JohnC

You are right that the organization is in a better situation than before( Ullmark period) if they end up losing UPL. There will be more cushion to absorb such a loss. But there is a follow up position to take. Without question, the Sabres are now in a better situation if he remains with the team, even if Levi or Reimer prove to be credible goalies. This constant churning of players that we have invested in developing has had this franchise spinning its wheels. This cycle of futility will continue when you continue doing things that have kept you stuck as a franchise. If this team can get the level of goaltending that he provided us last year, this team could/should?? make the playoffs. (My opinion. )

Considering how this franchise has been run, adding a person who holds players accountable is a good start. What's normal for most franchises wasn't the norm for this faltering franchise. It's about freaking time! Do I know that he will turn things around? No. What I do know for certain that if they didn't bring in an experienced coach who has a history of being in control of his players, this team would continue to be a meandering and mediocre team competing against serious teams.

The interview process was a sham and a charade. If Lindy was the GM's preference before this insincere and hollow search was announced, then simply pick him. I don't appreciate having smoke blown up my derriere.

I understand your perspective. We are all familiar with it. But the calculation for determining success is simple and understandable: your record. If the GM was right on UPL, then that is to his credit. But being right in judging a player doesn't tell you much how he is doing overall. Assembling a roster obviously is not an easy endeavor because of the multiplicity of factors that go into it, especially the limitations that the GM has to work with regarding resources. But being right on an individual player assessment is not a persuasive argument for judging someone on how well he is doing his job. I believe that the GM made the right decision in hiring Lindy. And I believe that he has had a good offseason in addressing the structural imbalance of his roster. Let's remember that the correction being made on the roster relates to the deficiency in the roster that he assembled the prior year. And it's inarguable that the correction that he seems to have made this offseason is a correction that he could have made last season.

I understand what you are saying about what the main goal should be for this franchise. Most of us agree with your point that not having serious aspirations to what your goal should be, in itself, is a disqualifying flaw. Although I don't always agree with @Thorny there's an absurdity to not being able to qualify for the playoffs for 13 years. You cited Toronto not qualifying for a decade as being a team that also had a bad run. But the Sabres are worse than that ignominious run by three years, and still counting. The Washington Capitals won the Cup in 2018. Ever since they have been in a steady rebuild as the cup players have gotten older and have been phased out. And yet, they have made the playoffs in 5 of the past 6 years of roster changing. And if you include their cup crowning year up to today, they have been in the playoffs 13 out of 15 times. The glaring reality is that the Sabres systemic failure is a result of their own mistakes, starting with the owner. The constant flux in the hockey operation caused consecutive rounds of instability. There should be no surprise with the outcome. I'm not a harsh critic of the GM. When he took over he laid out a roadmap and gave a direction to this aimless franchise, and for the most part he stuck with it. That's my problem with him. His inability to adjust when he had opportunities to do so. He simply was too cautious in his approach and willingness to deviate from his rebuilding plan. (My opinion.) Overall, he has done a good job this offseason in identifying structural problems with the roster, and then addressing them. He also made the right coaching decision, although the hiring process was a sham. What the GM did this offseason should have been done prior to last season. It was another lost opportunity. The continuing cycle of futility gets not only tiresome but more intolerable. In general, I agree with @Thorny's mind-set of being less tolerating and being more demanding.

No, I don't. I see this team at best as being a bottom qualifying playoff team. That's what I'm shooting for. When evaluating your team you can't do it in a vacuum. You have to compare your team to the better teams in the league. We are not there. I can appreciate your enthusiasm but I rather reside in the world of realism. Have the Sabres gotten better. Absolutely. So what! You don't think other teams have made moves to get better? As far as expecting a blockbuster deal being made this offseason, I doubt it. Next year? I'm not worried about next year because my focus is on this year.

If the question would have been which franchise is the most irrelevant franchise in the league, it would be in the running for the top spot. Generational futility is an absurdity especially when the system is designed to give advantages (draft and waiver pickups) to the worst teams to prop them up. Yet, the Sabres are still stuck in the muck of mediocrity. It's ridiculous and shameful.

