Archie Lee

It's hard to compare eras. Rosen is basically the age that Roy and Pominville were during their last full years in the AHL. If he stays in Rochester most of this year and plays at his current pace, he is likely just under a point per game. That's similar to Roy/Pominville in their final AHL seasons.

I guess I am speculating on whether his prospect status is or will be diminished by his failing to produce offensively at the NHL level. In my view his status as a tradeable asset in a deal for the sort of player Adams is reportedly looking for, would be greater if he were dominating the AHL than it is with him being a struggling NHLer. I acknowledge, though, that different GM's may have differing views on this. As far as him proving he can play in the NHL, I disagree. Kulich was not drafted to be a middle-six player who "holds his own". He has been good but not dominant at the AHL level. He was drafted to be a goal scorer and point producer. I think he can be the NHL player he was drafted to be (I'm not sown on him), but he is nowhere near to being that player yet.

With the injuries they have, I would prefer they move Zucker and/or McLeod up in the line-up and recall Murray and Rousek to fill 4th line roles. Every game that Kulich plays in the NHL has shown he is not yet ready to be an NHL player. His value as a prospect is diminished from what it would be if he were on pace to score 40 in the AHL. I suspect Rosen will be the same. We are adding these two youngsters to a roster that is already the youngest in the league. Who will Kulich and Rosen play with who will give them optimum opportunity for success? There is no longer any logic to this.

Pegula has made more rash decisions, to be sure. I see no evidence though, that Adams is in any jeopardy of losing his job.

I realize there are reasons for skepticism, but of the teams in the mediocre middle (of which, currently, two will make the playoffs in the East), I think we are well-positioned to take a run. My optimism is higher than it was at the start of the year, in part because there are so many teams also struggling to find consistency in their games. Drawing arbitrary lines in the schedule can be a fool’s game (so, indulge me), but since the 0-3 start the Sabres are 8-6-1, which is a .567 points %. That is hardly an amazing stretch, but a .567 points % the rest of the way actually gets us in the playoffs (based on current opposition records). After a slow start, Dahlin is on pace to match his 22-23 offensive production. Also offensively: Thompson and Tuch are having bounce back years, Peterka is continuing to progress, Power is on a 60 point pace, and Byram is on pace for a career high 50 points. The PP IS getting better. Cozens, Quinn, and Benson are not producing as needed, but McLeod and Zucker have lessened the blow by exceeding offensive expectations. UPL has shown signs of playing to last year’s form, and hopefully his injury is short-term and non-lingering. The Sabres, I think, have more upside and room for improvement than most teams they are competing with for the final two spots in the East. They are still adapting to a new coach and system. They are young and have much room for multiple players to simply start to play better (including some who are not meeting current expectations). And, per the topic of this thread, they have the cap space and resources to make a significant add. If Adams can pull off a deal, I do think they are a team positioned to improve as the year progresses. This year, slight in-season improvement may be all that is needed.

The Quinn drop-off has been bad, but perhaps made worse by the expectation some had that he was on verge of busting into top-10 winger and star status.

I agree actually. Benson didn’t do anything that Konecny wouldn’t do and vice versa.

He handled taking a bad penalty that led to the 1st goal and he handled not covering for his D-men that led to goal 4, so he might as well handle the clean-up for petulantly hitting the Flyer late.

Pre-rule, I don’t recall there being an epidemic of players shooting the puck over the glass intentionally, but certainly it was the case that players did it purposefully to end pressure. Today, every player is able to flip a puck out of play at will. I think it would be happening a lot if there was no penalty. Since there is no way to definitively determine intention, this is what we have. Where I agree is on the level of punishment. I have long thought that it is somewhat absurd that an accidental trip or hook or puck over the glass is the same 2 minutes as a violent infraction like charging or boarding or high-sticking (in most instances). I’ve wondered if it would be better to have certain penalties be only one minute. Or maybe “violent” penalties shouldn’t end when a goal is scored (you serve the full 2). Another option I’ve thought of is that maybe a PP that relates to a violent offence shouldn’t start with a faceoff but with the PP team having possession in the offensive zone.

They are on pace for 82 points.

Not sure if this is sarcasm, but Rosen is having a nice year. He has improved his production year over year in the AHL. It’s early in the year, but there are only two players younger than him who are having more productive years in the A.

This starts with the summer of 2023 when we opted to make no appreciable changes to a coaching staff and very young roster that missed the playoffs by one point. Every off-season and trade deadline that you don’t at least get incrementally better, until you are a contender, is a lost opportunity. We had a young coach in Rochester in Peca, who was getting opportunities around the NHL. Rather than make a move to promote him to Buffalo, Adams told him there were no spots. Imagine a GM passing on a young coach who is wanted in NY by a veteran HC like Laviolette, because he has Christie and Ellis, two coaches who, respectfully, were not in demand. Then we opt to do nothing in the player movement period, other than add Clifton and E. Johnson. Then we get to camp and get distracted by the shiniest new toys in Levi and Benson. Neither were ready. I know there are lots who disagree on Benson and think he was the shining light of last season. I saw, and still see, a kid whose value should be soaring as he dominates his junior hockey peers. Right now we should be thrilled with the possibility of either adding Benson in the next 24 months, or moving him in a package for that elusive top line forward. Instead, we have turned him into another struggling pro, as though “he plays a mature game for his age and the offence will come”, is what our goal should be for 18-19 years olds. Since that off-season we are playing catch-up and it doesn’t help that we don’t operate the way normal teams do. The recent failings are still fresh. The Mittelstadt trade. The sham coaching search and staff changes. The buyout of Skinner and failure to use the cap savings, perhaps by design. Quinn being viewed as a near untouchable asset. Kulich now being mismanaged. Levi missing key playing opportunity by being in the NHL. The continued diminishment of asset value that comes from being terrified of moving the wrong young player or prospect. The very notion that we would go into a must win year with the youngest roster in the NHL. It is all quite discouraging.

