msw2112

There's no way they're walking away from UPL, even if he goes to arbitration and wins. They could potentially walk away from Joki, but I don't think he'll cost that much and he's a good enough player that I believe they will want to retain him, so I don't see that happening either.

$5M was an overpay, but it's only for 1 year, so it has no long-term salary cap implications. The guy is a solid veteran player who has played a long time in the league, scored some goals, plays a solid 2-way game and has playoff experience. He's exactly what the team needed. If the team makes the playoffs this season, it will be easier to sign guys in the future to more reasonable contracts. For those of us who were born and raised in Buffalo, and those who have lived there/live there now, we know what a great place it is. Many Sabres players agree and make it there permanent home after their Sabres career ends. That said, to convince someone unfamiliar with the area to choose to come to the city, and to play for a team with the longest playoff drought in professional sports history, the team is going to have to overpay. The Bills suffered that problem for years. Then, they put a competent coaching staff and front office in place, drafted a great QB, started winning games and making the playoffs every year, and now they have no problem signing guys. If the Sabres can turn it around, the same will happen.

My biggest concerns about this projected roster are: 1) Krebs at 3C. Not saying he won't develop and get there, but to slot him in there at this point is a concern 2) Savoie at wing on the the third line. Savoie did not look ready last season and was passed up by Benson. I think that Savoie will develop into a top 6 winger, but I'm not sure that he's ready yet. He's still a small guy that needs to grow up physically and develop a NHL game. Rochester would be a better place for his development. I'd rather see Kulich or Rosen in the lineup than Savoie. Savoie has the higher celiing, but each of those guys has a couple of years of professional hockey under their belt. 3) The overall lack of grit. Malenstryn is a nice add (even if a 2nd was an overpay - but the success rate of NHL draft picks is low, so fine), but you need a little bit of grit in the top 6 and top 9. Not sure there's quite enough there. All this said, with Granato, the team was competitive, performing at near .500 level with what they had. They were 1 point behind the Panthers, who made the playoffs and finals two years ago (and won the Cup this year). Last year, they started slow and dropped off a little bit in the final standings, but they were not fighting for last place like in the past. If Ruff is truly a better coach than Granato, the team should be a 7th-8th seed type of team without any changes. Given Ruff's presence, a few more lineup changes that are going to happen (FA and/or trades), the natural maturity of UPL and Levi in net, plus the additional seasoning and maturity of some core players like JJP, Quinn, Power, Krebs, Byrum, Benson, etc. this should be a playoff team. Just because the team failed to meet expectations last season and have not been in the playoffs for 13 years doesn't mean that the team was terrible. It was a young team that was more or less in the middle of the pack. Some nights, they were terrific and others they were no-shows. They crapped the bed in 2 key games against Detroit that probably was the difference in making the playoffs or not. I attribute most of that to coaching (and prior to that, I was a Granato supporter). A lot of folks here allow the collective frustration that has built up over many years cloud the fact that the team is more in the middle (with upward potential) than at the bottom (with downward potential).

Bryson played pretty well when he came back later in the season. He's an adequate fill-in 3rd paring/7th defenseman. He's small, but moves the puck pretty well. If he ends up back with the team on a lower salary, I won't complain, but as stated above, if he leaves Buffalo, I think he'll have a NHL career somewhere else. No question that the role could be adequately filled by another guy like Clague, Stillman, or someone else out there, but Bryson is fine, in the right role. The last forward/defenseman on a roster isn't going to be an All-Star or a top 6/top pairing guy.

Outside of a few of the big names, I don't know ANY of the prospects in the draft, so I appreciate the information from fellow Sabrespace members. I know a lot of NFL and some NBA prospects from watching NCAA football and basketball. I do watch the Frozen Four so some NHL prospects are there, but not Canadian Juniors, Russians, and other Euros. So thanks to anyone with information on the Sabres' draft picks. Even if they're infused with the poster's opinion, I don't mind. I don't have my own opinion on these kids, so any input is welcomed.

