Sabres recall UPL from Rochester

[Forecheck]

2 hours ago, Pimlach said:

Crazy.  Why not leave him down there for the next week and give Ellis another game?  

I wanted to see Lyon on Friday, and Ellis on Saturday.   

Leave UPL down and get him really ready.  Unless they have a trade partner lined up and they want to see UPL in NHL action? 

WTF? 

Since when does this organization do ANYTHING right?

2 hours ago, Porous Five Hole said:

The Sabres believe UPL is their #1 goaltender and are behaving accordingly.  

Sadly yes 

2 hours ago, zow2 said:

KA is up to something, because i know they are not parting ways with Lyon or Ellis anytime soon.

You’re giving him WAYYYY too much credit. 

[LGR4GM]

 

 

[Eleven]

1 minute ago, LGR4GM said:

 

 

WTF is a Mermis?  It sounds like an infection or something.

[Porous Five Hole]

20 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

 

 

Joseph Woll…I didn’t know you could use LTIR (and receive cap space relief) when a player takes a leave of absence. 

[SABRES 0311]

That was a helluva conditioning stint.

[PromoTheRobot]

3 hours ago, zow2 said:

KA is up to something, because i know they are not parting ways with Lyon or Ellis anytime soon.

Showing a trade partner UPL is healed?

[DarthEbriate]

3 hours ago, Porous Five Hole said:

The Sabres believe UPL is their #1 goaltender and are behaving accordingly.  

This is the way.

Wait a start or two to ensure he doesn't reaggravate the injury (I'd rather they did that in Rochester -- at least see him recover and play again as part of the conditioning). Then, waive Ellis back to STL before the 30 days expires and say, "Thank you, we've got Georgiev".

3 hours ago, msw2112 said:

If UPL regains his 2024 form, it's a good problem to have.  Lyon has been great so far and Ellis looked very good in his single appearance.  While managing 3 is not great, I'd rather the team be managing 3 good players than having to debate the likes of Carter Hutton, Houser, etc. (no disrespect to Houser intended, who was a good story).  Not sure if I want to throw Comrie onto that list, as he's a good fit for Winnipeg as a backup, but he was pretty bad in Buffalo.

But his 2024 form was for 20 games. Yes, 20 very good games, but the rest of that season he was just average. The rest of his career he has been below average.

3 hours ago, Pimlach said:

I'll say.  With the back to back Toronto games he should use Lyon and Ellis.  Bringing up UPL means someone, possibly a forward, has to go.  

Can't risk sending Geertsen down.

19 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

Showing a trade partner UPL is healed?

4 seasons of $4.75M for a goalie with one 20-game hot streak and otherwise below average numbers? GMs are not lining up for that trade. Maybe a couple late-round picks spaced out over 3 years?

Would Adams (or Ruff) in their swansong year, go with Lyon (maximum 44 GP in a season) and Ellis (1 GP)? Not likely. They're going with Luukkonen as their #1 (well, backup as long as Lyon is hot).

[JoeSchmoe]

No one is taking UPL at his salary, and there's no way the Sabres would retain the giant chunk of salary it would take to make him halfway marketable.

We're stuck with him.

[The Jokeman]

6 minutes ago, DarthEbriate said:

This is the way.

Wait a start or two to ensure he doesn't reaggravate the injury (I'd rather they did that in Rochester -- at least see him recover and play again as part of the conditioning). Then, waive Ellis back to STL before the 30 days expires and say, "Thank you, we've got Georgiev".

But his 2024 form was for 20 games. Yes, 20 very good games, but the rest of that season he was just average. The rest of his career he has been below average.

Can't risk sending Geertsen down.

4 seasons of $4.75M for a goalie with one 20-game hot streak and otherwise below average numbers? GMs are not lining up for that trade. Maybe a couple late-round picks spaced out over 3 years?

Would Adams (or Ruff) in their swansong year, go with Lyon (maximum 44 GP in a season) and Ellis (1 GP)? Not likely. They're going with Luukkonen as their #1 (well, backup as long as Lyon is hot).

At the same time they also have to see if Ellis worth a NHL roster spot long term. I move UPL as his long term future here to me looks bleak. 

[clink]

I HATE this

 

SOOOOOOOOOO MUCH!!! 

 

Damn you, Adams!!!!

As my father would say, "Adams could ruin a wet dream!" 

[The Jokeman]

1 hour ago, LGR4GM said:

 

 

Fire up more Tuch to Toronto rumors. Yet if I'm the Sabres I don't entertain it at all.

[Eleven]

3 hours ago, French Collection said:

Somewhere a village is missing an idiot.

All right, which one of you needs to return to your village?

[DarthEbriate]

18 minutes ago, The Jokeman said:

Fire up more Tuch to Toronto rumors. Yet if I'm the Sabres I don't entertain it at all.

Why trade him to Toronto? The Sabres are going to ruin their season this weekend.

[PerreaultForever]

28 minutes ago, JoeSchmoe said:

No one is taking UPL at his salary, and there's no way the Sabres would retain the giant chunk of salary it would take to make him halfway marketable.

We're stuck with him.

There's also no real goalie market right now. Seattle has been trying to move Grubauer for over a year with no takers why would anyone take UPL?

