The 2024-2025 Roster Thread

[Fjordy]

I think you can find different deal options for EP40.

Who else do I look up to as top 6 C?

Miller
Barzal
Rossi
Kadri
Trocheck
Norris
Beniers
McTavish

Maybe there will be some UFA in the summer, I don't remember exactly.

 

[My Cozen Dylan]

I think you can find different deal options for EP40.

Who else do I look up to as top 6 C?

Miller
Barzal
Rossi
Kadri
Trocheck
Norris
Beniers
McTavish

Maybe there will be some UFA in the summer, I don't remember exactly.

You can cross Miller, Barzal, and Trocheck off the list with their trade protection. Likely Kadri too.

Norris isn’t an improvement over Cozens, at least not now, and the injury history would make me less interested anyway.

No way Rossi is available.

A swap including Beniers or McTavish is interesting, but that may end up being just rearranging deck chairs on the titanic. But I’m certainly open to it.

 

[jc17]

I love Lindy as much as the next person, but the way Adams and Terry have garnered 99% of the criticism doesn't really line up with what we're seeing

Some players are struggling immensely, and weren't last year. It's not just roster construction

And ironically half the people will blame the search for not being thorough while the other half will say it was a good coaching hire, they were just too cheap to get new assistants. Despite these conflicting views, all that matters is that it is kevyn and Terry's fault.

while I'm happy to acknowledge it ultimately falls on them, I wish there was more discussion on the massive underperformance beyond "the roster sucks" and "sell the team"

 

[Dubi Doo]

Let's go down the list of centers who are scoring at a PPG or better this season:

McDavid - NMC + untouchable
MacKinnon - NMC + untouchable
Draisaitl - M-NTC + untouchable
Point - NMC + untouchable
Necas - don't even talk about it
Eichel - NMC + LOL
Barkov - NMC + untouchable
D Strome - zero chance he gets traded
J Hughes - untouchable
Kopitar - NMC + untouchable
Scheifele - NMC + untouchable
Robert Thomas - zero chance he gets traded
Aho - NMC + untouchable
Seguin - NMC
N. Suzuki - I can't see Montreal trading him to Buffalo
W Nylander - NMC
Granlund - Pending UFA
Kempe - M-NTC
Duchene - NTC + pending UFA

Necas, Strome, Hughes, Thomas, Suzuki, and Granlund are the only guys that don't have trade protection that are over a PPG this year. And not all of them would be an upgrade over Tage at center.

This is why I wouldn't want to trade Tage. Top-6 Cs rarely are available, and when they are- theyre expensive as hell. Shuffle out some of the wingers, but let's not compound our issues down the middle by trading Tage.

 

[Sabre Dance]

Not sure where to post this but I’m issuing a formal apology to Don Granato. I wish we could go back to 2022-2023. They were fun. Then the next season they decided they couldn’t win like that and it all changed.

 

[Fjordy]

You can cross Miller, Barzal, and Trocheck off the list with their trade protection. Likely Kadri too.

Norris isn’t an improvement over Cozens, at least not now, and the injury history would make me less interested anyway.

No way Rossi is available.

A swap including Beniers or McTavish is interesting, but that may end up being just rearranging deck chairs on the titanic. But I’m certainly open to it.

Kadri is from Ontario and I think I read that he would like a change of scenery. There have been rumors about Rossi before, but it is not necessary now, in the summer. Ducks fans have literally suggested McTavish for Cozens,

 

[Zman5778]

Not sure where to post this but I’m issuing a formal apology to Don Granato. I wish we could go back to 2022-2023. They were fun. Then the next season they decided they couldn’t win like that and it all changed.

Sure seems like in the summer of 2023 most of the team thought that they'd take the next step naturally........and not need to put in any work towards taking that next step.

 

[Doug Prishpreed]

If Buffalo is serious about acquiring a true 1C to fortify the position, they’ll need to offer Power.

You spelled Dahlin wrong

 

[Tatanka]

I really dont have interest in cratering our center spine further. We'd then need two top-6 Cs. I'd still eye trading Tuch. Low IQ player in a top-6 full of those types of players. Probably would garner a ton of interest because he's been good in the playoffs in the past + plays the type of game GMs feign for when the playoffs come around.

