msw2112

When the Athletic rates prospects, one of the factors they name and consider is "Compete" which I would equate to "Motor." Doan has it in spades and the Sabres have lacked players with it for years. Benson has it too. While talent cannot be overlooked, the Sabres have had plenty of talent over the years, but severely lacked in compete. The best players in the NHL are those that have both. Guys like McKinnon, the Tkachuk brothers, etc. I hate Marchand, but he has both too. McDavid is top of the talent scale and seems to have the "Motor"/"Compete" as well.

From what I've seen/read, he's expected back sometime in November, probably later in the month. I can't say how accurate that is, but that's what I've seen out there.

Kesserling was the main piece coming back to the Sabres in the Peterka trade, but Doan is definitely more than just a throw in. For the season so far, Kesserling has not played due to injury, but Doan has been off to a good start. I was curious to see how his stats so far compare to Peterka's: Doan: 6 GP, 2 G, 3 A, 5 points, +1 Peterka: 7 GB, 2 G, 2 A, 4 points, +3 I'm not sure what's more surprising, that Doan has more points so far, in fewer games, or that Peterka has a positive plus/minus! While I have not seen Peterka play for Utah, I can say that he brought less physical play, positive attitude, tenacity, aggressiveness, defensive play, and leadership to the Sabres than Doan now does. Wouldn't it be something, if 1 for 1, Doan turns out to be a better player than Peterka, regardless of what Kesserling does? So far, I'd say that's the case. It's a long season and this is a small sample size, so I don't want to be unrealistic, but I'm interested to hear what others think. I'd also add that even if Peterka's offensive stats turn out to be better, if you take Doan's offensive stats PLUS all of the intangibles he brings to the team, could he be deemed the overall better player anyway? And then add in whatever Kesserling brings to the table, which might be quite a bit. The Sabres could end up winning this trade in a big way. Time will tell. I'm not a huge fan of Adams, but it would be a feather in his cap the Sabres win this trade.

I'm interested to see how Metsa does. He's undersized, but seems to have the makeup of a very good hockey player. He lead his college team to a National Championship, and I believe he was the captain of that team. I have not seen him play as an Amerk, but would like to hear what people who have seen him play there think. I fully agree that I'd rather have Johnson on the team than Bryson and I highly doubt Bryson would have been claimed on waivers, and I wouldn't be that upset if another team did claim him.

I did not see the Boston game, but I don't doubt what you are saying. I thought he played very well last night and was always in the right position and stopped a lot of shots through traffic, which was impressive. I didn't see any saves that were going to make the highlight reel, but I suppose that by being in the right position, he didn't have to. My main point was that while nobody would be unhappy with "spectacular" goaltending, the Sabres can get by with "solid" goaltending if their offense performs to its capability. Prior to last night, the offense hadn't. But if you took last season's offense and added the kind of goaltending provided by Lyon the last few games, they would have made the playoffs. I like UPL and always want to see guys the Sabres have drafted and developed (and paid) succeed, but UPL was really bad for most of last season. If UPL plays like he did from January - April 2024, the team would be in great shape. In my opinion, UPL's play during that stretch was even better than what Lyon had done so far this season. Everyone thought that UPL had arrived, and the team paid him accordingly, only to see him stumble last season and now start this season on the injured list. Let's hope he returns to that form, and Lyon continues his strong play, in which case the Sabres will have a great goalie tandem.

Yes, the bar is "solid but unspectacular." With the Sabres' goal scoring last season, solid but unspectacular goaltending all season long would have resulted in a playoff berth. Terrible goaltending doomed the season. For the stretch near the end when Reimer played reasonably well, the team won a lot of games. A young Dominick Hasek or Ryan Miller are not walking through that door. There were not any great goalies on the free agent market this summer and teams are not looking to deal top-flight goalies. Plus, with free agent choices and no-trade clauses, it's highly unlikely a top-flight veteran goalie is going to sign with the Sabres. As such, they have to rely on "solid" veteran goalies while drafting and developing younger ones, hoping to eventually groom one into a star. UPL was looking like that guy a couple of seasons ago, and was paid accordingly, but fell off a cliff last season. Can Levi be that guy? The jury is still out. They've drafted 5 others (Leinonen, Ratzlaff, Leenders, Meloche, Prokhorov) (yes, Google is my friend) and brought in Ellis, in hopes of one or more of them becoming that guy. Lyon has played well. He has not "stood on his head" or made highlight-reel saves, but he's in the right place at the right time to make the necessary saves, and from what I've seen, he has not given up any soft goals that cost the team a game. Although he gave up 4 goals last night, the defensive play was horrific, and, fortunately, there was enough offense to overcome the 4 goals. I watched the TSN broadcast (nice relief and diversion from Dunleavy and Ray) and they commented several times on how Lyon's play kept the team in the game until they figured out they needed to put forth some effort (which they did). I know very little about Ellis, except that he was very good in the AHL last season, but I'd like to see, at some point, what he can do. I assume he'll get a start the next time they play a lower-tier team. Last night would have been such an opportunity, but given the 0-3 start, they HAD TO go with Lyon, who has been playing well. To risk a loss on an unproven rookie and falling to 0-4 would not have been a wise decision.

