BlowLeafsBlow123

Trust me, I agree wholeheartedly with you. People don't like to put much stock into the 4th line having a big impact on the team. That said, if that line were out there tilting the ice in our favor and helping us get offensive zone starts for our offensive lines, this team could be much better off. Remember the days of Girgs Larry Okposo for a bit there. They used to get it out of there zone, cycle in the offensive zone for a minute and get a whistle. That stuff is valuable. These jokes try to dump it in and fail to retrieve nearly every single time. What is their purpose? Malenstyn is one of the worst forwards I've ever watched, literally can't do anything. Lafferty is a huge disappointment and just doesn't fit here at all. He used to be noticeable any time we played against him, probably why they signed him in the first place. Krebs can continue to be a 4C since he can finally win draws, but man he needs some real wingers on that line. These other two are abominations, while Krebs (imo) is a low end NHL'er/AHL all-star type, who needs the right type of forecheckers on his line.

Yes, they most certainly are not a line you want to have for tough road games against elite opponents. The problem with creating a real shut down 4th line is that it would require Adams admitting not one, but three mistakes. You'd probably have to drop Krebs, Malenstyn and Lafferty from the team, or at least your starting lineup.

I like Benson with Thompson and Norris...two shooters. Benson has the ability to be an elite playmaker but needs to play with someone better than Krebs, who is terrible and not a stylistic fit for Benson's strengths. Every time Benson has had time with Thompson, the line has looked good. As much as I want to add veterans throughout the top 6, I could see Benson filling the role of top 6 playmaking wing on at least one line. Let's go get Marner for the other 🙂

I hold out some hope that Benson become at least a Marchand-lite. I don't expect 100 point seasons but could absolutely see him get over 70 points at his peak, all the while providing strong defense and efficient/High IQ play. Marchand was still in the Q when he was Benson's age and started in the AHL in his age 20 season. He was a solid .75 - almost point per game in his season and a half in the AHL. If you threw a 20 year old Benson on Rochester next year, I think he's quite easily close to a point per game player down there. Looking further at Marchand's career stats and from ages 21-26 he hovered between 40 and 60 point paces until exploding to become the over a point per game guy for 6 years in a row, before starting to tail off in his late 30s here. All in all, I could see Benson getting that extra bit of strength and hopefully improving his skating enough to become that 70-80 point guy in his prime. He's certainly someone you're going to want getting key ice time with his high IQ, defensive acumen and willingness to get his hands dirty. He should be a good fit with a shoot-first center, as he'll do the dirty work for a Tage/Norris type and allow them to get open for shooting opps. To me, he's 100% a core piece and possibly their most important forward for a future build of the team at this point. Put it this way, there's not another forward on the Sabres outside of Tage that I'd trade him for, if that makes sense. I'd love to see them on a line together in fact. Barkov is a rare talent in the Bergeron mold where they just dominate the ice. Barkov has flat out destroyed the Sabres over the years. We have almost no chance to counter what he brings with our center group.

I think Johnson is more likely a Bryson replacement. I cannot see them re-signing Bryson again, really under any circumstance. Perhaps Johnson/JBD can be an ok third pairing. We just need a third pairing that keeps it simple, plays a smart/heady game and doesn't kill them. Clifton, while physical just seems to make a lot of dumb plays out there. In a vacuum he's a fine third pairing d-man but I think this team needs guys that make the right play and play within themselves. My preference would be for them to find their way out of the Samuelsson deal and decide if they're extending Byram or trading him. Ideally they change the look of the defense by quite a bit: X-Dahlin Power-X Johnson-JBD Clifton (if you can't move him along) I would imagine this would have to come in the form of trades, as top 4 d-men are rarely sitting in UFA willing to come to Buffalo. It might be time to trade some forward prospects for established d-men. Worst case scenario you keep Samuelsson and pair him with Dahlin to minimize the damage he can do to your team, as Dahlin is otherworldly. Power's partner is mission critical for this offseason. I still have a lot of belief in this kid and think he'll get back to tilting the ice in our favor more often than not. This year has been rough for him, no doubt. But they've continually saddled him with less than ideal partners (i.e. Jokiharju) and the 2nd pair just never found it's footing. The fact that guys like John Marino and Dante Fabbro were available for very little to nothing and Adams did nothing really chaps my ass. He literally did the bare minimum and simply re-signed guys like Bryson and Joki. They also need to hire better defensive assistants that can help get Power's defensive zone development on track. I have to remind myself that Dahlin was struggling at a similar age, in a similar fashion before all of a sudden figuring out his defensive game. Now he's elite at both ends. Byram, while solid, has not proven he can do well without Dahlin. He's been solid and I'd love to keep him, but don't think it's a luxury we can afford in terms of cap or team construction. Best bet is to move him while his value is high and perhaps you can pull a defensive RD from someone that badly needs an offensive d-man. I really hope we have a new look next season, just not sure I want Kevyn making these crucial decisions.

