Is UPL Still the Plan

[bob_sauve28]

 

[JohnC]

4 minutes ago, bob_sauve28 said:

 

The goalie position and blue line unit each need to be upgraded. Patching one hole without addressing the other hole is self-defeating. If you add another 4-5 blueliner to the mx and bring in a #1 goalie (suggested names have been made in other threads), then the roster will certainly be strengthened. Would it be better to bring in another top four defenseman to pair with Power, resulting in Joki dropped down to the third pairing? Yes, but is that option available on the trade market or even free agent market at a reasonable price? I'm not sure that it is. Without question, the priority is the goalie position. And without question the Sabres have more assets than most to deal with. 

[K-9]

35 minutes ago, bob_sauve28 said:

 

Ouch! All three of our goalies in the top 10 and no other team had more than one. We may wanna keep Levi far away from this mess until team defense becomes a priority. Comrie, UPL, and Anderson might need to be treated for PTSD after the season.

[KC Scouts]

Very demonstrative - certainly shows we need to fix our D. 

[JohnC]

6 minutes ago, K-9 said:

Ouch! All three of our goalies in the top 10 and no other team had more than one. We may wanna keep Levi far away from this mess until team defense becomes a priority. Comrie, UPL, and Anderson might need to be treated for PTSD after the season.

I'm excited about having Levi in the system. (I'm aware I'm making an assumption.) But I'm not counting on him being ready in his first or maybe even in his second year, at least not as a primary goalie for us. The Sabres are at a point where the roster and the system is built up enough to where the present/winning now has to be more of a priority even if it is at the expense to the future. This offseason it's imperative that a few consequential additions be made to accelerate the rebuilding process. The fans and the players deserve that commitment to winning sooner rather than later. 

I think you and I are in accord that this team is not too far away from being a serious team. The organization needs to demonstrate more urgency in this offseason. We shall soon see if the organization feels the same way. 

[LTS]

8 minutes ago, KC Scouts said:

Very demonstrative - certainly shows we need to fix our D. 

It's not just the D.. it's everything about how all 5 players cover the defensive zone.

The Sabres are monumentally bad at defensive zone coverage and there's I believe it's as much the system as it is the players.

[Eleven]

2 hours ago, bob_sauve28 said:

I have a question. Since goalies are the most important position, why do we not use more lower draft picks on grabbing a few each year? Say picks 4-7 should be just goaltenders in the hope you find the right guy. 

Please no insults, just asking 

I know this one guy who would prefer it if the Sabres spent one draft pick per year (no matter the place in the draft) on a goalie, but so far the team isn't listening...

[KC Scouts]

Was going to include that..... absolutely.... just like the D-men contribute in the neutral zone and in the offensive zone. Forwards cannot take a vacation when the puck is in their end. There's plenty to improve upon for the forwards in that regard 

[Taro T]

5 minutes ago, Eleven said:

I know this one guy who would prefer it if the Sabres spent one draft pick per year (no matter the place in the draft) on a goalie, but so far the team isn't listening...

Make that 2.  

[Stoner]

55 minutes ago, KC Scouts said:

Very demonstrative - certainly shows we need to fix our D. 

And what if they don't care? Score a bunch allow a bunch... Winning doesn't matter. Fans have fun tho. Near the cap floor. Sell hope that the D will be fixed.

E. E. E. The plan isn't failing.

[Pimlach]

21 hours ago, Indabuff said:

I'm getting anxiety thinking about UPL and Comrie being our 1 and 2 goalies next year.

Agree.  So far we know that Adams loves his core, loves his prospect pool, and his draft picks.   

Can Adams make a real hockey trades to address and improve the deficiencies on this team.  The ones that are known league wide and are talked about on TNT, EPSN, NHL Network, HNIC, and on every opposing team broadcast/post game show.   

