Sabres return Matt Savoie to WHL Wenatchee Wild

[K-9]

50 minutes ago, Sabres Super Fan said:

Oh yes send Benson down too? I can’t wait to see the same usual 3rd 4th line overpaid, lazy Buffalo Sabres players be losers and skate around in circles the same ones year after year where do I sign up for season tickets. Some Sabres fans never have a conversation about that why Sabres fans are feed up with the crap from this Sabres organization while the Boston Bruins win year after year owned by Buffalo’s own Jacobs family. Terry Pegula is a carpetbagger and a disgrace as a sports team owner. Don’t tell me the Buffalo Bills they suck now too again sell the teams Terry Pegula you bum. I have zero tolerance for none Buffalo playoff teams anymore after almost 50 seasons of no Super Bowls or Stanley Cups while everyone else wins but Buffalo. With that said and out of the way.

If Buffalo Sabres coach Don Granato doesn’t make the playoffs this season and isn’t fired by this dysfunctional Sabres organization than just move the Sabres franchise out of Buffalo. I say that as a almost 50 year Sabres fan because there is absolutely no hope for the Sabres in Buffalo under Terry Pegula ownership. Buffalo would be better off applying for a expansion franchise in either the NHL or NBA or MLB if New York State is going to giveaway public money anyway look for a better ownership group that is interested in at least trying by making the necessary changes of upgrading the talent not the same crappy players filling out the bottom six of the Sabres roster stealing money by there yearly lazy play. The Sabres ownership don’t deserve public money if they aren’t interested in improving the Sabres roster. I have seen enough of lazy overpaid untalented third and fourth line players the same ones year after year stealing Sabres fans money with a thousand excuses why they can’t skate for less than 10 minutes a game in my opinion. Go Sabres! Let’s Go Buffalo 

Feel better? 

[Taro T]

20 minutes ago, thewookie1 said:

Savoie is a certainly victim of the AHL/CHL rules.

He was nearly a PPG in Rochester, isn't ready yet for the NHL and is forced back into Juniors.

 

I'm surprised they didn't keep him a bit longer but I'm guessing Granato must of saw some deer in the headlights against the Wild's crazed physicality and told Adams he wasn't quite ready for NHL men yet.

 

Benson will likely get some AHL games and his max in the NHL before joining his buddy. 

We did learn though that Benson seems to handle the larger players better than Savoie thus far in regards to the psyche.  

Expect it came down to Samuelsson being ready to come off IR and somebody had to leave the roster to make room for him.  They weren't ready to send Johnson back down & for whatever reason they still don't want to send Bryson down.

With Rousek getting raves from his head coach, don't see him going down.  Actually expect him dressing again tonight and also Tuch rejoining the lineup giving them their 12 tonight.  Though several here would be perfectly fine with Olofsson going down, doesn't seem to be Adams style and don't see it happening until there aren't any other moves he can make that doesn't expose a player to waivers.

As said elsewhere, thought he'd get 1 more game, but the #'s seem to have worked against him.  If Samuelsson is off IR (or any of the other 3 are instead, they still are at 23 minus Savoie) then they have 2-8-13 healthy players and no room for Savoie.

[Mango]

2 hours ago, Taro T said:

The GOAL this year is playoffs, NOT development.  Wtf would they give him a few more games if they've seen all they need to see already about where he is at as a player?

Personally, expected he'd get 1 more game against a lesser opponent, but thought there was a strong possibility he'd get sent back after that game.  They obviously decided they've seen enough and didn't need to overwork the rest of the forwards by giving him 4 more minutes in another game.

He showed enough or lack there of to go down for the year. It’s unfortunate, but it is what it is. He didn’t provide value and that’s the name of the game right now. Not to mention that I think the big club is good enough right now that anybody who puts on blue and gold should be adding value that day. Prospects can progress in the minors.

That said. I think Benson does have value. He was better with Thompson/Skinner than Cozens was last night. He’s a tough call. He’s adding value but also needs to be committed to getting a lot stronger. And I’m not sure he gets that as quickly as he needs it by playing up in Buffalo. 
 

