GASabresIUFAN

And better players.

So what’s the plan? Sign Giordano, trade Joki and Krebs plus a pick for Kadri? I don’t know if it would work, but it would at least look like a franchise in win now mode.

Not if that coach is the GM in waiting. Who has more credibility around the league; Adams or Ruff? Since Adams has none, it’s Ruff by default, but I suspect Ruff carries a fair amount of respect and credibility.

We need to stop being an average or below average team. That’s kind of the point. Fielding an average 3rd line doesn’t really help us make the playoffs. Having better talent on the 3rd line creates matchup problems. It’s one of the reasons the Vanek line was so successful. Our current 3rd line won’t be a matchup issue for anyone. McLeod is fast but has no physical game. Greenway is slow as molasses and isn’t really a good partner for McLeod, while Zucker is a nice player but on the downside of his career. I’ll be surprised if they show real chemistry. A Benson, McLeod and Zucker line sounds much more appealing. This can only happen if and when Adams goes into win now mode as promised and upgrades the top forwards.

If we were a good team, I’d expect about 45-50 goals. The Vanek, Roy, Max line scored about 60.

Can we preemptively fire Adams?

If we get 35 goals next season from McLeod, Greenway, and Zucker we’ll be lucky. They might not out score the 4th line. The truth is we’ll be fielding a decent 1st line, an average 2nd line, a below average 3rd line and an above average 4th line offensively. The gap in scoring ability between the 2nd and 3rd lines is the size of the Grand Canyon and could be a major problem this coming season. Hell Quinn could outscore the 3rd line by himself. Adams keen eye for talent and roster construction took a roster with potentially 7 20 goal scoring forwards to 5 unless Benson improves his scoring dramatically.

Didn’t Grigorenko have a similar fall on draft day?

I general I agree with you on the Mitts/Byram trade and I don't think there is a snowballs chance in hell that Byram outplays Mitts this coming season. I especially hate that we only get one year on Byram at a fair price. I also a agree that I would have preferred a two way RHD. My hope to make this bad trade work is that Ruff pairs Power and Dahlin with Dahlin as Raz is very comfortable on his off side. He then tries to build a 2nd pair with Byram as the puck mover. This issue is neither RHD, Joki or Clifton are that great defensively, likely limiting the effectiveness of Byram's pair. As to the PP, my guess is the 2nd PP has 2 D on it with Power as QB and Byram as the L Wall cannon.

Well he's already 1st in his draft class in games played and 2nd in points behind Bedard. 😉

1) you don't know what teams are on the his NTC 2) Even if Calgary is on the list, Greenway can still agree to go, especially on his UFA season to get more PT. If Kadri is acquired, Greenway, if not traded, could easily be pushed to the 4th line. Not exactly the most conducive spot for maximizing counting stats before free agency.

But they'll have the Sabres finish nearly last in the Atlantic.

How much is a 34 year old player with 5 years (@ 7 mill a season) left on his contract really worth in a salary cap world? A deal would most likely be Greenway, Rosen and a draft pick. Calg gets 2 NHL players and a future prospect.

Teams can retain up to 50% on 3 different players. https://puckpedia.com/salary-cap/retained-salary

One thing besides production that most seem to be ignoring is that Kadri brings an edge to his game that this team is sorely lacking. He’d be our answer to Marchand. He not only plays with an edge but he’s been very durable. He has also had his best two years in the NHL since turning 30. We are also paying $5 mill for next season to Zucker. How much more value does Kadri bring. Assuming Greenway is moved in the deal for cap reasons, a possible 3rd line of Kadri, Zucker and McLeod would be interesting, but I like the idea of Kadri on the 2nd line better. Quinn, Kadri and Cozens would give teams fits if everyone plays to their potential.

This is incorrect. https://puckpedia.com/salary-cap/no-trademovement-clauses They only lose the clause if they are traded before the clause goes into effect. For example Cozens’ M-NTC goes into effect after the 26/27 season. If the Sabres trade him before the start of the 27/28 hockey calendar, the clause disappears. In Kadri’s case, the clause already exists. If he waives it and comes to Buffalo, he is only waiving the clause for that specific trade and the NTC remains in effect after the trade.

5 years at 7 is top much to swallow. It’s a terrible contract. To make the deal even harder, Calg is only 2 mill above the cap floor. To get a deal done, the Flames would have to eat a minimum of 2 mill of his deal per season plus take someone like Greenway or Joki back. For the Sabres to make the money work long-term and for Calg to maximize their compensation the Flames would need to take at least 3 mill per season. At 4 mill per season, I think the Sabres would get at least 1 good year followed by 2 decent years out of the deal. The remaining two year could be bought out or he could be traded again to a team needing a veteran player and some cap. His trade protection ends in a couple of years. At 4-5 mill per season, I think the Sabres could make this work.

