PerreaultForever

Not true at all. Florida is very fast but they play a controlled game. They are most definitely NOT a grinding puck possession team. The D is mobile and attacks because the forwards drop. The forwards shoot it in and then accelerate into an aggressive forecheck. They stop the skill offense of the other team before it starts. They are relentless. You look at these skill guys like McJesus and they carry it from their end and you think how fast they are, and they are fast, but Florida turns it off and on at the right moments and plays a structured positional game. Without speed their system fails miserably. Sabres should play that system. They have the size and speed. They need the will and tenacity.

Well they aren't going to make the playoffs but for me, to improve, the 3 would be: 1) Power developing into what he's paid to be 2) Norris being healthy and playing most of the season (and contributing at his healthy NHL rate) 3) Lindy Ruff actually getting this team to play a hard to play against defensive structure. I do not expect any of these 3 things to happen.

Exactly. It's not that we "don't want Benson" in the top 6, we just don't think we should keep playing kids in top 6 roles. Benson may very well become a true top 6 player but he really is just a kid.

How is there internal competition? We already know the 6 D, and the only real question is where Doan fits in. I guess we also have Tage as wing or center but almost everything is already set. I see very little competition for spots at all.

Well solid is arguable but he is a veteran. Anyway, I'm laughing a fair bit at how Sabres fans here have turned on him so quickly. I still remember the conversations of "how are we going to pay him in a few years" from way way back. Now watch him and Cozens have career years lol.

Do you honestly think this roster will stay healthy all year? Your playoff reliance is all on 3 youngsters stepping up all at once (Benson, Kulich, Quinn). If they don't, or only one does, it's nowhere near enough. Do you not value depth and internal competition? If you don't add one more solid veteran (be it Mitts or whoever) how do you sit underperformers without depleting the line up? Isn't that an ongoing issue with this team?

Yes, he should have, but he didn't, so maybe take what's available? I mean a 2nd is nothing. Anyone want to argue Malentstyn is better than Mitts?

This may be true for sure. Players drafted in the last 3 years not in the NHL yet. The trend might not be showing up yet in the stats. Maybe many of these "tall" guys won't make it either. Have to wait and see. In any event the Sabres are certainly not too small or short on D (lor forward for that matter). Strength is the greater issue I'd say. Let's face it, what happens with Power over the next few years determines a lot of how this D goes.

I know it's the dog days of hockey because Bills fans on twitter are going crazy over preseason losses. Preseason.

It's not hard to understand. With the way the league has gone you want D men with long reach. That doesn't mean you can't build a good team with shorter guys (and shorter guys often have other skills) but that longer reach is useful and advantageous around the net. Florida proves it's about strength, not size, as I said. Speed and strength that's what you want. That's how you win.

Proving only that these stats mean nothing. Third "lightest"? Florida was obviously brought down by E-Rod being there 🙂 Owen Power's 97 kg. Sam Bennett's 91 kg. Who you got in that battle? Strength, fortitude, compete, and general nastiness do not show up in the stats. They do however, mean everything on the ice.

Well okay, I guess they are statistically taller (assuming Bryson's not playing). I guess Clifton leaving helped with that. It also obviously doesn't mean all that much.

https://jokermag.com/average-height-nhl-players/

Well then there must be some teams I don't pay attention to bringing the average down because it's definitely a trend. Now I'm only talking last few years and not since the salary cap but I don't know the exact numbers. Sabres are not some anomaly though.

Just want to say it's a league wide trend. Especially with D.

Well yes, that's definitely a possibility. It's also possible he's just old and burned out (relatively speaking) and most of the team doesn't have the sort of reverence for him that Tuch has. Whether he's too old, out of touch or just bad really doesn't matter. Bottom line is he did a bad job last year but no coach here has done a good job under Pegula have they. In my opinion the biggest problem however is not enough veterans who already know how to play the right way. Guys who basically coach themselves (and their team mates). Constant stream of young guys requires very good assistant coaches and lots of one on one time between them and we just don't have that. Head coach can't do his job properly and also babysit and mentor all these youngsters. So for me, it's a wider organizational problem that they seem to fail to recognize.

Yes absolutely. Said that in a follow up post. The coaching and the general team philosophy since Bylsma has been offense first. I was surprised Ruff didn't teach and bring in a more detailed defensive system but maybe (going out on the optimism limb) the Euro trip messed all that up. Maybe with a full camp they can bring in a properly structured defensive system. Then we see if these guys are willing to play it and can play it. This team hasn't had good defensive structure in a really really long time.

Contrary to what Granato believed D is not easy and it does take time for young guys to learn to play the right way. Our offense first focus sets them back in terms of complete development and the D breaks down frequently. It's coaching, but also team philosophy.

Ya, every year we talk about net front. We've always had some puck movers, but also always a lack of net front clearers. Even Dahlin, our best D, gets turned around and ends up doing little more than screening our own goalie. We need to be stronger in front. Kesselring helps but the other guys like Power have to be stronger too.

So the short blunt version would be - D has sucked for years in Buffalo.

It was for sure. I don't know if he was ever asked about it later (when he might have been honest) but I have to think he had some information that made him think he could get the guy out. False information obviously, but he must have been going on something at the time. Speaking of Tretiak, it's not "communist" any more obviously but rumor has it that Clarke's friendship with Tretiak is why Philly got Michkov out and no other team actually had the same shot. Not substantiated, but Clarke and Tretiak being good friends is true so it seems quite possible.

Ya, that pick hit an iceberg didn't it? I knew he'd played a couple games so I looked it up. 19 games in total with zero points. Great name though and yes, I get the joke. If he was in management here we really could rearrange some of those deck chairs. Jiří Dudáček was a failed gamble on Bowman's part that's for sure. I guess karma got us Mogilny later but we jumped the gun on getting those (at the time) communist players out. Nylander's the pick that set us back the most in the current era I'd say. Bust based on bloodlines. Imagine if we'd taken McAvoy instead? Heck, we could have drafted Tage 🙂

Noooooooooooooooooooooooo. Unprotected first definitely nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo. I'm only talking about him as a possible temporary fit if Boston is looking to ditch him. Maybe a 2nd but really a couple 3rds or less to take on the contract. The rumor of his availability seems greatly exaggerated anyway. Dog days of summer and all that. I'd give them Rosen though if they wanted that.

That is exactly all I am saying. Any decent forward for draft picks is a plus. Not better than he was, but the roster better than it currently is. Temporary hole fill while Helenius develops. You got a better player who is available for draft picks I'm all for it.