GASabresIUFAN

I can’t wait to get home and watch the game. Although the show we saw “Tina” was awesome. Anyone here who likes Tina Turner should get tickets and see the show. Best ending ever for a Broadway type show.

I’m at the theatre. Looks like we played a great second period. Finish the drill guys.

Why shouldn’t they? How long do Bergeron and Krejci have left?

Scratch Orlov off the list. Orlov and Hathaway to Boston. https://www.tsn.ca/nhl/dmitry-orlov-garnet-hathaway-traded-to-boston-bruins-from-washington-capitals-1.1922953

I remember their last Cup win. Actually I don’t, I was one.

Interesting list. Anyone you want besides the usual suspects. I have an interest in Jordan Greenway. But is he coming here is the real question.

Misty Wind. This should be a very interesting game. Tonight will be a real test of this team's character and Donnie's coaching. Can they get up and play their best hockey against a great team and find a way to win. They have not played well against the lightning of late. Since 2010 the Sabres are 7-17-1 against TB in Florida and we are 1-7-2 against them in the last 10. Sadly, I think they put up a game effort but lose in OT 5-4. Mitts, TNT, Power and Quinn with the goals.

If KA makes the two moves described above I'll be a very happy Sabrespacer. Merging the two deals, If we add Chychrun, Reilly, a 2nd (or 3rd and 5th) for Bryson, Rosen, Bloom, a 1st and a 2nd. I would say KA has done right by the team, secured excellent depth for this season and next, and gone a long way toward making the team better. I'm also very interested in Jensen and Orlov. Both were on my list this off-season of veteran guys who would make the team better and help shepherd/mentor the kids.

The other issues with the inhouse only plan are that there are certain positions we don't have ready and good enough prospects in (such as goalie and defense) and by the time some of these prospects reach the NHL, we'll have wasted the primes of guys like Skinner, VO, TNT and Tuch. I am not a fan of accelerating a rebuild before the core is established, but we have a core - Skinner, TNT, Tuch, Cozens, Dahlin, Mule, and Power, and the offense is flourishing. It's time to give the core the support it needs. Remember even if a GM is great at drafting, he is going to average a max of 3 players a year. That means it will take about 9 (with development time) years to build a team solely through the draft.

What youngster am I throwing out the window? Bryson is 25 and is D+6. Fitzgerald is 25 and is D+7. Clague is 24 and is D+7. Lyubushkin is 28. These aren't kids. These guys should now be in their prime and simply aren't good enough. I'm sorry but you can't keep every prospect. At some point, the organization has to move on. KA let Fitz go. Bryson has been demoted to the 7th slot as he has already been supplanted by Clague. Now KA needs to get a better to move Clague out of the top 6 as well.

@nfreeman Please see Dmitri Orlov. He was someone I mentioned in the off-season that I thought could be available if Wash was going to try to rebuild on the fly. I'd love to see him here, especially with so many Russians coming in the pipeline. He is still very effective at both ends of the ice, would provide leadership to the young D group and would be a really good initial partner for Power. Only 31, but a UFA. He does have a M-NTC, but I'd love to get him. To get him to come, I'd have zero issue with giving him a 3 year 12 mill extension. By the way, don't get your hopes up.

Probably.

That wasn't a reasonable expectation. Bryson's advanced stats weren't adequate last year. Fitz's were worse. Toronto, a team desperate for D help, made no attempt to retain him after trading for him last season. Pilut was a crapshoot but wasn't very good his first go around which is why he left for Russia. These were band-aids and KA knew or should have known they weren't good enough. Why should they have known? Just look at DG's usage of Bryson down the stretch last season. DG had reduced his PT to 10-12 minutes a game down from 18 to 19 early in the year. Casey's minutes also dropped down the stretch last year. They weren't playing well enough to justify the PT and DG knew it. Not exactly a ringing endorsement for this season. Last season in the playoffs, Tor only played Bush about 12 minutes a night. Again not a ringing endorsement for us to reasonably expect him to handle 18-20 here.

Kind of sad that people are willing to accept a mediocre product when we could be some much more with a couple of reasonable changes.

