GASabresIUFAN

I guess this means McLeod goes back to 3rd line center.

I have a better chance of winning the Power Ball than Adams has of fixing this team.

Anyone have the odds of the Sabres making the playoffs vs finishing last in the NHL standings?

It probably happened once or twice in NHL history, but I can’t think of a team with 35 pts midway through the season ever making the playoffs. To get to 90 points, the Sabres would need 55 pts over the next 41 games. That’s a 25-11-5 record. This team will be lucky to go 18-18-5

We rarely agree, but you are correct on Benson. He and Tuch are the only legit playmakers on this roster and he is one of the few Sabres forwards committed to two way play.

This is an issue across the entire Sabres lineup. Power needs to go. I was watching the highlights from last night and Wash scored the tying goal because Power refused to physically engage the guy he was covering in front of the net. Had he tied him up as he is supposed to do, the Sabres might win the game in regulation. What can we get for Power?

He isn’t a middle six center. He isn’t good enough to play on anyone’s 2nd line. He is a bottom six forward who doesn’t physically engage and only scores sporadically in a physical sport. We need a legit top six playmaking forward. We need two top 4 defensemen. We need to stop acquiring bottom of the roster garbage and make improvements where they count. I have zero problem with moving out prospects and picks as long as the assets we acquire make the Sabres better. The Sabres are worse than ever. McLeod hasn’t made the PK better. His scoring has evaporated, he doesn’t hit anyone and Ruff has placed on the 4th line because Krebs and Kulich are outplaying him.

It’s time to bring this thread back on course to discuss Adan’s continued series of terrible pro acquisitions. Please move the prospect discussion to the prospect thread. Thanks As to McLeod, the guy doesn’t hit anyone and this was an issue in Edm but it’s even worse here with 12 hits ytd. (he had 65 last season). In addition he gives away the puck at twice the rate he takes it away. He also isn’t shooting the puck. Heading into tonight he had 38 shots on goal (76 shot pace) the season despite playing a career high 15+ minutes a game. Last season he had 106. The talk in Edm after the trade was that he could never quite secure the 3rd line center job due to his lack of a physical game and his lack of consistent scoring despite his great speed and pk ability. Same player new location although he hasn’t helped out PK at all.

….was it over when the German’s bombed Pearl Harbor?….

This season. Basically you are saying that Cozens sucks as badly as McLeod. You are also given McLeod good start as much weight as his terrible last 22 games. Cozens also has a much better track record. That said Cozens along with Power are at the top of my trade list.

Maybe I should downgrade from a C- to a D?

Is it? He was scratched twice in the finals and only put up 4 points in 24 playoff games. The Oilers rallied from 0-3 down, but it wasn't because of the great contributions from McLeod.

And then traded him to the Sabres after they concluded he wasn't good enough to get them over the top. He has 6 points with zero goals over his last 21 games. Kulich has 6g 2a over the same period playing about the same number of minutes.

Do you really think McLeod is the 3rd line center on a contending hockey team? Edmonton didn't and trading him to us after signing Adam Henrique. I do agree that Adams & Co will re-sign him, but how much and for how long for a guy you should hope ends up, as he is now, a 4th line center. As to Kulich, the Sabres season is already over from a playoff standpoint. Might as well see if Kulich has the potential to be a good 3rd line player and I believe he does.

Which is why Adams gets an F for acquiring them, Ruff gets an F for how he's played them and the players get an F for contributing to the further regression of the team. They ultimately are symptoms of the greater problem, our coaches and management can't evaluate talent properly to build even a decent team.

Maybe the worst GM in NHL history and that is saying something with TM and Jbot in our recent history and guys like Mike Milbury, Ron Hextall and Craig Button floating around out there.

