UPL is NOT an NHL goaltender

[Carmel Corn]

Fire both Bales and Wilford might help

[bob_sauve28]

1 hour ago, Cranky old man said:

All our former players look better on other teams.

Risto? 

[North Buffalo]

16 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

Late March and it's come to blaming the goaltending. That's later than usual. Who said Adams wasn't making progress!!!!!!!!!

 

Psst. The defense sucks. 

Oh it does, but UPL is no Hasek or Vasi... serviceable backup and if he gets hot sure but not a number 1.  Hard to find but D and G are what Sabres need to draft after 1st pick

[\GoBillsInDallas/]

18 hours ago, mansquito said:

UPL is NOT an NHL goaltender

Well, duh! He plays for the Sabres, not for an NHL team.

[Pimlach]

17 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

Late March and it's come to blaming the goaltending. That's later than usual. Who said Adams wasn't making progress!!!!!!!!!

 

Psst. The defense sucks. 

The defense really sucks and two of the fancy alleged stars, Power and Byram, are a big reason why.   

UPL is not nearly as good as last year.  A lot of it is the hopelessly poor play in front of him.  So glad that Levi has been spared of playing behind this team.  

Worse thing about all of this is that Lindy and his staff have them playing worse defense than Granato did.   
 

Edited Sunday at 03:55 PM by Pimlach

[DarthEbriate]

19 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

Worse thing about all of this is that Lindy and his staff have them playing worse defense than Granato did.   

Which was absolutely bonkers because the d-corps was 100%carried over from last season except for the addition of Gilbert who dressed in all of 25 games. And among the forwards, they rid of defensive liabilities like Skinner and Olofsson, and shed retiree Okposo and 4th liner Girgensons for younger versions.

There is an alternate reality where Ruff is hired as an advisor, then Jim Montgomery is hired immediately after Boston lets him go and Granato is replaced that way. Or Ruff immediately recommends Montgomery and steps into an assistant coach role in-season. I think maybe they're better?

St. Louis perked up since hiring JM (27-16-6 since; 9-12-1 before) and have clawed their way into the final wild card spot -- at the moment.

[sabresouth]

15 hours ago, JoeSchmoe said:

Lafferty.

Never, ever leave out Lafferty.

Who?

[7+6=13]

16 hours ago, JoeSchmoe said:

It's different.

If UPL isn't expected to make saves because his D left him out to dry he's not penalized in the Goals Saved Above Expected stat (on average).

In the dropped pass example the QB is penalized.

I thought he had high, expected goals against numbers.

[GoPuckYourself]

UPL is looking like a good NHL backup, nothing more, nothing less but goalies are just weird as some just take even longer than others so he still could be quality with some better defenders in front of him but it's looking like he's backup quality in the NHL. I'd seriously consider playing Reimer more to see if he can handle more of a workload and maybe re-sign him with the notion that he has a chance to take over as the starter until we can find a better option.

Edited Sunday at 06:52 PM by GoPuckYourself

[PerreaultForever]

4 hours ago, North Buffalo said:

Oh it does, but UPL is no Hasek or Vasi... serviceable backup and if he gets hot sure but not a number 1.  Hard to find but D and G are what Sabres need to draft after 1st pick

Drafting takes years of development. That's not the answer. We should have signed Ullmark. Failing that we should have added a veteran goalie in the expansion draft (if you remember teams with 2 goalies were shopping them around and we could have left Ullmark unprotected if he didn't sign). Failing that we should have traded for a veteran to play much of the season not a geriatric. 

Same goes for D. Veteran partners for each young guy we have. 

So while you do build long term with the draft, relying just on drafting is a fool's mission. 

[PerreaultForever]

3 hours ago, Pimlach said:

The defense really sucks and two of the fancy alleged stars, Power and Byram, are a big reason why.   

UPL is not nearly as good as last year.  A lot of it is the hopelessly poor play in front of him.  So glad that Levi has been spared of playing behind this team.  

Worse thing about all of this is that Lindy and his staff have them playing worse defense than Granato did.   
 

True. Team defense has not improved like I thought it would under Ruff. It seems this team cannot play defense without the offense suffering and vice versa. These guys seem only capable of one singular option. So the offense is up again, but the D is down. 

Too many offensive defensemen and not enough defensive D men. That's the simplest way to put it. 

One of Byram/Power should be traded, and then 2 defensive D men (if not 3) added. Plus a veteran goalie to split the load with UPL and then let Levi fight his way onto the roster if he's able to. 

[JoeSchmoe]

1 hour ago, 7+6=13 said:

I thought he had high, expected goals against numbers.

I'm talking about Goals Saved Above Expected.

There are 34 goalies that have played more than 30 games. 

Hellebuyck is the league leader at 34.4 goals saved above expected.

Median #17 is Ullmark at 9.8.

UPL is 31 of 34 at -5.6. 

[7+6=13]

1 hour ago, JoeSchmoe said:

I'm talking about Goals Saved Above Expected.

There are 34 goalies that have played more than 30 games. 

Hellebuyck is the league leader at 34.4 goals saved above expected.

Median #17 is Ullmark at 9.8.

