DarthEbriate

One simple JBott issue was following TM. It was two radically different team constructions from heavy/LA-wannabes to puck-moving D/Nashville-wannabe (with Housley). Everybody's gotta have their guys and the switch created a massive roster reset. Luckily, they were gifted the best PMD they could have gotten in Dahlin in JBott's 2nd season. JBott's most glaring error, though, was then pivoting during his own term from Housley to Krueger. Housley was bad, but at least go get a proven NHL retread coach who will coach up the defense but also knows how to handle the puck-moving D and bring out the best with the players you've acquired. Don't hire the motivational speaker who used to coach Switzerland to clog everything down and pray for the goalie to steal World Championship game here or there and whose only NHL season already 6 years in the past resulted in a 19-29 record (19-22-7).

Lots of fun things to do in the Green Bay and greater Fox Cities area.

Yes, he does have more to learn and improve upon; everyone on the roster does. Benson needs to learn how to create space against NHL D-men and to avoid taking as many tripping penalties. He'll learn those in the NHL more quickly than he will being in the AHL. The strength will come with time, the speed and skating can be worked on as we've seen with other prospects. I'm guessing he has the will to put in the work for it. At this point, he'll get better against competition that's going to push him. The cost aspect is in response to your claim to just go find someone to replace him. Benson led the Sabres in Corsi (on-ice shot attempt %). Relative to his teammates, only Dahlin was better. This wasn't a fluke, either, as he as 5th on the team last year (4th if you remove Brett Murray and his 2 GP). This wasn't TNT carrying Benson all season. They didn't give Benson top line minutes until March; early in the season he was on a line with Cozens and Quinn. Paying a forward to give you that sort of puck control is going be expensive. Per MoneyPuck, sorting Forwards by Corsi + 1000 minutes played to get rid of the noise and show Benson's durability. This leaves Benson 57th in the League - just ahead of TNT. Here are the players near him in range 50th-65th: Jason Robertson, Rakell, Crosby, Strome, Raymond, Anders Lee, Kyrou, Benson, TNT, Brayden Point, Kent Johnson, Byfield, Bjorkstrand, Hischier, Caulfield, Marchessault. With the exception of Bjorkstrand, who in Tampa's top 6, that's a $7M UFA acquisition or a massive trade payment to acquire. This ownership won't pay for another top line forward after handling their RFAs. He's young, but he's a NHLer.

Personally, I hope he doesn't like how the board shakes out, so he trades the SEA 1st this season for EDM 1st next season. Classic JBott.

So you want Benson to demand a trade before he's even completed his rookie ELC? He's the best defensive forward on the team, he's the only agitator, he has top-10 talent playmaking ability (rated 2nd to Bedard in his class). His shot will get stronger just like Reinhart's did, Dahlin's did, and Krebs' has. Moving him only frees up $900k and creates a $5M+ hole in the lineup on a team that is (currently) unwilling to spend close to the cap.

JBott -- how about this guy you drafted, Samuelsson? Top pair defender. Smooth skater, tough as nails, crease-clearer. His overall draft number (today) would make his a first round pick. Long term deal already in place. Let's talk.

Pegula needs someone to listen.

He was with the Rangers in their President's Trophy run last season as well. He just didn't help them in their standings free fall this season.

Thursday night, all eyes on Green Bay, GMKA is moved to another role with a title... like POHO. But we can call it the Grima.

He is excellent at creating high danger chances and he's among the best defensive players on the entire roster. The trouble is all his centering passes to the crease go right through it because there's never a Sabre there. If he were in the AHL, I'd pair him with Wahlberg and have him turn Wahlberg into a 30G guy. Sadly, the Sabres don't have a forward who is always going to be near the crease (except Benson). Tuch and Zucker would be the best bets. Without any personnel changes, Benson-Norris-Tuch as a 5-on-5 all zones line. (JJP-Kulich-TNT as a preferred o-zone line.)

And the weird thing is... they had the veteran average-but-stable goalie this year. Reimer ended with .899 with the Sabres this year, the same as MA Fleury with the Wild. MAF played in 26 games with 22 starts at age 40. With those numbers, Fleury ended the season 14-9-1. Better team defense around him, yes. But .900 is average. The Sabres had exactly what they needed behind a young starter. Then they did two things: 1) Adams waived him, sacrificing 6 starts to two young goalies behind a shaky/learning defensive team. 2) Ruff didn't play him. I won't count November because they didn't get him back until later in the month. But Reimer had two starts in December and two more in January. That's it. Two starts in February, but it had the tournament break. Spread out the starts, don't waive him, and give him 30 starts to UPL's 52 and maybe keep the young guy sharper and structured.* This season, they had the right plan and then Adams and Ruff both cast it aside to the detriment of the team. *And before anyone yells that he stinks, in his November-January starts, Reimer was solid. 5 GA in a SO loss to Detroit was the poor game, and he got road starts at Vegas and at Edmonton in which he gave up 3 on 30 shots -- which is fine. Everything else was 2 GA or fewer -- enough to win.

