Trade : Conor Timmins and Isaac Belliveau from the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for Connor Clifton and the 39th overall pick in the 2025 NHL Draft.

[Taro T]

26 minutes ago, dudacek said:

Here’s something I have not seen posted about:

If you had to identify the most frustrated Sabres last year would any of Cozens, Lafferty. Clifton, Peterka and Jokiharju not be on the list?

I wonder how many of square pegs with Ruff are left?

Who did they miss? Quinn maybe?  Samuelsson?

Guys that were healthy scratches that are still here: Quinn, Samuelsson, Malenstyn.

For frustrated guys from last year, you missed one, Aube-Kubel.  Guy never garnered any trust from Ruff.  (Not saying he should've had it; but he absolutely didn't.)

[Turbo44]

1 hour ago, PerreaultForever said:

Well that's kind of my point. They threw him in as an extra. They saw him as a replaceable bottom end player. 

Embedded implies otherwise. Adams said the trade wasn’t happening cuz Utah would include Doan in the trade, they “consider him a glue piece to the team.”

he’s may not be a top 6 forward but he’s not a throw-in either 

[PerreaultForever]

3 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

That's debatable. Highly debatable based on what we know. 

Well he hasn't done anything noteworthy in his NHL career yet. We shall see. 

2 hours ago, JohnC said:

Few people are categorizing him as a top line forward. He’s a lower line forward who plays a hard style of game.

Again, we shall see how "hard" he is. That was the sales pitch on Malentstyn too. 

2 hours ago, Turbo44 said:

Embedded implies otherwise. Adams said the trade wasn’t happening cuz Utah would include Doan in the trade, they “consider him a glue piece to the team.”

he’s may not be a top 6 forward but he’s not a throw-in either 

I don't believe a word "embedded" says. 

[Turbo44]

6 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

Well he hasn't done anything noteworthy in his NHL career yet. We shall see. 

Again, we shall see how "hard" he is. That was the sales pitch on Malentstyn too. 

I don't believe a word "embedded" says. 

So embedded is acting, meaning they have Al the people read from a script? Interesting. I’m sure the opposing gms would love that 

[LGR4GM]

6 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

Well he hasn't done anything noteworthy in his NHL career yet. We shall see. 

Again, we shall see how "hard" he is. That was the sales pitch on Malentstyn too. 

I don't believe a word "embedded" says. 

His... checks notes... 62 game nhl career? Well, that's certainly true. 

Idk what Doan will be but I don't think he's a toss in. Is he a 25pt bottom 6 guy with good defense or a 50pt top 6 guy with good defense? Guess we'll see but I'd bet this year will be up and down for him. 

[JP51]

14 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

You're just wishing and hoping. It's all they leave us with every year. If this guy if that guy maybe him maybe maybe maybe. Rarely doe much of it come to fruition though. Utah obviously didn't feel this way about Doan or they wouldn't have made the deal. 

I readily admit that this is strictly my hope with almost no foundation behind it you are 100% correct in that assumption ... now you have to give something to get so I am not sure that Utah didnt have some hope for that but clearly they were not at all convinced ... 

[PromoTheRobot]

We can say anything we want and we're not right or wrong because we are just making it up as we go. 

[JohnC]

8 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

We can say anything we want and we're not right or wrong because we are just making it up as we go. 

What's wrong with that? That's the nature of following a team or sports in general before the games are actually played. As of today, I haven't met anyone who is prescient. Even successful gamblers lose a lot. That's the nature of the beast. 

[Dr. Who]

12 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

We can say anything we want and we're not right or wrong because we are just making it up as we go. 

I suppose, but particular judgments will be proven more or less correct or not by how the future plays out. So far, the bleak side is on a fourteen year winning streak. Let's hope the ridiculous odds for even a badly run team missing the playoffs that length of time finally tilt in favor of the long-suffering fans. (Unless, of course, one secretly blames the fans, and believe they deserve it. There are the odd sadists out there who think like that.)

 

Edited 8 hours ago by Dr. Who

[PromoTheRobot]

12 minutes ago, JohnC said:

What's wrong with that? That's the nature of following a team or sports in general before the games are actually played. As of today, I haven't met anyone who is prescient. Even successful gamblers lose a lot. That's the nature of the beast. 

I guess it's mostly harmless, although it's very reminiscent of today's politics.

[JohnC]

3 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

I guess it's mostly harmless, although it's very reminiscent of today's politics.

Today's politics are much different. It's become a blood sport where the issue becomes dominating the opposition and shutting them out. The fuel is anger. What's lost is the ability to listen. I'm a strong believer that you learn more from people who you disagree with than you do with only listening to people who agree with you. It expands your horizons/perspectives. It seems everyone is in their own closed silo with little desire to open the door to alternative views. 

[7+6=13]

11 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

Those are the MAIN PIECES. The other bigger change is Cozens/Norris as I've said repeatedly. The rest is non consequential. 

That wouldn't be another change as we've already experienced that change.  With rosters of 23, each new player is of at least some consequence.  

[LGR4GM]

21 minutes ago, 7+6=13 said:

That wouldn't be another change as we've already experienced that change.  With rosters of 23, each new player is of at least some consequence.  

We literally have not experienced the change from Cozens to Norris. The latter only played 3 games. 

[shrader]

1 hour ago, LGR4GM said:

We literally have not experienced the change from Cozens to Norris. The latter only played 3 games. 

