Judging the off-season: the big picture

[mjd1001]

2 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

 I don't think we have yet seen the best of what this core group can do.  I cannot be convinced that Quinn, JJP, Benson, Power, and even Tage and Dahlin have reached their peaks yet.  

I agree for the most part, but the question is....is there a chance any of them would thrive under Ruff more than Granato? Or maybe the other way around?

Tage I think gets you 50 this year. I have said that over and over since last season ended (if healthy).  Quinn, JJP...both have the potential this year to give you 30.  Power is just so young and many/most 2-way D-men just take time to get to be their best. He had an up and down year last year but I expect him to be better every year for the next 2-3 seasons. Dahlin?  If the TEAM plays better around him (they make the playoffs/100 points) he should be a Norris candidate.  Sure, Makar is great, so is Fox....but in EVERY aspect of the game (hitting, passing, skating, defensive positioning, ice time), I think he might be the most talented/well rounded D-man in the game.

Lest just hope they all respond under Ruff.

[DarthEbriate]

2 hours ago, Pimlach said:

I just think that Power must get more involved in the game physically, and become more invested in the games outcome, and then points and the rest will take care of itself.   Experience should help him and hopefully he meshes well with Ruff.  

A mandate from the bench for Power: your stat line must include 1 or more recorded hit each game. Learn to correctly throw a body check, get used to it, and go from there.

[sabremike]

 

[mjd1001]

44 minutes ago, sabremike said:

 

One one hand it is frustrating they could spend more, especially on one or 2 year deals.

But on the other hand, if its a choice of signing a vet 28-30 year old to a longer term, high dollar deal and then NOT having money to pay guys like Peterka and Quinn in a couple of years.....I'd rather they not bring in the high priced guy and instead confirm what you have in the young guys on your roster and pay then when the time comes.

Of course there is a 'middle ground' where you do MORE than they have without giving out bad contracts.  That is where I wish they would be.

Edited September 2, 2024 by mjd1001

[bob_sauve28]

On 8/18/2024 at 1:53 PM, dudacek said:

The Sabres parted ways with their highest-paid player Jeff Skinner, deciding they were better off paying him $14M over the next 6 years to play elsewhere than keeping him on the roster for another 3 years for $22M.

The team implied they were moving him off the top line and didn’t see Skinner as a good fit lower down the lineup. They signed Jason Zucker to a 1-year, $5M deal as his roster replacement and have yet to spend the money they saved under the cap by cutting him.

What do you think about the decision to cut Jeff Skinner, and what kind of impact will it have on the coming season?

Skinner is not the kind of player that elevates those around him, like other really good players, which Skinner is. It's great that he scores goals, but for the kind of money he made it would be better if he did some other things really well, also 

 

[PerreaultForever]

48 minutes ago, bob_sauve28 said:

Skinner is not the kind of player that elevates those around him, like other really good players, which Skinner is. It's great that he scores goals, but for the kind of money he made it would be better if he did some other things really well, also 

 

Skinner has always been a "look at me" and an "I'm open, pass me the puck" kind of guy rather than a "what can I do better to help us win kind of guy". If they truly want to change the culture he had to go because the youth in the room do not have the gravitas to keep him in line with the (presumed) work ethic. A team with strong veteran leaders might be able to do it, but this culture will be fragile at best. 

I think they recognized this and Ruff wanted him gone. Zucker is really just an aging mercenary who will fill that spot for a year to let Kulich or whoever mature a little more but he has a better work ethic and team first attitude and shouldn't be a problem. I have my doubts on how much he will contribute, but he won't be a problem and might end up being a retention flip at the deadline if we suck. 

A year from now it should be Kulich or Rosen or somebody we have drafted. 

[dudacek]

On 8/29/2024 at 1:30 PM, DarthEbriate said:

A mandate from the bench for Power: your stat line must include 1 or more recorded hit each game. Learn to correctly throw a body check, get used to it, and go from there.

You don’t have to hit guys to play good defence.

Nick Lidstrom never threw more than 56 hits in a season. Adam Fox has never thrown more than 44.

Hank Tallinder maxed out at 64.

