GASabresIUFAN

Hopefully Eakin and Bjork are gone next season. They are the 12th and 13th forwards. VO is other player on the bubble so to speak because KA must decide how committed he is to VO in the long-term. KA might also stash JJP back in Rochester next season to work on his 2 way game and then he'll be the 1st injury recall. Hinostroza may also be back, but may get a better offer elsewhere Right now you are looking at a next year's depth chart as follows: LW Skinner, Krebs, Asplund, Girgensons RW Tuch, Quinn, Okposo C Thompson, Cozens Mittelstadt The questions 1) JJP - is his 200 foot game ready for the NHL 2) VO - does KA want him back and for what term and how much $ 3) Bjork - under contract, but it's pretty clear (hopefully to KA as well), that he has no place in Buffalo next year. 4) Hinostroza - seems like a nice fit and has had a very good season. If KA doesn't think JJP is ready, the odds of Vinnie returning increase dramatically. I'd like him back regardless as you can't have enough depth. 5) Eakin - Please don't cuss me out, but he wins draws and seems to have chemistry with Girgensons and KO. No I don't want him back and I hope KA finds an upgrade who can actually score for the 4th line center job. 6) Asplund - His defensive metrics are among the best on the team and he seem to play better when coupled with Mittelstadt. Has one more year left on his deal, but I'm not sure where he fits long-term 7) Okposo - What is his role next season? 3rd line scoring forward or 4th line energy forward. He has excelled in both roles this year. 😎 The Others - Brio, Murray and R2 are RFA's and are certainly good depth, but do any of the them have a role in Buffalo going forward? R2 is a point a game player in the AHL.

Actually the basketball Final Four is this weekend. The NCAA probably wanted to showcase the Frozen Four on it's own.

No idea. Exams, Spring Break? The games are at the TD Gardens and the Bruins are home on the 31st, but not the rest of the weekend. Weird.

Honestly, after the first 30 minutes the Sabres were outplayed. They also fooled around with the puck to much and really didn't create enough traffic in front of Hellebuyck.

To bad the Amerks need every point to make the playoffs, I’d love to see Quinn get a few more games in Buffalo.

Next time Anderson should bull rush a player that tries that crap.

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?