Adams' job is to manage player acquisitions and stock the roster while Ruff's job is to coach the team and play the players on the roster that give the team the best chance to win. That said, neither man works in a vacuum. I'm sure they are in close contact and discuss all player moves. That's the case in most professional sports organizations. My guess is that with Adams' relative inexperience and Ruff's vast experience, that Adams may rely on Ruff a bit more than some GMs do with their head coaches, but regardless of the degree of collaboration, the GM and coach working together to build and manage a roster is how things work. In Bill Parcells' parlance, Adams buys the groceries and Ruff cooks the food, but Ruff helps Adams make the grocery list.

Maybe Adams has been shopping the pick to acquire additional assets to include in a trade that's already in the works and he needed an extra 2nd. Or maybe his trade isn't in place yet, but he's been shopping the pick to acquire additional assets and this was the best deal he could get. Maybe SJ said the deal was off unless he pulled the trigger now. In my personal opinion, if trading for veteran player, 11 is more valuable than 14, so I don't love this trade, but in the scheme of things, it's not that big of a deal. 14 isn't that different than 11 and an extra 2nd is a decent asset.

That's probably true. He was pretty solid in Buffalo on some bad teams, when healthy, but not Vezina material. No question that the Boston system was a huge boon to his career. Same for Swayman and probably Rask too. None of these guys are bad goalies - they are all fine/good NHL goalies, but no question that the other players and system in Boston helped them all rise to the top of the league statistically.

Obviously the reference was to Lindy. The reference in question is in a sentence that reads: "Maybe Lindy can work with the guy to overcome his deficiencies. He'll likely have more influence than a Krueger or Granato did, as he's a proven winner in the league." The sentence about being a proven winner discussed his influence relative to that of Krueger or Granato, the previous two coaches, so it was clearly a reference to Ruff, the current coach. Also, Skinner has never made the playoffs, whereas Ruff made it plenty of times as a player and a coach, has won a number of playoff series as a coach, and is 5th all-time in the NHL in coaching wins. So, Ruff is the proven winner, not Skinner. As to the rumors, the buyout of Skinner was talked about long before Ruff became coach. He's got a huge contract and struggles defensively and struggles with structure. He was benched by one coach (Kreuger) and moved from the first line to the third line by the next one (Granato). I don't know whether a final decision has been made, but Adams did say that "everything is on the table," so clearly a buyout is one of the avenues they are considering. I assume they're looking at trade options first, and if those fail, then the buyout comes into play. If the Sabres retain salary, I could see a team having interested in a guy with Skinner's offensive skills and production. My understanding is that the buyout window is a fairly small one that starts 48 hours after the finals end and only runs through June 30, so we'll all soon find out.

I understand the animosity towards Skinner, but he does have some plusses as a player: He's a very productive goal scorer (which every team needs) He's a scrappy guy who gets under opponents' skin (which the Sabres need in abundance) There's no indication that he's not a team player or a negative presence in the locker room Chances are that he's on the way out as he's not helpful in the defensive zone and doesn't appear to play well in a structure, but the guy is not a terrible hockey player. He's clearly overpaid, but if he is bought out, there's a financial loss, plus, there will be significant cost to replace his offensive production. Maybe Lindy can work with the guy to overcome his deficiencies. He'll likely have more influence than a Krueger or Granato did, as he's a proven winner in the league. I'll leave that up to Lindy (and Adams) to decide.

I'd definitely like to see Edmonton force a Game 7. The NBA finals were a dud and there's not a lot of drama and excitement to mid-season baseball, so a game 7 would be the best sports viewing (for me) until the fall. Assuming a Game 7 happens, I'm torn as to who to root for. It would be amazing to see the Oilers complete the rare comeback from down 3-0 and maybe see Connor McDavid cement his legacy as one of the all-time greats. On the other hand, Edmonton has 5 Cups, so it's sometimes nice to see a team that doesn't have a championship get one. Also, they're never going to have a problem promoting hockey in Western Canada, but it's good for the game to promote it in areas where it's less popular, so Florida winning a Cup would really be a plus for hockey in that part of the country. It's already very popular in Tampa, and they have 3 Cups to go with that.

