JohnC

We traded a player a prospect who wouldn't make our roster in the near or far term for a young bottom pair defenseman who got playing time for us. At worst, he is a depth defenseman. Even with a couple of defensemen added in the offseason he still may be able to secure a bottom pair role. The balance is overwhelmingly in our favor. I'm not denigrating Bloom as a player or elevating Stillman beyond what he is as a player. I don't understand how you can be murmuring about this deal. It's not a major deal but it is a plus deal that makes this team incrementally better. What did you expect out of this type of deal?

All the players who were dealt are thriving. Ullmark, Jack, Reinhart, Montour, Hall etc. Not one of them regret their change of addresses. The damage that Krueger did is almost incalculable. There are a number of reasons beyond Krueger why this was a flailing franchise. But he was one of the main reasons for suffocating talent that was on hand. When KA finally got the chance to fire him it was the embodiment of the concept of addition by subtraction. I totally agree with you on the potential impact of Levi for the team and franchise. What he showed when he played at the end of the season has gotten me really excited about next year. There are no guarantees but the odds are in our favor that he will be a major difference maker.

I'm not annoyed that 2 former Sabres are central to their team's success. Good for them. Player unhappiness and desire to move on when your organization is known for its systemic dysfunction shouldn't be a surprise. Sometimes outcomes coming out of misfortune unexpectedly turn out to be good fortune. The trading of Reinhart, which resulted in the acquisition of Levi, might turn out to be the most consequential deal for us coming out of all the players shuffling in and out. There is an assumption on my part that he is going to be a stellar goalie for us and be a big factor in our future success.

A large chunk of the team wanted out, especially those players whose contracts were running out. Jack, Reinhart, Hall, Montour, Risto, Ullmark and so on. When the franchise is stuck in the mud and failing it is inevitable that players will be disgruntled and seek greener pastures. Players are extremely competitive and want a chance to win. As you and others have smartly pointed out, the tank had a corrosive effect in that the timeline to get back into the competitive mix was going to take added time. The tank was bad enough. But that in itself wasn't what weighed this franchise down. It was how the franchise dealt in the aftermath of the tank. There was a constant churning of staff. A steady stream of bad decisions kept this franchise flailing and made it an unserious team far longer than it should have. Few players want to be in that type of losing environment. To KA's credit, he stabilized the situation fairly quickly. He got the staffing right (firing Krueger and replacing him with DG) and he laid out a coherent plan that was followed. There was never going to be a quick fix. But the dysfunction within the organization extended the rebuild timeline. Now we are at a point where the expectations are high, and the future is bright. Buffalo might not be an enticing place for a lot of players, but it is likely that a lot more players than before will want to come here because they want to be part of a winning team. A lot of players who have moved on get criticized here. I'm not one of the critics because I don't blame the players for their desire to move on from this wreckage. The situation has dramatically changed for the good.

It's obvious that I'm more positive about Joki than everyone here. And it should be noted that Joki was mostly paired with Power in his stellar year. So I don't see him as him being a hinderance to Power. I still see more upside to him. However, I do agree that if a better player is brought in who isn't straddling the 4/5 rating, that would be a good thing for the unit. This is simply my opinion but I don't see the GM bringing in another goalie. Comrie was plagued with injuries this season that never allowed him to get into a rhythm. And that is how I see the GM viewing the goalie's performance this year. I just don't feel that the organization has given up on UPL. I see the same trio in the room with UPL and Comrie competing for the backup role. This is going to be an interesting offseason.

From my observations, it is the opposite. Power is thriving playing with the player that you are so dismissive of.

As you point out, it wasn't too long ago when the dearth of talent resulted in so many players playing/slotted higher than where they should be. Just think, we are now talking about a player who scored close to 30 goals (28) and discussing whether he should be on the roster. Even an ingrained pessimist should be impressed enough to being a cautious optimist. 🍷

I consider Joki a better option on the second pair for Power than your fellow. We disagree. That's okay.

The one positive thing that happened this season compared to past seasons is that lines below the top two lines were scoring goals. It wasn't a significant amount but enough to contribute and keep other teams honest. If Olofsson is on a lower line and helps it produce more, that would be a bonus for this team. Whether it is the lower pairing or lines, getting more contributions from the bottom of the roster make this team better.

Needless to say, all options are open. I'm not leaning one way or the other. If he can be part of a deal for a 4/5 defenseman, I'm more than receptive. My main point about him is that he has a shooting skill that we and other teams can utilize. Will it be in Buffalo? I don't know.

I'm going to go against the grain here and say that I believe that there is a role for VO, maybe not in the long-run but for the short-term. There is no question that he faded to oblivion in the second half of the season. I'm not even sure what line he is most suitable for next year. But he still has a laser shot that when he is on, he is an asset. And maybe there is a role for him on the second PP unit? Undoubtedly, there are players in the pipeline who will replace him. But for the short-term I believe he still has some utility. I'm aware of the overwhelming majority of people disagree with me. That's okay.

The Sabres have accumulated enough talent where players are being properly slotted to their talent level. There is a number of line options that can be assembled among the group of Cozens, Quinn, JJ, Greenway, Mitts and maybe even Savoie. Right now, I'm not worried about what the best combinations will be next year because Don G has demonstrated a talent of making the pieces fit. And he has also shown an ability to mix up the lines and pairings within the game in order to change the dynamic when needed. What's become evident as the talent base increases, the options for the coach also increases.

