GASabresIUFAN

I'm sorry, but people keep saying this but no one links to a source where teammates or coaches have said this about the kid. I've researched it as well and the only thing I can finds is Torts complaining about his lacrosse style goal (and then apologizing) and an article about Zegras and his new coach working together over last summer to help Zegras improve defensively and Zegras' talking about this commitment to getting better defensively. To bad he got hurt. Not one article I can find questions his work ethic or his relationships his teammates. All they says is that the kid has a big personality and is very confident. Here is what his current coach says Anaheim Ducks Coach Greg Cronin: "He's a very sociable, likeable kid, bounces around. He's like a butterfly, talks to everyone in the locker room." Geez, sounds like a terrible person. The biggest knock again him is his 2-way play and you can say that about every Sabres top 6 forward. Is he as bad as Skinner? No idea, but Skinner, despite his defensive short comings was one of most consistent net positive 5 on 5 players and unlike Skinner, Zegras can create for himself and teammates.

The Pegula theories are all so interesting. He won't allow KA to retain a salary in a trade, but will buyout Skinner. He won't spend to the cap, but they sign Dahlin for 11 mill and Power for 8 for 7 or more years. He also allowed KA to through $5 mill at Zucker. He tries to pinch pennies, but then fires Granato and eats his new contract.

Great question and I've been thinking about why they might trade Zegras. I think they look at Gauthier, Carlsson and McTavish as the core of their rebuild and they are all 2 or more years younger than Zegras. When the franchise turns around in 2 years, odds are that Zegras' deal will be up and they'll want to allocated that money elsewhere. I also think they might want to "tank" to get a good shot a Hagens, Martone and Frondell in next year's draft. Moving Zegras helps the "tank" while opening PT for their best prospects. A situation a little like our resetting the core by moving on from Eichel and Reinhart. Because of the his contract, their runway to move on from Zegras is the next 2 years, but I think if they want to move on better sooner than later.

Ana is going to need a roster player and a cap replacement to stay above the cap floor. That’s where Greenway fits in. They should get a good near ready prospect. Rosen fits but if decline Rosen or Komarov, then Kulich, but then you need to downgrade the draft picks. The Eichel deal is the model, but the cap player won’t be on Tuch’s level.

You are going to die on this hill.

4 pieces - Greenway, Rosen/Komarov, a lottery protected 1st in 2025 and a 2nd in 2026.

The same types of behaviors displayed by an immature Jack Eichel before leading a different team to the Stanley Cup? G-d forbid we have a high end playmaker who can also drop in 20-25 goals a season

Do you really think Zucker will come close to 50 points playing on a 3rd line with McLeod? That's the type of production a $5million contract should buy. I don't mind the Zucker signing as long as he has something left in the tank. I said the same last year for Johnson. However, I've learned that the Sabres pro personnel dept is terrible and they make awful decisions on trades and UFA signings. I have zero faith in their ability to sign the right people.

LOL Cozens (7th overall in 2019) 280 games, 66g (.236 g/gp), 100a (.357 a/gp), 166 pts (.593 pts/gp) Zegras (9th overall in 2019) 211 games, 55g (.260 g/gp), 99a (.469 a/gp), 154 pts (.730 pts/gp) Zegras isn't as physical player as Cozens and so what. He is a better offensive player despite missed 50 games last year with an injury. This team needs help generating offense.

Sounds like a bunch of excuses. For Z, going from 2.5 million to 850K isn't going to made up by the Florida tax savings. LOL. KA should have traded VO and Comrie before last season even if he had to eat huge pieces of their contracts. He should have never re-signed Jost, Z or KO and certainly not for the $ he paid them. That would have given him potential about 14 million $ invest in better players. I'm also really annoyed that he tried to make the same mistake again with Z and offered him a new deal. KA's pro evaluations have been awful so far, and the best thing you can say about most of the new guys is that won't cost to much cap wise, except Zucker, who potentially is Eric Johnson 2.0.

