HumanSlinky39

I think he played a little Center in Juniors.

Yeah, pretty much where I am. We traded a young, potentially dynamic top-6 scoring forward for a very solid defenseman and a bottom-6 forward "grinder" with limited offensive upside. Made a lateral move in net. A couple of other minor moves. The weeeeee bit of hope I'm holding out is that Byram will play inspired hockey as his deal walks him to UFA. Hopefully Kesselring upgrades the D core enough that it's now at least above average. If these moves improve the defense enough, maybe we get better goalie play. Losing Peterka hurts offensively, but we still have some good offensive players. TNT must stay healthy...Tuch, too. If Norris stays healthy he's a pretty large upgrade on Cozens both ways. Hopefully Quinn takes a step forward...achilles injuries can take a while to recover from. 2024/25 MacLeod needs to be who he is. Hopefully Benson advances offensively in year 3. That's a lot of "hopefully", but that's where we are. Nothing concrete, just "hopefully"...much like the last 3 years. I've said multiple times in recent weeks that we need a GM with BALLS. Adams seems to have accepted that Buffalo is not an attractive destination, so he settles for these smaller moves and just hopes "his guys" improve. We need a GM that doesn't accept that Buffalo isn't an attractive destination and will go out and TRY to make bold moves.

Exactly. I said in another thread that we need a GM with BALLS. KA has accepted that Buffalo isn't a desirable destination and that is dictating what he's doing with the roster. Buffalo is absolutely not an attractive destination right now (partially because of KA), but that can be fixed quickly with some on-ice success. A GM needs to be a salesman and he cannot fall into believing that his org is a lousy one. That's called a self-fulfilling prophecy. We need a GM that has a vision for making the Sabres an attractive org to play for and has the skillset to sell people on it. KA is most certainly not that.

Mailloux looks like a video game rendering of a hockey player.

There's potential. I think Kesselring will be a nice addition. Dahlin is elite. Power needs to show strides this year; I thought he took a pretty big step back last season. His injury was very unfortunate because he really needed to put in work this summer. Timmins should be serviceable. Byram is fine, good puck mover, meh defensively. I just assume Samuelsson is going to miss about 40 games and be underwhelming when he does play. All in all, I think there's a decent chance they're better as a group than last year, but who the hell knows.

One of my HUGE problems with Adams is he seems to feel that the Sabres are an unattractive destinations for players, and they probably are, but the GM should NOT feel that way. I feel like that governs (or limits) what he's willing to try to do. He seems to accept that it's very hard to lure people to Buffalo because the org is viewed as a joke (partially because of him) so he doesn't really try to make any splashy moves. We need somebody who says "***** that" and is willing to, and has the BALLS to go after those kind of players. Adams ain't that guy.

So he'll sign with the Sabres, score about 18 points in 40 games and be traded for a JAG forward and a 2nd round pick in February?

As long as this man is in a position of power this cannot be viewed as a serious hockey organization. He sealed his own fate when he whined about palm trees and taxes. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy. "Good players don't want to play in Western NY so why even pursue them?" I think there's also some shell shock from the Taylor Hall debacle. That was the one big FA he was allowed to sign and he was garbage before being traded for detritus during the same season. This franchise is going nowhere as long as a jellyfish like KA is making these decisions. We need somebody with vision, fortitude, and most importantly BALLS to do the job.

Are they better? I haven't seen anything tangible that makes me feel they are.

That dude looks like a nutria.

He was always an all-out effort guy in EDM. His numbers were lower because he wasn't asked to do as much offensively. I suspect last season set a reasonable expectation going forward and if he's surrounded correctly, 45-55 points is what he'll provide.

I like this move. McLeod is a very good 3C, fast as hell, reasonably skilled, and good on the PK. Needed to happen, glad we get to keep him.