PerreaultForever

I pretty much went into it with the 3 teams being equal. I mean we finished 2 points apart. So that's the season ending rosters. The argument hinges on how much you believe in our kids being ready right now and in whether or not you think the end of season wins were a real representation of where we are. So the Sabres are better IF the kids leap forward, Ottawa is better if the players they picked up play like they've played in the past. The latter seems the safer bet.

Okay fair enough, but then that's exactly my point. DeBrincat, Giroux, Talbot and so forth are known entities. You can argue that DeBrincat might not have Kane, but since he has Giroux, I'm not sure there's a valid case. We are reliant on AHL players stepping in and Krebs type players stepping up. To be "right now" you have to talk Hinostroza not Quinn. If we get new young players so do they. They have several coming up too. But in terms of proven known players, they are better.

I do think Husso is better. Why? That's a tough question. I guess it's mostly because I've seen him play and his development seems to put him at what he is, a starting goalie, and Comrie was just a journeyman backup. Husso outplayed Binnington for most of the year. It's not a sure thing, Husso isn't Hasek by any stretch but Comrie is really just a low priced roll of the dice. He's a placeholder if UPL doesn't work out or Anderson gets injured again (which is likely). let me rephrase it this way. If you were not a fan and looked in on it how would you rank the goaltending? I'd go 1. Ottawa 2. Detroit 3. Buffalo.

See the bold is one of the key things where I disagree with people. There is a HUGE ASSUMPTION that Quinn and Peterka will just slot in and leave everyone in awe. There is simply no guarantee that either will impact in any meaningful way (yet) and who knows if ever. Look at Mitts and Cozens. This may be their year (maybe) but to this point after several seasons neither is a top impact player (yet). Quinn and Peterka are going to take time as well. By not signing a few veteran players to fill the gaps now, it's all on the kids and while they may be alright, they also might not be ready and so I suspect we will be waiting yet another year. We will see if Ottawa is as good as I think they might be now. All we can do right now is speculate. and disagree 🙂 For the record, while I have no problem with Lyubishkin as an addition and Pysyk upgrade, I'm not sure he's all that, and while he might gel with our style, he's really just an average player. Comrie doesn't impress me at all, but it's possible he plays better than he has in the past. Goaltending is a clear negative for us in comparison to the competition unless UPL amazes. Big if.

I don't really understand what you mean by the first sentence. The main players they picked up in free agency all will be in their opening night rosters. I personally don't put much stock in late season win streaks by losing teams. I've seen this many times over the years (as I'm sure you have) and it rarely means anything for the next season. I have never felt we played as good in that stretch as some people think we did. The goalie thing is the biggest IF. They picked up goalies who SHOULD be up to the task. We have goalies who MIGHT be up to the task. It's a huge IF.

I wouldn't doubt if Adams held fast to wanting Philly's 1st next year to take him and Philly wasn't willing to go that high. It's pretty obvious Johnny wanted Philly and they tried to clear space, they just failed. I think you're right, but there are definitely deals to be made this time. Adams might feel he's in the drivers seat though and is making demands too high to be met. Might see a lowered compromise closer to the season. He might also make up his mind after seeing what he has ready in development camp.

Will be interesting to see if he ruins Carolina then. People were saying the same thing about DeAngelo and he had a big season for them. Brind'Amour vs. Max, we shall see who comes out on top. I'd bet on Brind'Amour.

There is no point to this because your criteria isn't consistent. Buffalo actually added Lyubushkin and Comrie and that's it. The comparison is really Copp/Perron/Husso vs. Debrincat/Giroux/Talbot vs. Lyubushkin/Comrie which ranks Ottawa - Detroit-Buffalo in that order. Tuch is already a Sabre and there was a subtraction. At this point we traded Tuch for Eichel. Until Krebs (if) delivers and the picks play in the NHL it's a one for one trade. The main point however that makes it pointless to argue is you simply can't list off our top prospects as additions and then not list off the top prospects for the other teams. I'm not as familiar with Detroit, but Ottawa has numerous prospects ready just like us. Sanderson, Greig and Pinto for example. You can argue ours might be better, and maybe they are, but those 3 are all likely in the NHL this year and although Power should be a great player in time, Sanderson is probably ahead of him in terms of development at this time. Argue that if you want to, but even if Power is better, it doesn't change the imbalance.

People who bet seriously are only interested in money so they have more objectivity than fans who over value their team and it's possibilities.

I wouldn't really want Pacioretty (never liked him as a player) but Carolina did get him for basically free, illustrating the point that these things are out there to be seized upon by smart GMs. We have the cap space, Seattle has the cap space. Teams want Kadri as their 2C they need cap space. Go get a Compher or somebody like that and let them sign him. If it's a garbage player obviously make them add in high pick(s) preferrably for next year.

Not a fan of Max Pacioretty? 🙂

Obviously feel they are close enough to give it another kick at the can (or two) until Crosby retires and then tear it all down. I think we should be all in on helping a team clear that cap space for Kadri. Could pick up a nice asset there like Girard or Compher (who we should have always had).

But here's my question to all of you. If we fall back and end up in 7th place in the division as the oddsmakers are predicting, does he then become yet another in the list of young inexperienced failed GMs hired by Pegula, does Granato get dumped like the inexperienced (at an NHL head coach level) coaches that preceded him or do you still give them a Lindy Ruff type long haul?

So no Kadri to Buffalo (which makes some of you happy) but there's a real opportunity here. Those contenders need cap space. Get an asset/player and pick(s) off them for next to nothing. Take on the money. It would be a solid plan B.

If all of that (and the others) is true, (and it isn't), then why do the oddsmakers have us in 7th place in the division? I guess they are pessimists lacking objectivity too.

