JohnC

I'm open to all options. Training camp is going to be abbreviated so he will have even less time to acclimate to the NHL. If he demonstrates right from the start that he can handle a second line role then more power to him. He will then have earned his role. However, it makes little sense to me to automatically put him on the second line for the purpose of accelerating his development. It not only could retard his development but also make this team less competitive. I have high hopes for Cozens. What I foresee for him is the Kirby Dach track i.e. his role increasing as he plays more. Cozens is a player I'm really excited about. Hopefully, as the season moves forward he will advance as a player and earn a more prominent role.

The more important issue isn't pairing Cozens on the second line with Staal to accelerate his learning curve as it is assembling players who make up the best second line. I don't see Cozens right from the start fitting that criterion. Maybe as the seasons progresses and he demonstrates that he is a better option on the second line he will earn a move up from a lower line. But to start him off there doesn't best help the line or help him.

When I am accused of my many faux pas I can comfortably say with confidence that I plead ignorance. 🤡

As it stands Ullmark is our primary goaltender. I'm more concerned about Hutton getting more playing time in a compressed schedule than I am with Ullmark as the primary tender. What should mitigate some of our goaltender worries is the probable increase in goals related to the addition of Staal and Hall to our primary lines and the hopeful added contribution from the secondary non-checking line. Another issue that needs to be addressed that impacted the goalies is our poor PK unit. The structure and lapses from the unit constantly put the goalies in vulnerable positions. Hopefully with an improvement in the PK unit and more scoring the goaltending issue won't be such a prominent issue. What it comes down to is as @dudacek pointed out: It's up to Ullmark to show what he is capable of or not.

I humbly stand corrected. 🤡

Attached is a link taken from The Hockey News on Sports Illustrated. What struck me when I looked at the list is how high Robin Lehner ranked. Life moves on and circumstances change but if we now had the rehabilitated Lehner as our backstop how more positive would the outlook be for the Sabres? On this list Ullmark is second from the bottom. That's obviously due to the fact that as a starter he is very inexperienced. Whenever the season starts the Sabres will be entering it with a lot of uncertainty with our tandem at one of the most important positions on the ice. The Great Goalie Ranking: How the NHL's 31 Starters Stack Up - The Hockey News on Sports Illustrated

The one impression I get every time he is interviewed is his maturity and how well grounded he is. His father is a judge and his mother is a prosecutor so he comes from a high achieving family. Although he had to leave the Yukon to play hockey at higher levels he still is attached to his Alaska roots. Because of some surprising draft picks made (most notably Detroit) in his draft year we were very fortunate to have him slide a little and be able to draft him. It's not much of a prediction to make that he is going to earn a roster spot but it also won't be so surprising that he works his way up the lines and earns more playing time as the season progresses. (Assuming there is a season or is not abruptly shut down.) The attached link is an article by Ricardo Nagaoka from the NY Times about Dylan and where he came from. N.H.L. Draft Pick Inspires Dreams as Big as the Yukon - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

Players sign bridge deals all the time to get more money sooner with the expectation that they will get more money later. Jack is an example of that. And from an organization standpoint getting him signed sooner benefits the organization. For the player signing a bridge deal gets them more upfront money and is hedge against a devastating injury that could end or curtail his career. There is another factor that the player and his agent have to consider. Because of the sport's revenue uncertainties caused by this pernicious covid the economics of the league could dramatically be depressed for years. So getting money upfront would make sense.

There are a limited number of young players that are guaranteed to become elite players. However, he's is one of the few players in that category that barring injury is likely to become an elite multi-faceted defenseman. As @Curt stated it is better to sign him sooner rather than later before he becomes more established. If you want to get a better bargain on his contract it would be wise not to take a "show me" approach when what is already seen is that this burgeoning player's talents are already evident.

A lot of attention is on the issue of when the league is going to start. The bigger problem regardless when it starts will be whether the players and staff will be able to avoid being infected when games commence. The infection rate is spiraling out of control everywhere. Unless there is some type of bubble system I don't see how during a compressed schedule multiple teams and players can avoid being infected. Last season's bubble system for the playoffs was an immense challenge that worked. But doing it for a season no matter how it is structured makes this a herculean challenge. If you look at the number of college football and basketball games being cancelled and some pro football games being rescheduled for week day games and the increasing number of players not allowed to play because of infections the prospect for an uninterrupted hockey season looks very dim.