UPL is 31 of 34 at -5.6. 

No I get it.  I'm saying he's I believe 4th in expected goals, which is an indicator the defense sucks too.

[JoeSchmoe]

5 minutes ago, 7+6=13 said:

No I get it.  I'm saying he's I believe 4th in expected goals, which is an indicator the defense sucks too.

I just checked and that's right. Hellebuyck is right behind him at 5th so the metric checks out to show the goaltender value. 

As a team (all goalies in net), Buffalo is 8th in expected goals meaning the defense is marginally better than UPL's 31 out of 34.

[7+6=13]

19 minutes ago, JoeSchmoe said:

I just checked and that's right. Hellebuyck is right behind him at 5th so the metric checks out to show the goaltender value. 

As a team (all goalies in net), Buffalo is 8th in expected goals meaning the defense is marginally better than UPL's 31 out of 34.

Yeah, they're not helping each other, and it's showing up on the ice and stats.

[SwampD]

So, Levi is playing in the AHL and literally not in the NHL. Yet, people are disagreeing with me that he is not an NHL goalie.

k

Edited Sunday at 10:05 PM by SwampD

[The Jokeman]

10 hours ago, Cranky old man said:

All our former players look better on other teams.

I'm not sure Risto or Zadorov have. 

[JP51]

He is an NHL goalie he is just not a good to great one... if he left another NHL team would pick him up I am pretty sure.  I do wonder what he would look like with a Defense in front of him. 

14 hours ago, The Jokeman said:

I'm not sure Risto or Zadorov have. 

Oh I think I would take Zadorov immediately just for the nasty factor... 

[inkman]

On 3/22/2025 at 10:30 PM, sabresouth said:

No our defense is bad as well. As I stated in the Jacob Bryson thread. Bryson wouldn't make the lineup of a playoff contending team yet we signed him. 

Goalie is bad 

Defense is bad

KA is bad

I'm sure I'm leaving some body out...

Forwards being bad at defense also an issue.  

[mjd1001]

3 minutes ago, inkman said:

Forwards being bad at defense also an issue.  

I'm not an NHL coach or scout obviously, and a lot of people know more than I do, and I miss some things too. With all that said, on the occasion I get to watch the replays of goals allowed or scoring chances allowed.....or better yet listen to someone who IS a former NHL person (player or coach) break down some of those things....I usually come to one conclusion:

The Defense isn't good on this team, but they look worse than they actually are because of failed support or positional mistakes made by the forwards.

With that said, Samuelsson has regressed over the past year or so, and Power hasn't taken a step-up in his defensive play, Bryum may be average-to-below average in his own end. But Dahlin is better than some think, and the 3rd pair guys (Clifton, Bryson) aren't good but they aren't worse than a typical 3rd pairing.  The D needs some work or improvement, but I don't think they, as a group, are as awful as some think.

Edited Monday at 03:14 PM by mjd1001

[inkman]

On 3/23/2025 at 9:56 AM, Cranky old man said:

All our former players look better on other teams.

I’m not sure how earnestly I want to take this to task but I think by and large the players that have left here haven’t gone on to unforeseen heights.  Everyone knew Eichel, Reinhart, Montour, O’Reilly, were good players. They were just put into better situations, surrounded by better players that improved their counting stats. It’s not like the Sabres didn’t know what they had with those guys.  Ullmark you could make a case for, unless we want to go into average players like Zadorov, Borgen, Rodrigues.  

[mansquito]

I think we focus way too much on the defense and not goaltending. Buffalo was a hot bed of goaltenders until we decided to throw everything out to get McDavid. It was a terrible move at the time and looks worse the longer time goes on. GMTM made matters worse with Lehner and we've never fully recovered. It should be a priority to find a top goalie. Look at what Reimer did yesterday, reclaiming his glory days... It makes all the difference. 

Edited Monday at 10:17 PM by mansquito

[JoeSchmoe]

This thread can easily be summarized.

Look at old man Reimer, and then look at UPL. One is an NHL goalie in the twilight of his career. One is not an NHL goalie.

One wins us games. One does not.

[PromoTheRobot]

2 hours ago, JoeSchmoe said:

This thread can easily be summarized.

Look at old man Reimer, and then look at UPL. One is an NHL goalie in the twilight of his career. One is not an NHL goalie.

One wins us games. One does not.

All we need is for Reimer to stand on his head for 84 nights and we make the playoffs. Not that we won't try to sabotage him, like when Dahlin tripped him and he still managed to make a save. Just give us more of that.

Edited yesterday at 02:59 AM by PromoTheRobot

[mjd1001]

13 hours ago, mansquito said:

I think we focus way too much on the defense and not goaltending. Buffalo was a hot bed of goaltenders until we decided to throw everything out to get McDavid. It was a terrible move at the time and looks worse the longer time goes on. GMTM made matters worse with Lehner and we've never fully recovered. It should be a priority to find a top goalie. Look at what Reimer did yesterday, reclaiming his glory days... It makes all the difference. 

James Reimer had glory days?

I get your overall point, but it just goes to illustrate how sub-par the Goaltending has been this year with this team.

Edited 16 hours ago by mjd1001