Roster Thread (2023-2024 Season)

[Ace]

The roster just isn't good enough. If only there had been a period in between seasons where you were allowed to change parts of it. Oh well.

Not replacing Quinn has been an absolute disaster.

But who could have seen that coming except everybody not on the payroll?

 

[Havok89]

The roster just isn't good enough. If only there had been a period in between seasons where you were allowed to change parts of it. Oh well.

Not replacing Quinn has been an absolute disaster.

But who could have seen that coming except everybody not on the payroll?

Doesn’t help that the only players taking a step forward have been Mitts , Peterka, and Greenway.

Cozens, Tuch, Dahlin, and Thompson (offensively at least) have all regressed from last season.

 

[zenthusiast]

Doesn’t help that the only players taking a step forward have been Mitts , Peterka, and Greenway.

Cozens, Tuch, Dahlin, and Thompson (offensively at least) have all regressed from last season.

What’s galling is that negative regression is normal and should have been expected. It’s great for us to say “they’ll keep it up” on a message board but a professional franchise needs to have additional plans in case guys don’t match or surpass career years

 

[Dubi Doo]

The way theyre losing is what peeves me. If they were working their tails off in the forecheck, and just getting bad puck luck- that'd be one thing.

Unfortunately, they get their noses dirty once every 4 or 5 games. Other than that, it's dumb quick passes in the neutral zone, nobody willing to fight for body position on the forecheck, lots of reaching, hesitation bringing the puck to the net or even getting in front of the net, etc...

It's extremely disheartening to watch. Theyve played a p***yfied game all but once (Carolina) since the Colorado game. They're going to start sinking in the standings if they don't start sacrificing something other than my Friday nights.

 

[Doug Prishpreed]

Okay Adams, you’ve drafted well for three years…time to actually build a team out of all of those assets you’ve acquired and developed. The time to strike in the east is now, and so far you’re sitting on your hands.

 

[Dirty Dog]

All you have is excuses for this team. Its too bad that you ignore the problems. You think this is the first time Okposo has been deployed this way??? No, its not. He has been on the power play and penalty kill since pretty much day one. Granato is an awful coach. Or wait! Maybe we have played with 9 forwards since the beginning of the season? Bizarre is if you watch the games but don't see how Okposo is deployed yet you come on here to defend the way Granato uses Okposo for ONE game when his usage has been the same since the beginning of the season. Bizarre is right.

It is not excuses, the reason Okposo is getting increased ice time and PP time is because of the short bench and injuries. This is not complicated.

Same since the beginning of the season? Again, stop making things up. He has had 1 minute of PP time in 4 games this season, all in the last 6 games. It took until game 9 until he hit 15 seconds of PP time in a game. This is all true of his overall ice time (he was averaging about 10 minutes a night when the lineup was healthy). I am ready for you to change the goal post, or you can keep arguing that his icetime and pp time have nothing to do with injuries and everything to do with coaching while not supporting that argument with literally anything

Game 1 - 0:00 pp time
Game 2 - 0:00 pp time
Game 3 - 0:00 pp time
Game 4 - 0:02 pp time
Game 5 - 0:05 pp time
Game 6 - 0:13 pp time
Game 7 - 0:00 pp time
Game 8 - 0:01 pp time
Game 9 - 1:37 pp time
Game 10 - 0:37 pp time
Game 11 - 1:27 pp time
Game 12 - 0:59 pp time
Game 13 - 2:53 pp time
Game 14 - 0:56 pp time
Game 15 - 1:51 pp time

 

[littletonhockeycoach]

The way their losing is what peeves me. If they were working their tails off in the forecheck, and just getting bad puck luck- that'd be one thing.

Unfortunately, they get their noses dirty once every 4 or 5 games. Other than that, it's dumb quick passes in the neutral zone, nobody willing to fight for body position on the forecheck, lots of reaching, hesitation bringing the puck to the net or even getting in front of the net, etc...

It's extremely disheartening to watch. Theyve played a p***yfied game all but once (Carolina) since the Colorado game. They're going to start sinking in the standings if they don't start sacrificing something other than my Friday nights.

Well reasoned and concisely stated!

 

[Dirty Dog]

Also a good time to remind everyone they have two regulation losses in their last 7 games, while dealing with a ton of injuries.

