The Roster Thread, Summer 2024

[Gras]

Literally every season there's a huge contingent that is very optimistic. Same people who are optimistic this year. You're probably not noticing them as much because they don't bother you and cause you to respond like the negative ones do.

The negative posters post more often and in more threads and drown out anyone that has anything remotely positive to post.

 

[Jim Bob]

A job half done is as good as none

Kevyn Adams had a good first day of free agency addressing needs in the bottom six of his roster, but if he's done it's another failed offseason.

www.expectedbuffalo.com

I understand that he doesn’t want to overpay and give up these prospects without a good return. From what I understand, the Winnipeg Jets wanted four pieces from the Sabres in exchange for Nik Ehlers without an extension in place. Three of those four would have been considered top-tier assets. It’s a hefty price that I can make an argument for not paying.

14+Savoie+Rosen+_____ for Ehlers without an extension.

 

[Dubi Doo]

A job half done is as good as none

Kevyn Adams had a good first day of free agency addressing needs in the bottom six of his roster, but if he's done it's another failed offseason.

www.expectedbuffalo.com

14+Savoie+Rosen+_____ for Ehlers without an extension.

I would've rioted.

 

[Dingo44]

I’m pretty sure he was talking about not looking for hits, as opposed to simply not hitting. That would translate on the forecheck to the forwards trying to jump passing lanes instead of following through on dmen and finishing hits.

I remember Granato saying if you're hitting a lot it means you don't have the puck and Donnie's game was all about puck possession. The problem with that is that even though it's nice to think you just control the puck at all times Globetrotter-style, it's not realistic - and taking hitting out of a lot of player's games neuters them. It's like Josh Allen - even though both us and the coaches would like him to limit his runs and getting hits, he says he likes to get hit early because it pumps him up and gets him going. Seeing guys like Cozens and Dahlin and Sammy unleashed and allowed to play their games and throw their body around will not only get them into the games quicker - it will get their teammates into the game and the fans into the game. Having three new guys who love to hit on the fourth line will also set the tone. And you know Lindy is going to be having these guys hit.

And I don't agree with Donnie that hitting isn't puck possession - a good hit on a puck carrier separates that carrier from the puck and leads to possession, and it's also hard to keep possession when you're afraid of getting rocked all the time.

 

[Doug Prishpreed]

The negative posters post more often and in more threads and drown out anyone that has anything remotely positive to post.

That’s probably how it should be, considering the fact that they’re almost always correct.

 

[Gras]

That’s probably how it should be, considering the fact that they’re almost always correct.

And being correct is what is most important for a lot of them.

 

[Doug Prishpreed]

And being correct is what is most important for a lot of them.

It’s important to the people who are always wrong too - which is even sadder

 

[Dubi Doo]

That’s probably how it should be, considering the fact that they’re almost always correct.

No, they arent. They just don't show their receipts when they're wrong.

 

[Rowley Birkin]

A job half done is as good as none

Kevyn Adams had a good first day of free agency addressing needs in the bottom six of his roster, but if he's done it's another failed offseason.

www.expectedbuffalo.com

14+Savoie+Rosen+_____ for Ehlers without an extension.

I wouldn't trade one of those pieces for Ehlers. He'd be a terrible fit.

 

[TehDoak]

A job half done is as good as none

Kevyn Adams had a good first day of free agency addressing needs in the bottom six of his roster, but if he's done it's another failed offseason.

www.expectedbuffalo.com

14+Savoie+Rosen+_____ for Ehlers without an extension.

It's not about winning a trade anymore. Where this team stands, we have too many prospects. We have an organizational bottleneck coming up. How will Savoie, Kulich, Ostlund, Rousek, Rosen, Kisakov, Neuchev, and Wahlberg all get quality ice time in Rochester.

The answer is: they won't.

If you swing at a pending UFA like Ehlers or Konecny and they don't sign, that's OK.

If it bombs and you miss the playoffs, you can flip them at the deadline to recoup some of the cost.

If it works and you make the playoffs, you still have the opportunity to re-sign the player.

If they want to leave after going on a playoff run, that is ok, because in the end, you broke a 13 year playoff drought, Your recruitment problem is lessoned. Your roster gains some actual f***ing experience at winning. And those are organizational gains that you can't measure in a prospects or picks.

Its not about winning a trade anymore. Its about sending a message to the team. To the NHL. To every players. That the Sabres are here to win games.

