Roster Thread (2023-2024 Season)

[Chainshot]

The past 12 months, I think both the Bills and Sabres listened too much to the outside noise and it led to less than optimal results.

For the Bills, it was all the stuff around how Josh Allen needs to run less so that he doesn't have his career shortened like Cam Newton.

For the Sabres, it was that they needed to get better defensively to compete in the playoffs.

Sometimes, that is like telling Mariano Rivera that he needs to develop a new pitch because he throws the cutter too much.

Buffalo being better defensively is about adding just a smidge of basic hockey to what they do.

 

[Jim Bob]

Buffalo being better defensively is about adding just a smidge of basic hockey to what they do.

With the way they leak high danger chances against, it might take more than a smidge.

 

[Doug Prishpreed]

Re: Skinner.

He's one of the few vets, gives inconsistent efforts, won't touch the defensive zone, his TOI doesn't drop, he's stapled to the top PP unit despite it struggling badly.

What kind of message does that send to the rest of the team? It's a coaching problem and it's a Skinner problem.

Just do what it takes to get him gone. He's emblematic of the issues here.

When the last coach played him on the 4th line, this whole board and whole city bashed Krueger for it. Everyone always thinks the problem on the team is the coach, but it's really the GM and owner's insistence that Skinner remain part of this team.

Granato saw the last coach be run out of town for playing Skinner too low in the lineup and won't repeat that mistake. He knows this team loses unless Skinnner has a great game, and that will always be the case until they buy him out.

 

[Doug Prishpreed]

The past 12 months, I think both the Bills and Sabres listened too much to the outside noise and it led to less than optimal results.

For the Bills, it was all the stuff around how Josh Allen needs to run less so that he doesn't have his career shortened like Cam Newton.

For the Sabres, it was that they needed to get better defensively to compete in the playoffs.

Sometimes, that is like telling Mariano Rivera that he needs to develop a new pitch because he throws the cutter too much.

Fragile teams across the board.

 

[Doug Prishpreed]

With the way they leak high danger chances against, it might take more than a smidge.

They can play well defensively when they want to. It's just that their mentality is so fragile that they completely abandon everything and try to force plays at the slightest hint of pressure of any kind.

It's a team full of mostly low-IQ players, and one low-effort player who is perennially gifted a top-line role.

I do think Quinn, Benson, Dahlin, and Mitts clearly play a game where their hockey smarts stand out, but they're really the only ones. Power and Sammy are TBD in that regard (or I just can't figure them out).

 

[toddkaz]

When the last coach played him on the 4th line, this whole board and whole city bashed Krueger for it. Everyone always thinks the problem on the team is the coach, but it's really the GM and owner's insistence that Skinner remain part of this team.

Granato saw the last coach be run out of town for playing Skinner too low in the lineup and won't repeat that mistake. He knows this team loses unless Skinnner has a great game, and that will always be the case until they buy him out.

You think Kreuger was fired for playing Skinner on the 4th line?

Thats a new one.

 

[Chainshot]

With the way they leak high danger chances against, it might take more than a smidge.

Forwards taking the puck a smidge deeper into the offensive zone and putting the puck low instead of curling back to the blueline.
Forwards taking one extra step back into their own zone on the back check.
After taking that step back into the d-zone, waiting a pulse before trying to blow the zone.
Defensemen making a smidge faster reads to put the puck low instead of trying to force it into traffic in the offensive zone.
Defensemen making a faster pass to an open teammate within 10' because they are now nearer.

Seriously - a number of small plays would make up for a great deal of the shit-f***ery of bad hockey that they play.

 

[BFLO]

The 7 forwards we protected were Eichel, Reinhart, Thompson, Mittelstadt, Olofsson, Asplund and Bjork. We protected Ristolainen, Dahlin and Jokiharju on defence.

We really should have protected 8 Skaters instead of 7 forwards 3 defensemen.

We lost Borgen to keep Olofsson, Asplund and Bjork? 2 guys who were out of the league a season and a half later. And Olofsson who will likely never earn another full time roster spot in his career.

And then Adams lowballed Ullmark so he tested FA?

Absolutely brutal 2nd offseason from Adams.

 

[Doug Prishpreed]

You think Kreuger was fired for playing Skinner on the 4th line?

Thats a new one.

It's not a new one at all. That was literally the most common reason everyone here and on twitter listed when they explained why he was so bad. Maybe you weren't here, maybe you just don't remember.

Everyone hailed Granato as a better coach because he figured out how to use Skinner. He never really did though, it turns out.

We really should have protected 8 Skaters instead of 7 forwards 3 defensemen.

We lost Borgen to keep Olofsson, Asplund and Bjork? 2 guys who were out of the league a season and a half later. And Olofsson who will likely never earn another full time roster spot in his career.

And then Adams lowballed Ullmark so he tested FA?

