GASabresIUFAN

He was right that we don’t have palm trees. GM Howdy Doody strikes again.

and he'll be 5'10 165 pounds but have unlimited upside and a great hockey iQ.

Hard to believe, but the odds of both the playoffs and winning the lottery just got worse. Playoffs 2.5% and Lottery 7.6%. Only the Sabres can F-up both ways. Points prediction down to 76.4. https://moneypuck.com/predictions.htm

A team that continues to blow 2 goal leads lacks heart.

Guys we want to re-sign Zucker. We also want Adams to resign.

I’ve mentioned this before, but how can you trust a guy who acquires a 3rd puck moving high draft pick LHD when he already has 2 taking up 25% of his internal cap? How do you trust a guy who trades away his most versatile forward but primarily a center, when you don’t have enough good centers on your roster? How do you trust a guy that doesn’t bring in defensive D when that has been the team’s greatest weakness for years and your two top offensive D don’t have good partners? How do you allow a guy to keep his job when he can’t adequate evaluate the issues with his roster? The answer is in a real organization the guy would have been long gone. Take the Devils for example. They have a very good young team, but they showed their defense wasn’t working, their GM brought in proven veteran D to solidify thr group and mentor the youngsters. The next season, when the goalies didn’t prove up to the task, he brought in 2 new goalies. Shocking isn’t it? Adams, the asst coaches, and Forton all need to be fired yesterday. Sadly we both know this isn’t happening.

Don’t mess with the Adams core. To be accurate he did also bring in 2 new players (McLeod and Zucker) for the 3rd line. The irony of off-season is that he didn’t change any of the top 6 on defense despite horrible metrics and HDCA the last few years.

Y’a think? He should be fired today.

It's what Washington wanted until they brought in Trotz. It was what NJ wanted until they added goaltending and Marino. Until this team embraces both ends of the ice, this team will continue to fail.

Maybe hire players that already know how to play defense so that the NHL coaches don’t have to teach them the basics. Crazy thought I know.

The real with the Sabres, besides a lack of heart, is their terrible defense. The Sabres are tied for 14th in the NHL in goals with 132, but are 27th in GA (6th worst) with 146 . I wonder where the solution to the Sabres really lies?

As I’ve been saying for weeks. I’d trade Power. He’s not physically engaged and I think we can keep Byram for less money. Re-allocating Power’s $8 million for a internal cap team is a huge resource.

It’s time to give the big Russian Bear a shot. He’s earned it.

They need to go also. We need an entirely new vision for our D group and it starts with players who can actually play defense. My point about the big 3 is that they continue to be a defensive liability. No matter how much offense they help to create they allow even more offense against especially Byram and Power. This status quo isn’t working and can’t work.

The really sad thing is that they played so hard and so well in the 1st period. They were playing the right way and getting results. Why did they stop?

Nope. Good thing we traded Mitts for a redundant offensive LHD.

Adams was holding out for an extra 3rd in 2033 and wouldn't complete the deal without it.

Well folks who don’t want to trade anyone, how is that status quo working out for you? How about Power, Byram, and Dahlin? They really made a difference tonight. We should hold on to all 3 at all costs. (Please read with dripping sarcasm).

….but he doesn’t have 100 points this season……

I’m ok with that and they can take Bryson, Gilbert and Clifton with them.

No question. No courageous run for the 8th overall pick this time.

I watched the 1st period and then went out for dinner. So glad I missed the rest of the game. Another blown two goal lead. Go Amerks! Go Bills!

