Pimlach

Very narrow assessment. EJ was past his prime and his game tailed off in the end, but the Sabres players themselves have said they learned a lot from him. Same things were said about Anderson regarding leadership. You also take cheap shots at Okposo and Mitts because the Sabres are on a small win streak since the trades. Ryan Johnson isn’t playing either. Is he also a problem? Adam’s has rightfully turned the leadership over to the Core players that are coming into their prime. The players are responding and stepping up. Adams does not have to shop for leaders anymore, but that doesn’t mean he won’t bring in vets or any other player that is a strong leader.

Yup, I agree there were posters who lost patience with all the players you mention, and more. I’m still not a fan of of Bryson, and I’m only Luke warm on Joki -mostly because he is very similar to what we have. There are many posts covering which goalies were available and when. I’m too lazy to look. There are also posts stating Adams tried but could not get some of them. I stand by my position that goaltending has been mishandled and now, Im happy that UPL is working out. Good fortune had to happen at some time. I’m not gonna spend time looking back. The next step is improving the forwards lines, adding more diverse playing styles and skills, and making the playoffs. That is what I will focus on. That, and cap a management, and improving the coaching staff.

Once we lost Ulmark, I was firmly on the camp of bringing in a NHL starting goalie to help the team compete while UPL stayed in Rochester and Levi was in NCAA. Nothing that happened makes that strategy wrong. Adam’s started talking about blockers about the time Ulmark left IMHO - Tokarski, Dell, Comrie and a very aged Anderson was not adequate GM work by Adams, especially given his asset stockpile and his cap situation. Everyone in the NHL circles raised eyebrows at the process Adams took. He was subtly criticized on ESPN and TNT. Even Kevin Weekes made comments this season and did an eye roll on the Sabres goaltending situation prior to January. The ESPN panel questioned this in between periods. Adams can get credit for developing UPL. He can equally get blame for missing playoff last year, and probably this year. This team was better than were they finished in each of these seasons. If I had to do this again, I would still start by bringing in a goalie that can help your core players compete and buy time to bring up your goalie prospects from the lower leagues until they are ready This season a vet and UPL was the logical way to go. Levi was promised something I hear. We have to get past that. Once this team stops sucking they will have leverage when dealing with 20 year old prospects. Comrie was promised another look too. A vet and UPL could have done the job and kept us in the race all season. UPL would have probably emerged either way. Congrats to Adams for developing UPL. Now, moving forward, he MUST make the moves to get us out of hockey hell.

I keep looking at it but I’m missing something on how to interpret this data. Can you please add some notes and comments?

@Hank and @Thorny after guitar lessons, singing a song with jangly guitar rhythms. @Sabres73 is off the prairie, and on the drum kit.

It harder just to run practice too.

Just like jelly rolls.

I watched it out tonight. Really good game. They came out strong at home and although they didn’t score in the first they stayed at it and outplayed the Isles. They stayed patient and intense and the goals came. UPL was excellent, great to see the fans treated to a shutout. Lots of contributors tonight. Cozens and Greenway stood out to me. Benson too. Clifton gives up 4 inches and 37 pounds to Anders Lee but holds his own. Big one on the road Saturday in De-Troy-it. Keep it going boys.

KO was not the problem but pushing the leadership down to the Core players and making them be accountable is the right next step. We need to give Byram more than 4 games before we anoint him anything. He sure plays a style of hockey that is a breath of fresh air. Colorado has a program that Adams should be looking at closely. As for next Captain, Dahlin is probably it.

So he is not dumb?

None. You acquire elite talent over the salary cap, and then you bury veteran stars on LTIR for a season, then they get to play them in the playoffs. That is the new model for the 4 or 5 true contenders. Bettman loves seeing Vegas win. Why would he say or do anything to question the legitimacy.

Krebs is not a scrapper. He is a young kid who dropped them a few times and held on for dear life. He can be annoying and get under someone skin, but no one is afraid of him. I agree that he should have done something since our 6'6" 220 pound defenseman was not going to.

The Byram trade looks good right now. It will look better when we get a good replacement for Mitts on the roster, we have the assets to do it. Or they can give the job the Krebs and wait for him to be ready for it, which I prefer not to do when are sitting on a pile of tradable assets. The Greenway trade has always looked good. The Clifton signing too (you forgot that one). Give us more of this Adams. Robinson? Yeah he plays hard but really, I find praising the GM for this acquisition to be grasping. Adams is going on year 5 and you have 3 names, I gave you a fourth. You ask, besides the last off season and the Quinn injury, where has he gone wrong? Maybe its best if we just ignore the standings, or the attendance figures, or the overall perception of this team throughout the league, and just look forward. No sense in dwelling on the past. Adams has the luxury of another off season to BUILD a team. The bolded is not worth responding to.

Thanks for posting this. Krebs still not showing enough at this time for me to think he is a 3C on a playoff team. I prefer they bring in a 3C and if Krebs beats him out then that's good too. Based on what I read in your posts, it may be another off season of trying to elevate prospects.

Good effort. Not liking the Coture move though.

You should be disappointed in yourself. It really appears that you cannot take any criticism toward the Sabres organization. You don’t respect opinions that don’t align with yours.

Power and Joker should have went at Fisher. Then maybe the next one doesn’t happen. They were around UPL constantly. I saw a Wing slap his stick blade on UPLs back after a whistle. No one else commented on this but me, Detroit was looking for a fight in the 3rd period. They took the body to a fault and by doing that let the Sabres control possession time, even in their end. Perron, Fabri, Sprong, Fisher - they were looking to bang everyone and everything.

You are correct. Thanks for the update. He is 21 and got $8M over 8 years too. Only difference is Ottawa has no one on defense like Dahlin to pay. Dahlin got $11M.

I am not a fan of Erik Karlsson. He has a ton of offensive talent, probably a HoF guy, but not my cup of tea. He had a 101 points last year, was a - 26, and that got him another Norris. You can score and still be defensively responsible.

Why do some posters think a conversation is complaining or bitching? Isn't this what the board is for. Should we all think alike? This is fans discussing and problem solving a problem they have no control over - that why fans are short for fanatic! As a life long Sabres fan since game 1, I am pleased to finally have enough talent in the system to actually be thinking about the Salary Cap.

The potential issue we are discussing is not next year, it is the year after. All teams have to manage the Cap but the Sabres are the only team I know that paid a then 20 year old defenseman $8M/year after 87 NHL games. How he develops in the next 2 years is going to continue to be a source of discussion. Not so much because people don't like Power, everyone knows that most defenseman take time. But more for the decision by Adams to lock him up so fast. Depending on how much of the cap Adams will allocate to defense, Adams may have created less room to maneuver, not more. A few people on the board are talking about "Power hate". Nothing I say comes from hate. I am pointing out that things could get very interesting after next season with Byram, Peterka, UPL, and Quinn all looking for a payday. Players that we cannot afford to keep will be traded before they can walk away. We may be very surprised by who stays and who goes. Wayne Gretzky got traded, any player can get traded.