Archie Lee

I agree, but Carolina isn't swimming in toughness, size, grit, and wankery. Yet they are consistently among the top 5-6 teams in the NHL. When they lost to the Panthers last year, there was the beginning of "Brind'Amour won't get them over the top" talk. It's crazy. They are 80% Brind'Amour. The Sabres need more of that element, but we need not worry about competing with the Panthers. For now, we just need to bridge the cap between us and Montreal, Ottawa, NJ.

This is just my opinion, but I think this speaks more to how good Dahlin is than it does to how bad the rest of the D is. Dahlin is elite. The rest of the D, mostly, would thrive or be fine in a better system. Dahlin is so good that he rises above; put him on a contender and he is maybe the best there is. It cannot be overstated, how much Dahlin's talent is being wasted.

No team got "Panthered" in the playoffs, more than the Hurricanes. It's interesting to me that they have not made any significant attempt to address the grit-gap between then and Florida (Miller perhaps does this to a minor degree). To me, it speaks to the reality that there really are not that many players in the Tkachuk, Bennett, Marchand mold. It's easy to say that a team needs players like that, but how many of them are there? Somehow, 31 NHL GMs fell asleep and let Zito acquire 3 of them.

I wholly agree with your first paragraph on Timmons, and partially on your JBD comments. On Timmons, there is nothing to be upset with management about him going to arbitration. The Sabres knew he was eligible and I'm certain they have a good idea what the potential ranges are for an award, if it gets that far. At worst he is awarded a bit more than what the Sabres would prefer, but nothing that messes with the salary structure. On JBD, I agree that it was obvious that it was never the case that JBD was the cost of the 2nd rd pick. Where I disagree a bit, is that I think it was fair for Sabre fans to look at that trade in its totality and to assume that the Sabres saw some added value with JBD. Post-trade, rightly or wrongly, pretty much the entire hockey world thought Ottawa was getting the better player or, at least, the player with the better upside. So, Sabre fans can be forgiven for not understanding why we were getting back an older player, who has a history of significant injuries, and who makes more money, and who has less long-term upside, AND we were adding the 2nd rd pick. That JBD was a youngish, former 1st rd R-shot D, seemed to offset the loss of the 2nd rounder at least a bit. That JBD then played fairly well and was praised by Adams at year-end, just makes the decision to not qualify him seem even more odd. Further, if the Sabres end up extending Byram and Timmons at a conservative $10 Million combined, that will leave them with a full roster and almost $4 million in cap space. An extra $500-600k on an AAV for JBD, was not going to be impactful.

Ahhh Ruff. Remember the stretch prior to the 13 game losing streak when Thompson was injured and McLeod played in the top 6 and the team went 4-1 including 3 wins in California. And then Thompson returned and Ruff put McLeod on the 4th line.

I recognize you are speculating. Power at $8.35 million in the sheltered Jason Woolley role, would be...something. If this is the sort of combinations and usage that Ruff is looking at, then I think they would be better to package Byram and a forward for a big upgrade upfront, and put Power with Dahlin, and play Zac Jones with Timmins. Jones is more analogous to Woolley than Power is, I think. Or sign Byram and trade Power in the package for the big forward upgrade. The Rangers tried hard to make Zac Jones and Schneider a thing. We might be sleeping on him a bit as an option for the 3rd pair. Of course, Woolley's value was that he was a better PP option than any of the top-4 at the time. That won't be the case for anyone like Jones in our current lineup. Byram and Norris for Pettersson and Forbort would be very risky, but I'm not sure if it would be more risky than Norris at $7.95 million + Byram at whatever a long-term extension would cost. EDIT: I keep forgetting that Pettersson now has a full NMC; so we can scratch him as being an option for the Sabres for the foreseeable future (to the relief of many!).