I know, but I'm saying it wasn't a "playoff clip" . We did win one against the Canes in a split and had a 1-0 over the Flames (although they turned out to be a playoff dud) but aside from the anomalous pasting of Toronto indoors and out we got schooled by Boston, Tampa, Florida, St. Louis. All the real playoff teams. Remember how gung ho everyone was and then they all came back down to earth when Tampa beat us 5-0? That win total is padded by a bunch of wins against Philly, NJ, Chicago. When you look at our record against playoff teams it wasn't very good, and if you take those Toronto games out it's really bad. It simply was NOT a "playoff clip" and if you think the late season wins indicate we will win at that rate next year I think you are living an illusion or even delusion.

We will need a lot more than that. We might get it, but we will definitely need it.

I would like to believe you, but the bolded is blatantly untrue. The only playoff team we seemed to trounce was Toronto. Tampa beat up on us. Florida trounced us multiple times. Boston shut us out. St. Louis beat us easily. We were winning against the crap teams, not the good ones. We scored more goals last year, but our defense was porous and our goaltending was (usually) crap. Stability and chemistry maybe. Remains to be seen what effect that has.

So in all likelihood that means you have Toronto finishing first overall? That might even be less likely than our chances of making the playoffs. I am amazed at the love Comrie gets. A goalie that most teams pretty much didn't even consider as an option. If Comrie is actually good, that would indeed be a lucky home run hit. More likely, he's a slight upgrade on Tokarski and that's all.

Well, there's a lack of objectivity among the fanbase. The oddsmakers, who are about as objective as you can get, now have the Sabres placed only ahead of the Habs in our division. That's pretty much in agreement with what I've been saying. You're right though, I used the word prospects loosely when I was generally referring to young players who haven't lived up to their potential yet or just haven't really proven it yet at an NHL level. Of the players you list, only Dahlin and (probably) Tage are proven entities. Maybe Samuelsson, probably, but how good (or bad) he ends up being is still uncertain. The rest are just a big pile of idk and hopefulness. Definitely not proven. Do I think Cozens can be good? Yes, definitely. Do I know if he will or if that's now? Definitely not. To this point, he seems to have a hard time putting the puck in the net. Will that change like it did with Tage? Likely, but who knows when? Joker? idk. He has flaws. Has he peaked? Can he be better? Will he be better? idk. Right now, he's a weak link as a top 2 pairing. Krebs and Mitts have skills but neither has shown me that they are or will be top 6 NHL players. Power will be a good hockey player. One day. Probably. But he's a kid. Going to take several years before he makes a huge difference. JJ? No idea. Quinn this Quinn that, everybody excited about Quinn. Lightweight who seems fragile and has proven nothing in the NHL. No idea if his AHL prowess will transfer to the big league but do I expect him to jump in and score 20-30 goals next year? Not likely. I know you want to believe, I know fans don't like these thoughts, but I'm trying to be objective and not just have faith. I've been saying it all season (and part of last). After all these years of losing they have to show me on the ice. Nothing else matters to me. How do you get better??? Good drafts and smart free agent moves. (I'd include trades but when you trade for picks and prospects it loops you back to the draft). The drafts seem reasonable, but then so many drafts that bust seem reasonable when you first look at them. Got to wait to see. The free agent moves? Pretty much nothing. That's disappointing. That's it.

You may disagree, but at this point do you not think Detroit and Ottawa (and maybe Columbus) got significantly better than they were? Our being better depends on prospects developing which is a big maybe. They got better now.

It may not be what you want and it may not be what he wants, but it'd be perfect to turn this team into an actual contender. Imagine him going up against Toronto star power with maybe a little grudge or matching Tkachuk in Ottawa and Marchand in Boston. Imagine a starting team that looked like this: Skinner-Thompson-Tuch Olofsson-Kadri-Cozens Krebs-Mittlestadt-Quinn Asplund-Girgensens-Okposo Dahlin-Klingberg Power-Jokiharju Samuelsson-Lybushkin Just sayin'.

I was joking about Kadri and Klingberg late last night but oddly TSN That's Hockey put Buffalo on the short list of possible destinations for both of them so maybe it's not an impossible dream. We did that everybody (including myself) would stop talking about Ottawa.

Pretty sure if that deal happened it was Murray instead of Comrie. Doesn't make sense otherwise. If KA's plan was to pick up contracts just for picks JVR would be a Sabre right now and so would Nick Foligno.

We could go on with hypotheticals all off season and we won't get anywhere because the Sabres being better is a faith thing. You have to assume the kids will be better and do what you think they will. Maybe they will, maybe they won't. The only certainty to me is our goaltending is bottom tier in the league. Better than last year, but not by a lot. Yes, Husso is better than Comrie (as of now). To your first sentence, they don't have to have the same amount of young talent, it's a question of how much young talent they have that is ready to contribute. The argument about who will be better 5 years from now is different to who will be better now, this coming season. Detroit had the same number of wins as us, 1 less point, so basically the same as us. They have added several pieces and are now definitely a better team. We MIGHT be a better team but at this point are kind of the same. Ottawa is definitely better. A while back, maybe 2 seasons, I said it would be interesting to compare our plan with Ottawa's. At first Ottawa seemed to have the better plan (imo) then last season they didn't progress, some of their prospects didn't step up and we seemed to maybe be moving ahead. Now, with these massive additions (imo) they have leaped ahead using a plan I was advocating but it appears KA is not. He thinks we need more patience. Good for him, he has job security I guess, we fans have to just suffer another year of frustration. I think Ottawa could make the playoffs. Detroit will be competitive to the end but likely miss. We will not be in the running. That's my opinion at this point. Of course if we add Kadri and Klingberg everything changes.