Will this group get better?

[dudacek]

I don't think anyone would accept Adams coming back with the same roster next season.

I don't think anyone expects Adams to give up on his young core.

Moving on from all or most of free agents Girgensons, Okposo, Robinson, Jost, Olofsson, EJ and Comrie will create the roster and cap space to make additions, and our prospect capital gives us ammunition to translate those additions to improvements.

I'm curious what people think about how much more the rest of the current roster has to give?

How much improvement should we expect from within?

(If you think a player is going to give us roughly the same, leave the box unticked)

[Buffalonill]

 

[GASabresIUFAN]

He is going to bring back virtually the same roster.  

He’ll re-sign UPL, Krebs, Joki and Mitts, elevate Levi to goalie 2 and if KO wants to play again, he’ll re-sign him as well. I also think he’ll re-sign Robinson.   That leaves exactly 2 roster spots; 13th forward and 7th D available for new talent.  

He’ll claim that this season was growing pains for the youngest roster in the league.  He’ll state the fans should be optimistic for 24/25 because of the improved defense and goaltending in the second half of this season, the return to health of key forwards and the continued development of young elite talent in Benson, JJP, Quinn, Power, Levi and Ryan Johnson.  He’ll talk about how close to NHL ready star prospects Savoie, Rosen, Kulich and Novikov are giving us great depth next season and in the future.

Edited March 2, 2024 by GASabresIUFAN

[Hank]

5 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

He is going to bring back virtually the same roster.  

He’ll re-sign UPL, Krebs, Joki and Mitts, elevate Levi to goalie 2 and if KO wants to play again, he’ll re-sign him as well. I also think he’ll re-sign Robinson.   That leaves exactly 2 roster spots; 13th forward and 7th D available for new talent.  

He’ll claim that this season was growing pains for the youngest roster in the league.  He’ll state the fans should be optimistic for 24/25 because of the improved defense and goaltending in the second half of this season, the return to health of key forwards and the continued development of young elite talent in Benson, JJP, Quinn, Power, Levi and Ryan Johnson.  He’ll talk about how close to NHL ready star prospects Savoie, Rosen, Kulich and Novikov are giving us great depth next season and in the future.

The only thing in he I disagree with is I don't think Okposo comes back. 

The player I most want him to target in FA is Tommy Novak. I think he'd be a really good middle six player on this team at a reasonable cost. 

[mjd1001]

Thompson better bouncing back from a wrist injury. Cozens better because he seems to have found 'something' and is playing better lately. Benson and basically the entire D-group as better because they are all young and should get better with expereince.

Skinner worse simply becasue he is at that point in his career.  Greenway MAYBE worse (didn't select it) because I think he is having 'his' career year (at least career-2-months). I'm hoping UPL not worse, but there is a chance there is a regression-to-the-mean.

[mjd1001]

5 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

He is going to bring back virtually the same roster.  

He’ll re-sign UPL, Krebs, Joki and Mitts, elevate Levi to goalie 2 and if KO wants to play again, he’ll re-sign him as well. I also think he’ll re-sign Robinson.   That leaves exactly 2 roster spots; 13th forward and 7th D available for new talent.  

He’ll claim that this season was growing pains for the youngest roster in the league.  He’ll state the fans should be optimistic for 24/25 because of the improved defense and goaltending in the second half of this season, the return to health of key forwards and the continued development of young elite talent in Benson, JJP, Quinn, Power, Levi and Ryan Johnson.  He’ll talk about how close to NHL ready star prospects Savoie, Rosen, Kulich and Novikov are giving us great depth next season and in the future.

If, IF the Sabres finish the season strong (this 2 months of good play runs through the rest of the year), I'd probably be OK with that explanation. At least partially OK.  The thing that I wouldn't like and the reason I wouldn't buy into it 100% is that...it seems like another case of 'we heard that before"   But, Drop KO and Maybe Robinson....make a trade for an obvious upgrade up front (a forward that is under 30 but you can rely on for at least 20 goals and good 2 way play)....well...I wouldn't be all that upset.  I mean, we have been burned before and for me this WOULD rely on them continuing to play well (finish in the 85-90 point range).

[JohnC]

6 hours ago, dudacek said:

I don't think anyone would accept Adams coming back with the same roster next season.

I don't think anyone expects Adams to give up on his young core.

Moving on from all or most of free agents Girgensons, Okposo, Robinson, Jost, Olofsson, EJ and Comrie will create the roster and cap space to make additions, and our prospect capital gives us ammunition to translate those additions to improvements.

I'm curious what people think about how much more the rest of the current roster has to give?

How much improvement should we expect from within?

(If you think a player is going to give us roughly the same, leave the box unticked)

Your third paragraph gives us a good picture of the potential openings on the roster that will exist next year. It will be in the 3-5 range, in my estimation. 

