The 2024-2025 Roster Thread

[Tijuana Donkey Show]

3 of those guys are extremely high-end prospects, so you really can't judge at this point.

What 3 are “extremely high end prospects”?

Maybe 2….MAAAAYYBBEEEE. But definitely not 3 “extremely high end prospects” lol.

 

[Der Jaeger]

Fabbro looks f***ing good.

He’s always had that ability but didn’t get a consistent opportunity in Nashville.

 

[MagnumForce2]

The Sabres need to see if Josh Allen can skate.

 

[Krieger Bot]

He’s always had that ability but didn’t get a consistent opportunity in Nashville.

Sucks to be a budget team in moments like this. No other reason to not take a flier on him for a late round pick.

 

[Fjordy]

So aside from the constant top 4rhd and top 6 forward conversation that owns this thread....

Anyone wonder what would happen if beck gets more than 6-7mins a night? Ill admit i stat sheet watch more than actually watch lately so maybe others can comment more on that. It seems to me we paid a high price for a guy who barely plays...

Well Ruff doesn't trust him very much, the guy sometimes plays 7-9 minutes per game, and Ruff clearly won't care that Adams paid for him, that's just Adams' problem.

He’s always had that ability but didn’t get a consistent opportunity in Nashville.

Adams could have easily made this pickup, the experienced and smart GM did just that.

 

[DJN21]

Sucks to be a budget team in moments like this. No other reason to not take a flier on him for a late round pick.

has nothing to do with it, we just dont scout well. If you decide not taking a waiver claim on Fabbro as your

Well Ruff doesn't trust him very much, the guy sometimes plays 7-9 minutes per game, and Ruff clearly won't care that Adams paid for him, that's just Adams' problem.


Adams could have easily made this pickup, the experienced and smart GM did just that.

so its adams or ruff's fault?

 

[Krieger Bot]

Softness is not the issue, skill is. McLeod is soft or not physical, but that doesn't mean he's bad. Cozens hits, but he's a bit dumb and not a playmaker. Zegras is probably one of the few potential 2Cs that could be available and he's a good playmaker. Kreider is just a type of player, there are others.

Expecting players who don't go to hard areas to start going to hard areas due to someone who can make nifty passes is foolish. Find people who get to the net to do their scoring and put them with the collection of contact averse forwards already trying to make nifty passes.

Seeing the Islanders absolutely plant people who got around their crease was refreshing since most of the time we Sabre fans are subjected to panicked, chaotic stick reaching and general watching.

I still don't understand how Wilford is still here.

I think it's just our roster. Even if some players may look sluggish due to injuries or other reasons. And the coaching staff, which is basically the same, only Appert came in and Christie left (if I'm not mistaken). This is not Ruff's staff.

I’m all for changing the defensive coach. But a new coach can’t make this group bigger and physical. Thats a roster construction issue.

This isn't necessarily a reaction to these posts in particular. But I feel like I've seen a lot of "is it this or is it that?" type posts floating around lately. The thing is, I don't think it's one of these things or the other that's the problem. It's all this stuff.

They need more creativity amongst the forwards. There's not a single forward on this team that I would consider a high end playmaker in the NHL.

They also need more guys who go to the net with regularity. Particularly amongst their skill players. Again, not a single forward on this team both: (1) goes to the net regularly; and (2) has the skill to actually turn loose pucks into goals.

They don't defend well enough, or physically enough, around their own goaltender either. Only Sammy is a top 4 D who I would characterize as a good defensive defenseman that plays with an edge. And he's been out hurt (again).

Nor are they well coached enough. Wilford in particular stands out as an obvious minor league coach who's still employed by the Sabres because he's less expensive than someone who would be better.

While there's a ton of high picks on this team, they all largely do the same stuff. And they aren't well coached enough. The end result is a team that underperforms its skill level.

Now, they could start making some bigger moves to right the ship -- e.g., Cozens out for Zegras in a change of scenery type deal; Byram for Crouse; Rosen for...Risto (flame me all you want, but I think he'd be fine here in a well defined role as a defensive complement to someone like Power); fire Wilford and hire McKee.

But that would require Adams to tell Pegula the team he's spent 5 years building is still fundamentally flawed, and needs a bunch of significant moves. And I sincerely doubt he has the leash to do that. He'd be signing his own death warrant by advocating for such a shakeup.

 

[Krieger Bot]

has nothing to do with it, we just dont scout well. If you decide not taking a waiver claim on Fabbro as your

so its adams or ruff's fault?

Respectfully, I think it's a bit naive to think our internal budget had "nothing" to do with passing on Fabbro. The Sabres presently employ players like Jacob Bryson and Dennis Gilbert who could easily be waived to make room for him. Henri Jokiharju is currently in our top 4, and could easily be sat to make room for Fabbro. We had plenty of cap space to add Fabbro. But it would cost more money. I think it's very likely that at least played a role in the decision not to trade a late pick for Fabbro. In fact, it's probably the overriding reason they didn't do it.

 

[Fjordy]

so its adams or ruff's fault?

