The Roster Thread, Summer 2024

[TheMistyStranger]

I'll say the exact same thing about Helenius potentially making the team that I said about Benson last year.

It does not bode well to the overall quality of our roster if an 18 year old is able to make the team.

It says less about the quality of the 18 year old and more about the lack of quality in the rest of the roster.

I was right last year. So lets hope the roster is good enough this year to keep the newly drafted teenager in the minors.

I'll say the exact same thing I said last year: there's really no correlation there. If Benson is a good enough player, he should play. Just because he's young doesn't mean he's not NHL ready. You can't just arbitrarily decide that no one plays in the NHL until they're 22 because that's the random number we picked.

 

[BFLO]

I'll say the exact same thing I said last year: there's really no correlation there. If Benson is a good enough player, he should play. Just because he's young doesn't mean he's not NHL ready. You can't just arbitrarily decide that no one plays in the NHL until they're 22 because that's the random number we picked.

How many playoff teams had 18 year olds make their roster out of camp last season?

I'll give you a hint.

Zero players drafted in 2023 played in the playoffs.

 

[MarkusKetterer]

How many playoff teams had 18 year olds make their roster out of camp last season?

I'll give you a hint.

Zero players drafted in 2023 played in the playoffs.
View attachment 898996

Yea. Benson was the reason they didn’t make the playoffs.

 

[michaelsaas]

I was down on the Mitts-Byram trade. But, I am not saying that if Byram plays on the 3rd pair because they want to spread Dahlin, Power, and Byram across all three pairings, that we should riot. If that is what Ruff thinks is best (and I think he has those 3 in the top 4 to start BTW), then lets see how it plays out.

Same really. I have my opinions on what might be good or bad moves but at this point all I care about is making the playoffs ASAP. If we average 2 GF a night and TT, Quinn and Tuch average 8 mins a game with Dahlin spending most time as a PK specialist, I won't care if it means we made the playoffs. (Though it will prob equate to some boring hockey to watch).

 

[Irie]

How many playoff teams had 18 year olds make their roster out of camp last season?

I'll give you a hint.

Zero players drafted in 2023 played in the playoffs.
View attachment 898996

List of players that played in the NHL playoffs their 18 year old seasons.

Nick Robertson
Thomas Harley
Kaapo Kakko
Andre Svechnikov
Nico Hischier
Kevin Fiala
Sam Bennett
Nathan MacKinnon
Valeri Nichushkin
Tom Wilson
Alex Galchenyuk
Tyler Seguin
Ryan O'Reilly
Matt Duchene
Luca Sbisa
Jordan Staal
Patrice Bergeron
Pierre Marc-Bouchard
Patrick Marleau
Joe Thornton
Dainius Zubrus
Jarome Iginlla
Kyle McLaren
Radek Dvorak
Jeff Friesen
Jarmomir Jagr
Steve Yzerman
Mike Modano
Pierre Turgeon
Brendan Shanahan

....that's not even half of them. But you get the picture.

For the record, I am not for having 18 year olds on an NHL roster, but it does happen sometimes and sometimes those players even turn out pretty well

 

[Gras]

List of players that played in the NHL playoffs their 18 year old seasons.

Nick Robertson
Thomas Harley
Kaapo Kakko
Andre Svechnikov
Nico Hischier
Kevin Fiala
Sam Bennett
Nathan MacKinnon
Valeri Nichushkin
Tom Wilson
Alex Galchenyuk
Tyler Seguin
Ryan O'Reilly
Matt Duchene
Luca Sbisa
Jordan Staal
Patrice Bergeron
Pierre Marc-Bouchard
Patrick Marleau
Joe Thornton
Dainius Zubrus
Jarome Iginlla
Kyle McLaren
Radek Dvorak
Jeff Friesen
Jarmomir Jagr
Steve Yzerman
Mike Modano
Pierre Turgeon
Brendan Shanahan

....that's not even half of them. But you get the picture.

For the record, I am not for having 18 year olds on an NHL roster, but it does happen sometimes and sometimes those players even turn out pretty well

Yea, but only 2023 matters.

 

[WhereAreTheCookies]

List of players that played in the NHL playoffs their 18 year old seasons.