Everybody in the hockey world knows their needs:   

1 - Goaltending

2 - Defense - include a tighter system that cuts down on shots, shot quality, and odd man rushes against

3- Players with toughness and willingness to play the body (i.e. ability to play playoff style hockey). 

None of this is coming from rookies within our prospect pool next year.   Ryan Johnson and Devon Levi (assuming they sign) need a year on Rochester.  

We have Savioe and Kulich emerging but where do they fit?  

Hockey trades are needed.  Adams cannot bring us another off-season of Comrie and Lubyshkin type moves.  

[TageMVP]

1 hour ago, K-9 said:

Ouch! All three of our goalies in the top 10 and no other team had more than one. We may wanna keep Levi far away from this mess until team defense becomes a priority. Comrie, UPL, and Anderson might need to be treated for PTSD after the season.

Anaheim has two in the top 5 

[Taro T]

2 minutes ago, TageMVP said:

Anaheim has two in the top 5 

In fairness to @K-9, believe he meant no other NHL teams.  ;)

[K-9]

5 minutes ago, TageMVP said:

Anaheim has two in the top 5 

Yep. Missed Gibson. Thanks for the clarification.

[TageMVP]

Regarding the topic, the way the Sabres play defense is the far greater problem than who is in net. They somehow play worse defense than when Ullmark was here 

UPL is a decent goalie considering the absolute horrendous defense in front of him. This team doesn't even TRY to play defense. Absurd 

I haven't lost any faith in UPL. Keep him, start him 

[Pimlach]

2 hours ago, bob_sauve28 said:

I have a question. Since goalies are the most important position, why do we not use more lower draft picks on grabbing a few each year? Say picks 4-7 should be just goaltenders in the hope you find the right guy. 

Please no insults, just asking 

You start with 2 in Buffalo, 2 in Roch, and 2 in Cinci - where else can you develop them?

If you draft 2 per year, in three years you have 6 more either in Junior A, Europe, Russia, or NCAA.  Some will be ready to move forward

Assuming you draft 18 year olds, and the fastest you get one is 22-23, its more likely to be 25-26.  At some point you get saturated. 

Taking one per year is not a bad idea though and not necessarily at the bottom of the draft either.  Last year we took one in the 2nd round. 

[Taro T]

1 minute ago, Pimlach said:

You start with 2 in Buffalo, 2 in Roch, and 2 in Cinci - where else can you develop them?

If you draft 2 per year, in three years you have 6 more either in Junior A, Europe, Russia, or NCAA.  Some will be ready to move forward

Assuming you draft 18 year olds, and the fastest you get one is 22-23, its more likely to be 25-26.  At some point you get saturated. 

Taking one per year is not a bad idea though and not necessarily at the bottom of the draft either.  Last year we took one in the 2nd round. 

Would like to see them take 1 every year and about once every 3-4 years try to grab one of the top 2 or 3 guys in the entire draft.  (Would likely require using a 2nd or 3rd rounder, which isn't a terribly high cost when you consider what the chances are a skater picked there becomes even an NHLer much less a difference maker are fairly slim.)

[DarthEbriate]

I don’t know that you need a goalie every draft, but I am staunchly in the camp that you can never go two drafts in a row without drafting one. The Sabres did just that in 2020 and 2021. I thought for sure Rosen was going to be Wallstedt (or Cossa I guess but I’d have taken Wallstedt). But it can easily be argued that Levi was the goalie taken during that 2021 draft as the trade took place on day 2 of the draft.

[Contempt]

3 hours ago, bob_sauve28 said:

I have a question. Since goalies are the most important position, why do we not use more lower draft picks on grabbing a few each year? Say picks 4-7 should be just goaltenders in the hope you find the right guy. 

Please no insults, just asking 

They should be taking one a year, I agree. But with too many you run out of places to put them. The whole  organization should really only have 6 goalies between Buffalo, Rochester, and Cincinnati. You can only stash CHL kids for so long and if you draft an NCAA kid who ends up good and you have a jammed up system in front of them you risk them walking.

