GASabresIUFAN

They’d probably bring up Pilut on an emergency recall.

The PK is partially a coaching issue, but also a goaltender one. Getting a stay at home D who can kill penalties would also help. One question that comes to mind is who does KA trade/waive if he acquires someone? Will he move Bryson or Clague in the deal to get a D or will he move on from Asplund knowing he has Vinnie and others in the AHL if a forward is needed?

Great question. I look at how the forward group is constructed and I see a greater need for Kulich’s skill set vs Savoie. I view Kulich as a Jack of All Trades who can fill any role the Sabres need played. Savoie may have more upside offensively, but I really view him as Skinner 2.0. I also believe that Kulich is the closest to NHL ready of the 3 1sts from last year. Depending on what happens in Europe, both Savoie and Östlund may not be eligible for even AHL duty next season. I expect Kulich to push for an NHL job as early as next season. I also wrote that I’d trade one of Savoie or Östlund but not both and it would have to be an awesome deal to get either. I think the term I used was good young player with term.

I’m very glad about the Johnson news. If I had to guess he looked at the mess we have on D after the top 3 and thought to himself he can beat out those guys. He’s probably right.

The only team that wasn’t considering position was Buffalo until this draft. Otherwise how do you explain drafting nearly all forwards early in the draft. That changed when they reached for the goalie in the second. Outside of Power, KA has yet to draft a D before the 4th round. Is it any wonder we don’t have any significant D prospects in Rochester?

Here is some good news guys and gals. According to the Athletic’s Corey Pronman “I’ve heard Ryan Johnson will probably sign with Buffalo too.” https://theathletic.com/4213022/2023/02/21/college-chl-european-hockey-free-agents/ This article focuses on College and Euro FAs. I’m still very interested in signing Jake Livingstone, a 6-3 RHD from Minn St.

Can you imagine how bad our D would be if we hadn't drafted him?

I’m not sure about that. In Buffalo, assuming Dahlin signs a longterm extension, he may remain second fiddle on the PP which could limit is point production sadly limiting his Norris contention.

I divide the teams into 3 groups. Group 1 is the 12 teams in a divisional playoffs spot. Group 2 are bubble teams like Sabres. Teams still in the WC chase, including Wash, Pitt, NYI, Det, Fla and Ott in the East. The last group are sub 500 teams that are out of it already such as AZ, CHI, Stl, Mon, Philly and CBJ.

This was our easiest stretch of the season in many ways. Our better record in this third is attributed to playing 5 of the 14 games against non-playoffs teams. Our record in those 5 was 4-0-1. Against the bubble or playoff teams are record was 4-4-2. In those 10 games, we scored only 19 goals but gave up 30. We only have 5 games against non-playoff teams for the remainder of the year.

I went to see if this Sabres team is improving. It isn't by most measures. In the first 20 games, they scored 75 goals (3.75 per game) and gave up 70 (3.5 per game). Record 9-11 In the next 20 games, the offense accelerated and the D/Goaltending remain lousy. They scored 78 goals (3.90) while allowing 69 (3.45). Record 11-7-2 In the next 14 games, the offense has slipped some and the D/Goaltending remains subpar. They scored 47 goals (3.36) while allowing 47 (3.36). Record 8-4-2. The numbers are illustrative of the 3 pastings they took at the hands of Carolina, Calgary, and LA. I think the lower offensive numbers reflect the issues with the power play. We had 41 PP goals in the first 40 games and have had only 6 in the last 14. One area of improvement is the PK. After giving up 35 PP GA in the first 40 games (.875 PP GA per game), the team has only allowed 8 in the last 14 (.57) At EV our goals for remains pretty consistent at 2.7, 2.9, and 2.93. Our EV goal against was better in the first forty at 2.6, but has slipped in this 3rd to 2.79. If this team is going to make the playoffs the PP must start clicking again and our D/Goaltending needs to get better.

Sad to say, but there isn't really enough roster spots for all our current legit forward prospects 1st Rd prospects - Savoie, Kulich, Östlund and Rosen 2nd Rd prospects - Kisakov, Poltapov 3rd & 4th rd legit prospects - Bloom, Nadeau, Neuchev Others - Cederqvist, Kozak, Rousek, Marjala, Huglen, Weissbach, and Richard. There are also others than may emerge. That's alot of depth and quality. At some point some of them will be moved for players, more picks or prospects.

Which prospects are you willing to give up in trade? To me the only untradeable prospects are Kulich and Levi. After that I'm willing to part with Rosen and either Östlund or Savoie, but not both. To part with either it would have to be a young player with term.

The favor should be Conor Timmons

Considering that the Sabres played playoff level hockey when Ullmark started. He was developed.

I added a new poll question asking home many deals does KA complete by the deadline? In his first year, he completed 4 trades, dumping Staal, Johansson, Montour, and Hall for 2021 6th (Novikov), 2021 3rd (Bloom) and 5th (Marjala), 2021 3rd (Sardarian), 2021 2nd (Kisakov) and my favorite player Anders Bjork. Last season he sent Hagg to the Panthers for a 6th (Karlsson).

3 or the 4 would have helped our team whether you like the player or not, because 3 of the 4 including Megna are better then what we are playing on the 3rd pair. This also goes back to his in action when we were down to 3 starters on D. He has a playoff possible team and he needs to help the D to get it there. It's past time to fix it. Bryson, Bush, Clague and even Joki aren't part of the core, moving them for upgrades does nothing but help this team today and long-term.

There have been 4 relevant trades so far in Bear, Timmins, Del Zotto, Megna. I'd have taken Bear for a 5th or Megna for a 4th. Connor Timmons has done a nice job for Toronto since being acquired from AZ for a fair prospect in November. He'd have certainly been an upgrade over Bryson and Clague. Not one of these deals would have hurt our future at all and guys like Bear and Timmons are young enough to be part of the team long-term if there play warranted it.

JJP is also a better player. Rosen was a reach and while I think he has an NHL future it's not top 6.

JJP at 19 put up 80 pts in AHL 80 games last season including playoffs. Rosen has 21 in 40.

Really, what action has he taken in season to bolster the D group?

Here is the biggest issue. As you say we are done with the West for the most part. Did you know that 5 of 6 wins against top 3 divisional teams are against Western Conference teams? We have one win this season against an Eastern playoff team and that was an OT win against Boston. We have yet to beat Car, Tor, TB, NYR, or NJ. Even if we play to the same level against our competition that we have played to all year, we'll finish out of the playoffs with 89 points. We are 6-12-1 against playoff teams, 11-6-2 against bubble teams, and 11-4-1 against the bad teams. My point still stands. We have to play better against better competition in order to make the playoffs and we honestly don't have the defense or goaltending to do it. If KA is serious about the playoffs this year, he can no longer sit on his hands. He must get D help now. Also it wouldn't hurt if DG can find away to get the PP working again.

Your title should say one Sabres prediction. The ideas are reasonable

Unfortunately for us, we have a brutal remaining schedule. We paly 13 games against divisional top 3 teams and 10 games against teams fighting for a Wild Card slot. Only 5 of our remaining games are against "bad" teams. I would say that these next 4 games are pretty representative of the remaining schedule and represent 4 of the last 5 games before the deadline. How we play against this stiff competition will go along away toward helping KA decide how to act at the deadline.

If we want to make the playoffs, we have to play much better than we did on this road trip despite winning the last 2. The next 4 games will tell who the Sabres are and if we really are a playoff contender. The next 4 are Tor, at TB, at Fla and then Wash. Find a way to win 3 of 4 and I’d say we’re a playoff caliber team.