I do believe that most of the improvement will come internally from young players such as Ryan Johnson, Peterka, Quinn, Power, Cozens etc.  Hopefully, UPL and possibly Levi will continue on their upward trajectory. 

As has frequently been stated on this forum, much of the problem associated with underachieving can be attributed to the mix of players. We need to add at a minimum a couple of tougher and grittier players who are comfortable playing in the dirty areas, i.e. in front of the net. 

There are a number of people here who forcefully argue that this roster needs to be blown up. I strenuously disagree. 

[inkman]

5 minutes ago, JohnC said:

Your third paragraph gives us a good picture of the potential openings on the roster that will exist next year. It will be in the 3-5 range, in my estimation. 

I do believe that most of the improvement will come internally from young players such as Ryan Johnson, Peterka, Quinn, Power, Cozens etc.  Hopefully, UPL and possibly Levi will continue on their upward trajectory. 

As has frequently been stated on this forum, much of the problem associated with underachieving can be attributed to the mix of players. We need to add at a minimum a couple of tougher and grittier players who are comfortable playing in the dirty areas, i.e. in front of the net. 

There are a number of people here who forcefully argue that this roster needs to be blown up. I strenuously disagree. 

I’m going to try to take enough drugs where this doesn’t seem like the worst idea I’ve ever heard.  I’ll let you know in about 15 hours.  

[JohnC]

6 minutes ago, inkman said:

I’m going to try to take enough drugs where this doesn’t seem like the worst idea I’ve ever heard.  I’ll let you know in about 15 hours.  

I'm confident that you will be able to take enough drugs to allow you to continue with your hazy thinking. Please don't drive while you are in your mellow state. 😶‍🌫️

[Scottysabres]

The forward youth will improve, TNT and Tuch will improve, Dahlin and Power will improve, UPL becomes a league wide top 3 goalie.

Skinner regresses.

[Carmel Corn]

7 hours ago, dudacek said:

I don't think anyone would accept Adams coming back with the same roster next season.

I don't think anyone expects Adams to give up on his young core.

Moving on from all or most of free agents Girgensons, Okposo, Robinson, Jost, Olofsson, EJ and Comrie will create the roster and cap space to make additions, and our prospect capital gives us ammunition to translate those additions to improvements.

I'm curious what people think about how much more the rest of the current roster has to give?

How much improvement should we expect from within?

(If you think a player is going to give us roughly the same, leave the box unticked)

I know this is a player discussion, but I would also LIKE to think that people would not accept coming back with the same COACH next season as well, but this is Pegula, so no amount of stupidity is beyond his reach.

[Night Train]

Need to see what happens between now and October. 

Trades now or during the summer ?  Any change to coach or GM ? 

Running it back with little change would be sad. Most of our players we depend on to score saw their production drop to half of expected output. 

[Sabres Fan in NS]

Why is it manditory for me to select someone to be worse when I don't think any of them will be worse ?

 

[phil_soisson]

15 hours ago, mjd1001 said:

Thompson better bouncing back from a wrist injury. Cozens better because he seems to have found 'something' and is playing better lately. Benson and basically the entire D-group as better because they are all young and should get better with expereince.

Skinner worse simply becasue he is at that point in his career.  Greenway MAYBE worse (didn't select it) because I think he is having 'his' career year (at least career-2-months). I'm hoping UPL not worse, but there is a chance there is a regression-to-the-mean.

If Cozens found something, what exactly did he lose? His drop off from last year is titanic; what we see in totality just may be a player who is wildly inconsistent.

[#freejame]

22 minutes ago, Sabres Fan in NS said:

Why is it manditory for me to select someone to be worse when I don't think any of them will be worse ?

 

Jeff Skinner caught a stray vote from me for this very reason 

[sabresparaavida]

6 minutes ago, phil_soisson said:

If Cozens found something, what exactly did he lose? His drop off from last year is titanic; what we see in totality just may be a player who is wildly inconsistent.

The biggest difference in production this year and last is that last year he had an uncharacteristically high shooting percentage at 14.7%. The year prior it was 8.5%, and before that 6.7%. This season it is 9.4%, and probably closer to what his career average will be. His assists per game  and shots per game are pretty close to last year’s numbers. Another limiting factor is that last season a lot of Cozen’s production came off the rush, and the Sabres as a whole have been a somewhat less rush heavy team this year, trying to be a more defensively responsible team.

[mjd1001]

2 hours ago, phil_soisson said:

If Cozens found something, what exactly did he lose? His drop off from last year is titanic; what we see in totality just may be a player who is wildly inconsistent.

What he lost is consistency from last year.   Last year, he scored, goals per month, 4, 4, 4, 5, 6, 5, and then 3 in the short last month. He was very consistent as a goal scorer last year. So, consistency is what he HAD last year that he lost this year.