[Taro T]

10 minutes ago, DarthEbriate said:

I don’t know that you need a goalie every draft, but I am staunchly in the camp that you can never go two drafts in a row without drafting one. The Sabres did just that in 2020 and 2021. I thought for sure Rosen was going to be Wallstedt (or Cossa I guess but I’d have taken Wallstedt). But it can easily be argued that Levi was the goalie taken during that 2021 draft as the trade took place on day 2 of the draft.

Pretty sure that yes they knew they were grabbing Levi from the Swamp Cats so that was the '21 "drafted" goalie.  Still wouldl like to have seen them grab Wallstadt instead of Rosen and hoped that was the selection back then.  Really believe that having Portillo in the pipeline foiled that plan as they still thought Eric might become a Sabre and didn't want to scare him off.

[Taro T]

8 minutes ago, Contempt said:

They should be taking one a year, I agree. But with too many you run out of places to put them. The whole  organization should really only have 6 goalies between Buffalo, Rochester, and Cincinnati. You can only stash CHL kids for so long and if you draft an NCAA kid who ends up good and you have a jammed up system in front of them you risk them walking.

The organization can have more than 6 goalies playing professionally.  Back in the day Kolzig was loaned to the Amerks because the Caps didn't have room for him in the AHL but they wanted him getting action.  Much more recently, Binnington was loaned to San Antonio.

Get a solid G pipeline rolling and then start converting some of those 5-7th rounders into 3rd rounders or better and keep the cream of the crop in house.

[DarthEbriate]

4 minutes ago, Taro T said:

Pretty sure that yes they knew they were grabbing Levi from the Swamp Cats so that was the '21 "drafted" goalie.  Still wouldl like to have seen them grab Wallstadt instead of Rosen and hoped that was the selection back then.  Really believe that having Portillo in the pipeline foiled that plan as they still thought Eric might become a Sabre and didn't want to scare him off.

Unfortunately, it appears Portillo was going to be scared off by either Wallstedt or then-WJC-hero (to silver anyway) Levi. The question could’ve been: does Wallstedt scare away Levi? Which is a fascinating question and a fantastic looking duo if both were signed. 

Addendum: and then in the 2022 draft it frees you up to take a D in round two instead of Leinonen because Wallstedt is already slotted for the AHL. (And you can use one of the last picks on a college or European goalie as a long-term developmental flier).

[French Collection]

11 minutes ago, Contempt said:

They should be taking one a year, I agree. But with too many you run out of places to put them. The whole  organization should really only have 6 goalies between Buffalo, Rochester, and Cincinnati. You can only stash CHL kids for so long and if you draft an NCAA kid who ends up good and you have a jammed up system in front of them you risk them walking.

Europe is a good place to stash one or two of them. A lot of NHL goalies are coming from there now.
Let them develop over there for 3-4 years post draft and then decide which one(s) deserve a contract and some N.Am. exposure. They would have a few years of pro hockey on their resumes as well.

[Taro T]

3 minutes ago, DarthEbriate said:

Unfortunately, it appears Portillo was going to be scared off by either Wallstedt or then-WJC-hero (to silver anyway) Levi. The question could’ve been: does Wallstedt scare away Levi? Which is a fascinating question and a fantastic looking duo if both were signed. 

Could be wrong, but don't believe just getting Wallstadt alone would've necessarily chased Portillo away being a couple of years younger.  But to have brought in both Wallstadt and Levi in the same year (when UPL was also in the system) would've been a big reg flag saying they don't trust Portillo's skills.

There is also the possibility that they philosophically don't believe in grabbing more than 1 prospect goalie in any 1 year.  Which also would keep them from bringing in both Wallstadt and Levi in the same year.

[DarthEbriate]

And the result is: trade him for a 3rd.

Next up: use that 3rd on a goalie. 😇