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Hoppe and Jokinen make a fair case the Helenius might be “ready” for the NHL. However, I don’t believe it’s in Buffalo’s or the kid’s best interest to start the year in Buffalo even if he is good enough physically. He needs to learn to play at speed on the smaller ice surface. The Sabres also have no need to rush anyone. The Benson situation was unique. The Quinn injury coupled with Benson being required to play in the CHL forced the Sabres hand. He didn’t look out of place in the NHL, but he was often physically over matched. Send Helenius to Rochester. If he dominates, then call him up and see what happens. One other note. McLeod isn’t sitting. He is the Sabres best FO guy and he has NHL experience at wing. He also kills penalties. I’d say Lafferty or Aube-Kubel would sit before McLeod as neither player contributes on special teams. Malenstyn played over 200 PK minutes last year. Of the new 4th liners, I expect him in the lineup nightly because of his PK ability, hitting and speed. Note: Returning top Sabres Pker forwards - Greenway (194 minutes), Cozens (126), Tuch (121) and then Quinn (30 minutes - would be 90+ in a full season).

Why? I like the person, just don’t think we should be paying 2.5 for a player we can replace for the vet minimum. I don’t think he makes the Sabres better on the ice and hasn’t for the last few years.

I generally don’t have an issue with need being part of a draft board, but reaching for a player a few rounds early simply because he plays a certain position makes little sense, especially a goaltender in a weak goaltender draft. Not surprisingly, they drafted goalies in the next 2 drafts and both are probably better prospects than Leinonen. What makes the pick even more shocking, was the very next pick was a huge value pick in Neuchev.

Almost fully agree with this except a couple notable exceptions such as Leinonen and Rosen. On the amateur side they almost always go for value such as Kulich, JJP, Benson, Zeimer, Leenders etc…but those 2 picks stand out the other way. Back to accountability for a second. The lack of accountability for the players has been a cultural issue for years. It seems to me that long-term deals after one good season, the lack of competition for jobs and Adams refusal to “block” prospects have all contributed to player complacency and in turn a lack of success on the ice. After all winning doesn’t matter if you are guaranteed your job and that job comes with a lifetime of wealth. It still annoys me the Adams even offered Girgensons a new deal. As much as I like Z the person, he is kind of a symbol of the problems of this franchise.

I've raised this issue before, but why has it taken so long for this organization to talk about and demand accountability?

And deluxe parting gifts

So now they can trade him to Buffalo. 🙂

KA is not trading Power, JJP, Quinn, Levi or Benson. They are his guys and I agree he can get Zegras without moving any of his guys. We have plenty of assets in the system from tradable roster players (Greenway, Krebs, Jokiharju) to near ready prospects (Kulich, Rosen, Johnson, & Novkiov) to other good to very good prospects (Komarov, Wahlberg, Östlund, and Neuchev) that some kind of package can be worked out that Ana would want and we can move on from without destroying our farm system.

By the way whether Jack becomes "better" than Zegras isn't the point of this discussion. This discussion is about whether getting Zegras would make the Sabres better next season. I really don't think that even debatable given the departures of Mitts and Skinner. We need help in the top 6 and if Zegras is available, KA should put his conservative approach in the garbage and go and get what this franchise needs.

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.