I didn’t know where to put this article, but this seemed to be the best to put it. https://www.buffalohockeybeat.com/former-sabres-quickly-found-work-as-free-agents-this-summer/ Hoppe is talking about all the players KA moved on from and how they quickly found new jobs. The most interesting thing about the article is Girgensons turning down KA’s contract offer to stay for a 3 year 850K per season deal in TB. The other takeaway was how little our former players were worth on the market and how much we were overpaying. Skinner goes from 9 mill to 3. Olofsson falls from 4.75 to 1.075, Johnson slips from 3.25 to 1, Z drops from 2.5 to .850, Jost from 2 to .775, Comrie falls from 1.8 to .825, and Robinson drops from 1.6 to .950. Outside of Skinner and Robinson,who was acquired to help injury depth, the rest were unforced errors. This board was unanimous in trading VO and Comrie. We were also nearly unanimous in asking Adams to move on from Z and Jost. Johnson was a vet UFA and there were real questions about whether he had anything left. All told we paid 24.9 million for players now playing for 8.475. We can also add keeping KO on the unforced error list. Just think how much better last season might have been if he had allocated 15-16 mill to better players.

Who knows! UPL has one season of good pro hockey under his belt and now carries the burden of the big contract. Levi was very good in the AHL in 26 games and up and down in 23 NHL games, but still finished with a decent .899 save %. Reimer was decent for Det last season in a backup role with a 3.11 and a .904 in 25 games, but he played behind a slightly better defense than he'll most likely have in Buffalo. At 36 it's reasonable to ask how much NHL hockey he has left. The potential is there for UPL to repeat last season and for Levi to continue to improve and challenge him for the top job. If successful we might see an Ullmark/Swayman type tandem. The downside is UPL regresses, Levi proves not quite NHL ready and Reimer is playing much more than anyone anticipated or hoped. Even with UPL's good year last season, the Sabres goaltending as a whole, both at EV and on the PK, was league average. This kept a porous defense (791 HDCA - 6th worst in the NHL) from destroying the season. I don't really expect much improvement in the D play, thus UPL, Levi, and Reimer will have to be better than league average for this team to make the playoffs. Here is the good news. The UPL/Levi/Reimer triumvirate is better than the mess we had last year. UPL and Levi are more experienced and better goalies than they were a year ago and Reimer is a substantial upgrade on Comrie. On paper this is the best group we have had since KA arrived. To bad it took 3 years to get to this point.

I feel a little better about UPL after Philly paid Konecny 8.75 per year for 8 years.

What has he done? Great question. I also said hands the reigns to Levi in 2-3 years. Levi is a 2 time NCAA Richter award winner. He is the 1st to win it twice and the first to win it in consecutive years. Swayman, Primeau, Demko and Hellebuyck are other winners. In his first year in the minors he recorded a .927 save% (26 games). UPL’s best minor league season was his 3rd season and it was a .900 in his first season in the NHL (23 games last season as well) he recorded a .899 save% compared to UPL’s .892. Levi has the better developmental pedigree over UPL. That doesn’t mean he is better today, but he may be the better player by the end of this coming season. Levi’s pedigree is closer to Saros and Demko, while UPL’s is closer to Husso and Petersen. Which of our goalies would you have more faith in?

Now go look at what Husso and Petersen did prior to their breakout season. Husso was better than UPL in the minors and Petersen about the same. Demko and Saros were significantly better than UPL in the minors. This is why I’m very concerned about UPL. Of the 4 goalies you listed plus UPL, UPL’s development resume is arguably the worst. I’m hoping that I’m wrong about this deal. I’d be thrilled if UPL becomes Ryan Miller 2.0. I’d be even more thrilled if Levi and UPL give us a Ullmark/Swayman type of effective tandem. The truth is that the Sabres playoff chances probably hinge on their success in net this coming season. Still I have significant concerns about UPL’s ability to build on last season.

It’s Adams.