And if it crashes and burns, so be it. At least you tried.

If you aren't going to try, just start hanging up banners for having THN's top prospect pipeline every year.

 

[Fjordy]

I wouldn't trade one of those pieces for Ehlers. He'd be a terrible fit.

He would be perfect fit, of course, if only the price was reasonable.

 

[BFLO]

No, they arent. They just don't show their receipts when they're wrong.

lol. There's 13 years in a row of receipts that the positive posters have been wrong and that the negative posters have been right.

The negative posting also ramps up the closer the Coach and/or GM are to the end of their shelf life. Everybody was positive about GMTM until the team took a 3 point step back in 2016-2017. Everybody was positive about Botts at first too. Almost Everyone was positive about Kevyn too. But then the results stay the same and we get progressively more and more fed up with their incompetence as time goes on until they are fired. The board then swaps to overwhelmingly positive again for the new guy. Then the cycle repeats.

 

[Rowley Birkin]

It's not about winning a trade anymore. Where this team stands, we have too many prospects. We have an organizational bottleneck coming up. How will Savoie, Kulich, Ostlund, Rousek, Rosen, Kisakov, Neuchev, and Wahlberg all get quality ice time in Rochester.

The answer is: they won't.

If you swing at a pending UFA like Ehlers or Konecny and they don't sign, that's OK.

If it bombs and you miss the playoffs, you can flip them at the deadline to recoup some of the cost.

If it works and you make the playoffs, you still have the opportunity to re-sign the player.

If they want to leave after going on a playoff run, that is ok, because in the end, you broke a 13 year playoff drought, Your recruitment problem is lessoned. Your roster gains some actual f***ing experience at winning. And those are organizational gains that you can't measure in a prospects or picks.

Its not about winning a trade anymore. Its about sending a message to the team. To the NHL. To every players. That the Sabres are here to win games.

And if it crashes and burns, so be it. At least you tried.

If you aren't going to try, just start hanging up banners for having THN's top prospect pipeline every year.

Most of what you say is true - but you can't just make moves for anyone - it has to be the right player.

Imagine buying out Skinner, then giving up a haul to sign a guy who is potentially Skinner 2.0....Adams would have the same conundrum Botts did when it comes to resigning him too. Do you overpay to keep him ? Or let a guy you gave up a ton for just walk for nothing?

I'd give up a lot to get a guy like Brady Tkachuk on this team. Even in the knowledge that he'd walk as a UFA. We'd get four seasons of a player we need. That would be worth it. Most of these moves speculated about, they wouldn't be.

He would be perfect fit, of course, if only the price was reasonable.

View attachment 891348

You even admitted yourself very recently that he wouldn't be a fit. Might even have been this thread.

He's a name.

 

[Fjordy]

You even admitted yourself very recently that he wouldn't be a fit. Might even have been this thread.

He's a name.

Because I thought he was like Skinner and he didn't play defense, but then I saw these metrics and I changed my mind. It's hard for me to evaluate players because I don't watch the games.

 

[Paxon]

I find it strange and ironic how KA talks in that clip about a belief in his players to get better. He just traded a guy that got much better over the course of 18 months, for a guy that is younger and hasn't gotten better since his first season.

Then the comment "I really like where our group is at right now. I like it a lot ... We're a much better team today than we were a couple of days ago." It's just the usual GM speak but in KA's case, there is no reason to think he doesn't believe that or has any urgency to make further moves. His track record shows that.

He either actually believes that the better 4th line more than makes up for the downgrades at FW and C, or it's just the usual smoke to cover the fact that he's done because he couldn't/wouldn't pull the trigger on a bigger trade. The next couple weeks is just a slow walk into the brick wall for me. My ESPN+ sub runs out at the end of the year, but I probably won't be using it by Halloween.

Like you typed, he said they were better today than a couple days ago. So that has nothing to do with Mitts/#3 center.

 

[Sabre the Win]

Must be nice to be a competent organization and be able to trade someone like Ehlers who you already used up to a hungry bottom feeder team that could use him for the best prospects the fans had to bleed for. You get a constant rotation of being good and letting other teams draft for you.

 

[Dubi Doo]

lol. There's 13 years in a row of receipts that the positive posters have been wrong and that the negative posters have been right.

