Jarmo Press Conference

[dudacek]

17 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

Because: blood clots.

I think one of our 4 goalies is a trade chip now. Maybe Kesselring too.

Jarmo sure didn’t sound like a guy who has Levi in his plans. Too bad. I remain a fan of the kid’s NHL potential; prefer him to Ellis.

Kesselring will get every opportunity to sign his qualifier and be the #5/6 they wanted him to be this year.

[Cascade Youth]

40 minutes ago, dudacek said:

Jarmo sure didn’t sound like a guy who has Levi in his plans. Too bad. I remain a fan of the kid’s NHL potential; prefer him to Ellis.

Kesselring will get every opportunity to sign his qualifier and be the #5/6 they wanted him to be this year.

I know it’s odd but given how this season played out I’ve started to wonder if Adams was right about Levi, too, like he was right about so many of his young player evals.  (Not saying he was a good GM, he was terrible.  But he seemed to be able to evaluate young prospects in hindsight.)

[GASabresIUFAN]

4 minutes ago, Cascade Youth said:

I know it’s odd but given how this season played out I’ve started to wonder if Adams was right about Levi, too, like he was right about so many of his young player evals.  (Not saying he was a good GM, he was terrible.  But he seemed to be able to evaluate young prospects in hindsight.)

He is the one who wanted Levi in Reinhart trade.

[Cascade Youth]

2 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

He is the one who wanted Levi in Reinhart trade.

Right - to be clearer, I’m wondering if Adams correctly evaluated Levi as being capable of starting someday.  

[K-9]

If there is any kernel of truth to the idea that Kesselring didn’t accept his bottom pair role and got in Lindy’s doghouse as a result, two things:

1) it’s great that you don’t want to settle for a lesser role, so be better and make it impossible for coaches to put you on the third pair. If       you’re legitimately better than Byram or Power, prove it. 
 

2) if you can’t do that and can’t embrace your assigned 3rd pairing role role without pouting, then they can’t get rid of you fast enough to suit me. 

[muppy]

Levi and Ellis decisions are why I have difficulty discussing player deals and transactions.

 

I want to keep them BOTH because I think they are both diamonds in the rough in goal and I hate to part with either.

I think it is one if not he most important to have a stud play there on the team.

 

so where it stands now it reads as if the sabrespace faithful don 't think Lyon or UPL are it. so who do they get if not for placing hopes on one of those 4?

 

Its a quandary and a topic built for chatrooms like this

 

I'll keep reading everyone's opinions

[Nacho Libre]

3 hours ago, ska-T Chitown said:

I am reading a lot of "we'll get better because the young guys will continue to progress" and I am having SEVERE PTSD from '22-'23 when they missed the playoffs by a point and FGM Howdy Doody convinced himself all they had to do was run it back and they'd be better because the young guys would get better.

I am reading a lot of "replace Tuch [and other vets] with [Östlund/Helenius/Kulich]" and I am having SEVERE PTSD from past years of this team not having enough veteran leadership.

I know this is not the same team anymore ... but these both seem like dangerous paths the team has gone down before.

Best post in thread 

[French Collection]

13 minutes ago, K-9 said:

If there is any kernel of truth to the idea that Kesselring didn’t accept his bottom pair role and got in Lindy’s doghouse as a result, two things:

1) it’s great that you don’t want to settle for a lesser role, so be better and make it impossible for coaches to put you on the third pair. If       you’re legitimately better than Byram or Power, prove it. 
 

2) if you can’t do that and can’t embrace your assigned 3rd pairing role role without pouting, then they can’t get rid of you fast enough to suit me. 

I want to see him get a legitimate chance on a prove it deal. He isn’t taking ice time from the top 4. I think his beef was being slotted behind Stanley, Metsa and Schenn.

I don’t want him as the next Bryson, content with an NHL salary and not pushing hard to become a regular.

He’s close with Doan so I hope that relationship holds and he embraces the special group and will accept a role within it. Doan’s personality can help a lot there.