And whatever good vibes he brings to the locker-room clearly isn't enough. He's been one of the veteran leaders on this squad, and that's led them to an abysmal home record and no playoffs.

I would counter that trading Thompson gets you a true 2C at minimum. And that would give the team a total of 1 2C which is where we are now anyway. Jmho.

 

[TageGod]

Cozens is NOT worth Tuch at that time. Tuch's contract was much more reasonable. Cozens contract is potentially an albatross in this league, even with the cap going up. It'd be a huge risk for any team taking that on, so value will take that into consideration.

Tuch was Vegas 3W like 3-4 years ago. 7m is not a lot of money anymore, especially not with the cap going up. So yes, Cozens is worth more.

 

[zenthusiast]

I don’t know for sure that the team would have been any better now if they’d actually made moves to reach the playoffs in 22-23 but at least there would be *something* to show for this core

 

[DapperCam]

I love Lindy as much as the next person, but the way Adams and Terry have garnered 99% of the criticism doesn't really line up with what we're seeing

Some players are struggling immensely, and weren't last year. It's not just roster construction

And ironically half the people will blame the search for not being thorough while the other half will say it was a good coaching hire, they were just too cheap to get new assistants. Despite these conflicting views, all that matters is that it is kevyn and Terry's fault.

while I'm happy to acknowledge it ultimately falls on them, I wish there was more discussion on the massive underperformance beyond "the roster sucks" and "sell the team"

I think some give Ruff a break because he is trying to put into place a defensive system (like every good team in the NHL has), and it's possible the players on the roster can't perform within a system like that.

Granato let these guys play backyard hockey in an effort to loosen everybody up and get past the dark cloud of the Krueger days. This was explicitly stated by Granato. An unusually high proportion of their scoring happened off the rush and the power play (before teams wised up and shut down Tage).

Whether it is Ruff trying to put in a system, or some other coach, the roster may not be constructed in a way that they can succeed. Which would point the big fat finger of blame at Adams.

 

[Krieger Bot]

I love Lindy as much as the next person, but the way Adams and Terry have garnered 99% of the criticism doesn't really line up with what we're seeing

Some players are struggling immensely, and weren't last year. It's not just roster construction

And ironically half the people will blame the search for not being thorough while the other half will say it was a good coaching hire, they were just too cheap to get new assistants. Despite these conflicting views, all that matters is that it is kevyn and Terry's fault.

while I'm happy to acknowledge it ultimately falls on them, I wish there was more discussion on the massive underperformance beyond "the roster sucks" and "sell the team"

Agreed. I love Lindy as well, but the roster isn't actually this bad. They were in a playoff spot literally just 3 weeks ago. 3 weeks! The team just quit on him. If you want to call the roster a bunch of sad sacks, that's fine by me. But it's also true that he's lost the room.

 

[Ace]

I love Lindy as much as the next person, but the way Adams and Terry have garnered 99% of the criticism doesn't really line up with what we're seeing

Some players are struggling immensely, and weren't last year. It's not just roster construction

And ironically half the people will blame the search for not being thorough while the other half will say it was a good coaching hire, they were just too cheap to get new assistants. Despite these conflicting views, all that matters is that it is kevyn and Terry's fault.

while I'm happy to acknowledge it ultimately falls on them, I wish there was more discussion on the massive underperformance beyond "the roster sucks" and "sell the team"

They’ve failed under three coaches.

It’s the GM’s roster.

 

[TehDoak]

They’ve failed under three coaches.

It’s the GM’s roster.

Its an organizational failure at this point.

In 2021, Decisions were made to purge the current core and pass the torch to the young core. We can debate whether that was smart or not given the price we PAID to get the previous core (multiple last place finishes), but it was made. Right or wrong.

I think the focus needs to be on the decisions AFTER that.

The running the team at the cap floor

Gifting young players spots

Not adding any veterans to support the young teams development.

Running with a skeleton support staff

These are all organizational decisions that have led to this failure.

