Next Season’s Big Challenge

[DarthEbriate]

The challenge is doing enough without doing too much.

Jarmo likes the players who play like Benson, Helenius, and Doan, and Östlund. They’re the core of The Sabres Way.

A top-6 replacement for Tuch and swapping out one of the goalies for someone with a bit higher ceiling. Alternately, you bank of Luukkonen getting even more consistent and raising his floor a touch.

And you find our what Byram wants to do long-term and either sign or shop ASAP. 

[PromoTheRobot]

5 hours ago, Taro T said:

So?

Mrkta is at least 4 if not 5 or 6 years from making the Sabres and likely is 2 more years away from being "useful."  Lots of opportunities between now and then to replace that potential.  And if they had Parayko, they have a very good chance of at least geting to the 3rd round and maybe even the SC this season.

If Helenius or Östlund go out the door, will be unhappy unless the return is something TRULY special.

Moving a piece that won't help for 1/2 a decade or more; am much more amenable towards.

I thought Helenius was another year away, and look at him. I think Mrtka might be up sooner than later. Obviously in Rochester in 2027.

[PromoTheRobot]

5 hours ago, Weave said:

The hell??  Picks are the definition of Magic beans. TM moved unknowns for knowns.  You can question his evaluation of known talents, but calling his acquisition of known, established players “magic beans” makes me wonder if you broke any bones stretching to make a point that isn’t makeable.

Obviously the magic beans the Sabres acquired in recent years have turned out pretty good. But are you actually defending Murray's record as GM to come at me?

[Weave]

Just now, PromoTheRobot said:

Obviously the magic beans the Sabres acquired in recent years have turned out pretty good. But are you actually defending Murray's record as GM to come at me?

You should read more.  Getting context takes practice.

[PromoTheRobot]

4 minutes ago, Weave said:

You should read more.  Getting context takes practice.

No I got it. And I wonder how known his acquisitions were since so many problems with them came to light.

"Magic beans" does not just describe unknowns, it also means something worthless that is pitched to you as valuable.

[Weave]

10 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

No I got it. And I wonder how known his acquisitions were since so many problems with them came to light.

"Magic beans" does not just describe unknowns, it also means something worthless that is pitched to you as valuable.

They were high risk, high reward trades.  Obviously, TM miscalculated badly.  Noone is defending his choices.  I continue to maintain that his intent was the correct one.  The team needed high skill vets around Jack and Sam.  Kane and Bogo were definitely not the droids he should have been looking for.

I think you are probably the first poster to ever use magic beans on this site in that context.  Good on you for being intentionally different?

[Nacho Libre]

On 5/19/2026 at 10:53 AM, K-9 said:

Now that the Sabres won the division, ended the drought and went to a game 7 in round two, they will be introduced to a new kind of pressure; that of entering next season under the weight of highly raised expectations. For a young team especially, that can be a helluva challenge. Here’s to hoping they embrace that challenge and make it work for them. Much like the ‘06-‘07 team did after going to the conference finals the previous season. 

Good post. 

i’m certainly not in the promo, “results don’t matter at all, I’ll move my goalposts wherever need be” grouping, but one thing that will help on the other end of the spectrum is, oddly enough, that we lost. Expectations for the blue jays have been rough this year: improvement next year for the Sabres is winning 2 rounds. That’s where my goal is set for now for sure 

Achievable; I’d say. 

or, if we go back to missing the playoffs, if we keep all our draft pickzz, that would be equally good 

Edited May 22 by Nacho Libre

[Nacho Libre]

On 5/19/2026 at 11:34 AM, Weave said:

The hell??  Picks are the definition of Magic beans. TM moved unknowns for knowns.  You can question his evaluation of known talents, but calling his acquisition of known, established players “magic beans” makes me wonder if you broke any bones stretching to make a point that isn’t makeable.

This is so well said 

bold is also a solid template response for 99.9 percent of his posts 

Edited May 22 by Nacho Libre

[dudacek]

On 5/19/2026 at 9:35 AM, BullBuchanan said:

Mrtka could start playing minutes for us next year and be a full timer the year after if it goes well. 

The amount of money we spend on defense is insane, and we're not getting meaningful returns. We need to bring the cost down and shuffle that room.

Curious how many times you've watched Mrtka play?

