How would you retool this team this summer?

[JohnC]

9 minutes ago, Thorner said:

Adams hasn’t achieved good goaltending in 5 years 

are you asking him to bring in good goaltending or bring back Reimer? The latter is possible 

Why not both? 

Your first sentence indicates why he has been such a failure. When Ullmark didn't sign a deal in the last year of his contract, he should have put a lot more attention on focusing on that position. A GM is supposed to anticipate and properly respond to "just in case" options. As you have pointed out in a prior post, even if he didn't know that Ullmark wouldn't sign a new contract, what he did know is that Ullmark didn't sign another contract before it expired. The result is that the GM left the team in a vulnerable situation with respect to that critical position.

[Thorner]

6 minutes ago, JohnC said:

Why not both? 

Your first sentence indicates why he has been such a failure. When Ullmark didn't sign a deal in the last year of his contract, he should have put a lot more attention on focusing on that position. A GM is supposed to anticipate and properly respond to "just in case" options. As you have pointed out in a prior post, even if he didn't know that Ullmark wouldn't sign a new contract, what he did know is that Ullmark didn't sign another contract before it expired. The result is that the GM left the team in a vulnerable situation with respect to that critical position.

It’s just.. I see him as open to adding good forwards now (McLeod) but I haven’t seen him do anything in net since we went on the Levi timeline. We signed UPL I guess, imagine he’s the guy for now 

[thewookie1]

On 4/11/2025 at 1:07 PM, GASabresIUFAN said:

For all those here who believe Marner would consider joining the Sabres, here is a possible (but unlikely) go for it roster that is cap compliant

1) Sign Marner 7 years @ 13.5

2) Trade UPL, Norris and other assets for Demko and Pettersson.  Re-sign Demko for 5 x 5

3) Trade Power for Marino (M-NTC) and other assets

4) Trade Zucker, Quinn, Lafferty and Clifton for assets. (It’s possible assets acquired in these deals would replace Orlov and/or Brannstrom)

5) Sign Dimitry Orlov for 3x 3.3

6) re-sign McLeod 3x 4.5, JJP 5 x 6.5, Levi 2 x 1.25, JBD 2 x 1.25, Brannstrom  1 x 1, and Kozak 1 x 900K

7) sign a depth forward (or acquire one in a step 4 trade @900k). 

8.) Buyout Samuelsson if we can’t trade him.

9.) lastly to make this work we need to trade Greenway for a forward @ around 2.5 mill a season or less. The issue is Greenway was given a M-NTC. 
 

Roster

Marner TNT Benson

JJP Pettersson Tuch

Kulich McLeod Greenway replacement

Krebs Kozak Malenstyn (depth FA)

Dahlin Marino

Byram Orlov

Brannstrom JCB (Bryson)

Demko Levi

The cap cost with Skinner’s and Samuelsson buyouts would be 95.6 million.  The defense after the top 2 pairs is suspect, but with Novikov and Komarov in the minors I’m ok with risking it.  Also Östlund is a prospect I’m not including in any deals because I need him for depth.

 

 

Huge no to most of this

You will burn whatever remaining bridges we have if we were to trade 2 guys we just extended prior to the deadline.

[GASabresIUFAN]

9 minutes ago, thewookie1 said:

Huge no to most of this

You will burn whatever remaining bridges we have if we were to trade 2 guys we just extended prior to the deadline.

I agree actually, I was just showing a way to add Marner and Pettersson while also trying to improve the defensive skill of the D and improve the goaltending.  It was hard to do and I had to move out Norris, Power, Zucker and Greenway to get it done.  As I wrote in the start of the that post "here is a possible (unlikely) go for it roster."  

Edited 21 hours ago by GASabresIUFAN

[GASabresIUFAN]

2 hours ago, Thorner said:

Breaking news! Extra, extra! 

The sabres are *13th* at 5v5 gf%, on the strength of a meaningless late season run! Fractionally ahead of the team in 17th. So theoretically on the precipice of non-playoff quality after a bad week.
 

but…13th! All these years of suffering were worth it! 

Don’t you DARE touch the “forward group” 

Dude, what are you even talking about?  You do realize that gf% is a stat that looks at 5 on 5 gf vs ga?  That means that bad goaltending and bad defense are an integral part of our "13th" place.  It's not just the forwards.

The forwards are doing their part 5 on 5 and scoring.   They are 3rd in the NHL in 5 on 5 scoring with 179.  They are also making an effort on the defensive end.  Tuch leads all NHL forwards in blocked shots with 107.  Tuch and Malenstyn are in the top 10 in blocks per 60 of all NHL forwards.  Clifton is our only D in the top 50 in blocked shots per 60.  

