Blow the Whole Team up in the Off-Season - It's the Only Reasonable Thing to do

[Thorner]

18 minutes ago, Crusader1969 said:

As for the PP, I'll  add it's not just a few more goals. They've given up a league leading 8 short handed goals against.   So not only are they $hit but they've killed them more than a few times by giving up a shorty 

again I'm not saying that to the only issue but it's the biggest reason they are out of it this year and it's only Feb 

League Average is 5 goals against

we are talking *3* goals, here 

We need to look for areas of improvement where we can mine greater value

Edited February 18 by Thorny

[Thorner]

Or, rather, look to stack these areas on top of eachother 

[Crusader1969]

32 minutes ago, Thorny said:

League Average is 5 goals against

we are talking *3* goals, here 

We need to look for areas of improvement where we can mine greater value

How many games have they lost by 1 or by 2 (when you include empty net goals against)?  A 16 goal net improvement from the PP would have made a huge difference in being in "the hunt" for a playoff spot 

To me that fix would mine the greatest value.   Again, not saying it's the only fix 

 

[Thorner]

9 minutes ago, Crusader1969 said:

How many games have they lost by 1 or by 2 (when you include empty net goals against)?  A 16 goal net improvement from the PP would have made a huge difference in being in "the hunt" for a playoff spot 

To me that fix would mine the greatest value.   Again, not saying it's the only fix 

 

It might be the biggest, I buy that. I definitely don’t buy the idea it’s the majority. 

[Crusader1969]

Glad to see I'm not alone 

 

[mjd1001]

Ok, another way to look at this....with the conclusion that MOST of this team is better than last year except for Cozens and Tage.

-Last year Cozens and Tage combined accounted for 0.95 goals per game. This year .49 (.0.46 less per game)

-The REST of the team besides (Tage and Cozens) last year accounted for 2.62 goals per game. This year 2.44 (only 0.18 less). Account for Tuch, Quinn, and Skinner being some of your top goal producers and the games they missed due to injury compared to last year, and that may account for that entire difference.

Defense?

-In terms of Goals allowed per game, the team this year is allowing 3.07 vs 3.62 last year (0.55 per game)

So, besides Tage and Cozens, the team has taken a slight hit in offense, but is doing better on defense by a greater margin.  OVERALL the entire team (besides those 2 guys) is doing BETTER than last year in terms of goals scored versus goals allowed.

Also The goals per game allowed are down quite a bit, but its not just goaltending. They are also allowing less shots per game than last year. UPL is allowing less behind him, but in part that is because the goalies are facing less shots.  Either way, they are allowing a lot less goals than last year.

A common complaint is the team has focused on defense but at the expense of offense. True on the surface, but again, the vast majority of that offensive shortfall is just 2 players. The rest of the team as a whole has made big strides defensively without really hurting their offensive game much.

How about the Power Play?

-Cozens and Tage LAST year accounted for goals scored on 9.3% of Power plays with between just those 2. This year?  3.8% (a 5.3% drop)   The team as a whole besides those two went from 14.1% to 10.8%, (a 3.3% drop). Cozens and Tage combined account for a greater drop in PP production than the rest of the team combined.

-PK.  Last year 73%.  The team has lost 3.3% on the power play, but has made up 6.8% on the PK. Net-net an improvement on the roster as a whole minus Tage and Cozens

In MOST metrics (including the big ones listed above) this team is performing better in many ways compared to last year besides Cozens and Tage.  That doesn't mean the team doesn't have flaws, or didn't last year.  But something to think about.  Fix those 2 guys and you likely have a better team than that you had last year.

Maybe Granato needs to go, after all he does coach the entire team INCLUDING Tage and Cozens so he is responsible for them too. But when you look at the numbers....again, Net-Net the team is better in goals scored/goals allowed overall besides those 2 guys.  

Blowing the whole team up, Firing Granato and Adams....If that is what it takes to get Tage and Cozens going again then fine. But I don't think its the best idea overall. This team needs SERIOUS surgery with a Scalpel, doesn't need the sledgehammer to the head in light of all the info above.

