Sabres a long ways away from contending...

[PerreaultForever]

3 hours ago, 7+6=13 said:

C'mon man, don't be obtuse when you know the point being made.  That's like me saying, why'd you leave Jack and Dahlin out of our high end talent?  When i know you already count them.  My personal post didn't necessarily say we're player for player with the games best teams, it's that we've acquired top talent and its so hard to get.  It has to be home grown and ours are.  Building the middle has been the disaster, we have to agree on that?

My comment was for the person I quoted. He does that to me all the time so I just returned the favour.  A little playful turnaround is fair play sort of thing. But to your point, 

I agree the middle is weak and we have no depth. Depending on who they sign I'm not even sure we have a 4th line any more and we might need a RW on the 2nd line. That's all definitely true. But, 

I also think that both Skinner and Reinhart are over valued by the fan base. On a Stanley Cup capable team they would be 2nd line talent and not 1st line. First line would have to be better than that or we wouldn't be there in that cup. 

1 hour ago, Broken Ankles said:

What is most impressive with this TB line up is the mix of low draft picks & undrafted players at the Center and Foward positions.  I do not think there is one of the 12 starting who were drafted in the first round (Stamkos - not playing).  And they have 3 undrafted starters.  I don’t think any of the final 8 teams had less than three first rounders and a few had six. It speaks to the lack of draft and development with the Sabres organization.  How many third round and lower will contribute this year or next? 

But would they be there if they hadn't lucked into Point? 

[nfreeman]

10 hours ago, YouDigg said:

Thank you for that incredible insight, Captain Obvious.  In other groundbreaking news, Sweetlou predicts it will snow in Buffalo this winter. 

This is obnoxious and not how we communicate here.  

[Broken Ankles]

45 minutes ago, PerreaultForever said:

My comment was for the person I quoted. He does that to me all the time so I just returned the favour.  A little playful turnaround is fair play sort of thing. But to your point, 

I agree the middle is weak and we have no depth. Depending on who they sign I'm not even sure we have a 4th line any more and we might need a RW on the 2nd line. That's all definitely true. But, 

I also think that both Skinner and Reinhart are over valued by the fan base. On a Stanley Cup capable team they would be 2nd line talent and not 1st line. First line would have to be better than that or we wouldn't be there in that cup. 

But would they be there if they hadn't lucked into Point? 

Well we know they would still have Miller if they didn’t have to sign him last summer.  So with him and Stamkos, sure. 

[Norcal]

I don't think so. They have the pieces available to turn the club into a playoff team its just a matter of can they get it done. Couple trades, some chemistry and boom.

[Andrew Amerk]

On 9/27/2020 at 1:33 AM, nfreeman said:

This is obnoxious and not how we communicate here.  

Idk, it made me chuckle. 

[Drag0nDan]

On 9/25/2020 at 9:08 PM, dudacek said:

Here's another way of looking at this:

Seguin Eichel

Benn Reinhart

Radulov Skinner

Pavelski Staal

Gurianov Olofsson

Hintz Cozens

Faksa (Larsson)

Comeau (Girgensons)

Perry Okposo

Cogliano Kahun

Kiviranta (Vesey)

Dickinson Lazar

 

Heiskanen Dahlin

Lindell Ristolainen

Klingberg Montour

Oleksiak McCabe

Sekera Jokiharju

Hanley/Fedun Miller

Khudobin Ulmark

 

Player for player we aren't that far behind a Stanley Cup finalist. Now Dallas isn't great, but they played well at the right time.

Improve the chemistry, grow the youth, make an upgrade or two, we're in the mix.

The difference between good and great in the playoffs is usually a hot goalie, and some secondary scoring.  

[Drag0nDan]

On 9/25/2020 at 3:47 PM, sweetlou said:

So after watching a lot of bubble hockey I wanted to compare what the Sabres had this past season to the Eastern Conference Champion Tampa Bay Lightning.

I listed players by points so far in post season.

