Archie Lee

Hey, that was fun. Need more of those.

I recognize that 4th line players like Aube-Kubel get waived, claimed, reassigned, called back up, regularly over the course of the NHL season. I suppose you could also say that the emergence of Kulich and Kozak forced their hands and this is good news because it means we have good young players who have earned a spot on the roster. But, you really can't overstate how incredibly flawed the promise of "we added 2/3's of Washington's 4th line" has turned out to be. I went back and watched the Adams press conference from day one of free agency. The trade for Malenstyn and signing of Aube-Kubel and Lafferty were the keys to "rounding out the roster", "becoming more physical", developing "an identity", being a team that "can wear teams out" and "be relentless on the forecheck" and "more responsible defensively". Adams also was clear on the impact Ruff was having on the remaking of the bottom 6. No GM in my memory has more significantly misjudged what he had in his players and coaching staff.

Maybe I’m over-valuing Pettersson. Perhaps his most recent performance combined with his high salary and pending NMC are bigger factors in dragging down his value than I think. On another site I saw a list of players in the Cap-Era who had 400 points in their first 400 games and it’s pretty much a who’s who of modern day future hall of famers. Pettersson is one of only 12 players to do this in the Cap-Era. If I had a choice between waking up tomorrow to a Pettersson trade or an Adams firing, I take the firing. I would prefer a new GM manage any trades or roster changes.

I agree with this. If this trade happens, I think it will be one of Byram or Power, and one of Cozens or Peterka, and one of Benson or Kulich or a 1st rd pick, for Pettersson and a secondary piece, like Desharnais or Forbort. I think some Sabres fans will see that as a fleecing. But the hockey world in general will see the trade as the Sabres getting the elite player.

My best guess is the 3rd piece will need to hurt a little more than a 2nd rd pick.

I am pretty certain that offer doesn’t get us Pettersson, let alone return Joshua as well. I think if you subbed Kulich or Benson for Quinn it might get you Pettersson and a spare D like Desharnais or Forbort. It would likely need to be the centre, Kulich. This trade isn’t happening without the Sabres giving up at least one piece that hurts.

It is certainly odd that Ruff didn’t bring in any assistants. Adams did say in a WGR interview, a few days after the palm tree press conference I think, that It was Ruff’s decision to take some time to get to know the coaches already in the org. Maybe Adams was lying. But, why would Ruff at his age, experience, and pedigree, choose to work under such restrictions? If Ruff has willingly accepted this, then I would say it reflects as poorly on him as it does on Pegula and Adams. My sense is that Ruff has quickly become culpable in this mess. Like Adams, he has accepted the conditions in exchange for holding onto a position that he is no longer particularly good at (in Adams’s case, never was good at).

Just my opinion, but I think the biggest obstacle is Mahones. I love Allen. He is incredible. We are so fortunate to have him. I think we get a Super Bowl in the next 5-7 years with him, maybe two. I have not a negative thing to say about Allen. Just a pure joy to watch the man play. He should be the MVP of this season. But, Mahones might be the best QB of all time.

It would be some kind of hilarious if the Bills fired McDermott and the Sabres keep Adams. And I don’t mean hilarious in the normal funny sense.

Yeah, we need to find the next best coach that has ever lived to beat arguably the current best coach who has ever lived.

They had what seemed like a normal 3 game setback, losing 1-0 to Minnesota, 4-3 in OT to Vancouver and 3-0 to the Islanders. Normal for the last 2 years anyway. Then the Colorado game. Then the press conference. Then the Pegula visit. In hindsight, it was rather quaint how upset we were after the Colorado game. As though things could not have gotten worse from there.

There are fewer than 10 NHL teams that have 3 centres producing more points than McLeod. I don’t think he is close to a write-off. He’s pretty much what you want in a 3rd line centre.

Not that The Athletic's rankings are the be all and end all, but if you accept that they have some merit and you believe in the general idea that it is good to accumulate top players, then getting Pettersson for some combination of 3-4 assets that don't include Dahlin, Thompson, Tuch and Power, is probably a sound decision. Pettersson would be our top player (according to the Athletic's rankings) with the four Sabres I list also making the top 120. Pettersson gives me some cause for worry. Also, I don't like the idea of Adams making a big trade. In a vacuum though, parting with Cozens, Byram, and one of Benson, Quinn, or Peterka, for Pettersson, would likely be viewed as a deal that makes us a better team. This would be particularly so, if it is not the only move and steps are taken to: - get Dahlin and Power the right partners - make a decision on Samuelsson and his contract - keep Zucker and Greenway or add similar players in their place - address the back-up goalie situation - address the coaching staff The problem I have, is the more you consider all of the additional moves that need to be made, the more obvious it becomes that we just don't have a GM who is up to it. So it ends up being the addition of an $11.6 million player with some questionable commitment, to an environment that is rather soul-sucking. Not a great combo.

True. But we had Pegula, Adams, Granato and when we decided to make a coaching change we went for the easy nostalgia hire over an actual search. At the time of the Eichel trade, Vegas had Foley, McPhee, McCrimmon and DeBoer, and when they decided on a coaching change they went out and got Bruce Cassidy. Pettersson would not be coming to anything that resembles a Vegas environment.

