Johnny Utah

Savoie and Kulich are top 6 forwards. Simple. Rosen and Östlund have similar potential but I'd say are a step behind. Kisakov is another with similar potential but he is another step behind. Right there you have 5 similar players that we be battling out for top 6 spots. Lets not forget Thompson, Tuch, Skinner, Krebs, Quinn and Peterka who are already there. You're missing my point altogether. I have zero issue trading the majority of these forwards for defensive help. My question is why take the one that is 6'2 , 185 and is super quick that can play on the bottom two lines when you have arguably 5 players all 5'10 and 170 pounds vying for maybe one or two spots. If you dont see the difference in their games and the positives of keeping different style in the pipeline then you really dont get hockey.

So many of the great minds on here totally miss what Bloom bring to the prospect pool. I have zero issue trading a forward for a decent defenseman but this is not the forward and not the defenseman. We have at least 5 or 6 carbon copy European players signed and/or drafted.....all small, fast, shifty, and play identical games. Bloom was one of the few players with size that could skate, play a defensive sound/gritty game and kill penalties....he even dropped the gloves when required. He was a unicorn when compared to the other prospects. Doesn't mean he would make it or move anywhere past the AHL but why not keep a prospect that offers different skills than the others? Every single one of the prospects I described can play top 6 but there is no room for them all. Can they play third line checking or 4th line energy? Doubtful. I think this was a huge blunder that probably wont bite us in the ass but a blunder all the same.

With Sabres being so close to playoffs (ahead of schedule) which prospects above to you dangle to get those last few pieces to get you in ??

Love to see them sign Johnson as there really are no meaningful D prospects even close to ready and the cupboard is relatively bare. Hopefully, KA takes a good hard look at the graduating NCAA crew and targets so Dmen and Fs with size. Too many smallish and similar style Fs in the funnel for my liking. We need to diversify and grab some size and toughness as it doesn't exist. No disrespect to the Euros but need to also fill the funnel with some of these US based college kids

Go to HockeyFights.com and look either of them up.....both are not intimidated at all and more than comfortable to drop gloves when required.

I like Murray because he brings some size and edge. When I look at the potential on Rochester next year I like him and the additions of Nadeau (6'2 and 200) and Bloom (6'2 and 185). They seem to be the only two forward prospects with any size. Everyone else including most of the rookies on Rochester this year are 5"10ish and 170......need a few bigger bodies to go with some D prospects in the summer

What the scoop on Brett Murray ? Under contract ? Trade bait ? Back next year ?

Just looking at the pipeline to see who might be leaving and what the replacement situation look like. I'm not sure what some of the contracts look like so I just went to CapFriendly to see the Sabres and NHL contracts. Current Amerks (RFAs and UFAs) Murray - 24yrs RFA Rousek - 24yrs RFA Weissbach - 24yrs RFA Bjork - 26yrs RFA Pekar - 22yrs RFA Malone - 27yrs UFA Pilut - 27yrs UFA Priskie - 26yrs UFA Davies - 26yrs RFA Cecconi - 25yrs RFA Lots of decisions to make in this group but not sure I see any obvious graduations to Sabres. Lots of value players that may or may not be back. Age will play a role as well within Adams plans Possible Amerks Additions Levi - G (unsigned) Portillo - G (unsigned) Johnson - D (unsigned) Komarov - D (unsigned) Novikov - D (unsigned) Östlund - F (signed) Bloom - F (signed) Nadeau - F (signed) Marjala - F (unsigned) Karlsson - F (unsigned) Konecny - F (unsigned) Neuchev - F (unsigned) Ratkovic - F (unsigned) Sjodin - F (unsigned) Lofberg - F (unsigned) Think they will sign Levi this year and he will be our main goalie going forward with UPL sticking with Sabres. Portillo and Johnson walk or are traded so not part of the long term picture. Seems the ones that make sense are the signed players in Östlund, Bloom and Nadeau. Before you jump all over me....Savoie, Lindgren and Richard (?) are too young so they have not been considered and Poltopov is signed in Russia for the next few years.

Dont forget that Savoie plays on a very stacked team in Winnipeg. They are loaded and ranked #1 in Canada. I think they will go deep so not much time to spend in Rochester. Players like Bloom, Nadeau, Lindgren and Komarov will probably exit their season much quicker and have a chance to jump into the playoffs in Rochester if required and/or good enough.

Was the CZE Goalie not at our Prospect Camp ?? Meaning we could have signed him for nothing ?? Missed opportunity

Bloom is having a sneaky good season and has ramped things up dramatically since he was shipped up to North Bay. He's averaging over 1.5pts per game with 23 points in 15 games. More impressively he has 12 goals in the 15 games since his arrival and is on a 10 game point streak and North Bay is playing .700 hockey. Tied for 9th in overall scoring in the OHL and on pace for 40+ goal season. Looking forward to seeing this dude in Rochester next year.

Just saw that....Hat trick in a 4-2 win over division rival Kingston.....so far has 6 goals in his 9 games playing for North Bay and 13 points in total....seems to be fitting in fine so far. No one really watches North Bay as they are not one of the sexier locations here in the OHL but they seem to have something good happening there.

Hat-trick the other night in a 4-2 win over Kingston and 13 points in 9 games......looks like he is fitting in fine so far

https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/bloom-a-little/id1526969424?i=1000587212309 Solid podcast interview of Bloom just after being traded to North Bay

The Frontline: Bloom a Little on Apple Podcasts Solid podcast......interviewed just after trade https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/bloom-a-little/id1526969424?i=1000587212309