 

[Havok89]

What’s galling is that negative regression is normal and should have been expected. It’s great for us to say “they’ll keep it up” on a message board but a professional franchise needs to have additional plans in case guys don’t match or surpass career years

Dahlin shouldn’t regress after signing a massive $11M contract though.

Cozens looks like a fourth liner at this point

 

[MOGlLNY]

Also a good time to remind everyone they have two regulation losses in their last 7 games, while dealing with a ton of injuries.

I’m glad they’re treading water but on the ice eye test and the underlying numbers have no real reason to believe anything is gonna change in terms of going forward this season.

I’ve actually noticed them regressing since the start of the season. Something’s gotta be done.

 

[Mattilaus]

Also a good time to remind everyone they have two regulation losses in their last 7 games, while dealing with a ton of injuries.

It's less about results and more about how they look. If they were losing but the effort was high and they were just getting unlucky or beat by higher skill teams, I don't think anyone would be complaining.

But they haven't. The effort isn't there and the stats back that up. We've all seen this show before. The Sabres go on a decent streak but have bad underlying numbers and don't pass the eye test. Then a couple months later their bad play has caught up with them and they are out of the picture again. We are anxious because they need to nip this in the bud now before their bad metrics catch up with them yet again.

 

[littletonhockeycoach]

Who are we playing instead of okposo if he sits? The reason he is getting so much playing time is the roster issues with forwards 7-9 and injuries.

We have Tuch, skinner, Thompson, mitts, greenway, Peterka in the top 6. While they aren’t fully clicking, they are fine. Girgs, Jost, and Okposo are whatever as a 4th line. Definitely a line we can upgrade at the trade deadline or the off-season, but whatever for now.

But elsewhere we have issues. Cozens is struggling. Rousek, olofsson, and krebs have offered very little if anything. Biro couldnt stay healthy. Savoie wasn’t ready. Benson got hurt and not sure if he was ready. You cannot run an NHL team when there are only 10 forwards you trust with ice time.

I think we are getting very close to having to call up Kulich and Rosen to fill those two spots due to a lack of literally any other option in the organization


————-

And then on defense and goaltending they have one too many. They will need to make decisions on both of those groups. RJ is ready but seems like he doesn’t have a spot. Let him continue to play in Rochester and he can get plenty of time filling in for injuries this year and will replace EJ on the roster next year.

And then for the love of god make a decision on goaltending when Comrie comes back. Continuing to not make a decision is to a good decision

Good analysis. Neither Benson nor Savoie are NHL ready. Tons of talent and they will be ready in about another season. But 18 yr olds with zero NHL experience are going to get crushed in this league. Just look at their lack of size and muscle...... whoa, fresh meat for the Sergachev's of this league.

Adams has seriously mis assessed and mis judged several roster situations including the readiness of the rookies and the goaltending carnival. He needed to bolster the fwds with some new talent and perhaps, pushed some of the wrong players out the door while keeping retreads.

He deserves negative marks for this.

I don't hold the fact that our top roster guys are stumbling on him. The players are to blame for their own lack of intensity and grit. But the coaches need to send some press box style messages here.

 

[truthbluth]

Have missed 3 straight games for family/band reasons. Not mad about it. Might just let the Sabres force me to start watching again.

 

[Djp]

Again, no one had a problem with you suggesting they should sign Mitts in the offseason if they planned to use him as the #1 center between Skinner/Tuch. They had an issue with you frequently bringing up his contract status and its cap implications in debates about lineups and who should be top 6 centers.


Your post I originally quoted also lamented about cap space and referenced your talking points about Mitts. Which is funny because your talking points were all about him playing on the #1 line and having his numbers ”inflated“ by Skinner/Tuch. Thus leading to bigger contract. You weren’t an advocate for extending him outside of that context. Not that you were against it, just that the urgency came from his possible use as the #1 center.

So it’s a bit much to see you acting as if you expected what’s happening right now with Mitts and getting on Adams. You clearly didn’t expect this since you expected Mitts‘s strong numbers coming from who he played with (getting “inflated” if you will). As opposed to him being the driving force from the start of the season as the 3rd line center and doing well with various wingers.

I think your attacks on Adams over Mitts contract situation in this thread have been off the mark. There was never any chance he would sign an extension with 5 or 6mil AAV for two reasons.

