Can the Sabres make the Playoffs In this new division?

[GASabresIUFAN]

We all seem to be looking inwardly at the Sabres, but I’d like to know which teams in the new division people here think we are better then.  

Which teams people think may take a step back making our shot at the playoffs easier?

[Thorner]

7 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

We all seem to be looking inwardly at the Sabres, but I’d like to know which teams in the new division people here think we are better then.  

Which teams people think may take a step back making our shot at the playoffs easier?

We'll need to beat Pittsburgh or Boston. Boston in play due to injuries. 

[LGR4GM]

2 hours ago, I-90 W said:

Under normal circumstances I would agree, but this division realignment changes the playing field.

Do or do not, there is no try. 

 

Edited December 27, 2020 by LGR4GM

[bob_sauve28]

12 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

I'm not concerned with the goaltending because I trust Ullmark. 

The Sabres bought goals this offseason, did they buy enough?

I do too, but with so many back to back games, the fact he could get injured again and that you simply have to have two good goalies makes me think we are going to waste this season if Hutton is not truly heeled. That guy they signed seems decent, i guess.

 

Maybe one of the other teams goalies goes down and we pass them. Who knows

[Brawndo]

8 hours ago, klos1963 said:

I would rather have a talented scorer on the wing. Take advantage of Eichel and Hall as linemates. It's possible Okposo can score a bit more because he has offensive skills, but I'm not concerned about having a 'mucker' on the line. Eichel is great at puck possession on his own.

Okposo and Zemgus do also have better defensive metrics then Eichel and Hall do, which could also be of benefit. 
 

As long as that talented scorer isn’t Reinhart on a full time basis, I’m okay with that. 

[GASabresIUFAN]

I guess the folks in Pitt are wondering the same thing.

https://triblive.com/sports/sabres-upgraded-in-offseason-could-hang-around-in-nhl-east-division/

They think our defense is our biggest issue.  

Edited December 27, 2020 by GASabresIUFAN

[Skibum]

Could the Sabres make the playoffs in ANY division? Until they prove otherwise on the ice, they are not a playoff team. 

[LGR4GM]

8 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

I guess the folks in Pitt are wondering the same thing.

https://triblive.com/sports/sabres-upgraded-in-offseason-could-hang-around-in-nhl-east-division/

They think our defense is our biggest issue.  

"Key losses: vesey and simmonds" that's laughable. 

The folks in Pittsburgh are clueless. Having an offense that can sustain possession  will put less pressure on the defense and Dahlin and Joki are a year older. Further there's so much defensive depth on the right side we have potentially 5 rhd. Risto, montour, joki, Miller, borgen.

Edited December 27, 2020 by LGR4GM

[bob_sauve28]

12 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

"Key losses: vesey and simmonds" that's laughable. 

The folks in Pittsburgh are clueless. Having an offense that can sustain possession  will put less pressure on the defense and Dahlin and Joki are a year older. Further there's so much defensive depth on the right side we have potentially 5 rhd. Risto, montour, joki, Miller, borgen.

Ya, I like our defense and the forwards we added more than make up for those lost. I think we have a solid team, good coaching now we just need to make sure goal tending can be as good as the other teams

[North Buffalo]

How many more days til hockey?

[Sabres Fan in NS]

27 minutes ago, North Buffalo said:

How many more days til hockey?

Some more days ... about 2 weeks + a day, or two, I think.

Edited December 27, 2020 by New Scotland (NS)
GO SABRES!! ... MUST WIN!!

[GASabresIUFAN]

2 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

"Key losses: vesey and simmonds" that's laughable. 

The folks in Pittsburgh are clueless. Having an offense that can sustain possession  will put less pressure on the defense and Dahlin and Joki are a year older. Further there's so much defensive depth on the right side we have potentially 5 rhd. Risto, montour, joki, Miller, borgen.

I agree.  That’s why I’ve been saying Dahlin is the key to the season.  Defense is far from our problem.  Our core group of Dahlin, Risto, McCabe, Jokiharju and Montour are all good to very good players.  They have faults, but all are above average NHLers.

Edited December 27, 2020 by GASabresIUFAN

[North Buffalo]

50 minutes ago, New Scotland (NS) said:

Some more days ... about 2 weeks + a day, or two, I think.

Sigh.. sigh 😞 again

[DarthEbriate]

3 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

"Key losses: vesey and simmonds" that's laughable. 

If that's from the Pitt article it's really odd. It seems like they would have listed Kahun among our key losses.

I'd say Larsson, Kahun, Johansson, and Simmonds as they had defined roles or were acquired as a future for the team. That said:  Hall > Kahun. Cozens > Simmonds. Staal > Johnasson, and Eakin > Larsson (offensively only). So all-in-all we're improved.

[DarthEbriate]

What if we don't make the playoffs?

But it's a whole 'nother year!

It's only one shortened-season more. This training camp, we'll make enough on the rookie crop that I'll be able to trade for some more picks, and then you can go to the playoffs next year.

[dudacek]

Kahun and Simmonds played 6 and 7 games respectively for the Sabres last year. Their impact on the team’s overall record was negligible, and their loss relative to last season’s record compared to this one’s projected record is mostly meaningless.

