Pimlach

Make the playoffs? First ingredient is goaltending. They need UPL to be real and they need reliable play from the backup (Levi/Reimer). Next, the Core has to be the Core. Tage, Tuch, Dahlin and Cozens must perform and lead. Next, they need continued growth from Quinn, JJP, Benson and especially Power and Byram Next, they need the upgraded bottom 6 to actually do what Lindy envisions (shut down line, better at faceoffs, tougher to play against). I think they will challenge for a wild card once again. I sure hope they get a good start and are in position by Thanksgiving.

Farabee is 3 years older, and already has played 334 NHL games with two 20 goal seasons. His NHL production outpaces Rosen in the AHL. I would not give up a lot for him, but it’s not at all certain that Rosen will match Farabee.

All true , so the goaltending has to be as good as it was from January of the past season.

Lived in Baltimore for a year. Spent lots of time at PAX River too. The humidity was terrible in Maryland. Florida summers, ugh. Buffalo area summers are awesome.

Obviously the team must get more production from Tage, Tuch, Quinn (stay healthy), and Cozens. Benson and JJP hopefully take another step. If this happens Dahlin will rack up more apples. Lets not forget improvements from Power, Byram, and Muel. Agree that McLeod is not Mitts, but he mostly has to add defense and faceoffs, if can score 14 to 18 goals that is extra gravy. Zucker may not score 30+ like Skinner can, but if he gets close to 20, and is a better all around player than Skinner, then that its a plus. A big key is that they must get more great play out of UPL and hope that the backup (Levi and/or Reimer) is also steady and reliable. We will be harder to play against with the 4rd lines combination of speed and grit, plus guys like Gilbert and Clifton and Greenway. We finally have some players that will keep the other teams honest. Then add the Lindy factor. He has to fix the PP, and the PK should be good. It is possible that things come together and we make a WC slot. There is still time to add a top 6 forward as well. I am looking forward and fairly optimistic despite all of the "ifs".

I will wait and see how they play together before deciding if they are good or not but I like the new look 4th line. I like the McLeod and Zucker signings too. Overall I like where this is going, especially with a coach who has proven he can coach at this level. Now for the hard stuff. Get UPL on contract. Add an impact top 6 forward, add a physical and steady top 4 defender, and we will have something.

Agree. Lots of busy bodies posting alerts every time they see a stray cat or hear a fire truck.

Huh? I grew up in Buffalo and i spend most of the summer there these days. Why? Because while the heat and humidity in a Buffalo summer exists, it is nothing compared to the Southern States and the Midwest. Not even close. Many (but not all) hot humid days end with cooler and pleasant evenings, especially if you live near the Lake or the River.

Yes. They start late, end early, but they are the best. Especially compared to the South and Midwests high heat and humidity.

Did Adams really use Granato develop the talent? Krueger hired Granato, Boterill hired Krueger. When Krueger was fired Granato was there and given the job, no real coach search. Did Granato really do an any better job developing young talent than several other top candidates would do? He played kids and had trouble getting his team to play a consistent and balanced two way game.

It’s excellent. They have a national award winning pizza, a Detroit style, which is sold in squares. They sell out almost every day because they make one batch of dough for it every morning and when it’s gone it’s gone until the next day.

The Utah Saints ?

The NFL drafts from college and they can own the rights to the player until that player reaches UFA status as a pro. The NHL can draft an 18 year old player and if that player goes to the NCAA they can lose the rights to him after so many years (3 or 4 or something like that). My point is that teams can lose the rights to a player because he stayed in the NCAA, which I view as unfair to the team that drafted him at 18.

The opposite of the NFL, which means the wrong way to do it.

More Lindy influence? Seems like they would (and should) know this already.

Peach fuzz

Of course. We added McLeod, I was referencing my thoughts before that that move was made because I did not want to see them hand 3C to Krebs. If he can win the job someday that is fine. Right now I think we are ok with Tage, Cozens, McLeod, Lafferty, and Krebs. Adding a top 6 winger would also be good. Both Zegras and Farabee are talented players, and both are in their teams respective dog houses. Not sure about either of them to be honest.

I could be accused of saying that Cozens in not a 2C because I wanted the Sabres to make a splash and get a 2C that can move Cozens to 3C. Why? 1. Because of the way Lindy mixes and matches lines, the 2nd and 3rd lines could end up being more balanced, and 2. I do not want to hand 3C or even 4C to Krebs. He still might improve, but he did not earn 3C yet. Back to Cozens, everything about last year was bad from the very start and he was one of the guys that took it hard and his play was impacted by it. He has another year under his belt and I expect that he gets back on track.

The grittiest Sabres forwards were Benson, Cozens, and Greenway. Now you can add Aube-Kubel, Lafferty, and Malenstyn. I want to see the last 3 be gritty as a Sabre. No players are going to go out swinging without top cover from teammates. On defense Clifton and Dahlin and Gilbert have toughness and grit. If these guys stick together they will finally have enough grit to more than hold their own.

Glad I do not pay for that news service. 2022 = F They did nothing but the "no blocker" policy. They were lucky that several players had career years and there were very few injuries. 2023 = F They did very little, only Clifton ended up helping them. The Mitts- Byram trade was too little to late for 2023. This was the year they should have made real moves in the off season but they rolled it back and ignored the Quinn injury. Injuries happened all season long too and the lack of depth was obvious. 2024 = B- Above average for the Sabres, but how hard is it to find 4th liners? This grade could go down or up, depending on how much the new guys do, but there are no big impact players added so far. This is a "sum of the parts" concoction to fix the bottom 6 - we shall see.

He looked tentative in his 4 minutes of game time. Gave away the puck at least one time that looked bad. I thought it must be jitters.

Unfortunately, lots of things were better. Less is more at times.

Who much does he want? Anyone know? He made $775K last year. Give him a decent raise

Lindy as GM? That would shock me. Lots of business stuff to deal with, contracts, etc. If they promote from within then Karmanos is indeed the most logical one. Lindy in advisory role is possible, depends on the next two years and how they progress from his efforts. Never know. He could be like Dudley and stay in the game for a while as a consultant/ advisor.