The Roster Thread, Summer 2024

[DJN21]

Never mind Ruff... What about a full season of UPL playing like he did during the second half of last year? A healthy Thompson? A healthy Quinn? An actual grind/energy line that makes the team tougher to play against & makes other players play harder ? The addition of Byram for a full year? Improvement from an 18yo rookie Benson ? Other rookies possibly breaking into the team?

There's lots of reason to believe that this squad is better than last year's.

I agree entirely but theres also reason for pessimism if we are essentially paying Zucker 8 mill this year (his salary plus the buy out price to replace Skinner) and that's our big splash. Making our pick instead of trading it to truly upgrade the team...etc etc. There's lots to be sour about but your post is spot on in what there is to be optimistic about.

 

[Dubi Doo]

Agreed, mostly. It's kind of dependent on our top 6 being better (specifically Tage, Tuch and Cozens).

But if they rebound, I think we're going to be in the hunt all year.......unless the Krebs line is unplayable.

That's hard to imagine if they place him with Greenway and Benson. My worry is depth scoring. I believe they'll be able to flip the ice from the D zone to O zone atleast.

 

[Sabreality]

I know everyone here is knowledgeable enough to appreciate the revamped 4th line (that isn't the case in other social media cesspools ha), but how many times did Granato (and the players) not show up ready to play in so many dreadful 1st periods. Ruff won't have that and it's going to be fantastic to have a line you can toss over the boards or even start the game to bring some noise instead of just having Girgs/Okie go 'win' a quiet shift.

 

[WhereAreTheCookies]

I know everyone here is knowledgeable enough to appreciate the revamped 4th line (that isn't the case in other social media cesspools ha), but how many times did Granato (and the players) not show up ready to play in so many dreadful 1st periods. Ruff won't have that and it's going to be fantastic to have a line you can toss over the boards or even start the game to bring some noise instead of just having Girgs/Okie go 'win' a quiet shift.

Granato was the right choice to develop them, but he was too lenient on the players. Hopefully, Ruff holds them accountable and works them harder to get them ready to start the season. No more club med practices and feel good talks after a loss. Get them angry, fired up, make them hate losing. Some seemed to hang their heads when they were down in games, instead of working harder like they should have done.

For some reason Mittelstadt made some comments 2 years ago after a loss that stuck with me. It was after a game they lost, he said something about when they went down by a goal after losing a lead or something like that, the entire team was deflated and just gave up. That is unacceptable, and something that needs to be driven out of them. To me that's a type of attitude that is contagious, and you need to root it out of the locker room entirely.

 

[Chainshot]

I don’t think we will either. I am concerned about our 3rd line center. Besides that I think they are shaping up to be a good team.

I’m also concerned though to be honest it is with all their centers. It feels like we are back to the end of the Darcy era and need someone to step up in the middle. Last season isn’t all due to Granato. Neither of the top two returning centers appeared ready for the year. They have serious questions to answer.

 

[Chainshot]

I know everyone here is knowledgeable enough to appreciate the revamped 4th line (that isn't the case in other social media cesspools ha), but how many times did Granato (and the players) not show up ready to play in so many dreadful 1st periods. Ruff won't have that and it's going to be fantastic to have a line you can toss over the boards or even start the game to bring some noise instead of just having Girgs/Okie go 'win' a quiet shift.

I’m partial to the idea of having a line or even two that start the game and the PUCK doesn’t matter. Finish everybody and cycle. Get the crowd into the game, get your sleepy teammates into the game, make it hard for the other team from the drop the puck, the straw that stirs the drink has Lindy used to refer to Kaleta.

 

[Sabresfansince1980]

I’m part of the idea of having a line or even two that start the game and the PUCK doesn’t matter. Finish everybody and cycle. Get the crowd into the game, get your sleepy teammates into the game, make it hard for the other team from the drop the puck, the straw that stirs the drink has Lindy used to refer to Kaleta.

