GASabresIUFAN

Looking at Chinakhov's career to date, it looks a little like Quinn (with Quinn the more productive player). He's 24, clearly too good for the AHL. He has spent most of his 4 NA seasons in the NHL. In 23/24 he put up a respectable 29 pts (16 goals) in 53 games. He has some size (6'1 205 - elite prospects) https://unionandblue.com/posts/columbus-blue-jackets-2023-2024-player-review-yegor-chinakhov-01hwzbtsdvm6 Apparently he has an elite wrist shot. He has one year left on his current deal at 2.1 and is a RFA with Arb rights after next season. This doesn't seem like a terrible idea at all assuming Adams can make the deal. Here are the questions 1) Where would Chinakhov play? - Thompson, Tuch, Zucker, Benson, Quinn are presumably locked in as 5 of the top 6 wingers with Doan and Greenway fighting for the 6th slot. You aren't acquiring Chinakov without having a slot for him in the top 9. 2) Which forward(s) get moved to make room for Chinakov. Right now the Sabres have 14 forwards signed for next season with McLeod, Norris, Krebs, Danforth, Kulich, Malensytn and Kozak (no longer waiver exempt) in the mix with the 7 wingers mentioned above. 3) Does he really fill a need? Kulick, Thompson, Norris, and Quinn are all known primarily for their shooting. McLeod showed last year he can shoot as well. Tuch is also a talented goal scorer as is Zucker. We honestly need more playmaking. 4) What does he cost? Can Adams pull off another McLeod for Savoie type deal? Chinakov for Rosen for example? What about Chinakov for Krebs?

Wasn't Savoie his center most of his Jr career?

But it doesn't make it wrong either. Adams needs to take some risks to improve the team.

I guess to depends on the value of the franchise if they make the playoffs.

The Rochester Chiefs?

That's the $ Billion question isn't it. It's impossible to know until you seem the team play, but on paper we haven't come close to doing it. I project our scoring at 254 and I'm not sure how to project GA, except to say I think Kesselring and Timmins could be worth 10 goals saved over the course of the season. That would still leave us at a -20 differential. If the 2 new D save us 20 goals over the 289 allowed last year, this is a marginally improved non-playoff team.

Yes. We have improved scoring by 64 goals from 21/22 to 22/23 (differential went from -58 to -4) and we improved our GA from 22/23 to 23/24 by 50+(but our GF also dropped 49 goals - differential +1). Unfortunately we've never done it at the same time. The key to this season is to keep our offense at around 260 (265 GF last year) while decreasing our goals against by about .5 goals per game. PS I find differential is a easier way to compare what teams need to do each season to make the playoffs. In the last 4 years, every team with a +9 or better differential in the East made the playoffs.

So he plays the 30 games Norris misses?

goal differential. Get to a +15 goal differential and the team should make the playoffs regardless of pts or place in the standings.

at a +15 goal differential the team should make the playoffs. Very few teams +10 or better miss the playoffs. It happens occasionally, but very often.

or the variable of the piss poor coaching staff limiting any real improvement. Truthfully if everything goes right this team could be good. That would mean improvement on both special teams, UPL plays like he did 2 years ago, Power, Byram, Samuelsson all improve defensively, Kesselring and Timmins make the 2nd and 3rd pairs viable, Norris stays healthy and scores, Benson, Kulich and Quinn all improve offensively and the 4th line doesn't get crushed each time they step on the ice like last year. That's a great deal of what ifs. Impossible? No, but really really difficult. The proof will be in the pudding. The teams needs to score about 260 goals and give up 245 or less.

All this is moot unless the goaltending plays well and guys like Norris, Samuelsson, Quinn and Greenway stay healthy and contribute. It couldn't hurt if Kesselring can move up from a 3rd pairing D to a full time 2nd pairing D who has chemistry with Power, plus Benson and Kulich step up to replace the lost goals from JJP. I'm sure all this happen. I might also win the lottery.

This post is not funny or insightful. It’s frankly rude and insulting. Blocked.

Difference between a hard cap league (NHL) and a soft (very) cap league (NFL) without fully guaranteed contracts.

..... and somehow people are blaming JJP for wanting out of the cesspool the three horseman for franchise destruction created.

Do you honestly feel that the additions of Kesselring and Timmins as replacements for Joki and Clifton will make our defense nearly 4/10th of a goal a game better next season?

He is a better all around player than Power with nearly identical offense.

Sadly, you are probably correct.

No, please enlighten me. Which move this off-season has changed the trajectory of this franchise and made the Sabres a legit contender for the playoffs?

Tell me I'm wrong. Is the goaltending improved? No. By trading JJP, did Adams damage the offense? Yes. Kesselring and Timmins were 17 minutes D last season on non-playoffs teams. That makes them 3rd line D. Are the Sabres improved? Maybe marginally, but they aren't close to a playoff team. Sorry, but those are the facts.

Livid. This was the off-season to fix goaltending and defense. Instead he damaged the offense, the only good part of the team, left the crappy goaltending intact and add two 3rd line RHD.

I congratulate Adams. He has secured another losing season and Byram will take his services to a team that wants to win next off-season when Adams trades him for another RFA or soon to be RFA. "And the seasons they go round and round, And the painted ponies go up and down, We're captive on the carousel of time"

19 pages and this debate on whether the Sabres are actually improved tells anyone that objectively that if the Sabres are improved it's marginal.

They did add Norris and Doan while dumping JPP, Lafferty and Cozens. They also continue of the merry-go-round of depth goaltending waiting for a prospect to emerge in Lyons, Reimer, Anderson and Comrie. There is no plan. It's just throwing spaghetti at the wall and hoping something sticks. The got lucky (so far) with McLeod and Zucker last season, but the team still got worse. This year's strands of spaghetti are Kesselring, Timmins, Doan, Lyons and Norris. I'm sure one or two will work out and I'm equally sure the team is likely headed to a bottom of the Atlantic finish again.

I wonder who has been saying that for 4 years? As I have said 1000 times, the offense isn't the issue. UPL has had 1 good year in 5 as a pro, and we are returning a group of inept defensive players in Power, Byram, Bryson and Samuelsson, who we will be paying 20 mill or more for their services. Add the nearly $7 mill for terrible tandem of Lyons and UPL and is it any wonder this team can't win? Adams is betting that two new 3rd pairing D (Kesselring and Timmins) with 300 games of NHL experience between them are going to solve the defensive problems with the roster.