dudacek

Tavares will replace Mitt’s production short-term and seriously bolster our middle six. He can also win faceoffs and might help the PP. This is a short-term proposal I would absolutely entertain.

Was there a Sabrespacer who had UPL ahead of Levi in September? I can remember being dismissed every time I tried to suggest UPL hadn’t finished developing yet and being told emphatically that he hadn’t even proven himself a competent AHL goalie yet. UPL was 3/7/2 in February and March of last year. His GAA was over 4 and his S% was under .870. He was handed the keys and the above is what he did. Levi was then handed the keys and he won. If he had fallen behind Levi in the pecking order, he had no one to blame but himself. And when the play level changed this fall, so did the pecking order. Isnt that the way it’s supposed to work?

Ideally, this is Ullmark (the mid-20s talent who paid his dues) and Swayman (the hotshot college kid who arrived quickly and stuck) I get UPL feeling the way @Brawndo described, but the flip side of that was that UPL didn't actually earn the net either until this December and January. And once he earned it, he kept it. Most athletes understand that's the way it's supposed to work.

Who do people think will be in over their heads in these roles? 1C Thompson* 2C Cozens* 4C Krebs T6W Tuch T6W Skinner* T6W Quinn* T6W Peterka B6W Greenway B6W Benson To me, this is best case scenario with the current roster. The guys with stars are the guys who didn't live up to their role this year and proof of why you can't count on the best-case scenario. And it's why I've said there is a Mitts-sized hole in the lineup: a guy who creates competition in the top 6 and in the process strengthens the bottom six.

What’s the 3rd? No, goal, ?

A. The bold is a motherhood statement that most on here would agree with. B. That the Sabres are the worst franchise in the NHL over the past decade is a fact. I don’t agree with the implication that B means A isn’t happening. This is the 6th playoff series Rochester has played in over the past 25 months. Mersch/Jobst/Murray Biro/Rousek/Weissbach Cecconi/Davies/Prow are AHL veterans “helping the kids through it.” Rochester has graduated Krebs, Quinn, Peterka, Samuelsson, and Luukkonen during this process. Johnson and Levi will almost certainly join them. Not trying to change your mind, just sharing a different view. I already know the response to this will be some version of “well the Sabres missed the playoffs again” because that’s all the really matters.

Pretty sure Stillman is out for the season. I don’t think Clague was returned when the Sabres were done. Not sure about that though, and no idea why.

This was last night’s game. Johnson and Levi were key players for the Amerks. Novikov, Kulich and Rosen got regular shifts. The other kids were non-factors. Mersch/Jobst/Murray Biro/Rousek/Weissbach were the guys who carried the water.

And how do you build that when you have no proven veterans in your organization and very few outside the organization want to play for you? 3 years ago, when this started, our "veterans" were Skinner, Okposo, Girgenson, Eakin, Coilin Miller, Pysyk, Hagg and Anderson. And there was nobody for Mitts and Thompson and the rest of compete with for prime ice. Now they are Skinner, Thompson, Tuch, Cozens, Greenway, Dahlin, Jokiharju, Clifton And there is plenty of bodies for Benson and Kulich and the rest to compete with. I mean, you're not wrong with bold, but you also act like they haven't been trying to move toward that, and that it doesn't take time for the talent to be developed and acquired. I mean the year we just finished was probably the first time we could have reasonably expected to be close to that under this rebuild. You can't snap your fingers and voila.

I think it’s weird how some things fix themselves in people’s minds. In it’s genesis, “don’t block the kids” was about force-feeding the Botterill leftovers Thompson, Cozens, Mittelstadt, Dahlin and Jokiharju key ice time to accelerate their development, build their confidence and see what the team had. By and large, it did what it was supposed to do. The team improved notably and those players pretty significantly. Year 2, it was about giving the 2nd wave - Power, Quinn, Samuelsson, Krebs and Peterka - a similar opportunity, but in mid-roster roles.Those players were younger and predictably didn’t have the same impact. But they did show they belong, and the guys in front of them took big jumps. By and large people were happy with the improvement and were predicting good things ahead. Year 3, “don’t block the kids” wasn’t really a thing. I mean, I guess it was in goal, but it also kinda worked in goal. Elsewhere, they didn’t hand jobs to Rousek and Rosen and Kulich and Ryan Johnson. Instead, they blocked the kids, re-signing Girgensons, and Okposo and Jost, and adding Robinson and Clifton and Greenway and Erik Johnson. It wasn’t not blocking the kids that killed last year’s team, it was the fact that most of the above veterans sucked. And they sucked while Thompson, Tuch, Skinner and Cozens - all of whom all now count as vets - also sucked. The players who stepped up - UPL and Peterka - happened to be the kids who weren’t blocked. This “not blocking” hasn’t been the problem for Adams some of you make it out to be. Rather, it’s been putting together a consistent, focused and complete team.

Now that’s the kind of “now” trade I’d look for. It’s not about not trading futures, it’s about trading them for the right player.

