GASabresIUFAN

I hate the guy, but he'd be a solid acquisition. He would make the Sabres harder to play against and he'd make the top 6 better. IMHO I would move Cozens to the wing and drop Benson to the 3rd line. The biggest issue is having his $7 mil on the books for the next 4 years and he is already 33. The suggested trade seems a little much for a 33 year old player who would be 37 when his contract is up. Still I like the general principle.

Despite what felt like a slow start by the Sabres goaltending last season, UPL ended up having a great season. All his metrics improved dramatically. His GAA improved from 3.61 in 2022/23 to 2.57 in 23/24. His save % improve from a terrible .891 to .910. EV save % improved from .899 to .915 and his save % when on the PK increase dramatically from .829 to .892. However the stat the really got my attention was the vast improvement in quality starts (QS). In 51 starts UPL had 34 QS for a QS% of 67%. That is an elite number. In 2022/23 UPL had a QS% of 41%. To put in perspective Vezina winner Hellebuyck also had QS% of 67%, Swayman at 63%, Oettinger only 55%. The Sabres had 13 additional QS from Levi (10 - QS% 48%) and Comrie (3 - QS% 30%). For the season the Sabres had a QS% for 57%. I think an important key to making the playoffs next season is getting that 57% closer to 65% for the year. That would have given the Sabres another 5 wins last season and it would of placed us squarely in the playoff race. The key then is Levi. Reimer's QS% the last couple of years in about 45%. We need Levi to take the next step in his development and like UPL, go from a QS% in the 40s to a % in the 60s. FYI: Sports-reference.com defines QS as: https://www.sports-reference.com/blog/2014/12/games-started-quality-starts-on-hockey-reference-com/

I'm sure this is a typo, but "petty' works as well.

He has Rossi 41 and JJP 57. Same tier but when you read the blurb you come away asking yourself is he just phoning it in. He says Rossi is a 2nd line winger or 3rd line center while Peterka is a legit top 6 winger. Rossi finally made the NHL last season and put up 40 points, while JJP hit 50 points with 28 goals in year two despite being taken lower in the same draft class. Not that it matters in the scheme of things but he needs a better editor. The Levi thing is a joke. He didn’t have Levi on his 2020 draft board at all. Then in his 2022 re-draft of the 2020 draft, he listed Levi at 28 and said he was a future starting NHL goalie. Now in 2024 he has him “playing some games” and a future backup. By the way Corey, Levi has already played 30 NHL games. What changed? All the guy has done is play at an elite level at every level. His college and AHL numbers are similar to Hellebuyck and better than Oettinger and Demko. His first year AHL numbers are very similar to Saros. His first year NHL numbers were solid behind a poor defense. Moneypuck even has his save above expected better than UPL. He will likely outplay UPL this season giving us another Edwards/Sauve duel for a few years until UPL is traded.

https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/41097431/former-nhl-no-6-draft-pick-filip-zadina-signs-swiss-club Zadina signs with a Swiss team. Apparently that’s better than trying to make the Sabres (or any NHL) team in camp.

DC must become a good 2nd line center. If not, this team will fail. The bottom 6 has no offense to give and the top line doesn't not have enough offense to carry the team by itself. The same is also true for TNT. If he fails again, even a good Cozens won't be enough to salvage the season. We must have our top 2 centers stay healthy and play well. I am actually more worried about Cozens than I am TNT. Tage seemed to get his game back in the last 3rd of the season. Cozens remained lost the entire year. The rest don't matter. UPL is likely to be outperformed by Levi anyway. Quinn is somewhat defendant on how Cozens performs. Samuelsson only plays 50% of the games anyway and we still stink defensively with him or without him. Power is what he is. He is seriously overpaid for his production, but his baseline is ok and I honestly expect little more. If he improves great, but it won't break the team if he doesn't.

It was kind of shocking that he fell so far from his consensus ranking in the 70s.

The crime definition depends on the jurisdiction the event happened in. I don’t know how NJ law defines specifically defines vehicular homicide while adding in the drunk driving. The stories I read say the driver is being charged with two counts of vehicular homicide and that the punishment up to 20 years with higher terms for people under the influence. The reason states have vehicular homicide laws because these accidents, where an operator drives recklessly and/or under the influence, don’t fit easily into typical murder or manslaughter statutes. Murder statutes typically require intent by the perp to kill or significantly harm a victim. Unless the driver intended to run over the brothers, there is a lack of intent.

…and that’s how Ruff should deploy him as Dahlin’s partner. Let’s create a dynamic 1st pair. Give Byram his own pair to anchor and see if he can handle it without the pressure of having to play 25 minutes a night.

Agree!

I was responding to your post and to Pronman’s disrespect for Levi —“As to Pronman”

Just awful.

The last two years this defense has been 4th worst (22/23 881) and the 6th worst (23/24 791) in HDCA and in the bottom half of the league in scoring chances in general. Until these stats improve, this team will remain defensively challenged. Joki, Dahlin, Power, and Samuelsson have been the core of the D group both seasons. Clifton was added last season and was terrible defensively for the first half of the season and just average the 2nd half. Byram was also terrible defensively after he arrived. It's going to take some major coaching improvement to get this team to even average defensively. Considering Marty Wilford returns as the D coach, I'm not hopeful for significant improvement.