Nick Robertson
Thomas Harley
Kaapo Kakko
Andre Svechnikov
Nico Hischier
Kevin Fiala
Sam Bennett
Nathan MacKinnon
Valeri Nichushkin
Tom Wilson
Alex Galchenyuk
Tyler Seguin
Ryan O'Reilly
Matt Duchene
Luca Sbisa
Jordan Staal
Patrice Bergeron
Pierre Marc-Bouchard
Patrick Marleau
Joe Thornton
Dainius Zubrus
Jarome Iginlla
Kyle McLaren
Radek Dvorak
Jeff Friesen
Jarmomir Jagr
Steve Yzerman
Mike Modano
Pierre Turgeon
Brendan Shanahan

....that's not even half of them. But you get the picture.

For the record, I am not for having 18 year olds on an NHL roster, but it does happen sometimes and sometimes those players even turn out pretty well

It's also worth noting that the players that typically do make NHL rosters at 18 are taken early in the first round because they are going to be the best and most NHL ready prospects. That means the teams the play for aren't generally going to be playoff teams. Maybe one or two sneak in the next season but not all of them, especially now when only half the teams make it. Benson seemed like he gave one of the most consistent efforts last season.

 

[Dirty Dog]

Top teams have rookies make their teams fairly often. Maybe not always 18 years old, but young rookies nonetheless.

 

[Dubi Doo]

Benson's IQ and work ethic earned him a spot on the team. It's incredibly rare an 18 year old has his level of IQ, which is why they rarely ever make it to the show at that age. He's well ahead of the curve in that regard.

 

[MOGlLNY]

Top teams have rookies make their teams fairly often. Maybe not always 18 years old, but young rookies nonetheless.

18 year old rookies that are capable of making nhl teams are usually very high picks which means their teams were probably bad the year before. Didn’t really get the point he was trying to make.

 

[Butt Ox]

To me the underlying issue is comparing the bumblef*** Sabres, and what they do, to organizations that are not inept in every way.

 

[Jersey Fan 12]

Its good that there is some competition not like the seasons before when players were gifted spots.
I think Krebs is gonna be prepared and will surprise.

Have heard people talking about Krebs on both ends of the extremes - Lisowski was on with the After The Whistle guys and they seem to think he will benefit from playing for a team with Lindy Ruff as the coach. He's still not signed as a restricted free agent.

Where does he fit with this team or is he better off heading elsewhere?

 

[Zman5778]

Have heard people talking about Krebs on both ends of the extremes - Lisowski was on with the After The Whistle guys and they seem to think he will benefit from playing for a team with Lindy Ruff as the coach. He's still not signed as a restricted free agent.

Where does he fit with this team or is he better off heading elsewhere?

Million dollar question right there. Right now....as this team is presently constructed....he's more than likely the 13th forward. He's NOT beating out Tage or Cozens or McLeod at center. So maybe if he performs heads and tails better than Lafferty, maybe he could start as the 4C.

The issue is that he's not good as a wing.....and when he's gotten chances with better players, he hasn't made the most of them. His best chance here is he forces his way into the lineup via injury and forces Ruff to not take him out.

But I think his future ultimately lies with a team other than the Sabres.

 

[RefsIdeas]

Re: young players on playoff teams. One or two young players are fine. But go take a look at the conference finalists the past few years and count how many young guys they have (pick whatever age you want, 18-25). There’s not a ton. The Sabres are filled with young guys.

 

[Jacob582]

Have heard people talking about Krebs on both ends of the extremes - Lisowski was on with the After The Whistle guys and they seem to think he will benefit from playing for a team with Lindy Ruff as the coach. He's still not signed as a restricted free agent.

Where does he fit with this team or is he better off heading elsewhere?

I think he fits as 4th line center. Lafferty can move to the wing. You're right to question: will he displace someone if everyone is healthy?

Will they play him over Aube-Kubel who they targeted in free agency?

Which gets us back to the beginning to say, Krebs may very well be the 13th forward unless he wows in training camp. But with one injury to the forward group, he's in the lineup.

 

[sabremike]

Re: young players on playoff teams. One or two young players are fine. But go take a look at the conference finalists the past few years and count how many young guys they have (pick whatever age you want, 18-25). There’s not a ton. The Sabres are filled with young guys.

The whole "we don't want vets in spots blocking kids" thing was pure idiocy because it led to a roster of kids getting their heads kicked in flailing away and drowning at this level instead of being in Rochester (a team that literally exists to develop players). A roster with lots of kids is the single best way to lose lots of games and fail miserably.

