JohnC

I'm not suggesting that our blueline staffing is at a premier level. But compared to last year this unit is much more presentable. And if Ryan Johnson is able to move up after a stint in Rochester it will look even better. A far cry from last year!

As time goes by the ROR trade looks better and better. We got Tage and a probable future defenseman. In the aftermath of the deal ROR and the Blues got their Cup. As with the Eichel deal it worked out for all the parties involved. It won't be surprising that of all the deals that KA made during the trading of the old Eichel core that the most consequential deal might turn out to be the acquisition of Levi in the Reinhart deal. Very often it takes time to get a better perspective on the impact of any particular deal. Sometimes the immediate, short-term assessment of a deal becomes much more positive as time goes by.

When Krueger is your coach it's not a surprise that "sure things" get downgraded to being "not sure things".

What caliber of pairing player do you project Ryan Johnson at? I thought he would at best be a third pairing player when more developed. Others felt that he could rise to the second-pairing. Where do you believe his ceiling is as a blueliner?

The GM is not demanding a "hometown" discount from the players. That's not an accurate depiction of the contract signings from much of the core. The players who have signed agreed to get their contracts reworked sooner and are willing to take less for immediate guaranteed money that is more than their current contract. Dahlin took a different approach than some of his teammates. He took a bridge deal rather than sign an extended contract. The player and his agent calculated that waiting longer to sign a longer term deal will prove to be more financially beneficial as the market-rate for players of his caliber increases. When Eichel was here he got a long-term extension. If he would have waited and become the player that he is now, he would actually be paid more now. The GM was willing to give an extension to Samuelsson sooner rather than later because the organization felt that in the not-too-distant future he would project to be a higher cost player if it signed him at a later time. Both sides in the bargaining setting make their own calculations for what is best for their own respective needs.

Sometimes the evidence is so overwhelming that even with fraudulent messengers most people should be able to discern what is real and fake. Hucksters have always been around. There are enough quality sources to make a reasonable judgment in most cases. The intermingling of politics and science is a toxic mixture.

A lot of people don't believe in science. And a lot of people reject the reality that is visible with their own eyes. Or another way of saying it is they believe what they want to believe regardless of the facts.

You know very well what I think is going to happen regarding the goalie staffing. I don't believe that they are going to bring in another goalie. (That's my opinion.) If KA brings in another goalie, I'll support the addition. If KA doesn't, I'll support his stance. We'll just have to wait and see what happens.

I appreciate your response. I'm hoping that the additions of Johnson and Clifton will improve the PK. There's no question that Granto emphasizes the offense over the defense. But there has to be more balance between the offense and defense even while acknowledging that the roster is built more around the offense than the defense. I'm just not as concerned about our backstopping situation as most here are. In my mind this team squandered at least 10 points because of their incapable PKing. Improving that part of the game will put this team in a better position.

I agree with you that correlation is not necessarily causation. But how UPL has played doesn't necessarily reflect how he will play. Will he get better? I think so but can't say for sure. What I can say for sure is if our team becomes more committed to playing a more responsible two-way game, that our goalies, all of them, will be better next season. @LGR4GMhas on more than a few occasions made the cogent point that in our last 18 games or so this team demonstrated a greater commitment to playing a tighter and more defensive brand of hockey. And it resulted in a good record. For me, the critical issue is more about playing better team defense than it is about the play of our goalies.

I enjoyed the segment. At the end, the issue of having three goalies on hand was discussed by Hamilton. He made the point that it is unworkable.

Training camp and the season are so much more fun than the quiet interlude prior to the season. Some people expected a lot more action in this offseason. (I didn't.) It seemed to ruffle some feathers when their expectations for action weren't met.

If the thread was deleted, then why are posts continued?

Why was my post deleted? I don't know who is responsible but whoever did it should provide an explanation.

Could someone explain to me why my post was deleted? And why did I get a message from @Doohickie "do not have permission to view this topic? What the freak is going on? If someone has a problem with my innocuous post, there should be an explanation made instead of some inexplicable deletion.

Do you consider him to be a second-pairing caliber of player? And do you consider that the additions of Johnson and Clifton to the team strengthens the unit?

With respect to the issue of waiting on talent my response is simply, yes. With respect to how many more years am I willing to wait: My response is that we are there right now, this upcoming season. This team that has mostly been assembled is a playoff team. (My opinion.) If this team doesn't make the playoffs, I will be deeply disappointed. We have gotten to this point because the GM acted smartly and patiently.

I would absolutely wait on players such as Benson, Savoie, Kulich etc. That would be the smart and right thing to do. If you want sustainable success you have to draft wisely and put the right support system in place the talent in the system. And that has been done during the tenure of KA. When your strategy in roster building is working well, you don't change your course of action because you are impatient.