 

[LabattBlue]

1 hour ago, Sabres Super Fan said:

Oh yes send Benson down too? I can’t wait to see the same usual 3rd 4th line overpaid, lazy Buffalo Sabres players be losers and skate around in circles the same ones year after year where do I sign up for season tickets. Some Sabres fans never have a conversation about that why Sabres fans are feed up with the crap from this Sabres organization while the Boston Bruins win year after year owned by Buffalo’s own Jacobs family. Terry Pegula is a carpetbagger and a disgrace as a sports team owner. Don’t tell me the Buffalo Bills they suck now too again sell the teams Terry Pegula you bum. I have zero tolerance for none Buffalo playoff teams anymore after almost 50 seasons of no Super Bowls or Stanley Cups while everyone else wins but Buffalo. With that said and out of the way.

If Buffalo Sabres coach Don Granato doesn’t make the playoffs this season and isn’t fired by this dysfunctional Sabres organization than just move the Sabres franchise out of Buffalo. I say that as a almost 50 year Sabres fan because there is absolutely no hope for the Sabres in Buffalo under Terry Pegula ownership. Buffalo would be better off applying for a expansion franchise in either the NHL or NBA or MLB if New York State is going to giveaway public money anyway look for a better ownership group that is interested in at least trying by making the necessary changes of upgrading the talent not the same crappy players filling out the bottom six of the Sabres roster stealing money by there yearly lazy play. The Sabres ownership don’t deserve public money if they aren’t interested in improving the Sabres roster. I have seen enough of lazy overpaid untalented third and fourth line players the same ones year after year stealing Sabres fans money with a thousand excuses why they can’t skate for less than 10 minutes a game in my opinion. Go Sabres! Let’s Go Buffalo 

Less is more.  

[rickshaw]

I’d like to see Benson stick. I’d also like Krebs to get some minutes with better linemates. Bummer for Savoie. Could be a trade chip in future years.

Off topic: I’d Love to have Marcus Foligno back

[Gatorman0519]

Best move. It’s 3-4 years until these kids are ready. Look at Tage and Mitts. 

[JoeSchmoe]

Mitch Marner got sent back when he was way further along his development track than Benson or Savoie.

That turned out to be a good move.

[JoeSchmoe]

1 hour ago, Sabres Super Fan said:

Oh yes send Benson down too? I can’t wait to see the same usual 3rd 4th line overpaid, lazy Buffalo Sabres players be losers and skate around in circles the same ones year after year where do I sign up for season tickets. Some Sabres fans never have a conversation about that why Sabres fans are feed up with the crap from this Sabres organization while the Boston Bruins win year after year owned by Buffalo’s own Jacobs family. Terry Pegula is a carpetbagger and a disgrace as a sports team owner. Don’t tell me the Buffalo Bills they suck now too again sell the teams Terry Pegula you bum. I have zero tolerance for none Buffalo playoff teams anymore after almost 50 seasons of no Super Bowls or Stanley Cups while everyone else wins but Buffalo. With that said and out of the way.

If Buffalo Sabres coach Don Granato doesn’t make the playoffs this season and isn’t fired by this dysfunctional Sabres organization than just move the Sabres franchise out of Buffalo. I say that as a almost 50 year Sabres fan because there is absolutely no hope for the Sabres in Buffalo under Terry Pegula ownership. Buffalo would be better off applying for a expansion franchise in either the NHL or NBA or MLB if New York State is going to giveaway public money anyway look for a better ownership group that is interested in at least trying by making the necessary changes of upgrading the talent not the same crappy players filling out the bottom six of the Sabres roster stealing money by there yearly lazy play. The Sabres ownership don’t deserve public money if they aren’t interested in improving the Sabres roster. I have seen enough of lazy overpaid untalented third and fourth line players the same ones year after year stealing Sabres fans money with a thousand excuses why they can’t skate for less than 10 minutes a game in my opinion. Go Sabres! Let’s Go Buffalo 

Lets take a vote using the ✅ or the ❌ to my post...