Its time to find someone who can make the right decisions. We have proven talent and we have assets. It's not like we swung for the fences and now have have bare cupboards. The one nice thing I can say about Adams is we have ALOT of assets moving forward.

It just should be beyond any shadow of a doubt that Adams lacks the qualifications to build a NHL team. He's had 2 years to progress a roster from 1 point from a playoff spot and its gotten worse the more he's spent.

 

[Sabre the Win]

There are some well known shortcomings in the roster, but there's no way they should be 2 points from last in the entire league 32 games into the season.

Why? What makes you so confident with this roster? 13 years haven't told you enough when the only thing that changed in the off season was a new 4th line.

 

[Chainshot]

*yawn*

Wake me up in the spring. Seems like nothing is going to happen.

 

[Fjordy]

*yawn*

Wake me up in the spring. Seems like nothing is going to happen.

All local media and reporters should roast Terry and Adams.

 

[SabresFan26]

Keep
______
Dahlin
Byram (although I doubt at this point he re-signs)
Benson
Peterka (Not worth giving up yet)
Thompson (good top 6 center on a very reasonable contract and can play PP)
Tuch (Plays hard)
Zucker (Although he will get traded as he is on a 1-year deal)
McLeod (Bottom 6 center who can PK)
Greenway (Bottom 6 forward who brings some jam)
Cozens (Move to wing, can't trade what his value is)


Trade/Get rid of
______
Power (Soft player who isn't a winner, still holds massive value to engineer a center tool)
Quinn (damaged goods, had a lot of red flags in his draft)
Krebs (a jack of all, master of none player)
Joki/Bryson/Gilbert/Samuelsson - the whole pile
Kulich (Needs to go to Rochester and earn something, 0 assists through a quarter of the NHL season)


Peterka-Thompson-Tuch
Bensons-X (Power Trade) -Cozens
Zucker-McLeod-Greenway
Malenstyn-Lafferty-Aube-Kubel
X-Rempe (Acquired for cheap from NYR)

Dahlin-RH Veteran Acquisition
Byram-Young RH acquired for young prospect
X-X

UPL
Veteran 1B

 

[Fjordy]

Keep
______
Dahlin
Byram (although I doubt at this point he re-signs)
Benson
Peterka (Not worth giving up yet)
Thompson (good top 6 center on a very reasonable contract and can play PP)
Tuch (Plays hard)
Zucker (Although he will get traded as he is on a 1-year deal)
McLeod (Bottom 6 center who can PK)
Greenway (Bottom 6 forward who brings some jam)
Cozens (Move to wing, can't trade what his value is)


Trade/Get rid of
______
Power (Soft player who isn't a winner, still holds massive value to engineer a center tool)
Quinn (damaged goods, had a lot of red flags in his draft)
Krebs (a jack of all, master of none player)
Joki/Bryson/Gilbert/Samuelsson - Aint it pile
Kulich (Needs to go to Rochester and earn something, 0 assists through a quarter of the NHL season)


Peterka-Thompson-Tuch
Bensons-X (Power Trade) -Cozens
Zucker-McLeod-Greenway
Malenstyn-Lafferty-Aube-Kubel
X-Rempe (Acquired for cheap from NYR)

Dahlin-RH Veteran Acquisition
Byram-Young RH acquired for young prospect
X-X

UPL
Veteran 1B

Tuch and Byram might be the best value at TDL. I understand that Power is disappointing with his defense and softness, but he has a long-term contract and a lot of potential. Byram is not under contract, he can go to arbitration and become a UFA in a year and a half. Also, we don't know if he even wants to stay in Buffalo. Also, his history of concussions is a concern and a risk.

I'm not a fan of Tuch, he can't finish and often disappears in games, he is also not a first liner, plus he will need a new contract, although you are making this first line again with Peterka and Tage.

I think this team needs more changes.

