GASabresIUFAN

Yes and no. Mitts had no leverage and therefore had to accept the QO. Thompson is a year older and KA gave him a deal that covered all his remaining RFA years. Again a stupid contract for an unproven player that might work out if he becomes and NHL regular, but was completely unnecessary. Also Mitts beats him out in camp, management will have no problem playing Mitts over him regardless of their relative status right now.

That game was such BS. I give the Germans a lot of credit for playing hard so short handed two nights in a row. JJP looks like the real deal. Cozens had a game of a lifetime but Germany was dead on their feet for most of the last 2 periods. Still 6 pts is a game to remember. I hope Johnson has a better game tonight.

We all seem to be looking inwardly at the Sabres, but I’d like to know which teams in the new division people here think we are better then. Which teams people think may take a step back making our shot at the playoffs easier?

But there is also a good chance he gets beaten out by other guys like Mitts or Routsalainen or Redier etc for a job and then your paying 1.4 for a guy for 3 years that can’t make your roster.

The right leadership would be great, but the NFL GM’s aren’t saddled with guaranteed contracts. They are also drafting guys with 3 years of added maturity compared to NHL GM’s is a huge plus. Honestly, I think NFL GM’s have an easier job, despite the failures in Buffalo for 25 years. I honestly don’t know yet if KA is the right guy or if RK is the right coach. RK improved the D system, but was a failure last year with the special teams. Overall KA did a solid job in his 1st off-season but he made some mistakes. He added Staal and Hall for a year and that’s great, but aren’t long-term solutions. He also failed to address the goaltending and overpaid to keep Tage and Girgensons.

That’s the spirit.

This is one of the reasons I think Dahlin’s development is the key to the season (Jokiharju also for that matter). I think the defense is actually good. There are no members of the top 6 that are bad players. All add positives overall despite some negatives in their games. When Colin Miller is your worst D, you have a solid group. But Dahlin’s development is the key. He becomes elite, it changes the entire dynamic of the team on both ends.

PK save %. Rask 886 Hart 849 Jarry 864 Samsonov 874 Varlamov 875 Ullmark 838 Blackwood 865 Georgiev 888 Your best PKer has to be your goaltender, Ullmark and Hutton were two of the reasons ours was such a failure.

First Zamboni post was Sept 20 (on page 8 of the current thread).

Zamboni had a thread chronicling all the moves KA made as GM. Somehow that thread disappeared, but it’s title was placed on my Seattle Expansion thread I started 2 years ago. Like Zamboni, I noticed the mixup and changed the name of this thread back to it’s content which is Seattle Expansion. You need to find Zamboni’s KA moves thread or Zamboni needs to create a new KA moves thread.

They probably bought enough goals for our old division, but without better goaltending or finding ways to limit chances against Ullmark, I’m concerned that we aren’t good enough to finish 4th in this new division. Look at the starting goalies in this new division Bos: Rask 41gp 26-8-6 .929 2.12 PHI: Hart 43gp 24-13-3 .923 2.41 PIT: Jarry 33gp 20-12-1 .921 2.43 WAS: Samsonov 26gp 16-6-2 .913 2.55 NYI: Varlamov 45gp 19-14-6 .914 2.62 BUF: Ullmark 34gp 17-14-3 .915 2.70 NJD: Blackwood 47gp 22-14-8 .915 2.77 NYR: Georgiev 34gp 17-14-2 .910 3.04 Arguably, our starter is good enough again for a 5th place finish, but again how do we break into the top 4?

Done

I can edit the title and you can then re-create your thread.

Yes it could, but someone in the top 4 is going to have to take a major step backwards. Pittsburgh is the obvious choice but I like what they did this offseason. Zucker and Kapanen for nice additions. That said, we need to watch goal differential. If we can keep that number positive, we’ll make the playoffs. The key is the hope that the improved offense scores more (obviously) but also limits the opportunities against by holding the puck in the offensive zone. I don’t know the fancy stats, but there were times we spent periods hemmed up in our own zone. This has to change.