Y'all are being much too generous to the Sabres 4th line players. Remember they were brought in to improve the dumpster fire that was our 4th line. 23/24 Eric Robinson 40 games 2g 7a 72 hits - acquired for a conditional 7th rd pick (condition not met) - 24/25 Beck Malenstyn 39 game 4g 4a 93 hits - acquired for a 2nd rd pick How is this improvement? 23/24 Kyle Okposo 61g 12g 10a 61 hits 24/25 Aube-Kubel 16g 1g 1a 29 hits How is this improvement? 23/24 Zemgus Girgensons 63g 8g 6a 103 hits 24/24 Sam Lafferty 29g 1g 2a 21 hits - Remember this guy was expected to be a 20+ pt scorer and a very physical player. Last season he had 13g 11a in 79 games with 191 hits. He was also an even takeaway vs giveaway guy. This season he has 1 takeway to 14 giveaways. How is this improvement? The best that can be said is that Malenstyn is a wash for Robinson who could have been re-signed for 950K (what he signed in Calg for) vs the 1.5 per season we are paying for Malenstyn. Aube-Kubel and Lafferty have been objectively a significant downgrade from Okposo and Girgensons. When you downgrade a previous dumpster fire, the best grade you can get is an F. Sadly Vic wasn't going to work here as we have no playmakers to pass him the puck or defensemen who could cover up is lack of a 2 way game. LV has both.

Adams signed or traded for Zucker, McLeod, Gilbert, Malenstyn, Lafferty, Aube-Kubel and Reimer this off-season. He also signed Ruff to replace Granato as HC and elevated Appert to Asst Coach. Have these acquisitions helped the team? Have they given the Sabres what we expected and/or what we needed? For the most part, these moves have done very little to improve the team. The team has regressed for the second straight season. With the exception of Zucker, I'd honestly argue that all these moves have been awful. 1) Zucker - This looked like an overpayment for a declining player when signed. However Zucker is having a great season and his play has helped the PP improve somewhat. He has given the team veteran leadership and has lead by example every shift. He is currently the Sabres 2nd leading scorer with 30 points (14 goals) while only playing 15:30 a night. He also leads the team in PP goals with 7. He had 32 points all of last season with the Coyotes and Preds. He may be the best UFA signing in Sabres history. That's not saying much given our track record, but it's a huge positive. He needs to be re-signed for a few more years, but is likely being traded to a contender at the deadline to save Terry money. A+++ 2) McLeod - Was acquired for former 9th overall pick Savoie. He was acquired to replace Mittelstadt and in the first 18 games produced better than expected with 6 goals and 6 assists. Since then his game has fallen off and he is now entrenched as the 4th line center and has produced only 6 assists and zero goals in the last 21 games. Not the step up in scoring Adams hoped for. He was also supposed to help the PK which was 16th in 2023/24 and is now down to 21st in 2024/25. Overall, I'd give this trade a C- as Savoie is stuck in the AHL. He is an RFA at season's end. Is he even worth re-signing? 3) Malenstyn - Adams acquired the 26 year old rookie for a 2nd rd pick. He is big and fast and was supposed to help add a physical dimension to the 4th line and chip in a few goals. He was also supposed to help the PK. Adams gave him a 2 year contract before the season. Honestly paying a 2nd for a guy who isn't any better than Robinson who we got for nothing last year made no sense and still doesn't. He hasn't been awful, but is producing exactly at the level Robinson did last year. Robinson gave us 9 points in 40 games with 72 hits, while Malenstyn has given us 8 points in 39 games with 93 hits. A wasted move by an incompetent GM. Grade D if we had signed him as a FA, but F since Adams wasted a decent asset to acquire him. 4) Lafferty - I was hopeful for this signing. I liked what I saw from Lafferty on other teams and hoped he bring that attitude here. To say he's been worse than awful would be an understatement. 3 points in 29 games. Grade F- EDIT: For Context: Sam had 13g & 11a in 79 games for Vancouver last season with 191 hits. 5) Aube-Kubel - Another speed physical player like Lafferty and Malenstyn. He has been injured on and off, but when he's played he's been about as good as Lafferty. Grade F- EDIT: For Context: Nic had 6g & 10a in 60 games for Wash last season with 159 hits. 6) Reimer - Signed, waived and reclaimed. 1-4-1 record, 3.04 gaa and .888 Save%. Basically he's been lousy, but considering the defense he's playing behind and the only $1 mil cap hit I'd grade the signing a solid D 7) Gilbert - Was supposed to be a physical stay at home D who could give us decent minutes when injuries occurred. His has been so bad when he's played, the team called up Ryan Johnson from the AHL. Grade F 8.) Lindy Ruff - He hasn't made any impact what so ever. Kind of sad. Is the roster so bad that no one could make an impact? Has he lost his touch? Are these spoiled kids not willing to listen? All of the above? Whatever the reason he gets an F as well. 9) Appert - The only new asst coach and he was supposed to make the PP better. He has failed. Grade F. Talk about a terrible group of off-season moves. None of these moves fixed any of the fundamental flaws with this team such as 2 D first top 4 defensemen to partner with Dahlin, Power and/or Byram and a top 6 playmaker and only Zucker added legit veteran leadership to a team starved for players who play the right way.