Who knows, but Adams trade for fourth line player and Ruff is playing him on the fourth line. Ruff just doesn't have to worry about the price Adams paid.

 

[Fjordy]

Respectfully, I think it's a bit naive to think our internal budget had "nothing" to do with passing on Fabbro. The Sabres presently employ players like Jacob Bryson and Dennis Gilbert who could easily be waived to make room for him. Henri Jokiharju is currently in our top 4, and could easily be sat to make room for Fabbro. We had plenty of cap space to add Fabbro. But it would cost more money. I think it's very likely that at least played a role in the decision not to trade a late pick for Fabbro. In fact, it's probably the overriding reason they didn't do it.

I don't think it's Pegula, I think it's Adams and his staff just not doing it quite right. Like @DJN21 said, bad scouting or Adams is just too high up in Jokiharju, Idk.

I think Adams needs to get creative and step out of his comfort zone, and the team could use a little shake-up.

This isn't necessarily a reaction to these posts in particular. But I feel like I've seen a lot of "is it this or is it that?" type posts floating around lately. The thing is, I don't think it's one of these things or the other that's the problem. It's all this stuff.

They need more creativity amongst the forwards. There's not a single forward on this team that I would consider a high end playmaker in the NHL.

They also need more guys who go to the net with regularity. Particularly amongst their skill players. Again, not a single forward on this team both: (1) goes to the net regularly; and (2) has the skill to actually turn loose pucks into goals.

They don't defend well enough, or physically enough, around their own goaltender either. Only Sammy is a top 4 D who I would characterize as a good defensive defenseman that plays with an edge. And he's been out hurt (again).

Nor are they well coached enough. Wilford in particular stands out as an obvious minor league coach who's still employed by the Sabres because he's less expensive than someone who would be better.

While there's a ton of high picks on this team, they all largely do the same stuff. And they aren't well coached enough. The end result is a team that underperforms its skill level.

Now, they could start making some bigger moves to right the ship -- e.g., Cozens out for Zegras in a change of scenery type deal; Byram for Crouse; Rosen for...Risto (flame me all you want, but I think he'd be fine here in a well defined role as a defensive complement to someone like Power); fire Wilford and hire McKee.

But that would require Adams to tell Pegula the team he's spent 5 years building is still fundamentally flawed, and needs a bunch of significant moves. And I sincerely doubt he has the leash to do that. He'd be signing his own death warrant by advocating for such a shakeup.

I'm all for adding Zegras. Not sure if it has to be Cozens though. You could just get Zegras and put Cozens on the wing and see how it works.

We also can't just swap Byram for Crouse. Sure, for a relatively reasonable price, you can try, but these guys seem to think that Crouse should cost almost as much as Tkachuk, which is completely questionable. But Crouse + Kesselring for Byram+ maybe, I would think so.

Risto? Well... I don't even know, he probably improved in Philly in a smaller role, but I don't see him going back to Buffalo.

 

[Uberpecker]

So aside from the constant top 4rhd and top 6 forward conversation that owns this thread....

Anyone wonder what would happen if beck gets more than 6-7mins a night? Ill admit i stat sheet watch more than actually watch lately so maybe others can comment more on that. It seems to me we paid a high price for a guy who barely plays...

Tired of it myself, tbh but It is what it is. I find myself hoping they traded for Zegras already and kidnapped Pesce or something only so we can talk about different things again.

 

[debaser66]

3 of those guys are extremely high-end prospects, so you really can't judge at this point.

you can judge on the basis what you want to achieve. if it is making the playoffs or getting a competitive roster the last 3 seasons, he failed big time with this trades. These prospects will not affect his tenure much, even tough he tried to force Levi into the line up too early (and failed big time not 1 but 2 times). Unless Pegula is completly insane he should be gone and another GM will hopefully clean up his mess.
He not only drafted similar players, he sat on them instead of making trades to improve the roster and now the pipeline is saturated with similar players which hampers their development and trade value.

 

[TheMistyStranger]

you can judge on the basis what you want to achieve. if it is making the playoffs or getting a competitive roster the last 3 seasons, he failed big time with this trades. These prospects will not affect his tenure much, even tough he tried to force Levi into the line up too early (and failed big time not 1 but 2 times). Unless Pegula is completly insane he should be gone and another GM will hopefully clean up his mess.
He not only drafted similar players, he sat on them instead of making trades to improve the roster and now the pipeline is saturated with similar players which hampers their development and trade value.

This is the first year where making the playoffs is the goal.

 

[Fjordy]

This is the first year where making the playoffs is the goal.

The team missed the playoffs by one point in the 22-23 season, and it turns out the goal is to make the playoffs only this season. It's weird, Adams and guys like Okposo kept talking about the playoffs before this, but oh well.

 

[TheMistyStranger]

The team missed the playoffs by one point in the 22-23 season, and it turns out the goal is to make the playoffs only this season. It's weird, Adams and guys like Okposo kept talking about the playoffs before this, but oh well.