I'm not chortling over someone eating crow. I've been wrong as much as right in many of my opinions. My table is more than full of bad tasting black feathers, so that doesn't give me the right to comment on anyone else's culinary habits. However, let me comment on Mitts's recent play. Yes, it was elevated, especially when he played on the top line. And that is the reason why his production significantly improved at the end of the season. The improvement was due to the fact that he had players who get themselves in a good position to score and convert his passes. The challenge for the coach next year is to assemble a line with players who can maximize his talents. I believe with Mitts, as a center or even a forward, the Sabres have enough talent to put together a 2B line.

If you see Borgen in some ways being similar to Lyubushkin, you are basically categorizing him as a third pairing type of player. That's the point I am making. I would be happy adding that caliber of player to the mix. In fact, if we add two of those type of players to the unit it would be very beneficial. It would bulk up the unit and create much needed depth.

I watch him as much as you watch Mitts. 🤡 I hope you take that clown comment in the right spirit of friendly jabbing back. Getting back on course, one of the reasons that I'm more accepting of Joki as a #4 defenseman is that I categorize him as a complementary player. He's not a lead player on the second pairing. He's a support player who allows Power to control the play as the dominant player on the pair. If a better player is added to the unit, then he should/would drop to a lower pairing. What I find interesting is that whenever I hear Granato talk about Joki he seems more positive about him than crowd here is.

That's the point that I was making. That he is more of a third pairing player than a second pairing talent. The goal would be to bring in a talent that would lower his pairing and better slot him where his talent would suggest. I would be more than happy to add him to the unit to upgrade the lower half of the unit. I want to note that I have a higher view of Joki than 99% of the audience here. I have no problem with him being a #4 player on the second pairing. I consider him to be a 4/5 defenseman, leaning toward the fifth spot. As I have said many times, if a better player is added to the mix, then he will get dropped to a lower pairing. That would be a good indication that the unit's depth is thickened.

I didn't come close to saying that he is bad. I simply asked if you considered him to be a second-pairing caliber of player. If Borgen was on the Sabres, I doubt that he will be a second-pairing defenseman.

Jersey has recently had a number of high draft choices. I've watched a portion of a number of their games and come away very impressed. It seems as if in relatively short period of time this young core has demonstrated that they are already good, with plenty of potential to get even better. To state the obvious, their style of play is fast skating, full length skill hockey compared to their former clog the middle and suffocating defense that relied on muscle more than skill. Their former sluggish brand of hockey got them a lot of victories but from an entertainment value it was soul-crushing. They have accumulated a number of young players who are ready to play in this league. We also have accumulated a number of good young players who may need a little more time (Quinn, JJ, Power etc.) but have shown that they can play in this league. I would guess that we are a year behind them. Hopefully, we can also make the quantum leap next year as they did this year. Just because he plays on the second pairing doesn't mean he is a second pairing caliber of player.

I pose this as a question more than a statement: Are we on the same track as New Jersey? We, like they have, had a number of high draft picks that in a relatively short time span have matured into good NHL players, with still a sizeable upside to their group. We may be a little behind them (maybe a year or so) but the roster building approach seems to be the very similar. If that is the case, then it augurs well for us.

After reading your well out thoughts the comparison and contrasts of the current regime to its predecessors is starkly evident. KA didn't undo everything that his predecessors did. He gets credit for getting a good return on the assets that he dealt away but he should also get accolades for making the right choices in who to keep and how to utilize them. Some would say that the players he needed to keep were obvious to all. I don't think that is necessarily true. Maybe keeping Tage, Dahlin, Mitts were not challenging decisions, but that's only half of the equation. All three of these players were not only kept but also used differently. And what shouldn't be a surprise is that their production quickly went up. It was KA who elevated Granato as an interim HC to replace Krueger, and then installed him as the permanent HC after the season. The consequence of that coaching decision was that the team internally improved before outside assets were added. What KA did is bring in quality staff to rebuild the organization that was torn down, covid certainly was a factor in that disassembling. Besides elevating Granato to be the HC, he also added Karmonos to work with him in reconstituting this organization. That was a critical hire because he added someone with GM type experience, something that he didn't actually have. If you take an overview perspective what is evident is that the organization is in sync from top to bottom. There is a level of synchronicity throughout the system that didn't exist before. What distinguished KA from his predecessors is that there is more analysis and less scrambling to address an issue/deficiency before making decisions. And in that process is a willingness to be more patient when addressing a problem. Anyone who has followed the Sabres for a long-time can't deny the fact that this version of the organization is functioning much better. There is a degree of coherency that didn't exist for a long time. There may have been a time-lag but the results are now following.

Why do you think that?

Every GM in the league has to contend with cap issues in some form. It's not unusual that teams are forced to trade players they would prefer to keep. If Buffalo offered more for Miller than any other team, he would with no hesitation make the deal. It's a business and not personal. As far as his history with Buffalo, it's so long ago that he probably has no memories of his time here.

Very few people, if any, have been clamoring for him to be on our third pairing or even on the roster. He's a fourth pairing and depth player. I just don't understand your fixation on him and expenditure of energy on such a fringe player. I have no problem having him on the roster serving that role. If and when the Sabres add players to the unit, he will get bumped out of the lineup. (As you noted.) There's unanimity on this site that more talent needs to be added to the unit. We all are in agreement on that issue. That's where we are at.

I'm not going to exaggerate his talents. But we fundamentally disagree on the caliber of player he is. He may not have the muscular traits that you desire but he is a better complementary defenseman than you make out to be. I also believe that the coach has a different and more positive view of him. I consider him to be a 4/5 player leaning more into the 5 spot. We simply disagree on this issue. That's okay.

If Miller was added to our roster, I would be ecstatic. He could be paired with Power, dropping joki to the third pair. An addition such as Miller would have such a cascading positive effect on that unit. Although making the cap numbers work out would be a challenge, I just don't see the Rangers allowing him to leave.