 

[TageGod]

Keep
______
Dahlin
Byram (although I doubt at this point he re-signs)
Benson
Peterka (Not worth giving up yet)
Thompson (good top 6 center on a very reasonable contract and can play PP)
Tuch (Plays hard)
Zucker (Although he will get traded as he is on a 1-year deal)
McLeod (Bottom 6 center who can PK)
Greenway (Bottom 6 forward who brings some jam)
Cozens (Move to wing, can't trade what his value is)


Trade/Get rid of
______
Power (Soft player who isn't a winner, still holds massive value to engineer a center tool)
Quinn (damaged goods, had a lot of red flags in his draft)
Krebs (a jack of all, master of none player)
Joki/Bryson/Gilbert/Samuelsson - the whole pile
Kulich (Needs to go to Rochester and earn something, 0 assists through a quarter of the NHL season)


Peterka-Thompson-Tuch
Bensons-X (Power Trade) -Cozens
Zucker-McLeod-Greenway
Malenstyn-Lafferty-Aube-Kubel
X-Rempe (Acquired for cheap from NYR)

Dahlin-RH Veteran Acquisition
Byram-Young RH acquired for young prospect
X-X

UPL
Veteran 1B

Byram is like 24, he is resigning.
Quinn, unless you quite literally mean damaged from injuries, has only had this current bad streak of hockey since drafted.
Ryan "Ghost" McLeod had a 40% shooting percentage averaging one shot per game. he straight up disappeared since that start.
Rempe has to be a joke. right?

 

[jc17]

They’ve failed under three coaches.

It’s the GM’s roster.

Ralph is/ was a league wide joke, and that roster was very different


It's so embarrassing to act like this group just isn't capable of better than what we're seeing

Adams assembled a team that couldn't start games well last year, right? Oh wait he actually assembled a team that could start well, but can't hold a lead (even though the same guys could last year). Guess we'll just blame the GM

75% of don and Lindy issues are special teams

For all the talk about an inability to play defense, this horrible roster managed to be a positive 5v5 team, which should have been good enough for playoffs


and there was a little chatter last offseason about specifically adding someone with a pp skillset but most of the discourse has just been generic top 6 fwd, top 4 d talk

 

[Fjordy]

Ralph is/ was a league wide joke, and that roster was very different

75% of don and Lindy issues are special teams

For all the talk about an inability to play defense, this horrible roster managed to be a positive 5v5 team, which should have been good enough for playoffs

It's so embarrassing to act like this group just isn't capable of better than what we're seeing

and there was a little chatter last offseason about specifically adding someone with a pp skillset but most of the discourse has just been generic top 6 fwd, top 4 d talk

Top 6 F is also PP, the same Laine was available.

The team looks mentally very weak, losing 11 games in a row is no joke. The defense looks terrible, attack is not producing 5v5 at the level it should, let alone on special teams. Just 1-2 acquisitions won't fix it, Imo. They need a shake up.

 

[jc17]

Top 6 F is also PP, the same Laine was available.

The team looks mentally very weak, losing 11 games in a row is no joke. The defense looks terrible, attack is not producing 5v5 at the level it should, let alone on special teams. Just 1-2 acquisitions won't fix it, Imo. They need a shake up.

Laine was just playing the tage role. That's not really the issue with ours

Even on this losing streak, we're 15th in Goal scoring rate. Not great, not as horrible as you'd think.

Our defense has been bad, and so has goaltending. And again some of the guys sucking have not been bad previously. Its not Joker tanking this team right while Adams watches and does nothing. Sure I'd rather dump him but the scapegoating ignores what's actually happening

 

[SabresFan26]

Byram is like 24, he is resigning.
Quinn, unless you quite literally mean damaged from injuries, has only had this current bad streak of hockey since drafted.
Ryan "Ghost" McLeod had a 40% shooting percentage averaging one shot per game. he straight up disappeared since that start.
Rempe has to be a joke. right?

Byram might refuse and hold out, he wants to be a #1 with a team and request to be traded.

Rempe gives us something we haven't had in forever, a guy who can answer and be dressed when he needs to be to protect guys. He also is in the AHL and could be had for a late pick.

McLeod isn't a goal scorer and with a true top 6 center, could focus on his role like it was in Edmonton.

Quinn had one of the worst athletes can suffer in his Achilles, he also is a soft hockey player. We have way too many soft one dimensional players.