Some impressions of those prospects after the 3 games: Rousek is the probably the best forward on the Amerks right now, but doesn’t look fast or strong enough to play the same game in the NHL. Kulich is MIA. He just hasn’t done anything noticeable. I want to like Rosen. His feet and his hands are the most noticeable on the team and he’s not timid or irresponsible. But it’s maddening how infrequently he applies his will on the game, he’s got more to give, but he’s content to let it come to him. Östlund’s lack of strength means he has faded as the clutching and grabbing has escalated. But he sees the game better and plays it faster than anyone else down there. Based just on these 3 games, he projects the best of the big 3, when you account for his lack of AHL experience. Anton Wahlberg doesn’t know how good he can be yet. His effectiveness wavers because he’s 18 and it shows. But he is a physical specimen who can skate and he wants to make a difference. When the going got tougher Ryan Johnson seemed to play better. His ability to move the puck to safety shone, rather than wilted under the heavy fire. Novikov has got some heavy feet, but his attitude is every inch what the Sabres lack. He sees the game very well and pushes first. Levi has simply been fantastic. Technically poised, cool under fire and athletic. Easily the best player on the ice for either team.

They’re all in the shop for their regularly scheduled summer conditionings.

I was just looking for a yes or no 😜 So you do the deal?

Sure, in a vacuum. But Ehlers is a pending UFA. My take is you shouldn't have to give up that much to get that player; And, if you're giving up that asset, better to use it on a different kind of player.

Such an awesome reference. (No way he's McKinnon 😁) Would you do the deal? It would be the ultimate expression of short-term thinking: clearly makes the team better, but for one year only.

Wondering how many people on here know 21 Buffalo Sabres teams finished with worse records than this year's team.

Dylan Cozens had a bad year. Even with that bad year, his 47 points ranked him as a low-end 2C. The 68 points he scored last year would have ranked him as a low-end 1C this year alongside, Eichel, O’Reilly, Larkin, Horvat and Hischier. There is no doubt in my mind Dylan Cozens will be a very competent 2C for the Sabres next year and probably for the majority of his contract.

Barring trades, nine of 14 spots in October are spoken for. Tuch, Thompson, Skinner, Cozens, Quinn, Peterka, Benson, Krebs, Greenway. If it’s up to me, I acquire real NHL veterans to fill 4 of the other 5 spots. Kulich, Savoie, Rosen, Östlund and Rousek get to battle for the 5th. There’s a door, but they’re going to have top step over bodies to walk through it.

Good take, IMO - both parts. I was one of those who wondered if he had the edge to be a successful GM. The post-Botterill bloodletting, the Eichel patience, the Mittelstadt trade and the Granato firing - none of these things match the public persona. Adams is a competitive, aware, calculated and stubborn guy. He had a plan, he stuck with it for 2 years and when year 3 showed the need for a course correction, he has started off with 2 significant moves. (Unless you think firing the coach and trading the leading scorer aren’t significant). It’s not backbone or operational intelligence that will make or break him. He’s shown both. It’s player evaluation and whether the calls he has made on the coach and the players he’s made big commitments to - Dahlin, Thompson, Cozens, Quinn, Peterka, Power, Samuelsson, Byram, UPL and Levi - were the right ones. Because we have reached the point where his belief in that group has to start paying off.

Why? 😁

As far as the hiring process goes, I don’t know that the “how” matters nearly as much as the “who.” Last time, Adams took weeks and ended up coming back to the guy already on staff. Adams was hired from in-house with no search at all. Botterill left no stone unturned and got taken in by a smooth-talking outsider named Ralph. Housley was a hot league commodity who seemed to be their target from the beginning; they talked to many others, let those guys take other jobs, and waited until Nashville was done and hired him quickly afterward. Botterill was the result of a thorough review of an industry approved short list. Babcock wasn’t the result of a search, he was targeted because of his resume. When he jilted them, they did exactly the same thing with Bylsma, the next guy on their list. Nolan was Pat Lafontaine giving an old crony a 2nd chance Tim Murray was picked after a long-drawn-out interview process with the pick of the league’s assistant GMs where Lafontaine was accused of using the process to steal secrets from other organizations. Lafontaine was the romantic whim of a star-struck owner. This time was a bit of Babcock, a bit of Nolan and a bit of Adams. Honestly, they’ve followed pretty much every process known to mankind and blown it every time. I don’t think it’s the process that’s the problem. All we can do is hope they finally get it right.

“Double-digits” offends me about as much as: “We have no interest in firing…” “we are not shopping…” ”we couldn’t believe he was still available” and “we like the team we have” It’s pretty much a job requirement that a GM has to spin certain situations certain ways in front of the cameras.

I’m sure Adams wasn’t lying when he said he talked to double digit people during his coaching “search” Im also sure those conversations weren’t serious job interviews. Before speaking to anyone, Adams felt the team needed specific qualities and he felt Ruff - who he knows very well - was the perfect fit. The “search” was basically confirming Ruff was the fit he thought he was and due diligence around that. It was pretty easy to connect the dots in between the two pressers and figure out what happened.

Novikov, Strbak and McCarthy also big D from the past few drafts. Myths die hard.