GASabresIUFAN

Dear KA, Maybe you could have done this search before the season! Why has it taken 1/4 of the season to figure out the goaltending sucked? Was it the fact that his 40 year old starter got hurt and won’t be back any time soon? Was it your backup choice can’t stop anything, just like last year? Why even look now? If you wanted to tank, then tank, but be honest with the fans and players. They are being honest with you. The players play hard every night and the fans are showing what they think about the tank. They are staying home in droves. If you truly wanted to support the club, you had all off-season to find an upgrade for Hutton and once Ullmark walked, a competent GM would have a solid fallback plan in works. You did neither and now your young team is struggling. What a surprise.

“Shadow”? Dell and Anderson are the hired goaltenders, nothing shadow about it.

Our next goalie is going to be Anderson when he returns from injury. Hopefully he’ll last more then 6 games this time.

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

In 8 games ytd he has a 2.54 & .918. That ain’t bad.

Well Mitts has played part of one game this season. We converted Thompson from the wing and Cozens is still learning to play in the NHL. No guarantee that any of these guys reach their potential. What is the fallback option if they fail to make an impact?

Good the for Amerks.

Edit: Bloom is playing LW not center for the Spirit. The article on Bloom in the Bloom thread is pretty clear Bloom is on the wing. That means that Costantini is the only legit center prospect behind Krebs.

At least UPL is giving the Amerks at chance. Dell is just awful.

Better period. The team clearly has more confidence in Tokarski then Dell. They seem so worried about about packing down in front when Dell is in the net. With Tokarski and Anderson they seem to play more freely.

Krueger’s team wouldn’t have even scored the first goal.

Lol. What a pile of smelly oozing wet crapola. Dell is awful and so is the team in front of him.

Love the video. We have 3 cats

Yes they do, but we have high draft pick or more proven prospect depth at every other position in the pipeline. Goalie - UPL, Portillo and Levi Defense - Power, Samuelsson, Johnson, Laaksonen, Fitzgerald, and Novikov. Wing - Quinn, JJP, Rosen, Poltapov, Kisakov, Weissbach, Nadeau, Cederqvist and others. Center - Krebs, Bloom (LW/C - 3rd rd pick) and Costantini (5th rd pick) Bloom was drafted as a LW, but has moved to center this season in juniors. Costantini and Bloom have really taken a huge step forward this season and that is great news, but both are years from the Sabres. Once Krebs graduates to Buffalo, there is a 2-3 year gap down to Bloom or Costantini assuming they continue to progress.

He had Pysyk paired with him yesterday and I thought Dahlin had a pretty good game.

Exactly. They had no plan B if Ullmark walked. I would have walked also. Just think of how much better things would have been last year had they just made a waiver claim for Nedeljkovic.

I don't disagree. I was dead set against tanking this season. I wanted us to acquire good goaltending for this season to support the young roster. I still want us to acquire good goaltending for this season.

No, his O game is there, and his D game is coming along. He really just needs a partner he can get in sink with. Now that Jokiharju is back, I think DG will pair them back together and that should help Dahlin. I would like him to be more physical in our zone.

We have no idea how or if any of Mitts, Thompson, Cozens or Krebs will progress over the next 5 years. None have yet put up 40 pts in an NHL season. People here were trying to write off Thompson and Mitts just 6 months ago. So what happens if one or two crap out developmentally or to injury. Injuries also can derail anyone. See Eichel and Connolly. Thompson already lost a season to injury. Let’s say for arguments sake that all 4 reach their potential. How do you know we’ll be able to afford to keep them all, especially if stud wingers JJP and Quinn blossom with them? There is only so much cap space. We don't even know what position these guys will be playing next week, much less 5 years from now. Krebs and Cozens could both end up as wingers. Thompson could return to the wing (although I doubt it). I am very optimistic about the 4 centers. We haven't that many talented young centers in decades, if ever. However, having some centers in the pipeline behind them is still a necessity.

I’m really not worried about Dahlin. Once he gets a consistent D first partner, I think he’ll fully blossom. I also thought he played a very good game last night. Despite the score, I actually liked the pairings. Dahlin/Pysyk, Bryson/Jokiharju, Miller/Hagg. At least DG was pairing O first players with more D conscious partners.

We better hope that Bloom, who moved to center this season from LW and/or Costantini develop into middle six caliber NHL centers. Yeah, that’s what happens when you draft and develop centers.

Besides the center pipeline problem and the lack of goaltending, we are shaping up to have a very talented and deep young team next season. To me, just like this past off-season, getting good goaltending is a priority and the only priority. I agree that a 3 year deal for a goaltender is ideal. With JJP, Quinn, Krebs, Power and Samuelsson joining the Sabres next fall and possibly Laaksonen and or Fitz as well. The Sabres will have their most talented team since 2006. The question now is how does KA support the kids and give them a chance to win? The answer again is real goaltending. Vogl has an interesting article on the Atheltic projecting the Sabres over the next few years.

Here is the problem. Outside of the newly acquired Krebs, who is a legit center prospect in our pipeline? LA has 8 centers they drafted in the 1st 2 rounds. Outside of acquired prospects Thompson and Krebs, we have 2. Even with all the young talent in Buffalo and Krebs on the way, you need centers in the pipeline to sustain long-term success. Why could TB let Tavares go? It’s because they had Point and Cirelli in the pipeline. At some point, one or two or Mitts, Cozens, Krebs or Thompson will move on, who will replace them? This is not a new problem for us. In 2006 we had no one in the system to replace Briere and Drury when they walked. The only internally developed top 9 center on that team was Roy. Connolly, Drury and Breire were all acquired in trade.

Honestly who knows. All 3 D are playing in their countries top league. I’ve read some good things about Kukkonen over the last couple of years. I do expect Cederqvist to be signed. He has really taken a step forward this season. Laaksonen and Fitz should see NHL time at some point this year but Samuelsson is the first call up. KA’s last draft was a very TM type draft. Wingers wingers and more wingers, with the exception of Novikov at the end who could turnout to be the best pick outside of Power. None of this solves the goaltending issues however. Levi and Portillo are years from the Sabres, and UPL needs something to jump start his progression. If I were KA I’d be burning up the phones to see who is available and at what cost. First call is to Dallas when Holtby or Bishop get healthy. Next I watch the waiver wire daily to see if anyone is moved. At this point no reason not to grab someone. We have used 20 goalies since Miller left town, why not one more.

That’s an interesting comparison. The Buffalo version topped out at 40 pts, but the Blackhawks version had a 36 g 70pt season with a 51 pt season the next year. However Adam was consistently inconsistent. Also Thompson was drafted as a center and played center in college.