JohnC

I'm not strongly advocating for him to be on the first line, but I'm open to it. Will the change in coaching have an effect on how he plays? Maybe so. What Skinner can do is score goals. And over the past few years his set up skills has improved. It just seems to me that the third and fourth lines should have the characteristic of being tough to play against. I don't see him in that mold as a player.

I'm reluctant to go along where you placed Cozens. The Benson/Cozens/Quinn is an appealing line to me. I'm aware that Skinner is scorned in this room. But I wouldn't be resistant to moving Skinner back up to the top line with Tage and Tuch, and then moving JJP to the wing playing with Cozens and Quinn on the second line. What that would do is move Benson to the third line with the expectation that the GM brings in a credible 2/3 C to be on the third line. I agree with you that ideally, Greenway is more suited as a fourth line player with the hope that the GM brings in a player or two to fortify that lower line. With respect to what role will Krebs have? My response would be for him to earn whatever role he can get. Where I am aligned with you is that the GM needs to add talent from the outside. If it is mostly for bulking up the lower lines, I would be fine with that assuming he brings in a 2/3 C to replace Mitts.

The youngsters in this raucous room don't know who Ed McMahon is. However, the old hipsters here do:

I don't get your point. If a player the GM is interested doesn't want to waive his no-trade/move clause to come here, then you go to your next player option in the pursuit of players. In the sports business and in life if option A is not attainable, then you go to option B-Z. And it should be pointed out that every franchise in the league has to contend with no trade clauses in the hockey business.

Buffalo has become an inconsequential and irrelevant franchise. That's what happens when your franchise falters for nearly a generation. The pro lacrosse team is more of a sports factor in the community than its pro hockey team. That's sad and pathetic.

If you expect a radical makeover of this team, you are going to be deeply disappointed. The GM has been fairly candid about what he intends to do this offseason. Dramatic action is not on his agenda. If there is, I will be surprised. It's very likely that the GM is going to take some actions to alter the roster. I'm sure you will be disappointed at what he ends up doing. We shall see.

One of the biggest weaknesses that this GM has, and you seem to allude to, is his ability to assess pro talent. The Sabre organization has been solid in evaluating prospects but not too adept in assessing talent in the market. Apparently, it is more by design not to get involved in the market, and instead emphasize what one has in the system. That's a mistake simply because you are limiting your options to improve when some avenues are deliberately taken off the table. As far as I'm concerned, at this point, I simply don't care if a transaction is strategically made or are done reactively. The issue comes down to adding talent to the roster, one way or the other. I have not been as harsh a critic of this GM as many here are. But if he doesn't show a greater level of urgency this offseason through deeds, then my patience with him and his approach will be exhausted. There is no excuse for him not to make moves to improve and better balance this roster.

The Mitts trade that brought us Byram would look even better if a comparable replacement is brought in for Mitts. I haven't given up on Krebs, but I don't see him having much value in the market right now. A Necas trade that cost us our first pick and a mid-level prospect appeals to me a lot. With respect to you questioning the size of KA's cajónes, I wouldn't consider the proposed Necas trade a major/daring deal. In my view, it would be a fair-value deal for each team for a player who probably won't be on either of our top two lines.

If the Sabres get the same level of netminding from UPL next season with some tweaks to the current roster, do you consider this team a playoff team?

The proposed Bennett deal is too rich for me. Although I like the grit he would add to the lineup. However, I would be reluctant to give him the length and per annum amount that you also indicate would be problematic. The Vegas deal for Roy makes sense. The remaining portion of Palmieri's contract seems too high for me. What your proposals demonstrate is that there are options for the GM to pursue this offseason. They don't have to be blockbuster deals so much as medium range deals that better round out our roster, i.e. the lower half of it.

I agree that the GM overestimated where the team was at based on the surprisingly good results of the 22-23 season. Instead of building on that success, he made an assumption that this team was on track to move up the ranks. He was wrong in his assessment. He should have built on that prior success (meaning adding players) instead of coasting from that prior success. As a lot of people have already stated: He miscalculated. Each year is a new year. It's not just about improving your team, it's also about competing with teams that are also taking actions to improve. It's not a static league. Our GM seemed to be too comfortable with where his team was at. He should have been less nonchalant (@Thorny's incisively biting word) and more proactive.

You have a good perspective on where we were and where we are now. @dudacek demonstrates in detail that the GM decided on a major deconstruction, and then reconstruction. Based on how the GM wanted to rebuild this flattened franchise, it was never going to be a quick fix (@dudacek's central point.) There was a tsunami of bad decisions that led to Jack and multiple UFAs on this team (now thriving on cup contending teams) to be determined to get out of this wrecked franchise. It has gotten fatiguing reprising the past and pointing out what went wrong. That's not a major challenge to do. It's like shooting at fish in a well-stocked barrel and then act as if you accomplished something challenging. By the time the upcoming season arrives, the GM will have had enough time to show that his long-term strategy to rebuild is a success or failure. (Your point.) This has to be a constructive offseason where he adds the necessary pieces so at the minimum get this team into the playoffs. If our GM succumbs to his conservative instincts and sticks with the status-quo, then his tenure will clearly and fairly be labeled a failure.

Was that a full-capacity crowd last night?

