LGR4GM

So in one sentence you are actively rooting for tank fruit #1, a player who put up 50g and is one of the best pp forwards in the league. Then in the final sentence you mention a team that took tank fruit #2 and won the cup last year. The tanked worked to perfection, the rebuild was utter trash and Kane and Bogo's nose candy loving ***** and GMTM's craptastic drafting are directly responsible. In fact the Sabres are one of the worst drafting teams from 2009-2017, when we took vaunted first round talents like... Armia, Kassian, Grigorenko, Pysyk, Nylander. In that time the only notable non first round picks taken are Foligno, Compher (traded), McNabb (traded), McCabe, Olofsson, and Hagel (didn't even f-ing sign him). It is why just now we are starting to see improvements, the 2018-2020 draft classes were better and are entering their lower primes. You got Cozens, Quinn, JJP, and Ryan Johnson from just 11 picks. In 2025 or 2026 we will see another jump depending on who we keep because of good drafting. 2021 already has Power, with Novikov making a push and Rosen at least looking like a 3rd liner or tradable asset. 2022 has Savoie, Östlund, and Kulich in it, all 3 are on track to be NHL guys and I would add in Komarov as a possible guy. What is interesting is these 2 Adams drafts, I think show some flaws which brings us to 2023... Benson, Strbak, Wahlberg all look like they have possible NHL futures which are your first 3 picks from that draft. Buffalo seems to have really figured out how to maximize the first 3 rounds (screw you Leinonen pick that should have been Warren) and if they are getting 2 useful NHL players per draft we are in good shape. Buffalo finally is getting to the log jam, where prospects have to fight their way up through the AHL until they are 21, 22, 23 as opposed to maybe spending their 20yr old season there and then BAM! NHL guaranteed. Benson might be the last of the "well we have a spot and here's a kid with skill so..." that we see for awhile. It is why I vehemently oppose Kulich or Östlund, or even Savoie being considered for the roster in 2024, you need to add vets that make that almost impossible. The good news is that the top 6 is solidified. JJP - Tage - Tuch and Skinner/Benson - Cozens - Quinn is basically set in stone and there isn't a prospect coming to overtake any of those wingers and ftr, I love Savoie. Now anyone else we draft has to overtake them, Skinner will be the first as Benson either this season or next will surpass him. Hate the tank, it is the low hanging fruit, but the idea of selling off assets to draft as high as possible has lots of merit around the league from Pittsburgh to even a team like Florida. The issue is selling the assets is easy, building is hard. One last thing, everyone seems to forget that in 2012 and 2013, the sabres were bad. It wasn't like we were a good and then had this stupid idea. In fact think about it, by 2014, we hadn't won a playoff series since 2007. I won't convince you the tank wasn't bad, but the tank was a symptom of a larger problem that existed for almost all of Regier's time and certainly all of dipshit GMTMs time. I will always disagree with the majority here about the tank because I believe the goal of the tank was to acquire elite talent that the team was incapable of drafting otherwise (a problem Detroit is having because of how the lottery played out). I believe the tank achieved that objective but unfortunately Murray and Botterill were unable to build a team after that. I could see an argument that that was a fault of the tank but I think it was more to do with Murray being terrible and Botterill just never really getting what he needed. I suppose it doesn't matter now.

I don't think there is a single other player on the Sabres or in the system that is a version of Zach Benson.

We have 23ish million in cap for next year so it's possible to fit a contract for him. Would depend on Stamkos asked but the short answer is yes we could afford it for 1 year without issue.

This take is why I wouldn't have an issue with trading Johnson in a package for something we need. All of this logically tracks as well.

I to this day would still rather have Kaliyev, Pinto, or Hoglander over Ryan Johnson. In fact I won't be shocked if we trade Johnson in a package for a player like the 3 here.

Ryan Johnson ended up getting 561 minutes last year. Which is disappointing because he was pretty good in those minutes and the coaching staff, Wilford is still here fyi, failed to recognize and use him. Instead they took minutes away from him and gave them to others. So let's a take a look at Ryan Johnson and see where he was team wide. When looking at defenders I like corsi% as one of the stats because shot suppression is important. We will also have the gf%, HDCF%, and xGF% There were 9 defenders on the Sabres last year that played at least 300mins or more. Ryan Johnson at Even Strength had a CF% of 52.32 which was 2nd overall. His xGF% was 51.37 and ranked 3rd. His HDC% was 52.97 and ranked 1st. His GF% was 55 and ranked 2nd. Chart form: CF% 52.32 = 2nd xGF% 51.37 = 3rd HDCF% 52.97 = 1st GF% 55.0 = 2nd We have no pp numbers for him because only had 2mins of pp time and that sample size is far too small. Basically, Ryan Johnson only played at even strength. His numbers show us a few things, first is that he is one of our top 3 defenders, period. Dahlin is the only player with a better corsi. Samuelsson and Dahlin are the only players with better xGF%. Only Jokiharju has a better actual GF%. And Ryan Johnson is one of only 2 players on the entire freaking team with a HDCF% above 50% the other being Dahlin who he edged out by 0.13%. If you are starting next season with the goal of making the playoffs, your top 4 are Dahlin, Power, Samuelsson, and Johnson. It is another year I don't like the mitts trade, we upgraded the 1 position we have in spades. If one of these guys was a righty than cool but that isn't how it looks. If I were Ruff, I would do Dahlin - Johnson, Power - Muel, Byram - Clifton. It gives each pair a pure offensive threat and a more reliable 2way defender. Ryan Johnson could also be used as a trade piece but in his case, I would play him regularly to get that value up because he doesn't hurt a damn thing on the ice accept the opponents abilities to score goals. Ryan Johnson is a top 4 defender in the NHL.

Ryan Johnson outplayed almost every single one of the players you listed above him here. Just to toss that out. Actually... hold that thought.

Who the F cares about this? "We need to bump those numbers," no we need to make playoffs. No one gives a ratsass if we get a 3rd instead of a 4th for Krebs if we decided to trade him. To hell with playing a guy above his head to get a better trade. Play to win or forfeit the season already.

Yea but now I want imperial pizza

Josh allen of course keeps the Bills in contention always but they'll be able to field a better team in 2025 than 2024. Still excited for Bills season and really excited for Coleman and Davis. Lmao. No chance Allen leaves Buffalo for the Rams next year. Just silly talk.

I can't think of 1 player we've lost this offseason that I'm upset about. But, yea... no need to interact with you anymore.

Lol, I love this kid.

Because we're trying to make the playoffs and this is a good way not too.

They literally are trying not to by making this year a reset so they can go all out again in 2025. You act like green bay never did this with rogers.

Jack Quinn outproduced Krebs in 53 less games. 18yr old Zach Benson just outpeoduced Krebs. You can keep Krebs as a depth piece but pencil him in to your 3rd line center seems unwise. You should at least get a real 3rd line center because if Krebs fails it won't matter and if he succeeds, you gain depth.

Weird response. They have a bunch of dead cap they need to clear. Next offseason then can go superbowl again. That's just reality.

This is going to be a reset year.

I think some of you are missing the point of Coleman. He's got good hands and a good vertical. He's literally the guy Josh can use to say "f it, Coleman down there somewhere" and heave.

He can also pull very effectively. You don't end up as Georgia's starting center under Kirby Smart for 3 years of you're not good. Smart very much emphasizes having good o and d lines.

I think y'all will like Van Pran.

Honestly, if he catches worthy, he'd probably break him with 1 tackle.