Who SKIPPED reading this because it was too long.

✅ SKIPPED

❌ DIDN'T SKIP

[bob_sauve28]

Don't know if this was posted yet 

 

 

[JohninMinn.]

He's close but still qualifies for the Alice Cooper "I'm a boy and I'm a man."

[That Aud Smell]

2 hours ago, Shoot da Puck said:

He needs to Shoot da Puck more

I respect commitment to a bit.

[Mango]

40 minutes ago, Gatorman0519 said:

Best move. It’s 3-4 years until these kids are ready. Look at Tage and Mitts. 

I think it’s time to start committing to a few and pulling some commitment back to others and leveraging them for trade bait to fill the roster. We have to find ways to keep Mitts and JJP around for a long time, and do to cost we have to plan further ahead in how to fulfill the rest of the roles on the roster rather than wait for prospects to figure it out on pricey extensions.

[pastajoe]

3 hours ago, Taro T said:

The GOAL this year is playoffs, NOT development.  Wtf would they give him a few more games if they've seen all they need to see already about where he is at as a player?

Personally, expected he'd get 1 more game against a lesser opponent, but thought there was a strong possibility he'd get sent back after that game.  They obviously decided they've seen enough and didn't need to overwork the rest of the forwards by giving him 4 more minutes in another game.

Sure, playing 4 minutes on a 4th line really showed his ability. 🙄 He should have been given the same opportunity as Benson. I’d rather see what his upside was then watch Jost or Olofsson.

[Pimlach]

3 hours ago, Buffalonill said:

Welp time to get drunk if true 

[Pimlach]

1 hour ago, Gatorman0519 said:

Best move. It’s 3-4 years until these kids are ready. Look at Tage and Mitts. 

You could see from the 3:55 minutes that Savoie has some talent but is not ready to contribute to a NHL team with a goal of making the playoffs.  The good news is he did well in Rochester,  he was at a PPG clip for that short duration. Unfortunately, he can’t stay in Rochester this year but he will be there next year to add to the cycle of running prospects through the AHL.   Kullich and Rosen are benefitting for it and are ahead of Savoie.   
 

We are loading up the prospect pipeline the correct way.  Things are slowly but steadily looking for up for the Buffalo Sabres. 

[Pimlach]

2 hours ago, Sabres Super Fan said:

Oh yes send Benson down too? I can’t wait to see the same usual 3rd 4th line overpaid, lazy Buffalo Sabres players be losers and skate around in circles the same ones year after year where do I sign up for season tickets. Some Sabres fans never have a conversation about that why Sabres fans are feed up with the crap from this Sabres organization while the Boston Bruins win year after year owned by Buffalo’s own Jacobs family. Terry Pegula is a carpetbagger and a disgrace as a sports team owner. Don’t tell me the Buffalo Bills they suck now too again sell the teams Terry Pegula you bum. I have zero tolerance for none Buffalo playoff teams anymore after almost 50 seasons of no Super Bowls or Stanley Cups while everyone else wins but Buffalo. With that said and out of the way.

If Buffalo Sabres coach Don Granato doesn’t make the playoffs this season and isn’t fired by this dysfunctional Sabres organization than just move the Sabres franchise out of Buffalo. I say that as a almost 50 year Sabres fan because there is absolutely no hope for the Sabres in Buffalo under Terry Pegula ownership. Buffalo would be better off applying for a expansion franchise in either the NHL or NBA or MLB if New York State is going to giveaway public money anyway look for a better ownership group that is interested in at least trying by making the necessary changes of upgrading the talent not the same crappy players filling out the bottom six of the Sabres roster stealing money by there yearly lazy play. The Sabres ownership don’t deserve public money if they aren’t interested in improving the Sabres roster. I have seen enough of lazy overpaid untalented third and fourth line players the same ones year after year stealing Sabres fans money with a thousand excuses why they can’t skate for less than 10 minutes a game in my opinion. Go Sabres! Let’s Go Buffalo 

[LGR4GM]

This means his contract will slide. He won't have a new deal until after Skinner at 9 mill if off the books 

[Taro T]

41 minutes ago, pastajoe said:

Sure, playing 4 minutes on a 4th line really showed his ability. 🙄 He should have been given the same opportunity as Benson. I’d rather see what his upside was then watch Jost or Olofsson.

