PerreaultForever

"Dahlin is Barbie" is so tempting to go into a question of softness on but that's another topic. They don't have to be "equal" to have a complementary relationship in terms of D pairings. Very few pairings are "equal".

I don't think anyone would disagree with the young core being there and them being the core going forward but depth is still a problem at this stage and I think making a few more "mercenary" moves in key spots would have been a good strategy. The fear of course is that if it comes up short too many times some of that core might think they are better off elsewhere. We've gone through that before, so when we start ascending it is important to do everything you can to make that a success. Every mountain climbing expedition out there knows you do better if you hire a few seasoned sherpas to guide you to the summit.

Well yes and no. Some people may have said that about Samuelsson but not me and not others. The thing there was the pairing. You saw how badly we did when Samuelsson was out of the line up right? Samuelsson doing what he does allows Dahlin to do what he does and it's the pairing that makes BOTH players better. This is why I really wanted Pesce to play with Power but hopefully Clifton will be good enough. We've had a long history of bad and temporary pairings where the better D men were trying too hard to compensate for their partner's mistakes and that has made their play worse. It might be partially Granato but I feel Power has a different mindset to what Dahlin had at the same age. Dahlin was all in on his offensive strengths, especially under Housley. His development was stunted imo and Kruger, although he recognized Dahlin had to be better defensively, he had absolutely no way to teach these guys anything so Dahlin struggled. He's overcome a lot of that now and is maturing into the complete package but I think Power also has a lot of offensive upside that he has held back on. Maybe told not to take chances, maybe he's just a smart kid, but I think with a solid partner we will see him jump into the play more than we have and an offensive side will show. In some ways they kind of have opposite development paths but in time having both of them back there will be huge. Maybe even dominant.

It's just that they are very different players so their contribution down the line will be different. Power imo will eventually be better at being a defenseman, but Dahlin will have higher scoring stats. Don't see Power being Pronger. I'd say more Pietrangelo.

Or I just read the title of one thread without reading the other. You're bored this summer aren't you?

This. and this again.

I'm still iffy on Adams. I thought a tear down was necessary and he did that, so he gets kudos on that, but otherwise he's only done 2 things (or 3 depending on how you look at it) that I really like and a few that I hate so I'm 50/50. I don't give him great kudos for the tear down cause those players were likely to get back assets no matter who the GM was. Vegas wanted Eichel bad so getting Tuch back as part of the deal was a no brainer to any GM who pays any attention at all. They were good trades, but no way to know if they were Adams wins or just what was possible at the time. The 2 (or 3) things are signing Tage and Cozens long term for what turns out to be good value by NHL standards. Solid decisions it seems. The other thing is getting Clifton, a guy I had targeted as best value out there and a perfect fit. But, he's botched goaltending so far (Levi pending)and imo he really hasn't done enough in terms of free agency. As for drafting, like most GMs for pathetically bad teams it's hard to get them all wrong and you should get good players back. How many lower picks stick one day will determine how good or bad he is at that. Still remains to be seen.

Define "better".

I think this is a fair and accurate assessment. I look around at bottom role signings and by and large we pay more for less. There are exceptions and over pays on various teams but I was disappointed with the way they have just stayed the course with these guys and to some extent paid them generously. I have to assume that part of that might be related to players not wanting to come to Buffalo. Maybe they will one day but for now I think it's still hard to attract players without over paying them like we did with Johnson. Olofsson is massively overpaid and that's probably why we didn't find a trade partner. Retention doesn't seem to be part of our game plan. Sprong at 2 million is basically the same guy as an example. Players like Geekie imo are much better value for less than what we have. Garnet Hathaway would have given us better role value than Zemgus if you want to spend 2.5 on a 4th liner. Last year you could argue paying the bottom players was necessary as a cap floor team, but imo the money could have been better spent now. We aren't like Chicago right now with their massive bottom overpays (Foligno, Perry) since they are likely still a full rebuild for a few more years. Building from within is great, but it's a slow process and eventually they all mature around the same time and then Adams will have a problem. We will see how he handles that.

