DarthEbriate

But it's not, really, is it? It's Lindy's final season as a coach. He could step into the front office, I suppose, as an advisor? But he's not coaching anywhere else in the NHL and Appert is already slotted to take over. Adams could get fired if they're a trainwreck, but... he listens to the owner. Jarmo is there, but is he really a threat if he doesn't go full ingratiation mode? Would he want to do that? The Bills are still good and building a stadium and therefore command the attention. It's status quo and trades are hard and why goaltend until Levi is ready for Adams.

Well, +1 is the very least you can be over even. They weren't outscoring the opposition. Just like this past season where they had a top offense 5-on-5 but still finished the year with a negative differential. Terrible defense outdoes good offense. In the case of 2023-24, though, it looks like the underlying concern is loser points. The two teams that made the playoffs as wild cards were the Islanders and Capitals. Experienced defense-first grinding teams that scored less, but got to overtime. That season, the Sabres picked up 6 loser points (and missed the playoffs by 8). Detroit (+4 goal differential) also didn't make it and had 9 loser points, losing the tiebreaker with WSH. Isles -17 goals, but nabbed 16 loser points and the Caps at a gaudy -37 goal differential !!! snuck into the final WC spot tied with Detroit but won the breaker -- had 11 loser points. They had two losses that got them past Detroit. The Sabres had the same number of regulation wins as the Isles and finished 10 points back in the standings. Because of the scoring system, if you keep the game 1-1 it's more advantageous over the length of the season than trying to run-and-gun to 5 goals. If you lose, lose big -- and in all other games, grind it out.

Goals allowed, with rank in league and goal differential shown 2024-25 287 (29th) -22 2023-24 243 (11th) +1 2022-23 297 (26th) -4 2021-22 287 (25th) -58 2020-21 196 (T-29th) -62 2019-20 215 (T-20th) with EDM -22 (EDM was +8)

That's why it is so important to sign Bryson. The swap of JBD for Timmins needed to be counterbalanced.

The most important thing about the Levi contract is he is RFA (arbitration eligible) at the end of the term. If he's on the best potential path, threr's still a chance to lock him up long-term (if he wants to be here, obviously). If Adams is still GM in 2027 (which frankly, even I find hard to believe and I love suspending my disbelief), it's a chance to trade Levi for another AHL-level goalie with 1 year of term before going RFA.

Cheapskate failchildren sportsball owners who are looking to sell the team blow up 40% of (an admittedly somewhat poorly-constructed, and definitely underperforming) roster in order to save even more money.

So... we're doing the 3-headed goalie monster again? Waiving Lyon and losing quite possibly our best goalie before game 5 of the season?

Tuch and Levi, primary offspring of the Eichwalker-Samidala Trade Tree family, leaders of the Rebellion and the destruction winning of two Death Stars Cups. The storybook ending is still possible as we get to the Original Trilogy years.

For starters, and I'll say it even when he's winning Vezinas for the Sabres... it's right there in his surname. But the reason he's been poorly regarded as a product is that his performance was awful and he had some injuries along the way. If you look at Leinonen's years in the lower Liiga circuits, he's never dominating. There are a few blips of .900+, but it's rare. Ullmark (in SHL, but a 6th round pick) by comparison got into the .900s early in his J18-J20 life and stayed there, whether playing for Modo in the SHL or at the lower levels. Leinonen finally had a good (not great) season last year, but it was in Allsvenskan - 2nd tier level. His Liiga career thus far is an awful 1-10-4 with .844 sv% and 3.90 GAA. Leinonen could still become great, but he has a long way to go. For direct comparison, Niklas Kokko - the 2nd goalie taken in the 2022 draft (17 picks later by SEA) has +.900 % in almost every league he's been in (Mestis, Liiga - in 34 games, and .913 in 33 AHL games last season). His performance is that of a top goalie chosen in a draft.

Another spin on... what's the worst that could happen? Remember, no LTIR will be used because that would mean you could bring in another player (and his salary), which isn't happening. Note: This "worst that could happen" is feasible, I think, by... December 1st. Benson - McLeod - Tuch Zucker - Kulich - Thompson Krebs - Östlund - Doan Malenstyn - Danforth - Rosén IR: Norris (UBI), Greenway (UBI), Quinn (LBI) Lost to waivers: Kozak Dahlin - Kesselring Byram - Timmins Bryson - Johnson IR: Samuelsson (UBI), Power (LBI) Lost to waivers: Jones Levi UPL Lost to waivers: Lyon

I do wonder how much money Key Bank provides for the stadium name, the home and now the road decal per season. Is it enough to pay for Greenway? Only Benson? Skinner's continuing payout? Does a road decal cover a goaltender?