What I'm saying is that an 18 year old putting up .7 pts a game in Liiga is more impressive than a 20 year old putting up .6 in the SHL even if the SHL is a better league (which I agree with). As to Pronman, he hates small players and really hates small goalies (Levi) and small forwards who aren't lightning fast (Benson). Some articles I read about Levi this summer talk about how some of his advanced stats in the NHL were actually better than UPL's. They also talked about his unprecedented numbers at every level he's played at pre-NHL. Here is the closest comparison I could find to Levi in college and the AHL. Both guys numbers are significantly better than Oettinger or Woll. 1) Hellebuyck College - 53 games GAA 1.58 save %.946 AHL - 88 games GAA 2.55 save % .921 2) Levi College - 66 games GAA 1.89 save%.942 AHL - 26 games GAA 2.42 save% .927

Humor dude. He can’t sign top FAs, can’t complete a major trade, and now he can’t sign someone to a PTO. Odds are that KA had conversations with the Agent which is where the rumor probably came from.

What are you talking about? The speculation was from a credible source aka Mike Harrington and no one said this was fact. That’s what a question mark means in the thread title, or didn’t they teach you what a question mark means?

What does it say about KA that he can't even get a guy to sign a PTO.

Maybe the silver lining here is that the attempted PTO shows that KA is not completely happy with his forward group. Now if he would just go get a real top 6 forward instead of a former top 6 draft pick.

Easy come easy go!

https://www.espn.com/nhl/insider/story/_/id/40520257/nhl-grades-2024-free-agency-draft-trades-report-cards-offseason#buf "Buffalo Sabres Key players added: F Sam Lafferty, F Beck Malenstyn, F Jason Zucker, G James Reimer Key players lost: F Zemgus Girgensons, F Victor Olofsson, F Jeff Skinner Remaining cap space: $14.55 million Coach status: Lindy Ruff is back behind the bench in Buffalo to replace the fired Don Granato. It's Ruff's second go-around with the Sabres after he coached there from 1997-2013, taking Buffalo to the playoffs nine times in that 14-year stretch. Given the Sabres remain in the longest postseason drought in pro sports since he left, it might not be a coincidence GM Kevyn Adams brought him back into the fold. Buffalo is desperate to be a playoff contender again, and Ruff could have the secret recipe to get them back in the mix. Overall grade: C. Buffalo hasn't done anything to make its top-six better. In fact, the Sabres arguably got worse by buying out Skinner. Even if Skinner had a down year production-wise and questionable defensive habits, he was a superior option to the the other additions Adams has made to help bolster the Sabres up front. Zucker and Lafferty are fine depth signings, no doubt. Malenstyn should contribute in the bottom six. But Adams offered up a second-round pick to Washington for him, after Malenstyn's (career-high) 21-point 2023-24? It's difficult to gauge if Buffalo is truly improved now, or just counting on its well-paid core to be more of what they showed in 2022-23 than in 2023-24. Ruff obviously had a say in how the Sabres have conducted themselves too. Perhaps the Sabres aren't done tinkering this summer." This was written before UPL was re-signed.

Who knows, I'm just glad I beat @Brawndo posting it.

Zadina, 24, was drafted 6th overall in 2018 by Det. Had 13g 10a in 72 games with a -44 for SJ last season. KA does love to shop in the clearance bin at Walmart.

You forgot McLeod’s career high 12 goals last season. I’ve mentioned the gap between the top 2 lines and the bottom 2 lines on numerous occasions. It’s one of the primary reasons I have been harping on getting another top 6 so we can force down some of the current top 6 fire power to strengthen the 3rd line. It’s also one of the reasons I’ve been so critical of KA’s plan. How much more depth offense would the Sabres have with Skinner and Mitts vs McLeod and Zucker. There is still time and money to salvage the problem. I don’t know if the answer is Zegras, Farabee or (insert name here), but finding some additional offense somewhere would help.

The best thing about the Krebs situation is that it highlights that no young vet or prospect is guaranteed a roster spot anymore. Krebs, Levi, Johnson, Kulich and Rosen will have to fight a more experienced vet for a job with the Sabres this fall. Call it prospect blocking if you will, but this is a long overdue development. Jobs must be earned going forward. As outlined above Krebs is competing with everyone in the bottom six for a job. His best “hope” for this coming season is that someone gets hurt and he runs with the opportunity. If he doesn’t, Kulich or Rosen could surpass him on the depth chart. I actually expect Kulich to take off this season and force his way onto the Sabres by mid-season. Levi is in competition with UPL and Reimer. Camp should be interesting. By re-sign Joki, Bryson and signing Gilbert, the Sabres put a pile a players between Johnson and the NHL. Personally, I think Johnson has the potential to be better than any of them, but he of going to have an uphill battle to prove it.

and then there is Curtis Lazar. Drafted 17th overall in 2013 by Ott after a stellar WHL career (sound familiar). Had 20 pts at 19 in the NHL and then worked his way to the minors and has been bouncing around the NHL ever since with stops Calg, Buffalo, Boston, Van and NJ. Tyson Jost. Drafted 10th overall by Colorado in 2016. He peaked with 26 pts at 20 with the Avs and since then has worked his way to 13th work for Minn, Buffalo and now with the Canes. Lias Andersson. Drafted 7th by the Rags in 2017. He has never been able to keep an NHL job and spent the last two years in the AHL. Krebs is very close to turning into Lazar or Jost.