The Sabres were 1-6 with Kahun and/or Simmonds in the lineup.

Larsson, Johansson, Vesey Sheary, and Rodrigues are the relevant losses when comparing this year to last.

[GASabresIUFAN]

4 hours ago, Skibum said:

Could the Sabres make the playoffs in ANY division? Until they prove otherwise on the ice, they are not a playoff team. 

lots of parity in the Canadian division in which we would be very competitive.  Only 3 proven teams out West in LV, STL and Colorado.  I think we’d be the 4th best team in the West. In the Central we’d have to beat out Nashville for 4th which is possible.  So yes, I think we’d have a better shot in the other 3 divisions.

5 minutes ago, DarthEbriate said:

What if we don't make the playoffs?

But it's a whole 'nother year!

It's only one shortened-season more. This training camp, we'll make enough on the rookie crop that I'll be able to trade for some more picks, and then you can go to the playoffs next year.

We signed Hall to go for the playoffs and the realignment hurt those chances.

[GASabresIUFAN]

6 minutes ago, dudacek said:

Kahun and Simmonds played 6 and 7 games respectively for the Sabres last year. Their impact on the team’s overall record was negligible, and their loss relative to last season’s record compared to this one’s projected record is mostly meaningless.

The Sabres were 1-6 with Kahun and/or Simmonds in the lineup.

Larsson, Johansson, Vesey Sheary, and Rodrigues are the relevant losses when comparing this year to last.

Larsson and Mojo are the only relevant losses.  Larsson because of his shutdown ability 5 on 5 and MoJo because of his skill,   Honestly KA did a good job upgrading both.

[dudacek]

28 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Larsson and Mojo are the only relevant losses.  Larsson because of his shutdown ability 5 on 5 and MoJo because of his skill,   Honestly KA did a good job upgrading both.

If by relevant, you mean significant, then I agree. 
This is a direct comparison of this year’s depth chart to last year’s in terms of changes:

Olofsson -> Hall

Johansson -> Staal

Larsson -> Eakin

Vesey -> Olofsson

Sheary -> Thompson

Rodrigues -> Cozens

Sobotka/Frolik -> Rieder

Edited December 27, 2020 by dudacek

[DarthEbriate]

1 hour ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

lots of parity in the Canadian division in which we would be very competitive.  Only 3 proven teams out West in LV, STL and Colorado.  I think we’d be the 4th best team in the West. In the Central we’d have to beat out Nashville for 4th which is possible.  So yes, I think we’d have a better shot in the other 3 divisions.

We signed Hall to go for the playoffs and the realignment hurt those chances.

Every word of what you just said is correct.

[GASabresIUFAN]

https://buffalonews.com/sports/sabres/sabres-roundtable-evaluating-the-newly-formed-east-division/article_19455a56-457d-11eb-b010-b3b66dd75f87.html

Here is TBN's take on the new East Division.  

I get the impression they don't think the Sabres have a chance in the new East Div.  The NYI are their surprise team.  

Edited December 27, 2020 by GASabresIUFAN

[JohnC]

2 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

https://buffalonews.com/sports/sabres/sabres-roundtable-evaluating-the-newly-formed-east-division/article_19455a56-457d-11eb-b010-b3b66dd75f87.html

Here is TBN's take on the new East Division.  

I get the impression they don't think the Sabres have a chance in the new East Div.  The NYI are their surprise team.  

The two writers' comments are very similar to what has been stated here such as will there be teams that are expected to be ahead of us falter? If so, our chances of getting into the playoffs increase. The writers noted a number of a lot of unique factors to this virus season such as the change in conference, compressed schedule and repeatedly playing the same teams where this is no past history to draw from and make informed judgments. 

What is frustrating is that both writers agreed that under the regular format the Sabres had a better chance to qualify for the playoffs than under this year's adjusted format. What the Sabres need is to repeat their recent history of having some early season winning streaks. We sure could use a jack rabbit start in this condensed season. We'll just have to see how this plays out. 

[Curt]

On 12/26/2020 at 11:49 AM, GASabresIUFAN said:

PK save %. 
Rask 886

Hart 849

Jarry 864

Samsonov 874

Varlamov 875

Ullmark 838

Blackwood 865

Georgiev 888

Your best PKer has to be your goaltender, Ullmark and Hutton were two of the reasons ours was such a failure. 

We all watched the team last season.  Were the PK goals primarily because the goalies let in a bunch of bad goals, or because the PK was bad and gave up a lot of excellent shots against?  I would argue that it’s primarily the later, at least in Ullmark’s case.

Edited December 28, 2020 by Curt

[USMCSnyper]

Injuries will have the biggest impact on who gets in or not. If all 4 top teams are healthy, then jumping in to the top 4 will be very difficult. If someone goes down from a top 4 team, it opens the door....for who....🤔

[bob_sauve28]

2 minutes ago, SyrSabreFan said:

Injuries will have the biggest impact on who gets in or not. If all 4 top teams are healthy, then jumping in to the top 4 will be very difficult. If someone goes down from a top 4 team, it opens the door....for who....🤔

With so many games so quickly, injuries will happen.