GASabresIUFAN

Besides the trades of Staal, Hall and Montour two seasons ago?

You didn’t say this year and you didn’t say playing at an extraordinary level this year. Truthfully Josh hasn’t been extraordinary this year either. The two best players on the Bills this season are Diggs and Milano. Josh has been fantastic at times and awful at others. I do think the Milano and Poyer are building a HofF resumes and that White maybe as well. Miller is already a shoe in. Maybe I’m confused by your definition of extraordinary. To me a player at the top of his game who is voted as one of the 3 best in his position, like Milano, is extraordinary. Your two extraordinary talents, Allen and Diggs were not so honored. Diggs was 2nd team and Josh nothing. I’m the one who pointed out up thread everything this team has endured to get to this point, but to say this team lacks special talent on defense is wrong imho. What is correct is that this team succeeded despite the injuries to those stalwarts.

I couldn't disagree more. White, when fully healthy, locks down half the field. That is extraordinary. Milano may be one of the top 5 linebackers in football right now. He is a sure tackler, can cover RBs and TEs and sack the QB. With him the Bills are tough against the run but without him teams can run all over us. He was voted a 1st team All-Pro this season along with former Dawg Roquan Smith (who is the best college LB I have even seen) and Fred Warner. He is an extraordinary player. As to Poyer - here were his stats in 2021 (https://touchdownwire.usatoday.com/lists/nfls-best-safeties-jordan-poyer-tyrann-matthieu-minkah-fitzpatrick-justin-simmons/) McCourty ranked 2nd at a passer rating of 31.8 and Marcus Williams was 3rd at 54.2. By any measure that's extraordinary. Injuries have cost him this season, but that doesn't change the fact that he is an amazing safety and maybe the best safety in the NFL when fully healthy.

That would be great. Maybe they’ll have to cut a D we could use.

He was squeezed out. He was insurance as you say, but I believe that management has seen enough from guys like Rousek, Biro, Murray etc down in Rochester to think that they would be just as effective if called up.

You know that it is statistically untrue. You also know he takes the puck away from the opponent more often then he gives it away?

Anderson, Bryson and Lyubushkin.

Actually it would help cap strapped teams by giving them a player on LTIR, essentially creating more cap room. What’s the harm of adding a late round pick if someone wants Bishop’s deal.

The Sabres are in an interesting situation. We are on the border of playoff contention, have some lineup holes, and millions of cap space to take on contracts if interested. We also have 8 players on expiring contracts divided evenly between 4 UFAs and 4 RFAs. UFAs - Anderson, KO, Vinnie and Z; RFAs - Cozens, Clague, Jost and Asplund. We also have a large group of players with one remaining including core RFAs Dahlin and Power, plus RFAs Krebs, Jokiharju, Bryson, Mitts, and UPL and UFAs Olofsson, Comrie and Lyubushkin. 3rd line players Mitts and Olofsson are trending toward career highs in production. Will KA be a seller or a buyer or possibly both? Vinnie is already in the trade rumors and I expect him to be moved sooner then later. This will enable KA to stop playing roster roulette with the kids. The biggest roster issues remain D depth and some who can win a faceoff. Imho the forwards also need to be more physical and try to score more dirty area goals. Step 1 - Decide whether the team wants keep Z and KO beyond this season and talk to the to determine if they are even interested in returning. Depending on how those conversation go, I’d either re-sign them or trade them at the deadline. It may even be possible to trade them and then bring them back in the off-season. I’d probably trade one of the two for sure to get Asplund in the lineup to see if he’s worth keeping beyond this season. Step 2 - Trade Anderson if he is willing. I hate a 3 goalie circus and I’d love to give Anderson a chance at a Cup if someone is interested in him. Trading Anderson would also give management more opportunities to evaluate both Comrie and UPL Step 3 - See what the market is offering for VO and Mitts. If someone is offering a 1st or a package which includes a good to excellent D prospects, I think KA would have to consider it. Step 4 - Kick the tires on acquiring a parter for Power with term. Chychrun is the obvious answer, but maybe even Luke Schenn if he is willing to sign and extension. Step 5 - See if you can upgrade Bryson. Step 6 - trade Bishops contract, especially if we take a contract back in another deal. Assets are assets.

I’m not sure that’s 100% accurate. On offense that’s true. However on defense there is serious talent although much of it has been injured this season. Matt Milano is an amazing linebacker who is finally getting his due. White , when healthy, is a perennial all-pro DB. Miller is a Hall of Famer and the Hyde/Poyer combo is the best safety combo in the NFL. Ultimately the Bills great accomplishment this season is continuing to win without the services for all or significant part of the season from the top tier players on the defense in White, Miller, Hyde and Poyer. No other team in the NFL could have survived much less thrived with losing that much top end D talent. It is a real compliment to Hamlin (also now out), Elam (a rookie), Rousseau (a 2nd year player) and others who stepped up to fill the gaps. Rousseau imho is on the verge of being a long-term difference maker.