Edited February 20 by mjd1001

[Crusader1969]

45 minutes ago, mjd1001 said:

Ok, another way to look at this....with the conclusion that MOST of this team is better than last year except for Cozens and Tage.

-Last year Cozens and Tage combined accounted for 0.95 goals per game. This year .49 (.0.46 less per game)

-The REST of the team besides (Tage and Cozens) last year accounted for 2.62 goals per game. This year 2.44 (only 0.18 less). Account for Tuch, Quinn, and Skinner being some of your top goal producers and the games they missed due to injury compared to last year, and that may account for that entire difference.

Defense?

-In terms of Goals allowed per game, the team this year is allowing 3.07 vs 3.62 last year (0.55 per game)

So, besides Tage and Cozens, the team has taken a slight hit in offense, but is doing better on defense by a greater margin.  OVERALL the entire team (besides those 2 guys) is doing BETTER than last year in terms of goals scored versus goals allowed.

Also The goals per game are down quite a bit, but its not just goaltending. They are also allowing less shots per game than last year. UPL is allowing less behind him, but in part that is because the goalies are facing less shots.  Either way, they are allowing a lot less goals than last year.

A common complaint is the team has focused on defense but at the expense of offense. True on the surface, but again, the vast majority of that offensive shortfall is just 2 players. The rest of the team as a whole has made big strides defensively without really hurting their offensive game much.

How about the Power Play?

-Cozens and Tage LAST year accounted for goals scored on 9.3% of Power plays with between just those 2. This year?  3.8% (a 5.3% drop)   The team as a whole besides those two went from 14.1% to 10.8%, (a 3.3% drop). Cozens and Tage combined account for a greater drop in PP production than the rest of the team combined.

-PK.  Last year 73%.  The team has lost 3.3% on the power play, but has made up 6.8% on the PK. Net-net an improvement on the roster as a whole minus Tage and Cozens

In MOST metrics (including the big ones listed above) this team is performing better in many ways compared to last year besides Cozens and Tage.  That doesn't mean the team doesn't have flaws, or didn't last year.  But something to think about.  Fix those 2 guys and you likely have a better team than that you had last year.

Maybe Granato needs to go, after all he does coach the entire team INCLUDING Tage and Cozens so he is responsible for them too. But when you look at the numbers....again, Net-Net the team is better in goals scored/goals allowed overall besides those 2 guys.  

Blowing the whole team up, Firing Granato and Adams....If that is what it takes to get Tage and Cozens going again then fine. But I don't think its the best idea overall. This team needs SERIOUS surgery with a Scalpel, doesn't need the sledgehammer to the head in light of all the info above.

Excellent post.  
 
im 100% in agreement. 

I've been saying for a long time a legit 4th line and a top 4 RHD and a vet goalie to back up UPL

As  important - assistants that have experience and at least 1 of them that has had success coaching special teams

 

 

[mjd1001]

On 2/17/2024 at 6:13 PM, Marvin said:

There goes that theory.  It is the offence in general.

13 goals gets them to be a positive in goal differential.

I posted this in a previous thread, but every team that was a positive in the goal differential in the east has made the playoffs the past couple of years, and every team that has been a negative in goal differential has missed the playoffs

In the west it's not 100% but it's usually one team away from being 100%.

So yeah, we don't know where those 13 goals could be sprinkled around but... If history is any guide, being positive and goal differential put you in the playoffs or right on the edge of it so it definitely could make the difference.

[Flashsabre]

https://www.tsn.ca/nhl/sabres-season-opening-aspirations-are-but-a-faint-glimmer-in-falling-further-out-of-contention-1.2078518

 

If they really want to move Skinner I wonder if SJ would entertain something around Couture for Skinner. Might have to sweeten but Atleast hypothetically it has some merit.

Couture is 34 and has 3 years left at $8 million and is currently injured.

He would add the vet leadership that Buffalo needs.

Skinner would give SJ the younger player that can out the puck in the net for them.

IF they want to move on from Skinner it won’t be pretty and it will involve taking on another team’s bad deal. Atleast Coture would add what they need more of.