The negative posting also ramps up the closer the Coach and/or GM are to the end of their shelf life. Everybody was positive about GMTM until the team took a 3 point step back in 2016-2017. Everybody was positive about Botts at first too. Almost Everyone was positive about Kevyn too. But then the results stay the same and we get progressively more and more fed up with their incompetence as time goes on until they are fired. The board then swaps to overwhelmingly positive again for the new guy. Then the cycle repeats.

'Almost always correct' was what was written.

Nope. I quite enjoyed someone pulling the receipts of one of our more negative posters last year. Showed how full of it they are.

Also, negative posters are always whining. There's a difference between being critical and whining all the time. Those negative nancys are full of hot takes, and are wrong a lot. Hell, I've been that person many times when I'm fed up. The difference is, some posters are constantly in that state of mind. Must be exhausting.

 

[zenthusiast]

the rumored price sounds like a first ask more than anything

 

[The Red Helmet]

He would be perfect fit, of course, if only the price was reasonable.

View attachment 891348

So if we trade for Ehlers/Koecny, etc, we are bumping Greenway down to the forth line and the new 4th line additions will be competing for ice time?

 

[Djp]

Adams has been unable to make a big move in 4 years as GM. I am not holding my breath that he makes a big move now.

His MO has been betting on "his guys" like Krebs. I think that is what we get.

Moves could possibly happen. But, I would not bet on it.

Trading reinhart, eichrl dont count? Mitts
?

Unless Xmas comes early, Adams is done. There are no roster spots left. Players from the roster would have to go out to make room. You can't trade the new signees. You don't want to trade the core.

Movable roster players: Krebs, Greenway, Jokiharju, Clifton.

I think they're committing to Krebs until at least December. If you trade Greenway, you need to replace his role on the team.

Jokiharju+ could be traded to a tanking team for a stay at home RD, but I can't think of any targets. Clifton on his contract doesn't have a ton of value.

And no team that's trying to win will trade a high-caliber roster player for futures.

He's done. That said, I think the roster looks at least somewhat better than last year. Maybe a lot better.

Greenway is a summer UFA. I could see trading him. Hr mag try to extend him this summer.

A job half done is as good as none

Kevyn Adams had a good first day of free agency addressing needs in the bottom six of his roster, but if he's done it's another failed offseason.

www.expectedbuffalo.com

14+Savoie+Rosen+_____ for Ehlers without an extension.

That is insane.

What did they trade PLD for? Villardi, kupari, iaffalo, and a 3nd.

Kupari=Krebs
2nd (50+) > buffalo had a 3rd
A high salary player ( clifton~ iaffalo)
Villardi < Peterka

PLD could negotiate an extension prior to the trade. Thst increased it.

If you look at Reinhart/Fiala then its 2025 1st+ recent prospect but not a top pick,/ prospect

 

[thewookie1]

A job half done is as good as none

Kevyn Adams had a good first day of free agency addressing needs in the bottom six of his roster, but if he's done it's another failed offseason.

www.expectedbuffalo.com

14+Savoie+Rosen+_____ for Ehlers without an extension.

Yeah that's an absurd asking price for an extended Ehlers much less without one.

There's overpayment and then there's whatever the hell this is.

 

[Fjordy]

So if we trade for Ehlers/Koecny, etc, we are bumping Greenway down to the forth line and the new 4th line additions will be competing for ice time?

Perhaps the more depth the better. NAK also didn't always play for the Caps last season and was even in Hershey. Although first of all I would like to add 3C.

 

[WhereAreTheCookies]

I like the idea of Ehlers, but not the reality.

He's going to want a contract similar to the one we just bought out is my guess, and that's a lot of money for a guy who has missed a significant number of games the past several seasons, and has surprisingly never scored 30 goals.

 

[Dirty Dog]

Literally every season there's a huge contingent that is very optimistic. Same people who are optimistic this year. You're probably not noticing them as much because they don't bother you and cause you to respond like the negative ones do.

Damm those happy people dealing with sports futility in a healthy manner rather than using the internet to vent and be negative. (Mostly kidding!)

Yea, there are people in both buckets. Who cares. Saying one is more accurate than the other is untrue and broad generalizations…both groups are equally wrong

 

[BFLO]

Trading reinhart, eichrl dont count? Mitts
?

Those are the big names he shipped out. Where are the equivalent big names that he has brought in that have had a positive impact?