Roster Thread (2023-2024 Season)

[Beerz]

They’re both widely considered too small to play center in the NHL but maybe everyone is wrong. With Buffalo luck, count me extremely skeptical.

I don't know why Ostlund would be widely considered too small to play NHL center. As soon as he fills out he would be your typical average size Center

 

[TageGod]

You can cancel out Kulich and Savoie. Kulich couldn't handle C in the AHL so he's not going to be put at C. Savoie is playing more W than C so he looks to be an all situation 2/3W. Ostlund though playing in a men's league could use some seasoning to get used to playing in North America

You do realize players need transition periods when they change leagues, right? Savoies sample size means nothing right now in the AHL. I can see him more useful than Krebs there, but I do expect wing long term.

 

[Der Jaeger]

They’re both widely considered too small to play center in the NHL but maybe everyone is wrong. With Buffalo luck, count me extremely skeptical.

Too small?

Center has more to do with playing defense down low in the zone, and then being able to skate/make decisions to get out of the zone with possession. If you can do both of those size doesn’t matter.

 

[Chainshot]

They are in a situation where if they just go with youth to fill in the roster spots vacated by departures they aren't moving forward since they need to get more mature about their game. There are parts of the game that they are missing, net front guy(s), cycle guy(s), contact guyS (multiple) that just stuffing some smaller, quick kids on their misfit line isn't going to fix.

 

[Old Navy Goat]

They are in a situation where if they just go with youth to fill in the roster spots vacated by departures they aren't moving forward since they need to get more mature about their game. There are parts of the game that they are missing, net front guy(s), cycle guy(s), contact guyS (multiple) that just stuffing some smaller, quick kids on their misfit line isn't going to fix.

The only one I would want making the jump would be Savoie. His speed and 200' game would bring a different element to the team. There's a definite need for those late 20s grizzled vets that play a hard game

 

[Matt Ress]

They've done fairly well drafting but it would be nice if they took more shots on physically gifted guys in the mid rounds that could be panning out now into bottom 6ers. Way too early to see that from last year's big kids

 

[TehDoak]

They've done fairly well drafting but it would be nice if they took more shots on physically gifted guys in the mid rounds that could be panning out now into bottom 6ers. Way too early to see that from last year's big kids

I think their system for projecting prospects is flawed based on the sheer volume of forwards picked in the last few drafts, and how similar they are. Either they simply aren't using size as a part of of the analysis or they don't have a good way for quantifying defensive impacts.

It really feels like they are just spitting out a list based on a home brewed advanced stats formulas and it spits out "draft small skilled forwards"

 

[Old Navy Goat]

I think their system for projecting prospects is flawed based on the sheer volume of forwards picked in the last few drafts, and how similar they are. Either they simply aren't using size as a part of of the analysis or they don't have a good way for quantifying defensive impacts.

It really feels like they are just spitting out a list based on a home brewed advanced stats formulas and it spits out "draft small skilled forwards"

That's a very simplistic look. Buffalo has gone BPA under KA. If you study the drafts where did they pass up bigger, aggressive players for skill? KA took Quinn in his first draft passing up Rossi. The 2nd draft Detroit snagged Kasper right before Buffalo drafted Savoie. Are you going to argue that he messed up by not taking Geekie? Last year Benson dropped, before that there was a run on big players like But and Danielson. In the 2nd they picked Wahlberg over Cristall, you know the small highly skilled guy projected top 25

 

[BFLO]

The anger last summer was at not getting a goalie and the D additions not being good enough. Not sure why anyone would still be angry about that right now.

You don't think acquiring a better goalie than Comrie and a better D-man than Clifton/Ej would have gained as a handful of points over where we are now?

Some of us also wanted a reworked bottom 6. Which could have also stolen us a few more points.

And now here we are in March a handful of points out of the playoffs... again

 

[Aladyyn]

You don't think acquiring a better goalie than Comrie and a better D-man than Clifton/Ej would have gained as a handful of points over where we are now?

Some of us also wanted a reworked bottom 6. Which could have also stolen us a few more points.

And now here we are in March a handful of points out of the playoffs... again

Our starting goalie is statistically up there for the Vezina, Clifton has been fine when used properly, the main personnel issue is that EJ played twice as much as he should have.

If our PP was functional structurally we'd be sitting firmly in a playoff spot right now, with the exact same player personnel.

 

[Chainshot]

That's a very simplistic look. Buffalo has gone BPA under KA. If you study the drafts where did they pass up bigger, aggressive players for skill? KA took Quinn in his first draft passing up Rossi. The 2nd draft Detroit snagged Kasper right before Buffalo drafted Savoie. Are you going to argue that he messed up by not taking Geekie? Last year Benson dropped, before that there was a run on big players like But and Danielson. In the 2nd they picked Wahlberg over Cristall, you know the small highly skilled guy projected top 25

I would add to that an old axiom: defense can be taught. Drafting guys who are really good two-way junior players that don’t have a whole lot of offensive upside is how Don Luce goes about his business in the 1990’s.

 

[Chainshot]

You don't think acquiring a better goalie than Comrie and a better D-man than Clifton/Ej would have gained as a handful of points over where we are now?

Some of us also wanted a reworked bottom 6. Which could have also stolen us a few more points.

And now here we are in March a handful of points out of the playoffs... again

One mildly productive top six forward for netfront to help their PP probably had more impact than anything.

 

[Old Navy Goat]

I would add to that an old axiom: defense can be taught. Drafting guys who are really good two-way junior players that don’t have whole lot of offensive upside is how Don Luce goes about his business in the 1990’s.

