GASabresIUFAN

KA get some friggin goaltending.

Absolutely

I agree

Why wasn’t that a penalty shot?

He seems to play better when paired with Mitts. How was that cross check on Mitts’ back also not a penalty? There is a difference between letting them play and not calling blatant penalties.

How was that not a penalty? Last I looked picking a player up off the ice was at least holding.

Pysyk’s RW experience useful on that sequence.

No sh…eeet.

Has Z ever had a hatty?

Who doesn’t love a good dose of Hopium?

He’s just awful.

I said that before the season even started.

Oh look a JAG screwed up. I’m shocked.

Z is the 7th Sabres to reach double digits in goals (10g in 42 games). Had he stayed healthy he’d actually be on pace for 20 goals. Dahlin and Tuch are one goal short at 9 each. KO is 3 short of 20, Skinner and TNT are nearing 30. The last time we had 9 or more double digit goals scorers was 2010/11 when we had 11.

Somewhat but we are paying him 6 mill now. What if he worth is he is playing 25+ minutes a night putting up 60-70 points at age 23?

The biggest mistake Tor ever made in their rebuild was signing Tavares. That $11 mil should have gone to upgrade the D. Instead they have an offensive juggernaut (except when they play us) but can't get over the hump because defense and goaltending win championship. You certainly can't pay everyone, which is why draft and develop is so critical even going forward. Outside of Skinner, KA has a ton of hard decisions to make over the next 3 years, but nearly all are RFAs VO, UPL & Bryson are this year's RFAs Next year (2023) Cozens, Thompson, Samuelsson, Asplund & Fitz, Also Z and KO as UFAs if you want to keep the leadership group intact. In 2024 You have Dahlin, Mitts, Jokiharju and possibly Levi and Power if we sign and burn a year this season In 2025 Quinn & JJP assuming their contracts slide. Levi and Power if we don't burn a year. Of this list 4-5 guys are going to get paid big $. Right now TNT is in the drivers seat to get the first big check, then Dahlin going to get max money if he continue to build on this season. After that it's going to be who breaks out first. Will it be Cozens, Quinn or Mitts? When does Power hit his stride. I suspect he'll end up with a 3 year bridge deal before he gets truly big money. KA gave Dahlin, Mitts, Joki and Thompson all 3 year bridge deals after their 1st contracts.

I think he mentioned getting healthier about 5 times.

Better health! Anderson returned on 2/13 and we are 7-6-1 in his starts Tokar returned 2/10 and we are 3-3-2 in his starts Tuch returned for good on 1/13 and we are 14-14-4 Girgensons returned on 3-17 and we are 4-1-2 Samuelsson returned a 1/17 and we are 13-12-4 Mitts returned on 2-19 and we are 8-8-2 and he has 2g 8a in those 18 games VO returned but sat out on 2/23. Since then he has 7g & 2a and the Sabres are 8-5-2. Hino returned on 3/6 and the Sabres are 6-3-2 It's pretty clear that once this team got healthy they got so much better. No Bjork, no Dell, no Subban, no Hayden, no Caggiula (IR), plus limited appearances of Butcher and Miller and the team improves. No JAGs = Success.

If the Sabres aren’t being sold and the coach and GM are staying? What major “changes” are coming? Toilet seats in the bathrooms ? 20% increase in ticket prices? The broadcast team will travel with the team again? A return to video only scouting?

Briere topped out at 95 points. That’s an elite number and drove that team to the President’s Cup. That team also had very balanced scoring. Overall he had 230 points in 225 games as a Sabre. Vanek was also an elite goal scorer with two 40 goal seasons, 254 goals in 598 Sabres games snd a 84 pt campaign in 06/07. I don’t see any current Sabres putting up those kind of numbers and even with those players and a balanced roster, good goaltending and good coaching that team still fell short. Where thus bunch will have an advantage over the Briere teams is Power and Dahlin. Soupy and Teppo were excellent players, but neither is at the level of the two top picks. Maybe that is the dynamic element.

I think coaching is a matter of degrees at the pro level. A bad coach can sink any amount of talent (see RK). However a good coach can make decent talent good and excellent talent great. Scotty Bowman would not have succeeded with the rosters given to Housley, Disco Dan, Donnie Meatballs or even RK. To many bad players. However find the right coach for the right roster and you can win a Cup like Washington did when they hired Barry Trotz. He took a perennial lethal offensive machine gave them defensive structure and they finally won a Cup. Of course his message got stale there quickly and they fired him and haven't played for a Cup since.

I agree that we are in a much better space because of our depth. However that doesn't change my feeling that we need at least one dynamic forward to elevate us to a Cup contender.

One of the best things about our current team is that we don’t need this year’s picks to step in immediately. Our roster is young and getting deeper. We can afford to be patient with our prospects. In the past guys like UPL, JJP, Quinn, even Laaksonen would already be in the NHL. It’s possible that only Quinn makes the jump to the NHL next year. No matter who we draft this year, I’m confident we’ll let them develop at their own pace. Now of we get just get the goaltending fixed.

I think most people here believe this team is on the cusp of being a playoff contender, especially with better goaltending. I also think most people here like the depth we are building at forward and look forward to truly running 4 quality limes night in and night out. During these regular season, a team that can roll 4 lines has a distinct advantage. However, can this team become a true Cup contender without at least one Superstar forward? When I look at this forward group I see Skinner, Tuch, Thompson, Mitts, Krebs and Quinn as potential 60-70 pts players. Cozens 50-60 and possibly better. That’s great depth, but is it good enough? I watch our OT play and PP and worry that we lack a dynamic forward to help those specialty areas thrive.

I’m going to have to agree here. RK’s coaching of Dahlin was like a 400lbs jockey on Secretariat. However this team ran the offense through Jack regardless of coach. With Jack gone, it freed the team and allowed more of the offense to process through Dahlin and the D in general. Raz has also physical matured and become an on ice leader. DG deserves a great deal of credit for allowing his best players to be his best players.