I don't believe the issue is wanting out or not. He has a self-interest in getting the best deal he can get. What's most likely to happen is that he will sign a bridge deal before he officially goes through the process. (Opinion.) From a Sabre standpoint I don't believe that it would be wise to give him a long-term deal, especially when Levi is in the system close to being ready to move up to the NHL.

The move back up to draft JJP has to be one of the best draft day moves this franchise has made in a long time.

How many other teams do you believe would have given up a second-round pick for him? I don't believe any other team would have done that. Even acknowledging that over-payment, it was worth it for us. However, I just don't see any other team coming to the same conclusion/judgment.

I have argued that the Sabres giving up a second-round pick for this fourth line player was worth it. We had an excess of draft assets to fill this fourth line need. (I still maintain that position.) However, from a league standard of valuing assets, it was an over-pay. That's an acknowledgment that the Sabres are not a normally run franchise. It is in a desperate situation because of its own failed operation. So, it shouldn't be a surprise that this stuck franchise feels compelled to do things that other franchises wouldn't do. You can see the Lindy influence in the GM's transactions this offseason. Regardless what the price was to rectify the imbalance in this roster, that critical issue at least has been addressed. There is a difference between accumulating talent and putting together a team. At least now you can see more coherence and thought in putting together a roster.

The roster is better balanced now with the upgrade of the lower two lines. I would love to see another second line forward added before camp opens up but I'm not confident that it will happen. So assuming there will be internal improvement by the young players such as Power, Quinn, JJP, Benson, Byram etc., the issue comes down to the play of our goalies. If UPL can play at the same level as he did last year, then we should have a good opportunity to make the playoffs. If his play regresses without Levi picking up the slack, then I see them again on the outside looking in. If I had to predict a young player making a quantum leap forward, the player I would pick would be Quinn. I also see Power making the jump. Power is not a flashy player but I do see him being an anchor defenseman this season.

On this team, Tuch is a genuine first line player. Let's get freaking real here: The best we can hope for right now is that the Sabres will vie for a low rung playoff spot. If you want to talk about your fantasy hockey world that is not grounded on reality, then do so. I'm not into that fantasy world.

Who is advocating for Tuch to be moved down to the second line? If there are people in that minority camp, it is a very small camp. It seems to me that the first line is solidified with JJP/Tage/Tuch. There are a variety of interesting line combinations that validly can be made. Where Benson ends up is one of the more intriguing issues, along with whether a player such as Kulich can impress enough to make the jump to the big league. If a second line player is not brought it, what are the ramifications for the next two lines? As @dudacek points out, it is an interesting time of year to postulate. It's going to be interesting to see if Lindy's eyes reflect the consensus views of the members hers. I see Lindy being more of a juggling coach than a static lineup coach. We shall see.

Assuming Assuming a top 6 forward is not added, the issue of where Benson is placed vs Zucker is not troubling to me. They'll compete for line roles in camp and when the season begins. And I suspect that Lindy will periodically be interchanging them at game time and within the games. Eventually, it will sort itself out. What will be Krebs role? Will he be forth line player or will he become a spare part who becomes a utility player? He'll influence that decision in training camp and during the early season games. I like seeing this internal competition. It's better than players securing roles because of a lack of competition. What's apparent to me is that if the GM can add another second/third line forward, he will be creating a lot more flexibility and depth within the next two lines. My hope is that the cautious GM will make a deal to bring in that type of player. Will he? I'm not sure that he will?

No.

I respectfully but strenuously disagree with the notion that this team isn't experienced enough to be a playoff team. As I stated in my prior post, this is a relatively young roster but it is more than experienced enough. The lower two lines were reconstituted from the outside. From an age and experienced perspective those players have reached the sweet spot (noted by @dudacek). Our young players on the top two lines have enough experience to be genuine top two line players (JJP, Quinn, Cozens, Tage, Tuch). I'm hoping that another 2nd line forward can be added to the mix before the season starts. If not, you go with what you got and draw from the system. I'm not foolish enough to consider this team a Cup contending team. But I do see it as a lower qualifying playoff team. Much of that depends on the quality of goaltending. If UPL plays at the same level he did when he took over the reigns as the #1 goalie, there should be no excuses not to qualify for the playoffs. Am I asking for too much? No!