No. I would keep Olofsson and hope that he can play a more balanced game. Quinn getting hurt might give him an opportunity to play, even if it is on a lower line. The hope is that he regains his game and increases his value as an asset to be dealt. He may not be an all-around player but he still can shoot. That's a valuable trait that a lot of teams covet.

I don't want PR headline grabbing moves. I want intelligent and thoughtful moves that will allow this historically befuddled organization to have sustained success. Our GM is on the right track and moving in the right direction. What you are recommending is going to put this franchise back in the ditch filled with fetid water. You are Ying and I am Yang.

I'm more than happy that our GM didn't trade away picks and prospects for a top tier goalie such as Helly, a goalie who would be an UFA after one year. The Sabres used their first-round pick to draft, Benson, a highly regarded prospect. Yet, you and many others preferred to gratuitously deal it away for a one-year rental. That makes no sense to me. (It should be noted that not one team in the draft traded away their first-round pick for a player.) I would love to have acquired Pesce. But I wouldn't have given up this year's first round pick for him. Our GM ended up acquiring Clifton and Johnson to add to the thin blueline. What did he give up? Nothing! I thought that was a nifty fallback move to get two contributing players in an area of weakness at reasonable contracts. As I pointed out in a prior post, the Sabres improved by 16 points from the prior season. This is a roster made up with a lot of young players. You don't think that in general the young players will get better? I do. So, what is your recommendation? It's not to continue doing what has worked but to change course and resort to making short-term, expedient deals that have proven not to work for this franchise. That makes absolutely no sense! You and others have repeatedly stated that taking the expedient approach that you are recommending guarantees the franchise a playoff spot next season. That is not necessarily true. And if it were, it doesn't mean that if the GM continued on with the course he is on that this team wouldn't be a playoff team. Our GM has falsely been accused of taking a status-quo approach. That is not an accurate description on how he has operated. He dealt away our old core and in return he has gotten good value. He has made a few smaller deals such as acquiring Jost and Greenway to incrementally improve the roster. He recently added two defensemen on reasonable contracts, and gave up nothing. His drafting since he took over has been solid. My recommendation is to continue doing what he has been doing. Stay the course!

I will be watching to see how the organization handles Kulich this year. Will he be given an opportunity to fill the roster spot left open by the injury to Quinn? Or for developmental reasons will the organization decide to make him a central player in Rochester so he will get an abundance of playing time in a variety of roles? It won't surprise me if Rousek makes the roster and becomes a fourth line player for us. I'll also be interested to see how Savoie is handled. What happens if in his introductory stint he plays like a dynamo? Will he stick on the permanent roster? There are so many interesting questions regarding the roster this upcoming season. It sure beats discussing the roster when there was a paucity of talent to work with.

It's likely that Joki will be pushed down to the third pairing. I consider him to be a 4/5 player. You constantly show your desire to jettison him off the roster as if he is an anchor on the unit. He's not. You are correct that DG doesn't publicly denigrate a player who is a liability. However, in the case of Joki he does go out of his way to not only praise his play but also to point out that this young player has more upside to offer. It just seems to me that your scorn for this player doesn't match his actual play. Lybushkin is another story. He was a disappointment. Maybe injuries were a factor or he had difficulty playing in this faster paced system? I see him being pushed down in the pairings. I like the two players KA brought in to shore up the blueline. Clifton is likely to be the player that moves Joki down to the next pairing. Johnson is 35 yrs old. I don't see DG giving him workhorse minutes. His value is going to come in to play in the PK. And needless to say that is an area of great need.

The Sabres improved 16 pts from the previous season. The core for the most part is now established. And most of this core is young and expected to get better. Most of the changes that are being made upgrade the lower half of the defense and lines. It seems to me that if the Sabres continue on the same course it has been on for the past few years, the trajectory will continue to point upwards. You are correct that much is depending on the play of Levi. I'm comfortable in saying that he is a better option staffing the goalie position than what we had for much of last season. Is it a risk to depend on such a young player? Of course it is. If you want a guarantee, you are not going to get it. That's what sports are all about.

Buffalo is never going to match the defensive style of play that Boston plays. Each team has a different philosophy, and its rosters are built around their respective philosophy. Buffalo is a more offensive and faster paced team. In order for Buffalo to make the leap forward it doesn't need to replicate Boston's style of play; it simply has to alter its style a little more to play a more balanced two-way game. What we need to do to be more successful is replicate how it played at the end of the last season. And the two additional blueliners added to the roster should help to do that.