Honestly I’d trade Anderson to a Cup contender to give him a shot at winning a Cup. I’d then split the net between Comrie and UPL as they are the default duo for next season.

No. Not without significant help on the back end and more consistent effort from all 4 lines. Also they need to rethink the PP. To much perimeter passing and they are moving the puck way to slowly.

I think it’s a goal.

The D has 3 core pieces all very young, but everyone else needs to be upgraded. 2 vets will be nice, but long term we need more D in the pipeline.

Mine is Samuelsson getting his due.

Casey Coyote's Captain

A defenseman or two would be nice.

Now that I've seen Roster Gymnastics in action, I think I'm willing to move on from our friend Vinnie. Hopefully KA can find a home for him soon so that we can stop this 4 man rotation of players being "loaned" to Rochester. At this point, I'd rather give some of the young guys playing well in Rochester a reward for their good play and see what they look like at the NHL level. IMHO Rousek, Biro and Weissbach all have earned a callup.

So Levi is now are 5th best prospect. Interesting. I had him 3rd behind Savoie and Kulich, because I think he has more upside potential then Östlund and Rosen, but I can see why Corey has downgraded him some.

Honestly the Bills this year are a marvel. They are 14-3 despite losing Daboll, the return of gunslinger Josh with the turnovers to show for it, losing All-Pro White for much of the season, losing All-pro Hyde for the season, losing All-pro Poyer for games and him playing hurt, losing All-Pro Von Miller for the 2nd half of the season, the terrible weather forcing a "home" game in Det, an inconsistent and oft injured Oline, inconsistent WR play, Dawson Knox in a funk (and reasonably so) for half the season, and of course the Damar Hamlin situation. Oh yeah, those 3 losses are by a collective 8 points. I don't remember a season this chaotic. I don't know of any team in the NFL that has overcome so much and remained a top tier team. The team still has to win 2 more games just to reach the Super Bowl, but I'm not betting against them.

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/ups-and-downs-of-josh-allens-hyper-aggressive-style-and-where-the-bills-go-from-here/ Worth a read.

Bills draft needs - OL, safety, WR I hope Dawgs like B Jones (OL), Chris Smith (S) and Darnell Washington (TE) are on high on Buffalo’s list. Washington may not seem like a need, but he is a unicorn player who can block like a OT, pull like a guard, catch the ball well and has excellent speed for a player his size. He’d make the running game so much better, give Josh a huge end zone target and a miss match check down target for long conversions. Considering our lack of cap space, adding a multidimensional player like Washington makes a great deal of sense. ESPN currently lists Jones at 20, Washington at 52 and Smith at 107. I doubt Washington and Smith last that long. The Bills approx draft slots are 30, 60, 90.

I'm not in the camp the EV points matter over PP points. I think that is an overused notion that a player who gets all his points at EV is somehow a better player. To me it points out that the player isn't good enough on his team to play on the PP. Girgensons gets all his points at even strength. Tage only has 16 EV goals of his 31. Does that diminish Tage's production? Last I looked the name of the game is scoring. Bennett wasn't good enough to be a major part of Calgary's PP. However he is part of Florida's 2nd PP and not surprisingly his PP points have increased. Also his +/- dramatically improved when he went to a Cup contender in Fla. This year, with FL not nearly as strong defensively, he is back to -7. I will agree the Bennett is a better goal scorer and a much more physical player, but I think Casey is actually the better passer. Casey and Bennett are about the same size. I'd like to see Casey be more physical. I think it would help his game. All that said, no two players are the same, but I think Sam and Casey's development path is similar and Sam's growth as a two way player gives me hope for Casey.

The inconsistent OLine has lead to an inconsistent offense. Morse, Dawkins, Brown and Bates are under contract for next year as is developmental LT Tommy Doyle. Safford is listed on the 2023 Roster with only a $2 mill signing bonus but no salary. I'm going to assume that is just a dead cap hit unless he is extended. It looks like Boettger, Van Roten, Bobby Hart and Quessenberry are FAs after this season. The Bills are also in a cap bind for next season now that Josh's full cap hit hits the books. Josh costs 39 mill next year. The Bills are already at the cap with 231 Mill in contracts for only 39 players. Beane has some significant work ahead of him this winter. I don't see how Beane keeps guys like Vickers, Gilliam, McKenzie, even Hines after this season. Those 4 have cap hits of 10.25 mill, but only a dead cap of 900k if released.

We are not as good right now with Dorsey as the OC. Daboll was one of the best offensive minds in football, but it's impossible to keep someone like that. They want to move up the food chain and he is doing a great job in NY. Not a surprise. Dorsey is a 1st year OC and there has been some hiccups. However Beane's first job this off-season is to fix of the O Line. The Bills and Josh will be better if we can take pressure off Josh to do everything. They also need to upgrade of WRs.