LGR4GM

Pretty much. Everyone wants to say "WE SUBTRACTRED 27g" but how many we did subtract is far more complicated and the Sabres biggest issue is goals against. Edmonton scored 259, Florida scored 252. Buffalo scored 269 with a terrible PP. Edmonton allowed 236ga, Florida allowed 223ga. Buffalo allowed 289. While everyone is yelling about dropping from 269gf down to the 250's I am looking at this trying to figure out how we cut out 30+ goals against. Peterka was no where near bad enough defensively to be solely responsible for such a swing when you count in his goal scoring. That's not the point of this post, but the equation isn't just "we gotta replace Peterka's goals" which is what it primarily has become. Let's set JJP aside for a minute. If we eliminated 30 goals against, that only gets us to the level of Detroit, 259ga. Only 1 team last year had more than 259ga and made the playoffs, that was Montreal. The next closest team to make the playoffs is at 239ga. That means realistically Buffalo needs to cut out around 50 goals against to make the playoffs. That's 17% reduction in goals against. Outside of the season we decided to play defense and then pay UPL, another mistake, we have had 300, 290, and 289ga. The good defensive season we had 244ga. This team has had almost the exact same ***** defense (meaning team defense, forwards, defenders, and goalies) since 2021 Y'all wanna be upset about Peterka, I can be on board with that. I struggled with the trade and ultimately ended up saying it probably makes us marginally better. But at the end of the day Buffalo's biggest problem is an abysmal team defense under Ruff and Wilford, and atrocious GT. UPL alone accounts for 20ga that a league average goalie would stop. Levi gets you another 9 (he was atrocious last year). Unless goaltending and defense improve, we'd have to score 300 goals to outscore our mistakes and have a playoff look. It is why not qualifying JBD but keeping Bryson is such a damnable offense. I doubt very much taking out Peterka, Cozens (Cozens was awful at defense), Clifton, Jokiharju, and 4thliners and replacing them with Kesselring, Timmins, Doan, Norris, and different 4th liners moves the needle enough in that goals against category to get us where we want to be. Lyon alone isn't good enough and won't be given enough games if UPL flames out again. Levi, who knows when or if he'll be ready. We can handle losing the few goals in aggregate I think we probably sacrifice in the equation of Peterka Cozens Clifton Joker (47goals last year) v. Kesselring, Doan, Timmins, Norris (40goals last year). The issue is are we going to play defense and use these supposedly better defensive players to reduce the goals against by 17% to actually get us somewhere.

Mrtka, Helenius, and Östlund are the only 3 Sabres to make Wheelers top 100 prospects list. https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6469634/2025/07/14/nhl-top-prospects-ranking-2025-schaefer/

I don't think there's a parallel universe where Benson is worse at defense than Peterka. Edmonton had 259 and Florida had 252 I think. The problem is we don't have good gt and have a questionable defence system.

I think our goal total will go down. Not specifically because of Peterka but in part. We're not better, just different.

"According to Evolving-Hockey, last season, (Benson) was in the 98th percentile in defense among all NHL skaters." Benson will pace at a 60pt season

But that's not how it works. And you're only looking at 1 side of the equation. If they took away 27g but also shipped out 30ga, they are up +3. I'm not saying they did that, just that finishing 16th in goals for versus 8th matters as much as finishing 4th in GA and moving to ??? Also they dumped Cozens 11g for Norris and Kulich picking up that ice time, I've stated repeatedly I don't believe we lost 27g although year to year goal totals vary so unclear where we come out, especially if Buffalo decides to play defense this year.

The Hockey Writers

Sounds like McTavish is legit available. Buffalo should certainly inquire.

Kesselring was something like top 40 for defenseman in xga so maybe it works but you're right about the games played. Buffalo has less experience than they did which is concerning.

I think Terry wants to get to know Jarmo. Adams is still his friend. Kevyn didn't do great on the last group project but he's still gonna get his name on the next one.

Hiring Ruff after no search was the canary in the coal mine... and it died.

Totally stunned Ruff has kept Wilford around. He's failed every year he's been here.

I wonder if the jjp return had analytics involved

I'm being too hard on power

No it didn't. It simply took Krueger going away.

You know what's really hilarious? William Eklund is a playmaking lw with some grit... Buffalo needs a playmaking lw with some grit.

William. Eklund. Also he wasn't even the best defender in that class. Luke Hughes was that draft and Mason McTavish too but the true top guy in that class was and impo is Eklund. But he wasn't 6'6" and you can't teach size! And defensemen that tall are rare! (Buffalo has 4 now, Power, Mrtka, Bedkowski, Kleber) The Sabres bought the hype, didn't value the underlying traits enough, and decided he was the best player even though he's a passive player.

And as Zucker said, "hope isn't a strategy"

Trading for Dumba? I'd hope he didn't think of that. Terrible idea.

Personally still amused that all and I mean ALL of the big talking heads were like "lol Buffalo, they dumb dumbs" after that trade and almost the entirety of Sabrespace was like "oh thank ***** God, an nhl center"

Casey Mittelstadt last season: 0.7g/60, 1.1a/60 Ryan McLeod: 0.9g/60, 1.5a/60 So not only did McLeod outscore 2nd line center Casey Mittelstadt, he was more efficient with the ice time he got as well. It was not a case of simply more ice time, McLeod legit improved. Mitts hasn't topped that assist rate since leaving Buffalo and has never topped that goal rate. If Casey Mittelstadt is a 2nd line center than Ryan McLeod is a 2nd line center. On top of that, McLeod had about 62% d-zone starts compared to the opposite for Mitts with 36% and yet... McLeod was only a few xgf lower compared to Mittsy. Just interesting to look at how perceptions drive narratives.

What Improvements did Boston make that I am forgetting?

That's exactly what happened in College Football. The SEC and Big10 added teams and buy all the good players. A few of the historically good schools outside of that realm will compete but everyone else is picking up scraps. The strong got stronger. There aren't enough NCAA College Hockey programs for this to work that way. Canadian Jrs and AHL will still be strong places to play. We have to remember a lot of the Canadian Jr kids won't be NCAA eligible until they are 18, 19, or 20 depending on the their schooling. It also means there are more spots in these other leagues for late bloomers to get ice. As others have said, my big concern would be USHL and NTDP.

Luke Osburn is probably our best LHD prospect and might be our best D prospect outside of Mrtka. I think he makes team USA.

https://thehockeywriters.com/philadelphia-flyers-should-set-sights-on-viggo-bjorck-not-gavin-mckenna-for-2026-nhl-draft/ Viggo Björck the center out of Sweden. He's good but he's short at only 5'9" so his true combine number will be important come June.