Taro T

Pretty sure Pegula and Adams like him. Lindy probably likes him as a person too. But being a good guy and allegedly good at development coaching doesn't mean he's remotely competent to be an NHL assistant. And there was a report here from our usual breaker of all news Sabres that the Sabres did make an offer to a coach to take over Wilford's role but were rebuffed by the guy they made the offer to. Would like to have seen them then reach out to a plan B, plan C, or plan D guy at that point. But, again, somebody likes HIM, not necessarily the results he gets. And maybe this is the year he finally understands that being ok with 2 D going behind the net, leaving the C to try to cover 2 guys in the slot or having your D let a guy simply stand in front of your goalie without trying to move him away, or being OK with the D not recognizing that a player is by himself in the low slot a mere tick-tack pass away from toeing it into the open net are not good things and that he can actively teach against doing that and actually reduce guys ice time when they do those sorts of things. He also can get on the nuts of F's that stand around lost in their own end. (Whether they report to him in that end or not; doesn't matter, get their heads out of their bippies. He's in charge of the play in that zone. This is not Don Granato's Sabres team anymore. Somebody should let Marty know.)

That is true. BUT the question of HOW the PP with both Dahlin and Thompson on it was rhetorical.

That's probably realistically his ceiling. Unfortunately, it'll likely take a couple more years before he becomes whatever he's going to become.

2 more in their prime Griers would go a long way towards making getting into the playoffs a thing that's theirs to lose rather than one they have to steal to get.

Getting top 12 goaltending is necessary but not sufficient to making the playoffs. The Sabres will need more than just that to go right to make them. Norris staying healthy all year and one of those kids breaking out would go along way towards providing the extra impetus required. (Broken record alert: fixing the d*mn PP also could do it. And how a PP with both Dahlin and Thompson on it (2 REALLY good PP players) can be this awful this often for this long is boggling. It's only been good for one roughly 7 week stretch since O'Reilly left the building.)

@LGR4GM beat me to it, but Quinn's best offense has come when he and Peterka swapped wings. Yes, he's more than a bit of a defensive black hole right now, so regardless of which side you're playing him on, you need to give him defensively responsible linemates. Personally, would rather get the increased offense from him (which could be substantial) being on his off-wing and worry about the slightly worse defensive play (it CAN'T be much worse than it was if he is going to keep a job in the NHL) as it comes. Tuch and McLeod/Norris would be defensively responsible and actually give Quinn players with legit offensive chops that might actually get him the puck or be able to do something with it should he get his passing touch back. Krebs & Greenway would cover for his defensive deficiencies but wouldn't afford him much help in the offensive zone.

Realistically, at this point, the only potential "real goalie" getting brought in would be Hart. And that is, at best, a long shot. IF they were to bring him in, would definitely wait until the end of TC (possibly even later than that by a handful of weeks) before choosing which goalie to jettison as he's been away from the NHL for a full year now.

If they got rid of Wilford, would very likely agree with this. But just simply can't get past how bad he has been at preparing these guys to play in their own end. HE is still here. The rocket surgeon that sets up the X's and O's on the PP is also still here. Those 2 items and goaltending has been their Achilles heal for the better part of the entire Adams era. Though the personnel have been improved to a degree in all those areas, the guys directing the troops are still the same.

Like it, and do expect Norris to be with Thompson. But for some reason just don't expect that to work. So expect fairly early in the season we see Kulich, Norris, and McLeod all slide one spot with Kulich moving to the top line (which he ain't ready for) and the other 2 sliding down 1 spot. And expect late in periods and the 2nd 1/2 of the 3rd to have much mixing of those lines as Ruff tries to limit Kulich's ice time.

Don't expect to get much at all for him. And it IS possbile that the lightbulb will click on and stay on for him and he'll be not just a servicable goalie but an actual honest to goodness good one. But, at this point, they really shouldn't be worrying about what they'd get in return for UPL or Lyon (or even the guy that could be their future); but rather what do they need to give up to get a sure fire (well, as sure fire as such a thing is in this league) top 10 goalie. If they had one of those, a playoff spot would be theirs to lose, not theirs to steal like it is now. Also, if they did get another goalie (and we all know they won't, but will state this anyhow) they should keep all 4 into TC and see if a goalie gets injured somewhere else in TC. Maybe for once, the puck luck will bounce the Sabres way, and instead of getting a 2nd rounder for a guy that could be useful they might get a 1st or a legit NHLer for the odd man out. Goalies are weird and there aren't enough legit goalies to fully go around, so the market for goalies is always weird in itself. Heck, the Avs managed to trade Georgiev last year and he was absolute hot trash when San Jose took him. Even bad goalies on bad contracts can get moved.

And pigeons breathe a sigh of relief. RIP Professor Lehrer.