What do we need him for if we have Byram locked up to a cheaper contract and Byram is actually willing to hit someone and puts up just as much offense. Dump Power and reallocate his $8 to a playmaker or 2 defensive D.

Novikov is +20. The next closest D is Metsa at +10. I know people hate +/-, but when some, especially a D, is dominating that number on a good team that means to me he is doing something right. (Like actually playing D for instance?) I'd like to see him get a callup to see how his skating looks in the NHL.

Byram. At least he seems to care and he'll be cheaper to retain. Power is a 6'6 225 lbs statute who refused to use his size to knock opponents off the puck. Power has 14 hits for the season. Byram 40. Both make an effort to blocks shots, both often give the puck away and neither do a good job at taking the puck away. All of our D, including Dahlin, make stupid plays with the puck and all suck at taking the puck away.

so true.

A couple of things. 1) I said one of Power, Byram or Dahlin. My preference in Power. His contract is a huge burden and he'll never play to that level as he won't play defense. I do agree trading Dahlin is a non-starter unless McDavid is coming back. 2) The vets not coming here are a two fold problem. One Adams, for reasons known only to himself, won't "block" a prospect. Therefore he was always filling roster holes with bargain basement players. Had he brought in real Zucker quality vets in recent years, the prospects would have had to earn their slot and would have been better for the competition. The second issue is a further indictment of the Pegula ownership; vets don't want to play for an organization that has no clue how to build a winning team. Three GMs, 5 (were there more) coaches etc..., 14 years of failure. Would you want to play for Adams and Pegula? 3) Yes the CHL rule is stupid and another year in the WHL likely wouldn't have helped Benson other than international competitions. However, had he played one more year in Jrs, he'd have been eligible for the AHL this season because he'd have played 4 seasons in the CHL and the 20 year old rule wouldn't have applied. I believe this is the route they should have taken with Benson. This team came close to a playoff spot two years ago and adding quality vets instead of 18 year olds may have helped break the drought last year. 4) Adams couldn't sell a bottle of water to someone dying of thirst in a desert.

start shopping in the clearance aisle at Walmart. (or making a nothing move to show people he is doing something)

What? We have too many puck movers and not enough guys who actually can play defense? Shocking! What we don't have proper partners for our puck movers or vets who can still play on defense? Shocking! He also says we lack playmakers. Again shocking! These are things I've said for years. If it is this obvious to a fan and a sportswriter, why isn't obvious to the GM and owner? The only way this gets fixed is to move on from Cozens, move on from one of Byram or Power or Dahlin, junk the rest of the D, and go and acquired 2 partners for the playmaking D and at least one top 6 playmaker. KA doesn't have the stones to make such moves. I do disagree with the author on a couple of points. 1) Tuch is a good playmaker. Not a Marner level elite playmaker but a good one. 2) Benson has the skills to become an very good playmaker. He just needs time.