There was zero reason to stop the rotation. Levi played two good games and one real stinker. UPL had been less up and down, but was hardly “the hot hand”. The Sabres just continually author their own misfortune. Just keep Reimer and send Levi to Rochester like every other normal NHL franchise would have done. Then when injury or poor performance required a recall, you bring up the confident kid who is playing well in the NHL. But we just can’t get out of our own way.

I would say that it means he's not looking to move players who are currently helping us win, he is looking to move prospects and picks for an established player. Where the "prospect" line is drawn is perhaps the question. Is it drawn above or below the young players currently on the NHL squad? More simply, it just means he looking to buy and not sell.

At this time of year, the best we could likely do is the forward equivalent of an Olli Maatta. I don't see us acquiring a top 6 forward now. The time for that was the off-season. The next realistic opportunity will be the deadline. Unfortunately, I think we are in the cycle of being unwilling to trade young assets when their value is high. We then, of course, are unable to negotiate a worthwhile return when their value is low. Waiting for the day when a team will trade us a top-6 forward for our 7th best prospect and a 2nd rd pick, is just going to leave us waiting.

I think it is possible that $ was a factor and that Adams was not positioned to or comfortable with giving Mitts a $6 millionish AAV. He could not possibly sell trading Mitts for futures, so he acquired the best “name-asset” he could.

My view on our pairings hasn’t changed. With what we have, I think the best pairings are: Dahlin/Power Samuelsson/Jokiharju Byram/Clifton I’m not at all hung up on which is the 2nd or 3rd pair.

I’m not great at finding a comparable, but Byram reminds me of Montour when we got him. Byram is, I think, a better player, but like Montour, I’m not sure the fit is right. In FLA the last two seasons, Montour’s primary partners were Staal and Mikkola, a couple of veteran stay at home types who allowed Montour to selectively roam. We really don’t have such a player to pair with Byram. The negative-side of me thinks this eventually ends with Byram being traded for cents on the dollar and then reaching his prime with a team that pairs him with someone who better matches his skillset and turns him loose (as FLA did with Montour). And you know the rest…

Nothing through the first 10 games has changed my view that we are too young and inexperienced and that too many things need to happen that have not consistently happened before, for there to be a realistic expectation that we will make the playoffs. Therefore, my prediction is a finish somewhere between where we finished the last two years (85-90 points, 10-11th in the conference). As with current election polling, I acknowledge that this could be wrong in either direction by 4-5 points and 2-3 positions in the standings. The Panther GDT includes, understandably, a lament about the loss of Reinhart and about what he could mean to our team. Has there ever been a team that in the span of 6 seasons traded 4 star players (I'll call Mitts a star for this purpose), average age 25 (O'Reilly the oldest at 27), for younger or future assets (Tuch being the exception)? Regardless of whether it has been done before, we did it. But we are now the team that needs to acquire a top veteran player or two. This is why, when we have so many young talented players and prospects, we should not be afraid to move some of them for experienced talent. If we cling to our young players and prospects while they sort themselves out, because we are afraid we will trade the kid who breaks out, we risk what is happening this year, with Quinn, Benson, and Kulich combining for 3 points in 22 games. We have positioned ourselves where we won't trade the kids when they are meeting expectations because we need and love them, and we can't trade the kids who are struggling because their value is low. Teams like St. Louis (O'Reilly), Vegas (Eichel), Florida (Reinhart), and Colorado (Mittelstadt), are not afraid to give up meaningful young or future assets to address weaknesses that prevent them from reaching their goals. We seem paralyzed in fear of a mistake.

All of this is reasoned, but doesn’t mean he would not benefit from playing with better linemates. Per MoneyPuck, Cozens, Quinn, Kulich have the worst Corsi/Fenwick %’s on the team. That’s partly on Cozens to be sure (not just blaming his linemates). But, Cozens has basically not played 5v5 without one of Quinn or Kulich; per Dobber Frozen Tools, more than 85% of his even strength shifts have been with one of Quinn or Kulich. Better linemates would not necessarily get Cozens out of his shooting slump. Fans would be more tolerant of the lack of offensive production though, if he was on an effective line that was winning the possession and expected goal battles.

I’m not worried about Dahlin. As he recovers from his pre-season injury, I think he has looked more and more like his old-self. The occasional defensive miscue and undisciplined penalty is part of the package with Dahlin. If and when we become a better, more experienced and veteran team, those incidents will diminish as Dahlin better grasps he doesn’t have to do it all himself. And when they do occur they will hurt us less as we will be better able to recover and respond

You can’t let Barkov walk down Main Street like that. Bob was better than UPL, but Fla played better defensively and was more disciplined.

How much time did he spend in the Yukon this past offseason? In Europe? Training?

Playing at a 100 pt pace after today. We are getting legit 1st line production from Thompson, Tuch, Peterka.

Nice job by Quinn to create some havoc at the crease.