On balance, I agree. I would prefer the Sabres move out a couple of young roster players for veterans more ready to win now, and keep their top pick. The challenge is: which young roster players. Kulich has moved himself to the front of the line in value amongst our under 23 forwards, I think. He looks like a centre. Pettersson/Kulich might be a legit one/two centre punch, with McLeod, Krebs, Kozak, Helenius being pretty solid organizational depth.

I’m torn. On the one hand, a big change is needed. On the other hand, I really don’t want Adams to be the architect. I just think he needs to be removed from his GM role and if he makes a Pettersson trade it likely signifies that he and Ruff will be back next year. I think the evidence is now overwhelming that both are not currently good at their jobs. If I had my choice between the two of them being involved in big roster moves or a different GM and head coach overseeing significant but quite a bit more subtle changes, I would choose the latter and it’s not close. On Pettersson’s value. It’s tricky. Obviously he has been a star player. He has high draft pedigree and is still young. He’s a real centre and is quite good/responsible defensively, to go along with 80-90 point potential. But, his offence has declined 2 years in a row. His contract is huge. Fair or unfair, there are questions re: his commitment. There are enough negatives that there should be some drag on his value.

Because there are a lot of players in the NHL aside from Ehlers and Necas. Because we have been able to convince lots of players to take Sabre money.

I think there is zero evidence to support the conclusion in your last sentence.

Yeah, I don’t know what to say. He looked so tentative. Such an obvious spot where he was the first forechecker and needed to be on top of the d-man. So often this team (this isn’t on just Quinn obviously), just fails to do the fundamental things that are part of winning.

If you have the game recorded, watch our dump-in with around a minute left just before the Oilers miss the empty net goal. Watch the effort Quinn gives on the dump in. It’s something.

Where this argument falls apart I think, is that there are lots of good NHL players who don’t have trade protection. Also, there are lots who will sign with the Sabres as UFAs (in my opinion). Adams traded for Tuch, Greenway, McLeod and has signed Clifton and Zucker as UFAs. Maybe these aren’t star players, but they are solid to good players all of whom played playoff games before coming to the Sabres. Had Adams made 3-4 additional moves for players in this category between June 2023 and August 2024, we would be in a different place in my view. If Adams can’t give money away, it is a problem of his own making. He waited too long to make meaningful moves and the team has regressed back to where it was when he fired Krueger.

Here is something that people might find interesting re: who Power and Byram get paired with. This is according to Dobber Line Combinations. Byram’s primary even strength partner this year is Dahlin at 442 minutes. Second for Byram is Power at 221 minutes. Power’s most common partner? Byram. That’s how we treat our 21 year old 1st OA. That’s how we protect our young kids. Power’s partner is an afterthought. He has never had a partner.

I think there was an obvious pivot point for Adams and the franchise and that was the summer of 2023. Whether "the plan" to that point had been successful due to smart decisions or luck, it is nonetheless the case that they did manage to get to 91 points and play better than Deluca .500 hockey. Any culture of winning that had developed, though, was first stunted by Adams doing next to nothing in the summer of 2023, and then obliterated by him rolling back the same core of young players in the summer of 2024, to inhabit the most important roles on the team. Adams either outright misjudged the skill and readiness of his young talent, or he failed to create the proper environment for continued growth (or both). Regardless, the level of failure is enormous.

The team needs a culture change. The little play within the play that is emblematic of the Sabres occurred with just under 4 minutes to go. The Sabres are down 1 and on the PP. The puck is in Calgary’s end and squirts up the wall to Wolf’s right. Thompson and Pelletier have a brief puck battle. Thompson chooses the wrong side of the puck and makes no attempt to utilize his 7” and 40lb size advantage and is easily outmuscled for the puck and Pelletier clears it down the ice. Again and again we lose these small battles that make a difference in games. I don’t know the answer. I don’t want a tear down. There is no player that I wouldn’t consider dealing in a hockey trade, but moving any youngish established player (Dahlin, Thompson, Tuch, etc) for futures would be beyond crazy. Ruff is not the answer. The mistakes we saw from Dahlin, Thompson, and Power tonight, were the kind of mistakes that we did see from Eichel and Reinhart when they were here. Every player makes mistakes, but we do not seem to be able to bring in the right coach to establish that such mistakes are not acceptable. Early in Cassidy’s time in Vegas, he called out Eichel for poor efforts. Adams can’t return. A new GM has to get a chance to establish a new culture with new coaches and some strategic roster moves. If Adams is back then there is no reason to expect anything but a minor variation on what we have seen this season.

The Sabres are getting good offensive value out of their top 3 d-men. There are 3 teams in the league, Colorado, Columbus, and Vegas, whose top 3 scoring D have combined to produce more points this year than Dahlin, Byram, Power. I think you can keep all 3. I think we need to pair one of Byram or Power with Dahlin and find a stable veteran D to pair with the other (Cody Ceci was available this off-season and, occasional mind-cramp aside, would have been a good partner for Power or Byram). Maybe Samuelsson can still be that guy. He has perhaps been our most disappointing player. I also think that our coaching, including head coaching, is below average. Dean Evason, with a couple of different assistants, would have been a better choice, after an actual coaching search.