I think it's realistic for him to hit the numbers that you project, especially if he is put on a more talented line. However, even if he doesn't reach the projected numbers, hie still adds value by the way he plays. As @K-9 pointed it, as a rookie, he was one of the most structured and persistent checkers in the lineup. And, as you noted, right now, he is one of the best full-length players on the team. This resilient youngster was a terrific draft selection. I'm looking forward to seeing how he does in his sophomore season.

If I had to bet on one player who was going to make a quantum leap forward, my money would be on Quinn. Last year, JJP took a step forward. Although I wouldn't categorize it as a quantum leap because there were too many down interludes. In my opinion, Quinn is a better player because he has a greater dimension (skating in tight spaces and hockey intelligence) to his game, whereas Peterka is more of a straight-line power forward. Understandably so, a lot of attention is given to who the GM is going to bring in from the outside to upgrade the roster. However, it's just as likely, if not more likely, that the improvement of players such as Benson, JJP, Quinn, UPL, Power, Byram etc.) is going to be the biggest factor in whether next season will be a success or not.

Neither of us know whether Benson is going to take a quantum leap forward next season. But for a player who was so young, I didn't witness him last season fading as the season grinded on. In fact, it was the opposite. I thought he played better at the end of the season than the beginning of the season because he seemed to comfortably adapt to the tougher NHL game. I'm not predicting a quantum leap forward in his play, but he should be better with a season experience and an offseason to prepare for this upcoming season. As far as his ability to adjust to a tougher style of play that Lindy will require compared to what Granato tolerated, I would say that he was one of our more responsible players from a checking standpoint in both zones and from a willingness to have a net presence in our offensive zone. My point is that maybe some other players will have trouble adjusting to a Lindy coached team, but he shouldn't have any problem adapting to the new coach.

You missed my point regarding Benson's play in his rookie season. As a full-time player his offensive stats were not impressive. That's a fact. I wasn't factoring in his age because that wasn't the issue. My central point was that despite his production I still felt that he played well and never was a liability. Hopefully, you are now unbaffled.

There is another factor that leans toward bringing him in sooner (earned of course) than later. There is an expectation that he will be joining a better team than the others did. Of course, there is an assumption that the GM is going to make moves that improve this roster.

I agree with you that the GM has to bring in some experienced players who can play right away. However, whether he makes the roster out of camp or after a stint in Rochester that doesn't foreclose the option of adding vets.

Terrifically detailed analysis of Savoie. How can one not be excited with this prospect. Based on your comments and the numerous reports about him, I envision him playing with the Sabres sooner rather than later. Thank you.

Two prospects I would be very reluctant to trade in any deal are Savoie and Levi. The Sabres have a good prospect pipeline with players who won't make the big club because there simply isn't room to absorb them. There is no excuse for the GM not to trade some prospects for players who can help this team right now. When you got chips you should use them I would like to get the opinions from those who follow the prospect world. Does anyone think that Savoie can follow the footsteps of Benson and impress enough in camp to make the Sabre roster. It's apparent that he isn't suited for a fourth line role but maybe as a third line player? Whenever I watched Benson, although his offensive output wasn't impressive, I never felt that he was a liability on the ice.

His production from a point standpoint wasn't too impressive. However, his play always seemed to be solid. I was surprised that as the season advanced this youngster's play seem to get better (as you allude to). He didn't fade at all as the season grinded on. He and UPL were my pleasant surprise players. I'm eager to see how he plays in his second year.

If you want to scapegoat someone then direct your attention to the GM who put this team together and hired the HC and kept him on longer than he should have. This roster was inadequate from a talent standpoint and from the way the team was constructed. Okposo as a player and captain was an inconsequential factor in this team's failure. It's obvious that Okposo had a low-key personality and not hard in your face challenging style of leadership. He is who he is. To expect him to be something he was not was unrealistic.

The Sabres were a flawed team from a deficiency in talent and from a construction standpoint. On top of those problems there were coaching deficiency issues. It didn't matter who the captain was and how he handled that role. It wouldn't have made much difference in altering the situation. There are a variety of leadership styles. Just because he wasn't publicly vocal doesn't mean that he wasn't a leader in the room. What I'm stressing is that Okposo recognized as did many players in the exit interviews recognized that there were serious foundational problems to this staff and team that had nothing to do with the leadership ability of their former captain. My recommendation is simple: Improve the roster by adding more talent to it. (It is the same recommendation that everyone else is offering.) That's the major source of this team's failure.

Your word "nonchalant" is a terrific descriptive word on how KA has operated over the last few years, especially last offseason. He established a road map for rebuilding this roster relying for the most part building from within. That wasn't an unreasonable approach considering that a decision was made to do a reset. The sabotaging flaw to his strategy is he didn't do much to undergird that rebuild plan by bringing in enough players to support his new core. So, when a player like Quinn got hurt, it became a major setback that cascaded throughout the roster. This team lacked depth and balance to absorb an injury to a prime player. The franchise is at a point where the GM has to demonstrate urgency by bringing in a number of players that will strengthen this roster, even if it is the lower half of the roster. There is simply no excuse for this GM, who has an abundance of assets to parlay, to not make enough moves to make this roster better and more balanced. The gamble that KA is making is that he believes that this new youthful core that he is counting on is good enough to get over the playoff drought snide. If he doesn't add at least a few additional players to the roster, he will again be sabotaging this team and himself. My fear is if he does not do enough to upgrade the roster, the new core gets frustrated and disillusioned and want out like the old core did.