These are the guys Power should be emulating in his own zone. Don’t try to be something you’re not, just use your brains and your feet and your reach to get in the way.

[mjd1001]

57 minutes ago, dudacek said:

You don’t have to hit guys to play good defence.

Nick Lidstrom never threw more than 56 hits in a season. Adam Fox has never thrown more than 44.

Hank Tallinder maxed out at 64.

These are the guys Power should be emulating in his own zone. Don’t try to be something you’re not, just use your brains and your feet and your reach to get in the way.

Its like with Uwe Krupp, Schmelik...and many others...you are big so why don't you hit people?

You know what else size can do for you? You take up a lot of ice.  Between your stick and your reach, there is a lot less room out there, and sometimes when you hit someone, you take yourself out of the play and the team D would be better if you just held your position.

[Thorny]

17 hours ago, dudacek said:

You don’t have to hit guys to play good defence.

Nick Lidstrom never threw more than 56 hits in a season. Adam Fox has never thrown more than 44.

Hank Tallinder maxed out at 64.

These are the guys Power should be emulating in his own zone. Don’t try to be something you’re not, just use your brains and your feet and your reach to get in the way.

This is what I was saying about Byram. Not only do you not need to hit to be good, it’s more often indicative of the opposite 

Lidstrom’s tactical positioning was always too good, his stick work too disruptive to find himself being caught chasing and “laying the body” on the regular 

[That Aud Smell]

4 hours ago, Thorny said:

This is what I was saying about Byram. Not only do you not need to hit to be good, it’s more often indicative of the opposite 

Lidstrom’s tactical positioning was always too good, his stick work too disruptive to find himself being caught chasing and “laying the body” on the regular 

In a game with a gajillion real time fluid variables, it's almost as though there are multiple ways to be really effective at accomplishing something.

[Pimlach]

Hitting (throwing a body check), or using your body as leverage to defend.  So far Power doesn’t do either.  

[That Aud Smell]

1 hour ago, Pimlach said:

Hitting (throwing a body check), or using your body as leverage to defend.  So far Power doesn’t do either.  

There's no doubt that he needs to learn how to better use his body when defending. But he certainly doesn't need to be a crease-clearing gorilla (or even just a garden variety bruiser) in order to do that. I'm confident that he'll learn that part of the d-game as he matures.

[Thorny]

1 hour ago, That Aud Smell said:

There's no doubt that he needs to learn how to better use his body when defending. But he certainly doesn't need to be a crease-clearing gorilla (or even just a garden variety bruiser) in order to do that. I'm confident that he'll learn that part of the d-game as he matures.

I need a list of all your official terms

Better than EA’s “sniper, playmaker” etc 

[That Aud Smell]

1 hour ago, Thorny said:

I need a list of all your official terms

Better than EA’s “sniper, playmaker” etc 

lol - appreciated.

i'm just trying to contribute to the board's poetics.

[Thorny]

1 hour ago, That Aud Smell said:

lol - appreciated.

i'm just trying to contribute to the board's poetics.

Board stalwarts like yourself contribute greatly to that and beyond. Not pointed out enough, personally, what you add to the experience.

The fans are the experience at this point, frankly

[Pimlach]

6 hours ago, That Aud Smell said:

There's no doubt that he needs to learn how to better use his body when defending. But he certainly doesn't need to be a crease-clearing gorilla (or even just a garden variety bruiser) in order to do that. I'm confident that he'll learn that part of the d-game as he matures.

What????   So defenseman willing to play a physical style are crease clearing gorillas?   smh

Every defenseman is responsible to keep the crease and the slot area cleared and support the goalie.  Power is not special.  He needs to get physically invested in the game.  That is all I ask.   He needs to be willing to use that big body to his advantage and there must be more effort to support every Sabre teammate on the ice.  

[Thorny]

 

[That Aud Smell]

3 hours ago, Pimlach said:

He needs to get physically invested in the game.  That is all I ask.   He needs to be willing to use that big body to his advantage and there must be more effort to support every Sabre teammate on the ice.  

[LGR4GM]

3 hours ago, Thorny said:

 

The Byram trade may just be the final nail in Adams coffin. It still doesn't make sense. 