KA's modus operandi has been to sign his core players to long-term deals So far he has dished out big contracts to Samuelsson after 1 good year, Cozens after 1 good year, TNT after 1 good year, Power after 1 decent year, and now UPL after 1 good season. Have we received decent value on any of these contracts? Samuelsson has been hurt since he signed his deal as often as he's played. Cozens regressed in the 1st year of the new deal. TNT also regressed in year 1 of his new deal. Power basically repeated his prior season and now enters the 1st year of the new deal. https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5014522/2024/04/19/nhl-player-cards-atlantic-division/ According to the Athletic our core players that KA extended had negative contract values. TNT's was -500K, Cozens -3.3 million, and Samuelsson -1.1 million. Power's and Dahlin's new deals kick in this year. Last season Power gave us 4.4 million in value. His new deal is for 8.35. Dahlin's value was 9.5 million and his new deal is for 11 million. Honestly, I have no idea how Power will every play up to the new contract. The Sabres just aren't getting their money's worth on these big extension, and UPL's deal will probably follow suit. The truth is KA should have bridged Power, Cozens and Samuelsson and he should have bridged UPL for 2-3 years and then handed the reigns to Levi.

I like Quinn, but he is not an elite playmaker. Maybe he can develop into one, but his stats don't justify that label, not his total assists or his primary assists. Yes, he Jr scouting reports say he has good passing skills, but the stats say his primary usage in the pros is that of a goal scorer. What I will say is that his develop curve is looking more and more like Tuch. In LV, Tuch was primarily used as a depth goal scorer. However, once he joined the Sabres, Granato elevated his role and gave him more opportunity to be a playmaker. Over the last 2 years, Tuch's assists and primary assists are second on the Sabres behind Mitts. Quinn may also eventually be better than Zegras, but he isn't right now. Zegras is only 6 months older, but has played 211 games in the NHL (107 more than Quinn). He has 155 pts in those games (.735 pt/gp) vs Quinn's 58 in 104 games (.555 pt/gp).

No he hasn't and Levi is the NHL backup heading into training camp. Here are UPL's pro save% 19/20 AHL .874 (10 games), He spent most of the season in the ECHL .912 (23 games) 20/21 AHL .888 (14 games) 21/22 AHL .900 (35 games) 22/23 NHL .892 (33 games) 23/24 NHL .910 (54 games) Outside of last season, UPL's record of accomplishment in pro hockey is mediocre at best. These are not the stats of a "top prospect." The best thing someone can say is that UPL has steadily improved. Compare to Ullmark. Linus' in 3 AHL seasons had save % of .902, .909, and .923. His save % in Buffalo .912 over 117 games. Those are top prospect numbers. We have no idea if this guy is a long-term franchise goalie.

This is a stupid contract for a goalie with only 1 good pro season (AHL & NHL) to his credit. 5 years makes no sense, especially if Levi is your long-term franchise goalie. This contract will not be easy to trade if (when?) UPL regresses.

But how much better would Quinn be (& Cozens for that matter) if he had a gifted playmaker feeding him pucks for his very accurate shot?

Necas, 25, 362 gp - .268 g/gp, .671 p/gp Zegras, 23, 211 gp - .261 g/gp, .73 p/gp Zegras has 2 60 pt seasons, while Necas only has one. Zegras has 2 years left on his current deal at 5.75 while Necas is an RFA and looking for a long-term deal over $7 mill per season. How is Zegras a step back and Necas a step forward?

The Hischier, 25, of today is not the Hischier of age 21. Zegras had two 60+ seasons under his belt by 21. Hischier didn’t hit 60 pts until 22. Getting Zegras now, you may be getting a player about to make the next jump in level of production.

Agreed. As I pointed out in the OP, Ana needs ready young vets across their lineup, especially on defense. Their cornerstone young players are McTavish and Carlsson up front and Mintyukov on defense with F Gauthier coming soon and D Owen Zellweger securing a full time NHL gig this fall. Troy Terry is their good youngish vet F at 25. I think they need to fill in between the 9 30+ players and the young kids with more guys in the 23 to 27 range.

Looks to me that his "speed" dip is a reflection of his broken ankle from last year. Those numbers look very similar to one Zack Benson. Who according to the chart posted in the speed thread had a max speed of 21.47 and only 22 bursts of 20+. Is Lindy going to toss him to the curb? Quinn is only 21.86 with 29 20+. Zegras is a high IQ player that feeds his linemates. Isn't that what we need? Lindy has had success with similar players. Hischier comes to mind.