I'm hoping for a win tonight. They're only 6 points out of a playoff spot! (or something like that) I'm not optimistic and the season could not have started any worse than it has, but there's still plenty of time to turn things around. While I don't think it will happen, why not start with a good effort and win tonight, then focus on the next game? Injuries are not an excuse for uninspired play, but I know the team has a lot of injuries to key players and it looks like some are coming back soon. I have not seen much of the first 3 games, so I'm not in a great position to assess how good or bad the effort has been, although, from what I've read, they've played 2 solid periods of out 9 so far.

I was advocating for Leone as an in-house candidate (which means it won't cost much) and a new face who I believe is on the rise, but I agree that DeBoer or Gallant are experienced coaches who have had fairly recent success in the league. Of course, Ruff had a good season in NJ a couple of years before the Sabres hired him....

I've been a Lindy Ruff fan since he played for the team. Loved him in his first coaching go-round. That said, it's time. I'd be in favor of Leone as HC and Jarmo as GM to see what they can do with the rest of the season and go from there. While Appert had some success in Rochester and has nice hair, his college coaching record is bad. He's been terrible as an assistant coach/power play coach. Leone just seems to be a guy on the rise and he's in the organization already. I don't even know what he (or his hair) looks like, but I don't care. Give him a shot. It can't be any worse than what's going on now and sometimes in-season coaching changes work. Berube did extremely well in St. Louis and Kris Knoblauch did the same in Edmonton, as in-season hires. I realize that Connor McDavid is not going to come walking through that door, but the team was on a major skid and Knoblauch came in and turned it around quickly. Some guys just have good systems and/or relate well to players and I think Leone may be that kind of guy.

Ass

It's a tough call. I don't like when players are rushed back too soon from injury and it lingers, and maybe never fully heals during the season. On the other hand, this Sabres team will struggle to succeed without their supposed #1 goalie and 3 or 4 of their top 6 defensemen and this team absolutely cannot afford a poor start to the season. They're just not good enough to dig themselves out of a hole. It's too early to judge whether all of these injuries are a) freak, largely unpreventable occurrences that have all, by chance, happened around the same time; b) the team being extra-cautious and not rushing guys back that are dinged up but able to play; or c) a failure of the new strength and conditioning program. Let's hope it's a) or b) and not c).

I'm only going on what's been said on this board - I don't listen to Hamilton and as such, I don't really have an opinion on him one way or another and I have not personally heard him mispronounce the player's name. My take is that if he mispronounced the name once or twice, that's fine, but he apparently does it repeatedly, which is very poor form for a member of the media. It irritates me when media members don't do their homework and mispronounce names and/or overlook or misstate important facts. Most of us have to be prepared to succeed at our jobs and we would like to see our media members prepare for theirs. Having a good handle on the people or events that they cover is part of a media person's job. But enough lecturing on a media member I don't follow. I'm much more concerned about the Sabres' defense and goaltending injuries....

How it is supposed to be pronounced: "Hell-en-eee-us?" Not as easy as the monosyllabic "Krebs" but doesn't seem THAT difficult to pronounce.

Ryan Johnson might stick around, particularly given the injuries on D. The fact that Zac Jones was waived and sent to Rochester seems to support the notion of Johnson getting some kind of shot, as Jones was expected to stay with the Sabres and possibly take the 7th spot from Bryson. That Bryson contract, although not very old, is not aging well. I think that most would prefer Johnson OR Jones over Bryson. And don't get me started about Bernard-Docker. And I don't dislike Bryson as much as many on this board, I just think that Johnson, Jones, and Bernard-Docker are better players.

Interesting to see Bernard-Docker in the Wings' lineup. He played pretty well for the Sabres last season which may have helped tilt the Cozens trade in the Sabres' favor if he had a successful career in Buffalo. Then they let him walk to go sign with Detroit for around league minimum (1 year, $875K), while re-signing Bryson instead. I thought I read somewhere that B-D was not interested in re-signing in Buffalo, and if that's the case, OK, but if the Sabres elected to let him move on, I consider this yet another blunder by the organization.

You can tell from my avatar and screen name that I'm a big fan of the song, album, and band! I would love it as a goal song, but I'm not sure the appeal would be universal enough. I thought the list of options were pretty weak and went with the Metallica song by default, as it's the only one that I thought was close to being a good option. I think the song they're using for the Goathead games is far better than any of the options offered for the Blue and Gold games.

For what it's worth, I thought that when Johnson played a bunch of games with the Sabres a couple of seasons ago, he looked pretty decent, especially for young, inexperienced player. I have not watched him play in Rochester, nor do I have any insight on training camp, but from what I saw, he looked like a player with a promising future. From the handful of games Rosen has played in Buffalo in the last couple of seasons, he's shown nothing. He's been good at the AHL level, but he may be one of those guys that is simply not destined for a NHL career. I'd love to see him break out this season, but I haven't seen anything yet that would indicate future success at the NHL level.

