Lets drop the smokescreen by saying depth players. We got plenty of depth players in the minors and easily tradable for a 5th pick from other NHL teams like Robinson was a conditional 7th. We are talking about Victor Olofsson not depth players. You are trying to spin.
Your statement then implies. Victor Olofsson helps this team win. You say depth players help. You think Victor Olofsson helps this team win.
So by your own admission you think Olofsson helps this team win? A simple yes or no question. Care to answer?
Victor Olofsson in my opinion does nothing for this team and there are players out there that are available for 5th, 6th and 7th round picks like Robinson. So you think Victor Olofsson helps this team win you should be for signing him then right?
Nonsense that you argue with me about Victor Oloffson being good for this team and helps this team win by using a smoke screen and calling him a depth player. He will be lucky to get a contract from an NHL club next year and if he does its probably going to be league minimum.
The fan mentality of this organization after 13 years is to think Victor Olofsson is a player who helps this team is beyond reason.
And yes its only Victor Olofsson who cares but its a part of a bigger picture where Adams continues to bring in fringe NHL players who other teams don't even want and our fan base thinks these depth players help us win even though we missed the playoffs 13 years in a row.
Keep applauding those depth players helping us win nothing. 90% of the players Adams signs aren't even NHL players but ya, depth helps us win!
You made your point in the first paragraph and then more or less repeat it 7 times in the succeeding paragraphs...
You are conflating not trading Olofsson with a implicit (or maybe explicit by some) endorsement that he helps the team win and is needed. If you go there, you could make the argument BUF should/could have also traded Jost, Bryson, Comrie, Robinson, others. They are no more nor less needed than Olofsson, if you're going to invoke the "needed" phrase.
From what I read, no one - or at best a scant few - is saying Olofsson is good or helps the team win. They are saying when BUF was beset with a scoring forward offseason injury of unknown duration (Quinn), Olofsson by default from that injury now held more value than a 5th-7th pick. Others (
@Der Jaeger,
@Chainshot, you, etc.) would have be settled for the pick / risking losing the trade because of the rationale you cite.
Also, invoking Eric Robinson was a red herring. He had been waived and cleared earlier in the season for assignment to Cleveland / Lake Erie. Buffalo offering a conditional pick was the typical thing to do to enable giving him an NHL roster slot. Feel free to berate BUF for not making the waiver claim earlier when they were able, but I also don't see a connection to Olofsson.
I will grant that it is a conspicuous indictment that two years running, the Sabres have made waiver claims (Jost, Robinson) for players who are arguably NHL/AHL tweeners, yet those waiver claims still can't be "forced" down to the minors or out of the Sabres org by the improved play of other emerging talents from within the BUF-ROC-etc. organization.
Me in the Roster thread - Victor Olofsson is useless and should have been traded long ago!
HF Posters - No we need depth
Also
HF Posters in the GDT - Victor Olofsson is useless and should have been traded long ago!
Its almost like people arguing just to argue.
As for the hill to die on, I made an observation based on my opinion first. You are the one that keeps coming back and arguing with me. You are the one dying on this hill that Olofsson is needed. Am I not allowed to critique the team? Or when you say stop I have to stop? No one forced you to respond. Its a bizarre statement to make that has nothing to do with the conversation but I guess you are at the top of that hill and I should just shut up now? Your comment has nothing to do with the conversation.
The forum rules are to discuss the topic at hand not make it personal like you are doing and discussing the veracity of my commitment to the topic.
Damn, I made a simple statement that Olofsson shouldn't be on this team anymore and Adams dropped the ball and I got 5 people arguing with me about it saying he is needed and helps this team and then in the game day thread they all call him trassh.
Perhaps ironic?
I am no Skinner apologist but I will say that he is the opposite of a lot of our forwards in that he's a player that does well down low with not a lot of space. On the perimeter and in space he really doesn't do great at all which explains why he does better 5v5 as opposed to the PP
I agree. In that regard he is rare (for current BUF roster). And why I'm less adamant than others he needs to be bought out.
I don't think it's about the fourth line, per se, but rather constructing the roster properly. Oloffson can't be looked at as "depth" but rather another soft, redundant player that he brought back. .
I don't look at him signing guys to be fourth liners but roster spots, and our roster had holes (role players) that needed to be filled. That's why I didn't like him bringing back a few of these guys.
Agreed. Interesting that a couple recent games (Seattle, etc.) where the lines were made more similar in construction (Girgensons doing dirty work for #72, #89, Skinner moved down; Greenway with Benson, etc.) the Sabres did a little better, or at least were more consistent through the lines, as opposed to one line looking OK, two looking over-matched and the remaining line like there was all the familiarity between them of a fill-in joining for a night of beer league.
Its called following the logic of why VO is still here.
KA was likely looking to trade VO since the last deadline since he was starting to fall out of favor.
During offseason training Quinn gets hurt
VO competes with other internal players for Quinns roster spot with Benson, Savoie, Rusek, Kulich, Rosen.
VO loses competition to Benson so hes relegated to 12/13th forward and rotates in and out of the lineup
Quinn comes back from injury for about a month which pushed VO into the 13th forward role
Quinn goes down with injury again, which nobody could have predicted would have happened which brings VO back from the 12/13th rotation
Lack of cap space amongst the league for competitive teams, so not worth adding VO to their rosters even at 50%
Teams with cap space dont need him because most of them arent competitively in the playoff race.
And NONE of the above implies BUF
needed Olofsson to win.
Come with me And you’ll see
A team lacking any inspiration.
Follow me and you’ll see
A coach and GM requiring forced resignation
Perhaps a decent "small but skilled" template to follow.
At least oompa loompas work hard, yet together, for their entire shift, and know where their teammates are/will be..
I think they have one in Thompson. I think they have a decent 2C in Cozens. They just need them to play to their capabilities. They did not do that this season for a variety of reasons.
They have a decent top 3 D in Dahlin, Byram, and Power.
They have a good starting goalie in UPL.
They have talent on the wings.
They need to add 3 or 4 of the right veterans to the roster and shake up the coaching staff.
yeah... maybe... hopefully...
Would like to see another season closer to last one to be sure. I am skeptical he can adapt further to the modifications teams have made to defend him on the ice.
The organization failed to recognize that Mittelstadt was the closest thing to a 1C, and that Thompson was/is the luxury middle-six offensive mismatch threat. They stay with TT, Cozens, and Krebs, this story is over.
Mittelstadt to me was their best all-situations, all-zones center, or at least had that potential more-so than Thompson (or Cozens).
Digging around in their 5-on-5 numbers last year vs. this year:
5-on-5 goals for per game: 2.14 this year, last year 2.40
5-on-5 goals against per game: 1.94 this year, last year 2.49
Difference: so far this year +14, last year -7
So again... it's the powerplay. Last year they had a +56 goal differential on the PP, this year a 29th best total of +24.
Penalty killing they are -40 THIS YEAR so for it's -16 differential for PPG, SHG - PPGA and SHGA. They were a -56 total on the PK last year.
They have shaved almost a half goal per game off their goals against at 5-on-5 and only a quarter of a goal for. It's the 30 goal difference in the PP differential so far.
Don't know what the numbers show, but it also seems they don't work hard enough consistently enough to draw penalties,
Watching their power play often is like watching two dissimilar animal species trying to mate.