PerreaultForever

Most of his penalties have been stick penalties not roughing. He has taken a lot of them and they aren't unwarranted. It's a flaw in his game. I like Benson, but he still has much to learn. In general, Sabres take a lot of dumb stick penalties and that adds to the total. Also, penalties happen when you are under attack and do not defend well physically. Too much stick defending and not enough bodying off the puck.

Those aren't equivalents imo. It's true that some of their kids are leading their scoring and maybe they got lucky with Hutson but they've made more moves and trades. Took a chance on Laine. They've picked up assets along the way with various moves like Monahan and DeSmith and just a generally more active GM building around character as well as talent. They also have guys to step up if the kids get challenged and the team plays braver. There's never been a softness question on that team has there? In general I just see a more balanced roster with more of the necessary parts for success. They might not even make the playoffs. Rangers and Columbus are still there and maybe Detroit too but they are in it and it's exciting. They leapt ahead of the Sabres and they are a lesson in how to do it properly by comparison. I think trying to look for similarities is a mistake (all rebuilds have some similarities). The key is to look at the differences, even if they seem small.

Clifton was a 7/8 guy in Boston on a league minimum contract. Because of injuries he got into their bottom pairing and played decent hockey in their structured defensive system. But that's who he is, a bottom pairing guy and expecting more is silly. I guess we had to overpay him to get him but we grossly overpaid him and if the idea was pair him with Power on the second pairing it was a ridiculous idea. When we signed him Boston fans were like "wtf? well good for Cliffy, get the money, but that's a ridiculous contract for him". It's a good point about who he plays with though. He hasn't exactly been put in the best situations and his own pairing isn't helping his stats.

I don't agree that the roster is similar at all. They have put much more emphasis on physicality and tenacity and they have a much more balanced roster. I heard the TSN guys refer to Anderson as a "culture driver" and I found myself thinking we haven't had a "culture driver" since Foligno got traded.

Montreal looking like they know how to rebuild better than the Sabres. That development is more annoying than Ottawa ahead of us.

The argument that it's a bad idea since we don't develop players well in the AHL is a valid point. I would prefer the AHL methodology overhauled as well.

So why do you feel having him LEAD an AHL roster would be a bad thing for his development?

Samuelsson. Wasn't that obvious? Power looks lazy a lot too, but there's a whole development argument there.

We've heard this locker room coming together stuff in other years too. There's a lot of sameness to this season.

I view it differently. I don't see it as a demotion but as a necessary and useful part of long term development. A year where he is the #1 guy in all the big responsibility roles. If he's too good for the AHL he comes back up before the season ends but he'd grow more there than on a 3rd line role in the NHL imo. It helped Tage and Mitts. Point being I want to develop him into a top 6 forward not a utility player. I also want veterans on our NHL roster and there's only so many roster spots.

and I didn't even mention Will Borgen 🙂

Defensive D men. The guys we all hoped Samuelsson would be, but he is not. Wouldn't hurt if one or two of them put a little fear into attacking forwards as well. As an example if our D was a group roughly equivalent to Dahlin, Power, Braydon McNabb, Jake McCabe, Zadorov and Ristolainen we'd have a pretty damn good D core wouldn't we? Now you can find individual faults with those players (like most players) but they were all Sabres at one time and they are all in the league and they'd be a balance of puck movers, thumpers, defensive stalwarts, size and speed and thus a very solid and balanced D. We have 4 puck movers, I lazy piece of crap and a mighty mite who tries but is marginal at best. In addition our 4th line is garbage. Too soft to have an impact or energy shift like Ruff said he wanted and unskilled as well. Adams gave us a downgrade with the moves he made there not an upgrade and it's just about the easiest line you can make.

That's good to hear. He's not really an offensive threat yet but if he's developing a good 2 way game that's promising. He is my favourite prospect but I do still consider him a prospect and still think a year in the AHL (next year when his age allows it) would do him good. Tuch's 50/50 but they are probably the best that's fair.

I don't think that's true. I would call that depth. Having guys who are flawed in one area or just not quite NHL regular. You also need veterans in the AHL to teach the kids how to be pros before they even get the call up. Consider the Washington plan.

Weird to see all that old stuff but then Jack White gets in there. I have no real comment here that just stuck out for me.

Is Larry Gowan still in that?

I wouldn't say Risto is "good" but he's certainly competent second pairing. Let's not forget Brayden McNabb though. The D in shambles starts there. So if you have a different team and you have McNabb and McCabe along with Zadorov and Risto, well it's just a whole different thing isn't it? Would Brayden McNabb not have been the perfect veteran D partner for Power? The franchise has made a lot of mistakes.

Imagine if we'd kept those guys? We'd have one of the biggest D's in the league. Not to say their D is perfect, far from it, but it is something we lack desperately. I have a hard time with these wish list posts because sure I'd love a Sam Bennett etc. but I know damn well I'm not going to get one.

Hey come on, you're forgetting they have Mittelstadt 🙂

Well there you go, the Bruins have torn down to Sabres level. That was a dead even hockey game between two teams clearly not playoff bound. I guess next year and beyond we see which team rebuilds faster or falls further. Greenway held his own on Zadorov. That was good.

Ya, that was kind of my point. Saying Peterka was bad defensively is fine but so are the rest of them. I don't consider McLeod an actual offensive scoring forward. He played a 2 way role in Edmonton and that's where he actually belongs on the third line. Forechecking is not defense imo, it's part of an attack and yes, Tuch does that, and I wish more of them would as well. I think this team needs more of that. Okay. I don't consider Greenway or Krebs as offensive players but fair enough. Zucker has played in proper systems so he definitely has more of that.

Which of the Sabres offensive players is good at defense?

Bruins depleted roster is pretty weak so Sabres should be able to win if they give any sort of effort at all. Zadorov-Jokiharju is their top D pairing right now and the bottom pairing of Wotherspoon-Mitchell is really bad. Korpisalo in net.

I'm certainly not opposed to a complete change, but power has to be given to a new person and can't stay with the owner.

Definitely true. I'm not convinced he isn't an idiot, but he definitely lacks imagination. He has not found ways to work around his obstacles and he hasn't reacted quickly to problems (and has definitely not seen those problems coming).