For us to be only 13th 5 on 5 in GF%, but 3rd in 5 on 5 goals, our defense and goaltending have to be terrible.  You even admit our goaltending is terrible.  Where would be with the same offense, but better goaltending and defenders?  Top 5 in GF% most likely and in the playoffs.  

By the way, no one is saying don't mess with the forwards, not even me.  I have our GM taking offers for Norris and Quinn in my first plan on this thread.  However the priority to fix this team is fixing the crap goalies and crap defenders.

Edited 21 hours ago by GASabresIUFAN

[Thorner]

17 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Dude, what are you even talking about?  You do realize that gf% is a stat that looks at 5 on 5 gf vs ga?  That means that bad goaltending and bad defense are an integral part of our "13th" place.  It's not just the forwards.

The forwards are doing their part 5 on 5 and scoring.   They are 3rd in the NHL in 5 on 5 scoring with 179.  They are also making an effort on the defensive end.  Tuch leads all NHL forwards in blocked shots with 107.  Tuch and Malenstyn are in the top 10 in blocks per 60 of all NHL forwards.  

For us to be only 13th 5 on 5 in GF%, but 3rd in 5 on 5 goals, our defense and goaltending have to be terrible.  You even admit our goaltending is terrible.  Where would be with the same offense, but better goaltending and defenders?  Top 5 in GF% most likely and in the playoffs.  

By the way, no one is saying don't mess with the forwards, not even me.  I have our GM taking offers for Norris and Quinn in my first plan on this thread.  However the priority to fix this team is fixing the crap goalies and crap defenders.

I don’t see it that way at all. The whole way you look at stats is imo just frivolous and bad. Unpredictive, unlearning, and a slave to the moment. It’s an incredibly macro thing. The sabres were 23rd in goals last season, my guy. The core of the roster is the same. These things fluctuate incredibly one season over another simply because hockey is a *fluid* game. Roster construction issues manifest in a multitude of ways. Ruff’s system is FACILITATING OFFENCE at the expense of D. Perhaps a better F unit would allow the goals to come without the manipulations?

NM the fact you can’t just isolate the stats and attribute it to a portion of the roster - it doesn’t work like that. The most effective way by far is to look at differential, in a fluid game, as a mark of the whole team 

@PromoTheRobotis right when he says it’s difficult to evaluate UPL. It’s tough to evaluate much of anything when there are so many key variables. The way you believe you can Willy nilly isolate areas of need when looking at stats borne out of a fluid game at all times is frankly absurd 

Build your team like Kevyn Adams…or the way you do, because of, Kevyn Adams… whichever. I honestly can’t keep track of it anymore. I have half a mind to suggest you can’t, either. And frankly, m’dear, I don’t give a damn 

Edited 21 hours ago by Thorner

[GASabresIUFAN]

21 minutes ago, Thorner said:

I don’t see it that way at all. The whole way you look at stats is imo just frivolous and bad. Unpredictive, unlearning, and a slave to the moment. It’s an incredibly macro thing. The sabres were 23rd in goals last season, my guy. The core of the roster is the same. These things fluctuate incredibly one season over another simply because hockey is a *fluid* game. Roster construction issues manifest in a multitude of ways. Ruff’s system is FACILITATING OFFENCE at the expense of D. Perhaps a better F unit would allow the goals to come without the manipulations?

NM the fact you can’t just isolate the stats and attribute it to a portion of the roster - it doesn’t work like that. The most effective way by far is to look at differential, in a fluid game, as a mark of the whole team 

@PromoTheRobotis right when he says it’s difficult to evaluate UPL. It’s tough to evaluate much of anything when there are so many key variables. The way you believe you can Willy nilly isolate areas of need when looking at stats borne out of a fluid game at all times is frankly absurd 

Build you team like Kevyn Adams…or the way you do because of Kevyn Adams… whichever. I honestly can’t keep track of it anymore

If you think the stat gf% is a whole team stats, why do you only blame the forwards?  I think you need top look beyond that one stat and I think you'll get a clearer picture where the issues lie.  

The Sabres are -159 in scoring chances for (47.7% SCF) and -100 in high danger scoring chances (45.9%) for the season.  The goaltending has a 910 save percentage 5 on 5 vs a league AVERAGE of .918.  The goalies save % overall is .880 vs a league average of .894.  If we got just average goaltending, we'd have allowed 30+ less goals this season (I estimate 20 less 5 on 5).  What would our GF% be then if we allowed 20 less goals 5 on 5? We'd move from our current +8 to +28.  

In fact, if we allowed just 20 less goals 5 on 5 for the season by getting average goaltending, we'd have a +positive differential and likely be in the playoffs.

Now where would be if our defense could help minimize SCA and HDCA for a change?  

Edited 20 hours ago by GASabresIUFAN