So KA won't make an affirmative move to fix the goaltending until Levi is ready and that could be when exactly? Maybe in 2024? Maybe never. That's not a plan. in 2021-22 our save% was .894, our GA was 3.5 goals allowed per game. Our PK was awful at 76.42%. All of these stats we significantly below the league average. To fix these areas, KA brought back Anderson but added Comrie, Lyubuskin and Clague with the results of .......... In 2022-23 our save% is .892, our GA is 3.49. Our PK is worse at 72.67%. Thus zero improvement. So you all can say what a good job KA has done building the offense and this is true, but there is more to winning in hockey besides offense and KA's acquisitions on defense and in goal have been mediocre at best (Clague, Anderson), but mostly lousy (Comrie, Dell, Lyubushkin). Whether the offense is ahead of schedule or not, a good leader takes advantage of the good fortune and supports the troops. Regardless of what KO is whispering in his ear, KA needs to fix the D and goaltending now. It's really that simple. No one is going to block Levi. No one is going to block Johnson. No one is asking KA to destroy the pipeline to fix these areas. What I am saying is take a chance KA. Get the help the team needs to break the playoff curse. The players, the owners and the fans will thank for it. Think of making the playoffs as part of the development curve of the organization. First you make the playoffs, then you win a few rounds and then you compete for a Cup. However none of that will happen with keeping the status quo on defense or in goal.

We are not ahead of schedule by any means. We are 7 years behind schedule. That said, Kulich and Levi are the only two prospects off limits. To get an Östlund or Savoie, the acquiring team would have to offer some excellent. One place I might look to swap a forward for a D is the LA Kings. They have a logjam of quality RHD prospects like Spence, Faber and Grans. Maybe there is a deal to be had with them? On the NHL front, I'd move on with a top prospect for a young, signed D capable or partnering with Power. As to when, now would be a good time to look at moving some of our capital to help the Sabres.

What plan? I have yet to see a proper plan to address the defense or goaltending. Waiting for Levi isn't a plan. It's hope and prayer. Continually trotting out Bryson, Bush and Clague is a failure not a plan. It's takes guts to be objective and say what your doing isn't working and then take steps to address the issue. KA has known these issues exist for years and has yet to properly address them. It's past time for changes to be made.

So there are 3 first rd forwards on the ICE and this 17 year old forward is by far their leading scorer? Where can we sign up for him?

They don’t have the horses. None of our goaltenders and Bryson, Lyubishkin and Clague would not make the roster of a contending team. It’s also questionable whether Jost, KO or Girgensons would earn a spot on a good team either.

Candle sticks and a seat in the pressbox.

One of KA’s biggest errors this season was not getting Power a Tallinder type player to partner with. This vet would have helped Power open up the offensive side pf his game while also providing leadership to the entire inexperienced D group. Instead he brought in the marginal Lyubushkin.

This thread asks if KA is doing anything. The answer right now is no. The real question, as his team gets pummeled by good teams, is whether KA has the guts to support this team by acquiring the D to help them reach the playoffs. I think the answer is no. He is going to watch how the next 4 games unfold and say (if the team plays well) “I didn’t do anything at the deadline because I didn’t want to disrupt the chemistry of the developing young team” and if they don’t play well, he’ll say “This is a development year and the cost in the trade market was to high to make any substantive moves.”

Tnt’s ascension to super star status and Cozens maturing as he has. While UPL has been slightly better than I thought, he still is a below average NHL goaltender and having him and Comrie man the crease next year will be a mistake. Unfortunately that is exactly what KA is going to do. Sadly I was correct about the defense and goaltending. I felt they weren’t adequate at the end of last season and thought Comrie and Bush were band-aids. I wanted KA to bring in two good stay at home D in the off-season (no I don’t think Bush is any good either) and wanted KA to bring in 2 goaltenders. I acknowledged that he’d like bring back Anderson. With a goals against of over 3.4 per game the team is paying the price for KA not being more aggressive in the off-season to address the obvious issues with the team. NJ aggressively fixed similar issues this past off-season and look where they are now.

Think McCabe or Chris Butler.

Already posted in the prospects thread.