[Jorcus]

14 minutes ago, PerreaultForever said:

There's also no real goalie market right now. Seattle has been trying to move Grubauer for over a year with no takers why would anyone take UPL?

Well Grubauer is in his 30's, makes 5.9 M and has been sub .900 in save percentage 4 years in a row. Who would you choose between the two?

[kas23]

4 hours ago, msw2112 said:

And if UPL does NOT regain his 2024 form, the team appears to have solid alternatives (although it's too soon to know much about Ellis and even Lyon's sample size is small).

And let’s not forget his “2024 form” only lasted for about 3 months. 
 

January GAA 0.944

February GAA 0.926

March GAA 0.898

April GAA (6 games) 0.914

as a bonus, I’ll throw in December GAA, 0.866

Then, 24-25 would see him revert to the mean. 

[...]

I, of course, have no evidence but if the stories about UPL being whiny to KA on the past are true, and that KA had visits with UPL in the past to address the whining, then I would suspect UPL whined some more after clearly reading the situation, so that KA would return UPL to the line up post haste.

Of course, it could also be a devious maneuver to potentially cause the injury to become worse after rushing UPL's return from the conditioning assignment. 

These are the only circumstances that make sense other than KA is an utter moron. 

[Doohickie]

5 hours ago, zow2 said:

KA is up to something, because i know they are not parting ways with Lyon or Ellis anytime soon.

Maybe it's what I suggested:  They want to prove UPL is NHL ready to set up a trade.

5 hours ago, ponokasabre said:

This is vague but I am intrigued, are you thinking they are playing UPL one of the games to show an acquiring team he is good to go?

And how would you know they arent parting with Lyon or Ellis soon? I mean that is the smart thing to do, 

I think that might be exactly what he's doing, but I don't know if it's UPL, Lyon or Ellis that's on the trade block.

[PerreaultForever]

1 hour ago, Jorcus said:

Well Grubauer is in his 30's, makes 5.9 M and has been sub .900 in save percentage 4 years in a row. Who would you choose between the two?

I would take Ellis off waivers.

I wouldn't want either.

I would add Korpisalo couldn't be moved either. There's no goalie market. 

[Brawndo]

Friedman in His 32 Thoughts column, feels they will keep all three and they do not want to lose Ellis on waivers 

[Turbo44]

6 hours ago, msw2112 said:

If UPL regains his 2024 form, it's a good problem to have.  Lyon has been great so far and Ellis looked very good in his single appearance.  While managing 3 is not great, I'd rather the team be managing 3 good players than having to debate the likes of Carter Hutton, Houser, etc. (no disrespect to Houser intended, who was a good story).  Not sure if I want to throw Comrie onto that list, as he's a good fit for Winnipeg as a backup, but he was pretty bad in Buffalo.

Small sample size, I get it, but Lyon 2025 >>> than UPL 2023/2024. And it’s not that close 

[SabresBaltimore]

It's dumb they didn't leave UPL in Rochester the max amount of time. I'd like Ellis to play at least 1 more game before adding UPL back to the mix. I'd waive Geertsten to keep 3 for the time being and hope we can move 1 of them by the time we have more guys ready to return from IR. Although I thought I saw Kesserling could be back this weekend, so even if they put Zucker on IR there will be some shuffling with Rochester to keep all 3 even for a short while. Not sure about Greenway. He's been skating with the team, but I haven't seen an ETA on his return. The rest are farther off as far as I know.

Just another sign of mismanagement by Adams.

[Archie Lee]

I think Adams has, in the big picture, done a real poor job managing assets. 

I think if the Sabres dumped UPL now though, because the journeyman backup they signed has had a good two weeks, and because the rookie they claimed on waivers had a good first NHL start, it would be some kind of next level reckless mismanagement. I’m not predicting anything, but the injuries they have do mean that they have room for 3 goalies right now. Seeing how they all perform for a couple more weeks makes sense. 

Now, I can see the argument that this isn’t a plan. Indeed, it is only the terrible management of Levi that has put them in this situation. Levi must be scratching his head in wonder at how he went from being a special goalie who doesn’t need AHL time, to now, apparently, not even being usable in an “in emergency, break glass” situation. I mean, chances always were that UPL or Lyon would at some point get hurt, or falter. Apparently the plan in that moment was to scramble and do anything and everything to not put Levi in the NHL. 

 

 

 

[LTS]

Sweet lord... how does this move impact the 20 players that will dress for the Sabres tonight?

At worst it limits their flexibility with the roster should someone get injured in the pre-skate warm-up (if they have one).

If Zucker or Bryson go on IR then it frees up another move if need be. They can waive Geertsen, is anyone crying about that?

It's not about tomorrow or the day after, they can bring UPL up now. At some point they will have to make a decision, but it's unlikely they will need to do so within the next week and at that point UPL would need to be back anyway.

There have been lots of issues with this team, but is this really an issue?  Right now, today?

 

[R_Dudley]

I have been watching hockey for over 50 years and do not recall a worse GM job being done over a period of time than the SOAP opera Kevin consistently creates. Just listening to any of the interviews of him presents such a howdy dowdy demeanor.  

As the hockey world turns no wonder any of the other GM's opinion of him and/or any free agents we might want to sign puts this team at a disadvantage. 

Terry your ownership is reflected in all these poor and ridiculous decisions you have made over time.

Please just give it up for the hockey hell you created.