Ofcourse with Skinner’s NMC he could block it but if the team doesn’t want you anymore maybe he waives to move on.

[Ogelthorpe]

Who are some top 4 RHD that they could go after?

[Thorner]

19 hours ago, Crusader1969 said:

Glad to see I'm not alone 

 

Chad being wrong isn’t that surprising..he’s fallen off recently 

Not saying you are - you’ve mentioned you believe the PP is one of several issues - but he certainly is if he means “there’s your issue”, definitively 

He goes against the grain willingly a lot. He’s been pumping out the “things are actually fine!” content since he put out his “I’m officially done this season, it’s over” tweet. I don’t really blame him, he’s a content provider 

Edited February 20 by Thorny

[SabreFinn]

1 hour ago, Ogelthorpe said:

Who are some top 4 RHD that they could go after?

Pesce, Rasmus Andersson, Matt Roy could be the three best.

Other: Tanev, DeMelo, Nick Jensen, TJ Brodie, Adam Larsson, Parayko, Connor Murphy, Zach Whitecloud.

Edited February 20 by SabreFinn

[Pimlach]

18 hours ago, mjd1001 said:

Ok, another way to look at this....with the conclusion that MOST of this team is better than last year except for Cozens and Tage.

-Last year Cozens and Tage combined accounted for 0.95 goals per game. This year .49 (.0.46 less per game)

-The REST of the team besides (Tage and Cozens) last year accounted for 2.62 goals per game. This year 2.44 (only 0.18 less). Account for Tuch, Quinn, and Skinner being some of your top goal producers and the games they missed due to injury compared to last year, and that may account for that entire difference.

Defense?

-In terms of Goals allowed per game, the team this year is allowing 3.07 vs 3.62 last year (0.55 per game)

So, besides Tage and Cozens, the team has taken a slight hit in offense, but is doing better on defense by a greater margin.  OVERALL the entire team (besides those 2 guys) is doing BETTER than last year in terms of goals scored versus goals allowed.

Also The goals per game allowed are down quite a bit, but its not just goaltending. They are also allowing less shots per game than last year. UPL is allowing less behind him, but in part that is because the goalies are facing less shots.  Either way, they are allowing a lot less goals than last year.

A common complaint is the team has focused on defense but at the expense of offense. True on the surface, but again, the vast majority of that offensive shortfall is just 2 players. The rest of the team as a whole has made big strides defensively without really hurting their offensive game much.

How about the Power Play?

-Cozens and Tage LAST year accounted for goals scored on 9.3% of Power plays with between just those 2. This year?  3.8% (a 5.3% drop)   The team as a whole besides those two went from 14.1% to 10.8%, (a 3.3% drop). Cozens and Tage combined account for a greater drop in PP production than the rest of the team combined.

-PK.  Last year 73%.  The team has lost 3.3% on the power play, but has made up 6.8% on the PK. Net-net an improvement on the roster as a whole minus Tage and Cozens

In MOST metrics (including the big ones listed above) this team is performing better in many ways compared to last year besides Cozens and Tage.  That doesn't mean the team doesn't have flaws, or didn't last year.  But something to think about.  Fix those 2 guys and you likely have a better team than that you had last year.

Maybe Granato needs to go, after all he does coach the entire team INCLUDING Tage and Cozens so he is responsible for them too. But when you look at the numbers....again, Net-Net the team is better in goals scored/goals allowed overall besides those 2 guys.  

Blowing the whole team up, Firing Granato and Adams....If that is what it takes to get Tage and Cozens going again then fine. But I don't think it’s the best idea overall. This team needs SERIOUS surgery with a Scalpel, doesn't need the sledgehammer to the head in light of all the info above.

You think most of the team is better this year except Tage and Cozens?  

Power, Samuelsson, Skinner, VO, Tuch, Okposo, Krebs, Dahlin and Levi - All of them have played consistently worse than they did last year.    Quinn is excused by injury and his contribution is sorely missed.  

Thats 12 players that declined and most of them are targeted as Core Players and stars.  

