Archie Lee

I don't know what the answer is. For a few years the narrative was that we would start strong and then we would fade when the going got tougher. Now we have bad starts, but we finish strong when the pressure is off. I would say that almost every team we are playing is under some pressure. If our recent success is because the teams we are playing don't feel pressure to bring their best games against a bottom feeder, then you would think at least one other team behind us in the standings would be on a stretch similar to us (7-3-1 in last 11), but they all have losing records over their last 10. It is frustrating. We have clearly separated ourselves from the dregs of the NHL, yet we can't quite find a way to move into the top half of teams.

I wouldn’t over complicate it. The Sabres play tonight. I’m a fan. A win keeps their very slim playoff chances alive for another night. So, go Sabres!

I think Scott Laughton is the bottom 6 centre target. Last year Greenway was linked to the Sabres prior to the deadline. This year there were Mitts for Byram rumours a few weeks back. Laughton had been linked to the Sabres for a few weeks also. My guess is that the Flyers unexpected success caused them to push the deal to the off season. As for the reference in a post above to people being upset with the Mitts trade, I think it has less to do with people not liking the value of the deal or the return, than it does to us still being a team that is gathering assets and willing to create a gaping hole in order to fill another. Yes, Byram is a great add. But now we only have 3 true centres in our line-up. We have an important week ahead of us and our GM doesn’t believe enough in the team he iced this year to support them by acquiring a centre who could help down the stretch. The frustration comes from not knowing when we are going to become a serious team.

As Weave pointed out, it was known Quinn would miss a lot of time. Also, Adams knew that: - Granato had lost faith in Olofsson; and - It would be highly unlikely that Quinn's off-season injury would be the only longer-term injury the forward group would sustain. We had the cap space and the draft/prospect capital to add a forward in the off-season and we chose not to.

Ok, I now see how Byram makes us better. Dahlin, Byram, Power is potentially a truly top 3. This will particularly be true when their average age is higher than 22. I still would have preferred that it was accompanied by a move for a veteran forward who can play centre and wing. Maybe it will happen in the off-season. If Tuch’s buddy Chandler Stephenson comes to us as a UFA, that would get me excited. That is not the sort of thing that is going to happen though. In his press conferences, Adams tends to work to lower expectations (trades are hard, they are concerned about taking on a player’s declining years in UFA, they won’t overpay, they aren’t shopping players, trades are hard).

I’ve been an Adams supporter and have defended him and his process. The tone of that presser was completely incongruent with the season the team is having.

I guess it is just that Ruff was fired this year for pretty much the same reasons that many want to see Granato fired. It isn't that he failed to get past round one or two of the playoffs, but rather that he oversaw a regular season disaster. If we make a move (and I doubt we will), there will be coaches available whose recent records are considerably better than Ruff's.

Ruff is a Sabre Legend who I have great affection for. But, pretty much every comment on the Devils that I hear or read from people who cover the NHL, is that they were a disaster this year that went far deeper than just a couple of key injuries and bad goaltending. I'm not opposed to moving on from Granato, but surely we can do better than recycling Ruff?

Not defending Adams overall performance, but he did just make arguably the biggest straight-up "hockey" trade of the season. Maybe we will get something for E. Johnson, Okposo or Girgs, but it isn't likely to be much to get excited about. Somewhat interesting is that the Mittelstadt/Byram swap was rumored for a few weeks. Last year we were linked to Greenway and that happened fairly late on deadline day as I recall. We have been linked to Laughton this year, so maybe something is brewing there.

Value-wise, the trade is fine. I’m a little concerned with Byram’s injury history, but perhaps that is largely behind him. Certainly it is possible that he ends up being the clear best player in the deal. I don’t really get it from a roster building standpoint though. With the regression we have seen in the play of Thompson and Cozens, it does not appear we have a “Cup Calibre” 1st line centre. Add Mitts to the mix and a still developing Krebs, and we at least had 3, and perhaps 4, legit middle 6 centres. So, while we did not have an elite centre, we at least had centre depth. Now we have 2, maybe 3 centres and that depth is erased. Does adding Byram on D offset this? I contrast this with what Colorado did yesterday. They needed a #2 centre. They identified Mitts as the guy they wanted and then paid a significant price in Byram. The loss of Byram created a hole, so they immediately filled it by acquiring Walker from the Flyers. What did we do? Did we address a specific need? Cynically, it seems we had a guy who we were reluctant to pay and so we collected the best piece we could for him. One team is committed to winning and the other appears to be collecting assets still.

Only makes sense if we are moving a D in another deal at some point. Dahlin, Power, Samuelsson, Byram, Jokiharju, Clifton and R. Johnson would all be top 6 next year. I don’t think any are a #7.

Injuries and poor usage derailed his career; he did not need to be relegated to 4th line duty by the Housley years. We could have used 4-5 more players with his character and skills.

My recollection is that there was a report after Housley was fired, that Ruff would have interest in returning to Buffalo. He was an assistant with the Rangers at the time. I don't think he was seriously considered by Botterill, who hired Krueger.

