GASabresIUFAN

Aren't all coaches hired to be fired?

Skinner

Yes he should.

@dudacek I'm not sure what you are getting at. Of the players on the roster at the end of the season you have the following: 8 (9 with Rousek) Forwards under contract plus RFA Krebs, 5 (6 with Ryan Johnson) defensemen under contract plus 3 RFAs, and UPL (RFA) & Levi (signed) in net. The bring it back roster looks like this so far JJP TNT Tuch Benson Cozens Quinn Skinner Krebs (RFA) Greenway Rousek ???? ???? Bryam Dahlin Power Jokiharju (RFA) Mule Clifton R Johnson Bryson (RFA) UPL (RFA) Levi Not many open roster spots. KA could really give the fans a big FU by re-signed Girgensons and Robinson.

Innocent question: If the Sabres miss the playoffs again next season, does Ruff stay and Adams get fired?

Apparently there was a Rick Dudley sighting at 1 Seymour Knox plaza today.

Not only true, but also pretty obvious given GMHD track record as a GM and the players under contract. As I wrote in the OP there are 16 players under contract and 5 RFAs. Not hard to envision that those 21 players could easily all return.

I should have posted two poll questions; who do want to be the next coach and who you think will be the next coach. I wanted someone other than Ruff, but thought the day DG was fired that Ruff would be the next coach. I’m actually surprised on 28% of Sabrespace thought Ruff was going to be the man. I thought it was an obvious TP hire.

Coach hired. Now time to start fixing the roster. I do worry that run it back GMHD is going to bring back nearly the entire failed roster from last season.

Girgensons. 688 gms. 89g 99a 188 pts -66

1 division title and 3 playoff teams in 8 years. In Dallas 165-122-41; in NJ 128-125-28. Not great, but better than the last 3 coaches here.

I said the day DG was fired that TP wanted Ruff and low and behold he's hired. I'm shocked (ok not really). At least he is a good coach. If he had no history in Buffalo, but had his track record, people would be very happy with the hire. I was for getting someone new here like Berube or Gallant, but they may have been looking to see what else opened up. Ruff at least wants to be here. All in all we could have done a lot worse.

Despite my comments on wasting 2 years of Benson (which still hold by the way), if he is going to be on this team, then we need to get him in open space. That means PP time. Just on raw skill he and JJP are probably our most talented forwards. In the pre-season, Benson looked good as the bumper on the PP. I'd like to see JJP, Benson, Tage, Tuch and Dahlin as the 1st PP. I'd then like to see Cozens, Quinn, Byram, Power and Savoie (if he makes the team) on the 2nd PP.

From watching other teams' PPs it seems they utilize more plays down low with a player often behind the PK net. They also move the puck quicker.

Johnson, Clifton, Byram, Jost, Krebs, & Tuch were all from "winning" organizations. None have changed the losing culture KA has created. It has to be more than just a guy from a winning team. It has to be a leader that insists that the team play hard like a winning team. It has to be someone playing in a key role that the other players will respect, not a 3rd pairing D or a 4 line forward. Guys like Drury and Teppo certainly made a difference, but sadly there are not many of those types of players floating around and willing to come here.

I don’t necessarily disagree, but where is our organizational depth? LHD NHLers and forward prospects. If you are going to gain good assets in trade, those would be the two areas I’d be trading from. Our NHL LHD depth chart looks like 1. Dahlin 2. Power 3. Byram 4. Samuelsson 5. Johnson 6. Bryson (RFA) 7. Novikov We can afford to move on from at least 2 of these players. Our top 6 forward prospects are Savoie, Kulich, Östlund, Rosen, Wahlberg and Neuchev stepped up. The top 5 at least are future NHLers. We can again afford to move on from 2.

Yes. Power for sure and maybe Cozens. Skinner isn’t tradable and Tuch and TNT elevated their play in the last 3rd of the season. IMHO, Power is thesame player this past season as he was the prior year. Byram is cheaperand adds an aggression lacking in Power. I would love to see what an offer to Power might look like. We need a top 6 center and a top 4 RHD and Power maybe an asset that helps us get there. An analogy from the Bills was Beane signed Samuel for the slot, so that he could move Shakir to Diggs’ spot and trade Diggs. Maybe he acquired Byram so that he could ultimately move Power.

It's pretty simple. Which players didn't pull their weight or were cancers in the locker-room, and which of those player might KA trade this summer because of it?

Are any current Sabres under contract going to held “accountable” by Adams during the remake this summer?

Let Krebs go.

Custodial Engineer

GMHD for short?

Quenneville is never getting another NHL job.

It's simple. His wait for Levi/UPL strategy sank this season as well. Our goaltending was poor to start the season because we utilized a 3 headed goalie monster. By the time UPL established himself as a true No. 1, the team was already out of contention and remained so. Who created the 3 headed goalie monster? Adams and it's a reflection of his poor decisions making on development, free agency and roster construction. Just because UPL bailed out his poor decisions for the last 50 games or so, doesn’t give Adams a pass for the failure to give this roster proper goaltending for years.

Why should anyone, the media, the fans, the players and TP trust that KA's plan to fix the mess he created. His track record in fixing roster issues is terrible. 1) He never fixed the goaltending - Seriously, he tried 40000 year old Anderson, Subban, Dell, and Comrie 2) He tried and failed to fix his defense with Lyubushkin, Stillman, Clifton and Eric Johnson 3) He kept bringing back failing players like Jost, KO, and Girgensons and then added guys like Robinson 4) his big trade was to trade his only playmaker for a even younger D with the same skill set as the two youngsters he's paying 19 million for. Does anyone here really have confidence this Howdy Doody GM of ours can fix this team?