Quite honestly, I’d take a similar view for Ottawa too. Things are different when a player gets a full offseason and training camp with a new team. 

[PromoTheRobot]

Timmins signed pre-arbitration: $4.4MM/2yrs

[LGR4GM]

29 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

Timmins signed pre-arbitration: $4.4MM/2yrs

So... he wasn't taken to arbitration then... right!

Asking for a friend. 

[sabremike]

How hard is it for people to understand that arbitration is literally designed to be a doomsday option for both the team and player that is to be avoided at all cost?

[Pimlach]

On 7/25/2025 at 5:02 PM, dudacek said:

Talent is not this team’s core problem.

Certain kinds of talent has been ignored.  Goaltending has largely been ignored with hopes that the two young goalies (UPL and Levi) can carry the load. 

Defense, especially team defense, has been a big problem.  

The Power Play was figured out by the rest of the league back in the middle of the 91 point season.  Hard to believe they got worse under Lindy/Appert. 

And of course experienced players, which often add to a teams mental toughness, they have needed more of them in the past. 

So the question remains - did they address these areas adequately?   We shall see.   Replacing JJPs 28 goals is not the biggest problem that they have.  

Edited 29 minutes ago by Pimlach

[PerreaultForever]

6 hours ago, Turbo44 said:

So embedded is acting, meaning they have Al the people read from a script? Interesting. I’m sure the opposing gms would love that 

It's edited for effect and I'm sure parts are even added in to transmit a message. 

I'm sure Kevyn was acting stubborn and wanted an additional player with Kesselring. I'm sure Utah preferred to throw in a pick or something. It's a trade negotiation and we were already told on twitter teams said Sabres were hard to deal with. Kevyn likes to try to win trades. So he got a throw in at the end. Yay. 

6 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

His... checks notes... 62 game nhl career? Well, that's certainly true. 

Idk what Doan will be but I don't think he's a toss in. Is he a 25pt bottom 6 guy with good defense or a 50pt top 6 guy with good defense? Guess we'll see but I'd bet this year will be up and down for him. 

Well to me that is a toss in but we likely define that differently. I wouldn't disagree with the rest of your comment. I initially reacted to somebody having him up on the top line with Tage. I thought that was ridiculous. 

[PerreaultForever]

4 hours ago, 7+6=13 said:

That wouldn't be another change as we've already experienced that change.  With rosters of 23, each new player is of at least some consequence.  

We haven't really. Norris played what one, two games for us in a dead season? He's basically a new addition now. 

[Taro T]

1 hour ago, Pimlach said:

Certain kinds of talent has been ignored.  Goaltending has largely been ignored with hopes that the two young goalies (UPL and Levi) can carry the load. 

Defense, especially team defense, has been a big problem.  

The Power Play was figured out by the rest of the league back in the middle of the 91 point season.  Hard to believe they got worse under Lindy/Appert. 

And of course experienced players, which often add to a teams mental toughness, they have needed more of them yet the continue. 

So the question remains - did they address these areas adequately?   We shall see.   Replacing JJPs 28 goals is not the biggest problem that they have.  

Losing Dahlin for ~10 games did not help the PP at all.  He and Thompson are their best PP players and both missed significant time.  (Pretty much have to expect that every year w/ Thompson IMHO.  Hopefully Dahlin's back is fully healed so we don't have to expect that from him too.)  Expect it would've been merely AS bad as the previous year without Dahlin missing so much time.

Except for the GTing being such a ??? am actually not too upset with the roster.  Would really like 1 more top 6 F to limit injury related drop offs and to be that much more difficult to play against when fully healthy, but with good coaching, the skaters could be good enough to make the dance.  Hate the lack of moves assisting Ruff behind the bench.

[dudacek]

I actually like the PK forwards: 

Tuch, McLeod and Greenway are very good, Benson and Malenstyn are fine, Norris PKs as does Danforth and Doan seems have the skillset.

It’s the D I worry about. Clifton and Samuelsson led the team SH TOI last year and neither were great. Byram was next and Dahlin started to take Power’s minutes down the stretch. (Even though Power led the team in PP goals against per 60 for the season)

Kesselring and Timmins were not regular penalty killers.

Seems like a gross oversight in the offseason plan

Edited 43 minutes ago by dudacek

[Pimlach]

16 minutes ago, dudacek said:

I actually like the PK forwards: 

Tuch, McLeod and Greenway are very good, Benson and Malenstyn are fine, Norris PKs as does Danforth and Doan seems have the skillset.

It’s the D I worry about. Clifton and Samuelsson led the team SH TOI last year and neither were great. Byram was next and Dahlin started to take Power’s minutes down the stretch. (Even though Power led the team in PP goals against per 60 for the season)

Kesselring and Timmins were not regular penalty killers.

Seems like a gross oversight in the offseason plan

Yup, the PK forwards seemed better than the PK defenseman last season.   They still did not acquire a 'stay at home" solid defenseman that they lack unless Kesselring or Timmons can play that role.   We will see what they bring soon enough.  

[7+6=13]

7 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

We literally have not experienced the change from Cozens to Norris. The latter only played 3 games. 

You misunderstood.  We experienced not having Cozens.

2 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

We haven't really. Norris played what one, two games for us in a dead season? He's basically a new addition now. 

I see what you're doing and I'd repeat me too.  That's how wrong you were.