LGR4GM

I mean... Reinhart literally scored the game winning goal in game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals.

I might try to go

Who was the last Captain to retire a Sabre?

No it isn't. If you identify your captain and decide you have 4 others that are good leaders, creating a leadership team is just fine. I never hear this with football where sometimes you have like 4 or 5 captains on each side of the ball. I think the truth is simpler. You and others wanted 1 captain and 2 alternates. You got 4 alternates so now you have to explain why that is bad. But the truth is, we don't have any evidence it is bad or good yet. It just is.

Interview with Captain Rasmus Dahlin

They lost Ullmark though which should be a concern. Also, Swayman is still not signed which is a bit surprising. I think they look solid but outside of Pastrnak and McAvoy, not overly special anywhere.

Nope. I have also never read or seen anything coming out of the Sabres or that locker room pre or post trade that Casey Mittelstadt was some kind of leader. We know he was the best golfer on the team... so that's something. But back to the OP, Mitts is certainly not an Alpha. Leadership isn't the only ingredient to getting into the playoffs. Also, the hand wringing over having home and away alternates is bizarre, why do any of you care about something so trivial.

Who even are Bostons top 6? McAvoy, Lindholm, Carlo, Zadorov, Peeke, Lohrei ... man, looking over Bostons roster, it's not great.

Lol calling Mittelstadt an alpha is peak homer vibes. Dude was perhaps the most laid back Sabres of the post Eichel era.

I really really want it to work with Lindy.

Voice of reason

You realize it's only rotational in name only right? For the purposes of the games and nothing else? There's 4 alternates, only thing that changes is the jersey patch.

I will believe it when I see it. I do not think either player will be NHLers for a long time (aka 5+ seasons).

CoughPowerCough

Win the games you play.

To nitpick slightly, this is Jack Quinn's 3rd NHL season starting just now. You can't count playing 2 as a season. I also don't think you should say "4th season" for any guys that are starting their 4th (or whatever number) when this season is yet to be played. The Sabres are very young and have less experience in games played at the NHL level than most if not all other teams. We'll just wait and see how they handle it.

Where would you put him on this team? Why should he be better than Dahlin, Power, Byram? Since you used his draft pedigree earlier as part of your reasoning, which of the 1st, 1st, 4th, 29th, 32nd overalls picks do you think he is better than and should replace? Your argument is basically that LHD Ryan Johnson should somehow be better than at least 1 of these 4 LHD, Rasmus Dahlin, Owen Power, Bowen Byram, Mattias Samuelsson, or RHD Henri Jokiharju. With the exception of Samuelsson, all the rest were drafted in 2018 or after and drafted higher. Also of note, Johnson was a 2019 draft pick, not a 2018. FTR, I wouldn't have signed in Buffalo if I were Johnson. The lineup is stacked against him and honestly he might just be a tweener. You miss on about half your first round picks give or take. Missing on Johsnon and Rosen wouldn't surprise me in the least.

It's the opposite almost of Östlund.

My buddy just sent me this: Note it's from 2023 but still, lolz

Do you like anything the Sabres do?

If your smoking gun is face wins, idk what to tell you. That is just such a terrible metric to use as some sort of "gotcha" when looking at NHL centers. It would be like looking at Zach Benson and using penalty minutes against. Also, stop using +/- for any comparison outside of a team. It is useless once you leave your own team for anything like this.

Nah, Rasmus Dahlin is well within the top 10 of NHL defenders. If he didn't play on a team that was total trash last year in terms of generating offense at 5v5 and the PP, Dahlin would be thought of as better.