LGR4GM

Benson will end up back in Jr's, but next year he's going to force his way into this teams top 9.

Today's athletes from 2006? Cuz that's when the incident referenced occurred.

Yea but another year in jr allows him to add strength and work on his acceleration. He will be worth the wait. Also if his team stinks we might see him April for a hot minute. Savoie is hard to project right now since he is injured but I wonder if he has an outside shot of making the Sabres.

The real issue IMO is not the internal growth but how Granato has constantly talked about how defense is easier to teach. We saw at the very end of the year Buffalo suddenly could play a tight checking game. Were there issues still, sure, but the comparison that Tage Thompson is Ovechkin are a little off. Tage was bad but not because he wasn't trying. Now, I personally think that Buffalo will be okay but maybe not. The issue with these predictions is that they are based on last year, but that's over and done with. For example the same series predicts Detroit is an 85 pt team. In a lot of ways the Sabres are comparable but in reality they aren't really. The other thing I will toss out is that Buffalo has a major advantage over a team like Detroit. No one is really new and they all have bonded and know what the endgame is. I also think that any model struggles with young player improvement, for example in the Athletic piece they talk about how Cozens is bottom 30 defensively but part of that is the Sabres system and part of that is his youth. All that said, I think it is a fair look at the flaws this team may show. Can they play a tighter game defensively? Granato would need to be better at that aspect. To me the shooting stuff is of less concern, I feel as though xGF has lost the true meaning. It is comparing an average to something but it is often used to say "this person should be here at this average so they are overachieving" but some guys are always going to better than average shooters. Lots of questions for this team. They have a lot of work to do.

Vonn Miller isn't even here yet. That said, 2 concerns. They played a mediocre qb for the 2nd week in a row so that helped. Second, Dorsey is exceedingly concerning with his decision making. Ik they won, but there were times into the 3rd quarter that his play calling ended or put drives in 3rd in long.

Sabres' lines/pairs for preseason opener vs. Caps: Benson-Jost-Greenway Rousek-Krebs-Peterka Kulich-Biro-Rosen Weissbach-Kozak-Cederqvist Novikov-Davies Stillman-Bryson R. Johnson-Clague Comrie in goal. Tokarski backing up.

Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering.

Don't you come here with those facts! It might discredit the bs being slung. Buffalonill rolling in like...

You're complaining to complain. You're now talking about decisions that Adams and Granato didn't make. Krebs had to earn his spot on the 4th line. You're either trolling with this or serious and honestly, I don't have the time for either. Blocked. Seriously blocked. You're either a troll, or you believe this in which case you have the worst take on the forum this season. Levi has outplayed the other two goalies. No reason for me to read what you say again.

This is, imo, an example of complaining to complain. Levi could suck, but he won't and he doesn't.

Tage wasn't waiver exempt if I remember and Granato wanted him at center where he immediately made an impact so idk how that's "gifting" a spot. Krebs was also not waiver exempt I believe and had to learn to play a 2way game on the 4th line when he wasn't scratched. Mitts, idk when he's been gifted a spot. Can't think of it. He played really good on the top line though while Tage was out. Levi... I mean, he's literally better than the other two goalies.

I think this is why I'm in disagreement with a few of you. I see it as a how Adams operates and not an indictment of the team being "soft"

I'd also add that size does not correlate well with winning and there's almost no correlation between size and physicality.

This team isn't soft and that's not somewhat true. In fact it's blatantly false. No it didn't. I literally noted it wasn't updated for this season and needed updating

Rousek isn't part of this. Why? Because he's older and everyone would probably pick him.

I think hits are most effective when defending a rush. You take the player or the puck and if you take the player, your D partner cleans up the puck. It's why I like Novikov so much, he might give you a little stick check but if you get past that, he'll just hit you. A lot of times in hockey now they talk about breaking through the hands or arms, not hitting someone.

Simple question, let's say 1 of them will make the Sabres roster this October, which is it and why?

Do they Sabres need to be more physical? Yes. Do I care what their hit count is? No.

Hits are a poorly tracked stat with limited definition and they don't mean what you imply they mean. https://thewincolumn.ca/2021/01/30/breaking-down-the-inconsistencies-in-counting-hits-between-different-nhl-arenas/ Sabres home arena under counts hits

Hits are a poorly counted stats. Buffalo's home arena counts the least amount of hits and no I don't mean just for Buffalo. Every team at keybank has lower hit totals than when they play elsewhere. Take a look. https://thewincolumn.ca/2021/01/30/breaking-down-the-inconsistencies-in-counting-hits-between-different-nhl-arenas/

These heights and weights are not correct. I get you say "when drafted" but that's not accurate. It doesn't matter what they were when drafted but what they are and what they become. It really doesn't matter what their list h/w was drafted since a chunk of them were from covid years. Hell Neuchev's height was off by 3 inches. Here's what these guys are listed at by Buffalo right now, that's the important part. Benson 5’10” 170, Savoie 5’10” 170, Östlund 5’10 163, (don't have updated stats) Kulich 6'1” 186, and Rosen 6'0" 173. Neuchev is 5'11" 171lbs

They haven't updated today rosters for this season but here https://www.eliteprospects.com/league/nhl/teams-physical-stats/2022-2023

His TOI only went down 1minute from 2021 to 2022. His g/60 went from 1.1 to 1.6 and that increase was mainly reliant on an increase in his sh%. 1.1 p/60 seems to be his average and most likely we see regression in Olofsson' scoring. I am just highly skeptical that Olofsson can get to 30. When you need multiple miracles and things to break your way to get there, I think that suggests getting there would be an outlier and not who you are. I know you aren't arguing he is some consistent 30g scorer. I am saying I am skeptical he will do it even once while in Buffalo due to his skill and the opportunity that won't be given to him.

I'd would be stunned if he scored 30goals. Totally floored. If he maintains his career avg sh% and his granato # of shots, he comes out to 23 goals. I don't see him getting top pp time due to his limitations.

My conclusions thus far... Skinner and Tage will remain together JJP and Cozens will remain together I think Power - Joker, Dahlin - Clifton, and Muel - Johnson are at least the preliminary def pairs to see how things work for now.