 

Stamkos (when healthy)-  Eichel is the best comparable...can score, has speed and can dominate a game

Kucherov- no one on Sabres is comparable

Point- no one on Sabres is comparable

Hedman- no one on Sabres is comparable

Palat-  maybe Skinner but I actually drop him down to next player because of how physical Palat is

Gourde- Skinner fit this mold best because of his feistiness and ability to get under other teams skin. Gourde gets nod in face offs but Skinner a better scorer

Coleman- Stall fills this role of veteran center man who plays a hard physical game

Shattenkirk-  Risto probably slightly better on offense, but Shattenkirk gets the nod in d zone

Cirelli- no one currently on Sabres, hopefully Cozens fills this role in a couple of years

Killorn- no one on Sabres

Johnson- this is level where most Sabres forwards fall...Reinhart, Kahun, and Olofsson are all pretty much 50 point guys but don't play a hard game

Sergachev-  Dahlin may be slightly better on offensive side but lacks the physicality that Sergachev plays with in own end

Goodrow- Girgensons  and Lazar type of player, good on PK and likes physical game

McDonagh- McCabe is probably best comparable

Bogo-  didn't we have a Bogo type player earlier in the year?? 

Cernack- no one on Sabres 

Maroon- Okposo fits build and scoring touch but can't play the physical game that Maroon plays

Verhaeghe- Thompson and Mitts,  good in minors but can't seem to figure it out yet in NHL

Paquette- Larsson is good comparable of defensive responsible, checking line center who can score some goals for you

Schenn and Rutta-  Borgen is in the monirs but best fits this mold

 

So in summary-  M Johansson, Vesey, and Sheary just don't compare to Kucherov, Point, Killorn on forward lines and Montour and Joker are a long ways away from Hedman

 

This team needs HELP!!!!

 

 

 

 

The Lightning will look a lot different in the near future.  Point will get a 4-5 million dollar raise after next year.  Cirelli gets a big bump.  Sergachev will want a payday too.  

They project 5.3 mil in cap space and don't have cirelli or sergachev under contract, and they have 3 defensemen currently.  

The only players without NTC/NMC are Hedman (yeah right), Point (keep dreaming), and Killorn (4.5 million on a M-NTC).  So the most you can move out of there is about 4.5 getting them to about 10.  Is that enough to sign cirelli and sergachev?  Maybe? Doesn't fill out the rest of the roster though.

It's also hard to ask the guys who have been underpaid on your team for the last couple years to be the ones to take paycuts.  I think offer sheets are also possible, that or both could be traded.  

[Billznut]

On 9/25/2020 at 3:22 PM, tom webster said:

And as Tampa’s struggles to get to this point prove, being the best doesn’t guarantee you are winning the Cup or even that you are making the finals. Every year someone posts one of these threads but as others have proven, it really doesn’t take that long to change your fortunes if you get a little lucky and prove to be a little shrewd.

The Sabres would need a good GM, scouting dept and owners to make ANY necessary expenditures and “shrewd” moves. In other words, it ain’t happening around here anytime soon. 

[bob_sauve28]

On 9/26/2020 at 11:41 PM, Broken Ankles said:

What is most impressive with this TB line up is the mix of low draft picks & undrafted players at the Center and Foward positions.  I do not think there is one of the 12 starting who were drafted in the first round (Stamkos - not playing).  And they have 3 undrafted starters.  I don’t think any of the final 8 teams had less than three first rounders and a few had six. It speaks to the lack of draft and development with the Sabres organization.  How many third round and lower will contribute this year or next? 

Good point, but it could also be luck. Drafting is a crap shoot 

On 9/30/2020 at 10:02 AM, Drag0nDan said:

The Lightning will look a lot different in the near future.  Point will get a 4-5 million dollar raise after next year.  Cirelli gets a big bump.  Sergachev will want a payday too.  

They project 5.3 mil in cap space and don't have cirelli or sergachev under contract, and they have 3 defensemen currently.  

The only players without NTC/NMC are Hedman (yeah right), Point (keep dreaming), and Killorn (4.5 million on a M-NTC).  So the most you can move out of there is about 4.5 getting them to about 10.  Is that enough to sign cirelli and sergachev?  Maybe? Doesn't fill out the rest of the roster though.

It's also hard to ask the guys who have been underpaid on your team for the last couple years to be the ones to take paycuts.  I think offer sheets are also possible, that or both could be traded.  

That team will be shedding talent soon, I would guess. Look how deep they are on defense. Can't believe they can keep all those players, stars and such, and still stay under the cap. 

[Kruppstahl]

On 9/25/2020 at 6:08 PM, Zamboni said:

I don’t think Sabres are a “long way off” from playoff contention. And once you get in, anything can happen and usually an upset or two happen every year. 
 

My definition of “long way off” is more than 3 years away.

I think we are a long way off, but not as measured in raw time.

I think more in terms of pieces.  We need a lot more than what we have now, or what is on the farm coming up.

A good GM can accelerate the time needed to get those pieces, however. 

If only we had one!