FrenchConnection44

It really is a tough trade situation given how bad the entire team has been this year. Every skater has regressed except Casey & JJP. Age wise, Skinner is the most obvious trade commodity. But not sure what we’d get with his contract and one way talent. That said, I understand the consideration on trading Mitts as they may think he will garner the most value because teams won’t have to take on a huge contract. He’s playing well. And we may not want to pay him moving forward. Tage might get value. Talent wise he’s the best offensive talent. But he is an enigma. Super talented but often lacks energy and doesn’t play with passion. He seems very blasé when we score and he is on ice. Everyone else is smiling, excited, and he is almost, “okay, gotta do the obligatory group hug.” He would probably blow up if he went to a winning franchise with strong leadership. It all depends on what we get back. Would we get a strong player with years to go on a deal who would actually make us better? But I don’t agree on the “plenty of other goal scorers.” I think it’s just the opposite. JJP, Tage, & Skinner are the only ones I would put in that category. Quinn has had two major injuries, so while I am hopeful, I am not sure what we will have in him. Cozens? He didn’t score much 2 years ago. Okay, he was just getting his feet wet. Got 31 last year but was that an anomaly or the norm and this year is the anomaly? He doesn’t have a big shot or an accurate shot. His shots are often right at the goalie. Like most of the other players on the team. In 7 seasons, Tuch scored more than 20 once - last season. Granted he had some injuries - but that seems to be the norm. He’s on a 22 goal pace this year factoring in the game pace for the Sabres as a whole. Even if he played the rest of the way without injury, he’s on pace to get 24 this season. I’d say he’s a mid-level scorer. You need those guys. But he’s not a 40 goal talent. He Now if we had 10-12 guys scoring 15-35 goals (like the Lightning had for their run) and played reasonable defense that would be fine. But they also had 4 special offensive talents (Stamkos, Kucherov, Point, & Hedman - who is a beast); and a great goalie. Kulich is a sniper. But he has hit a wall (though he did well in the WJC). 0 goals in his last 10 games for the Amerks. He may be 2 years away from even being a full time NHL player, could be 3+ years from starting to show his peak NHL talent. On the other hand, we have a lot of guys who are not really scorers: Mitts, Benson, Greenway, Cozens (? Jury out, imo), Krebs, Robinson … and the rest are dogs you just don’t want to see on the team much longer, imo (KO, Girgs, VO). Last year, it looked like this team was starting to build an identity as a high scoring unit. Now, they have no identity and a questionable future. I think it depends on what kind of identity you want the team to have. But I don’t think Adams has a clue nor especially Granato. He needs to be gone yesterday. That’s the real issue. I think Casey is who he will be right now. Which is good to see but this seems his peak talent level, imo. Perhaps he could get 80 points if he has good scoring talent on each wing. Whomever we trade, we will need a coach and a talented vet or two who can be real leaders (we have none among the forwards right now, imo) and light a fire under the young guys. If we can get a coach and a couple of veterans who light a fire under Tage and some of the other young talents, the upside for them is very high, imo. If Tage got stronger and super motivated with good coaching, he’s a 45-50 goal scoring talent the next 4+ yrs, imo. We need a coach who has some respectability, will sit down with each of these guys ask them if they want to be great or not, and lay out a vision and plan for each of them (especially physical development) and as a team. We don’t have that. People call Granato a developmental coach but I don’t think he’s any of that; he’s just not a good coach period, imo. He's just a nice guy.

Just watch the Edmonton Oilers and a few other teams. This Sabres team is soft and slow as ****. The Oilers, while far from the best team in hockey, are super fast and aggressive. They are constantly on the move, flying on the ice. Aggressive. Strong with the puck. The Sabres need to get physically stronger and develop more endurance. And then need a coach that gets them to play with intensity. Instead we are weak physically, do not skate well or aggressive or fast. Puck handling is junior level. That’s just the start. But it would go a long way.

How was this any different from what they have been doing all season?

Played really well tonight. But good goaltending and we just don’t have shooters. That opportunity by Casey off the Tage pass should have been put away. Our shots are neither accurate nor hard for most of the team.

Get a bonafide, professional coach with an GM who holds players accountable for their off-season, and I think these guys will step up. Until then, they will suck except for every 3rd game when a good team underestimates them. As it is, they play at a minor league hockey level. Talent is there. Where is Scotty Bowman when you need him?

True. Guy is playing funky, light yrs worse than last year. He desperately needs 15 lbs of muscle, more leg power, and skating lessons! Should be close to or above 230 (with no additional fat) next year if he is committed. Should have been 220+ this year. Who are the d*** trainers on this team? Do they even have a weight room? Or does Granato just tell them to “skate a bit in the off season, please?”

That’s the challenge. We have Skinner, JJP, and Tage as the only snipers (and Tage is having a down year). We have several good players but they aren’t sharp shooting goal scorers. I really would like to see Kulich added to the Casey-Greenway line now or near the end of the year - last 15-20 games - Instead of Okposo.

Really good shift with the Cozens line a few minutes back. All five did well hanging on to the puck, keeping it in the zone, and being aggressive to keep possession. We need more of that aggressiveness. Their goalie is playing well.