Age is not necessarily an accurate reflection of experience. Cozens is a young player but I don't consider him to be an inexperienced player. JJP is a young player but he's had enough playing time where he should not have significant problems due to his inexperience. The number of games Quinn has played has been limited because of injuries. But he has more than enough experience to play well against experienced NHL players. The same argument applies to Samuelsson. There is no question that many of our young players were rushed to the NHL. It was obvious that some were rushed before they were ready. The Sabres were rebuilding so rushing them made more sense than it would for a team contending for the cup. It's now not about the future; it's about the present. We are at a point where being an inexperienced team or a grizzly veteran team should be used as an excuse. Now you simply get judged on your record. No more excuses.

If Samuelsson is included in a Farabee deal, then it should be an unequivocal no! Krebs plus a pick or secondary prospect would be reasonable in my view. However, adding a defenseman, either Samuelsson or Clifton, would have me hanging up the phone. Torts is notorious in creating doghouses that are tough to get out of. If Farabee is locked in one of them, he should be available for a reasonable price. If not, look elsewhere.

What the organization needed was an NHL ready player who can contribute right away. So a good prospect was dealt for immediate help. The organization possessed other prospects in the system who were in the same tier as the dealt player. When you have a redundant talent it makes sense to use that asset for immediate help. This trade made sense for a number of reasons for both teams. At this advanced stage of the rebuild the priority should be more on the NHL roster than on the prospect pool.

There was no way he could run back the same roster from last year. It would be hideous hockey malpractice. There was an evident imbalance on the roster that related to the lower lines. You don't have to be a hockey afficionado to recognize that the roster was poorly constructed. In the numerous games that I watched, all the outside commentators who were not invested in the competing teams said the same thing i.e. the roster had talent but it was a poorly constructed roster with manifest flaws. This offseason, the GM appears to have rectified the roster imbalance. Good for him. He did it without giving up an excessive amount of assets. Again, good for him. And I'm with you that I hope that one more second line forward can be added to the mix. That would make it a superlative offseason for this cautious GM.

I agree with you that Granato's forte and inclination is toward player developmental. But he wasn't a novice in the league. He's been associated with the NHL for a long time in a variety of roles. However, coaching is coaching. You adjust and the opposition then adjusts to you. There is a basic element to it that seemed to elude him. The static PP scheme is an example of that. It will be interesting to see what the difference in coaching translates into from a points and record standpoint. This freaking franchise has been so amateurishly run. It starts from the owner and leaks down. Dam stupid and tough to take.

I just can't figure out why the staff didn't adjust their PP scheme when it was evident to all that it wasn't working? For the most part, it was a stationary approach. As you point out, there was little movement. The Tage wind up and blast away from the wing no longer worked because the opposition adjusted to their most potent weapon. What did our staff expect? The opposition not to adjust? In every sport, teams adjust and the opposition then readjusts. It's an ongoing process. We just seem to be stuck and hard-headed about reacting. The takeaway is: coaching matters.

I'm a Marty Biron fan. He is knowledgeable about the league and in particular the Sabres. Sometimes people can get enamored with his engaging personality and lose sight of his incisive analyses. It's interesting to note that one young Sabre player who he was not impressed with was UPL. I'm sure that particular player evaluation has changed. Another impressive quality about him is that he is not afraid to acknowledge that his initial judgments on players were wrong. Sidenote about the Biron family: He has a son who has entered West Point. He was talking about it on WGR.

It might make more sense to add a second line winger than it would be to add a 2/3 C. Would a Zegress, Farabee or whoever be a better course of action to take? Adding a genuine second line forward to the mix would also upgrade the third line. The speculation about Zegress and Farabee might suggest that is also what the GM is considering.