You act as if the front office hasn't made efforts to upgrade the roster. They very much did this offseason. One of the first acts the new GM took was to address the critical 2C. He did so with the acquisition of Staal. That certainly isn't a long term solution for that important position but it was more than a modest deal to upgrade. And he did it by giving up a player who was a lesser player and it also saved cap money and didn't cost us any draft picks. Are you going to say that wasn't a meaningful deal from a roster shaping sense? Hall was a surprising and tremendous deal for a player who not too long ago was an MVP player. He is going to be on the first line with Jack and whomever. On paper with his inclusion this line should be one of the top first lines in the league. Are you going to consider this a trivial deal? There were also some secondary deals that should help on the lower lines and hopefully improve the lackluster PK. Apparently you believe that other players could have been moved to make cap space for other replacement players. Who? The players that you might think are valuable chips might not be as marketable as you think. Certainly their current contract or term might lessen their market value to the extent that the organization believes they have more value being kept. A lot of people constantly bring up Risto's name as a player that should be traded. But it seems that Krueger and the organization value him more than others do. Subject to change of course the organization believes that it would rather for the most part keep the unit together than parlay some of the players for other assets. If the brain trust doesn't think that they are getting back at least equal value for a player then why make a deal? Right now, and again subject to change, it appears that the organization believes that with Ullmark as the #1 goalie and Hutton the backup this tandem is adequate. Did the organization look to upgrade this offseason especially for the backup position? Probably so. But if a deal couldn't be made to their satisfaction then from a player and contract standpoint then I understand why a change in staffing wasn't made. You may be disappointed at what this front office has accomplished this offseason but I'm not.

Good players on teams are often dealt or let go because of the cap squeeze. It happens all the time. Rosters are constructed differently with different emphasizes in the units. You and others understandably advocated to upgrade our goaltending this offseason. Most people would agree with you that there were visible deficiencies. Why didn't it happen? You don't think that cap considerations played a part in continuing with the status quo at that position? The Cap issue isn't a jargon issue. It's a reality that forces decisions relating to one's priorities and one's vision as to how to construct a roster. Certainly, one strives to have a complete well-rounded roster. It usually doesn't happen no matter what analytics you want to rely on. In the real world you live with limitations.

I have a more lenient assessment of how this front office handled the offseason than you do over what transpired this offseason. If you look at all the teams in the league, even the elite teams, few of them are complete in the sense that not all their units are considered finished products. In a cap system you make judgments in where to spend your resources to upgrade each unit on the team. You make tradeoffs. If you spend heavily to make your lineup more potent that could be at the expense of not spending at a level that will upgrade your goaltending unit. You make a calculation/judgment as to whether it is better to spend $8 M for an elite forward who should add a lot of firepower or not sign him and spread out the money to upgrade your goalie position. I believe that the GM made the right decision in signing Hall at the probable expense of adding another goalie. The hope is that Ullmark will be the primary goaltender who will play at an adequate level to allow this team to be competitive. And from an overview sense if the Sabres score more there will be a greater margin of error for the goaltending position to work within.

Top 5? You know what that means? Exciting hockey to watch! Let's get this season started. As I stated before my preference is to load up the first line. However, those arguing to add to the second line at the expense of the first line are also making a compelling argument. Whatever side of the issue one is one the residual benefit for both positions is that the scoring should be higher. That should compensate for some of the deficiency at the goalie position.

I don't want to derail the topic but you bring up what can be an interesting debate. If our first line was made up with Hall/Jack/Samson how would it be rated compared to the other first lines in the league. Would it be a top 5 or 10 or 12 or16? If Hall can regain his form and this line can quickly mesh I believe that it can be in the top 8 first lines in the league. Am I being too wishful?

This is my opinion but I believe that Reinhart will be on the first line because it is already known that he meshes with Jack and he has demonstrated an ability to have a net presence that would not only obstruct the goalie's sight line but be in a position for a rebound with two other shooters on the line. Last year, Krueger could have moved Reinhart to the second line in order to buttress the line Skinner was on. He didn't do that. And with the addition of Staal and other options for the wing he has enough talent to construct an effective Skinner/Staal second line. side note: What does TIA mean?

My understanding is that the TV contract is up after this year. It's in both the players and the owners interests to have a season in whatever form (abbreviated or not/no fans or limited fans) in or order to negotiate a more lucrative deal with the TV side of the industry. If this season is scrapped while other pro sports find a way to salvage a season then hockey will fall to the bottom of the totem pole. When starting off you are already considered a niche sport falling out of view puts you in a very precarious position from a fan and financial situation.