I've watched his Sabre preseason games which were promising, a bit of his World Juniors, which was just OK and one live junior game where he was a JAG.

His numbers  in junior were fine, but he didn't progress statistically at all.

He's a very big kid who skates really well and he will play in the NHL simply because of that. But to me he has a lot to learn about how to play hockey before he could even be considered on upgrade on, say Connor Timmins at the NHL level.

He's got Samuelsson potential in there, but it took Samuelsson 7 years to fully unlock that potential, and that's not unusual for talented young defencemen, particularly large ones without elite puck skills.

As for the bold, the defence corps is the single biggest reason this team won the division and was a goal way from the final four.

[Porous Five Hole]

On 5/19/2026 at 12:35 PM, BullBuchanan said:

The amount of money we spend on defense is insane, and we're not getting meaningful returns. We need to bring the cost down and shuffle that room.

Can you expand on this? To me, meaningful returns is exactly what we are getting from the blue line. It’s the backbone of the team.
 

Both game seven goals came from the blue line (unless Greenway’s pants got credited). The Sabres were a bounce away from the Conference Final and rolling our top four D was a mismatch nightmare for two playoff series. Buffalo was better 5 on 5 and the blue line was the reason.
Also, seven guys scored three or more goals this playoffs, and half of our top six were three of those seven.  

[krakensabr56390]

On 5/19/2026 at 2:49 PM, PromoTheRobot said:

I thought Helenius was another year away, and look at him. I think Mrtka might be up sooner than later. Obviously in Rochester in 2027.

Issue is the top 4 D are playing 50 min a game so his marginal value for playing for the Sabres in bottom pair is less than his trade value - caveat is resigning Byram  which makes sense 

[Night Train]

They turned the corner from a perennial 75-80 point failure. 

Now to make some moves. 

[PerreaultForever]

The biggest challenge imo is improving the goaltending. I don't think it's good enough to take us further and they sound like they are fairly content with it as is. UPL can be very good at times but it's the consistency and reliability that you really want and need and he doesn't seem to have that. 

[Taro T]

11 minutes ago, PerreaultForever said:

The biggest challenge imo is improving the goaltending. I don't think it's good enough to take us further and they sound like they are fairly content with it as is. UPL can be very good at times but it's the consistency and reliability that you really want and need and he doesn't seem to have that. 

It does sound like they're fine with rolling the same 3 back.  But it would be foolhardy to telegraph that they aren't at this point if they're looking for an upgrade.  MHO.

[tom webster]

30 minutes ago, PerreaultForever said:

The biggest challenge imo is improving the goaltending. I don't think it's good enough to take us further and they sound like they are fairly content with it as is. UPL can be very good at times but it's the consistency and reliability that you really want and need and he doesn't seem to have that. 

I don’t know how you look at the goaltending in the final four and think that there is an obvious upgrade over what Buffalo has. There’s literally three goalies in recent memory that have been as good in the regular season as they were in the postseason. I’m not saying you’re wrong. I just don’t know who you acquire that guarantees an improvement.

[dudacek]

2 minutes ago, tom webster said:

I don’t know how you look at the goaltending in the final four and think that there is an obvious upgrade over what Buffalo has. There’s literally three goalies in recent memory that have been as good in the regular season as they were in the postseason. I’m not saying you’re wrong. I just don’t know who you acquire that guarantees an improvement.

Yep.

And building your team around a $10M goalie like Hellebuyck or Shesterkin hasn't looked like a clear path to success either.

[PerreaultForever]

47 minutes ago, tom webster said:

I don’t know how you look at the goaltending in the final four and think that there is an obvious upgrade over what Buffalo has. There’s literally three goalies in recent memory that have been as good in the regular season as they were in the postseason. I’m not saying you’re wrong. I just don’t know who you acquire that guarantees an improvement.

Helleybuck

 

[PerreaultForever]

1 hour ago, Taro T said:

It does sound like they're fine with rolling the same 3 back.  But it would be foolhardy to telegraph that they aren't at this point if they're looking for an upgrade.  MHO.

True. I think Jarmo is a guy who has relationships and connections. He will be constantly talking with other GMs about who is or isn't available and if something intriguing is out there he will look to adapt. Many many deals will be discussed and never happen and we will never know but he will look for upgrades everywhere on a constant basis. 