Wow. That's a crazy price even if he doesn't totally fall off a cliff as it ages.

too many.

That's one way to negotiate I guess.

Are we FINALLY going to get names?

Not a big surprise here.

and as it turns out an offer sheet of anything 4 million (plus) would have put them over cap and given them a major headache.

Hell no!!!!!!!!!!!!

I would trade Greenway for Lauko straight up in a heartbeat. Steen can be considered fringe at this point but he fits the Bruins system so he could be a solid bottom end guy if they need that. Greenway puzzles me. He's such an inbetweener and I just don't know what he is at this point. If they can find a way to make him into one thing or another he might be a future part of the roster but at this point, until he develops into that one thing I will consider him fringe.

No more 10 minute misconducts when the refs think you might cause trouble next shift. Ridiculous misuse of a rule last year.

Clifton does shift things in terms of playoff experience, that's true. I don't count the Minnesota guys as they are fringe players at best. If Johnson is starting 6 then he counts. Giroux, if he's still top 6 is the one that swings things for me, but we can argue and disagree all summer if you like but I still think it will come down to goaltending and/or injuries. The grit argument is different though. Sabres are not as soft as they were, but last year I still saw a team that backs down and/or doesn't back things up that much. Sure, Krebs had a fight he seemed to enjoy, and Dahlin hit a few guys on occasion, but we were bottom of the league in hits and we struggled more against the more physical teams if they played physical. We will see this year if guys like Cozens fully mature into forces of nature but at the moment, we will not hold up to their potential level of physicality.

They play bigger, they have top line veteran leadership, they have a grittier line up that is more battle ready, they are maybe not as fast but fast enough, some of them are more competitive, but no they are not deep and neither are we. I'm not saying they will definitely be better than us, but they might be. Injuries and goaltending might very well be the difference. That aspect could go either way. I have more faith in Korpisalo than in Levi (as a rookie, later on sure) but I'm also sure many here will disagree with that so wait and see what happens. I could be wrong.

I thought arguing with the plan was the whole point of being here?

Regarding the prospect pool, that's not wrong, but I'm only concerned with this season coming and who makes the playoffs first. After that, we MIGHT get better but that's next year's off season discussion. Eventually I think Power will be better than Sanderson, but Sanderson is more developed now. He could very well fully break out this year. They are built better for the playoffs, we are built slightly better for the regular season. We will see who gets there first. The pivotal point for me is the goaltending. We are banking on a rookie and they are banking on a free agent signing. I personally think Korpisalo could be the difference but it's just a hunch and I could be wrong. If he gets hurt and Levi can handle the load, then maybe we end up ahead of them. I'm sure most of us remember Hasek beating Ottawa in the playoffs. Maybe Levi gives us that again one day.

Could be the same, but just because you got it wrong one year (or something else went wrong) doesn't mean you get it wrong the next year. There's some solid adds on those teams and Ottawa especially also has a number of young guys who could have breakout years. Hard to say.

He's only 5'10" Ottawa and Detroit made more FA moves than we did. They made a few I would have made for us, but of course maybe those players were offered contracts but said no thank you. We will never know as Adams saying that publicly would look bad for the team going forward. If he chose to not make those moves when he could have and either of those teams makes the playoffs and we do not, then it's on him for sure. I personally do not think he did enough. At the moment, I think Ottawa is more likely to make the playoffs than we are, but of course neither team is deep so any rash of injuries will sideline either. Same for Detroit. Who knows, maybe he fully recovers and we add Patrick Kane in the fall/winter. Maybe not. (In all seriousness though Cliffy is an upgrade over everybody we had last year after the top 3. He should make a good partner for Power)

That ends their remaining cap space but I think it's a pretty good signing for them. Rounds out their top lines and if their season goes badly they can probably still flip him at the deadline even with the no trade clause (unless Tarasenko falls in love with the canal or something and refuses to leave :)) I suppose if they make the playoffs and we do not and Tarasenko gets 20+ goals we can probably say he'd have been a good Quinn replacement.