Here are a couple of things in defense of Luukkonen. 1.) Per MoneyPuck, Luukkonen's goals save below expected were nearly identical to that of Saros and Swayman. Both have larger track records than Luukkonen, but the connection is that those are both considered to be good goalies who posted bad #'s on bad teams. Maybe that is what Luukkonen also was last year. 2.) At his best Luukkonen is a blocker; he is a positional goalie who uses his size and lets the puck come to him and who has the athleticism to make some highlight reel saves when needed. At his worst, he is chasing the game; that is when you see him 4 feet out of his crease to the left or the right of, or behind, the net. To me, it was obvious that there was a point last season where he was being shelled night after night and where he lost confidence and over-compensated by reverting to bad habits (chasing the puck). Is that always going to be his issue? Or, can he reset in the off-season and as he matures find a way to simply play the game that he is best at? I don't know. I think he would thrive under certain coaches and in certain structures. I don't think Ruff is the right coach. Although Ruff spoke at the end of the year of being unable to blame Luukkonen until he could get the team to do a better job with puck management, I am skeptical that Ruff is a coach who can do that.

I'm pretty negative on where the Sabres are at. Here is my attempt at some optimism, with a side of serious negativity, topped with a healthy serving of "I've been wrong before". NHL teams spending $5-$8 million below the cap, might not be a sign of mailing-it-in, like it has been in past years. This is a year where the increase in the cap has left some teams without enough good players to sign. There may be multiple good teams - expected playoff teams - that will spend $89-$91 million this year and will carry a lot of space for trade deadline additions. So, the Sabres coming in at $90 million, or thereabouts, shouldn't in itself be viewed as meaning they aren't icing a wild-card level team. The Sabres have 3 players who, if they stay healthy over most of the season, should keep them from being among the league's very worst teams. Dahlin is a legit top 10 (top 5, I think) NHL defenseman. Thompson and Tuch are legit 1st line NHL wingers. Thompson is among the best goal-scorers in hockey. Tuch is among the league's best two-way wingers. They both can drive their own lines, making our lack of having clear top-6 centres a little less of an issue (still an issue though, to be certain). The Sabres have many young players who might be poised to take a step forward in Benson, Quinn, Kulich, Doan, Power, and Byram (for now). While they have some good veterans (Zucker, Greenway, McLeod, Danforth, a healthy Norris), this is an area where I think they could still use 2-3 additions. Swap in Fowler and Rust for Byram and Quinn (not straight up), and I think the Sabres could be a better team if not more talented. UPL is a year removed from playing like a legit NHL starter. I think this team could make a WC position, provided I am very wrong on one very important person: Lindy Ruff. This is how down I am on Lindy Ruff: If I could, right now, replace Adams or Ruff, I would choose Ruff. And it isn't close. I think that when you change a head coach you look to bring in a person who creates a positive culture change and breathes new life into a dressing room. I think Ruff did the opposite of that. I think, at this stage of his career, he is neither a system coach nor is he a culture/vibes coach. I think his time has past. I think that as bad as things were a year ago with the roster, the issues were magnified by having a below average tactician as an NHL head coach, who also lacks the ability to relate to today's players. I think Ruff's hiring set the team back. That said, I have been very wrong before. If I'm very wrong on Ruff, then I think there could be reason for some optimism.

I appreciate the optimism, but from my angle he holds almost no cards. He's a 6th year GM who has never made the playoffs and who has at present assembled a team and staff that will be predicted to make the playoffs in 25-26 by nobody except the most optimistic of Sabre fans (I mean no disrespect to optimistic Sabre fans as I was one just 14 months ago). And the big thing he has accomplished this off-season is to protect the Sabres against a potential offer-sheet on a player who, let's be honest, nobody is 100% certain is actually good (at least in the $7-9 million AAV context).

I think this is true. I don't think they are as down on Samuelsson as the fanbase is. If Byram is dealt and a top 4D does not come back, then I think the top-4 is likely just Dahlin, Power, Kesselring, and Samuelsson, in some configuration.

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.