Speculation: Sabre's record by New Years

[Jim Bob]

Just staying healthy and putting up the same PPG as the last couple years already puts him around 80 points, ~20 something more than last year. Of course it would great for him to score 85+, but getting out of the basement hinges much more on the rest of the team and coaching not being such a dumpster fire. There's no reason we have to follow the same mold as the Avs and Devils.

The Sabres being unlikely to follow the Avs and Devils model was my point.

 

[Icicle]

The Sabres being unlikely to follow the Avs and Devils model was my point.

Well, when you say: "
I expect that you need to see Eichel jump up to that 85+ point range if the Sabres are to be a playoff team this season."
you are going to get responses in response to THAT point. Not the one you apparently didn't say until now.

 

[La Cosa Nostra]

Based on the roster as it stands today and assuming not too many injuries:

There are a lot of heavy, possession, two-way teams we play in the first half. I don't like our chances.

11-24-5

Edit:
Assuming no serious injuries after the new year I can see them:

I have them going 16-19-7 after the new year.

So through the year a 66 point campaign.

If the Sabres win as many games in the first 40 games of this season as Reinhart had points in the first 40 games of last season then this team should be contracted out of the league.

 

[Aladyyn]

The Sabres being unlikely to follow the Avs and Devils model was my point.

It's a really shitty model anyways.

 

[OkimLom]

If the Sabres win as many games in the first 40 games of this season as Reinhart had points in the first 40 games of last season then this team should be contracted out of the league.

And if they do...

At 40 games last year, Buffalo went 10-21-9. IMO, Buffalo has gotten worse in the physical game and from my view, no improvement on protecting our guys like Mittelstadt, Dahlin, and Eichel, with Nolan, Kane gone, and in the offseason Foligno traded away. Our soft team last year, has gotten softer.

IMO, they have gotten worse defensively as a whole from a team that had issues playing a tight consistent game. They have gotten slightly better on paper offensively. Goaltending is always an unknown until proven, especially if we are implementing the same system we had last year. We also have a good portion of players learning a new system with new players they haven’t played with . We will also be putting guys into roles that they haven’t played in their careers.

Then add in the amount of teams that have more than two lines of depth, have years of experience playing the system they are used to. Right now the teams I believe we have a chance against are Montreal, Ottawa, Arizona, and Carolina. Calgary for me is a toss up. Other than that, I don’t feel comfortable at all guaranteeing a victory in any of our games with the opponents we have.

 

[Snippit]

At the end of the day the Sabres have only three forwards that are, without a doubt, top 6 quality.

You don't often make the playoffs when that's the case.

 

[Dingo44]

And if they do...

At 40 games last year, Buffalo went 10-21-9. IMO, Buffalo has gotten worse in the physical game and from my view, no improvement on protecting our guys like Mittelstadt, Dahlin, and Eichel, with Nolan, Kane gone, and in the offseason Foligno traded away. Our soft team last year, has gotten softer.

IMO, they have gotten worse defensively as a whole from a team that had issues playing a tight consistent game. They have gotten slightly better on paper offensively. Goaltending is always an unknown until proven, especially if we are implementing the same system we had last year. We also have a good portion of players learning a new system with new players they haven’t played with . We will also be putting guys into roles that they haven’t played in their careers.

Then add in the amount of teams that have more than two lines of depth, have years of experience playing the system they are used to. Right now the teams I believe we have a chance against are Montreal, Ottawa, Arizona, and Carolina. Calgary for me is a toss up. Other than that, I don’t feel comfortable at all guaranteeing a victory in any of our games with the opponents we have.

This assessment is worse than a reasonable worst case scenario.

I like the part how you made Nolan being gone into a negative.

 

[Aladyyn]

A healthy Arizona team is 20+ points better than us.

 

[OkimLom]

This assessment is worse than a reasonable worst case scenario.

I like the part how you made Nolan being gone into a negative.

I love how you completely misunderstood what I said or was saying.

 

[Montag DP]

This assessment is worse than a reasonable worst case scenario.

I like the part how you made Nolan being gone into a negative.

Also the part where trading Foligno last offseason makes the Sabres softer this year than they were last year.

 

[Dingo44]

I love how you completely misunderstood what I said or was saying.

So explain it to me.

 

[Jim Bob]

Well, when you say: "
I expect that you need to see Eichel jump up to that 85+ point range if the Sabres are to be a playoff team this season."
you are going to get responses in response to THAT point. Not the one you apparently didn't say until now.

Eichel getting 85+ points this season is a much more modest jump in production than you saw out of Mac and Hall last season.

I also think that is much more likely that Eichel getting the 40 point jump to over 100 pts that would be a parallel to the Mac and Hall jumps in production.

And if you think that Eichel can stay sub-70 pts due to missing 15 to 20 games and the Sabres are still likely to make the playoffs, then you are much more optimistic about the rest of the team than I am.

 

[OkimLom]

So explain it to me.