The Grigorenko pick would've been outside the 12 year window he's looking at. And, he did state the last batch of players were those that weren't DIRECTLY stemming from any of those picks. So, can see why he didn't include guys that came into the organization a trade later wouldn't be counted as stemming directly from Compher and the pick that went out for O'Reilly.

Keep him and trade away Luukkonnen. Or head into camp with 4 goalies, knowing Levi can be sent down. And trade whichever guy ends up the #3 at that point for what you can get.

Would love to see it. But can't see them going that route.

Losing Dahlin for ~10 games did not help the PP at all. He and Thompson are their best PP players and both missed significant time. (Pretty much have to expect that every year w/ Thompson IMHO. Hopefully Dahlin's back is fully healed so we don't have to expect that from him too.) Expect it would've been merely AS bad as the previous year without Dahlin missing so much time. Except for the GTing being such a ??? am actually not too upset with the roster. Would really like 1 more top 6 F to limit injury related drop offs and to be that much more difficult to play against when fully healthy, but with good coaching, the skaters could be good enough to make the dance. Hate the lack of moves assisting Ruff behind the bench.

Yeah, we do seem to be in Act 3 of the 1 GM play, right down to stocking up on RHD. Interesting that they didn't move Byram (am pleased with that, just didn't expect it) after Peterka asked out. Wonder how much the calculus changed in what they felt they needed back in a Byram trade after JJ went bye-bye. And wonder how the roster would've changed with him being the one going out the door instead of JJ. Heading into the off-season, thought Adams had said he wanted to address a RHD for Power and another top 6 F (and thought the preference was for 1 that could also play C). If that isn't just a case of misremembering, Adams only got 1/2 of the job done and on paper weakened the top 6 F. Realize everybody expects they're done (and the majority here might very well be right about that), but there is still more work to do, and won't believe this is the final roster until we reach October if another move isn't made.

Unless they're going to be pairing him with Samuelsson, which might be where they're going to use him, they don't NEED another offensive D-man. They need one that's defensively responsible. Don't mind Timmons and hope it works. But Bernard-Docker DID work with Power. Kesselring &/or Timmons MIGHT work with Power. They're going to have a small margin for error this season, this pair of moves seems to reduce that margin.

Pretty sure, though, that is his point. Having retained Bernard-Docker even at the risk of him ending up with a Timmons contract (or more likely what we'd've expected Timmons contract to be, not the one coming in at over $2MM/yr) knowing how well he and Power looked at the end of the year rather than bringing Bryson back would've resulted in a better defense at least on paper than what they have now with Bryson as the spare. Because they very likely could've come to an agreement with JBD prior to reaching arbitration.

Roslovic is still available. Rust &/or Rackell are supposedly still on the trade block from the Pens. Would probably need Pittsburgh to retain a smidge to have some flexibility as injuries pile up, but they could make any of those work.

That's a bit more than this kid expected, but not completely out of line. (Was expecting more like $1.5MM.) Leaves them just a bit over $5MM with a full 23 player roster. Now go get Roslovic or make another move.

Guys that were healthy scratches that are still here: Quinn, Samuelsson, Malenstyn. For frustrated guys from last year, you missed one, Aube-Kubel. Guy never garnered any trust from Ruff. (Not saying he should've had it; but he absolutely didn't.)

Personally, don't like Kulich with Thompson because he isn't ready for true 1st line usage IMHO, but expect he meshes better with Tommer than Norris will. Would have Norris with Tuch and Tommer with Juri and then figure out the LWs from there. And expect Benson would fit very well with those 2, especially if he managed to put on some more upper body strength (not that he was weak last year, but he is smallish and should be able to put on muscle pretty easily at his age). Then it becomes which of Doan, Quinn, or Zucker do you want working with Norris and Tuch. And expect that could very well vary on a game by game or even period by period basis. Kind of the way how Roy bounced from Drury and Grier to the RAV line depending upon health and circumstances. And, with that said, do expect you are correct that Norris is pencilled in with Tommer. Just personally would rather those 2 be on different lines.

And the response back should be, "why? YOU sure as #### never showed us any better."

They are men. But, except for Dahlin and Timmons they are still quite low on the "been around the block" scale which is really important for D-men. They are adults but there is a wisdom that comes with experience and there is a reason that D don't reach their peaks for a couple of years beyond them reaching their physical peaks. Expecting this D will still not be good enough. Mainly because the coaching, which could help bridge that "wisdom gap," is at absolute best adequate on a good day. Had they punted Wilford, would be much more intrigued by what this D can do. But still expect them to stand around leaving guys free to screen UPLyvi or tap in passes to the back door that get through them. Believe the D as constructed will could be good enough. Don't believe the tactics they will employ will let their talent prove out. Hoping that is too pessimistic, but haven't seen anything to believe it won't be.