DarthEbriate

Lots of 3rd pairing d-zone defensemen don’t have great stats. But the telling one is that jump from 1:1 turnover ratio to 1:3. Those extra 40 turnovers destroyed whatever chance at fancy possession stats he had.

Except Hughes and Hischier are both high-pick 1C capable players. The Sabres don’t have that player in their lineup or in their prospect pool. (And when they broke out for a season with Ruff, the Devils blue line was a solid veteran crew with a completely healthy season from Dougie Hamilton.)

I don’t know if the steal was attempted. Simply got picked off of first.

Adams: Just like the RFAs this season, gotta save that money for next year and Skinner’s increased one-year cap hit. Jarmo: That’s not how the Cap works.

But now we need to post the goals allowed at 5-on-5 the last three seasons combined.

Do I think the Sabres make the playoffs this coming season? No. Do I think Adams has made the team better overall in his tenure? Also no. But it is too soon to write off the 25-26 season. Some core players could take a solid step forward in their development. But I consider the division and some points that will be available throughout the season. Florida will coast to the playoffs. The Leafs may be a one-line team now, which can always fall apart if folks get injured but not too injured to LTIR for reinforcements. Boston will likely decide to tank by December. Detroit could as well. The Habs are prime candidates to regress a bit in the standings (and still improve overall). The Sabres could (very, very very unlikely) find themselves competitive for an 8 seed through no fault merit of their own.

If Luukkonen can't recover his second-half of 2023-24 self, then yes. Lyon will give you solid backup numbers, but that's better than Luukkonen has been with the exception of that one half-season (December/January excellence, and otherwise fairly consistent). A point on that consistency in 23-24, Luukkonen had a quality start rate of 67%. He was consistently solid, a few duds, and two excellent months where the team should have won more games. Thus far it appears to be the anomaly, however. But if he can be that goalie again for 50 starts.... Hope is the best strategy in the history of ever.

McLeod and Zucker had great seasons to reach 106 combined points, but if Mitts had remained a Sabre at his scoring pace (.758 ppg would've gotten him to 60 points), he'd have made up the 7-point difference of Skinner's shortfall. Offensively, those two pairs were a push. (But McLeod and Zucker offer much more to the team overall. Though it could've been nice to have another non-rookie center in the lineup last year from the get-go.) Norris has outscored Cozens in points per game. That's good. But while Mitts/McLeod stay healthy and ppg could be reliable, with Norris it's not a useful measure. Because of his health, Norris has never outscored Cozens. His average season is well below Cozens' offensive output and his best season is 13 points shy of Cozens' high; even if you combine Norris' 8-game season with his best season it's shy of Cozens' 68-point campaign. It's why Ottawa wanted Cozens for the playoff push: he plays night-in and -out, despite his well-documented flaws. Kulich has not matched Olofsson… yet. Kulich has the potential to outdo anything Olofsson ever did (VO's shot, center, all-around game, 1st round talent) -- but last season he did not replace the offense. When Olofsson skates 14:00+/game as Kulich did last season, he's been a 40-point player. Kulich should get to .5 ppg this year, especially if he's going to skate with TNT or Tuch at 5-on-5, but last season he was .39 ppg and only 29 points.

They have to really, really hunker down defensively (the roster should be better at it than in years previously. Instead of Granato teaching them to play defense, it's a bunch of new guys.) However, none of these moves are goalies, which probably makes the greatest impact by an individual in terms of being hard to play against. What I do see in that list is that in nearly every instance it's a downgrade in points scored, the exceptions being Danforth, Byram (EJ never got 1st pair/Dahlin time), and Kesselring.

We just have to wait 2 more seasons until that core is 24-29. Then we'll reap all the reaped benefits of... this....

