Sabres Training Camp 2025

[ponokasabre]

10 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

Henry Thrun is on waivers, waive Bryson and add Thrun.

Yes all day! And not just that you hurt the depth of your biggest divisional rival

[Jorcus]

3 hours ago, mjd1001 said:

Sincere apologies to any Quinn fans out there (I'm being serious, I am rooting for him and hope he plays better) but I'm not sure having Quinn on the wing with a young guy who played very well at times last year is best for Kulich:

-In a very limited, and preseason, of them playing together:  Most of their metrics were close, meaning Kulich with Quinn vs Kulich without Quinn.  The only one big difference is even strength, Kulich and Quinn together didn't score any goals. When Kulich was out there WITHOUT Quinn, there were 2 goals for, 0 allowed.

But going back to last year:

-They played a pretty good number of minutes together. 161 minutes.  When Kulich played with Quinn vs without him, Quinn brought down Kulich's Corsi (slightly), brought down his Fenwick % (52 to 47), brought down his shots for by a LOT (54% to 43%), brought down his expected goals % by a lot (52 to 44), and ES Kulich was a positive player without Quinn (+6) and a negative player with him (-4). 

As far as scoring, combine the very few minutes of the preseason with last year and you get this:

-The team scored 40 goals in 618 minutes with Kulich on the ice WITHOUT Quinn (1 goal every 15.45 minutes) even strength.

-The team scored 3 goals in 182 minutes with Kulich on the ice WITH Quinn (1 goal every 60+ minutes)

And yes, those goals without Quinn were in large part to being WITH Tage, which helps the numbers. 

But even without Tage or Quinn (with Kulich having a variety collection of 2nd, 3rd, and 4th line wingers with him), the scoring is 1 goal every 25 minutes.

I guess all of the above is my long way of saying I don't like the looks of putting Quinn with Kulich right now...but I understand Quinn has to play with someone, I just am hoping he steps up his play quite a bit from what he did the last 2 seasons.

I just don't see who the leader is on a Quinn, Kulich Doan line. I am not sure what to do with Quinn anymore. Kulich needs to play with Zuker or Tuch, assuming he is not playing with Thompson. He needs guidance on the ice. 

[Jorcus]

3 hours ago, Taro T said:

Would really like to see them give Krebs another look with Thompson and Norris.  IF he can be effective there (and he very well might not be able to do so) then Benson can become McLeod's winger, Zucker can become Kulich's winger, and Quinn becomes Danforth's problem (or Danforth gets Doan and there is the makings of a very good "energy" line; Quinn is still Kulich's problem in that situation, but Zucker is experienced and can help probably more than Doan would with all 3 still learning the NHL as is the current projection).

Before TC, was expecting Quinn to bounce back to where he was prior to the injuries.  But after the PS, no longer am expecting it.  Still hope for it; it really adds a ton of flexibility to what they can do if he could be what his contract shows they expect he can do; but just don't see it.

I wish Krebs was a better playmaker but right now he just isn't. He is good at digging pucks and is strong enough to gain control but seldom seems to connect someone else after he has the puck. He trys to play fast and it's as if the other players have know idea what he is going to do. Often it's blind passes that result in turnovers. Seems if he played a more direct game he would be better off than trying to make a fancy play. I do wish there was bigger and stronger net front presence who could dig picks and screen the goalie more than Benson, but there is not one on the team right now unless you move Zucker up. Because both Norris and Tage can finish it seems like Benson can be effective digging pucks for them and he will not have to be a shooter himself. We will see if that line will be good on both sides of the ice. You would think so but until they play against the better lines you just don't know. From my point of view it's Benson or Zucker with Tage and Norris unless they get split up 

[dudacek]

With Dunne being sent down and Meyer only there on paper, we may not see another cut prior to opening night.

If Kesselring, Greenway and UPL go on IR, they’re at 23.

Johnson or Bryson will be the spare D, and Kozak and Geertsen the spare forwards.

[Brawndo]

 

[Taro T]

19 hours ago, Jorcus said:

I wish Krebs was a better playmaker but right now he just isn't. He is good at digging pucks and is strong enough to gain control but seldom seems to connect someone else after he has the puck. He trys to play fast and it's as if the other players have know idea what he is going to do. Often it's blind passes that result in turnovers. Seems if he played a more direct game he would be better off than trying to make a fancy play. I do wish there was bigger and stronger net front presence who could dig picks and screen the goalie more than Benson, but there is not one on the team right now unless you move Zucker up. Because both Norris and Tage can finish it seems like Benson can be effective digging pucks for them and he will not have to be a shooter himself. We will see if that line will be good on both sides of the ice. You would think so but until they play against the better lines you just don't know. From my point of view it's Benson or Zucker with Tage and Norris unless they get split up 

Have admitted it likely won't work as Krebs probably doesn't have the chops to play on the top line even with 2 really good top line finishers.  BUT, and again it was against lesser competition, he was in the right spots when he played with those 2 and he had important quality passes that led directly to 2 goals (he got assists on both, know 1 was primary, not sure if the other was 2ndary or not but it was crucial to the play); IF he can play within his limitations and just get pucks and feed them to spots those other 2 can work with it would free up a better player to play with McLeod and Tuch and it would also let whatever version of a Kid Line the 3rd scoring line is have Zucker on it, which should make THAT line significantly more effective.

Krebs will be what he will be should he end up where we all expect centering the 4th line.  But if he could be even a discount Rob Brown with Lemieux or Sheary with Crosby (guys who don't bring down significantly better players, but are themselves elevated by playing with the better player) then the middle 2 lines can both be improved.

The idea is to maximize the total, not one of the parts.

And, once again, it likely won't work.  But it flashed it could.  And this team has enough self-inflicted contraints already applied to it ($5MM under the cap; very bad X&O coaching; no proven goalie; just to name a few); they need a bit to break their way unexpectedly to overcome them.  This could be one of those bits.

[ponokasabre]

4 minutes ago, Brawndo said:

 

With this Defense the Sabres should claim someone of waivers to just come in and Temporarily take a spot. It was mentioned before but the Leafs put Thrun on waivers and Colorado put Keaton Middleton on waivers

I'd take Keaton Middleton all day, he is Jacob Middletons brother who plays for Minnesota, now while Jacob is the much better player, they both play the game the same way. They are both there teams toughest players and best fighters. I would welcome Middleton with open arms! He can play third pairing minutes until Kesserling is back and then if we dont want him anymore try to put him on waivers to get to Roch, or truthfully just keep him as the 7 and let Bryson go.

If we are trying to be tougher to play against, here is a perfect way to do that

[Taro T]

3 minutes ago, Brawndo said:

 

Realize 3 of the 4 pairings aren't those they'll be running Thursday night.  But holy cow is that a serious hound's breakfast back there.

[LGR4GM]

11 minutes ago, Taro T said:

Realize 3 of the 4 pairings aren't those they'll be running Thursday night.  But holy cow is that a serious hound's breakfast back there.

They should have picked someone up off waivers. Guess we'll see who is healthy but a Byram - Samuelsson pairing makes me wanna puke. 

[DarthEbriate]

12 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

They should have picked someone up off waivers. Guess we'll see who is healthy but a Byram - Samuelsson pairing makes me wanna puke. 

But then they'd have to waive Bryson (or the claimed player) once everyone gets back to health. And Adams can't risk exposing Bryson to waivers.

[Porous Five Hole]

On 10/5/2025 at 1:29 PM, LGR4GM said:

The Sabres should immediately make room for him. 

 

 

Character concerns. Not saying the Sabres shouldn’t put a claim in, but that’s why he’s on waivers again.