Mitts, Joker, Girgensons, and maybe Comrie are about the same as last year.   Other than Mitts that is not much.  

Peterka, UPL, and Greenway are clearly better than last year.  

We added a better 3rd pair rotation (Clifton/ EJ/RJ) than last year and Benson has been helpful most of the time.  
 

Jost and Robinson are a not applicable 

[mjd1001]

26 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

You think most of the team is better this year except Tage and Cozens?  

Without retyping my entire other post....yes. less chances allowed, slightly less goals scored with a lot less goals allowed....so yes.

[Thorner]

20 hours ago, mjd1001 said:

Ok, another way to look at this....with the conclusion that MOST of this team is better than last year except for Cozens and Tage.

-Last year Cozens and Tage combined accounted for 0.95 goals per game. This year .49 (.0.46 less per game)

-The REST of the team besides (Tage and Cozens) last year accounted for 2.62 goals per game. This year 2.44 (only 0.18 less). Account for Tuch, Quinn, and Skinner being some of your top goal producers and the games they missed due to injury compared to last year, and that may account for that entire difference.

Defense?

-In terms of Goals allowed per game, the team this year is allowing 3.07 vs 3.62 last year (0.55 per game)

So, besides Tage and Cozens, the team has taken a slight hit in offense, but is doing better on defense by a greater margin.  OVERALL the entire team (besides those 2 guys) is doing BETTER than last year in terms of goals scored versus goals allowed.

Also The goals per game allowed are down quite a bit, but its not just goaltending. They are also allowing less shots per game than last year. UPL is allowing less behind him, but in part that is because the goalies are facing less shots.  Either way, they are allowing a lot less goals than last year.

A common complaint is the team has focused on defense but at the expense of offense. True on the surface, but again, the vast majority of that offensive shortfall is just 2 players. The rest of the team as a whole has made big strides defensively without really hurting their offensive game much.

How about the Power Play?

-Cozens and Tage LAST year accounted for goals scored on 9.3% of Power plays with between just those 2. This year?  3.8% (a 5.3% drop)   The team as a whole besides those two went from 14.1% to 10.8%, (a 3.3% drop). Cozens and Tage combined account for a greater drop in PP production than the rest of the team combined.

-PK.  Last year 73%.  The team has lost 3.3% on the power play, but has made up 6.8% on the PK. Net-net an improvement on the roster as a whole minus Tage and Cozens

In MOST metrics (including the big ones listed above) this team is performing better in many ways compared to last year besides Cozens and Tage.  That doesn't mean the team doesn't have flaws, or didn't last year.  But something to think about.  Fix those 2 guys and you likely have a better team than that you had last year.

Maybe Granato needs to go, after all he does coach the entire team INCLUDING Tage and Cozens so he is responsible for them too. But when you look at the numbers....again, Net-Net the team is better in goals scored/goals allowed overall besides those 2 guys.  

Blowing the whole team up, Firing Granato and Adams....If that is what it takes to get Tage and Cozens going again then fine. But I don't think its the best idea overall. This team needs SERIOUS surgery with a Scalpel, doesn't need the sledgehammer to the head in light of all the info above.

It’s a good breakdown (and I agree with your concluding sentence, tbh), but essentially what this logic is doing is cherry-picking a stat or 2, AND removing key players to do it, and in doing so also only aspiring to the output of a team that, last year, finished 20th place. That’s the key point.

Talk about leaving the end result dancing in the wind. This would be the sort of zero-urgency mindset that amounts to the sort of results we’ve seen and are well-familiar with.

Squinting really hard at the data until you lump it all on to one variable is lazy, and ineffective, and most of all: it’s not predictive.

This is what people mean when they say even math has a bias. Your post even (understandably, you’re a fan) *reads* as if you are trying to pull the most positive numbers out of the analysis, it’s skewed by the result you want, by a pro-Sabres bias.

