Speculation: Sabres Roster Speculation - Pre-season 2023 Edition

[Jacob582]

What's the chance Dahlin moves to his left this season? Takes advantage of picking up both RHD FA.

Dahlin-Jokiharju were good last season
Samuelsson-Clifton steady second pair
Power-Johnson let the vet mentor

Stillman-Boosh fill in for injuries/rotate Johnson

Highly likely based on what Granato has said.

 

[Der Jaeger]

I just do not see Luke having that much development left and getting to that ceiling from where he is today.

I don’t think it’s a far trip from where Tuch is to where Foligno was when he first broke into the league. He just doesn’t have the numbers to support it. But play style is similar for me.

 

[SnuggaRUDE]

you think Samuelsson is going to get more offensive deployment than he did with Dahlin?

I think probably. I don't want Power taking Dzone draws against the players Samuelsson is slatted to defend against.

 

[SnuggaRUDE]

That's completely unavoidable. Spreading our 2 best defenders out is going to improve our overall defensive performance.

And that's done by putting Dahlin on a pairing with a RHD, and Samuelsson on a pairing with a RHD. Not putting Samuelsson and Power together.

 

[BUCKSHOT]

from the main board .....

As per Sportsnet, Buffalo and Detroit have interest in the 35 yo RHD.
TSN says Dallas are interested, but would ask MTL to retain 50%.

 

[Fjordy]

Dahlin-Jokiharju were good last season
Samuelsson-Clifton steady second pair
Power-Johnson let the vet mentor

No way, this guy shouldn't be in the top 4 at all.

Stop stepping on the same rake and making the same mistakes over and over again

from the main board .....

As per Sportsnet, Buffalo and Detroit have interest in the 35 yo RHD.
TSN says Dallas are interested, but would ask MTL to retain 50%.

Well that's okay, Petry is better than Joki and Boosh.

 

[BUCKSHOT]

from the main board .....

As per Sportsnet, Buffalo and Detroit have interest in the 35 yo RHD.
TSN says Dallas are interested, but would ask MTL to retain 50%.

Engels has confirmed that Petry's 15-team ntc includes all western teams. Dallas can have all the interest they want, but I don't see him waiving - even if it might be a good fit.

 

[Dingo44]

Very interesting. Didn't expect Maxim on there.

 

[PatLaFontaineASMR]

That’s bull crap. If you’ve read what I’ve wrote for the past decade, I’ve been advocating for the Sabres to acquire young power forwards before they develop, and become too expensive to trade for.

Since power forwards develop later, teams have to try to draft them early, or acquire them when their development looks stalled. That’s why I wanted Adams to draft Nelson this year. I’ve also wanted him to try reclamation projects like Comtois and Bellows.

Tuch has developed in college to the player that teams cannot afford to trade for. So the time to get a player like that is now.

Aside from him, list for me the potentially traceable young power forwards whose cost isn’t through the roof. It’s not a big list.

That his last name is Tuch is an added bonus, because you know what you’re getting.

It's not lol. There are tons of prospects nearly identical to Tuch. I don't see people advocating trading for Landon Slaggert or Dillon Hamaliuk on here. He's your run of the mill high compete kid that lacks an offensive toolbox. These guys end up as college FAs playing on AHL teams for most of their careers. Only reason why his name is even coming up is because of his brother.

 

[sabremike]

It's not lol. There are tons of prospects nearly identical to Tuch. I don't see people advocating trading for Landon Slaggert or Dillon Hamaliuk on here. He's your run of the mill high compete kid that lacks an offensive toolbox. These guys end up as college FAs playing on AHL teams for most of their careers. Only reason why his name is even coming up is because of his brother.

I WANT TYCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Sabresfansince1980]

Very interesting. Didn't expect Maxim on there.

View attachment 735174

Thompson could hit 500...health willing.

 

[tsujimoto74]

Very interesting. Didn't expect Maxim on there.

View attachment 735174

If Skinner weren't terrible on the PP, he'd probably routinely find himself among the top 10 scoring wingers in the game.

 

[Djp]

What's the chance Dahlin moves to his left this season? Takes advantage of picking up both RHD FA.

Dahlin-Jokiharju were good last season
Samuelsson-Clifton steady second pair
Power-Johnson let the vet mentor

Stillman-Boosh fill in for injuries/rotate Johnson

I expected that to start the season. Either joker or someone thry acquired. You could see Sam and power switch pairs

Yes, because who exactly on the Sabres staff has experience architecting a team and making trades? Wait, no one.


The ideal time to be aggressive was actually last year while Cozens was still on his ELC.

But, you have Dahlin pre UFA contract and Power on his ELC.

This is a perfect window to be aggressive. Especially given we know that the cap will be going up next year.

