FrenchConnection44

I.e., he intimidates precisely zero players on the ice.

Watching the Panthers play the Lightning is a great example of why the Sabres need a lot more grit and toughness. That they just don’t have dudes like that. They need really three or four guys who play with an edge and can be intimidating. A guy like Tkachuk.

Agreed. Just being facetious

Benson is a fan favorite and really smart player with great instincts. I don’t see the comp to O’Reilly who is bigger and stronger. He can hang in front of the net. Nor the comp to Marchand who is much more physical and tougher. And has a real edge to his game with dirty play. He’s mean. And an agitator not afraid to rough it up. Marchand also probably really goes only 5’7 and still around 180. Dude is a small bowling ball. The challenges for Benson are multiple: he doesn’t skate really fast; he doesn’t have a powerful shot; doesn’t have really strong hands or handle or ability to rocket passes; and he doesn’t really have size or strength or power for the corners, or the mean / angry streak to match up. He’s got great hockey sense. Tricky good defensive stick skills (except for a shot and strong hands). Now, if he gained 10-15 pounds of muscle, developed his shot and stronger passing, improved his skating speed, or became more physical in the corners he could really become a very good player. But he has a lot of work to do to become a significant player imo. He’s a kid in a man’s game right now and it may take 3 more years and some adversity to get there. The fact is, most of our players play like Junior or college kids. Benson is the poster boy. They don’t play like men. Two or three of those on a team are fine. But it takes men to win in the NHL.

Eklund has to be the obvious pick, right? 5’11, 161. He’s the perfect finesse player to go with the other 18 finesse skaters on the team and the 15 finesse prospects we have in the system. No brainer. Especially if we want to hit 15 straight years.

Because the league prohibits that through the CBA. It is how it is in every team sport. Team facilities are open for players to train and trainers are allowed to interact with players at the player’s request during regular hours. But they cannot even make appointments with players and no team staff are allowed to contact and work with players during the off season except for the league specified conditioning camp and training camp.

Once again, the late season run was fools gold. And all it did was to likely take them out of getting a top 4 player who might have helped them next year. How ridiculous. 🤦‍♂️ Adams is so bad but he’s not likely to go anywhere. 🤦‍♂️ And a player we needed to package in a trade, Power, is injured and likely to rehab all offseason. 🤦‍♂️ Of course, we did keep Bryson in the fold I will never understand that move. I doubt he’d be on an NHL roster if it weren’t for Adams’ genius. Fairburn: “Bryson signed a one-year extension March 20. Since then, he has played five games and been scratched 10 times. The Sabres are 0-5 when he plays and have been outscored 7-0 when he’s on the ice at five-on-five. His on-ice goals-against average during that stretch is 6.42, according to Natural Stat Trick. That contract is a head-scratcher when roster spots will be at a premium this summer and the defense is in need of a clear upgrade.”

Just on here to post about that. I just don't think you can take much from a team that was all but eliminated and then decided to play freely and went on a run. It's fools gold. That's why I'd have preferred for us to rest some guys with "nagging" injuries, bring up guys from the minors, and hope for a top 4 pick in which we might land a kid who can play next year. If this is largely the same team next year (they need a physical, two-way F, a big D-man who also plays a physical game, and a goalie. Even then that is jsut to get in the playoffs) other than a few minor changes like this last offseason then I don't see it happening.

That is nice. But no offense at all, but that is ultimately utterly meaningless unless it gets us into the playoffs. And in reality that means … continues into next year. And how often has winning when it no longer matters benefitted the team the following year over the past decade plus? Until and unless we get a team that has the ingredients to win consistently all that happens the rest of the year doesn’t mean bleep. IMO. I don’t care about moral victories. Not after 13 years plus of futility.

Interesting that in ESPN’s players to watch in the upcoming NCAA tournament, along with Jake Richard under Sabres control, there were several players who are free agents that are garnering interest from NHL teams. We should be all over some of these guys (first one is Riley Thompson, Ohio St). A big fwd who can play D, and a physical defensive minded 6’6 defender? We probably won’t show any interest 😉

Imo, the key is getting a new GM in who can truly lead the organization and then decide on coaching. Torts would be intriguing given his successes.

Benson is a smart and tricky player with that uncanny knack for being in the right place quite often. Hard to teach those instincts. and still young. But he has to devote himself to get stronger. Physically overall, to add some physicality to his game, to increase his speed, and to develop a quicker and stronger shot (want to see his shot % get into the teens. As it is he just doesn’t yet have a strong shot). If he does he could be a very good NHL player—not just a hopeful one for a future hopeful winning franchise.