Yes. From what I can tell, the original Pink Flamingo in Allentown ("old Pink") was the one that was in the fire. At some point in the late 80's/early 90's a newer, larger Pink Flamingo location opened in a big warehouse type of space off of Main Street ("new Pink"). I have no idea if the new Pink is still open. I don't live in Buffalo and haven't for some time, and when I'm in town, I'm not typically visiting those types of bars. If I'm in a bar, it's usually a bar and grill where I can watch a game or have lunch/dinner with my family and/or friends I am visiting. In any event, as I said upthread, the old Pink was a Buffalo institution and it's sad to see it go.

I was never a regular, but I definitely went there from time to time in my late high school/early college years. It was a Buffalo institution. Sad to see it go this way.

The traded some very talented players, several of them who have had/are having great success elsewhere (O'Reilly, Kane, Eichel, Reinhart, Montour, etc.) That said, Buffalo was a mess and these trades needed to be made in order to rebuild. Time had run out in Buffalo for these players and it was better to start over with a clean slate than to continue on with a group that wasn't working, despite several coaches and GMs. It's unfortunate, as that's quite a collection of outgoing talent, but it had to be done. Time will tell whether new core will be successful, but Granato got them to the middle of the pack (which is better than they were back with all of those guys) and Ruff may be able to get them over the hump. The current group is young and talented and there's a lot of talent in the pipeline. They now have an experienced NHL coach who has done well with several teams over the years. All is not lost. I'm looking forward to next season.

When he first started calling games, I could not stand Dunleavy. He seemed to be at about ECHL level. He's improved and has grown on me a little bit. I'd say he's now tolerable and average. I might prefer someone else, but I don't think that's going to happen, so I can live with Dunleavy. My opinion has nothing to do with following RJ. RJ was an all-time great and a true unicorn and it would not be fair to Dunleavy to compare him. To his credit, Dunleavy comes across as genuine and a good guy. I'd guess that most of the fanbase sees it like I do: good guy, OK broadcaster, probably not "popular."

Crazy to think that PIerre Turgeon is in the NHL Hall of Fame!

I don't care whether the guy has US National Development Team connections or Granato/Appert connections. Was he a successful coach where he last was? And for what it's worth Appert did a pretty good job in Rochester and Granato had a couple of good years in Buffalo and developed a lot of young players, so these connections are not necessarily bad. I do understand the concept that the Sabres seem to over-focus on who they already know versus doing comprehensive searches, but I'm willing to give the benefit of the doubt.

This is in reference to Dakota Joshua on the Canucks. I don't follow the NHL a ton outside of the Sabres, but I do enjoy having playoff games on while I am doing stuff around the house in the evenings. I saw parts of several Vancouver games in the first couple of rounds and this guy Joshua definitely stood out. He's an aggressive forward who plays a gritty, physical game and he scored some key goals in the playoffs. He seems like the exact type of player the Sabres lack and need more of in the middle-to-bottom-6. Prior to this year's playoffs, I was not familiar with this player at all.

Does anyone know if any of the guys on the list have previously played for Ruff in Dallas, NYR (where he was an assistant), or NJD and might want to play for him again? If a guy likes playing for Lindy or had a lot of success playing for Lindy, it might overcome the desire to avoid the Sabres organization. Also, we often fail to forget that, despite the extended playoff drought, the Sabres have been a reasonably competitive team in the last 2 seasons and do have a lot of young talent, so it may not be quite as unattractive as some may think. The team is not a cellar dweller fighting their way to the bottom (although there were not too long ago). Furthermore, a lot of guys are from Southern Ontario or the NE United States, so Buffalo is close to home, which can be a draw. Just trying to find some of the positives here....