Yeah, because those 4 minutes he played against Minny were the only 4 moments of evaluation they had of him.  They never saw him in practice nor anywhere else.  🤪  And they surely never spoke to him about what last night was going to go like nor that he wasn't long for the NHL in this particular stint.  🫨

Again, they aren't in DEVELOPMENT mode now.  They are in WIN mode.  And after sending Minny on their 2nd odd man rush, Granato decided to nail his butt to the bench.  Am fine with the decision, though, again, did expect he'd get 1 more look before getting sent back.

A big part of the reason that he didn't get a longer look but Benson did is that Benson controlled and drove play his 1st 3 NHL games and he'd done so in all the preseason games he got as well.  He pretty much FORCED the Sabres to look at him longer.  You can say the reason Savoie didn't do so is because of injuries or whatever; but at the end of the day, he DIDN'T force them to look at him longer.  And in the season the goal is to not just end a 12 year drought but actually do something once it ends, when they need to drop the roster back to 23 men, they can't keep a kid that is far less likely to help in that effort than another player like Rousek is.  (Jost is going to help them win more games at this point in time than Matt will as well.)

It's a shame he can't play in the AHL this year until WA is knocked out of the running for the Memorial Cup; but it is what it is and it isn't going to ruin him to go back to the W.  They still have the same development guys that they did before this season and they'll be working with him even though he is in the W.

[Taro T]

2 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

This means his contract will slide. He won't have a new deal until after Skinner at 9 mill if off the books 

It means it almost definitely will slide.  Should his WHL team get upset early in the playoffs and circumstances dictate he gets an NHL callup rather than an AHL callup he could still play 9 games at the end of this year for the Sabres.  But that would seem to be unlikely at this point.

However, it does mean he definitely won't accrue an NHL season this year.  And for long term cap management, IMHO, that is more important than the ELC sliding a year.

[pastajoe]

7 minutes ago, Taro T said:

Yeah, because those 4 minutes he played against Minny were the only 4 moments of evaluation they had of him.  They never saw him in practice nor anywhere else.  🤪  And they surely never spoke to him about what last night was going to go like nor that he wasn't long for the NHL in this particular stint.  🫨

Again, they aren't in DEVELOPMENT mode now.  They are in WIN mode.  And after sending Minny on their 2nd odd man rush, Granato decided to nail his butt to the bench.  Am fine with the decision, though, again, did expect he'd get 1 more look before getting sent back.

A big part of the reason that he didn't get a longer look but Benson did is that Benson controlled and drove play his 1st 3 NHL games and he'd done so in all the preseason games he got as well.  He pretty much FORCED the Sabres to look at him longer.  You can say the reason Savoie didn't do so is because of injuries or whatever; but at the end of the day, he DIDN'T force them to look at him longer.  And in the season the goal is to not just end a 12 year drought but actually do something once it ends, when they need to drop the roster back to 23 men, they can't keep a kid that is far less likely to help in that effort than another player like Rousek is.  (Jost is going to help them win more games at this point in time than Matt will as well.)

It's a shame he can't play in the AHL this year until WA is knocked out of the running for the Memorial Cup; but it is what it is and it isn't going to ruin him to go back to the W.  They still have the same development guys that they did before this season and they'll be working with him even though he is in the W.

If they knew he wasn’t going to stay then why play him in the first place? His parents flew across the country to see him play for 4 minutes. Either give him a regular shift or don’t play at all. And he didn’t get the same chance as Benson, who also made mistakes but was allowed to keep playing with top six players. 
 

