Doohicksie

I'm skeptical. I want it to work but I will believe it when I see it.

Call me skeptical but I can't see a coach/GM picking a player's brain for how they should run the team.

Seems odd for you to be so optimistic.

He played for the Sabres??? 😮

They have two guest coaches from the NCAA.... Colgate and... some other Ivy League School.

As far as mature prospects go, he's just getting there with players developed internally but they may or may not be ready, which is why you sign a few Clagues to allow the prospects time to mature.

Nice. Now get back to work! I hope he is.

But he doesn't have to agree to a short term extension. If the Sabres trade for him he will be a free agent after one year and he can sign a 1-year extension if he wants, or insist on 8 years (or 7 with another team). I think @GoPuckYourself is talking about a sign-and-trade situation.

You're one of the more thoughtful dot-connectors on the forum, so... Thanks for the speculation/info.

And what's wrong with that?

So you think they'll make a play for Gibson?

I wonder if that hurt him in the draft as well as his size? Skinner plays a somewhat unconventional style. We've seen that not all coaches know what to do with him, but with the right coach he's a dynamic scorer with a good overall game. I wonder how many GMs looked at Benson and saw the talent, but didn't like the style he plays.

Yeah, that's kind of the read I get. At first I was thinking the Sabres should go after him but... I don't know, meh.

See, this is why Kevyn has said he's good with what we currently have. There are other options out there but as you explore them none of them are really what he's looking for. Gibson is at best average. He would be okay in a mentoring role like Anderson, but probably doesn't have 40-50 quality games in him. Helle is a viable option until you consider you're either getting him for only one year or you're going to have to pay him too much for too long if you sign an extension. Any top quality FA goalie falls in the same bucket as Helle: They will cost too much for too long. It's easier and more practical to improve the defense and KA has already taken steps there, with perhaps more coming. And as I alluded to, I think his strategy is to put a good team in front of whatever goalie we have, good enough that the goalie isn't the linchpin holding the team together. Having a hero goalie is fun but being able to win games without the heroics in goal is more what Kevyn is after I think.

I tend to agree, but I think Stillman would get snatched up. Which Johnson are you referring to? Veteran Erik or prospect Ryan?

I think some people simply can't imagine that far out into the future. If we have cap space now we should spend it, future be damned! Muel in the third pairing? wut.

A quick glance at one of the trails where I ride my bike

What does Kevyn have left to do? Tidy things up. Which defensemen are staying on the roster, which are going to Rochester and which... need to be moved. That's about it. I expect Kevyn will continue to look for improvements to the roster, particularly at defense and goal, but I'm also fully prepared to see this team play in October as is. If he makes improvements, more power to him.

Sabrepede 2023!

He didn't even have to lead in Buffalo. There were veterans brought in specifically for that, people like Brian Gionta, Josh Gorges and Ryan O'Reilly. But he didn't cooperate with them, he formed his own factions in the locker room, resulting in a dysfunctional culture for the team.

*cough, cough* Ullmark *cough*

Okay, but he was not and did not want to be part of the solution here. He had his chance to be a leader of the Sabres, to build something. He put up big numbers but in the locker room he was part of the Sabres toxic culture. That was my point. With all the feel-good vibes the Sabres have looking forward, if Eichel were still here he'd be undermining them.

I've realized that what looks like Kevyn being "cheap" and not committing to the top talent is actually protecting the top talent. He's signed Tage, Muel and Cozens to team friendly deals, will be signing Dahlin shortly by all accounts and will have Power to deal with, along with the rest of the players. He could bring in a big impact player but that would break the cap, if not this year, then next year or the year after that. So he's leveraging the Sabres scouting and analytics departments a la Moneyball to identify players that haven't made that jump yet but have a good likelihood to (Clifton) and secure the services of savvy vets that can be coaches on the bench (E Johnson), in an attempt to get as much value out of his remaining cap space as he can. Between Clifton and Johnson I'm pretty confident that Power will have a better partner than he did last season (nothing against Joki, but he's a marginal 4D). I kind of expect to see both Erik Johnson and Connor Clifton paired with Power. I think Johnson would be preferred but won't be able to play monster minutes, so for most of a game you might see Clifton playing 4D with Power but when crunch time comes and Granato shortens the bench Johnson will be able to play those shifts because for the beginning of the game he was getting short 3rd pair minutes. The shoe to drop, of course, is who will be moved out and who will be moved down to Rochester. Ideally you would want to keep all the defensive depth you can; that was last season's lesson learned, but realistically you can't just push players down to Rochester. A player like Bryson, maybe, Stillman perhaps, but they could get claimed. Could you pass Lyubushkin or Joki through waivers? If you did, they would be miserable playing in the AHL. So what is Kevyn going to do?

I think it's the overall team in decline. If he had an overall 0.899 Sv% in Buffalo like he did last year with the Ducks he'd be a winning goalie. If Kevyn is in discussions I bet the issue is trying to get Anaheim to retain 25-50% on Gibson.