There’s no toughness on the team. If a team decides to take liberties, or we need someone to fight to change the momentum or spark the team, who’s going to do that. At least with Nolan, there was a willing participant. Botts today has not improved upon this issue since traded away Foligno. The only move to address this was essentially switching Deslauirers for Nolan.

Now that Nolan is gone, what has he brought in to take that role. That worries me especially when we Have so many young guys. We need someone or multiple players to keep people honest. It’s also an important role because it helps glue the room together. This team’s toughness, or lack thereof, is so bad our goaltender had to do something when players got in his crease.

I wasn’t saying Nolan was anything special, I was making a remark on the role he played.

 

[OkimLom]

Also the part where trading Foligno last offseason makes the Sabres softer this year than they were last year.

Foligno played a role on this team. When he traded away Foligno, he didn’t fill that hole. We still have that hole today.

 

[Montag DP]

Foligno played a role on this team. When he traded away Foligno, he didn’t fill that hole. We still have that hole today.

Your post was comparing last year's team to this year's. If you meant something other than what you said, you should have said what you meant instead of what you said.

 

[jc17]

Now that Nolan is gone, what has he brought in to take that role.
I wasn’t saying Nolan was anything special, I was making a remark on the role he played.

9/10 times when you go after someone who plays Nolan's "role", you get a player of Nolan's caliber.

 

[OkimLom]

9/10 times when you go after someone who plays Nolan's "role", you get a player of Nolan's caliber.

So because of that you don’t fill it? That’s ridiculous.

 

[OkimLom]

Your post was comparing last year's team to this year's. If you meant something other than what you said, you should have said what you meant instead of what you said.

I said our soft team from last year has gotten softer. Not sure how you misinterpret that.

 

[Montag DP]

Again, Foligno was not on the team last year; thus, he cannot factor into any comparison of relative softness between this year and last year. Doubling down on nonsense doesn't make it any less nonsensical.

Just admit you failed to explain yourself correctly and move on.

 

[OkimLom]

Again, Foligno was not on the team last year; thus, he cannot factor into any comparison of relative softness between this year and last year. Doubling down on nonsense doesn't make it any less nonsensical.

Just admit you failed to explain yourself correctly and move on.

Botterill created a hole on last year’s team by trading for Scandella. He made our team softer because of that. I was saying that as soft as we were last year, we have become softer. Foligno isn’t the major point I was making. The point I was making was that our team is soft. Stop focusing on the little detail of Foligno, and understand I was making a point about the softness of our team. It’s not that difficult to understand, but you want to get held up on the small detail of Foligno.

 

[jc17]

So because of that you don’t fill it? That’s ridiculous.

Yes, if you can't find someone who can actually be an effective hockey player, you do not acquire them for the sake of a role.

 

[Jamie Walker]

as for toughness, we have guys who can hit. I don't think we need a Rob Ray, or Deslaurier. if the Miller - lucic incident happens again, you don't need to go "toe to toe", you need five guys to come in and give him the business. maybe a "Kessel whack" ?

 

[Jamie Walker]

as for the record by new years (if 40 games) I predict 20 - 16 -4

 

[valet]

Botterill created a hole on last year’s team by trading for Scandella. He made our team softer because of that. I was saying that as soft as we were last year, we have become softer. Foligno isn’t the major point I was making. The point I was making was that our team is soft. Stop focusing on the little detail of Foligno, and understand I was making a point about the softness of our team. It’s not that difficult to understand, but you want to get held up on the small detail of Foligno.

Define soft please, and how it plays a significant factor in the result of a hockey game.... with something other than a circular argument

it's a pretty unspecific term and it doesn't mean much unless you're willing to elaborate

 

[DJN21]

as for toughness, we have guys who can hit. I don't think we need a Rob Ray, or Deslaurier. if the Miller - lucic incident happens again, you don't need to go "toe to toe", you need five guys to come in and give him the business. maybe a "Kessel whack" ?

Disagree entirely but would like to add the caveat that adding a Nolan type player isn't the answer either. We 100% need to add some toughness to the roster but it needs to be in the way of a productive player who can still skate a normal shift.

I wish we would have taken a flier on Oleksiak before he turned the corner a bit in Pittsburgh. Or Anderson during his Columbus contract beef.

There aren't many realistic options out there for guys we can aquire, afford, can play a shift, and can offer that enforcer level of grit. The best idea I've been able to think of is one of the Ritchie brothers. A Nylander for Ritchie trade could be interesting as both are falling short of draft pedigree but both provide different skillsets. Brett Ritchie would likely cost much less and has in the past shown the ability to flirt with 20 goals. Neither are heavies by any strecth of the imagination but both could help keep teams honest with our younger guys and if we lost them for 5 minutes it wouldnt hurt the Sabres either.

Really off the wall idea could be Nick Foligno but significant salary would need to go back and Lumbus would need incentive to move him...

One of Miller or McQuaid one the young guys force their way onto the Bruins roster?

I dont know...