And if they were in WIN mode and not WISH mode they would have made better upgrades at goalie and defense than Clifton. 🙄

[Crusader1969]

A little surprised they didn’t keep him around a little longer but at the end of the day he isn’t NHL ready yet 

what he showed in the AHL is pretty exciting though.   He certainly looked like he belonged to be next to Kulich and Rosen 

I’ll have to think about getting whl tv when Benson returns.  Will be fun to watch them dominate the league 

[French Collection]

Imagine the bump Wenatchee gets with Savoie and probably Benson going back.

I think these two will be driven to make themselves better and drag that team deep into the playoffs.

[Taro T]

1 minute ago, pastajoe said:

If they knew he wasn’t going to stay then why play him in the first place? His parents flew across the country to see him play for 4 minutes. Either give him a regular shift or don’t play at all. And he didn’t get the same chance as Benson, who also made mistakes but was allowed to keep playing with top six players. 
 

And if they were in WIN mode and not WISH mode they would have made better upgrades at goalie and defense than Clifton. 🙄

So now it isn't even his development we're concerned about, but how much his parents get to enjoy watching him play?  😄

Pretty sure they didn't EXPECT to only give him less than 4 minutes of game time, but that's how it went.  If he wanted more ice time, maybe he shouldn't have kept trying to make passes through Wild defenders?  Pretty sure Granato would've let him get more time had he earned any additional shifts.

He did make a better upgrade on D than Clifton.  Some guy named Erik Johnson, perhaps you saw him play?  There's also some guy named Ryan Johnson playing who looks pretty good in limited action.  Were they not "upgrades?"

 

So far, Adams goaltending moves (or lack thereof) appear that they might just work out.  Would've preferred they go a different course there, but really don't see how that nor the D moves affect whether Mr. & Mrs. Savoie's 1st trip to Buffalo was as dreamy as they'd hoped it would be.

[Pimlach]

39 minutes ago, pastajoe said:

If they knew he wasn’t going to stay then why play him in the first place? His parents flew across the country to see him play for 4 minutes. Either give him a regular shift or don’t play at all. And he didn’t get the same chance as Benson, who also made mistakes but was allowed to keep playing with top six players. 
 

And if they were in WIN mode and not WISH mode they would have made better upgrades at goalie and defense than Clifton. 🙄

You sound like some of the parents I encountered coaching  youth hockey.  

This is not youth hockey.  You don’t play a player more because his parents flew in to see him. 

Performance = play starts in competitive youth travel AA and AAA leagues.  Savoie knows it. They talked to him.  They evaluated him and they saw enough.   Did you watch his 3:55?  He is not going to help us this year.  This is professional hockey.   

Savoie did get another look at Rochester, this time he did much better,  plus he got a game in the bigs.  

Let the fire burn.  
 

 

Edited November 12, 2023 by Pimlach

[pastajoe]

2 hours ago, Taro T said:

So now it isn't even his development we're concerned about, but how much his parents get to enjoy watching him play?  😄

Pretty sure they didn't EXPECT to only give him less than 4 minutes of game time, but that's how it went.  If he wanted more ice time, maybe he shouldn't have kept trying to make passes through Wild defenders?  Pretty sure Granato would've let him get more time had he earned any additional shifts.

He did make a better upgrade on D than Clifton.  Some guy named Erik Johnson, perhaps you saw him play?  There's also some guy named Ryan Johnson playing who looks pretty good in limited action.  Were they not "upgrades?"

 

So far, Adams goaltending moves (or lack thereof) appear that they might just work out.  Would've preferred they go a different course there, but really don't see how that nor the D moves affect whether Mr. & Mrs. Savoie's 1st trip to Buffalo was as dreamy as they'd hoped it would be.

Gosh, all 3 of those upgraded D played tonight and they still gave up 4 goals. 🤔 And they played with 11 forwards and were shutout when they could have given Savoie another game. He would have really been a hindrance. 🙄