Mango

I fully agree here. Especially if we’re all in on putting together the highest scoring line possible and compromising defensive responsibility.

Dude, I literally said “he’ll be fine”. I was just pointing out that he looked slower/the game looked faster than pre season. That was it. Full stop. And this is the second time you are referencing it. I’m not complaining about Benson. Literally just pointing out an observation. He also had a nice opportunity at the end of the period. Again, he’ll be fine:

It’s clear he is trying to be more responsible in our zone. I keep being surprised to see 71 in our zone.

A little mor hustle and physicality on the boards. Getting pushed off the puck a bit.

I’m less concerned about the refs and more concerned about our lack of offensive production, hustle, and scoring opportunities. It’s a long year. I get it. But also this is supposed to be the thing that carries the load.

I literally said “he’ll be fine”.

Benson looks a lot more hesitant/the game looks a lot faster compared to his speed in preseason. He looks fine. And he’ll be fine. But it’s also different for him right now.

Spending OK in the Rangers end. But no good opportunities and barely any shots. A little offensive momentum would be nice here. An opportunity or two would go a long way.

Can you get credit for that Joki goal?

I made it interesting with the same bet but parlayed it with KC -10.5 and a Kelce TD.

I think this is one thing that needs a little bit of a shift from Donnie. I think it is fairly safe to assume that Dahlin, Samuelson, and Power would all be able to be successful in Boston. The Boston defense was a huge part of Ullmark winning the Vezina. Clifton was a consistent part of their success until the Orlov trade. Clifton isn't a world beater, he doesn't need to be. But at some point our defensive "system" needs to be able to easily accommodate good players from proven defenses to help protect our goaltenders.

It would be awesome if for every goal at the arena they played RJ from now until forever.

From a roster maintenance stand point I feel like if we are going to bring up Kulich and Savoie next year, as well as Benson, we need more consistency from the JJP, Cozens, Quinn line. They need to fully arrive as a top 6 line. Not "going to be great top 6". But "are a great top 6". We can't have an NHL roster with 6 of the top 9 forwards "developing". I think Mitts could be a good barometer of what is going on in the FO and/or ownership. If Mitts plays this year like he finished last year I would pay him just about whatever his market value is. What is the point in saving space for the young guys if you don't pay the young guys.

Phew. I get to put all my hot takes on this to bed. Also Andrew Peters is a dummy.

I have to say I am thoroughly surprised we didn’t add a goalie and a better defenseman in the offseason. Yet still are bottom of the league in spending. Even if we were always going to role with Levi I thought for sure that meant we’d spend in FA on one if not two big defensemen to protect the kid. I just don’t know how we did nothing and are still at the bottom of league spending.

I want 105-110 points this season. That’s a 15-20 point increase YoY. Similar to the Devils who also had a young team but matured over a season or two. I didn’t need the preseason to be good but I needed it to flash that we were a young, skill-driven, fast team who were committed to better defense from all 5 on the ice. Pair that with a failure to upgrade defense and goalie; I find myself carrying 12 years of anxiety at the moment.

This is one of those things you expect to get better as camp goes on.

Preseason is what it is. You don’t need to be great, but unless you’re a contender you can’t really suck either. Being really good or really bad in preseason isn’t a great place to be.

This is a big part of why I really wanted/needed Adams to address the personnel for the defensemen and goaltending. The explanation of goaltending and defense has been pretty muddled with “young guys, learning the game” but also “system”. I really wanted to cross personnel off the list so we could get a clear inventory of problems for 24-25.

My thing here is, “at what cost?” Devon will need a reliever at best and an actual starter at worst. The team just missed the playoffs last year. It’s year 4 of this regime, and we’re going into year 13 of the longest drought in league history. Sticking with UPL is what’s best for UPL. But UPL isn’t necessary for this teams success. What’s best for the Sabres future is that this team be better than it’s ever been in the last 13 years by a large margin.

I was very high on this team coming into the season. I thought for sure we’d have at least one new top 4 defenseman, a goalie, and a new assistant coach. We kept hearing that “money isn’t an issue”. But here we are basically rolling the whole thing back with the 31st most expensive roster. Pre-season has been bad with little redeeming quality other than Benson. I get it’s pre-season but for me a historically bad hockey owner doesn’t get the benefit of the doubt. I am unsure of Adams/Donnie have peaked here and this is all by design. Or if Pegula is holding the purse strings tight. I’m excited for the season but I’d be lying if I said I am more concerned about this team today than I was last year. This regime has to work. I needed Adams to go shore up our deficiencies this offseason and Donnie to show he could coach defense. Or at least one of the two. I’m so sick of being a terrible hockey franchise. 105 points and a 6 game loss or playoff series win was my expectations for the season. That seemed like a reasonable timeline for Adams. I know this is so Debbie Downer. But it’s been a long 12 years.

Awesome. I saw the lines. Part of my flip flopping on him was he can’t just exist with Tage/Skinner. He has to be able to sand alone in addition to having 82 games in him. Finding production on the 3rd line makes me feel better. Adios VO (when Quinn is back)

Box score watching tonight. Looks like UPL stinks but so does Clifton. Somehow can’t get any scoring going. Do I need to know anything else?

I don’t believe he qualifies next year or the year after since his birthday is May and he has zero CHL seasons. He’ll make the roster before he has AHL eligibility.

When we ended last season l thought we had a lot of comps to NJ. My expectation is similar. About 105 points and play a competitive playoff series (6 games). If they sneak in at 95 and lose in 5 I’ll be disappointed.