[thewookie1]

1 hour ago, Thorny said:

Chad being wrong isn’t that surprising..he’s fallen off recently 

Not saying you are - you’ve mentioned you believe the PP is one of several issues - but he certainly is if he means “there’s your issue”, definitively 

He goes against the grain willingly a lot. He’s been pumping out the “things are actually fine!” content since he put out his “I’m officially done this season, it’s over” tweet. I don’t really blame him, he’s a content provider 

I don’t think he’s entirely wrong; however there is a degree of square pieces into round holes, massive downturns in most players and our record being worse. 
 

Hopefully this year was just a down year with a lot of bad luck and with some good roster moves we’ll shoot right back up the standings.

Honestly while the Powerplay isn’t THE reason we are worse this year, it is also very true our record would be far better if our powerplay was even middle of the pack. It’s one of those oddly specific changes you can tweak and see massive gains or losses while not actually being the root cause. Imagine, if you will that we had the 15th ranked powerplay. Arizona holds that position at just over 21%. With our PP chances we’d have just about 33/34 goals which would give us 10/11 more goals for. For starters that would make us a positive goal differential team. (+1/2) But far more importantly I would very easily assume our record would be better. We are 24-27-4. With those extra goals let’s minus 5 losses and say it’s 1-0-4. Nothing drastic in success but brings us up to 25-23-8 for 58pts which would put us in the tail position but still a legitimate shot at the playoffs. 

[thewookie1]

3 hours ago, Flashsabre said:

If they really want to move Skinner I wonder if SJ would entertain something around Couture for Skinner. Might have to sweeten but Atleast hypothetically it has some merit.

Couture is 34 and has 3 years left at $8 million and is currently injured.

He would add the vet leadership that Buffalo needs.

Skinner would give SJ the younger player that can out the puck in the net for them.

IF they want to move on from Skinner it won’t be pretty and it will involve taking on another team’s bad deal. Atleast Coture would add what they need more of.

Ofcourse with Skinner’s NMC he could block it but if the team doesn’t want you anymore maybe he waives to move on.

If they’ll do it for Skinner, sure. I’ll eat that lost point production for even LTIR space that can play within a system.
 

Otherwise I’d be very selective about the ask and retention. You want a 3rd for Couture at 4milx3? Sure, worst he can be is LTIR bait that can bring good vibes to the locker room. At best he can be an experienced leader playing 3rd line minutes and coming through in the clutch.

[Thorner]

13 minutes ago, thewookie1 said:

I don’t think he’s entirely wrong; however there is a degree of square pieces into round holes, massive downturns in most players and our record being worse. 
 

Hopefully this year was just a down year with a lot of bad luck and with some good roster moves we’ll shoot right back up the standings.

Honestly while the Powerplay isn’t THE reason we are worse this year, it is also very true our record would be far better if our powerplay was even middle of the pack. It’s one of those oddly specific changes you can tweak and see massive gains or losses while not actually being the root cause. Imagine, if you will that we had the 15th ranked powerplay. Arizona holds that position at just over 21%. With our PP chances we’d have just about 33/34 goals which would give us 10/11 more goals for. For starters that would make us a positive goal differential team. (+1/2) But far more importantly I would very easily assume our record would be better. We are 24-27-4. With those extra goals let’s minus 5 losses and say it’s 1-0-4. Nothing drastic in success but brings us up to 25-23-8 for 58pts which would put us in the tail position but still a legitimate shot at the playoffs. 

We are on the same page if we are agreeing Adams needs to be proactive in addressing several holes this offseason. I do think several moderate reinforcements would go all long way, in an alchemical sense I think they’d represent more than the sum of their parts: in that the entire team will see benefit from them. We can’t shave on these additions and put ourselves in a position where *if everything goes to plan* we are the 16th seed. We can surround ourselves with mathematically reasonably conclusions yet if you are counting on 10 things that are pretty likely, not all of them are going to go right: regardless of them all being likely. This is an issue of *strategy*, not analysis.

I’ve been trying to say this forever: I agree with quite a bit of KA’s analysis in a vacuum but it’s how he strategically goes about implementing things that loses me. If the playoffs are the mandate, it’s absolutely not good enough to structure things in such a way that things COULD go right. If it’s truly a hard line expectation, the roster needs to be configured in such a way that *some things can go wrong and we still make the playoffs*. That’s what people need to accept: we’ve gotten the roster to a point where success is theoretically possible. But it’s about the results. Isn’t it now, finally?

