Archie Lee

The goaltending argument is letting Adams and Ruff off the hook in my view. It’s putting the outcome of the season on an unpredictable variable: Is this the year they get better than average goaltending (they did in 23-24 and it didn’t get them in). As though roster construction, experience, talent, coaching, special teams, culture, etc., are inconsequential in their impacts on the final result.

I'll reserve judgment. For now, I see a GM whose off-season has been dictated to him by a couple of young players who don't want to be here. I don't see a GM who is proactively working a plan to take his team into the playoffs.

I think it is just that 9 million isn't what it used to be. It's July 4th and there are 19 teams with $5 million in cap space and 14 with $10 million. And many of those teams have no notable RFA's left to sign. I don't think he will get $9, but the floating of $9 maybe gets him $8 - $8.5.

General question, not directed specifically to you: Why should a fan believe that Danforth and Doan are different than Lafferty, Aube-Kubel, and Malenstyn?

Fowler has a 4 team trade list. My guess is that the Sabres are not one of the 4 teams he would accept a trade to. The Sabres would need a D back I think. And the Blues would need to shed some space to extend Byram. Would Broberg be a good partner for Dahlin? Broberg and Neighbors for Byram and…

I think Lindy Ruff is the sort of coach who “gets on” a young player rather than coaches them.

The red flag on the Peterka criticism, to me, is that so much of it is based on Peterka’s attitude. Not enough consideration is being given to the toxic environment the players are existing in. I’m giving the benefit of the doubt to the 23 year old, whose attitude has not prevented him from improving year after year, and not to the GM who has a now lengthy track record of failure.

I guess the follow-up question would be, did Adams try and get JBD signed before a decision on a qualifying offer had to be made? If he did and there was no interest in extending, then I can see the logic. If no attempt was made to get him on a 1-2 year deal at $900-950 K, then I think it was a mistake. Fatal? Of course not. I would rather have JBD as the #7 than Bryson (right shot, bigger, 3 years younger, higher pedigree).

If we extend Byram and Timmons to their projected contracts and, hypothetically, replace Quinn with a veteran at Rust's level, we would be spending between 97-99% of the cap (depending on if Byram is bridged or signed long-term). If we are spending that kind of money and are nowhere close to having a playoff team, then either Adams is one of the worst GMs in modern NHL history (it’s already open to debate I think) or Ruff is, at this time, one of the league's worst HCs, or both. I don’t like the job that Adams has done. Even if he has an internal cap to contend with, he has wasted enough money on underperforming players that had he been better at his job, the team could have been better also. Further, I think he does have influence over Pegula and if he wanted to go in a different direction in certain areas, like coaching, I think he could convince Pegula to do so. Ruff continues to get too much credit from the fan-base in general, in my view. It remains that the single biggest thing that could be done to improve the team’s fortunes between now and October would be to replace Ruff with a better HC. It would do more for the team than adding Robertson or Ehlers, in my view. Brind'Amour could get this team in the playoffs. I know we aren't getting Brind'Amour, but we could try to hire the next Brind'Amour. There is a reason why NHL teams cycle through head coaches so quickly. You can't fix your roster as fast as you can change coaches. Look at all the money the Sabres have wasted in the past few years on players who underperformed or were sent to Rochester or were bought-out. Spending an extra $2 million a year on a fired head coach is comparative peanuts.

It’s not a contending team. I think with a good HC and/or better goaltending (and I think these go together) it could be a playoff / WC team. To me, it is the best we can hope for that we are this year’s Montreal or Ottawa, a 91-96 point team that gets in. It was never going to be the case that we would get to July 2nd and look at the roster and say: "That's a playoff team". It was always going to be that we will need Tage to again score 40+, Norris to be healthy and be the player that some project him to be, that Benson takes a step forward, Tuch maintains his strong play, McLeod repeats his performance from a year ago, Dahlin plays like a Norris winner, Power takes a step forward, UPL bounces back, and a couple of new guys contribute positively, etc. If most of those things happen, maybe we can complete for a WC spot. We are never going to be a contending team under Adams and Ruff.

On B-Docker, it is just weird to me that they are obviously placing an emphasis on upgrading right shot D and based on what B-Docker is being paid, he would have been a near perfect 7th D who happens to be right shot. The Athletic had an article from day one of free agency that included him on a list of cheap value-add d-men who make near league minimum but can play on your bottom-pairing. Losing him should not be considered a season-altering move, but it is odd.

Kulich should be the 3C, playing between a couple of vets like Zucker and trade acquisition Rust. Norris is 1C by default until he is injured or proves he isn’t up to it. Thompson and Benson on the wings. McLeod should be 2C with Tuch and Greenway. Potential to be a real shut down line. Krebs, Doan, Malenstyn, Danforth, Kozak make up line 4, with Krebs and Doan playing up when there are injuries. Need to move Quinn in a package for Rust. I actually think this works as a wild card level group of forwards on a team that actually plays with structure. So, not the Sabres. But the best I am hoping for is that the pieces are there and Adams and Ruff are turfed in November.

If Byram, Timmins, and McLeod get more or less what is projected, the roster will be full and they will be about $4 million under the cap. I don't think we are trading for a forward unless we are trading one out. And, I doubt Adams extended players like Greenway and Quinn with the intent of trading them. He also didn't give Greenway and Quinn $4 million and $3.375 million, to play on line 4. They might end up there, but I doubt that is the intent.

We only have two R shot NHL D-men. We aren't adding Parayko or Weegar, but they would both be good additions in a Byram trade.

Yeah, it was Gord Miller who brought it up and Dreger, Johnston, and LeBrun all went along with it.