Last year’s record - Bos - 70gp 44-14-12 100 pts Wash - 69gp 41-20-8 90 pts Philly - 69gp 41-21-7 89 pts Pitt - 69gp - 40–23-6 86 pts NYI - 68gp - 35-23-10 80 pts NYR - 70gp - 37-28-5 79 pts BUF - 69gp - 30-31-8 68 pts NJD - 69gp - 28-29-12 68 pts Off-season changes BOS - added Craig Smith, lost Krug WAS - add Justin Schultz and TVR, lost Holtby and Gudas PHI - add Gustafsson, lost Niskanen PIT - add Zucker, Kapanen, Matheson, Lost Hornqvist, Bjugstad, Schultz, Murray NYI - lost Boychuk and Devon Toews NYR - add Lafreniere, lost Fast, M Staal and Lundqvist BUF - add Staal, Hall and Eakin, lost MoJo, Sheary NJD - add Andreas Johnsson, Kulikov, Ryan Murray, lost Joey Anderson This is an interesting division. 2 aging teams in Pitt and Wash vs 2 mixed teams like Philly (young D) and Bos (young D) vs 4 younger teams in NYI, Buf, NJ, and NYR trying to break through. Pittsburgh made huge changes for one more run. Boston has arguably the best top line with excellent young D. Buffalo’s forward group is the most improved but we have the worst goaltending. Most teams have real stars like Crosby, Malkin, Ovie, Kuznetsov, Eichel, Bergeron, Marchand, Pasta, Panarin, Barzal, and Provorov. Top picks are everywhere including Hughes and Lafreniere. Assuming 4 teams from each division make the playoffs, can the Sabres pass 3 teams in the standings to make the playoffs? I think we are better then the 3 NY metro teams, but are we better then either Pennsylvania team? Right now, I think we are the 5th team in the division, but we could easily slip to 7th if the goaltending doesn’t hold up. I do think we’ll be in every game we play this season, but this division is so tight, that kind of improvement might not actually translate into standings points.

Weird. I didn’t start this thread and it looks like my Seattle expansion thread with a new title.

They are still over the cap at 93 + even with LTIR for Kucherov, they are still going to have to shed almost $3 mill.

I completely disagree with his "window closing." This isn't Alex Nylander. The way he makes this roster is pretty straight forward. He can win a job in camp, but more likely someone gets hurt or fails to perform (like Thompson, KO or Girgensons) and Mitts gets a shot a runs with it. We have seen this before. It's how guys like Pommers and Stafford earned their jobs. With a compressed schedule depth will be key and Mitts adds that depth. He has to much skill and he is a 3rd year pro. This season will be his time to establish himself.

4.8 for Cirelli for 3 years is a huge bargain, but they still are over the cap even with LTIR.

First things first. The draft after the top 5 that year hasn’t been very good and Mitts has been more productive then the forwards drafted near him. Mitts is young talented and a better player the Nylander will ever be. My guess is he is very close to NHL ready and don’t be surprised if grabs a permanent spot in this lineup by mid-season.

With just weeks to go until the season, how does TB get to the cap? Is Kucherov taking the year off enough for them to re-sign Cirelli and get cap compliant?

Been reading some of the NFL power rankings at various sites and the Bills are now 2nd on many of them. After watching Buffalo vs Denver and the KC vs Saints, I think the rankings are probably correct, but the difference between the teams is shrinking especially with KC’s injuries on the O Line. Buffalo dominated the Broncos in a way I haven’t seen since the Super Bowl years. With the defense now healthy (assuming White is OK), does any team want to face this Bills squad?

I agree, except if you look back at the Skinner FA thread nearly everyone here was clamoring to get Skinner re-signed at any cost and any term. Obviously the pandemic has changed the economics making the contract even worse. That said, he has had similar “off” seasons in the past and had rebounded strongly. I’m expecting 25-30 in this shorten season. @dudacek I think Staal is a very interesting choice. Eichel is a given. With our sudden depth of wingers, Staal having another good season should help us get good production from Skinner and Olofsson could help us tilt the ice away from our average goaltending.

Goaltending is to easy. How much better does it get simply by having an offense that tips the ice in our offensive direction? How many fewer opportunities does Ullmark/hutton face if Dahlin’s improves as both ends of the ice and he is able to get the puck out consistently and quickly? Last year Ullmark’s play was borderline playoff quality (except on the PK). Hutton is more likely to cost us then Ullmark. So assuming similar decent goaltending from Ullmark, how much better are we if we simply reduce his chances by 15% to 20%. An elite Dahlin will have much more to do with those reduced changes.

I was watching the NHL Network’s top 50 and I realized that there is one player on the Sabres, not on the list, who if he takes the next step in his development, he’ll make the Sabres into the a playoff team. Yes offensive depth will certainly help. Ullmark could also be the difference, but Rasmus Dahlin becoming a Cale Maker difference maker will actually make everything better. His ability to support offense 5 on 5, clear the zone on defense and QB the PP will launch this team forward. Mark my words, he scores 40 in this 56 game season and the Sabres will be solidly in a playoff spot.