See above. Apologies for spamming the board with these but thought they spoke well to what we're seeing on the ice. It's fairly easy to see why we're a bad team this year. We're getting terrible results from our 4th line, and basically all but two defensemen are completely under water. Not only that, our 2nd line had completely tanked us early in the season and never truly recovered. Add onto that some piss poor, unclutch goaltending and it's easy to see. They need to identify the weak points (they've started to) and get the right group here. Here's a few more of the drains:

I think you need to try and improve the top 6. If Clifton stays around due to his outlandish contract, then fine, but we're notably worse when he's in the lineup. You are correct on the 4th line. It's probably one of the worst units in the league and both of the anchors are signed through next season. Adams thinking he had it all figured out is hilarious in retrospect. Tying his boat to Beck Malenstyn and Sam Lafferty to change his team around is just comedy gold at this point. Small sample size alert, but it seems Kozak is able to get better results in that spot, at least defensively. He might be worth a longer look at 4C. But then again, I'm very much out on Krebs and don't think he's a real NHL'er at this point. He's hanging on by a thread from my view.

It kills me that Fabbro was available on waivers and we could've grabbed him for nothing. Instead we put up with the combo of Bryson, Samuelsson, Jokiharju and Clifton as our bottom three. That's not to mention icing a player like Gilbert. To me, they need three competent defensive d-men this offseason, at least one true righty to play with Power. Dahlin is fine on the right side and doesn't need someone at Byram's offensive level next to him to be elite. Perhaps Ryan Johnson gets an opportunity considering his age and pedigree. Bernard Docker can also be a passable depth piece. It's about making incremental improvements and weeding out the weak points of the roster. It's death by 1,000 papercuts every year with this team and Adams just doesn't take it far enough.

Are you telling me these aren't the results they were looking for? Not to come in here with saying metrics are everything...but we cannot keep putting guys like Clifton on the ice when the eye test and analytics speak to him being a terrible player for us....

There's no way they bring all these assistants back...right? RIGHT?

I keep saying...he's probably the best d-man in the league if he's on one of the top teams. Imagine him with Colorado, he'd be racking up points. That said, not sure he's ever going to be at Makar's level offensively ... that dude is Bobby Orr for all intents and purposes. Not sure I could ever see Dahlin pacing for 30ish goals.

He's cooked. If they can find a sucker this offseason, they need to strike. I'm sure he'd love to end up in his hometown of Philly and I'd gladly let them repeat the Risto trade 🙂. Obviously you're not getting much in return, but you might be able to move him just because he's a large, youngish defenseman.

Wasn't he available on waivers earlier in the season? That was a huge miss by Adams...but we all know he's mentally challenged.

Yeah, I'm not seeing playmaking from either Tuch or Peterka on a consistent basis. Tuch makes things happen, plays an alpha game by getting in on pucks and playing a more aggressive straight line game. But I don't see creativity from either of them consistently, like we used to see from Eichel/Reinhart/O'Reilly for instance. Those guys all saw the ice much better than this current crop of top 6'ers. We need someone that can come in and calmly make tape to tape passes on the PP in key moments, like we saw Pat Kane do last night. It truly feels like the missing ingredient and something I'd loved to fill by trading Cozens. While Norris is an upgrade as a center, he's not an upgrade as a playmaker by any means.

I wonder if this is why we were starting to see the smoke around Peterka. Perhaps they've quietly decided they don't want to pay him. Not sure how I feel about him as a long term piece tbh. I'm most certainly NOT giving him a 6+ year deal. I'd sign him short term for now and see what happens. He either becomes a cap casualty down the line or he's good enough to be a core piece eventually. Right now, I'd see what the market looks like for him and see if you can improve other parts of the roster with him. I kinda like Benson long term over him as a top 6 LW.