I think he and Timmins can be solid 5-6 guys. They are both RHD and could struggle with that as a pairing but Lindy seemed to mix the 3rd pair guys with his top 4 very well. This doesn’t expose them as a 3rd pairing and rests the top dogs.

[K-9]

8 minutes ago, muppy said:

Levi and Ellis decisions are why I have difficulty discussing player deals and transactions.

 

I want to keep them BOTH because I think they are both diamonds in the rough in goal and I hate to part with either.

I think it is one if not he most important to have a stud play there on the team.

 

so where it stands now it reads as if the sabrespace faithful don 't think Lyon or UPL are it. so who do they get if not for placing hopes on one of those 4?

 

Its a quandary and a topic built for chatrooms like this

 

I'll keep reading everyone's opinions

Yeah, it’s an interesting dilemma regarding Levi and Ellis. They are basically clones so my guess is that one of them will be offered up as trade bait down the line. I wonder how badly the Blues would like to get Ellis back as we know Jarmo was in trade talks with them at the deadline this season. It’s worth noting that Ellis still has to clear waivers if the Sabres want to send him to the Rochester Americans, so that option is not available if the Sabres can’t trade him. 

[TageMVP]

Jarmo didn't say anything about completeing key trades. Next season is fried 

Think Vancouver a few years ago. They had that crazy year where everything clicked. They even had the same exact record as the Sabres this year. Then Vancouver crashed and burned, obviously. Sabres are next 

They're all going to get sick of Ruff mid season and miss the playoffs. 

Sorry 

[PromoTheRobot]

30 minutes ago, K-9 said:

Yeah, it’s an interesting dilemma regarding Levi and Ellis. They are basically clones so my guess is that one of them will be offered up as trade bait down the line. I wonder how badly the Blues would like to get Ellis back as we know Jarmo was in trade talks with them at the deadline this season. It’s worth noting that Ellis still has to clear waivers if the Sabres want to send him to the Rochester Americans, so that option is not available if the Sabres can’t trade him. 

Levi is no longer waiver exempt as well. So it's "fish or cut bait" time for both.

Edited May 21 by PromoTheRobot

[Cranky old man]

The Sabres are in a grand position for 26-27. Seeing Helenous and Ostland makes me wonder why folks are still beating the drum for Robert Thomas, who seems rather mercurial. Let the kids play. I’d like to see Carrick back. Despite the unusual nature of the three goalie system, it worked. I believe Ellis and Lyon should be brought back, have not given up on Levi , he remains an asset. Meanwhile I have a hard time trusting the team’s fortunes to UPL. I don’t see the Sabres giving Tuch the term he desires at age 30. We must take care of Benson and Byrum. This great fun but I’d rather be in Raleigh.

[K-9]

2 minutes ago, French Collection said:

I want to see him get a legitimate chance on a prove it deal. He isn’t taking ice time from the top 4. I think his beef was being slotted behind Stanley, Metsa and Schenn.

I don’t want him as the next Bryson, content with an NHL salary and not pushing hard to become a regular.

He’s close with Doan so I hope that relationship holds and he embraces the special group and will accept a role within it. Doan’s personality can help a lot there.

I think he and Timmins can be solid 5-6 guys. They are both RHD and could struggle with that as a pairing but Lindy seemed to mix the 3rd pair guys with his top 4 very well. This doesn’t expose them as a 3rd pairing and rests the top dogs.

Being slotted behind those three must have been a hard pill to swallow, but if it really was his attitude that got him in Lindy’s doghouse, then anything short of him not being totally bought in and putting in the work to get back in coach’s good graces wasn’t gonna get him back on the ice. And Metsa just played better anyway. 

It sucks that he got hurt, too, because that surely limited his opportunity to prove it in practice, etc., especially given the nature of high ankle sprains which take a long time to fully recover from. Indeed, I think he rushed it and that led to re-aggravating it imo. And the team was on a historic run during much of his recovery periods, so it wasn’t gonna be easy to mess with that winning formula and reinserting him into that winning lineup. And he just didn’t play well when given the opportunity, again, because of his injury imo.

