LGR4GM

I mean, he is fun

Speaking of Helenius

What a dick response.

Liger's List: Top 10 April 2024 Mack Celebrini, 6' 190lbs C - when you play your entire NCAA Freshmen season as a 17yr old, that is noteworthy, when you do it to the tune of 64pts in 38 games leaving you as 2nd in PPG for the entire NCAA, that is otherworldly. BTW the player above and the 2 players directly below him on that list are all linemates on the same team versus Mack, who's next closest teammate is at 11... and is a defender. He can do it all, defense, offense, pk, pp, whatever you want. If Matty Beniers was more skilled, you would have Celebrini. His shot is excellent, I think his skating looks better and better, and this IQ is not quite Benson but he is a smart cookie. Buffalo has a 3% chance of drafting him, so keep your fingers crossed because he would immediately slot into a center position in Buffalo and give us depth behind Cozens and Tage. Ivan Demidov, 5'11" 168lbs RW - to be blunt, the MHL (Russian Jrs) is simply a league below his skills. His skating is Skinner-esque and his shot is bedard-esque (not bedard level btw). He is an offensive threat anytime the puck is on his stick or he is in the zone. Smart and able to do about all the moves, there is a flash to his game that reminds me a bit of afinogenov. What else can we say other than he needs muscles and to get to NA to continue to refine the 200ft aspects of his game. Some places rank him lower but I don't understand how, he's got first line winger skills and when I say refine his 200ft game that isn't code for doesn't have one. He works hard in all 3 zone with sublime passing skills. One knock on his skating is he isn't fast so much as elusive and I get that. Still he has a ton of skills and every time I manage to find some video of him, I find myself smiling at his creative and fun style. Artyom Levshunov, 6'2" 209lbs RHD - the big man from Belarus is an all around defender that uses his size to physically end plays in his own zone as well as protect the puck in any zone. Big story for him this year is how well he adapted and grew in the NCAA where he put up 0.92ppg for Michigan State. Skates very well with good agility and a quickness that makes a 6'2" guy very dangerous. He has an array of shots and loves loves loves putting pucks on net from just about anywhere which probably needs a little refinement. His passing is crisp and I feel as though there is more deception between first half highlights and second half. Defensively he works hard but needs more coaching IMPO. Good ideas but sometimes slow to execute which is a bit of the opposite of his offensive zone ideas. Still he isn't bad defensively and again uses his physicality to shut things down when he can. Another year in the NCAA should help to round out his game. He has a high floor and good ceiling so that is why he ends up at 3rd for me. Berkly Catton, 5'11" 163lbs C/LW - when you put up 54g in 68 games, that is really noticeable. When you add 62 assists to the total, well you are in some rare territory. In fact that puts you 7th in the WHL for ppg and #1 for draft eligible guys. Add to that a vastly improving defensive game with great skating and shooting, and you get Catton. No, I don't have some fetish for sub 6ft light forwards, there just seems to be a trend of guys that fit that description and score like Catton... you know like Benson and Savoie. Anyways, he's a good player and will be a good pro, probably needs 2 more years in jrs and a rochester year so a beat out but man is he gonna be fun. Cayden Lindstrom, 6'4" 216lbs C/LW - oh what might have been. 27g in 32 games translates out to 57g in 68 games but alas that isn't what happened. Injured early and then he managed to come back and pick up where he left off only to get injured again. No, I don't think he is injury prone but medicals will be important to look at here. Still who doesn't want a 6'4" forward that plays physically, can skate as good as Cozens and can score at a good clip? There only issue I seem to have with Lindstrom is idk how smart he actually is with the puck. There are times if you watch some of his shifts, where he just doesn't make the play that I want and he occasionally is a little to north south without having some of the deception we could hope. Still he tries hard and sending him back to jrs for 2 more years will probably help iron out a lot of his weaknesses. Considering his strengths, skating and shooting, I think he has all the potential to be a solid #2 center or even a top line winger. Zayne Parekh, 6' 178lbs RHD - what would happen if you took a Maserati but asked it to play defense? Parekh is what would happen. 96pts in 66 OHL games or 1.45ppg from a defender in the OHL is, absurd, crazy, fun. In the offensive zone, Parekh will attack at the slightest opportunity, he ends up below the goal line a bunch, he will drive the slot, makes amazing passes, is really good about getting the puck inside and will use excellent edges and quick bursts to get it there. Dude flat out is a baller in the offensive zone... so lets talk about defense. First, it isn't like he refuses to try or won't play defense. He uses his skating and has a good active stick, although I question his turn and acceleration. The issue is that because he takes a ton of risks for lots of reward offensively, you need really good wingers and centers to rotate for him. Sometimes he just does too much and gets caught out of position. His defensive game is okay but needs refinement for sure. If you need a PP1 guy, draft him. If you need a 3rd defender to lock down your zone... maybe look elsewhere. Still, the offense is fun and reminds me a bit of how Brandt Clarke was in his draft year. Sam Dickinson, 6'3" 204lbs LHD - if Parekh is a