As @tom webster said though there aren't many obvious options. Helleybuck is not an impossibility but I don't know if they'd go there. 

[tom webster]

6 minutes ago, PerreaultForever said:

Helleybuck

 

But he’s been terrible in the playoffs..Last three years playoff save percentage

886, .864, .866.

This years regular season save percentage.895 and he’s signed till he’s forty.

That’s a huge commitment 

Edited May 23 by tom webster

[Nacho Libre]

19 minutes ago, tom webster said:

But he’s been terrible in the playoffs..Last three years playoff save percentage

886, .864, .866.

This years regular season save percentage.895 and he’s signed till he’s forty.

That’s a huge commitment 

Stood on his head against Canada. It’s a team thing, Perreault is definitely right, he’d be a revelation for us 

[tom webster]

27 minutes ago, Nacho Libre said:

Stood on his head against Canada. It’s a team thing, Perreault is definitely right, he’d be a revelation for us 

Winnipeg was great two of those three years, winning the Presidehts trophy one of those years. One good game in a tournament is a whole different thing. Thirty three years old. Seven years left and he just had his worst season in forever. You might be right but there are a ton of red flags.

[Nacho Libre]

5 minutes ago, tom webster said:

Winnipeg was great two of those three years, winning the Presidehts trophy one of those years. One good game in a tournament is a whole different thing. Thirty three years old. Seven years left and he just had his worst season in forever. You might be right but there are a ton of red flags.

They choked as a team in the playoffs though. Things can fluctuate wildly series to series, look at Tuch. He’s still in his prime and our window is definitively now. As for this season I think a change of scenery would work wonders. 
 

living here, I get it.. 

[PerreaultForever]

6 hours ago, tom webster said:

But he’s been terrible in the playoffs..Last three years playoff save percentage

886, .864, .866.

This years regular season save percentage.895 and he’s signed till he’s forty.

That’s a huge commitment 

But then again outstanding in the Olympics and the main reason USA won gold. Maybe the problem in the playoffs has been the Jets and their D. 

[tom webster]

2 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

But then again outstanding in the Olympics and the main reason USA won gold. Maybe the problem in the playoffs has been the Jets and their D. 

So it’s the Jet’s defense that plays good in the season but goes AWOL in the playoffs? You’re willing to bet seven more years on a thirty-three year old who just had his worst regular season?

Like I said, you may be right but it comes with a lot of risk,

Edited May 23 by tom webster

[thewookie1]

3 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

But then again outstanding in the Olympics and the main reason USA won gold. Maybe the problem in the playoffs has been the Jets and their D. 

The Olympics and Playoffs are completely different beasts in regards to goaltending.

The Olympics are high tension singular duels between teams of world-class players where 1 game is the entire story.

The Playoffs are a high tension series of games where both sides have time to make full style changes and find a goalie's weakness and proceed to hammer away at it. 

The NHL playoffs tend to be the best at determining the best team each year besides one category more often than not..... goaltending. A mediocre goalie can go on a ridiculous run and win the Cup or a top tier goalie could get torn to shreds almost entirely due to chance. It's the one position that is never truly certain because the better goalie doesn't always win but simultaneously at the extremes tend to be inevitable in their effects. A great goalie can have a bad matchup or a bad goalie can have a great one.

After this past year I can't really trust Hellebuyck to be a goalie that has any hope of living up to his contract. Yet just as likely he could almost magically lock in and win us the Cup. Bobrovsky was terrible in the Playoffs for years and then almost overnight had 3 consecutive strong seasons before reverting to his unreliable self again. 

https://www.hockey-reference.com/players/h/helleco01.html

His best overall run was his first in 17-18 surprisingly whereas his worst was last two seasons. However last year he was a trainwreck versus St.L  and yet won the series and then proceeded to shut out Dallas in the team's only 2 wins of the 2nd Round.

Compare him with Vasilevskiy, https://www.hockey-reference.com/players/v/vasilan02.html and you just end up more confused.

 

Goalies can win or lose you series, but they are also borderline impossible to predict outside the fringes. Hell this year Lyon nearly shut out Boston but gave up 3 on 4 shots to Montreal. 

 

Could Hellebuyck help, certainly; but it would be far from assured and frankly I have a hard time seeing his impact being worth double UPL's contract. Especially when you have to then cut 5mil from the skaters to achieve his acquisition