GDT: Senators @ Sabres October 15, 2025 @ 7PM, MSG-B, ESPN, FUBO

[Mustache of God]

15 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

Should Benson and Norris trade jersey numbers?  Benson seems more like a 9.  

Kinda messed up Benson had to give up his number so Norris could wear it 4 times a year.

[#freejame]

This was a fun game to be at. Definitely a rollercoaster until it went to 7-4. Easily the best time I’ve had at a home Sabres game since the butt goal probably. There was still a ton a bad in the game, but Doan, Benson, and Lyon easily stole the show. Hopefully Kesselring has a serious impact on the D because it’s not good right now. 

[LGR4GM]

Quote

This skill is visualized in Brown’s manually tracked data set. Benson’s expected primary assists and slot pass success percentage check in at the 100th percentile, in a sample that includes 700 forwards from this season. In a multi-year data set of over 3000 forwards, his underlying playmaking data is second to only Connor McDavid.

Zach Benson is on pace for 316 assists this season. I say he does it. 

[Pimlach]

1 hour ago, Flashsabre said:

Rather have Kesselring and Doan. Physical, character guys with good skill. Helps change a toxic culture. JJ has skill but wasn’t a culture guy.

OK, the Sabres had one win over what looked like a minor league goalie.   Lets see how they fair in the next few games.  

We have not seen Kesselring with actual bullets flying.   Doan has 12 career goals in 62 games over two seasons when he got here.  Peterka averaged 22 goals per season in 3 seasons.   Lets keep things in perspective.  

Peterka did not like playing for Lindy so he got out.  Reports are that many young players don't like playing for Lindy.  Reports are that players have no confidence in Adams ability to improve the team.   There is nothing Peterka ever said or did to suggest he was bad for the team culture.  He seems to care about his career and he made a business decision.  I don't blame Eichel and Reinhart for wanting out, why should I blame Peterka?  

That said I am hopeful that Doan can be a good player.  I saw his Dad playing out west quite a bit, and if the kid has that kind of heart and hustle he will help this team.  He has yet to show a goal scoring touch but that could emerge.  Right now he is trying to establish himself as a middle 6 winger and I view him as a diamond in the rough.  

I like that we received two promising pieces for Peterka, but we don't have to put down Peterka to like Doan.  

 

[Doohickie]

28 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

Should Benson and Norris trade jersey numbers?  Benson seems more like a 9.  

Benson was a Number 9.  He voluntarily became Number 6.

[inkman]

42 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

Zach Benson is on pace for 316 assists this season. I say he does it. 

Are you Chad DeDominicis? He said the same thing.  🤣

[LGR4GM]

4 minutes ago, inkman said:

Are you Chad DeDominicis? He said the same thing.  🤣

No but if you use Elite Prospects they have the projections at the bottom for the current season.

[Eleven]

I'll never complain about the Sabres wearing white at home--but can anyone tell me why that was the case last night?

[shrader]

1 hour ago, LGR4GM said:

Zach Benson is on pace for 316 assists this season. I say he does it. 

If he finishes the season with only 300, I’m bookmarking this post so that I can call him a slacker. 

[GASabresIUFAN]

2 hours ago, PromoTheRobot said:

And the players who half-ass it while here are totally blameless, right? 

Are you saying that a kid who improved all three years in the NHL “half-assed it”?  Seriously?  

[GASabresIUFAN]

2 hours ago, Flashsabre said:

Rather have Kesselring and Doan. Physical, character guys with good skill. Helps change a toxic culture. JJ has skill but wasn’t a culture guy.

What culture? Losing consistently and sucking the life out of the young players in the system ?

You have yet to see Kesselring play for the Sabres and Doan for all of 4 games.  I think you might want to wait to see how these players work out.  

[mjd1001]

11 minutes ago, Eleven said:

I'll never complain about the Sabres wearing white at home--but can anyone tell me why that was the case last night?

Probably had something to do with the senators wearing their new alternate jerseys. 

What doesn't make sense however, is why they would wear them on the road and not debut them at home.

[Mustache of God]

1 hour ago, LGR4GM said:

Zach Benson is on pace for 316 assists this season. I say he does it. 

This pacing analysis doesn't even account for the fact that he's just getting warmed up. I think it's fair to expect an average of at least 6 assists per game going forward.

[GASabresIUFAN]

2 hours ago, mjd1001 said:

Maybe. But we need more time to evaluate the trade. 

Let's see Kesserling Play about 10 games first... And then think if we would want to undo that trade and have JJP but not  Kesserling and Doan.

I’m perfectly happy to see how the deal works out, but let’s not kid ourselves why KA made the deal. Daddy OilBucks didn’t want to pay JJP.   Adams floated the “didn’t want to be here” BS on Peterka to shift the blame to the kid.  Frankly it’s despicable.  

This move was primarily financial.  Utah is paying JJP 7.7 this season and Pegula is paying Kesselring and Doan 2.3 between them.  This allowed KA to piss away 3.375 on Quinn and 1.8 on Danforth and still stay 5+ mill under the cap.  