Absolutely brutal 2nd offseason from Adams.

He truly is the worst GM in the league, and he's still got a ton of runway.

 

[Matt Ress]

We really should have protected 8 Skaters instead of 7 forwards 3 defensemen.

We lost Borgen to keep Olofsson, Asplund and Bjork? 2 guys who were out of the league a season and a half later. And Olofsson who will likely never earn another full time roster spot in his career.

And then Adams lowballed Ullmark so he tested FA?

Absolutely brutal 2nd offseason from Adams.

I agree but with Ullmark, all reports said they agreed on a contract and Linus kind of pulled the rug out. Maybe he did feel low balled or maybe he generally didn't like the team direction or just wanted to find a winning organization. Maybe you could blame Adams for all of that stuff regardless lol

 

[toddkaz]

It's not a new one at all. That was literally the most common reason everyone here and on twitter listed when they explained why he was so bad. Maybe you weren't here, maybe you just don't remember.

Everyone hailed Granato as a better coach because he figured out how to use Skinner. He never really did though, it turns out.


He truly is the worst GM in the league, and he's still got a ton of runway.

I remember Krueger but I dont remember anyone saying he was fired for playing Skinner on the 4th line. I thought Krueger was fired for being an awful coach.

No one cares about Skinner if we are winning. I think its bizarre you think Skinner carries so much weight with the coaching decisions.

 

[Jimmybarndoor2]

I do not know what needs to be fixed as that is the gm and coaches jobs.

My frustration is the lack of any meaningful action when the season continued to be a disaster.

Sabres did zero roster moves and relied on our veterans to save the day. The vets rallied the troops to not care and reduce effort and there were no ramifications.

No sitting. No removing the c. No trials of players like biro, Kodak, Rousek, Weiss back or Murray on the fourth lines to try. Try I say to create a spark

Instead they keep trotting out okposo and goes and Robinson. They didn’t even give Krebs a shot to move up . Kept him on the fourth line and moved up okposo.

These may not have changed a dam thing but the unwillingness to even try it is unexplainable. Waive some players and give somebody a shot from Rochester. Especially the ones that will be ufa

For gods sake, how could it get worse

 

[Gras]

We really should have protected 8 Skaters instead of 7 forwards 3 defensemen.

We lost Borgen to keep Olofsson, Asplund and Bjork? 2 guys who were out of the league a season and a half later. And Olofsson who will likely never earn another full time roster spot in his career.

And then Adams lowballed Ullmark so he tested FA?

Absolutely brutal 2nd offseason from Adams.

Asplund has a had a couple callups this year

 

[Perratrooper]

Hey Sabres fans, would you guys consider something around Markstrom for one of your 3 centers?

 

[My Cozen Dylan]

Hey Sabres fans, would you guys consider something around Markstrom for one of your 3 centers?

Not a chance. It’s not a big enough need for us to justify a premium asset.

Weegar, Andersson…that gets us interested.

 

[BFLO]

I agree but with Ullmark, all reports said they agreed on a contract and Linus kind of pulled the rug out. Maybe he did feel low balled or maybe he generally didn't like the team direction or just wanted to find a winning organization. Maybe you could blame Adams for all of that stuff regardless lol

I think that the Pegula's placed a harsh internal budget on the team which led to Ullmark getting lowballed and testing FA, and to Reinhart never even being offered a contract. 2020-2021 was the height of Pegula's initiative to keep the Sabres "efficient" in order to maintain the family lifestyle(cashflow) during the uncertainty of the pandemic.

And Adams as his yesman never questioned Pegula on any of these terrible decisions.

 

[Beerz]

I think that the Pegula's placed a harsh internal budget on the team which led to Ullmark getting lowballed and testing FA, and to Reinhart never even being offered a contract. 2020-2021 was the height of Pegula's initiative to keep the Sabres "efficient" in order to maintain the family lifestyle(cashflow) during the uncertainty of the pandemic.

And Adams as his yesman never questioned Pegula on any of these terrible decisions.

I never believed the whole reporting on "maintaining the family lifestyle" bit .. Pegula is worth 6 billion dollars ... nothing that was happening with Covid was going to put a dent in the family lifestyle.. especially anything to do with the Sabres.

 

[Doug Prishpreed]

I remember Krueger but I dont remember anyone saying he was fired for playing Skinner on the 4th line. I thought Krueger was fired for being an awful coach.

No one cares about Skinner if we are winning. I think its bizarre you think Skinner carries so much weight with the coaching decisions.

Just because you can't remember doesn't make it bizarre. You can easily go back and check.

Hey Sabres fans, would you guys consider something around Markstrom for one of your 3 centers?

I'd trade any one of them for Weegar. We don't need a goaltender so it's a weird proposal.

 

[Ace]

We really should have protected 8 Skaters instead of 7 forwards 3 defensemen.