I would even entertain the idea of spreading out Malenstyn, Lafferty, and Greenway on three different lines just to have that going for a good part of a period, sometimes anyway.

 

[DJN21]

I’m partial to the idea of having a line or even two that start the game and the PUCK doesn’t matter. Finish everybody and cycle. Get the crowd into the game, get your sleepy teammates into the game, make it hard for the other team from the drop the puck, the straw that stirs the drink has Lindy used to refer to Kaleta.

fvck yes

 

[Dingo44]

I know everyone here is knowledgeable enough to appreciate the revamped 4th line (that isn't the case in other social media cesspools ha), but how many times did Granato (and the players) not show up ready to play in so many dreadful 1st periods. Ruff won't have that and it's going to be fantastic to have a line you can toss over the boards or even start the game to bring some noise instead of just having Girgs/Okie go 'win' a quiet shift.

Awesome point. Nothing better to get the team and the crowd into the game!

 

[Sabre Dance]

“We need forwards.”

https://x.com/i/web/status/1808252541937111155

 

[sabremike]

“We need forwards.”

https://x.com/i/web/status/1808252541937111155

You could improve the third guy on that list significantly by keeping him as far away from the sixth guy as humanly possible.

 

[Zman5778]

“We need forwards.”

https://x.com/i/web/status/1808252541937111155

What's EH GAR?

 

[Kublakhan]

Way to set up Ruff to fail, friggen Sabres..

 

[Sabre Dance]

What's EH GAR?

Goals above replacement.

 

[Zman5778]

Goals above replacement.

But the EH?

 

[Sabre Dance]

You could improve the third guy on that list significantly by keeping him as far away from the sixth guy as humanly possible.

They need a veteran 3rd guy in the worst way.

 

[alehman42]

What's EH GAR?

Evolving Hockey's Goals Above Replacement.

And this is an attempt to be *predictive*, so it should be looked at as purely entertainment value. Hockey analytics are constantly improving, but they're currently at the point where the results from looking backward have some pretty significant error bars ...trying to look forward is not going to produce anything remotely reliable.

(And the stuff that's publicly available is way behind the curve; anyone who's actually good at this is working for a team, not posting on a website named after a Magic The Gathering card).

 

[Zman5778]

Evolving Hockey's Goals Above Replacement.

.....holy christ I'm a moron. Thank you.

 

[Sabre Dance]

Evolving Hockey's Goals Above Replacement.

And this is an attempt to be *predictive*, so it should be looked at as purely entertainment value. Hockey analytics are constantly improving, but they're currently at the point where the results from looking backward have some pretty significant error bars ...trying to look forward is not going to produce anything remotely reliable.

(And the stuff that's publicly available is way behind the curve; anyone who's actually good at this is working for a team, not posting on a website named after a Magic The Gathering card).

So we don’t suck?

 

[Gras]

“We need forwards.”

https://x.com/i/web/status/1808252541937111155

Considering the forwards were the problem most games last year and not the D, yes.

 

[Sabre Dance]

Considering the forwards were the problem most games last year and not the D, yes.

D wasn’t good. Dahlin and Power need to be top 10 for this Sabres team to be effective. They aren’t. Dahlin was inconsistent.

 

[RWatson29]

.....holy christ I'm a moron. Thank you.

Don’t worry I’m in the same boat.

I havnt been able to learn squat about it, but I guess it definitley can be looked at as an useful tool. I guess I’m just from the group that prefers eye test vs looking at charts and stuff

 

[Uberpecker]

The Skinner buy-out really only makes sense if you utilize the capspace and replace his offense in one way or another.
Simply substracting him from the roster doesn't improve the team, only Pegulas pockets. Then again, maybe that was the goal.

 

[Chainshot]

They need a veteran 3rd guy in the worst way.

I think we saw the worst way: that was EJ. But yeah, there is a need even if it just frees up someone more offensively capable to roam.

 

[alehman42]

So we don’t suck?

I don't know that, you don't know that, and the twins don't know that.

At this point, we all just guessing.