Top 20 (plus 1) prospects at mid-season. Rules: 24 and under with less than 100 NHL games (50 for goalies)[Still waivers exempt] and has spent time in the AHL or lower this season or finished in the AHL or lower last season. Benson graduates with 107 NHL games now under his belt. Quick note; I tend to look at time to the NHL as a tiebreaking factor in the ratings. The closer a player is to contributing at the NHL level the higher their rating all else being equal. 1. Helenius - C - 14th over all 2024 draft - 17 points in 28 AHL games at 18 is impressive. Looked good at the U20s. 2. Levi - G - 212th pick in 2020 - Tearing up the AHL again (15-2-2 with a .918 save % and 2.12 Gaa). Hopefully will translate to NHL soon 3. Kulich - C/W - 28th pick in 2022 - 9 pts in 31 NHL games this season, but was much improved until his recent injury. 4. Rosen - C/W - 14th overall in 2021 - 28 pts in 31 AHL games this season. Likely will earn another callup soon. 5. Wahlberg - C - 39th overall in 2023 - 11 pts in 26 AHL games in first NA season. Was very good at the U20's with 8 pts (4 goals) in 7 games. 6. Östlund - C/W - 16th overall in 2022 - 2 pts in 13 AHL games in first AHL season. Has been injured. 7. Novikov - D - pick 188 in the 2021 draft - Continues to improve in the AHL. 13 pts in 34 games including 4 goals and a +21. I expect a callup this season. 8. Neuchev - LW - 74th in the 2022 draft - Like Novikov, he continues to improve in the A with 19pts in 31 AHL games. 2 way play still needs work 9. R Johnson - D - 31st pick in 2019 - Has played 44 NHL games the last two years. Not showing much pro offense in AHL or NHL. 10. Kozak - C - 193rd pick in 2021 draft - Has earned 2 callups this seasons. 12 pts in 24 AHL games for the grinding forward. Looked solid as a depth NHLer. 11. Poltapov - LW - 33rd in 2021 - 26 pts in 43 KHL games. Scoring has slowed after a hot start. Could be good 3rd line forward if he ever comes to NA. 12. Ziemer - RW - 71st in 2024 - 11 pts in 21 NCAA games for Minn. Strong contribution to the US's Gold medal at the 2025 U20s with 7 pts (3g) in 7 games. 13. Komarov - D - 134th in 2022 - Solid start to 1st AHL reason with 8 pts in 32 games with a +4 for the big defender. 14. Sardarian - RW - 88th in 2021 - Game exploding with move to Mich Tech. 27 pts (9g) in 21 NCAA games. Great to see for a reportedly really good kid. 15. Strbak - D - 45th in 2023 - Improving big physical D with 9 pts in 17 NCAA games and a strong showing at the U20s with 6 pts in 6 games. 16. Miedema - LW - 109th in 2023 - Blossoming big forward has 41 pts (16g) in 38 OHL games. 17. Richard - 170th in 2022 - 13 pts in 14 games for UConn. Had 18 in 36 last year. 18. Kleber - 42nd in 2024 - Another huge defender in the NCAA playing for Minn Duluth. 16 games (1 pt) so far his freshman year. 19. McCarthy - 86th in 2023 - Another solid NCAA defender with size - 5 pts in 18 games. 20. Kisakov - 53rd in 2021 - 3 pts in 6 AHL games. Not sure he has a NHL future at this point 21. Marjala - 159th in 2021 - 33pts in 33 Liiga games. Has improved dramatically over the last 3 seasons in Finland. Are the Sabres still interested? Is he interested in returning to NA? No idea. Other Goalies - (I'm not sure any of these 3 have an NHL future, but who really knows with goalies Leinonen - 41st in 2022 - Seems to have found his game by moving to Sweden. .915 save% and a 2.13 Gaa for Mora in the 2nd level league in Sweden. Ratzlaff - 141st in 2023 - 3.84 gaa and .892 save% for Seattle in the WHL. This is further backsliding. Leenders - 219th in the 2024 draft - posting mediocre numbers in the OHL with a .900 save % and a 3.43 gaa Just a quick insight into the prospect pool. The forwards tend to be 6' or smaller, while the defenders are big to huge. Wahlberg and Miedema are really our only legit forwards prospects over 6'2. On defense Novikov, Komarov, Strbak, Kleber, Osburn and McCarthy are all 6'2 or taller.

The problem for Östlund is that he may already be down the center depth chart behind Helenius and Wahlberg. Helenius will likely be on the callup list sometime next season and in the NHL the season after that. The Amerks are actually listing him at LW. That might give him a better shot than center strangely enough, but how many under 6' forwards do we really want or need?

@DarthEbriate Really? Östlund is in his D3 season and had 2 points in 13 AHL games. Helenius in his D1 season, who is also in his 1st NA season and is the same height as Östlund, has 17 pts in 28 games. By the way, Östlund was taken 16th and Helenius 14th. Who do you think will make an impact on the Sabres? The truth is by D3 we should already have a pretty good idea who has an NHL future and who doesn’t. It’s why I really only discussed Adams first 3 drafts. Take Novikov for example. In his D3 season he came to NA and made an immediate positive impact on the Amerks. He showed more offense than expected, was excellent defensively and has continued that this season. IMHO he has a great shot at the NHL next season. Kulich is D3 and is already carving out a role in the NHL. Rosen, who is D4, is stuck in Rochester, isn’t even a point a game player in the AHL despite being in his 3rd AHL season as a 1st rd pick. Does he have an NHL future? Possibly but likely only as a depth forward. Think Joel Armia.