I think the hope is that with a couple of years beside Lindy, combined with his relatively successful run as a professional hockey coach in Rochester, that Appert will be ready. It's anybody's guess whether it will work. Many/most successful NHL coaches were either successful AHL coaches and/or NHL assistant coaches first. Personally, I'm pretty shocked to see Ellis and Wilford still on the Sabres' coaching staff. When they were retained I expected them to be reassigned to other roles within the organization, but not as close to the day-to-day on-ice operations as they were this past season. I guess Appert coming in and being the top/primary assistant is a significant change, but I'm still scratching my head. Every time I think this organization has started to go down a better path, they do something that makes me question things. While I don't think hiring Lindy Ruff was a terrible choice, it certainly didn't look like they did much diligence in the head coaching search, and the new coaching staff looks like they put even less diligence into the assistant coaching search.

It's great to see such excitement and enthusiasm for professional hockey in Western New York and for (a part of) the Sabres organization. Hope they can bring some of that excitement about 60 miles to the west next season.

I don't follow Matthews that much. Obviously, the guy is a premier goal scorer. My concern about him is that he lacks the qualities that the Sabres roster is so badly in need of - grit and toughness. The Sabres already have guys who can score (although none who have scored as much as Matthews) and play a finesse game, so I don't think that the assets required to acquire a guy like Matthews would be worth it. If the Sabres were to send out a lot of assets for at top NHL player, they'd be much better served acquiring a guy with the skillset of a Matthew Tkachuk. He's not going to put up as many goals or points as Matthews, but he brings all of the intangibles that the Sabres need - grit, toughness, leadership, etc. I fully understand that Tkachuk is not available and isn't going to be. I think the Sabres were/are hoping that Dylan Cozens will be that type of player and he still might.

I'm not passionate about the Leafs losing, but given how their fans like to come into Buffalo and take over with a degree of arrogance, I can't lie and say I don't enjoy it a little bit. Of course, the Leafs losing means that Boston is advancing, and it's hard to take a lot of pleasure in that....I'd like to see Boston go out this round. I'm also not a fan of the Dallas sports scene, but I still was happy to see them oust Vegas. Vegas has had a great run the last few years, so I enjoy seeing new/different teams in the mix.

This is the regime that drafted Peterka by, as mentioned, a smart trade to move up the draft board. This regime also drafted Quinn, who outside of injuries, has been a very good offensive player (he did have a horrible outing in Detroit....) They also drafted Benson and a number of other guys who appear to have bright futures. I don't see the Adams administration as the total fail that many on this board do. They've put together a talented team that's in the middle of the pack and should, with the right coach (Lindy?) make the leap to the upper half of the league. I think that they will pick up some grit in the offseason by acquiring a couple of new players and I think that Lindy will help inject some grit into some of the existing players. I don't think a complete overhaul is needed. They are moving in the right direction and with good NHL coaching (Lindy?) and a few roster tweaks, I think that we Sabres fans will be happy next year when the team ends the playoff drought. And that's probably without significant contributions from future players such as Savoie, Kulich, Rosen, Neuchev, Wahlberg, Östlund, etc. who are further down the line. I will fully admit that I said the same thing last year, but I really believed in Granato, and as much as I like him and supported him, he lost me with the 2 late Detroit losses and the Ottawa embarrassment. I just don't see those types of performances in critical games happening with Lindy behind the bench. The team will, at a minimum, be ready to play both in a) the October-November-December portion of the season; and b) the first period of games. I've made these same comments in other threads.

Very simply, I believe that Lindy will most impact the team by them being READY. Ready to start the season in October (and not January) and ready to start games when the puck drops to start the 1st period (and not after they've given up 2-4 goals). Guys who are not ready will not play and there will be bag skates if necessary. As someone said above, if Lindy does his job well, there won't need to be a lot of benchings or bag skates. This alone would easily elevate the current roster to a playoff team from one that just misses it by a little bit, plus there will be roster changes (improvements) too.