But as I alluded to in my op, if there is a kernel of truth to the idea put forth that he chose to chafe against being demoted and pouted about it instead of putting all his effort into reclaiming a higher role, then I’d rather he go elsewhere. It’ll be interesting to see how it plays out. For all we know, he may come to camp fully healthy and blow us all away. Including Lindy and Co. 

[Brawndo]

17 hours ago, tom webster said:

It sounded like he felt the organization was deficient in certain administrative roles but I don’t want to read too much into it. I think he said something to the effect that “we feel we were a little deficient in certain areas.”

I know they have posted two additional positions for the analytics department. 

[PromoTheRobot]

About time Baker & Fairburn put out their latest podcast. If you hate Seth Appert, best you avoid the 20 minute mark.

 

[Taro T]

5 hours ago, dudacek said:

First bold is something I tend to agree with. But Tuch and Byram and the cap will dictate how much he can do.

Not sure I agree with the second, at least in terms of this team, right now. I got a real vibe of “this group is a contender.” The players aren’t looking for outside help, they seem to think that they can win it all with the group they have right now.

To be clear, I’m not advocating running it back per se, just saying that I don’t think that will demoralize the team. I think they would relish another crack at it with the group they have.

Yeah, a bit of a different perspective when "running it back" is of a team that seems to be ascending but still at the end of the day is on the outside looking in and when it's of a team that finished 1st in its division, 4th in the league, and was a single goal away from being one of the last 4 teams still standing, and had the best record in the league over a 4-1/2 month stretch.

And with that said, do expect to see Kekalainen try to make a fairly big move happen; but don't believe it needs to happen and also don't believe he'll be gutting the team of all of the new version of the "big 4" prospects.  Can see Mrtka being moved if the right deal comes along and can see 1 of the 3 young F's getting moved if the right deal comes along.  But don't see them getting moved just to be moved.

Unlike when he was with the BJs, he's starting from a spot where he has a legitimate good team to start with that also has a good number of prospects ready to move into the lineup and some D prospects that'll be at a minimum ready to back fill the 3rd pairing about 2 years from now.

He also has that Russian kid that may now actually be on the horizon who might want to come to NA now that the team that holds his rights isn't the NA version of Siberia anymore.  (And IIRC, he's only under contract in Russia for 1 more year, right?)

Jarmo doesn't need to swing for the fences to have a team that can swing for the fences.  Get a true #1 goalie &/or get a true #1C and this team looks really solid.  Run this team back and they're in the Kevyn Adams target zone of "be in the mix and get some luck and maybe you can win it all" but never make winning the Stanley Cup the only goal because there are too many other good teams and too much that comes down to luck to make winning it all the official goal.  That's what you want, but it isn't a failed season if you don't make it happen.  Jarmo has said the goal EVERY year is to win the SC; so my guess is he tries to land that 1C &/or 1G, but he isn't going to go crazy with an overpay because there is the actual possibility that that guy might already be in the system (or they may have so many 2Cs that they effectively have 1 because whatever line is going against the other team's 3rd line will have such a mismatch that the other team will effectively be playing against a top line.  Think of the way the RAV line dominated because teams had to gameplan against the Briere and Drury lines and there's only so many lines you can gameplan out of their comfort zones.

When Jarmo was in C-Bus he needed to swing for the fences to be able to swing for the fences.  And, he didn't break a playoff bound team up just because his star goalie and his star F were both almost 100% definitely were going to walk that upcoming off-season and he'd be left with nothing but cap space that next season.  Worry about today today and if all you get for a player is a ton of cap space, well, use that wisely and replace the player.  (Really hope Tuch is back, but just don't see it unless he significantly reduces his ask.)

[Taro T]

4 hours ago, K-9 said:

Yeah, it’s an interesting dilemma regarding Levi and Ellis. They are basically clones so my guess is that one of them will be offered up as trade bait down the line. I wonder how badly the Blues would like to get Ellis back as we know Jarmo was in trade talks with them at the deadline this season. It’s worth noting that Ellis still has to clear waivers if the Sabres want to send him to the Rochester Americans, so that option is not available if the Sabres can’t trade him. 