Kadri had 29g 46a last season at 33. Skinner had 24g 22a last season at 31. Kadri plays 200 feet, plays center and wing and if Calg retains we could be playing him 7 mill. Skinner doesn’t play defense, isn’t a table setter for anyone else and was being paid 9 mill. Krebs, Rosen and a second. Take the risk KA.

I hate the guy, but he'd be a solid acquisition. He would make the Sabres harder to play against and he'd make the top 6 better. IMHO I would move Cozens to the wing and drop Benson to the 3rd line. The biggest issue is having his $7 mil on the books for the next 4 years and he is already 33. The suggested trade seems a little much for a 33 year old player who would be 37 when his contract is up. Still I like the general principle.

Despite what felt like a slow start by the Sabres goaltending last season, UPL ended up having a great season. All his metrics improved dramatically. His GAA improved from 3.61 in 2022/23 to 2.57 in 23/24. His save % improve from a terrible .891 to .910. EV save % improved from .899 to .915 and his save % when on the PK increase dramatically from .829 to .892. However the stat the really got my attention was the vast improvement in quality starts (QS). In 51 starts UPL had 34 QS for a QS% of 67%. That is an elite number. In 2022/23 UPL had a QS% of 41%. To put in perspective Vezina winner Hellebuyck also had QS% of 67%, Swayman at 63%, Oettinger only 55%. The Sabres had 13 additional QS from Levi (10 - QS% 48%) and Comrie (3 - QS% 30%). For the season the Sabres had a QS% for 57%. I think an important key to making the playoffs next season is getting that 57% closer to 65% for the year. That would have given the Sabres another 5 wins last season and it would of placed us squarely in the playoff race. The key then is Levi. Reimer's QS% the last couple of years in about 45%. We need Levi to take the next step in his development and like UPL, go from a QS% in the 40s to a % in the 60s. FYI: Sports-reference.com defines QS as: https://www.sports-reference.com/blog/2014/12/games-started-quality-starts-on-hockey-reference-com/

I'm sure this is a typo, but "petty' works as well.

He has Rossi 41 and JJP 57. Same tier but when you read the blurb you come away asking yourself is he just phoning it in. He says Rossi is a 2nd line winger or 3rd line center while Peterka is a legit top 6 winger. Rossi finally made the NHL last season and put up 40 points, while JJP hit 50 points with 28 goals in year two despite being taken lower in the same draft class. Not that it matters in the scheme of things but he needs a better editor. The Levi thing is a joke. He didn’t have Levi on his 2020 draft board at all. Then in his 2022 re-draft of the 2020 draft, he listed Levi at 28 and said he was a future starting NHL goalie. Now in 2024 he has him “playing some games” and a future backup. By the way Corey, Levi has already played 30 NHL games. What changed? All the guy has done is play at an elite level at every level. His college and AHL numbers are similar to Hellebuyck and better than Oettinger and Demko. His first year AHL numbers are very similar to Saros. His first year NHL numbers were solid behind a poor defense. Moneypuck even has his save above expected better than UPL. He will likely outplay UPL this season giving us another Edwards/Sauve duel for a few years until UPL is traded.

https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/41097431/former-nhl-no-6-draft-pick-filip-zadina-signs-swiss-club Zadina signs with a Swiss team. Apparently that’s better than trying to make the Sabres (or any NHL) team in camp.

DC must become a good 2nd line center. If not, this team will fail. The bottom 6 has no offense to give and the top line doesn't not have enough offense to carry the team by itself. The same is also true for TNT. If he fails again, even a good Cozens won't be enough to salvage the season. We must have our top 2 centers stay healthy and play well. I am actually more worried about Cozens than I am TNT. Tage seemed to get his game back in the last 3rd of the season. Cozens remained lost the entire year. The rest don't matter. UPL is likely to be outperformed by Levi anyway. Quinn is somewhat defendant on how Cozens performs. Samuelsson only plays 50% of the games anyway and we still stink defensively with him or without him. Power is what he is. He is seriously overpaid for his production, but his baseline is ok and I honestly expect little more. If he improves great, but it won't break the team if he doesn't.

It was kind of shocking that he fell so far from his consensus ranking in the 70s.