At this point, Benson is going to get better by being challenged by NHL-caliber defenders. He doesn’t need to work on defense at the AHL level. He doesn’t need to create chances for AHL-level finishers. Should he be LW1? Nope. But that’s the franchise’s fault, not his. Let Benson cook. Every team in the playoffs last season would’ve taken Benson on their playoff roster in a heartbeat. Minnesota would’ve put him on their 4th line because he’s short and they don’t like short kids getting schooled by Eichel and Hertl. But they should’ve offered the farm for Cozens and watched a taller kid get schooled by Eichel and Hertl.

Pegula will insist on a publicly-funded multisport/concert venue with state of the art luxury boxes to “stay competitive” as though he didn’t shave $50M in Sabres player expenses since COVID hit. Woe is us, we need a new vEEEnue!

I did read (here on ‘Space) that it has been reported that Dahlin and Muel also vouched for Wilford. He may be a good communicator and they’re comfortable with him. That’s fine. I want my players to enjoy coming to work. But I want my players to be challenged, reach their potential, and show progress. And have good Xs and Os in game. And that’s where I don’t care what contract Wilford has, I need a better person in charge of a 1OA, 1OA, and 4OA. That coach needs to be getting the most out of my most important investments. Especially if I’m trading away 2OA forwards and never putting any money in a proven goalie.

Regardless of the player he becomes, there’s a good bet that he’s Tuch’s inexpensive replacement in the top 6 next season.

I'd say more of a peak Dixon Ward. Modern: Zucker His focus determines his reality.

Re: Greenway In terms of starting lineup, he's a 4W. But, if the team does surprise (frequently leading in the 3rd period), then I see him floating up into top-9 minutes to protect the lead at the expense of Quinn. At this point, though, he's another double-salary for the production you expect from him on the scoresheet (like Girgs and Okposo before him) even if he fills a role that the team needs: some leadership/experience, muscle, and PK skill.

His owner set him up for failure from day 1 with EEE and the whole position being gifted to Adams because he was willing to gut the front office and Amerks staff. But 5 years in, he is absolutely the author of all of ours demise. Before his first season even started, he went 1-year only on good young players you could count on to play top minutes/starts: Montour, Reinhart, Ullmark -- walking them to UFA (or in Reinhart's case, to a final RFA season where Adams was already in full rebuild mode). He got super-lucky with Tage Thompson's cheap contract, coming off of injuries and basically being an AHLer at that point. ---> and wasted it by not protecting him with the likes of Eichel/Reinhart on the team. Then, still in 2020 offseason, Adams went and overpaid on ... Hall (1-yr $8M with nearly full NTCs??) and Girgensons $2.2M/year?, and in later years $3M for Okposo's final season and $4M for Greenway. All good players who perform solid roles on their team; all overpaid for a team that was in yet another rebuild. Adams set that bar himself: he'll pay over top dollar to roles that other teams are paying much less for, and... at least since after the initial 2020 wave of 1-year offers, he'll overreact and extend any young player who wants to be here to a massive deal (Power, Samuelsson, Cozens) rather than risk a bridge. If he (and Pegula) had instead built a competitive hockey team first and foremost (build around Eichel/Reinhart/Dahlin) and not go cheap, they wouldn't have to overpay because players would want to come here to win, as opposed to come here to try to undo what Adams/Pegula have done -- and be over-compensated for it.

But Ruff (and Granato -- by necessity) loves some kid lines. I do not want to see Benson-Kulich-Quinn in the top 6, but it wouldn't shock me if it happens. I would put Timmins on the 3rd D-pair, because I don't see him getting more ice time than Kesselring. Pre-preseason, I'd go: Benson - Norris - Thompson Quinn - McLeod - Tuch Zucker - Kulich - Doan Greenway - Krebs - Danforth (Malenstyn) Byram - Dahlin Power - Kesselring Samuelsson - Timmins (Jones Bryson: he wants to be here) Luukkonen Lyon

And in between (the goalie parade), they had a season of 60 and 56 points, respectively. They improved. But my point is that they are top-30 centers in the league -- either would immediately be the Sabres #1C. Add in the solid D-corps with established veterans (Hamilton 29, Severson 28, Graves 27, Siegenthaler 25, Marino 25, Brendan Smith 33. Bahl age 22 was #7 and kids Okhotyuk and Luke Hughes combined for 12 games). The Sabres "long-term" D-corps is still 2+ years from those ages and more importantly, games played. (Note: Siegenthaler and Kesselring were at similar GP levels heading into 22-23 for Siegenthaler and Kesselring this season.)

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.