Will the deal work out?  Possibly, but we traded a top line forward for potentially only one year of two 3rd line (or pair) players with possible upside as both players are RFAs after the season.  If they breakout Pegula probably won’t want to pay them either.  

[Cascade Youth]

58 minutes ago, Eleven said:

I'll never complain about the Sabres wearing white at home--but can anyone tell me why that was the case last night?

Heading into the game, they were virgins insofar as winning a game...

[rickshaw]

Doan was good last night but he did cough the puck up cheaply in his own zone twice in the 3rd. Have to clean that up for sure. 
 

But he’s a player and seemingly well liked. Hopefully this kickstarts their season.

[matter2003]

50 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

I’m perfectly happy to see how the deal works out, but let’s not kid ourselves why KA made the deal. Daddy OilBucks didn’t want to pay JJP.   Adams floated the “didn’t want to be here” BS on Peterka to shift the blame to the kid.  Frankly it’s despicable.  

This move was primarily financial.  Utah is paying JJP 7.7 this season and Pegula is paying Kesselring and Doan 2.3 between them.  This allowed KA to piss away 3.375 on Quinn and 1.8 on Danforth and still stay 5+ mill under the cap.  

Will the deal work out?  Possibly, but we traded a top line forward for potentially only one year of two 3rd line (or pair) players with possible upside as both players are RFAs after the season.  If they breakout Pegula probably won’t want to pay them either.  

More like JJP was a 2-way liability and didn't seem very interested in improving that on a team full of 2-way liabilities and plenty of young players coming up with scoring prowess. Preventing 30 goals has the same effect as scoring 30 goals.  

Edited 7 hours ago by matter2003

[inkman]

1 hour ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Are you saying that a kid who improved all three years in the NHL “half-assed it”?  Seriously?  

[inkman]

1 hour ago, mjd1001 said:

Probably had something to do with the senators wearing their new alternate jerseys. 

What doesn't make sense however, is why they would wear them on the road and not debut them at home.

NHL gonna NHL 

[shrader]

1 hour ago, inkman said:

NHL gonna NHL 

That one is a team choice, not the league.

[Sidc3000]

4 hours ago, inkman said:

There is no indication, other than fabricated internet rumors, that Adams had to worry about job security for one second.  

True but I guess we’ll never know 🤷‍♂️

[Sabres73]

Just saw that Kulich is "leading" the team with a minus 6 on the plus/minus after this game. What is up with that? Tage and Rasmus aren't great either.

[Flashsabre]

4 hours ago, Pimlach said:

OK, the Sabres had one win over what looked like a minor league goalie.   Lets see how they fair in the next few games.  

We have not seen Kesselring with actual bullets flying.   Doan has 12 career goals in 62 games over two seasons when he got here.  Peterka averaged 22 goals per season in 3 seasons.   Lets keep things in perspective.  

Peterka did not like playing for Lindy so he got out.  Reports are that many young players don't like playing for Lindy.  Reports are that players have no confidence in Adams ability to improve the team.   There is nothing Peterka ever said or did to suggest he was bad for the team culture.  He seems to care about his career and he made a business decision.  I don't blame Eichel and Reinhart for wanting out, why should I blame Peterka?  

That said I am hopeful that Doan can be a good player.  I saw his Dad playing out west quite a bit, and if the kid has that kind of heart and hustle he will help this team.  He has yet to show a goal scoring touch but that could emerge.  Right now he is trying to establish himself as a middle 6 winger and I view him as a diamond in the rough.  

I like that we received two promising pieces for Peterka, but we don't have to put down Peterka to like Doan.  

 

I’ve watched Kesselring play for a couple years now. He is a good Dman and more of what the Sabres need.

Watching Doan in preseason and regular season he plays very much like Benson with more size. 

[LGR4GM]

3 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

I’m perfectly happy to see how the deal works out, but let’s not kid ourselves why KA made the deal. Daddy OilBucks didn’t want to pay JJP.   Adams floated the “didn’t want to be here” BS on Peterka to shift the blame to the kid.  Frankly it’s despicable.  

This move was primarily financial.  Utah is paying JJP 7.7 this season and Pegula is paying Kesselring and Doan 2.3 between them.  This allowed KA to piss away 3.375 on Quinn and 1.8 on Danforth and still stay 5+ mill under the cap.  

Will the deal work out?  Possibly, but we traded a top line forward for potentially only one year of two 3rd line (or pair) players with possible upside as both players are RFAs after the season.  If they breakout Pegula probably won’t want to pay them either.  

I don't think it was about the money. 

[ponokasabre]

47 minutes ago, Sabres73 said:

Just saw that Kulich is "leading" the team with a minus 6 on the plus/minus after this game. What is up with that? Tage and Rasmus aren't great either.

Kulich has been awful I honestly have no problem with him going down to find his game again