GASabresIUFAN

You forgot Devon Levi (or is that the 7th you mentioned? As @Randall Flagg mentioned, haven't we been asking for our management team to find undervalued assets around the league for a decade. KA may have stumbled into one in Tuch, but who might be such players in RHD or in goal? The guy on defense I keep coming back to is Cernak (TB). Anyway TB puts him on the block this summer?

Bingo!

..... who we can find in trade or who is willing to come here as a UFA.

Congrats Risto. I've always liked Risto the person and he has had his moments, especially offensively, as a good player. What did PT Barnum say again?

You keep saying this, but it simply isn't true. Jbot's 1st draft has 5/6 are either in the AHL or NHL with 2 already established in the NHL (Mitts & Bryson). Weissbach, Laaksonen and UPL are key Amerks and have NHL potential. From Jbot's 2nd draft are 2 NHLers in Samuelsson and Dahlin. From his 3rd you have Cozens in the NHL and 2 college stars in Portillo and Johnson as well as Huglen, Cederqvist (Swe) and Rousek (AHL but injured) all still developing. All told, we will probably end up with 8-10 NHLers from these drafts and with some luck possibly more. What is true is Jbot's strategy of not drafting CHL players outside the 1st rd has sapped the normal flow of prospects to the AHL from the CHL. Also injuries to nearly 20 players in Buffalo and Rochester have stretched this organization thin. The Sabres have already utilized 39 players (6 goalies) and the Amerks 36 (5).

I've mentioned him before in the 1 game Sabres thread. Here is a stab at the all Europe team Vanek (AUS) Ruuttu (FIN) Mogilny (RUS) Satan (SLV) Hecht (GER) Afinogenov (RUS) Olofsson (SWE) Girgensons (LAT) Kotalik (CZE) Varada (CZE) Larsson (SWE) Grosek (CZE) Zhitnik (UKR) Tallinder (SWE) Smehlik (CZE) Dahlin (SWE) Krupp (GER) Ristolainen (FIN) Hasek (CZE) Lehner (SWE) 5- Czechs, 5 Swedes, 2 Finns, 2 Russians, 2 Germans, and 1 each from Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, and Latvia. Hardest choice - Deciding between Risto, Lydman, Kalinin, Sekera and Krupp for the last 2 D spots. Choose Risto because he is 3rd in games played by an International D and the leader in points. Choose Krupp for more balance among the nations. Almost added Hannu Virta. I was surprised by his output in his limited time here. Virta: 245 gp. 25g 101a 126 pts (.51 pts/gp) compare Dahlin: 253 gp 26g 118a 144 pts (.57 pts/gp) That's surprising similar production.

That should apply to everyone in the organization from TP/KP to the management to the scouts to the trainers to the doctors to the equipment managers to the promotions department to the arena maintenance team to the coaches and to the players. This entire organization needs to take a real look inward and decide what they personally need to do to move this team forward.

Trouba has a full NMC for the next two years. It’s unlikely he’ll accept a trade to Buffalo, but you never know. I’d also love to get Tkachuk, but why would a team that’s a Cup contender out West trade away it’s best player?

Quinn is not starting next year in the AHL. He'd be a Sabre right now if it wasn't in the teams favor to keep him in the minors thereby sliding his contract another year. Because of COVID we'll end up with 5 years out of Quinn's ELC.

All questions regarding VO revolve (or devolve) on what is the offer for his services in trade and what does he want in a contract extension in $ and term. Does he want a 5 year extension or a 1 year deal? How much does he want $4 mill, 4.5, 5 or more? What are the offers for him? A 1st this year? A D with term? While I'd hate to part with a player we so patiently developed, I do question what his long-term place in the lineup is, Odds are we are going to get another forward with this year's high draft picks. If we luck into someone like Slafkovsky, we might have an NHL ready replacement at 25% of the price. However, we may actually need his $4.5 to $5 mill cap hit to stay above the cap floor over the next few years. In my armchair GM rosters, I have us re-signing VO for 3 years at 4.5 mil each, but if someone offers something stupid for him this deadline or off-season, then I can easily see KA making the deal.