And the 4 Nations did have more intensity than all those other tournaments. But the Sabres who participated? Dahlin, yes; Luukkonen, who never got in a game; and Jokiharju (who was good in it, good when he returned, and somehow managed a positive plus/minus while playing on Boston's top D-pairing despite their team being crushed down the stretch. And Thompson got to... sit in a suite? Visit the team for one practice? The Leafs have finally built a playoff-capable D-corps; we'll see how it works for them this time.

This team so desperately needs to get into the playoffs so that we learn which guys can step up and which ones can't (there are always surprises both ways). Maybe Samuelsson snaps and the light bulb goes on and realizes it's fun to scrum.... maybe Benson disappears once he starts getting really run. (I don't think Benson ever fades, though.) But it's important for them to get there so that they understand the intensity and ferocity and get comfortable with it. That way, when Tampa and Florida rachet up their play for one period in December after falling behind 2-0 on a flukey goal, you raise your game too and keep them down 2-0, rather than folding and losing 5-3. And no Olympics, Worlds, or regular season game will prepare them for it. And any intense games they had in the AHL, or CHL, or overseas pales in comparison, or was years ago in their lives.

Fairburn berating the hope. Rebellions are built on hope, but your hundreds of millions spent on your hockey team should not be based on hope.

The only prudent move is to can Sheevyn. (Somehow, Sheevyn returned!) But if they do bring in a new GM, please let the GM hire their own coach and staff. None of this Ruff gets to be coach but has to have Appert and keep the rest of the assistants. Get a real GM and then let them pick their people. Get out of the way.

It’s back to Okposo and doing right by your preferred players. But your team will respect you more if you’re a little more Belicheck and willing to move people a year too early, rather than keep the band together. Because you’re about the wins. But Ruff played Reimer 3 times out of 4 down the stretch. And although he had a couple duds, he gave the team a better chance to win.

Ruff at least was an assistant on a Stanley Cup (losing) team with Florida. But Ruff had something that none of the current/future coaches for the Sabres have or will have: Hasek. They could definitely do worse. Peca could be great, but his coaching track record isn't anything that says he knows how to get it done. I'm also wary of just anyone who is hired simply because they were once a Sabre or were in Pittsburgh with prime Crosby/Malkin/Letang, or were involved with the USNTDP.

If the owner were willing to spend, you get him for 40 games, put him on LTIR, bulk up the roster with his cap space. He starts skating "with the team" in March. And just like that, he's ready to go on 4/19/2026. The problem with that is the owner and GM who has all the means he needs.

Your standard ex-Sabres on the rosters of playoff teams (won't necessarily dress). TOR: McCabe TBL: Girgensons, Jonas Johansson, Honorary: Hagel FLA: Asplund, Reinhart, Rodrigues, Kulikov OTT: Cozens, Ullmark MTL: Armia WSH: Honorary: Hunter Shephard (dev camp) CAR: Jankowski, Carrier, Hall, Robinson NJD: Lazar WPG: Miller, Comrie DAL: Lyubushkin Honorary: Blackwell (Amerk 2017-18) COL: Vesey! I knew he was kicking around somewhere! Erik Johnson MIN: Hinostroza, Foligno, MoJo Johansson, Bogosian STL: none -- not the Sabres' Justin Falk VGK: Eichel, Olofsson, McNabb LAK: none EDM: Skinner Most players: Florida (4), Carolina (4), Minnesota (4), Tampa (3), and Las Vegas (3).

I posted it in another thread. I'm not sure Peca has really done anything yet to warrant being an assistant coach, apart from being a former Sabre. He certainly didn't help the Rangers this season compared to his first year with them. What I'm really wary of is: Ruff, Peca, McKee, James Patrick. And Appert. Just assemble them all, but it's only because of the nostalgia and not because they're proven coaches at the NHL level. And we watch the team scuffle another couple seasons waiting for Power to age up, and then Dahlin finally says enough.

Wayne's nephew. And... cousin of former Buffalo Sabres (and Tampa Bay Lightning nemesis) Dalton Smith.

And hopefully Kozak gets healthy enough to play as well.

But now I think about it more, I know Toronto's been the playoffs every season since whenever -- which is funny because they've made so many first round exits. So Matthews? But more depressing for Sabres fans by name would be Nylander.

Depressing had me think McNabb, but VGK missed in the Eichel trade season and we all chortled.

Voila is a bit of an exaggeration. There was an entire lockout season in between wherein Miller became a goalie, Roy and Afinogenov became NHL-caliber, Vanek arrived and had a full season of AHL dominance, and Gaustad grew up. Tallinder went to Elitserien for a season and came back a top-pairing guy. They moved out aging players in Curtis Brown, Satan, and Zhitnik, and retirees (James Patrick). Additions included in-their-prime Grier and Lydman. That was a lockout-aided rebuild on the fly. Satan is a part of it, yes; but make no mistake the biggest fix is Miller/Biron vs. Biron/Noronen. Miller gave Ruff his second run (way too brief because of limited budget). What did Ruff learn from this? If Levi is Miller, everything's rosy!