Thatcher Demko was a 2nd rd pick in 2014. In March 2021, during the late-starting covid year, he signed a 5 year extension with the Canucks at $5 million per season. At the time of the extension he had played 62 games, had a career save % of .910 and was 34-31-4. In 2020-21, the year he signed his extension, he finished with a .915 save %, which was good for 15th in the NHL that season. The league average save % that season was .908. Demko was 25 years 3 months when he signed the extension. UPL was a 2nd rd pick in 2017. He's played in 84 NHL games. He is 39-35-8 with a .904 save %. This season he has a .914 save % (tied for 11th with Demko). The league avg save % this year is .903. UPL will be 25 years old on March 9th. I can't recall if people thought the Demko deal was a good one at the time? I do remember thinking that it was the benchmark for any deal if we wanted to keep Ullmark. There are 25 goalies in the NHL with a cap hit of $4 million and higher this season. 19 at $5 million and higher.

By New Year’s, it was not realistic that we would get to 95-96 points. If that is what it will take then it is just too late. The path since New Year’s has been to get to around where we finished a year ago and hope that Tampa or Detroit falter. Last night stings a bit as had we held on for the win it would not be a stretch to say we had moved into the position of the non-playoff positioned team most likely to make a run. No real change in my view, though: need to get to DeLuca .500 by game 76 or so and then nearly win out from there. If they do that, we will still be in it at game 79-80. We need at least 1 win against Toronto/Nashville to hopefully encourage Adams to add something on Friday that can give the team a little boost.

If the team continues its winning ways this week then I suspect the only two UFA’s we would be looking to move are Olofsson and E. Johnson. Neither will return much and their cap levels might require double retention for a team to even give them consideration. I don’t think either will be deemed worth the effort for another team. Though I still think Olofsson has a 7-8 goals in 9-10 games streak in him that could help a team get into the playoffs or through a round or 2. If making the playoffs (or even taking a run at the playoffs) is even a remote possibility come Friday, then I don’t think the return on Okposo or Girgs would be worth upsetting the current progression. Both are playing well. It would be nice to replace Olofsson and E. Johnson as roster options with two players the team would have more faith in. I heard or read that the Oilers want to make a splashy add but need to move out a couple pieces; Foegele and Kulak were the mentioned odd men out. Foegele is a UFA but would be a good bottom 6 add down the stretch and a potential Girgs/Okie replacement next year. Kulak has two years left at 2.75, which is high for a bottom pair or 7th D. But down the stretch I think he would be a good depth add and looking ahead to next year, if Kulak and a reasonably priced Bryson are our 4th pair, then I think we would be in good shape on the blue line.

Moneypuck has us winning the game over 60% of the time. They have Tampa at less than 2 expected goals in the game. I thought we played a pretty solid road game. There is not a lot of “sand paper” in our game, but I don’t expect that to change mid season.

I’m not trying to convince you of anything, merely pointing out that an anecdote from over 50 years ago is not evidence that if you get rid of fighting the game will be dirtier or have more dangerous stick infractions.

I was wondering the same. Per CapFriendly though, with Dougie Hamilton on LTIR, they still have around 8 million in deadline space. We have 35 million in deadline space.

There is a lot of data that exists from the more than half century that has passed since Wayne Cashman nearly lost his tongue.

We aren’t making the playoffs. But we can make it interesting if we can get to real or DeLuca .500. We are four games below now. All of the current non-playoff teams ahead of us, are also below real .500. Detroit or Tampa would need to dip a bit. We don’t need to get there in a week. Just get there by game 70-72 and there still might be time. I don’t think it’s happening, but it could. The most Sabres-like ending to the year would be we finish strong and pass all the non-playoff teams ahead of us and Philly, only to miss the playoffs because we are 6th in the Atlantic.

The obvious thing to me is to put Olofsson with Thompson and Tuch. Olofsson has played well with Thompson before (that 70's line). In my opinion Olofsson and Skinner have never meshed, but Olofsson might thrive with Tuch on the other wing. Olofsson is streaky. Maybe he could cook up until the deadline.

I don’t personally disagree with your point. I would just add though that the “goal” you refer to (having good goaltending to start the season) is a bit nebulous. Whose “goal”? Yours? Absolutely. Fans in General? For sure. The actual GM? It doesn’t appear that was his goal, necessarily. Rather, it seems he and his staff were unsure of what they had with their 3 goalies (2 prospects and a journeyman) and were going to roll with 3 and hope at least one emerged. They had their preference, clearly, and he wasn’t ready. Just a reminder that the, mostly short-term, goals of us fans don’t necessarily align with the goals of the actual GM or decision makers.

I guess that's a doable buy-out. It's hardly a good thing though, to have $4,$6,$2,$2 million in dead space for the 4 seasons after next; that is about when we should be spending to the cap in order to win hockey games. If moving on from Skinner is something the organization decides to do, much better to see if he will waive his NMC for a handful of teams and eat 50% of his salary and attach a pick if needed to get rid of him. We are going to be paying him to play elsewhere either way, so we might as well avoid the cap hit for the additional years.

Here is what I think will happen: - After the season one or two assistant coaches and/or Rochester coaches will be either let go or reassigned and there will be at least one new assistant on the Sabres' staff next year who is not currently in the org - Starting as soon as the trade deadline this season and through off-season free agency, there will be at least three player acquisitions that will address missing elements; specifically they will target veteran players who play with edge/grit. At least one of our top forward prospects will be traded in these deals. - Granato will be back to start next season and keeps his job if things go well (ie: they start well and stay in a playoff spot); he will be a mid-season firing though if next year goes south like this season has