Thorner Posted July 1 Report Posted July 1 6 minutes ago, dudacek said: Not sure anyone sees Zucker as a top 6 winger, but that's probably the case with Benson as well. I'm not sure we're going to see Ruff put lines together, but I kinda expect it them to be built with purpose — "I need a line to do this" — more so than simple stacking. The rest of this post is spot on to me: they identified needs and addressed them with what was available; they have yet to find a way to address the most pressing need. 1st line is the “you better bounce back, Tage! And we’ll let you have our upstart (best?) F from last season on your left flank to help out” line 2nd line is the “focus purely on offense, but allow natural defensive aptitude uncommon for such young players (Benson, Quinn) to hold down the defensive side of things surprisingly well, too, considering matchups “ line 3rd line is the “hey with 3rd scoring line usage here, me and Zucks can actually help contribute on offense: or else we could have, without being anchored by a guy with a tattoo of himself” line 4th line is the “Lindy starts these dudes game 1 of the playoffs because they were his idea and he’s gloating after stellar defensive metrics that would make Johan proud” line 1 minute ago, LGR4GM said: He skates fast and hits things. He’s got a gap in his teeth 1 Quote
Taro T Posted July 1 Report Posted July 1 24 minutes ago, Thorny said: I really doubt Zucker gets the first shot. Word from the twitter folk is the Sabres FO doesn’t view Zucker as top 6 material Peterka - Thompson - Tuch Benson - Cozens - Quinn Zucker - Krebs - Greenway Malenstyn - Lafferty - Aube-Kubel …is how it’s looking rn, more or less Have to say…I really like that 4th line. A reading of this lineup as it stands seems pretty easy: dicey proposition to make the playoffs as is, but certainly within the realm of possibility. But an “A” offseason from Adams (and an optimistic projection for playoffs) if we can add a true top 6 F, or, a 3C who’s better defined as middle 6. (Aka quite a strong one.) It almost seems like this top 6/middle 6 addition needs to be a C or else we have Krebs in the 3 spot by default But I really like the work from KA so far. It’s funny, it’s not going to look good without that big addition, it’s not a strong enough offseason without it, after everything we said, but yet, if we DO make the move it suddenly flips and looks quite solid. I suppose that’s the mechanics of filling in the fringes first It’s a big sticking point right now. Fix that and I see the vision. Don’t, and I don’t Yeah, that 3C that can be a 2C in a punch is still a big hole. And it would be nice to have a better option for the 6th F should there be an injury (or even just straight out as the 6th F) but between Benson, Zuckerberg, Greenway, or Savoie/Kulich they should be able to cover that spot in a pinch. They don't have that 2C covered if 1C or 2C get injured. And Krebs isn't good enough to be the 3C. The plan has to be to either have him the 13F or part of the package to get a 3C. That 1 more move will really male or break this off-season on paper. And, so far, w/ only 1 clear gap (provided someone out of Byram, Jokiharju, Samuelsson, Clifton, or Johnson can be adequate or better at 4D & both UPL & Levi don't regress - not givens) left to fill they've got a roster that MIGHT make the playoffs and haven't taken anything away from the '26-'27 roster. 1 Quote
Thorner Posted July 1 Report Posted July 1 (edited) 3 minutes ago, Taro T said: Yeah, that 3C that can be a 2C in a punch is still a big hole. And it would be nice to have a better option for the 6th F should there be an injury (or even just straight out as the 6th F) but between Benson, Zuckerberg, Greenway, or Savoie/Kulich they should be able to cover that spot in a pinch. They don't have that 2C covered if 1C or 2C get injured. And Krebs isn't good enough to be the 3C. The plan has to be to either have him the 13F or part of the package to get a 3C. That 1 more move will really male or break this off-season on paper. And, so far, w/ only 1 clear gap (provided someone out of Byram, Jokiharju, Samuelsson, Clifton, or Johnson can be adequate or better at 4D & both UPL & Levi don't regress - not givens) left to fill they've got a roster that MIGHT make the playoffs and haven't taken anything away from the '26-'27 roster. Something tells me if they find a way to do it without touching any of the precious 26-27 roster, they won’t have really done it, at all not a coincidence we haven’t felt any pain yet- the big moves take that Edited July 1 by Thorny Quote
Taro T Posted July 1 Report Posted July 1 Just now, Thorny said: Something tells me if they find a way to do it without touching any of the previous 26-27 roster, they won’t have really done it, at all not a coincidence we haven’t felt any pain yet- the big moves take that True dat to the bolded. 1 Quote
JohnC Posted July 1 Report Posted July 1 50 minutes ago, Thorny said: I really doubt Zucker gets the first shot. Word from the twitter folk is the Sabres FO doesn’t view Zucker as top 6 material Peterka - Thompson - Tuch Benson - Cozens - Quinn Zucker - Krebs - Greenway Malenstyn - Lafferty - Aube-Kubel …is how it’s looking rn, more or less Have to say…I really like that 4th line. A reading of this lineup as it stands seems pretty easy: dicey proposition to make the playoffs as is, but certainly within the realm of possibility. But an “A” offseason from Adams (and an optimistic projection for playoffs) if we can add a true top 6 F, or, a 3C who’s better defined as middle 6. (Aka quite a strong one.) It almost seems like this top 6/middle 6 addition needs to be a C or else we have Krebs in the 3 spot by default But I really like the work from KA so far. It’s funny, it’s not going to look good without that big addition, it’s not a strong enough offseason without it, after everything we said, but yet, if we DO make the move it suddenly flips and looks quite solid. I suppose that’s the mechanics of filling in the fringes first It’s a big sticking point right now. Fix that and I see the vision. Don’t, and I don’t The highlighted line is the simplest and best summarization of how to look at the moves the GM has made so far. If he can get a top 6 F or 2/3C (as you noted), the evaluation of his offseason work goes from being basic to being sold/good. So far, the GM has not given up much in the way of assets to add players. He still has plenty of assets to work with to have a more complete/productive offseason. 1 Quote
PerreaultForever Posted July 1 Report Posted July 1 I like Lafferty. He's fine. I like this better than bringing back Girgs but it won't change much. Quote
7+6=13 Posted July 5 Report Posted July 5 The more I look into this signing, the more I like it. 1 1 Quote
thewookie1 Posted July 6 Report Posted July 6 Interestingly enough, he was also traded for Alex Nylander 1 Quote
Taro T Posted July 7 Report Posted July 7 10 hours ago, thewookie1 said: Interestingly enough, he was also traded for Alex Nylander Is there nothing dumping a Nylander can't fix? Quote
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