd pick in 11 years made an impact on the team except a goalie briefly. Many of the 1st picks were busts and the team failed to win, making the playoffs just once. Hard to build a following that way. The stadium and the atmosphere in it were awful. 50 % of the lower bowl was sold to and arranged in corporate sections which were rarely utilized making the stadium feel dead. Add the downtown location when most of the fans lived North of the city and you have a recipe for failure. Downtown is even worse now than then, although they have fixed the seating issue. Fan location is why the Braves moved North. So what’s changed since 2010? Obviously the local population has continued to grow. The area is about 50% larger than when the Thrashers arrived in 1999. Another big change is the growth of youth hockey on the North side of Atlanta. We have tripled the number of rinks and there are very successful youth leagues all the way up to and beyond high school age players. I actually live within 10 miles of 3 different rinks, two of which were built in the last 5 years. My son-in-law came through these leagues and played some lower tier Jr hockey. He ended up becoming Captain and President of the U of Tenn club hockey team. In fact most of the local universities in the ACC and SEC as well as others Southern Universities have successful club hockey teams and some schools, like UGA are beginning the fund raising and push to become D2 or D1 NCAA programs. All this because of the Thrashers, Canes, Pred, TB, Dallas. Southern hockey is growing like crazy and has for the last decade. Another piece of the puzzle is the Gladiators ECHL team. They are highly successful, have a strong fanbase and would be a great base to re-establish hockey in the ATL. So should it happen? Maybe! I think Houston and Atlanta are the biggest markets without teams. For a new franchise to succeed, the team needs knowledgeable hockey focused local ownership and a building on the Northside of town. Those are significant hurdles. I do agree that 2 failed attempts are a terrible legacy, but the 2nd attempt was set up to fail. We have seen failed markets like The Bay Area succeed when done properly and unlike 1999, there is a local hockey educated fan base that would adore having their own team.

Can’t Raleigh to close.

I’ve never commented on the Buffalo sports market of today. Nice try.

I find it hilarious that people who don’t live here, don’t know anything about the sports market here and don’t why the Thrashers failed are commenting on whether or not a new team would prosper here.

The cap says you can't keep everyone. Like it or not Bush likely won't be retained after next season. I also feel Joki is likely to be traded at some point for cap reasons. I proposed a Joki for Theodore trade on another thread to get Power a better partner with term.

Bold summer prediction. KA will trade Jokiharju and Olofsson over the summer to raise assets to help KA get a better partner for Power (and or goaltending) and then they'll run with the Malachi Bros (Stillman and Lyubushkin) as the third pair. For example, maybe we can work a deal with LV to get Theodore from them for Joki and Rosen.

That player, if you believe he has upside, is already here in Stillman. Riley is 4 years younger, plays a similar game, and is an RFA after next season. That means when Bush's contract is up, KA can simply re-sign RFA Stillman. The 2024-25 Sabres D could easily be Dahlin Mule Power Joki (although I wish KA would upgrade him) Stillman Johnson

I've added a poll question to see who we think makes the opening night roster next fall. I've assumed Tuch, Thomspon, Skinner, Cozens, Dahlin, Power, and Samuelsson are on the opening roster next season.

Don't you think Tuch, Cozens, and Dahlin are ready to assume the leadership of this team? Don't use think KA acquired Greenway as a replacement for one of Z or KO? KA and KO have a clear line of open communication. I do wonder if KO told KA that he was done coupled with Tuch's injury, precipitated KA's decision to trade for Greenway.

Roster construction is a weird thing. Back in the day, Edm and LA put guys like Dave Semenko and McSorley on Gretzky's line. However, I doubt they put Savoie on the team in anything but a scoring role. It would otherwise be a waste of his talent. I also don't think he makes the team next season either. If Kulich and Savoie don't play in Buffalo next year, their contract slide again. This would give us essentially 4 more years on both players. That said, KA was pretty clear that if they are ready they will play. I see a top 6 next year of Skinner - TNT - Tuch and Mitts - Cozens - Quinn. MItts and Cozens have developed some nice quick chemistry and I don't think it's a coincidence that VO's production has fallen without Mitts. After that, it's going to be who shows chemistry with whom. I'd even experiment with JJP Krebs and Greenway. Greenway's forechecking should help create room for Krebs to create and JJP to finish. Then you might return KO with Jost and Z for an energy line. The more I think about this the tougher KA's job is sorting out the forwards, especially if Savoie and Kulich prove ready. If they make the team who do you ship out? He's certainly not giving up on JJP after one season. Mitts has come on in the second half. He has 3g and 13a in his last 22 games (+1) and 3g 8a in his last 11 games (+3). He looks like he is becoming a fixture in the top 6 and with one year left on his deal, KA can extend the evaluation period another year. VO is under contract. KO and Z are leaders and Pkers, but UFAs. Jost (RFA) has proven he's good depth at center and Krebs is earning DG's trust and has one more year on his ELC. Too much talent is a good thing, but it makes the GM's job very difficult.

