UPL out week to week, Subban Month to Month

[PromoTheRobot]

1 hour ago, Dreams Burn Down said:

I don't get this one.

[Mustache of God]

1 hour ago, thewookie1 said:

Well he could endlessly sit on the bench in Vancouver if he prefers. Also Halak reported from what I recall, he was the backup for one game before we sent him to Washington for Neuvirth. 

I believe the one game he dressed for was at the arena that didn't have room for the backup on the bench so he had to sit by his lonesome by the Zamboni door.

[Norcal]

14 minutes ago, DarthEbriate said:

I think Mann would have to sign a 2/3-year ELC and would therefore block someone (and also international travel restrictions). Houser was a nice little story for a week last year and can get here fast.

Well you can never have enough goaltending as evidenced this year and last. 

[DarthEbriate]

6 minutes ago, Norcal said:

Well you can never have enough goaltending as evidenced this year and last. 

Which is why the goaltending salaries on the Sabres are as follows: Subban 850, UPL 778, Anderson 750, Dell 750, Tokarski 725, Houser... TBD.

[Thorner]

1 hour ago, Weave said:

Without NHL goaltending, the rest of this season is lost to even player development.  This team (or any team, really) will rapidly lose hope.  And then they are done.

And Adams doesn't get a pass on it because of the group he assembled that was always going to be bad was made even worse because of injuries. It can (and is) both: the position was handled terribly, and they've had bad luck on top of it. But the injuries don't retroactively make the group good, or even passable. 

50 minutes ago, IKnowPhysics said:

Hypothetically, Houser should perform as well as Tokarski, which is mid-level backup-ish, and will very likely be better than Subban or Dell.

Exactly 

[PerreaultForever]

All this goalie stuff will just give Adams and Granato an easy excuse to deflect attention from the actual fact that the entire team is horrible. No one will have to take responsibility for anything. Works for them, and we get a shot at Wright. 

[Norcal]

46 minutes ago, DarthEbriate said:

Which is why the goaltending salaries on the Sabres are as follows: Subban 850, UPL 778, Anderson 750, Dell 750, Tokarski 725, Houser... TBD.

$750 who could have guessed

[Thorner]

I wonder if KA would like a mulligan on declining the extra year or two with Ullmark...

His sv% sits exactly where it did last year for the Sabres 

[Flashsabre]

9 minutes ago, PerreaultForever said:

All this goalie stuff will just give Adams and Granato an easy excuse to deflect attention from the actual fact that the entire team is horrible. No one will have to take responsibility for anything. Works for them, and we get a shot at Wright. 

I don’t think Granato is wired like that. This team was always going to be bad this year. It is year one of rebuild 3.0.  

[Kristian]

I heard they’re talking to Ville Leino - Apperently he can play goal too!

At least, that’s what he says 😎

[LabattBlue]

Find an AHL caliber starting goalie ASAP to man the pipes for the Amerks, keep as many of the kids back in Rochester as possible, and send the rest of this season down the drain.

[Flashsabre]

Marty Biron please report to the dressing room, Marty Biron to the dressing room.😀

[Dreams Burn Down]

Can we put a Bobby Valentine disguise on Devon Levi and suit him up?

[IKnowPhysics]

2 minutes ago, Norcal said:

$750 who could have guessed

Love it.

# of players now making between $700k and $800k is 16, counting Rochester and Cy Hgsn; eight if you limit it to the NHL roster, IR, and covid.

 

6 minutes ago, Thorny said:

I wonder if KA would like a mulligan on declining the extra year or two with Ullmark...

His sv% sits exactly where it did last year for the Sabres 

Bruins paid $5Mx4 years.  The Sabres would have had to pay him a fortune and term to stay, which would hamstring us with UPL's expected money and playing time.  Not saying KA has managed the goalies well, but they were getting much better value out of Anderson than Ullmark during a rebuilding year.

 

4 minutes ago, Flashsabre said:

I don’t think Granato is wired like that. This team was always going to be bad this year. It is year one of rebuild 3.0.  

Correct.  They know their job isn't to make excuses, it's to improve the team.  And their frustrations mirror ours, but they're all-in on the long term development.  As Hoppe wrote just this morning:

Quote

These days, Don Granato acknowledged he often struggles to remain patient on the inside. Having coached for decades, he sees the Sabres, despite their meager results this season, are finally on the right path.

Following years of futility, the Sabres have acquired a stable of elite young players and assembled a group that has bought into the team’s plan and plays for each other.

One of their best prospects, winger Jack Quinn, 20, made his NHL debut Tuesday’s 6-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning at KeyBank Center.

“I see where we’re going, and that gives me a lot of confidence,” Granato said prior to Tuesday’s game. “There’s reason to be confident. This is going to correct. There’s no doubt about it. We’ve been able to convey that logically enough to our players that they see it, they feel it. And when you know it, you just know that we’re gonna turn this thing, you get really impatient. You want more now and you want it faster.”

 

[Gatorman0519]

Remember when we thought we have seen the last of Dell? He is now our number one.  We might not win another game. 

[Thorner]

10 minutes ago, IKnowPhysics said:

Love it.

# of players now making between $700k and $800k is 16, counting Rochester and Cy Hgsn; eight if you limit it to the NHL roster, IR, and covid.