He is speculating as is every one else is to the makeup of the lines. The first line that he believes the coach will very likely assemble (as I do) is not a declaration but an opinion. His opinion is not a far fetched opinion but a reasonable opinion/assumption based on how the first line was assembled last year. I don't know why you are getting so irritated with an opinion given on a hockey forum which is a platform for giving opinions. I also like to add that I'm not trying to stoke the flames here.

Kreuger likely has Reinhart penciled on the first line with Jack because he already knows that he fits in with him. The coach could move Reinhart to the second line to upgrade that line but why tamper with a Jack/Reinhart combo when he knows that it works? None of us knows for sure what the top two line combinations will be. I'm sure there could be some surprises with players such as Thompson and Cozens also in on the top two line mix. But if I had to make a calculated guess I would lean on the end product being the first line including Hall, Jack and Sam. Or to fairly conclude your guess is as good as anyone else's.

Excellent insight about a team's success being a platform for a player's rating. The person who embraces your view is Jack himself. In the last couple of years he has started to stir and make noise indicating that he is not satisfied with what the organization has done to address roster deficiencies. He hasn't been obnoxious about it or overly public about it. But he has made it clear that he doesn't want to be stuck on a status quo and incremental-minded organization that lacks urgency to get better. Jack is a driven player who wants to be one of the best players in the game, if not in his era. He understands that what separates the special players from merely stat players are players who are on winning and are on Cup serious teams. Needless to say as a leader he's got the right demanding attitude.

I'm hoping that Hall has an exceptional season, and that is more likely to happen playing with Jack. If that level of play materializes odds are that the Sabres will be participating in the playoffs. That's what our focus should be on. As far as the contract ramifications for him and the organization will be it is obvious: There will be a challenging cap scenario for the organization. The Sabres will be confronted with tough choices the same way as teams such as NYI and Tampa are dealing with. Will Hall be willing to accept a rich annual contract that is not as extended as the standard lengthy 7 or 8 yr deal? If he isn't then you make the tough choice of moving on. Hall is an elite player who has been on multiple teams that have struggled. He hasn't had the opportunity to showcase his talents in meaningful Stanley Cup runs. If the Sabres can become a serious team I'm inclined to believe that he would be receptive to a less than maximum contract situation with the Sabres. If he is not then he and the organization will move on. Let's not forget that Jersey dealt him when his contract was expiring because they weren't willing to pay the price to retain him. That's the system.

The government put up Billions of $$$ for advanced purchases of the vaccines before the vaccines were determined effective. It was with these guaranteed advanced $$$ that allowed the drug companies to go full throttle with their research because they knew there was an instant market for the product. And it is the government that is accelerating the approval process so that the usual extended time line in the development of the vaccine could dramatically be shortened. My point is that the taxpayers put up a lot of money in financing this extraordinary vaccine project and they assumed much of the financial risk in this project.

I think when the vaccines become available that those responsible in distributing it will make it a point of emphasis to follow the guidelines for the priority list (seniors, front line workers etc.). I don't see the pro athletes being allowed to jump the line to get it. It would be too obvious and cause a public backlash. Even with the vaccines if the level of infection rate continues to be high, as it is now, it is going to be difficult to contain the spread. The irony is if the basic protocols were followed such as wearing a mask, social distancing, washing hands were done we would be in a much better place. Even with the vaccine I don't see a quick fix, especially for a vaccine that requires two doses.

There is a near unanimity in opinion that he hasn't lived up to his potential and expectation. The issue now isn't how he has played up to this point (there is an agreement on that issue) as it is can he progress, and if he can will it be good enough? Will he come into training camp more physically prepared and earn a roster spot? I'm not sure? I'm not disagreeing with your take on him. What I am not going to do at this point is close my mind on him as a prospect. Let's allow him to compete at camp and then make a more conclusive judgment about him. Sometimes when I player is stagnating in an organization the best thing that can happen to the player is to give the player a fresh start somewhere else. I'm not yet advocating for that to happen.

Chara is an example of what you are pointing out that it takes a few years for tall and lanky players to physically mature enough in order for their talent to be more fully exhibited. Zdeno Chara Stats | Hockey-Reference.com (hockey-reference.com)