LGR4GM

There is no reason to keep 3 goalies. UPL has not been good. Ellis has not been good. Pick one and move on. Also start Lyon, the season went to hell when Ruff or Adams or whomever decided that UPL and Ellis needed 9 out of every 10 starts.

The Sabres have lost 13 games by giving up 4 or more goals. They only have 2 games where they scored 6 or more so that's not really inflating their totals much. You are arguing that without a player like Peterka we simply are not scoring enough. We are scoring enough, but we cannot and have not for years been able to stop other teams. We needed a 20% reduction in goals against to make the playoffs, right now we are on pace for 291 goals against, 2 more than the 29th worst Buffalo Sabres were last year. TBF I ran the numbers the other way as well, we are running at a 249goal pace which is 20g less than last year. So Buffalo is actually worse at allowing goals (because the goaltending is ATROCIOUS) and they aren't scoring as much as last year. Half of the Eastern Conf playoff teams last year were close to 249goals (252, 242, 245, 243) but 0 of them were anywhere near 289ga. The closest was Montreal at 265ga and no other playoff team in the East was over 234ga.

They Sabres are tied for 13th in the league in scoring. Östlund is a center and no, he won't be a 30g guy. I don't agree with your conclusion that this team has a bad offense. The problem is the same as last year, the goaltending and defensive coverage is bad. Sabres are 30th in goals against, so again it isn't that they can't score, it is that they are not getting the 20% reduction in goals against they needed to be competitive.

He's on a 2 game goal streak and has 10pts in 29games this season.

Have we talked about Tynan Lawrence enough yet? Dude is healthy and make the USHL look like his own personal beer league. Lawrence has an August bday so he is very young for the class, in fact he is almost exactly 10 months younger than Stenberg. Lawrence right now is running at a 1.86ppg pace in the USHL which puts him in 1st by .19 and the 3rd place guy only has 1.35ppg. He's literally running that league after 7 games. (5th in the USHL in ppg is the Sabres Ryan Rucinski). He is a center, he has playmaking, is a natural checker, his skating his very very good. Really the only issue I have right now is that he needs a higher level of competition imo. That all said he has all the pro habits needed and I think when he goes to college next year (Boston Univ) he will integrate really well. He is currently listed as 6' 185lbs but again with an Aug bday, he might be 6'1" 190lbs at the combine.

I am on the draft Stenberg train. I think McKenna will produce more offense in the NHL and has a higher ceiling but Stenberg is bigger Benson or more talented Doan. He is also NHL ready to a degree, he is almost a ppg player in the SHL which at 18 (he's old for his class and if he was in a lower league I would be less high on him) is the best in SHL history going all the back into the 80s I think. Only Sedin was close to his ppg rate. Maybe my mind will change, we still have WJC and the entire 2nd half of the season. McKenna can absolutely change my mind with his toolbox but I can't convince my brain to draft any more high ceiling offensive minded wingers with limited 2way ability. yes, sorry. I will edit it.

Keep (either because I like them, think it is better than a trade, or their contract makes them hard to trade) Norris, McLeod, Benson, Zucker, Doan, Kulich, Kozak, Östlund (I think Thompson will ask out) Dahlin, Kesselring, Samuelsson, and Power (I would trade him but we need bodies) Lyon and 1 of Ellis or UPL That means Tuch, Thompson, Greenway, Quinn, Krebs, Byram, Timmins, Bryson, and either Ellis or UPL are all traded or not signed. You gotta add enough defenders to keep Mrtka in Rochester next year. He's gonna be really good but he isn't ready yet.

I just feel so sad and defeated as a fan.

Idk if start it over is where I am at, but I think they need another rebuild. How much of a tear down is open to debate but this team is a spent force.

Benson deserves no more than a bridge at this point. I too love him but agree with everything said here. I think Tuch gets moved before the deadline, they are barreling towards another rebuild.

What!? It can't be! No one could have seen that coming. I thought for sure a below replacement level player would thrive on an nhl top line.

Taking out your testicular cancer just to put it into your head, seems counter productive.