Well they can't come out and say "yeah, we're not gonna try to make it", but all the reporters asked for a couple of years about the playoffs and it wasn't until this past offseason that management finally said that's the goal. They always hedged before.

 

[Fjordy]

Well they can't come out and say "yeah, we're not gonna try to make it", but all the reporters asked for a couple of years about the playoffs and it wasn't until this past offseason that management finally said that's the goal. They always hedged before.

No, they were talking about the playoffs before, I think this is the second season they are trying to get to the playoffs, not the first. Maybe if there wasn't such a bright season in 22-23, Adams would have continued to talk about a development season. I don't really care what they say, because you can often hear lies from GMs, but words must be backed up by actions.

 

[toddkaz]

No, they were talking about the playoffs before, I think this is the second season they are trying to get to the playoffs, not the first. Maybe if there wasn't such a bright season in 22-23, Adams would have continued to talk about a development season. I don't really care what they say, because you can often hear lies from GMs, but words must be backed up by actions.

Yes, that was Adams plan from 3-4 years ago. Last year was suppose to be playoffs.

Also what kind of organization plans to fail? This one.

 

[joshjull]

Well they can't come out and say "yeah, we're not gonna try to make it", but all the reporters asked for a couple of years about the playoffs and it wasn't until this past offseason that management finally said that's the goal. They always hedged before.

Nope. They were talking about playoffs as the goal last season.

 

[Fjordy]

It upsets me that the Canucks signed Sherwood for 1.5M x 2Y and we signed Lafferty for 2M x 2Y and NAK for 1.5M x 1Y. So far these guys look not very good. I'll probably keep quiet about Noesen.

 

[toddkaz]

It upsets me that the Canucks signed Sherwood for 1.5M x 2Y and we signed Lafferty for 2M x 2Y and NAK for 1.5M x 1Y. So far these guys look not very good. I'll probably keep quiet about NHL

What bothers me is paying a 2nd for Malenstyn. A 4th line player who gets 6-8 minutes a game and has no influence on the outcome, Adams gives up the 43rd overall pick in the draft.

Just imagine the phone conversations Adams must be having with other GMs that he is willing to give up the 43rd best prospect in the 2024 draft for someone who barely sees the ice.

Two 2nd round picks get you a top 4 defender as proven in past trades. We had that in the 2024 draft.

Kevyn Adams is completely incompetent.

 

[Fjordy]

What bothers me is paying a 2nd for Malenstyn. A 4th line player who gets 6-8 minutes a game and has no influence on the outcome, Adams gives up the 43rd overall pick in the draft.

Just imagine the phone conversations Adams must be having with other GMs that he is willing to give up the 43rd best prospect in the 2024 draft for someone who barely sees the ice.

Two 2nd round picks get you a top 4 defender as proven in past trades. We had that in the 2024 draft.

Kevyn Adams is completely incompetent.

I partly agree, several second ones could have given us a top 4 RD. Maybe Ruff doesn't like our fourth liners or something, Malenstyn had different games in terms of ice-time, but there really were many games where he played 7-8 minutes, there were games with 5-6 minutes even. In fact, I think there seems to be no mutual understanding between Adams and Ruff. This is especially evident in defense, where Raff puts Jokiharju in the press box, then publicly says that he doesn't like it when LDs play on the wrong side.

 

[Beerz]

It upsets me that the Canucks signed Sherwood for 1.5M x 2Y and we signed Lafferty for 2M x 2Y and NAK for 1.5M x 1Y. So far these guys look not very good. I'll probably keep quiet about Noesen.

All 3 were great in the games in Europe and then NAK got hurt and we have never gone back to it for some reason.

I've been fine with all 3 tbh

 

[toddkaz]

I partly agree, several second ones could have given us a top 4 RD. Maybe Ruff doesn't like our fourth liners or something, Malenstyn had different games in terms of ice-time, but there really were many games where he played 7-8 minutes, there were games with 5-6 minutes even. In fact, I think there seems to be no mutual understanding between Adams and Ruff. This is especially evident in defense, where Raff puts Jokiharju in the press box, then publicly says that he doesn't like it when LDs play on the wrong side.

My issue isn't Malenstyn per se, its the process. It requires a bit of imagination but whats going on during the phone conversations that Adams bar is a 2nd for a 4th liner. Anyone really think Adams is capable of trading for top centers or top 4 defensemen when he pays a 2nd for a 4th liner.

I have lost all faith in Adams.

 

[Fjordy]

All 3 were great in the games in Europe and then NAK got hurt and we have never gone back to it for some reason.

I've been fine with all 3 tbh

Well, I don't agree, even if they played a few good games, although the same Malensteen is a lesser problem for me. NAK played 8 games and he has zero points, that's okay, but Lafferty has 22 games and one point, and I didn't really like his game in the games I watched. Malenstyn sometimes plays very little, and we, on the contrary, need more of his physical presence. So far, I have a very strange impression of these players.

 

[zenthusiast]

The new and improved 4th line certainly isn’t a dramatic failure but the acquisition cost for Malenstyn and overall impact on result is absolutely worth scrutinizing given the significant holes further up the lineup