I think the Sabres, like the Bills, are a collaborative environment. I believe that the roster is created by a coordinated effort among Adams, Ruff, and now Jarmo. Other individuals on the coaching and hockey-side management staffs also have input. I don't believe that Adams is a puppet for Ruff, but they certainly communicate and work together to assemble the roster. Given his level of experience, Ruff may have more input/influence than Granato did. In any case, I don't believe that Adams (and his staff) and Ruff (and his staff) are operating in a vacuum. Borrowing a concept from an old Bill Parcells (NFL coach) quote, Adams is doing the grocery shopping to purchase the ingredients and Ruff is cooking the meals, but Ruff works closely with Adams to determine what goes on the shopping list. I suspect that Ruff has a lot more influence on personnel than Adams does on practice and game management. In my opinion, that's how a professional sports team should operate, but it doesn't mean that Adams is good at shopping or that Ruff is good at making the meals.

I'd think that if UPL is still injured and not yet up to speed that we'd see Lyon, or maybe even Georgiev, as the plan seems to be to allow Levi additional time to develop in Rochester. That said, training camp and the preseason have not even started yet, so maybe the Sabres are waiting to see who performs the best. If Levi looks the best in camp & preseason action, should he get the net on opening night? And if so, what's the plan for Rochester?

While it's not about palm trees and taxes, it's about wins and losses, I do agree that Adams and the Sabres are fairly limited in the moves they can make. A team in their current state has a hard time attracting free agents and overcoming no-trade clauses. Given those limitations, Adams has made some fairly significant moves. As stated above, Peterka, Cozens, and Mittelstadt were all top-40 draft picks who played major roles on the roster. Trading Savoie, a top-10 draft pick, for McLeod is not an insignificant move. The Eichel and Reinhart moves were huge trades - although if the team had been better managed, they could have been avoided. The point I'm making is that Adams is not simply sitting on his hands. That doesn't make him a good GM or say that every move he's made was a good one. But it does refute the point that he sits on his hands and does nothing. I think his handling of the coaching situation (and I have been a Lindy Ruff fan for years) was poor. Even if Lindy was the right guy for the job, where was the "extensive search" that was promised? And why do they continue with the failing assistant coaches? I realize it was a money thing, and the team not wanting to pay guys not to coach, but a strong GM would have convinced the owner that changes were needed, extra cost be damned. Eventually, if the team doesn't turn it around, Adams will be gone.

I'm a fan of Greenway, but he is oft-injured. I understand the injury-prone comparison to Milano, but the difference is that a healthy Greenway is a solid contributor whereas a healthy Milano is a standout player. Let's hope both guys can get healthy and have productive seasons.

When I was a kid in the 70's, Dryden was my favorite "non-Buffalo" athlete. He had an illustrious career on and off the ice. May he rest in peace.

Sadly, this is not limited to goalies.

The freedom to work where one wants to is a trade-off when a group is part of a union and collectively bargains an agreement. In exchange for that trade-off and others, players get a certain percentage of the revenue and a minimum salary that is many times more than most people will make (annually) in their lifetimes. If NMC's are hurting the competitive balance of the league, then it should be addressed in the next CBA. That said, it was pointed out above that Winnipeg and Edmonton are two of the top teams in the league and are in (arguably) not the most desirable locations. It has also been pointed out in numerous threads that winning cures everything. The Bills don't seem to have a problem attracting free agents to Buffalo, because the team is a well-run, successful franchise. The Sabres never had a problem attracting free agents or making trades when they were a winning club. Thus, although NMCs may be an issue to be corrected, I don't believe it's a great excuse for the Sabres. If the team can get its house in order, players will want to come. Buffalo has been a desirable market for hockey players in the past, given its proximity to Southern Ontario, where many players come from, and its relatively easy and laid back lifestyle. A well-paid hockey player in Buffalo can live in a big beautiful house in an area with great schools for their kids and have an easy commute down to the rink for practice and games and a short commute to the airport for road games. Players can be big fish in a small pond - local celebrities - if they so choose, but they can also stay out of the limelight if they prefer. It's extremely common for players who played for the Sabres to settle and remain in Buffalo after retirement, and it's even common for players who left Buffalo to play elsewhere to come back to the area to settle after they retire. The area is not for everybody, but certainly has a lot of appeal to many of the types of individuals who play (and coach) in the NHL. Get a competent coaching staff, a capable GM in the front office, and regularly participate in the playoffs, and the Sabres will not struggle to attract players via trade or free agency.

I asked my parents if they knew that Chuck was from Rochester and my Dad said, yes, and that they went to the same high school and even shared classes together! Not sure why he never mentioned that back in the day when he used to listen to that music all the time. After high school, my Dad moved to Buffalo to attend UB, and he stayed until retirement (hence me being born and raised in Buffalo)....he was also a Sabres and Bills season ticket holder before retirement to warmer climes (hence me being a huge Sabres and BIlls fan).