dudacek

You can’t minimize the COVID year. They were the worst team in the league, they lost a stunning 18 games in a row, half the roster including most of their core desperately wanted out and they were mind-numbingly painful to watch. It was about as low as you can go. We were completely and utterly broken. It needs to be said, because that is the proper context. That is where we have come from in two years. Not directed to you, you know where we came from and have been very clear about where you want them to go. But the “Adams and Granato and their plan sucks” crowd can ***** right off as far as I’m concerned.

Just outright lies and deliberately negative spin. They are already over the cap floor and are poised to extend Dahlin, Power and probably Mitts. Are you expecting them to make a bunch of salary dumps this summer to get back down?

It’s not even slow! 37 points to 75 to 91 in 2 seasons is not slow. i think what bothers me most about the whining is the idea that they’ll never get better without some big moves, when they have consistently gotten better without big moves. Yes, they need tweaks. But the core of the team is here. They need most of Levi UPL Power Mule Quinn Peterka Krebs to take the same steps they got from Tuch Thompson Cozens Dahlin and Mittelstadt. I know most of you see it. I wonder what others are watching.

Skinner Thompson Tuch Mitts Cozens Quinn Peterka Krebs Greenway Girgensons Jost Okposo

UPL's record as a Sabre goalie: 17/11/4 Levi's record projected over the remaining 50 games: 35/14/1 That adds up to a 109-point season. So "we'll be fine" is certainly possible. The better question: Is it likely?

Pick 21. Martin Jones went for one of Boston”s 13-14-15 pick run in 2015. And there was one more who is slipping my mind who went for a pick somewhere in that range around that time. I think those trades might be part of the reason why no one has given up that much for a goalie since.

TSN’s Craig Button dropped his mock this morning. Buffalo ended up with Benson after he slipped down to them. Still available were: Yeager, Perreault, Danielson and Moore Surprise was Wood at 6. Sandin-Pelikka and Willander went before the Sabres pick.

Am I on ignore? 😁

The guys they highlighted in the first were Wood, Moore, Yager, Sandin-Pellikka and Willander

Nelson was one of 6 players featured by Marty, Duffer and Kris Baker as guys to watch in the 2nd round. The others were: Forwards Oskar Fisker-Molgard and Anton Wahlberg, defencemen Martin Strbak, Oliver Bonk and Aram Minnetian.

And how about Gates Orlando? Not sure if he played enough games, but I don’t remember him playing for another team.

Sean McKenna? (First guy I thought of after Moller)

Underappreciated and taken for granted.

I think people sometimes forget Östlund was the 16th pick in the draft less than a year ago and has held his value. The suggested return is close to what Ekholm got and better than what Provorov got and both those guys have term. Neither of them returned an asset as good as Östlund. It’s almost identical to what Hronek got. Pesce is good, but he’s not Slavin or Dougie Hamilton. Its not light at all.

It’s never happened in the cap era. I did the research and posted it on here a while back and I’m too lazy to look it up again. Best return for a goalie in the last 20 years is pick 9 in 2013 for Corey Schneider. Darcy Kuemper was traded for Conner Timmins and a late 1st a couple years back in the best return recently, so essentially a little more than Ryan Johnson and pick 39. Last time a front-line goalie got traded was Luongo in 2014. It was for Markstrom and Matthias, which, at the time, was like UPL and Greenway. Before that, Ryan Miller netted Carrier, Stewart, a late 1st, Halak and a 3rd. It’s less than it sounds when you realize Halak was a cap dump and the Sabres also gave up captain Steve Ott in the deal. The short answer is goalies NEVER get traded for the kind of haul Chewie is offering for Saros. Most of the time they top out at the equivalent of a mid to late 1st and a mid second. The caveat is that goalies like Saros almost never get traded, so there’s not a ton of comparables.

Treliving quit because he didn’t want to work with Sutter Sutter was fired because players weren’t interested in staying if he was there Players want to leave anyway. At least they have 55-point man Jonathan Huberdeau on the roster for another 8 years at $10.5 million. 😬

UPL also went 12/5/1 in December and January after the starters got hurt and the season looked like it might be over by Christmas again. You can't cherry pick one way and ignore the other. *** In a vacuum I would be much more comfortable this season with an Andersen/Levi combo than Devon with one of the others. Outside the vacuum, it needs to be said out loud that acquiring another goalie means you are giving up on UPL. Plain and simple, you re telling him he's not good enough and you are going to have to waive him or trade him. Sabrespace might be OK with that since most gave up on him at the same time they gave up on Casey Mittelstadt. But I'm not sure Adams has. Also, the acquisition cost of Andersen (or anyone else) is not a make-or-break, but it matters. One year $5 million for Freddie and trade UPL for a 2nd? All over that. 4 years at $5 for Freddie and waive UPL? I might be tempted to give UPL another shot. Context matters.

Which players are you talking about? They aren’t getting anything for the UFAs listed above. Do you mean trading the Carlos and Debrusk and Taylor Halls for cheaper players who can be just as effective?

Guess what I am saying is I would disagree with coming back with the same goalies we have, but that doesn’t mean the off-season was a failure if we do. It means Adams has more faith in them than I do. We can decide who was right when the season is over.

Not “comfortable” with any of them. But I am far more “comfortable” with the possibility that Levi can give us 50 good games next year than I should be, or than I would be with, say, Freddie Andersen or someone else of that level. And I can’t overlook the fact that the team went 17/11/4 with UPL last year, which is about as good as one can expect from a backup.

I would trade 13 or Rosen for Helle straight across even though I would have no intention of signing him to the suggested demand because I believe it puts us in contention this year while buying Levi the time he will need. I would do that because they are the pieces listed least likely to be part of the core moving forward, and are made expendable by the other names on the list. Side benefits of the deal are the possibility that we may be able to reach a more suitable deal with Hellebuyck because he finds he likes it here, and that his presence allows the rest of the roster to “power up” and grow into the role of perennial contender after he’s gone if that’s the path he takes.

Unlikely, but yes. Im not betting on the Sabres trio, but no one was betting on Georgiev or Brossoit last year. 12 months ago a lot of you were looking at Comrie as a good backup who paid his dues and was probably ready to make the jump. The development path UPL started when he was the 2nd goalie taken in the 2017 draft projected him to be arriving as a useful NHLer this year. Watching them play last year I say “no, can’t trust that”, but on paper it’s certainly possible. Watching Levi play last year I say “kid looks good enough to be the guy” even though on paper it shouldn’t be likely. We won’t know if sticking with these guys this off-season is a success or a failure until we see how well they play.

I think the Gavrikov LA deal kinda set the template for what Lance is referring to. There will be players who want to wait in order to open up bigger opportunities for themselves when more money is available.

Hmm, I always thought there was a good chance Moore was there at 13. Didn’t see him with more than an outside chance to be top 10. We must be reading different things. I was kinda looking at it like Bob has it, with Reinbacher and Leonard at the top of a group of 8-10 guys that could come off the board in a variety of ways and another half-dozen or so who might force their way into that group. Thats after the top 4 and the Michkov wild card. Think there will be a lot of variation in who teams have ranked 5-20, with my #9 being your #19 and vice versa.

Make @Buffalonillsmile and @PerreaultForever love the Sabres again.