GASabresIUFAN

He is a symbol of what is wrong with this organization and what has been wrong with this team for a decade. He has been specifically mentioned by management as part of the locker room leadership group. Adams has re-signed this guy twice already with diminishingly results. The truth is I’m open to moving any player on the Sabres in the right deal. Benson, JJP, Dahlin and Levi would be hardest to pry loose, but nobody is beyond being traded. I look at the Panthers, see where they are, look at the aggressive moves it took to get there, and realize there are no scared cows. That said, I’m also a realist. KA isn’t likely to move any of his guys. But he does have to opportunity to make major changes by simply letting at the FAs walk, except UPL. That opens 5-6 roster spots that can be upgraded including potentially a top 4 D and a 2/3C. We have a thread on grit, and with the rest of those roster spots he needs to find new people, who didn’t marinate in our losing culture for a decade, to bring grit and work ethic to a team sorely lacking it.

None of the above, ok maybe Dahlin and Clifton. As a forward group, they don’t crash the net, they don’t forecheck well or backcheck well. It’s O zone time wasn’t very long and why we are amongst the worst teams in allowing HDCA for the last few years. The funny thing Adams traded away the one center he had willing to do those things. Cozens should be gritty player and isn’t and Tage is a huge physical presence who plays a finesse game. Greenway is a big guy who can play a gritty game and did in Minn. He has hit a few guys in Buffalo but hasn’t really resulted in significant turnovers. Benson has the want to, but gets knocked off the puck to easily. Quinn and JJP are finesse forwards at this point and don’t have much physicality in their games (yet?) Skinner does go to the net and is annoying, but doesn’t hit anyone or block shots or backcheck. Tuch is willing to block shot and hit occasionally, and has a solid all around game built on speed and passing. Krebs is willing to take the body but does nothing else well. Truthfully until the entire forward group as a whole commits to playing a tougher brand of hockey the Sabres will be stuck in 2nd gear. Maybe Ruff can instill that commitment. Maybe. There is more grit on defense. Dahlin and Clifton lead the way there, but that about it. Mule’s job is to be gritty but he can’t stay healthy so what good is it? Joki, Johnson, Bryson don’t add physicality. Power for a kid his size does a great job of blocking shots but almost never takes the body. This is a team as soft Anderson’s custard. They were built for speed, they lack proper depth and they lack a winning culture. Good luck Lindy. As we see in the playoffs, teams that are hard to play against win. To achieve that goal with the players we have is impossible without substantial change. We need 4 new forwards including 2 centers and they must have a good 2 way game. We also need a top 4 who is committed to playing in zone defense.

The selling the house is an indication that he wants to go. I don’t know if he can revive his career here with the return of Ruff and I don’t care. He needs to go. The Sabres brass keep talking about a “new” standard in Buffalo. I assume this means winning is the most important thing, the only thing. The means the old standard was “don’t worry be happy” and winning doesn’t really matter. No wonder they didn’t win. Girgensons was part of the internal leadership group for this 3rd failing rebuild and he just isn’t a good NHL hockey player. He is also overpaid for his production and line assignment. It’s time for him to go. He knows it and hopefully Adams knows it as well.

Ok

The point of the trade down was to get a needed NHL player plus retain a 1st rd pick in this draft. I have Solberg at 24 not 15. I think there is more here than just a hitter. I think he has the chance to develop into a real shut down NHL D like McKee. Guys that are just physical typically fall into the 2nd or 3rd rounds like Samuelsson for example. Regardless of whether we draft Solberg or not, there is very good talent in the 20-25 range and then a huge cliff after 25. Forwards like Hemming, Artamonov and Luchecnko look like excellent prospects as well in the 20-25 area. Again the point he is trying to anticipate when KA might do with the 11th pick. As I have written previous, my preference is to keep the 11 and trade Rosen and maybe another near ready forward prospect to get the assets we need to fix the roster. However, I can easily see where KA might trade down and the compensation will be a 3/4 line NHL player.

If that was all he was, he wouldn't be a consensus top 25 pick. The report I read on him said he has a booming shot from the point and is excellent on the PK. In the NHL he probably won't score much, but our organization needs more physical players, defensive D and good PKers. Solberg has all those traits. Assuming we become a good team, Solberg, if drafted, will probably be NHL ready by about the time Mule's contract is up.

I now have 11 rankings in my consensus board Top 51 Tier 1 - Celebrini Tier 2 - Demidov, Levshunov & Buium Tier 3 - Catton, Parkekh, Dickinson, Lindstrom, & Silayez Tier 4 - Iginla, Helenius, & Eiserman Tier 5 - Yakemchuk, Sennecke, Brandsegg-Nygard Tier 6 - Chernyshov, Greentree, Connelly, Jiricek & Hage Tier 7 - Boisvert, Artamonov, Luchanko, Solberg & Hemming (Top 25 end - last players with a 1st rd consensus grade) Tier 8 - Basha, Emery, Sahlin Wallenius, Ritchie & Parascak Tier 9 - Stiga, Beaudoin, Freij, Elick & Surin Tier 10 - Kiviharju, Letourneau, Mews, Masse, & Hutson Tier 11 - Badinka, Gridin, Pettersson, Howe & Vanacker Tier 12 - Pulkkinen, Miettinen, Mustard, Brunicke, Jecho & Shuravin

I'm wondering if KA's draft strategy might be to trade down from 11 to 23 or so and draft this kid and pick up a depth vet for the 4th line in the deal.