If you are measuring a goal by the actual result, you need to put yourself in a position where that result is protected by failsafes.

Our failsafes for some of our most risky bets this year included..rostering Eric Comrie, a non nhl er, who’d need to see a lot of action should Levi not break *crazy historical precedent*.
 

Adams didn’t, hasn’t, managed the roster in such a way that actually had any sort of urgency towards making the playoffs. He hasn’t acted like it truly NEEDED to happen: he just made moves where it remained reasonably possible. That’s not going to cut it 

Edited February 20 by Thorny

[Mr Peabody]

Going back to my pre-retirement days Thorny’s post got me thinking had we done an impact probability matrix pre-season maybe the results to date wouldn’t be so shocking? 

[Mr Peabody]

Further to my previous post here are some things I’d ask. 
 

1.  Probability of Tage, Jeff, Alex,  and Dylan repeating their scoring?  Impact if they don’t? 

2.  Probability of Devon leading our goalies to NHL average or better performance? 

3.  Probability of EJ and Conner raising our D to league average or better?

4.  Probability of key players (name them) playing 70+ games.  

5.  Probability of Improvement in D offsetting insignificant drop off in O.

6. Probability of physical teams taking advantage of our young team.

7. Lastly,  probability of Mr Peabody having another glass of Cab vs impact of waking up tomorrow without a headache.  (hint:  high probability high impact). 

TBH, number 6 was my biggest worry going in and it hasn’t been as bad as I thought (but still not good). 

[thewookie1]

48 minutes ago, Thorny said:

We are on the same page if we are agreeing Adams needs to be proactive in addressing several holes this offseason. I do think several moderate reinforcements would go all long way, in an alchemical sense I think they’d represent more than the sum of their parts: in that the entire team will see benefit from them. We can’t shave on these additions and put ourselves in a position where *if everything goes to plan* we are the 16th seed. We can surround ourselves with mathematically reasonably conclusions yet if you are counting on 10 things that are pretty likely, not all of them are going to go right: regardless of them all being likely. This is an issue of *strategy*, not analysis.

I’ve been trying to say this forever: I agree with quite a bit of KA’s analysis in a vacuum but it’s how he strategically goes about implementing things that loses me. If the playoffs are the mandate, it’s absolutely not good enough to structure things in such a way that things COULD go right. If it’s truly a hard line expectation, the roster needs to be configured in such a way that *some things can go wrong and we still make the playoffs*. That’s what people need to accept: we’ve gotten the roster to a point where success is theoretically possible. But it’s about the results. Isn’t it now, finally?

If you are measuring a goal by the actual result, you need to put yourself in a position where that result is protected by failsafes.

Our failsafes for some of our most risky bets this year included..rostering Eric Comrie, a non nhl er, who’d need to see a lot of action should Levi not break *crazy historical precedent*.
 

Adams didn’t, hasn’t, managed the roster in such a way that actually had any sort of urgency towards making the playoffs. He hasn’t acted like it truly NEEDED to happen: he just made moves where it remained reasonably possible. That’s not going to cut it 

This exactly

As the year goes on I feel like this wasn't even his original plan and due to that he's sort of dragged his feet on things due to a lack of conviction.

Picture last year prior to the draft, the Sabres are making a push to deal their 1st or prospect to Carolina for Brett Pesce whom they already have extension plans cooking behind the scenes. The strategy being, get Pesce to sign an extension under 7.5mil, then you can use that to keep Dahlin at 10 mil which were the rumors floating around and you could bridge Power without issue. Then Pesce nullifies the deal so you move on to your 2nd favorite idea in Noah Hanifin. However CGY wants more than Carolina and Hanifin is giving CGY trouble over an extension. The talks seem to indicate Hanifin wants 8x8mil+ and that immediately creates a further wrench in any potential deal seeing as he'd be another LHD making 8mil+ and eventually Power would join them. With no other options abundantly open which interest the team, you go with plan B. Sign Clifton who's your favorite B/C level signing to fill in while not making it impossible to still get a Pesce or Hanifin later. However you now must overpay him a bit due to need and add more to Erik Johnson's offer because his purpose now has far more importance as a vet on the blueline. Then comes Dahlin; whose agent now plays the Sole Top 2 Dman card to force you to up the 10mil to 11mil. Likewise Power, who could of been bridged with the security of another Top 2 guy, is now demanding 7x8mil or something even worse like a 5 year contract. So now although you did create solid defensive depth through Stillman, Clague, E Johnson, R. Johnson, and Bryson; you never got that Top 4 piece you set out to get. So you leave space open and wait for something to shake and yet nothing does.