The Kings have significantly more talent then the Sabres have including 3 future Hall of Fame players in Doughty, Koptiar and Quick. They have 7 guys with double digit goals to our 4. Just compare their goaltending to ours. As I stated a good coach can make a good team very good and that is what McLellen has done, helped by HOF leadership in the locker room. I do agree that DG makes some poor in game coaching decisions, but again I want to know what he can do when we no longer has 8-10 JAGS on the roster.

This thread is a looking forward thread to the impact now and in the future following the completion of the trade. The motives of the parties during the "Jack Crisis" are in the rearview mirror. To me this trade is much more of a "hockey" trade then the ROR trade which I classify as a futures trade coupled with a cap dump. St Louis will always be on the plus side of the deal as they received the best player who won them their first Cup, unless Thompson helps lead us to a Cup victory as well. Otherwise Here both teams received an injured top 6 forwards. As Jack was the "best" player in the deal we also received futures in Krebs and two picks. LV is win now mode and IMHO unless Jack helps them win a Cup in the next couple of years, we'll probably come out ahead on the deal.

The Stafford hype train really started when he, like Quinn now, blew-up in Rochester with 22 goals in 34 games. Stafford had the add benefit on coming into the best team in the NHL. I don't remember any real hype on Pysyk. In fact it was rather subdued on him as well because he looked like a boring (in a good way) stay at home D, much like the expectations for Johnson. I think there was more hype around McCabe who was better in his college seasons then Johnson was in his 3. Rosen is a different story. He is suffering from a fanbase inundated with highly rated young forwards lately (Quinn, Mitts, JJP, Krebs and Cozens) plus top prospects on defense and in goal. He is also being overshadowed by guys drafted after him in the same draft class like Kisakov with 26 MHL goals, Bloom 24 in the OHL, and Nadeau with 28 in Q compared to his 7 across 3 different leagues. It also doesn't help that he is playing in relative obscurity in a second level Swedish league while guys like Bloom and Nadeau are succeeding here in NA. If Rosen was a Capitals prospect, give their lack of top prospects, the hype train would be in full motion.

We have seen that bad coaching kills (RK), but I don’t think good coaching can make a bad team good. The right coach can get a talented team to buy in and say go from being good to very good, and very good to excellent. I think we have seen that with the Bills. However the Bills have also shown us that even good coaching can only take you so far. The players have to execute and management needs to get not only good players but the right mix of players. DG simply doesn’t have enough good players in key positions and in general. One thing in DG’s favor is he has, attitude wise, more of the right kind of players. Moving on from guys like Hall, Jack, ROR, and Kane and other malcontents is a step in the right direction even if it drained significant talent.

Team Canada using at least one player from all 10 provinces (except NB) and 2 territories. Martin (PQ) Perreault (PQ) Robert (PQ) Andreychuk (ONT) Luce (ONT) Ramsay (ONT) Sanderson (NWT) OTT (PEI) Gare (BC) Boulton (NS) Cozens (YUK) Pominville (PQ) Hajt (SASK) Bodger (BC) Ruff (ALTA) Schoenfeld (ONT) Patrick (MAN) Pardy (NFLD) Edwards (ONT) Biron (PQ)

Certainly not like Hasek and Miller. Speaking of Miller. Here is team USA - The Sabres have had players born in 21 states believe it or not. I tried to create the best team balanced with good players from the most states Thompson (AZ) LaFontaine (MO) Drury (CT) Plante (MN) Eichel (MA) Stafford (WI) Wood (NJ) Connolly (NY) Holzinger (OH) Foligno (NY) Gaustad (ND) Grier (MI) Housley (MN) Ramsey (MN) Myers (TX) McCabe (WI) Weber (PA) Fogolin (IL) Miller (MI) Barasso (MN)

We have actually had players born in 16 different countries. We have an incredible lack of successful Swedish and Finnish forwards for some reason. I repeated USA, Canada, Sweden and Czech to complete the 18 player team. Some of our best players were left off to accommodate D from smaller countries. Interestingly we have had no players from Norway, Denmark or Switzerland. Vanek (AUS) Perreault (CAN) Mogilny (RUS) Satan (SVK) LaFontaine (USA) Hecht (GER) Girgensons (LAT) Ruuttu (FIN) Kotalik (CZE) Perry (ENG) Zubrus (LTU) Olofsson (SWE) Zhitnik (UKR) Hajt (CAN) Dahlin (SWE) Regehr (BRA) Antipin (KAZ) Ndur (NGR) Hasek (CZE) Miller (USA)

Best USA born team, Best International born team and the best Canadian born team. Maybe even the best team comprised of players from each country that have ever played for the Sabres. That last one should be a real interesting challenge with 12 forwards, 6 D and 2 goalies. Have we had players from 20 countries?

