LGR4GM

And you don't have to pay any of those players this summer and if you do it doesn't matter because those contracts don't kick in until next year No, I wouldn't have paid Power like he did and I would have been justified for that. I don't a scenario where they trade Mattias Samuelsson this summer. There is no real reason too. Sabres have 23mil in cap space this offseason. No reason to trade a useful NHL defender when the team is trying to get better. Don't need more picks and prospects.

You aren't listening/reading. Kevyn Adams set out his criteria and one of them was previous NHL head coach experience and NHL head coach playoff experience. The guys you listed do not meet the criteria the GM of the team set forth. The rest of this is irrelevent because again, the General Manager Keveyn Adams, set forth what he is looking for "NHL Head Coach Experience and NHL Head Coach Playoff Experience" there was a follow up question immediately after if he meant NHL Head Coaching experience and the question was barely out of the reporters mouth before Adams responded "Yes".

Why can't they keep Dahlin, Power, Muel, and Byram? Guess toss in Clifton too. Those are the only 5 defenders they have under contract for next year, so why are they trading Samuelsson?

You don't think the guy with 6 years left on his deal that was signed by Kevyn Adams and is exceedingly well liked in that room while being a useful NHL defender will be in Buffalo next year? Odd.

Cut outright: Olofsson, Jost, Robinson, Clague, Comrie Trade their rights: Krebs, Jokiharju Bring in via trade or UFA, 4 new forwards and 2 new defenders.

My issue with all of these, they are focused on Granato. "We didn't play well enough for Granato to keep his job. Donny would still be here if we were better" and that isn't the f-ing point. The Sabres missed the playoffs, again. They weren't good enough to make it to the playoffs again. Donny is collateral damage and the fact the players only could focus on that shows their lack of maturity IMPO. That coupled with the idea they all seem to have assumed Granato would just be back next year is interesting. Only other thing I will say is there was clearly a team meeting of some kind after Granato was let go in which "it is on us" "gotta practice the right way" and "next head coach needs experience" were the talking points because they all spewed the same thing. I am not saying they don't necessarily think or believe it but it was a little too uniform.

Highly unlikely. It is more likely that Adams wanted to fire Granato sometime during the season and Terry made him wait until the season ended than Terry is still deciding on Adams.

The rest of this post was well researched so thank you. I think it comes down though to these 2 sentences. None of those guys have NHL head coaching experience and yes it is necessary because Kevyn Adams said it was. Adams made the point he wanted someone with NHL Head Coaching experience who had also coach as a head coach in the playoffs. Peca doesn't qualify even remotely.

Wright was given credit for his 20 game season which got him to 4 years. Even if they gave Benson credit for 24game season that was shortened by covid, he would only have 3 accrued seasons and he will not be 20 until May of next year. Dude wont't be 19 for another month. The other thing is it doesn't matter if he could. Zach Benson is one of Buffalo's top 9 forwards and that is not changing. More likely Benson slides into the top 6 then drops out of the top 9. He isn't going to the AHL, this conversation is moot.

If there's a games played exemption, I didn't see it. The age rule is 20 on or before Dec31. The only other rule would be 4 accrued whl seasons.

Personally, I wouldn't give anyone the C. I'd tell them point blank until someone steps up, no captain.

Why? No one can even provide any rational answer. Adams literally isn't hiring Peca based on his criteria.

I want the playoffs. So far has given me nothing. Tiktok mofo. Another lazy offseason of adding Josts and Lyubushkins and not only will this press conference be forgotten, he will too.

There has been a lot of talk about Owen Power this offseason already. Was he good? Was he good enough? Was he bad? Stats are limited to defenders that played at least 500mins at 5v5 Owen Power ranked 71st in 5v5 cf% at 51.55% which is on the same level is a player like Hedman, Suter, or Samuelsson (all less than .3% higher). He was 131 out of 271 players in xGF% with 48.5%. Finally he was 46.05% for HDCF% which is 162 but better than Byram. Now I specifically am only looking at his 5v5 play here but we can see a player who does tilt the ice overall in his teams favor but when it comes to quality chances against, was not as good at all. Those numbers are more akin to a 4/5 defender than the 2/3 defender we need. In fact his HDCF is bottom pairing stuff. My take away here is that Owen Power had a mediocre 2nd season. That said all his numbers are only slightly down from what his first season was, like .5 or less we are talking. I think this indicates a few things. First, Power did not make a jump up from his rookie year but also didnt really slump, he just kinda middled around. This indicates a level of stalled growth. Second, Power is still very young at only 21yrs old so patience to a degree is warranted here. Third, the counting stats back up the fancy stats, he did almost exactly the same as the previous year, g, a, pts, pm, +/- are all almost exact mirrors of eachother. My conclusion is this, Power needs a big push from a legit coach this offseason. I didn't like his contract when it was signed and I like it less now. There is time to turn it around and it wasn't as though Power was terrible last year. Jokiharju was 200th in HDCF, 148 in xGF%, and 124 in cf% versus 162, 131, and 71 respectively. Dahlin was 104, 92, 31. So there is work to be done all around and new coach can improve these numbers especially for Power but he needs to figure out how he is going to take that next step because this season, he just tread water. Sidenote: Carolina has 5 defenders in the top 10 for CF%, 4 in the top 10 for xGF%, and 2 in the top 10 for HDCF%

Tage scored 94 pts the season after that photo was taken.

Someone explain why the love for Peca? He's done almost nothing as an AHL or NHL level coach.

2.5-3mil a year for krebs is still too much IMO

I'm sorry, but what is this number? 5-6million? Those guys drop 50pts a year. Krebs has never cracked 30. Dude is worth whatever his qualifying offer is and that's about it.

He can't go to Rochester next year I don't know of any X NHL games clause. I don't see a scenario where they send him to Rochester even if they could. Why would we send a player who will be better than he was this year to Rochester next year? It just seems unlikely and doesn't make much sense. You could play Benson under Krueger and he would still be fine. Kid just understands how to play that 200ft game and be a factor on most of his shifts. Next year being 5lbs heavier and a full season more experienced, I don't expect a slump at all. I expect 15-20g and 30a as a baseline.

Krebs doesn't drive play. His shot is mediocre at best. His passing average because his vision is average. I could put him with Quinn and Peterka/Benson and I think we would see his play improve but you would see his wingers play disprove? decline? be worse. Only thing I would add is if you put him between Benson and Savoie/Kulich the next common refrain around here will be "oh but he had a young guy in his 2nd season and rookie as a winger so that's why he wasn't good" If you believe that Krebs is good or can be, then put him between Cozens and Quinn for a game and see what he does. I disagree. By keeping him you are not upgrading him and in your scenario the opportunity to upgrade him is now gone.

But it doesn't matter, the bolded if what Adams said is truthful. He doesn't want a first time NHL head coach, he wants someone with experience and specifically head coaching experience in the playoffs.

Is Mike Sullivan's contract over this summer?