JohnC

KA has added Comrie, Lyubushkin, Yost, Stillman and recently Greenway. In a short period of time the lower half of the roster is being bulked and toughened up. None of the deals could be categorized as major deals, but collectively they were purposeful and solid deals that make this a more balanced roster.

Who hated him? Where did that come from?

Quick notes on the game: My first star goes to Comrie. Especially in the first period he played strong. Sameulsson played well. He's strong and efficient. That masks how well he played. Power is a stud player. He's so positionally sound. He outmuscles players without thumping players he's engaged with. Because of that you don't notice him outmuscling players to get the puck back. You can see him getting more confident on offense. Lyubushkin had an excellent game. He got a lot of ice time. He's solid. The pass of the game was from Mitts on the back board to Hinostroza for a score. Quinn is getting better and better. On his goal he made a subtle move to the middle to get off a clearer shot. He's going to be an ace goal scorer for us. The GM has added Yost, Lybush, Stillman and recently Greenway. The roster is getting tougher and bigger. This season the Sabres have beaten a lot of upper echelon teams. When we get good goaltending we can beat any team. Certainly not claiming that we are in the top tier yet but when the netminding is at a quality level this team is good. Happy to see the youthful crowd enjoy a good home game win as I did. We are going to be in the playoff hunt up to the end of the season. I'm not predicting that we will get in but I'm optimistic. o

Giving credibility to the advice offered on hockey bulletin boards is like giving credibility to the advice on stock market bulletin boards that promote crypto currency. If you take it seriously you will be impoverished. 🤡

It's not an issue of replacing Dahlin. The problem is when a starter is sidelined there isn't an adequate supply of players within the unit to temporarily fill the void until the player returns. You are not going to replace a player such as Dahlin with an equal talent. (Obviously so.) Being able to fill the hole with a competent player or not creating a big deficit by the player who ends up moving into the lineup is the issue that needed to be addressed.

I wouldn't be surprised if he adds another defenseman in the mold of Lyubuskin in the offseason. If you add Johnson to the pipeline, who in a year or so will be a third or fourth pairing blueliner, you can see depth being added to the unit. Will the GM go bold and acquire a second pairing caliber of player? I'm not sure that he will. What the injuries to Tuch and Dahlin demonstrate is that right now this team has an inadequate amount of depth to absorb injuries when they occur.

You make a good point that these lower line players can contribute more offensively than previous lower line players. They certainly are not upper line players but they do add more grit with some scoring ability. Improving the lower lines adds better balance to the roster. Not major deals but good deals.

My understanding is that Granato has worked with him, so there is some familiarity. Our coach also had previously worked with Stillman. These two deals are more directed toward adding depth to the roster. We have young players who will be filling the top half of the roster. Now, a greater effort is being made to strengthen the lower half of the roster. Incrementally improving is still improving.

Within this WGR link was a 16 minute segment where he signs off. It's very emotional and touching. I've always liked him. He rarely was provocative for the sake of garnering attention which is characteristic of sports radio in general. He's a good man who you only wish the best. https://www.audacy.com/wgr550/authors/howard-and-jeremy-show

Future considerations....like a limp high five!

How many pucks did we get back in the trade?

I fully expect none of our high-end prospects to be part of any package for a defenseman.

I believe that he would fit in. He's a player who has a strong desire to win. The organization went to him and told him that they were going to undergo a rebuild. He had already been with the team for a number of years. He was candid and the organization to their credit was candid about their plans. Considering what the status of our blueline unit is, he would have been a significant addition. It seems that the price for him was reasonable. The major question that lingered in any trade proposal is his health status. What Jack and Chychrun have in common is a desire to win. I'm not criticizing anyone who has that desire. The solution to changing the "I want out" mindset for your star players is to start taking action that will lead to winning. A Chychrun addition would have been a terrific addition.

He is sublime. Could you imagine how humongous his profile would be if he played in Toronto, NY or Boston? I'm not sure he would find that aspect of the profession appealing. He seems like a low-key person who just wants to play.

The issue goes beyond being an assault, which it is in a legal sense. It's simply a dishonorable act that discredits the sport tarnishes the player. A three game suspension seems about right. Although I would have added one more game to what was meted out. This was simply an indescribably ugly act.

That accusatory finger looks familiar! 🤡

How valuable of an asset was Bloom? In that middling deal the GM got a lower-level defensive player who will play a little on the lowest pairing. He will be taking minutes away from both Clague and Bryson. That is a good thing. On balance this was a good deal for us. Certainly, not a consequential deal, but a plus deal. With respect to the blue line unit everyone agrees with you that there needs to be some additions. Right now, our top two pairings are reasonably set. Many here would like to see a defenseman brought in that allows Joki to move down to the third pairing. I'm still hoping for a third pairing caliber player being brought in before the trade deadline expires. But if not, by next season another player on that unit will probably be signed. With respect to the long developmental game the issue is how do you define long-term development. I believe that the process has been ongoing for the past few years. I expect (hope) that by next year our roster will be better with a couple of additions and by internal development that is ongoing right now. There is no question that the improvement that the organization undergoes will be driven by internal improvement. And KA would say that is the basis of the plan.

Just because a miniscule number of people might outlandishly over-rate the abilities of blueliners such as Clague and Bryson, that doesn't come close to representing the consensus of the posters. (As @dudacekpointed out.) The comparison to NJ Devils doesn't hold water for the main reason that you don't know what the GM is going to do to address the manifest deficiencies that this roster has. Who is going to disagree that it is the GM's job to construct a roster? Most of the action taken to rework the roster is done in the offseason. The offseason hasn't started yet. Trades and wheeling and dealing is often done around the draft. That day hasn't arrived yet. Sometimes, one needs to stand back a little to get some perspective on things. Consider where this franchise was two years ago, last year and this year. It may not be at the pace you are satisfied with but the ladder is being climbed. And it should be remembered that this season is still ongoing. We're at the fringe of earning a wildcard spot. (Not saying that it is going to happen.) We are where many of us (the realistic ones) thought where we would be. Again, most of us agree that the problems you identify need to be addressed. They are glaringly obvious to most of us. But the GM has publicly stated from the beginning the approach that he was going to take to build this roster. He emphatically stated that he wasn't going to expend his young assets and draft picks for short-term gains. He's taking a bigger picture approach with a longer time frame that you would prefer. That's understood. But you can't deny that he is doing exactly what he said he was going to do and how he how he was going to go about executing his play. Your frustrations are understandable. But the course he set from the start and that he is currently on is working. If you don't believe that then consider where we were before he took over a couple of years ago.

You are correct and I am wrong. This sloppy mistake warrants a knuckle smack.

Don Granato was on WGR's morning show and said that he was familiar with Stillman from the juniors. He pointed out that he was more effective with Florida than with Vancouver because it was a better fit with his first team. As you point out he is a depth player.

How good is Rosen? Does he project to being a second-line caliber of player?

The world has changed. But what the old school discipline did is to toughen you up and make you handle criticism (fair and not) better so that it wouldn't emotionally affect you . Trust me, I got the scars to prove it. Tough love can at times be tough for the recipient. 😬 No. I run a lot faster. Avoidance is a solution to the stick.

You and I are in accord on adding another defenseman (in addition to the recent acquisition) that is a Lyubushin caliber of player and who has the same rugged style of play. Solidifying the lower pairing can take some of the minutes load off of the first two pairings. I have been more than satisfied with Lyubushkin's recent play. I think his better play is due to being healthy.

I don't accept it. It's still bulllshiiilt!