GASabresIUFAN

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?"

Adams - delusional They needed to move on this off-season.

Hopium or acknowledgment of fan apathy?

Greenway on the ice today according to Fairburn.

This graphic encapsulates the Sabres perfectly. 15 years and they are no closer to contending than the year they started the rebuild. Disgusting.

Power is a tier 4 player at best. Until he gets some physicality to high game, he is a waste. The pro scouts are right to be frustrated with his lack of commitment to improving defensively.

Terry Pegula, the Jerry Jones of the NHL. Apathy. The Sabres players, owners, management and coaches have made many of us apathetic about the team we all once adored.

NFL

But easier, much easier to build a team.

The Jets haven’t.

Dahlin is an amazing player. I just wish the organization was as committed to being great as Dahlin is.

I forgot the high taxes, lack of palm trees, an owner not committed to winning, the crumbling stadium, and terrible fan experience.

I mentioned hope in my post.

Sadly, they can, as they have proven the last two seasons. This is the pts trend under Adams leadership - 91, 84, 79. 10 reasons they could continue to regress 1. The Atlantic division is deeper than ever. Det, Mon, and Ott are actually improving while the Sabres have regressed 2. Adams traded away another young developing scorer, who has improved each of his 3 NHL season, for two depth players who may or may not have upside. 3. McLeod is almost certain to regress. He is a career 11.9% shooter who had a career year last year when shooting 20.9%. 4. The goaltending is woefully inadequate. The save % of our 4 goalies last season were as follows - UPL .887, Levi .872, Georgiev .875, and Lyon.896. League average last season was .893 in all situations. 5. Norris unlikely to play enough games to adequately replace Cozens. Norris has never played more than 66 games in a season and has averaged only 47 games a season during his time in the NHL. Remember he was shutdown after only 3 games last season following the trade from Ottawa. 6. The entire failed coaching staff returns including special teams failure Appert and defensive failure Wilford. 7. The team again refuses to spend to the cap and with the cap rising quickly, the Sabres are likely to fall further behind. Remember that teams that don’t spend to the cap rarely make the playoffs. 8. The defense remains defensively suspect. Byram, Power, Samuelsson and Bryson are still inept defensively. Kesselring and Timmins maybe upgrades defensively over Joki or Clifton, but neither has ever been a full time top 4 defenseman. Timmins has averaged less than 16 minutes a night for his career and last season was his first in 6 years as a full time NHLer. Kesselring played under 18 a night last season and while he did fill in the top 4, as soon as Utah got healthy he was relegated to the 3rd pair. He did have a solid all around season, but it’s fair to wonder if he is ready to pair with a player as defensively inept as Power for 22 minutes a night. It’s also fair to question whether the addition of two 3rd pairing D is enough to elevate a group as terrible as the Sabres have been defensively for years. 9. I am a big fan of both Benson and Kulich, but Sabres are betting on their continued improvement, plus rebounds from injury prone guys like Quinn and Norris, plus continued success from Zucker and McLeod, to keep the offense working. Also don’t forget we don’t even know who the 9th top 9 forward will be; will it be the injury prone and scoring challenged Greenway or a bet on another young player with 62 games of NHL experience in Josh Doan. That’s a great deal to ask and comes with a high risk of failure. If the offense regresses, it raises the odds of another regression by the team significantly. 10. Kevyn Adams is still the GM. I understand that the fans here want to have some hope that the 15 years of wandering in the hockey desert as punishment for the “tank” might end this coming season, but honestly we need to temper our expectations for a team put together by GMKA (aka Howdy Doody).