JohnC

You don't understand my stance. Ullmark is not an end-all solution to our goaltending problem. He was our best option that we had. The GM had an UFA goalie on the premises. He let the player go when he had no solid backup plan for a possible departure. Now this franchise is trying to address a problem of its own making. Poor foresight and judgment by the front office. I hope this clarifies the matter for you. There is a saying that is apt here: Don't let perfect be the enemy of the good.

Asplund does put himself in position to have scoring opportunities. He just doesn't seem to have a talent to finish. He can get better but for the most part he is more of a grinder. Eakin is Eakin. He's at the end of his career. He's a good guy whose time has come to a conclusion.

I'm not sure if he or Gergs will be the center on that line. Maybe interchangeable? Regardless, a point of emphasis this offseason for a number of players is to work on improving taking faceoffs. As far as what his flow is I'm not sure what you mean?

Yes. Eakin is at the end of his long career. Asplund is faster and would fit in well with Gergs and Okposo. Clearly, Asplund doesn't offer much offensively but as a member of a checking line he would have a useful role.

With respect to your comment that Ullmark decided to leave that doesn't fully reflect the situation at the time. When he got his Boston offer he made it known that the Sabres would have to pay a premium relative to the Boston offer in order to stay. Our GM said no. That is the backdrop to the current situation. And it shouldn't be forgotten that the Sabres were dramatically below the cap and their options for the position were limited when they told him no. I listened to the Instigator Show that focused on the goalie issue. Marty Biron listed a number of options to consider. He pointed out that the main problem is that many of the goalies that he would be interested in, even as stopgap goalies, are probably not attainable. So answering your basic question about what goalie do I like: my answer is that I don't know?

Is Ullmark a SC goalie? No. However, 95% of the goalies in the league don't fall in the elite status that help a team to win a SC. What I can say for sure is that he is a goalie that would have given this team a better chance to succeed than the goalies we had this year. And it should not be forgotten that when he was with the Sabres with a very pedestrian roster playing in front of him the team had a winning record.

The general point that I took away from that Instigator Show was that there really aren't that many good goalie options to address our void at the position. Yet, there are people who still argue that signing Ullmark would have been a bad decision. That makes no sense to me. If the GM would have signed him, or made arrangements for a reasonable replacement at the time, we would have had better goaltending this year and we wouldn't have to worry about giving up assets to shore up a weakness at the most important position in the game. We had an in-house solution and we let it walk out the door.

Whether Ullmark was signed on a four or five year contract should not have been an obstacle to signing him. As long as a "no trade" clause is not part of the contract, he can be dealt before the expiration of the contract. The range of games that I would estimate for more wins with Ullmark would be 6 plus. That would put a more upbeat color to this season. In my opinion KA outsmarted himself. He ended up handcuffing himself. It shouldn't have happened. Who?

The organization was willing to sign him two a 4 year deal. His request of an extra year compared to the Boston offer was a line the GM was not willing to cross. What I can say with confidence is that Ullmark would have been a better GT than the other players we have used. As I have repeatedly have stated even with a 5 year contract the team is not obligated to keep him for the full term. As far as asking for money from Buffalo per year compared to Boston that is also not a significant issue for a team that struggled to meet the cap floor. There is a saying: Don't let perfect be the enemy of the good. In my opinion the GM blundered and is still in search of a goalie option. A miscalculation is a miscalculation.

I still contend that not signing Ullmark, even on a 5 year term, was a mistake. It put this team in a bind in searching for better options. Many argue that Ullmark isn't the caliber of goalie to invest in. My response is that he is better than what we have. And even if signed on a 5 year term that doesn't necessarily mean that you have to keep him to the end of his contract.

The hosts start the show talking about the goalie situation. Marty starts off saying that since neither of the two college prospects went pro the organization needs to address the issue with greater urgency. https://www.audacy.com/wgr550/hosts/the-instigators

Everyone in the hockey world knows the hand he has. To carry that logic even farther: everyone in the business knows what everyone has and doesn't have as far as player needs. There are no secrets because everything is on display when teams play. I'm hoping you are right about the probability of a hockey trade or deal for a goalie.

