Doohicksie

This could totally be misinformation by Kevyn to motivate Anaheim to negotiate a Gibson trade. Yes, it would be an ideal trade for us to be honest.

Yep, I totally get it, and there's no telling if Kevyn is done with the D. But I also don't know what the analytics dept. projects for Clifton. They might have him as a legit 4D. If nothing else, the team seems to projecting Clifton as that, if only to lean them toward an advantage in trade negotiations for an actual 4D. I'm not going to say that every trade Kevyn makes is going to be like the Eichel trade, but if you look to what he said and how he played it, he seemed to manipulate the market to get what he wanted. Kevyn Adams is shrewder than his "aw shucks" demeanor would indicate.

He's got a 0.912 career Sv%. I don't think he feels threatened by a goalie with a whole 7 games of experience. The vibes the league is feeling about Buffalo are different this year.

With a MUCH larger sample size. I hope Levi's numbers project over a full season but I won't be surprised if they don't in his first full season.

He's gotten steadily better each season. I'm not saying he's definitely going to thrive at 4D but it wouldn't surprise me. He played on a pretty mature (old) team; now he will be one of the vets on defense. E Johnson will be there to fill in if it comes to that.

A hot take must be really, really bad if @Buffalonill and I both hate it. 😉

He's made a habit of precisely that and it's infuriating. I think the rest of the league knows it so they wait him out and as soon as he curls away the skate behind his back, usually up the boards while Ollie's skating at the blue line, out of the play.

I would like to move on from him too, but until he moves they're not going to bring someone in.

I disagree with this approach, giving up essentially two #1’s for a one year rental is not ideal. Adding one “special guy” for one year may not help the locker room of a young and up and coming team very much either. However, it is probably better than doing nothing at all and going with Levi/UPL/Comrie. A lot can go wrong with the later. This core needs help to start winning consistently and the fan base deserves better than another season with no playoffs. This pretty much captures my internal conversation on the matter.

I can just imagine if we still had Eichel he'd be mouthing "blah blah blah" behind Johnson as he said it. Oh, and rolling his eyes of course.

Let's hope Benson doesn't turn out that way. It won't happen unless they move Olofsson.

That explains why Stevie Y is clutching at straws in free agency. Not unlike XGMTM's attempt to bring in people to support Eichel, and probably about as successful (but with Larkin being a lesser talent).

I think Kevyn's approach is the opposite extreme, but perhaps he understands the impact of chemistry and how to build it better than I do.

I really hope he took that as a learning opportunity.

That's one way to look at it. The other is to realize he's always looking to improve (as any competent GM should) but he won't make a trade for the sake doing something. He's exercising discipline, setting parameters that he sticks to. If it's outside those parameters he does not go forward. I'd rather see that than waiving draft capital around like a pirate in a brothel.

When I look at how the Sabres are building, I think of the mid-90s Red Wings; I was living in Detroit at the time. I'd been living away from Buffalo and had lost contact with pretty much all Buffalo sports (in the 80s there was no internet and cable, let alone premium sports cable was beyond my reach financially). Anyway, we moved to Detroit in '91 and I saw up close how the dynasty in its early days unfolded. They went through young goalies, moving on from Tim Cheveldae and giving the reins to Chris Osgood who was good, not great, his rookie year in a tandem with Bob Essensa who was well past his best years in the NHL. When they brought in Mike Vernon, it finally stabilized Osgood's game and he went on to be a very steady goalie with a 0.900-0.920 Sv% for the rest of his time with the Wings. Vernon himself had a lower Sv% than Osgood but at first was the guy who got the big games, taking the team to a conference final in '95 and a Cup in '97. The point is, the team was largely set and it still took Detroit a couple years to find the right goalie situation. In the case of the Sabres, the fan base is used to the team succeeding largely on a goalies heroics (Hasek, Miller) and then trying to ride him to success. Kevyn is building the team from the other end, building the offense, building the defense, and then addressing goalie. I think it's important to Adams that the team be contender level because of the skaters, not because of the goalie, because goalie is such a mercurial position. If they built around a goalie and the goalie falters, moving onto the next one can feel like tearing the heart out of the team. But if the team is built to be fundamentally sound and deep on the forward lines and defense, switching goalies is less traumatic. I know fans are impatient for a Cup, but I still think Kevyn is doing it right.

I just looked up his salary: $11.5 million AAV for four more years, at the end of which he will be 37. That would wreck just about any team's salary structure. I bet his complaint is that the Sharks aren't competitive. OF COURSE NOT, and it's because of your salary, Erik!

I think if we gave up UPL and Rosen (as was suggested) for Helle for one year, that might be all Kevyn would want to commit to. Everyone says trading for Helle is contingent on signing an extension, but I don't think Kevyn would want to pay the dollars and term that Helle would command. I think Hellebyuck would literally be a rental where Kevyn might trade him out at the deadline for roughly what he paid for him- a goalie prospect and another prospect, to a team looking to sign him long term. That tells me that to Kevyn, acquiring Hellebyuck (or another top shelf goalie) is probably a non-starter. Yeah, there's a reason I'm not an NHL GM. I admire your faith.

This means almost nothing to me. This is Kevyn being Kevyn: Always speak highly of your own players, period. I think it doesn't indicate one way or the other what his intentions are for goalie. Talking less enthusiastically would either decrease UPL/Comrie's trade value or, if they aren't traded, discourage them. No good would come from public acknowledging a problem in net. As for my thoughts about the poll: 1. Do you think Levi is capable of delivering 50+ games of good goaltending this year? - I said no. I don't think that necessarily means he can't, but rather I wouldn't want to put him into that situation. If the Sabres have a good starter that Levi could back up, it would be ideal. As Levi demonstrates he can handle a heavy workload, give him the work. 2. Do you want to add a goalie capable of delivering 50+ games of good goaltending this year? - I said yes. But I would word it differently: I want the Sabres to *have* a goalie (besides Levi) capable of 50+ quality games per year. I'm not ready to categorically deny that UPL isn't that guy. Thus: 3. How much are you willing to to invest in a trade for a new starting-calibre goalkeeper? - a middling prospect or a 2nd round pick is the most I would give up. Call me gun shy, but I have nightmare flashbacks of XGMTM giving up a first for Robin Lehner.

Good point; forgot about Rochester. I don't recall though: Did Savoie actually play?

I'm so used to having JAG placeholders on the team it seems weird to actually have real competition for roles on the team.

This sounds very similar to things Granato said when he took over. He basically said defense be damned we need to develop the chemistry to score; offense is harder to create than defense, and he was focusing on offense. Bringing in Johnson may signal it's time to bring the defense up a few notches. Team defense. I wouldn't be surprised if he's the frequently 7D but spends a lot of time off the ice developing that Team Defense mindset. Hockey's a tough business. Would have have been surprised if the Sabres moved on from Girgs?

I hope he does. He's got pretty good hockey attributes; his biggest detriments are between his ears- either he doesn't know the right thing to do or chooses not to do the right thing. And it's not all the time. Before his injury he was actually playing some good two-way hockey but once he lost his ice time didn't really fight to get it back. He should talk to Peyton Krebs who would tell him, "You have the ability, Victor, but you can't just do what you want to do; you have to do what the team needs."

I'm trying to decide if that means he's humble and what will it mean in the dressing room if he's 4D and Joki's been demoted. I get it, that's hockey, but it's also as awkward as it came across in the interview.