A story about the offense:

Offensively you believe you are mostly set, Greenway when healthy looked very good and some more experience should do wonders for the kid's line and even with a slight regression the Skinner-Thompson-Tuch line should still be great and Mitts gives you a backup Top 2 C for if Cozens or Thompson go down. Okposo is well respected and you want him to get 1000 games so you resign him for another year to help push the team forward. Girgensons has been a good soldier and has put up ok numbers so his return isn't problematic either. Krebs plays well with those two on the 4th line anyway. No one has offered you anything of note for Olofsson so why not hold onto him for depth and hopefully jettison him in season. However that 3rd line Winger position is being saved for one of the youngsters; Kulich or Rosen more than likely or maybe even Savoie! If so, maybe I'll cut my losses with Olofsson and just grab some vet off waivers to fill in when needed or better yet, bring back Jost from last season. He played well in his stint and is a good character; he can play if need be. ...... *****, Quinn is injured until January.... if I sign someone it may help us in the immediate term but then I'm forced to kick Olofsson out for nothing and he's a multi-time 20 goal scorer so that just seems stupid. So lets just let it roll, hopefully Olofsson bounces back and/or the youngsters light it up..... Our 18 year old rookie Zach Benson just out competed everyone vying for the winger job so we'll give him a shot, plus Savoie is hurt so we'll hang onto both of them since their Juniors team is a literal mess right now. ..... Olofsson still sucks, Tuch is banged up, Thompson is having his usual slow start and Cozens just punched a bear and had his face broken, patience Kevyn.... *****! Thompson just broke his freaking hand or wrist or something, at least Tuch is back and Cozens is playing in a bubble.... Maybe Patrick Kane could fix our disastrously bad Powerplay, oh look, Cozens is out of the bubble helmet and can actually stick handle again.... Woohoo Thompson is back and there goes Tuch and Skinner and Thompson looks like he's playing with a grenade.... Anyone want to score this year not name JJ Peterka or Casey Mittelstadt? Dahlin you don't count because your a defenseman but Owen where are you hiding your shot?..... So playoffs might not be in the cards this year... but have you seen UPL?

[thewookie1]

https://www.capfriendly.com/armchair-gm/team/4907215

How's this, I know the defense hasn't been upgraded however

[French Collection]

8 hours ago, thewookie1 said:

https://www.capfriendly.com/armchair-gm/team/4907215

How's this, I know the defense hasn't been upgraded however

Dakota Joshua will be sought after if he hits the market. He would be a good pick up. Might have to overpay him.

Jonathan Quick has played some good games for the Rangers and would probably need to be overpaid. A solid veteran.

Sam Lafferty would be a good 4th liner, can play any position with some grit.

I am not opposed to the idea floated around here of Skinner for Couture. Skinner is younger and can produce more but he has not helped develop a winning culture. The salaries could almost balance each other out. If Couture  can’t play then LTIR is an option.

[Flashsabre]

https://buffalohockeynow.com/2024/02/21/sabres-trade-fit-with-avalanche/#
 

Karmanos has been at the past 2 Avalanche home games.

[thewookie1]

1 hour ago, Flashsabre said:

https://buffalohockeynow.com/2024/02/21/sabres-trade-fit-with-avalanche/#
 

Karmanos has been at the past 2 Avalanche home games.

I have literally negative interest in Byram. Girard is at least somewhat interesting.

Would rather try to get Manson cheaply in the off-season however