Few would argue that this team needs a major upgrade in net. Based on how the GM has seemed to minimize the position I'm not even sure if it is a priority for him. My sense (opinion) is that the GM is banking on UPL as being his primary goalie with another second-tier goalie added to the position. That lack of urgency to address that position is risking another middling season played in front of an even more declining audience. As much as there is a lot of attention on the goalie position this team still has glaring weaknesses. Out of the 11 offensive categories the Sabres have no player listed in the top 20 in any of the categories. How many times has the opposition capitalized on our defensive lapses and converted while the Sabres attempted to capitalize on the opposition's mistakes with near misses? There is an assumption that Quinn and JJ will make the roster. That should help the offense. However, this organization needs to use its cap and draft capital to bring in at least another couple players in order to bulk up the roster sooner rather than later. I believe that the GM in general is taking the right approach in rebuilding the roster. However, he will be making a mistake if he doesn't accelerate the rebuild process with a couple to few aggressive moves to add more talent to the roster.

The grueling compressed schedule that we are subjected to is the same grueling compressed schedule that everyone else is dealing with. Anyone that is fair-minded recognizes that the Sabres are reconstructing this roster for the better. However, we are still at the stage where this team has less margin of error than good teams with a more complete roster have. When the Sabres play with energy and up to their capabilities, they can compete. When for whatever reason the Sabres play a lackluster game they are simply overmatched.

You don't need to provide a disclaimer. When opinions of Amerk players are solicited you are one of the two or three go to guys. You are a member of the AHL/Amerk wisdom club. That means in that area you are astute and perspicacious. 🍺

Thank you for the JJ response. Let me add a follow up question. It's been widely reported about Quinn's offensive prowess. How is his defensive game?

For those who have watched him play is he ready to play an NHL two-way game? Most of the reports about him indicate that offensively he is ready to play in this league. Is he ready to play in the NHL without being a deficit when he is defending his zone?

Big belly and tight assss. Is that a paradox?

There are simply too many chicken littles in this house.

Is that guy pregnant? And is he balancing himself by putting his hand in his crotch? 🚫

I'm putting together a fourth line of Asplund/Gergs/Okposo. Within that group if Asplund scores 10 to 12, and Gergs scores 10 to 12 and Okposo scores around 15 goals I would be more than satisfied with their goal production along with their defensive prowess. If you add Quinn and JJ to the mix you are starting to have enough players to assemble two lines beyond the first that has scoring potential. Mitts, Cozens, Olofsson, Quinn, JJ. Krebs, Hinostroza and maybe another player brought in. The pieces are starting to fall in place to make this team a more serious team in the not-too-distant future. With a couple to a few smart personnel moves my time frame is next year.

Florida is such an impressive team. Without question they are a serious Cup contender. All their lines are potent. It is unfair to label any of their top three lines as either one, two or three because each line in its own right is a #1 line. Last offseason, Florida added Reinhart and Bennett for a reasonable price. And recently they added Giroux. It's going to be interesting to see how their offensive explosiveness translates in the playoffs where it is a tighter game. My sense is that it will because although they can score in splurges they don't play a loose style of game, at least in the few games I have seen them. The happiest player in the league has to be Reinhart. Compared what he went through when he was playing up North, he must feel like he is in hockey heaven. I wonder if Jack is a little jealous?

A line composed of Asplund/Gergs/Okposo makes some sense to me. This would be an aggressive checking line with Okposo providing some scoring threat. A comparison to Larsson is a good comparison other than Asplund is a faster skater than Larsson.

Your attitude of not being satisfied with a loss even against superior teams is a reflection of a higher expectation. That's a good sign. Compared to the general low expectation during the Krueger era, that is a major change. People who watched this game point out specific bad plays (such as the Eakin throwaway) and point to those misplays as contributing to the loss. That certainly beats a loss where there were so many misplays that you can't ascribe blame to a particular bad play or two because the game was replete with bad plays. I didn't watch the game (don't ask why because it will set my fuse off) but I did listen to it. In listening to the game, I got a sense that the superior team that lost to us the night before turned it on. However, even when the more talented team took control, I didn't get the sense that the Sabres didn't play hard all the way to the end. I'm not looking for psychological victories in losses. What I'm looking for is a winning attitude even when the talent doesn't measure up to the opposition. Over the last 15 games or so I have seen it. I know that a few more good pieces will be added next year. I'm not fully satisfied but I'm optimistic.