He's precisely what they need, especially if they keep Norris at the top of the lineup. Either way though, having Marner and Tage together at ES and PP would be dynamite. He'd allow you get creative with how you setup the lines. The problem right now is the lack of playmakers throughout the lineup. They have guys that can bury pucks and shoot above their expected goals (Thompson, Norris, Tuch, maybe Peterka). But not a single one of them is a proven passer/playmaker/creator. I'd argue they need two players like that, ideally one in the middle and one on the wing. Then development and improvement from Quinn and/or Benson would become the "gravy" it should've been over the last few seasons. Adams relying on these younger guys in top 9 roles for three years in a row is possibly his biggest blunder, up there with not finding a real partner for Power. That said, Benson is a core piece to me, even if he's never a true top 6 forward (I think he's capable). He's actually someone I'd be willing to sign long term someday, still not sold on Peterka or Quinn in that regard.

Yes, he's next on the list of guys that NEED to be gone this offseason. There's no doubt about it to me...he can't be relied on and just plays too casual a game. It's too bad because he looked so promising in his rookie season. His game changed since then. I remember him eliminating guys frequently either with a strong stick or along the boards. He's never going to be a punishing hitter but he effectively eliminated his side of the ice and then the bottom just fell out. He does none of these things well anymore. Is it the injuries? Coaching? Comfort after getting a large contract? It's just another in the long line of issues on this team. Giving all these guys long-terms deals after proving very little looks to be a huge blunder for Adams. Samuelsson in retrospect was never a great deal. Giving him around $5M was painting nearly a best case scenario for what he'd turn into. Maybe you saved your self ~$1M per year if he turned into a true top pair shutdown guy. The same goes for the Power deal. His deal still has potential to be "okay" but it seems like Adams got cocky after the Tage contract and thought it'd work for all these guys and that they'd all hit their top potential. It'll likely be his undoing. From here on out, I'd avoid paying any of these guys until they prove they can get this team into the playoffs and actually perform under pressure. A lot of these contracts were based on a team that had no expectations or pressure to speak of. You can tell how the games have changed for these guys with actual expectations put on them.

You're telling me Adams couldn't sell him on joining here? The guy who takes a year to close a single trade deal couldn't seal the deal with a HOF'er? As much as Sabres twitter loves to rag on Kane and his poor analytics...I truly think he could've been a huge help to this team over the years. A guy with high IQ, clutch ability and PP prowess is precisely what they've needed for years. Our group just cannot get that key PP goal in close games and tend to panic at the end of games trying to tie it up. The broadcast yesterday showed it very well how Kane is calm and processes the game in a way that allows him to score in key moments. He might be the ultimate Sabre killer and it's a sad chapter in the Sabres drought. He probably would've come here with a competent, veteran GM and President of Hockey Ops in place. But, can you imagine a Hall of Famer having a chat with Adams and feeling like it's a smart career move?

Why couldn't we get San Jose or something tonight? Of course we get a hot Florida team. I'm so embarrassed right now.

I can't help but feel bad for him. This is a disease that this organization is infected with.

I'll take a d-man that can at least play in the NHL ... he's probably an upgrade over Bryson.

Brannstrom for Aube-Kubel ... ok

I've been a huge Cozens-hater, similar to @mjd1001 on another board. But really enjoy the perspective over here. The Sabres need an infusion of clutch players for this team and some hockey IQ. I'm not sure where Norris stands here but seems he knows how to find open ice for scoring chances at least. I still think we need to swap out another low IQ player for someone that plays a heady game. I think Kulich plays a smart game, which is good, but he's not quite ready to be a top 6 C full-time. Sometimes when you have Thompson, Tuch and Peterka on the ice all at once, the low IQ plays tend to compound and you end up with bad shot selection at the end of games (i.e. last night). Maybe Norris and someone else could help there, we'll see.

I think Lindy likes Kulich's defensive game and letting the other two drive the offensive play.

Personally I'd start them on separate lines. Let Tage and Peterka drive L1 and have Kulich worry about defense. Try Norris with Tuch and maybe Quinn.