 

[SharkInABoloTie]

This seems to go against the grain in this thread, but if Helenius makes this team coming out of camp, then this is still a bottom 10 team in the NHL. IMO

 

[TehDoak]

My issue with benson is he wasn’t great in his first 8 games. He scored a highlight reel goal in game 9 and he made the team.

There wasn’t a reason to keep him other than the depth was bad.

It’s not really shocking though. It’s a poorly run team.

 

[Irie]

Re: young players on playoff teams. One or two young players are fine. But go take a look at the conference finalists the past few years and count how many young guys they have (pick whatever age you want, 18-25). There’s not a ton. The Sabres are filled with young guys.

Issue is that no amount of vets that were available to acquire would have made this team a conference final caliber team. Over the last few years.

After the Eichel neck surgery fiasco, this team went penny pinching and embraced the rebuild, despite whatever Adams was saying in his press conferences.

It sucks that the drought continued, but the team is honestly in a pretty good spot right now moving forward. Had they traded all that youth for aging vets to make the playoffs, they likely would have been smoked in the first round and the future would be no where near as bright.

This team is still super young and they are only going to get better. Should be a fun ride for Sabres fans going forward.

 

[Dingo44]

This seems to go against the grain in this thread, but if Helenius makes this team coming out of camp, then this is still a bottom 10 team in the NHL. IMO

That's absurd.

 

[Jacob582]

Had they traded all that youth for aging vets to make the playoffs, they likely would have been smoked in the first round and the future would be no where near as bright.

I don't think anyone is saying that they should have traded the youth for aging vets.

They could have added vets other ways, developed the prospects longer in the AHL and made them earn a spot.

 

[Aladyyn]

The whole "we don't want vets in spots blocking kids" thing was pure idiocy because it led to a roster of kids getting their heads kicked in flailing away and drowning at this level instead of being in Rochester (a team that literally exists to develop players). A roster with lots of kids is the single best way to lose lots of games and fail miserably.

That's quite literally not at all what happened

 

[Irie]

I don't think anyone is saying that they should have traded the youth for aging vets.

They could have added vets other ways, developed the prospects longer in the AHL and made them earn a spot.

Yeah, I was just trying to put some perspective on the "conference finals" statement. It would have taken trading away most of the future to have even had a shot at the second round.

And yes, they could have done all of what you said and they should have done all of what you said, but to my eyes it seems pretty obvious that saving Terry Pegula as much money as possible was a fairly high directive for the team for a few years there, which is the main reason a lot of questionable decisions were made.

 

[TehDoak]

Issue is that no amount of vets that were available to acquire would have made this team a conference final caliber team. Over the last few years.

After the Eichel neck surgery fiasco, this team went penny pinching and embraced the rebuild, despite whatever Adams was saying in his press conferences.

It sucks that the drought continued, but the team is honestly in a pretty good spot right now moving forward. Had they traded all that youth for aging vets to make the playoffs, they likely would have been smoked in the first round and the future would be no where near as bright.

This team is still super young and they are only going to get better. Should be a fun ride for Sabres fans going forward.

The idea that no combo of players acquired could have made a significant difference is silly, especially when Adams was GM during an expansion draft and had ample amount of cap space and draft capital to work with and he moved a top 10 NHL center.

The Sabres opting for a futures heavy deal for eichel rather than going for a star for star swap, for one. I mean, who says he couldn't have gotten Matthew Tkachuk for Eichel. Or some combo of Lindholm +

He likely could have made a deal with Seattle with 1st OA for 2nd OA + whatever player(s) he wanted in the expansion draft.

With the benefit of hindsight, you can certainly reverse engineer some league wide moves and construct a conference finalist team.

Go get Devon Toews for two 2nd round picks in 2020 and go from there. Trade Eichel before the neck injury. Re-sign Ullmark and Reinhart before the 2020-21 season to long term deals.

And even without the benefit of hindsight, things could have been done differently from the get go. If they had opted to do smart things in summer of 2020 instead of swing for the fences with the Hall signing and Eichel doesn't get injured....much different outcomes.

Adams started badly, got unlucky (Eichel injury), then it spiraled into dumb and dumber decisions making.

 

[TageGod]

In the event of a prospect cracking the lineup, Greenway I think, being slow with not a ton of production, is the odd man out. Krebs also did not perform well if a prospect makes it in. If none make it, let them all duke it out in Roch for first callup, which won't take long anyways.