 

Bruins paid $5Mx4 years.  The Sabres would have had to pay him a fortune and term to stay, which would hamstring us with UPL's expected money and playing time.  Not saying KA has managed the goalies well, but they were getting much better value out of Anderson than Ullmark during a rebuilding year.

 

Correct.  They know their job isn't to make excuses, it's to improve the team.  And their frustrations mirror ours, but they're all-in on the long term development.  As Hoppe wrote just this morning:

 

Don't really buy the Anderson argument personally. I thought he'd get hurt and he did. I think that's something KA should have easily seen/expected.

IIRC the sticking point with Ullmark was term - salary at this stage of the game isn't a concern for the buffalo sabres, re: the cap. 

To me, sacrificing a bit of cash and term to ensure the future we are planning on actually *does* arrive, would be the way to go. 

By refusing to compromise on one iota of that future when it came to Ullmark, looks to me like a self-fulfilling prophecy where they are risking that future to a much greater extent in the process of trying to protect it. 

Edited January 12, 2022 by Thorny

[Carmel Corn]

Tokarski has been out so long he could have caught and recovered from Covid multiple times.  I don't know anything about his situation, but it seems he has been out of commission much longer than I would have expected.

[Thorner]

Would anyone be comfortable penciling in Anderson as the starter for next season? Actually asking. His numbers looked pretty good, if it's, "tough luck, injuries" - why not bring him back? 

[woods-racer]

4 minutes ago, Thorny said:

Would anyone be comfortable penciling in Anderson as the starter for next season? Actually asking. His numbers looked pretty good, if it's, "tough luck, injuries" - why not bring him back? 

Even if he's the third goalie why not?

I really can't see any downside to a one year lower dollar contract for a goalie that is more mentor.

[Thorner]

Just now, woods-racer said:

Even if he's the third goalie why not?

I really can't see any downside to a one year lower dollar contract for a goalie that is more mentor.

Okay but that sort of changes the question, no?

[PerreaultForever]

47 minutes ago, Flashsabre said:

I don’t think Granato is wired like that. This team was always going to be bad this year. It is year one of rebuild 3.0.  

That's what most of us believe. That's what we want. That's not what they have said. 

[dudacek]

22 minutes ago, Thorny said:

Don't really buy the Anderson argument personally. I thought he'd get hurt and he did. I think that's something KA should have easily seen/expected.

IIRC the sticking point with Ullmark was term - salary at this stage of the game isn't a concern for the buffalo sabres, re: the cap. 

To me, sacrificing a bit of cash and term to ensure the future we are planning on actually *does* arrive, would be the way to go. 

By refusing to compromise on one iota of that future when it came to Ullmark, looks to me like a self-fulfilling prophecy where they are risking that future to a much greater extent in the process of trying to protect it. 

I don’t like to dwell on things that are done, and I don’t know all the whys as to how the Ullmark departure went down.

But the deal Ullmark signed in Boston at worst would have tied the Sabres to a very capable overpaid backup after underpaid starter UPL took his job. Or given the Sabres a trade chip for a team i. desperate need.

I said then and I say now, Ullmark on a starter’s contract was always the best option for Buffalo this summer.

***

In other news, you thought Anderson was inevitably going to have a long-term injury? Just because he’s old?

He’s never had a history of injuries.

I always thought you are the same page as me, that he’d be unlikely to deliver starter-level play in anything other than brief spurts because he’s old.

Edited January 12, 2022 by dudacek

[Thorner]

9 minutes ago, dudacek said:

I don’t like to dwell on things that are done, and I don’t know all the whys as to how the Ullmark departure went down.

But the deal Ullmark signed in Boston at worst would have tied the Sabres to a very capable overpaid backup after underpaid starter UPL took his job. Or given the Sabres a trade chip for a team i. desperate need.

I said then and I say now, Ullmark on a starter’s contract was always the best option for Buffalo this summer.

***

In other news, you thought Anderson was inevitably going to have a long-term injury? Just because he’s old?

He’s never had a history of injuries.

I always thought you are the same page as me, that he’d be unlikely to deliver starter-level play in anything other than brief spurts because he’s old.

Definitely am/was. Simplified to use "hurt" here because the context of interest right now in injuries - I cannot deny though that I didn't think he could withstand a starter's workload after only playing 4 games last season. Especially without the aid of a capable back-up in Buffalo. 

Indeed, it was the combination of both his play being unlikely to hold up AND what I thought was a significant chance he couldn't physically keep it together that teamed together to make it such a low-odds bet. I truly didn't see it as a "maybe it will, maybe it won't", situation, it seemed doomed to fail. 

And that's not tooting my own horn - my opinion on this was merely a pebble in the sand of other posters who said the same thing 

Edited January 12, 2022 by Thorny

[Thorner]

I think the "due to age" thing is the kicker.

It's not lost on me that my interchanging of "age" with "injury" can be nothing other than a bad omen for myself going forward I can only imagine lol 

Edited January 12, 2022 by Thorny

[GASabresIUFAN]

While having 4 goalies on the injured list isn’t foreseeable, having goaltending issues was certainly was, especially when you hire two FA goalies who played a total of 10 NHL games between them last season.  I said neither Anderson or Dell were NHL goaltenders any longer and that has sadly proven correct.  This failure is on KA and has now derailed the development of both the Sabres and Amerks for this season and has reinforced the losing culture.  This was completely avoidable.  

All this reinforces my opinion KA is in way over his head.