What is the likelihood that Montreal gets back in this season without a substantial improvement in goal differential— like a +25 in goal differential? Of note: GM Holland went to Edmonton and built the oldest team in the league (including Perry) around McDavid and Draisaitl. Their only flaw is they ran into a better and more balanced team in back-to-back years. I’d say hire Holland, but the Sabres do not have two MVP centers, nor could they afford to pay Holland and the final year of those coaching contracts. Someday, there’s a good chance all of the Sabres current top 6 d-men play games in their age 30 season. There’s a good chance that none of them play that age 30 season for the Sabres.

Looking into the future, Pegulas the Wise never saw it coming. It's ironic... he could save money while he and Sheevyn were re-re-re-building their own Death Star..., only for it to be destroyed by their own savings as Tuch Icewalker skated out the door, then R2-D2 and Tagebacca demanded trades that only returned additional futures for a re-re-re-rebuild.

I’m all about the sanctity of the game for anything off the field/surface/venue. For example, steroids. But if it can be measured/seen and penalized on the field of play — that’s cool. If you want to cork your bat, have an illegal lacrosse stick, or say “the ref won’t call illegal contact” on every passing play… then go for it. The key is: if you get caught, don’t complain about it. Take your penalty, or suspension, and come back next time. (With even more cork!)

This a good way to look at it. I always tend to look at the 5on5 and stating lines as the 1-4 designation. I do think Kulich will get much more PP time this season. Last year, MacLeod got tons of PK time and some PP.

The viewership numbers show that this small market could easily support a top-flight team with a big payroll, well-compensated staff and hockey ops, and average to a touch above ticket prices. Instead, this market would rather watch tv. That’s solely on the owner and his pathetic choices and EEE.

Once Norris was hurt, Kulich was the 1C for the remainder of the season.

If we play him in the top 4... he's a top 4 d-man. And going by Adams' words, then his value in a trade is 1:1 for a top 6 forward. Get it done!

I hope we all know that. But, they liked his all-around game. He certainly has potential to be a 2C in the right conditions/lineup, but I think we've all generally thought of him as the 3C type who can be dangerous because of his plus shot.

I would love to see what the GM of a competing franchise offers for Bryson in a trade.

Of all the acquisitions to mention, Zac Jones seems the most important. It's just a matter on whether he can be as happy as Bryson to just be in the press box. Because if not, he's headed to waivers and Rochester. I want to see that competition in training camp: who is better conversation for Adams in the press box?

Krebs is easily replaceable. From production to health, Chinakov looks extremely replaceable, too. Moreso because he's a winger only.

The Sabres have one of the least impressive center spines in the league (even if TNT plays center) and Norris is lucky to play over 55 games. Why are we wanting to trade a center who has gotten better in the dot every season (and is now not a complete liability at 49 FO%) and hits (136) and will actually defend his teammates, and put up 10 goals in 4th line minutes... ... for yet another oft-injured, non-hitting, quality-shooting winger whose best season is 16 goals and he hasn't had half as many in any other year despite getting 3rd line minutes? Goalofsson is a more dangerous and consistent scorer than Chinakov at this point.

It's why the only way out of this mess is for Pegula to publicly state that EEE is finished and the mission is back to winning Cups. (And then blowing Adams out of the ######## airlock!) (wrong franchise)

Not only. Kulich is the wildcard -- unproven center, let alone top 6 at this point. But overall, yes, I think they are a real first-line player away from a playoff-caliber forward** lineup. Preferably a center. But someone to push Benson/Kulich to line two and cascade it down from there. That could compete with the aging Tampas, rising Habs, flat Wings, and whatever Ottawa is (Ullmark-led?) of the division. Their depth is NHL depth at this point -- albeit not playoff-tested. **All forward lineup discussions are moot if they don't play sound defense and get average-to-above average goaltending.

Looking more at Chinakov's good season in 2023-24... it does appear to be boosted by playing with Voronkov and Marchenko. His GF% with Marchenko was 63.64 and with Voronkov 64.29. However, their expected GF% were 49 and 47, respectively. Potentially, his good season was a very big statistical outlier -- and given those two are moving up the lineup and Chinakov hasn't based on ice time (at least under Evason), they made their choice on which two players drive the offense.