I was just about to post this. Thanks

Honestly who cares you the Captain is? What difference has it made who the captain has been this century? The bigger issues from the "presser" are how the team is going to make over the roster. Are they going to redo the D to get better pairings? How are they going to remake the bottom 6 so that we have scoring depth throughout the lineup to help in the playoffs? How are Ruff and Appert going to implement their new "motion" PP? Does that mean faster puck movement, more passes down low and behind the net?

JJP and Kulich are two of my favorite prospects we drafted in recent years. They were two guys who stood out at the U18’s relative to their teams and the scouting reports made me very excited when we were able to snag them. JJP’s progress has been nothing short of miraculous. The last time the Sabres found a 2nd rd forward who has made a similar impact on the Sabres were Roy and Pominville. (We traded Compher before he had a chance to make an impact in Buffalo). Kulich may not have JJP’s upside, but I think he could be the long-term solution to 2-way 3rd line center. Unfortunately, he may be the price to get a 3C for next season.

@Taro T From your comments I get the feeling that Adams is relying on Ruff to clue him in on how to fix the roster. Was that your impression as well?

It’s long past time to try to improve all aspects of this roster and that includes upgrading the depth forwards. Enough is enough.

I read that there is some talk about the Agents and Union want to reduce the draft from 7 rounds to 4. https://thehockeywriters.com/nhl-draft-4-round-potential/. Apparently Elliotte Friedman raised the issue in his podcast. THW raises the issue of UDFAs gravitating towards good teams, making it harder for the Buffalo’s of the world to compete. I also know that most teams don’t even have 150 kids on their draft board on draft day. My initial reaction is that reducing it to 5 rounds won’t make much of a difference. Ullmark is probably the most impactful 6th or 7th rd pick to have a major impact. VO was a nice story for a while. With colleges soon to opening their doors to CHL players, we will probably see an influx of college FAs that might even the playing field. Thoughts?

There is no longer any room of this roster for Girgensons. He is part of the failed culture on this team and it’s time to move on. We need to move on from the guys who don’t make us better and he is one of those guys. Same with Joki and Bryson. If you keep bringing back the same failed players, why should the fans expect different results?

Hitting on 1/3+ of your picks is extremely good drafting. For example, in the 2017 draft so far, only 59 (out of 217 or 27%) players have reached 100 games played. Mitts is 7th in games played, Joki 8th, Bryson 30th and UPL 59th at 100 games so far.

I came across this tidbit and it almost made me sick. https://www.prohockeyrumors.com/buffalo-sabres Please G-d no. He is selling his house Adams. Let him go.

My board reflects what the guy from Red Line was talking about. Celebrini is No. 1 by a wide margin. There is little separating No. 2 Levshunov from No. 11 Helenius. There is a gap from Helenius to No. 12 Eiserman, but Eiserman, Yakemchuk and Sennecke have nearly identical rankings. I'm not surprised some teams have Iginla and Sennecke in the top 5. They have received top 5-7 voted from the various (I'm up to 9) rankings I've added to my consensus board. I personally think it's Celebrini 1 and Levshunov 2, but after that anything can happen. I'd add that I think Buium, Silayev and Demidov will also go in the top 7 and Parekh in the top 10. After doing some work on this draft, I'd rather trade Rosen and another former 1st rd pick like Östlund or Kulich then give up the 11. The top 14 picks are too strong and we need a top prospect a little separated in development time from the other top guys.

We all know you loath Jbot. We get it, but can't take credit away for Dahlin and then give credit for Power. That's not how this works. Jbot made 18 picks and found 7 NHLers including 2 2nd line centers in the NHL, a starting goalie, a No. 1 D and a 4/5 D. Ryan Johnson will also be a 4-6 D in the NHL as soon as this season and Bryson is a depth NHL D picked up in the 4th round. There is even a chance that Rousek finally makes the NHL this season full time. That pretty good drafting. Hate on Jbot all you want, but give credit where credit it due.

NHL Now had the guy from Red Line on the show and he basically said that there is very little separating pick 2 in this draft from No. 13/14. Sennecke is currently 14th on my board and I think he's a Quinn type pick up. I'd be thrilled to get him at 11. There is a gap on my board to 15 to the very good Brandsegg-Nygard.

@Brawndo I’ll have to take your word for it on Forton. All I know is that our drafting is better over the last 7 years and as a fan that’s all I care about. If it starts to stink again, we’ll have our villain. Despite the better drafting, I still believe Adams is a terrible GM. I’m not surprised at all that he would promote the wrong people. At some point soon the good people, like Ventura and Karmanos, will leave and the Sabres will the worse for it.

What were his duties during his tenure in Buffalo? Over the last 7 drafts our drafting has been significantly better. Didn’t Forton have a significant role in those drafts? Didn’t Karmanos get his start in the NHL through nepotism?

I have closed the old poll and added an updated poll with more of the choices we have been discussing here and on the Off-season game plan thread.

For their analytics team and computer software. Instead analytics department.

He is a fine choice. Will LA want to trade him? Also what is the cost and are we on his 10 team NT list?