Good stuff. No idea how ready he is to handle the NHL in any sort of reasonable way for a 20 year old. But in a general sense, I think at this point we need to subtly tank the season and play younger players for any injured vets.

Wait. How is it Buffalo doesn’t have a goalie in this all star competition? I’m shocked. Shocked I say!

At some point, when it’s clear this team isn’t going anywhere and don’t go on a 10-12 game winning streak to get them back in the hunt, we ought to bring up young guys, get them some action, rest any injured player, lose a few games, and get in a better draft position. And fire Granato, then overpay for a legitimate NHL coach. Not a guy who belongs in the juniors.

This is great stuff. And I agree. We don’t have super fast skaters. As the old adage goes, speed kills. We really do need to add speed to the lineup. Drafting speed at this point is not a fix given how long it takes for a prospect to develop and get to the NHL level, let alone whether he will pan out. And in conjunction with that, we need better skaters. Losing Quinn all this year hurts to some degree. But with respect to our recent draft choices, both Benson and Power need to learn to skate better and improve their speed significantly. Power is not a great skater nor that fast - but for his size he should be able to make up ground. We should have in place a strong skating development coach and program. But, of course, Pegula has no ingenuity in that regard.

VO is an obvious trade but who will give us anything for him? I see a lot of desire to trade Skinner, but I think that’s a mistake. How many pure goal scorers / shooters do we have? Skinner. JJP. Tage, when he has his head on. Tuch is pretty good. Not a sniper. But the others are not really shooters or pure scorers. None of Mitts, Cozens, Greenway, or Benson have any kind of shot. Quinn is a good player and has potential. We don’t need them all to be in that category but I don’t see us getting goals with any consistency line to line if we trade away our shooters/scorers.

With the Quinn injury, I think the Sabres need to target next year, as opposed to trading away assets for short term benefits for this season. Barring a 10 game win streak, I don’t see it. But I would give up vets not in long term plans. But not for draft picks. We need some talent close to emerging at the NHL level.

Greenway was excellent. He played the way I hoped he would end we traded for him and the way you expect a 6’6 225 lb player to play. Though all these 6’5 plus players should be going in the 230-240 range. But if he would play that way every game we’d be a much better team. As with others, hope Quinn is not serious. Definitely need him. That is a line for the future with 22/24/77. I like the 12/37/89 line as well. If we can find a good forward in free agency or trade this off season to go with Tage and Skinner that’s 3 good lines.

Two dumb turnovers was a major factor. But not enough chances. It’s crazy how few goals we have scored compared to last season. I think Granato just thinks he can throw the puck out there and tell the players, “grind. Work hard.” We need a new coach for sure. But this also is not a defensive minded team. And we could use more shooters. Benson is going to have to gain some serious strength in his legs and arms to get some kind of shot (as well as increased speed). It’s weak relative to the NHL level. But still, we just seem to fly around and behave no system. On defense or attack.

This expresses exactly my thoughts on him. And what benefit would we get in return? Wish he were more physical and intimidating with his size but his PK play has been exceptional. That’s probably one reason teams have an interest. But we don’t need more draft picks. We need players ready to go now and the next 2-3 seasons.

Ideally KA could trade for a goalie at the deadline and send Levi down. Doesn’t have to be great. Just a checkouts lot better than Comrie. No doubt Levi needs to go down.

Though an empty netter, that was a really fine goal by Cozens. Got the puck, went by two different players with two nifty moves, off the board and then a nice cut to the left to clear his path.

No one coaches the D. That’s your answer. But the biggest culprit on S tonight was Jokiharu. He should be in Rochester, frankly. If we are to be a playoff contender. Two goals can be directly attributable to his boneheadedness. And Benson is not NHL ready. He has good instincts, but he’s not fast enough, or physical enough, nor does he have a big shot, to be a strongly competitive player yet. Hockey sense and compete are there. But he is a ways away from being a stellar player on a top team.

True. It would be nice if he had to face some hard questions from media though. The NHL should force GMs to answer questions every couple of weeks. At least then there could be some public pressure on them as there would be more scrutiny on him. Even something as simple as “Do you think you’ve constructed a winning franchise? What do you think the problem is? Did you miscalculate the talent level?” Or, “Don’t you think it would be better for Levi to be in Rochester, for his development and confidence?” And let him face questions twice a month. Instead of being able to hide under his desk.

Another turnover, another goal. Oh, wait, another turnover, another goal. Levi should stop that 5th goal. Terrible game by Jokiharu. Turnover, penalty, goal. Turnover, goal. Two goals directly attributable to his sloppy and not smart play.

Just so sloppy. Sloppy with the puck. Undisciplined by Dahlin and Power. I can’t help but think that some solid, disciplined coaching would change this. And make this team so much better.

Good shift Joki. Easy shot block / turnover. Gives a breakaway. Then slashes when Levi pretty much had it covered. Leading to power play and goal. Just brilliant work there.

We’ve had multiple turnovers in our own zone already. And a few others that led to breaks. Gotta get the puck out of the zone! First and foremost. If no one is there, then carry it out. But that was just a dumb turnover. Playing really well with respect to aggressiveness. But need a good bit more sharpness with the puck.