We lost Borgen to keep Olofsson, Asplund and Bjork? 2 guys who were out of the league a season and a half later. And Olofsson who will likely never earn another full time roster spot in his career.

And then Adams lowballed Ullmark so he tested FA?

Absolutely brutal 2nd offseason from Adams.

We have been over this a thousand times but here goes 1001.

if they protected 8 players at that time it would not have been Olofsson left out. It would have been Tage Thompson. The guy they couldn’t get a 5th round pick for.

You can’t revise what would have happened then with what has happened since. Thompson barely got protected as it was. Olofsson was never in danger of it. You can argue keeping Borgen over what Thompson was then. Because that’s the argument they were having. Not Olofsson coming off a 20 goal season at 24.

 

[Irie]

We really should have protected 8 Skaters instead of 7 forwards 3 defensemen.

We lost Borgen to keep Olofsson, Asplund and Bjork? 2 guys who were out of the league a season and a half later. And Olofsson who will likely never earn another full time roster spot in his career.

And then Adams lowballed Ullmark so he tested FA?

Absolutely brutal 2nd offseason from Adams.

Hindsight is 20/20. At the time, exposing Olofsson would have been a poor decision.

What Adams could have done (and should have), is offer up a 3rd round pick (maybe a 3rd and a 5th) to Francis to have him select Bjork.

Francis was desperate for draft capital and he drafted like 12 defensemen in the expansion draft. The draft was also lacking speedy forwards.

Borgen was not a big enough prize to give up the chance at extra picks for Seattle, I think it would have been an easy sell had Adams tried.

 

[BFLO]

We have been over this a thousand times but here goes 1001.

if they protected 8 players at that time it would not have been Olofsson left out. It would have been Tage Thompson. The guy they couldn’t get a 5th round pick for.

You can’t revise what would have happened then with what has happened since. Thompson barely got protected as it was. Olofsson was never in danger of it. You can argue keeping Borgen over what Thompson was then. Because that’s the argument they were having. Not Olofsson coming off a 20 goal season at 24.

Protecting 8 was still the right call. Saying that we couldn't trust Adams to protect the right 8 players doesn't change the calculus, it just adds another nail to Adams's coffin.

 

[BB79]

.


I'd trade any one of them for Weegar. We don't need a goaltender so it's a weird proposal.

What?? We absolutely need a goalie. UPL needs a partner

 

[My Cozen Dylan]

If Krebs is a sustainable 3C, with no external additions (and a Skinner buyout), we could be looking at a forward group like this next year:

Benson-Thompson-Peterka
Quinn-Mittelstadt-Cozens
Kulich/Savoie-Krebs-Tuch
Greenway-XXX-XXX

Add capable 4th liners and we have 3 really solid scoring lines.

 

[BFLO]

I never believed the whole reporting on "maintaining the family lifestyle" bit .. Pegula is worth 6 billion dollars ... nothing that was happening with Covid was going to put a dent in the family lifestyle.. especially anything to do with the Sabres.

My guy. This is a direct quote from Pegula, not 2nd hand from an anonymous employee. Terry Pegula said he fired Botts to run the team more ECONOMICALLY. Adams then fires the entire hockey ops department on day 1 aside from a handful of guys to run a skeleton crew. Then after the failed Taylor hall experiment season he spends to the cap floor 2 years in a row and is still $8mil under the cap now.

Yes, he's worth 6 billion and didn't want to have to liquidate any assets for cash at a time when assets have been going up in value exponentially.

Sabres change course, fire Botterill as GM

The Sabres fired GM Jason Botterill less than a month after giving him a vote of confidence. Kevyn Adams was named GM.

www.espn.com

"We felt like we needed to be heard," co-owner Terry Pegula said during a video conference call. "I'm not going to sit here and dish on Jason Botterill, but we have a vision and we want to see our vision succeed.

"We were in detailed discussions with Jason, and how we felt we needed to move forward effectively, efficiently and economically running this franchise, we felt there were too many differences of opinion going into the future."

 

[Irie]

We have been over this a thousand times but here goes 1001.

if they protected 8 players at that time it would not have been Olofsson left out. It would have been Tage Thompson. The guy they couldn’t get a 5th round pick for.

You can’t revise what would have happened then with what has happened since. Thompson barely got protected as it was. Olofsson was never in danger of it. You can argue keeping Borgen over what Thompson was then. Because that’s the argument they were having. Not Olofsson coming off a 20 goal season at 24.

This is correct, but it is doubtful that losing Thompson was the concern. Most posters, yourself included, were much more worried about losing Asplund.

It is more than likely the Kraken would have passed on Thompson and Bjork and taken Asplund, (which would have also worked out well).

In hindsight, they didn't really even need to go the 8 skater route. Just protect Girgensons and expose Asplund, and Borgen is likely still here and solving the #4 RHD problem.