Wonder if some of the embracing of the 3 headed goalie monster isn't just posturing knowing that Armstrong wants Ellis back.  'Well, Doug, sure we'd be willing to part with Colten but he was the key component in making lemonade out of the lemons we were dealt; so no, we aren't including player X in that package if Colten is a part of it, we'll offer you player y instead.' (And player y is significantly further down the prospect list, or active roster value list than player x is.)

Realize that some of it is, you aren't going to badmouth your own players 2 days after they were eliminated in OT of game 7 of the 2nd round.  But pretty sure some of it is, Ruff is truly comfortable with it (and remember, he dealt with it back in '06 too when they had Miller, Biron, and Noronnen all in fold until quite far into the season).

[GASabresIUFAN]

4 hours ago, Cascade Youth said:

Right - to be clearer, I’m wondering if Adams correctly evaluated Levi as being capable of starting someday.  

I think Levi’s lack of size has worked against him more than Adams anticipated 

[Nacho Libre]

22 minutes ago, Taro T said:

Yeah, a bit of a different perspective when "running it back" is of a team that seems to be ascending but still at the end of the day is on the outside looking in and when it's of a team that finished 1st in its division, 4th in the league, and was a single goal away from being one of the last 4 teams still standing, and had the best record in the league over a 4-1/2 month stretch.

And with that said, do expect to see Kekalainen try to make a fairly big move happen; but don't believe it needs to happen and also don't believe he'll be gutting the team of all of the new version of the "big 4" prospects.  Can see Mrtka being moved if the right deal comes along and can see 1 of the 3 young F's getting moved if the right deal comes along.  But don't see them getting moved just to be moved.

Unlike when he was with the BJs, he's starting from a spot where he has a legitimate good team to start with that also has a good number of prospects ready to move into the lineup and some D prospects that'll be at a minimum ready to back fill the 3rd pairing about 2 years from now.

He also has that Russian kid that may now actually be on the horizon who might want to come to NA now that the team that holds his rights isn't the NA version of Siberia anymore.  (And IIRC, he's only under contract in Russia for 1 more year, right?)

Jarmo doesn't need to swing for the fences to have a team that can swing for the fences.  Get a true #1 goalie &/or get a true #1C and this team looks really solid.  Run this team back and they're in the Kevyn Adams target zone of "be in the mix and get some luck and maybe you can win it all" but never make winning the Stanley Cup the only goal because there are too many other good teams and too much that comes down to luck to make winning it all the official goal.  That's what you want, but it isn't a failed season if you don't make it happen.  Jarmo has said the goal EVERY year is to win the SC; so my guess is he tries to land that 1C &/or 1G, but he isn't going to go crazy with an overpay because there is the actual possibility that that guy might already be in the system (or they may have so many 2Cs that they effectively have 1 because whatever line is going against the other team's 3rd line will have such a mismatch that the other team will effectively be playing against a top line.  Think of the way the RAV line dominated because teams had to gameplan against the Briere and Drury lines and there's only so many lines you can gameplan out of their comfort zones.

When Jarmo was in C-Bus he needed to swing for the fences to be able to swing for the fences.  And, he didn't break a playoff bound team up just because his star goalie and his star F were both almost 100% definitely were going to walk that upcoming off-season and he'd be left with nothing but cap space that next season.  Worry about today today and if all you get for a player is a ton of cap space, well, use that wisely and replace the player.  (Really hope Tuch is back, but just don't see it unless he significantly reduces his ask.)

Another differentiating aspect is while the players we are counting on have more experience than before, the goal in running it back is also no longer “just make the playoffs”. If the goal is to advance beyond winning only 1 round, you’ll need to improve the roster in several areas. 

If we do nothing, we’ll fall backwards. If we improve on the fringes, we’ll probably stay about the same. If you want to improve, the prudent tact is to improve the roster. If you are treading water in this league, you are going backwards 

How often have we seen teams take a step back after leaping forward? Being anything other than aggressive in chasing improvement would be a very big mistake 

Edited May 21 by Nacho Libre

[Nacho Libre]

1 minute ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

I think Levi’s lack of size has worked against him more than Adams anticipated 

lol SHOCKED

[PromoTheRobot]

4 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

I think Levi’s lack of size has worked against him more than Adams anticipated 

When compared to Colton Ellis, they've had similar stats in the AHL. But Ellis is closer to the ideal size for a goalie. 