Just going to mention him. He was featured in ESPN’s prospects to watch in the NCAA tournament. He’s also not yet under contract. But good to see some promise.

Once again, meaningless wins. How often have we seen this. Only ruining our draft position. Smh. And giving fans hope they can be decent but they will find a way to disappoint once again next year I’m sure lol. (While the Pens position themselves to land a top player of course. And he’ll probably wind up being a star with their luck.) This team has to be the greatest flatter to deceive team in all of sports, bar none. Some sports pub / network put out a yearly award for that. If they did, the Sabres would be multi-year champions over the course of the last decade plus.

Norris already out with injury. 😂 Of course. Anyway, this team still needs a goalie but a strong power forward or two (ideally one who can intimidate and take on bullies), and defensive RHD would be nice. I don’t want to tank but I also want to finish bottom 3-4.

Of course we won. I knew we'd beat some good teams. And its time for another 3-5 game win streak (which has argably been this team's defining characteristic - losing streak, winning streak, losing streak, etc. )

I think it is that he is simply spending so much to go all in on the Bills in the Allen era, plus the stadium and the $560 million he has to pay on overruns (good grief!), he is just not going to spend any more than he needs to or be aggressive with the Sabres. He may not be able to afford to from a cash on hand perspective. So he’s going to cut corners there.

Well deserved for Allen. Total franchise player. Also interesting that he is only the fourth quarterback to win the MVP but not be named first team all pro. But I agree with that situation. I failed to pay attention when he won MVP. It’s an interesting category, but I get it and it made sense a couple of times in the past. Like in ‘87: Joe Montana was first team all pro and deservedly so. He was the best quarterback in football that year and the best quarterback in the game. But Elway was deserving of the MVP because of the fact that he carried the Broncos so far with lesser talent.

I want a top 3-4 pick so I want us to score some goals, make it competitive but not win 😬 At this point, if we got hot, went into the draft with the 8th pick, we might actually retain Adams and be in the same spot again next year. Which would result in further pain. So I can root for wins at this point. Just me. I know others differ.

The team never should’ve drafted Owen Power, number one. What they need to do now is trade him. And hope they can get a first or high 2nd for him. If we had a coach who came in and said to him, “look, you’re never gonna be a great hockey player until you get some toughness inside of you. I don’t know whether you have that or not but you better get it in a hurry. Hockey is not a game for 6’6 220 pound defenseman who won’t play tough, physical hockey,” maybe he could light a fire under him. But if he’s going to play like a girl then go play volleyball If you draft a guy number 1 over all who is a 6’6, 215 lb defensemen, you want him to aspire to be the next Chris Pronger or Victor Hedman. Just look at Pronger’s PIM

Dude has to go. Find a real GM this offseason. Find one that people have confidence in and who can sell some players on coming to Buffalo. We have had some not so great luck with getting a top pick in a not so great draft years. We need to lose when the draft is really strong. This would be a good year to get in the top 3 or 4 in the draft, where we can at least get a player who can get to the league next year. Especially great with a new GM. Of course Adams traded away a potentially strong pick in round 2, which hurts. We did get a steal in Peterka in round 2. But Quinn was kind of a meh pick given some of the picks around him. Good News: we do have a pretty tough schedule going the rest of the way which could help us secure a top 3-4 pick. Bad News: we often tend to play well when not expected against good teams and suck when expected to win. And we are also getting close to being due for one of our 4-5 game win streaks, having lost 6 in a row. I don’t see how season ticket holders and people who might be closer to the owner don’t raise hell about Adams and the franchise in general.

Agreed. It looked like UPL had devoted himself to getting better last year with working hard in the offseason before 2023-24 and was on the way up. He’s just completely regressed.

Even with that, even if he knew he was gone you still gotta go to war with your teammates! Especially your captain but all of them! That is exactly not the kind of player we need. It’s the quintessential example, of course, but imagine if that were Tkachuk on the ice in Cozens position! Mayhem. He seemed a couple of years ago like he was starting to be a little bit tougher and a standup guy. In his real good season for us when we scored a ton two years ago and he had 31. But I really think his career here at Buffalo changed after he got hammered in that fight last year. I think that had a huge negative psychological effect on him. He has never been the same since. He’s not really a fighter but he’s no McDavid or Kucherov either, so he has to be more in the mix physically.

This is a real positive. Got to hope he can stay healthy.

I like Zucker and Greenway. Glad to see this. I think they both are solid players and have a professionalism and decent toughness about them. We need that. We still need a real Man to take care of business when needed. But this is good.