GASabresIUFAN

Adams' "elite" D group Dahlin Byram Power Kesselring Samuelsson Timmins Adams current healthy D group Dahlin Kesselring Johnson Timmins Bryson Mtrka (R) Samuelsson (Week to Week), Byram (day to day), Power (day to day).

Dahlin-Kesselring Johnson-Timmins Bryson-Mrtka Can you imagine if this is the opening night D group? I feel for the goalies.

The buyout went from 700k per season before this season to 1.4 if bought out next off-season. As usually, another great decision by GM Howdy Doody.

Samuelsson injured already. Good thing we kept him for this season.

Geez, and I thought I was the pessimist. How many goals were Power and Kesselring on the ice for?

but Tuch doesn't make the top 30 wingers (or honorable mentions), but Mark Stone does.

Laugh, but Georgiev is by far the most experienced NHL goalie in camp Georgiev 303 GP 151 W .903 save % (He also has 20 playoff games under his belt) UPL 155 GP 71 W .898 save % Lyon 113 GP 51 W .902 save % Levi 39 GP 17 W .894 save %

From your lips to G-d’s ears. The sooner the better. Maybe they’ll start listening to the analytics dept?

Who is the 5th?

I've made my position on Adams and his roster very clear, but if this is going to turn around this season, my answer would be one of our 4 headed hydra in net. If one steps up and seizes the starting job and gives us above average goaltending, then anything is possible. If I had to choose one of the goalies to step-up it would be Levi followed by Georgiev. My second choice would be Power. He has the talent to be a top 20-25 D in the NHL. If he decides to be more aggressive offensively and work hard on defense, the Sabres might have two excellent D pairings. This would take some of the pressure off Dahlin to carry the D group lead to better results at both ends of the ice.

I agree with you on this, but Marty has been right all along on UPL and unlike many commentators, he does know something about playing in the NHL. I hope’s wrong as I really like Benson (& Kulich) and want to flourish.

I didn’t remember him at all.

Good effort tonight in the 2nd and 3rd period. I think Mrtka looked really solld for an 18 year old rookie. Kesselring looked good in his debut. I loved all the effort around the CBJ net. This is the way. I finally realized why I like Byram so much more than Power. Byram is aggressive and looks for opportunities (usually on offense, but he makes an effort on defense as well). Power just seems to let the game come to him.

I’m actually very hopeful on Kesselring. He has played very well to tonight. However, you can’t just assume a guy with only 2 years of NHL experience will immediately adjust to his new environment, playing a bigger role and thrive. I hope he does. It will be a huge blessing for the franchise.

Should I mention that we give up more shots then we take? No probably not.

They will partly be the issue, but Kesselring most frequent partner last season was Ian Cole. Cole is a stay at home defender who back stopped Kesselring. Now we are likely putting Kesselring with a O first partner in Power and asking Kesselring to back stop Power when he F's up. What could possibly go wrong? I think you are putting to much faith in Kesselring's ability to adjust to a new system and a defensively inept partner in Power.

Adams is seriously delusional about his D group. He has 1 proven elite all around D in Dahlin He has two O skilled young D who are allergic to playing defense in Power and Byram. He has a large injury prone defender named Samuelsson who was hoped to become a defensive stalwart but also can’t play consistently in zone defense. He is like Risto but without the scoring. He has a young possibly solid all around D who may or may not be able to jump from being a 3rd pair guy to a 2nd pair guy in Kesselring. Remember, despite filling in at times on the 2nd pair for Utah, he only average 17:30 a night. And then there is Timmins. He is not some defensive stalwart. In fact he has basically been an injury replacement 7th D most of his career. Last season was his first “full time” NHL season; he played 68 games. His previous career high was 31. His Fenwick and Corsi were negative last year and when Tor needed D help for the playoffs Timmins was traded to Pittsburgh. The only elite aspect of this D is Dahlin and his ability to elevate his playing partner. That gives us one good pair. After that we are asking Power and Samuelson to finally play defense or a least not be a liability defensively like they have been for the last 2 seasons. We are asking Kesselring to jump to 22-23 minutes a night and cover up Power inept defense. We also asking Timmins to build on his full time season, help hold down the 3rd pair and to try to be at least average defensively. This is too tall an order for this group. I have hope for Kesselring, but worry Power’s inept play will hurt Kesselring’s play at both ends. I have zero faith in Ssmuelsson staying healthy enough to play a full season and the depth behind him of Timmins, Bryson and Jones doesn’t exactly inspire confidence. I’d rather see one of big Russians come up instead of crappy depth.

No. This team can't stay afloat with average or worse goaltending. That's been my point for years about Adam's waiting for UPL/Levi to develop strategy. I posted this before, but it deserves to be repeated. Here are the Save % for our 4 goalies in the NHL last season. UPL - 55 games .887 save % Levi - 9 games .872 save % Lyon - 30 games .896 save % Georgiev - 49 games .875 save % NHL average goalie .893 save % When an average NHL goalie is your best option in net for a team desperate to make the playoffs, the GM has failed the organization.

Does it matter? Which of the four were any good last year? Lyon had the best save% of .896. I guess that makes him the favorite for the starting job.

Sure why not. As if Adams could get the deal done.

This is Pegula’s team and Adam’s team. There has never been any rhyme or reason for their roster construction other than Adams following Terry’s marching orders. Terry said try to placate Eichel and therefore we got Hall and ultimately lost Ullmark Terry said tear it down after the Hall-Eichel failure and so Adams tore it down and dumped Stanley Cup championship players Eichel, Reinhart, Montour and others in the process. Terry created an internal salary cap and we haven’t spent to the cap in years and not surprisingly we aren’t competitive. Adams still hasn’t adequately replaced Ullmark (understatement) and has fielded the worst defense in the league for years. The Sabres have fielded the youngest and least experienced team in the league since the Eichel tear down. Lindy isn’t responsible for this mess. He hasn’t made it better, but I’m not sure there is any coach who could succeed with the rosters created by Pegula and Adams.

Wishing her all the best in her recovery.

For all the Power apologists Here are Power's stats in his 1st 3 full seasons vs another former D Sabres high draft pick. 108 pts (17g) in 234 games vs 106 pts (23g) in 239 games. Who is Power and who is the other former Sabres high draft pick D? By the way these were the 19, 20 and 21 year old seasons for both players. Once you figure it out, ask yourself how did that work our for the Sabres?

It is possible for good things to happen.

Maybe Tuch is doing the Cookie "hold in?"