Petersen is a perfect proxy for Portillo. Their college numbers are very similar.

I don't think either will be Sabres next year.

How do you pass up on guys like Leonard and Barlow if they are sitting there when you draft 18 or 19? Although I'd say if Reinbacher is available when we draft in the 1st KA would be a fool not to take him. He's a perfect compliment on paper for Power. He's already playing 20 minutes a night in the Swiss league at 18.

Honestly, do the Sabres need Z or KO any longer? Besides leadership what does either player objectively offer? Our PK is terrible. Z's pts/g are down year over year. KO's are down significantly. Greenway was just brought in to bring a physical presence and improve the PK at half the price we are paying KO. The team's leadership is now falling on the shoulder of Dahlin, TNT, Cozens, and Tuch. Krebs has also proven to be pretty feisty and with Savoie and Kulich (who have both been on fire of late) coming soon, we may need the roster spots as early as next season. KA's decisions on both players may come down the stretch and how they perform in the playoffs (if we make it). Admittedly I can see both returning, but rationally it's probably time to move on from both.

Where is Kulich playing for the Amerks W or C?

Or you trade down to get more assets or your use your extra picks to move up and get the player you want. https://theathletic.com/4178376/2023/03/01/nhl-draft-top-prospects-2023-march/ Wheeler has Gulyayev (MHL) at 16, Reinbacher (AUS) at 17 and Pellikka (SWE) 21. He then has 4 NA D 34-37 (Morin, Dragicevic, Brzustewicz and Price) Having watched KA in his 3 drafts, he'll most likely let the draft come to him. He'll grab the highest guy on his list at 15-19 (depending on where we finish) and then take the best D. Our picks currently stand 15, 40 & 47. Wheeler has 12 D with 2nd rd grades. Surely one or two will fall right for KA to take one

I agree with much of your statement, especially if you're talking about a partner for Power. However, the drafting of D beyond the second round has rarely produced an impact player for the Sabres. Here is a list of the list of D drafted outside the 2nd rd to play 100 plus games in the NHL in the last 30 years Bryson - 159 games so far - 4th rd (99th overall in 2017) Borgen - 112 games (4 for the Sabres) - 4th rd (92nd overall in 2015) McNabb - 638 games (37 for the Sabres - 3rd rd (66th overall in 2009) Biega - 243 games (0 w Buffalo) - 5th rd (142nd overall in 2006) Butler - 407 games (155 w Buffalo) - 4th rd (96th overall in 2005) Sekera - 842 games (339 w Buffalo) - 3rd rd (71st overall in 2004) Hejda - 627 games (0 w the Sabres) - 4th rd (106th overall in 2003) Paetsch - 167 games (157 w Buffalo) - 7th rd (202nd overall in 2003) Wideman - 815 games (0 w the Sabres) - 8th rd (241st overall in 2002) Campbell - 1082 games (391 w Buffalo) - 6th rd (156th overall in 1997) Hnidy - 550 games (0 w Buffalo) - 7th rd (173rd overall in 1994) Not exactly a long list and really only 2 impact players for the Sabres.

Instead we got Riley Stillman. I’m surprised it hasn’t happened already.

Your welcome 🙂 Please see my post above. I don't think 28 games is a small sample size.

I forgot to mention that in my recap. The tripping call against Samuelsson was one of the worst I've seen in a while. The failure to call the hit on Krebs when the guy was without a helmet was inexcusable.

FYI: We have received .9 or better goaltending 28 times this season. Our record is 21-6-1. .899 or less our record is 11-19-3, although in games we received .860 to .899 goaltending our offense is so good we still went 8-4-1. However, 33 games of below-average goaltending is simply not good enough.

Where does Greenway slot once he gets here? The line of Cozens, Mitts and Vinnie looks terrific together (admittedly small sample size) Jost Z and KO seem fine together and Quinn is excelling playing with Thompson and Skinner. That leaves JJP, Krebs, and VO. Who are you sitting for Greenway? JJP?

Kulich is doing his 2nd half JJP impersonation.

The Islanders won against Det 4-1. Still trail them by 4 points, but have 4 games in hand. Pitt plays Fla tonight. A win by Pitt gives them a 5-point lead on us with one more game played. A Fla win ties them with us with 68 points, but with 3 more games played.