That damn Stevie Y has a wormhole into my mind. 2 years in a row he drafted the defensive sound C with offensive upside before KA could

 

[Chainshot]

That damn Stevie Y has a wormhole into my mind. 2 years in a row he drafted the defensive sound C with offensive upside before KA could

Word was the Sabres had a real burning desire for Kasper and they missed out by a pick.

 

[Old Navy Goat]

Word was the Sabres had a real burning desire for Kasper and they missed out by a pick.

I was giving him the pre-draft Quinn treatment

 

[TehDoak]

That's a very simplistic look. Buffalo has gone BPA under KA. If you study the drafts where did they pass up bigger, aggressive players for skill? KA took Quinn in his first draft passing up Rossi. The 2nd draft Detroit snagged Kasper right before Buffalo drafted Savoie. Are you going to argue that he messed up by not taking Geekie? Last year Benson dropped, before that there was a run on big players like But and Danielson. In the 2nd they picked Wahlberg over Cristall, you know the small highly skilled guy projected top 25

I think the BPA philosophy is part of the problem, especially with the volume of picks.

Imagine if you had a an expiring gift certificate to a clothing store and you want to make the most of it, you say "I'm going to do analysis and find the best value for this gift certificate", and you have a bunch of proven ways to show what is best and after an extensive search, you find the best made shirt there is a red polo shirt. The problem is, you already have 10 well made red polo shirts at home.
Are your calculations flawed? Not necessarily...but they don't take into consideration that you need more than a red polo shirt to make a wardrobe

When your BPA calculator keeps spitting out forward, forward, forward, it might be time to recalibrate how you are doing those calculations.

 

[joshjull]

He should also look to upgrade at least one of Tage's wing spots. Barring a resurgence, Skinner is, at best, a 3rd line/sheltered scoring line guy moving forward. Tuch is fine in the top 6, but seems more like a second line guy than a true first liner, and has been dinged up seemingly all year.

You seem to be giving Tage a free pass. He’s been the worst of the three.

All three have been banged up at various points this season. Skinner and Tage are still playing thru/dealing with injuries impacting their play. Not sure with Tuch at this point but he was earlier in the year.

Skinner/Tage/Tuch were one of the best offensive lines in the NHL for almost 1.5 seasons. We haven’t seen that from them since Tage got hurt at the end of last season. I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt that injuries have prevented them from getting on track this season.

But it was worrying that they were complete no-shows at the start of this season and before the injuries happened. Because if they don’t get going again next season, we’re in trouble. Thats especially true for Tage. If he doesn’t get back on track we are f***ed.

 

[Old Navy Goat]

I think the BPA philosophy is part of the problem, especially with the volume of picks.

Imagine if you had a an expiring gift certificate to a clothing store and you want to make the most of it, you say "I'm going to do analysis and find the best value for this gift certificate", and you have a bunch of proven ways to show what is best and after an extensive search, you find the best made shirt there is a red polo shirt. The problem is, you already have 10 well made red polo shirts at home.
Are your calculations flawed? Not necessarily...but they don't take into consideration that you need more than a red polo shirt to make a wardrobe

When your BPA calculator keeps spitting out forward, forward, forward, it might be time to recalibrate how you are doing those calculations.

Doesn't work that way. The drafts have been dominated by smaller players in their selection range. The larger players with high upside went before their draft turn. Players they passed on had significant question marks. The last thing you do with a high pick is roll the dice on a worse player with a high pick

 

[Jim Bob]

Doesn't work that way. The drafts have been dominated by smaller players in their selection range. The larger players with high upside went before their draft turn. Players they passed on had significant question marks. The last thing you do with a high pick is roll the dice on a worse player with a high pick

I wonder how many people would want Matthew Wood or Samuel Honzek instead of Zach Benson today?

I am sure there are some people that would want Geekie or McGroarty over Savoie.

 

[Old Navy Goat]

I wonder how many people would want Matthew Wood or Samuel Honzek instead of Zach Benson today?

I am sure there are some people that would want Geekie or McGroarty over Savoie.

I had McGroarty and Snugerrud in the tier below Savoie, so I wouldn't have been too upset. Geekie is just an enigmatic player, how do you turn his motor up to 10 on a consistent basis

 

[Chainshot]

I had McGroarty and Snugerrud in the tier below Savoie, so I wouldn't have been too upset. Geekie is just an enigmatic player, how do you turn his motor up to 10 on a consistent basis

Yeah, I don’t need to wonder how to fit the key in the ignition for Geekie or what player shows up either. No issue with Savoie as that pick with how the board went.

The ONLY draft where we could probably parse out who and why being smaller stature guys is Adam’s first. There may have been better value in other players than Kisakov yet that script is still being written.

 

[Beerz]

Haven't listened yet.

 

[BFLO]

Our starting goalie is statistically up there for the Vezina, Clifton has been fine when used properly, the main personnel issue is that EJ played twice as much as he should have.

If our PP was functional structurally we'd be sitting firmly in a playoff spot right now, with the exact same player personnel.

Getting lucky that 1 goalie randomly turned into a Vezina candidate out of nowhere doesn't change the fact that we still should have added a goalie. Comrie is 1-7-0 this season. Levi wasn't ready.

Even with 1 Vezina goalie, we're still short a back up.

 

[Chainshot]

Haven't listened yet.

I’m early in the Tuch interview.

 

[ValJamesDuex]

Cool Sabres roster history courtesy of the Sabres Live crew this morning.

In 1980 Mike Ramsey and Rob McClanahan joined the Sabres directly from the US Gold Medal Olympic Team. They immediately were inserted in the lineup, the scratched player that first night ? Jerry Korab. Who two nights later was traded to the Kings for 1982 1st rounder who ended up being Phil Housley.