1) Mitt’s camp would never agree to it
2) Adams can’t make him sign it.

Adams could have extended him but it would cost more than you allowing for. I expect he eventually extends for somewhere in the 7-8mil range.

I think their camp doesn’t want to sign a team friendly contract then have him get traded.

in this summer mitts could be a big trade chip.

For the love of God sign Kane. Bring up Kulich. Benson stays and get rid of the useless players.

Skinner-Thompson-Tuch
Peterka-Mittelstadt-Kane
Kulich-Cozens-Quinn/Benson
Greenway and the 2 least useless players

What is Kane going to do? That injury/age doesn’t move the needle.

Greenway is useless?

Naming his C is another idiotic decision by our brain trust. Can't scratch him because of "optics". So you now are forced to play one of your non top 12 forwards game in game out.same with assistant captain girgensons. Great to have 2 leaders who have won jack shit their entire careers. They should relinquish their letters and accept waivers. The C is clearly going to Dahlin next and can't wait.

okay….

You can argue about OK with PP time but he has a valid role, that he and Girgs perform more than adequately. Last season they consistently suppressed shots and flipped ice as they're doing again.

Since they can't rag on Mitts or Joki, I guess the board's angst has migrated to the matchup line

its similar to Shiny High Impact Toy Syndrome ….it’s come from the fascination with nee things irrelevant of how useless they real are.

Okay Adams, you’ve drafted well for three years…time to actually build a team out of all of those assets you’ve acquired and developed. The time to strike in the east is now, and so far you’re sitting on your hands.

It’s not time to invest in short sighted magic beans.

Also a good time to remind everyone they have two regulation losses in their last 7 games, while dealing with a ton of injuries.

That doesn’t match the story They are trying to sell.

 

[Archie Lee]

I’m glad they’re treading water but on the ice eye test and the underlying numbers have no real reason to believe anything is gonna change in terms of going forward this season.

I’ve actually noticed them regressing since the start of the season. Something’s gotta be done.

I’m glad they’re treading water but on the ice eye test and the underlying numbers have no real reason to believe anything is gonna change in terms of going forward this season.

I’ve actually noticed them regressing since the start of the season. Something’s gotta be done.

When a team plays poorly it can be hard to imagine the same group playing well. When we lost 8 in a row last year, nobody was thinking we would play at a .600 pace the rest of the way and finish a point out. I’m not making predictions. Things don’t magically get better. But there is no reason to think they are unaware of their shortcomings and are not going to try and address them.

 

[Doug Prishpreed]

I think their camp doesn’t want to sign a team friendly contract then have him get traded.

in this summer mitts could be a big trade chip.

What is Kane going to do? That injury/age doesn’t move the needle.

Greenway is useless?


okay….



its similar to Shiny High Impact Toy Syndrome ….it’s come from the fascination with nee things irrelevant of how useless they real are.


It’s not time to invest in short sighted magic beans.

That doesn’t match the story They are trying to sell.

Players with NHL experience are now considered “magic beans” by brainwashed Sabres fans. You can make this crap up, the insanely low expectations of Sabres fans.

 

[MOGlLNY]

When a team plays poorly it can be hard to imagine the same group playing well. When we lost 8 in a row last year, nobody was thinking we would play at a .600 pace the rest of the way and finish a point out. I’m not making predictions. Things don’t magically get better. But there is no reason to think they are unaware of their shortcomings and are not going to try and address them.

Fair enough and it’s definitely possible. Just meant up to this point we haven’t seen much improvement/

 

[PatLaFontaineASMR]

Peters been going off about Kane on twitter right now

 

[MOGlLNY]

Peters been going off about Kane on twitter right now

Chad D mentioned he heard a 2 year deal was on the table from us as well.

 

[MOGlLNY]

 

[My Cozen Dylan]

Kane will put butts in seats. Maybe the team can feed off the energy.

And if it gets Olofsson out of the lineup, so be it.

 

[zenthusiast]

the Ron Paul it’s happening gif except he’s looking on in horror and dismay

 

[ValJamesDuex]

Kane will put butts in seats. Maybe the team can feed off the energy.

And if it gets Olofsson out of the lineup, so be it.

Olofsson & or Krebs headed out/down ?

 

[ValJamesDuex]

 

[Gabrielor]

I'm fine with getting Kane, depending on the contract.