That's what worries me.

Are we going 2000-2009 or 2000 to today?

https://www.capfriendly.com/armchair-gm/team/3109188 I have redone the prior team. I concentrated on building more veteran depth including building what I think could be a very effective 3rd/4th line. My goal here is by building a very good 3/4 line it might take the pressure off some of the kids and give the Sabres flexible depth in case of injury. Total cap hit is about 67 mill for 23 players. I trade for Varlomov again. I also trade for Compher again, but given the other moves, I can see KA keeping Asplund. This time I acquired Lars Eller from Washington for Fitzgerald. The thought here is Lars is a good D zone center who can add offense, while Casey is expendable once I sign a couple of veteran D, especially given how well Bryson has played on the right side. I sign UFAs Jan Rutta and Ian Cole to two year deals and I also bring back Hinostroza and Pysyk for additional depth. I also waive Bjork The team looks something like this Skinner Thompson Tuch VO Mitts KO Krebs Cozens Quinn Girgensons Eller Compher Hinostroza Dahlin Jokiharju Power Cole/Rutta Samuelsson Bryson Cole/Rutta Pysyk Varlomov UPL

I don’t think there is any question that Quinn and Krebs will be in Buffalo to start next season. JJP is a definite maybe. We still have Girgnensons, Bjork, Hinostroza, Jankowski, Butcher, Miller, Hayden, Eakin, Pysyk, Hagg, Anderson and Tokarski on this roster. These guys should all be upgraded. Quinn and Power will certainly take two of the jobs, but as to the rest, we can and should do better. For example: Acquire Quick or Varlomov to play goal. Acquire guys like Orlov or Jensen to play defense. Sign Reilly Smith.

Quinn would be in Buffalo right now if it wasn’t prudent to slide his contract. One other note: A bunch of the guys we think of as kids aren’t any longer. Many are entering their prime or are already in it. Thompson will be 24 next season, Mitts 23, VO 27, Tuch 26, Bryson 24, Asplund 24, Jokiharju 23, Dahlin 22 (with 250 NHL games already), and Skinner 30. It’s time for the training wheels to come off and for expectations to be higher.

While Weave and I disagree on the number of vets needed, we do agree that it’s time to start adding vets to get this team and the kids on it to the next level. There are significant holes on this roster that we don’t have kids ready to fill, we need to get to the cap floor and we need to become competitive. We can start with at least one proven veteran goaltender and at least one (I’d prefer 2) veteran RHD. I also wouldn’t mind another proven winger. If management wants the fans to re-engage, then they have to give the fans a reason to get excited again. Another rebuild year won’t cut it.

I guess your point is that DG is doing a better job with less talent then a Rolston/Nolan coached team. Is that even a debate? I think the better question would be a comparison of the 2013/14 Sabres to the 2020/21 Sabres. I think talent wise we could argue that they had similar star power and the coaches F-up'd both teams. Rolston went (4-15-1) and Ralph Kreuger went (6-18-4). Look at the names on RK's team. Eichel, Hall, Staal, Reinhart, Dahlin, Risto, Skinner, Montour, Okposo and RK coached them to a 6-18-4 mark. Disgusting. Moving on from Sam, Jack, Risto, Hall, Staal, and Montour, KA received Levi, Hagg, Tuch, Krebs, 3 1sts, 3 2nds, 2 3rds and a 5th. When TM dumped Miller, Ott, Vanek, McCormick, Moulson, and Halak we ended up with Stewart, Carrier, Neuvirth, 2 1sts, 3 2nds. It looks to me like the the RK team had more trade value. Until DG gets a real roster we have no idea whether he is doing well or poorly. We have seen players like KO and Skinner return to form under DG. Dahlin, Jokiharju, Bryson, and Thompson are certainly improved this season under DG. While, Mitts, Asplund, R2, VO, and others aren't flourishing under DG this year. We have seen him continue to play Hayden, Eakin, Bjork and others when the eye test and analytics say otherwise, which is a huge negative.