[That Aud Smell]

13 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

The Byram trade may just be the final nail in Adams coffin. It still doesn't make sense. 

Adams may take the fall, but that trade can readily (and perhaps most logically) be seen through the prism of Pegula's being cheap with payroll.

The further we get from the trade, the less sense it makes.

[dudacek]

53 minutes ago, That Aud Smell said:

Adams may take the fall, but that trade can readily (and perhaps most logically) be seen through the prism of Pegula's being cheap with payroll.

The further we get from the trade, the less sense it makes.

Pegula is saving $1.9M for one year on this deal.

This is how most people seem to see it:

• The Sabres don't have enough talent up front
• The Sabres had enough talent on the blueline
• Mitts was one of the few Sabres who played well last year
• Casey Mittelstadt is better than Bo Byram

This is how I see it:

• The Sabres had 3 top 6 centres
• The Sabres had 3 top 4 defencemen
• The Sabres wanted to get faster and harder to play against
• Peak Bo Byram is more talented and valuable than peak Casey Mittelstadt

I think it was a risky deal, but i have no problem seeing the why.

Edited September 5, 2024 by dudacek

[That Aud Smell]

19 minutes ago, dudacek said:

Pegula is saving $1.9M for one year on this deal.

What savings might otherwise be projected? Idk. I really don't.

I appreciate your analysis.

Given how Pegula's run this franchise, I no longer give him the benefit of the doubt. If there are two plausible explanations for a personnel decision -- and one of them is rooted in Pegula's being miserly -- I'll presume that the decision was principally motivated by a desire to conserve costs.

[Thorny]

19 minutes ago, dudacek said:

Pegula is saving $1.9M for one year on this deal.

This is how most people seem to see it:

• The Sabres don't have enough talent up front
• The Sabres had enough talent on the blueline
• Mitts was one of the few Sabres who played well last year
• Casey Mittelstadt is better than Bo Byram

This is how I see it:

• The Sabres had 3 top 6 centres
• The Sabres had 3 top 4 defencemen
• The Sabres wanted to get faster and harder to play against
• Peak Bo Byram is more talented and valuable than peak Casey Mittelstadt

I think it was a risky deal, but i have no problem seeing the why.

This is exactly it. Trading the assured better player now, the guy who’ll help us most now, help us get to the playoffs most now, for the hope we’ll get the better player at some time in the unforseeable future. Prioritizing the future at the expense of the now, if necessary, is exactly Adams to a T and it’s why he fits in so well, part and parcel with Pegula’s EEE strategy 

[Thorny]

13 minutes ago, That Aud Smell said:

What savings might otherwise be projected? Idk. I really don't.

I appreciate your analysis.

Given how Pegula's run this franchise, I no longer give him the benefit of the doubt. If there are two plausible explanations for a personnel decision -- and one of them is rooted in Pegula's being miserly -- I'll presume that the decision was principally motivated by a desire to conserve costs.

I really think the two just feed into eachother at this point, Pegula and Adams. Adams *is* Pegula. This cannot he stressed enough. Adams is the guy Terry appointed to spy on the team and fire a bunch of personnel. He quite literally employed him as the weasel. The Sabres have control on Casey for a couple years - they could have easily afforded him in the now. That this deal will probably save money in the FUTURE, the time period in which Adams cares most about (job security), is clearly why we can see it benefits both. 

They are peas in a pod 

Buying out Skinner and neglecting to use the cap space is *indisputably* Pegula’s internal cap, born out of the desire to save money, zero to do with accountability, but dollars to donuts, when the boss goes to Kevyn and says, “can we win without that salary?” he’s getting nothing but an affirmative answer. Adams isn’t dumb. He’s a good politician.

The scenario is *mutually beneficial*. “You save me money now, the expectations stay low. Youngest team in da league. Youngest team in da leagueeeeeee!”

Byram made us YOUNGER, he made us CHEAPER, and he made us WORSE RIGHT NOW. This checks…all the boxes 

Edited September 5, 2024 by Thorny

[thewookie1]

I honestly hope Byram knocks our socks off this year not only for the team's success but to end the endless Mitts talk.