Maserati, Dickinson is a Jeep. Rugged, can go wherever you need, has some style and flash but overall just solid. With a June bday, Dickinson is young and that should scare ppl because there is just more there IMPO, his 70pts and 1.03ppg from the defense position for a strong London Knights team shows how good he is. Great skating with agility for days and a hard to knock off the puck stride, if he was lightning fast (he's good but not great) we would be talking about him higher up and I almost put him 4th. So why didn't I? Offensively he is good, makes smart plays, has a good shot that he gets through, and overall reminds me a bit of Owen Power in the o-zone. Not flashy but solid. I would want a bit more from a defender at 4th or 5th overall. His bread and butter is his defense. He's big with good skating so goo luck going around him or through him. Physical when needed and disciplined with excellent positioning, if you want a guy who can eat 25mins a night, lead a breakout, shutdown top lines, and be a solid #2/3 defender, take him. And if his offensive game continues to add deception and skills, this ranking will look stupid in a few years. Love me some Dickinson. Tij Iginla, 6' 185lbs LW - imagine if Benson had a slightly bigger brother who was slightly less of a gunz blazing full throttle hellian, let me present Tij. Son of Jarome Iginla, this guy has rocketed up draft boards because ppl started catching on. He is remarkably consistent all year and manages 47g and 1.31ppg which is good but not remarkable, so why does he slide up boards? Quite frankly it is because of his 200ft game and excellent shot including 9g in 11 playoffs games. He skates well, his a hard worker on fore and backchecks, and he scores in bunches. Couple that with an Aug 1 bday and honestly we can't truly be sure how good Tij actually is, he is only 45 short of being 2025 eligible so how do we handle that? For me, seeing as he is the best forechecker in the WHL, I handle it by thinking that a guy that already has his shot and skating coupled with his work ethic is probably a 2nd line guy all day and has first line potential. The work and the attention to detail stand out in good ways and personally I think you can improve things like skating, passing, shooting, but the will to win is harder to "develop". I would be pretty happy if we landed him and can only hope that the flashes of smooth hands and some elite manipulation truly blossom next season. A bit of risk but I will take it. Konsta Helenius, 5'11" 181lbs C/RW - Finland has quietly produced some really solid guys the last few years. Helenius might be one of the best. He spent the entire season in Liiga, Finland's top men's league where he casually had 14g, 22a for 36pts in 51 games as a 17yr old with a May bday. You know, just normal stuff that no one does. For example Anton Lundell as an 18yr old (Oct) in Liiga put up 10g, 18a, 28pts in 44 games. That's 0.71ppg to 0.64ppg if you doe the math all while being 5 months younger than Lundell was when he started his 28pt season. So yea, lots to like here. He plays well in all 3 zones, is super smart, great skating, passing is fantastic and he is not and will not be a perimeter player. He has a fearless attitude for a kid in a men's league. I want to see more of him, but there is a chance he ends up higher when this is all said and done. I hope Buffalo sends a bunch of guys to Finland to see him because he is another guy along with Tij and Catton that just has lots of skills to display while also being a solid worker all over the ice. Anton Silayev, 6'7" 211lbs LHD - look, I get it. He is really big and he skates well but like, his offense is meh. Not saying it doesn't exist, more that it just isn't that much of a wow factor. Owen Power has way more offensive wow in comparison while having similar skating. Now that isn't to say he is a lug who can't generate offense, he has good hands and makes solid plays but go watch him, there is not a lot of manipulation or driving low or advanced offensive instincts there. He reminds me a bit of big Jokiharju where sure, he can make solid passes and he can stick handle here and there, that isn't really his game. Which brings us to the defensive side of things where he smothers you and will lay you out. He uses his size well to shield guys and start breakouts. He has enough agility that it is hard to beat him in close and obvious reach making him hard to beat wide. If I needed a solid #3 defender that I could pair with say Byram or Dahlin or maybe even Power, you know a true offensive talent, Silayev would be the dude but I just highly doubt his offensive game, more so than most judging by his consolidated ranking of #7 and he's got 8 rankings in the top 5. Well that is it for April and it until I actually sit down and figure out 1-32 or whatever I do. There is some depth to this class but not as good as last year for sure.

The problem, at least to me, is not that we traded Mitts but that we traded him for an asset that we already have 4 versions of in Dahlin, Power, Johnson, and Muel. We traded a good asset to fill a hole in arguably the least needy spot on the entire roster, puck moving LHD. Now we have this upcoming season and then we have to decide if we want to pay him and I don't think you can tie up roughly 37% of your cap in Power, Dahlin, Byram, Muel, and Clifton. That might push 40% of your cap after you add the 6th and 7th defender to it. Further more that would mean Dahlin, Power, Muel, and Byram were all on long term deal which limits flexibility and assumes NONE of those guys ever fall off at all which is gambling to lose. It just seems a strange way to use an asset in Mitts when there were needs basically everywhere else.

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.