[Taro T]

1 minute ago, Nacho Libre said:

Another differentiating aspect is while the players we are counting on have more experience than before, the goal in running it back is also no longer “just make the playoffs”. If the goal is to advance beyond winning only 1 round, you’ll need to improve the roster in several areas. 

If we do nothing, we’ll call backwards. If we improve on the fringes, we’ll probably stay about the same. If you want to improve, the prudent tact is to improve the roster. If you are treading water in this league, you are going backwards 

How often have we seen teams take a step back after leaping forward? Being anything other than aggressive in chasing improvement would be a very big mistake 

Again, do expect Kekainen to be looking for both a 1C & a 1G.  But, just like in the summer of '06 that team only added one outside player of any consequence, a D-man that didn't even dress in some playoff games, and lost more talent than it brought it, that team did improve over that summer from the youth being 1 year further into their primes and the experience they gained over the past season and a half of league play.

That '06-'07 team lost McKee, Dumont, and effectively Connolly and only brought in Spacek as moves prior to the deadline and only brought in Zubrus at the deadline.

Agree that they should be aggressive in making moves.  But they should not be gunslingers.  They don't definitely need to bring in that outside 1C & 1G (though it would be friggin' awesome if they do).

[...]

6 hours ago, dudacek said:

First bold is something I tend to agree with. But Tuch and Byram and the cap will dictate how much he can do.

Not sure I agree with the second, at least in terms of this team, right now. I got a real vibe of “this group is a contender.” The players aren’t looking for outside help, they seem to think that they can win it all with the group they have right now.

To be clear, I’m not advocating running it back per se, just saying that I don’t think that will demoralize the team. I think they would relish another crack at it with the group they have.

The game 7 loss changed them forever. 

I am kind of in between this and what @PASabreFan is saying on that thing in particular. Once the emotional slurry goes down the drain, they have to go over what they experienced with some objectivity. That's the sportsman in them. If the conclusion is they were missing a certain "it" to help that first line score more, say, then that's a roster issue as much as it is a mental/maturity issue. 

Maybe that's Kulich. I really don't recall his play enough to lay any thought on the table there. Frankly, unless they positively identified the cause of his blood clots, I wouldn't bank on him for the entirety of next season. But that is another conversation.

Anyway, what I don't agree with is that this team, today, is anything like the team that started the season. The entire core are now "vets", and seasoned vets to some degree at that. These guys learned a ton. Benson? Young, developing, but no longer a kid who you have no idea about how he'll respond to play off pressure. Östlund? Helenius? Come on, both are already daydreaming about being in the playoffs next year. 

If anything they're going to have to get rid of guys. 

 

[dudacek]

15 minutes ago, Nacho Libre said:

Another differentiating aspect is while the players we are counting on have more experience than before, the goal in running it back is also no longer “just make the playoffs”. If the goal is to advance beyond winning only 1 round, you’ll need to improve the roster in several areas. 

If we do nothing, we’ll fall backwards. If we improve on the fringes, we’ll probably stay about the same. If you want to improve, the prudent tact is to improve the roster. If you are treading water in this league, you are going backwards 

How often have we seen teams take a step back after leaping forward? Being anything other than aggressive in chasing improvement would be a very big mistake 

I think the Sabres have a ton of offensive depth, speed, size and hustle, and the heart of their team is an elite top 4 on defence.

Their obvious target areas are obtaining a first line offensive playmaker and finally cracking the goalie puzzle.

The latter to me seems largely a matter of the right guy getting hot at the right time.

But if there is a playmaker out there (Thomas?) they have the pieces and should be after him hard.

To your point, ascending Montreal moved aggressively to shore up a weakness last summer with Dobson and reaped the rewards.

[dudacek]

8 minutes ago, ... said:

. 

If anything they're going to have to get rid of guys. 

 

It might have to be Tuch, at least if they want to bring in an impact player.