Waiting for the conditions to be perfect to add talent is simply pissing away opportunity. You have to work with what you have and actively address needs, not pray and hope players you drafted will work out. The ideal is setup is have a functional winning team and a strong pipeline so you can move out pieces while they still have value before their cost exceeds their contribution.

We don't have a functional winning team yet. Hoping that happens organically is just being lazy at this point.

Except coming out of Covid snd problems with local broadcast you can’t forecast the cap all that well.

you go out and overpay yo u get handcuffed with own RFAs.
you over pay to acquire short term fixes judt to be the 8 th playoff team for a couple years when the vets walk and you traded away the youth to replace them. Buffalo was that for years. They weren’t drafting high enough to get the worry good players and the players they drafted were fine but not enough to go far in the playoffs.

2021-2023 was the rebuild period. No reason to sell the farm. What happen with Murray where he traded picks and prospects.

 

[Der Jaeger]

It's not lol. There are tons of prospects nearly identical to Tuch. I don't see people advocating trading for Landon Slaggert or Dillon Hamaliuk on here. He's your run of the mill high compete kid that lacks an offensive toolbox. These guys end up as college FAs playing on AHL teams for most of their careers. Only reason why his name is even coming up is because of his brother.

Interestingly, looking back a few draft years, there are these “run of the mill high compete kids that lacks an offensive toolbox” getting drafted in the second round. Weird.

Either they aren’t so run if the mill, or they aren’t kids without offensive upside. I checked the past few drafts. They’re aren’t that many of them available early, so it seems like there is a supply problem for bigger, gritty forwards.

This draft year I really wanted Danny Nelson. Same reason.

The reason I mentioned Tuch was because it was a Petry trade. Had this been a trade idea for a King, I’d want Grundstrom. Islanders, Nelson. And so on.

 

[HOOats]

That’s bull crap. If you’ve read what I’ve wrote for the past decade, I’ve been advocating for the Sabres to acquire young power forwards before they develop, and become too expensive to trade for.

Since power forwards develop later, teams have to try to draft them early, or acquire them when their development looks stalled. That’s why I wanted Adams to draft Nelson this year. I’ve also wanted him to try reclamation projects like Comtois and Bellows.

Tuch has developed in college to the player that teams cannot afford to trade for. So the time to get a player like that is now.

Aside from him, list for me the potentially traceable young power forwards whose cost isn’t through the roof. It’s not a big list.

That his last name is Tuch is an added bonus, because you know what you’re getting.

I agree with you. And I think Adams was on a mission to add a young one this year, so he drafted Wahlberg (over Nelson it would seem). His game may be on the lighter, faster side of power forwards (not unlike Alex Tuch), but he's plenty mean and skilled, and I think he's going to grow into significant strength. I hope we continue to add more big, mean, mobile dogs to the org.

 

[MarkusKetterer]

I agree with you. And I think Adams was on a mission to add a young one this year, so he drafted Wahlberg (over Nelson it would seem). His game may be on the lighter, faster side of power forwards (not unlike Alex Tuch), but he's plenty mean and skilled, and I think he's going to grow into significant strength. I hope we continue to add more big, mean, mobile dogs to the org.

Miedma was another person in that vein.

 

[PatLaFontaineASMR]

Interestingly, looking back a few draft years, there are these “run of the mill high compete kids that lacks an offensive toolbox” getting drafted in the second round. Weird.

Either they aren’t so run if the mill, or they aren’t kids without offensive upside. I checked the past few drafts. They’re aren’t that many of them available early, so it seems like there is a supply problem for bigger, gritty forwards.

This draft year I really wanted Danny Nelson. Same reason.

The reason I mentioned Tuch was because it was a Petry trade. Had this been a trade idea for a King, I’d want Grundstrom. Islanders, Nelson. And so on.

Because he's in his DY+3 now. At this point you have to show something special.

"Either they aren’t so run if the mill, or they aren’t kids without offensive upside."
A lot of GMs are obsessed with size. If you look at the 2nd-3rd rounds you'll find a ton of prospects like that. At that point only around 1/4 of the guys will even make the NHL. You're just taking shots on prospects. I've watched Luke play a few times. He's very active and a hound on the puck, but not much else going on.

I'm not really talking about you specifically. I've just seen a ton of armchair GMs with us trading for Luke Tuch and his name mentioned a lot on boards. If his last name wasn't Tuch really nobody would be bringing him up as a trade target. I guess maybe you.

 

[Sabresfansince1980]

I always assumed acquiring Luke Tuch would be a feel-good move for Rochester. Nice to have him and all the vibes with his brother, but he'd be a AHL guy most likely...which is fine.

 

[Der Jaeger]

Because he's in his DY+3 now. At this point you have to show something special.

"Either they aren’t so run if the mill, or they aren’t kids without offensive upside."
A lot of GMs are obsessed with size. If you look at the 2nd-3rd rounds you'll find a ton of prospects like that. At that point only around 1/4 of the guys will even make the NHL. You're just taking shots on prospects. I've watched Luke play a few times. He's very active and a hound on the puck, but not much else going on.

I'm not really talking about you specifically. I've just seen a ton of armchair GMs with us trading for Luke Tuch and his name mentioned a lot on boards. If his last name wasn't Tuch really nobody would be bringing him up as a trade target. I guess maybe you.

Over the past 3-5 years I’ve been extremely vocal on these boards about brining in power forwards. Alex Tuch was my drumbeat forever.

But I’ve also wanted Comtois, Grundstrom, Bellows, Fischer, Luke Tuch, Nelson, Vilardi, etc. I think the Sabres will struggle come playoff time scoring tough goals, and they’ve got no one who grinds or will stand in front of the net consistently in their top 9.

So it’s not a name thing for me. It’s an organizational need I’ve seen for a long time.

 

[Jim Bob]

Lessons the Blackhawks Can Learn From Previous Rebuilds

The Chicago Blackhawks find themselves at the beginning of a long development process with a rebuild and can learn from other teams process.

thehockeywriters.com

Learning from Your Mistakes: The Buffalo Sabres​

The Sabres’ rebuilding experience serves as a cautionary tale for Chicago. They have gone through multiple rebuild attempts and still haven’t made the playoffs. For every high draft pick they have had, there has been a frequent change in leadership or management. This has led to inconsistency and failure. Their struggles highlight the importance of stability when rebuilding. The Blackhawks can learn from the Sabres’ mistakes by ensuring they have a well-defined plan and a clear vision for the future. This seems to already be the case as Kyle Davidson looks to innovate the hockey management process through baseball-style analytics. Consistent and competent management, plus avoiding knee-jerk reactions are the greatest takeaway from the Sabres’ history of rebuilds.

 

[HOOats]

Lessons the Blackhawks Can Learn From Previous Rebuilds

The Chicago Blackhawks find themselves at the beginning of a long development process with a rebuild and can learn from other teams process.

thehockeywriters.com

So what they're saying is, fire everyone if we miss the playoffs this year...because "consequences."

 

[brian_griffin]

Over the past 3-5 years I’ve been extremely vocal on these boards about brining in power forwards. Alex Tuch was my drumbeat forever.

But I’ve also wanted Comtois, Grundstrom, Bellows, Fischer, Luke Tuch, Nelson, Vilardi, etc. I think the Sabres will struggle come playoff time scoring tough goals, and they’ve got no one who grinds or will stand in front of the net consistently in their top 9.

So it’s not a name thing for me. It’s an organizational need I’ve seen for a long time.

You and I have been aligned on this topic for a while. It's why I've wanted BUF to acquire a Scott-Hartnell-like player (which closest to me is Tuch) and a couple "Hartnell-lite" players. I just don't search deeper in the draft than (high) 1st-rounders like Hartnell, and don't follow their post-draft development the way you and others do.

 

[TehDoak]

I expected that to start the season. Either joker or someone thry acquired. You could see Sam and power switch pairs

Except coming out of Covid snd problems with local broadcast you can’t forecast the cap all that well.

True in 2021. Not true in 22 or this year.

you go out and overpay yo u get handcuffed with own RFAs.
you over pay to acquire short term fixes judt to be the 8 th playoff team for a couple years when the vets walk and you traded away the youth to replace them. Buffalo was that for years. They weren’t drafting high enough to get the worry good players and the players they drafted were fine but not enough to go far in the playoffs.

2021-2023 was the rebuild period. No reason to sell the farm. What happen with Murray where he traded picks and prospects.

I’ve posted the math on this several times. No we couldn’t cap out last year but we could have added around 10M in salary with negligible long term impact.

And yes, you can address problems with short and long term fixes. That is literally the job of the GM to make good judgement calls with a balance of the present and future. Adams ‘started’ his rebuild with a 1st overall pick on the roster already and a second one he selected. And the return from the eichel trade pending. And he had found money in Thompson coming off the ash heap and becoming a top offensive center. Last year wasn’t the end of the rebuild it was a massive missed opportunity.

 

[sabremike]

Lessons the Blackhawks Can Learn From Previous Rebuilds

The Chicago Blackhawks find themselves at the beginning of a long development process with a rebuild and can learn from other teams process.

thehockeywriters.com

The trick to that is not hiring incompetent fools you end up having to fire before they do any more damage in the first place.

 

[KeyserSoze81]

Very interesting. Didn't expect Maxim on there.
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God, I loved the chaos engine that was Afinogenov. It was never boring.