Speculation: Sabres Roster Speculation - Pre-season 2023 Edition

[brian_griffin]

I will be on injured reserve most of the season cause I cant stay up all night till morning like I did the last 2 seasons, so my iron man streak of over 160gms in a row ends this year.
Too bad cause this seems to be the year they finally pull through and make it into the postseason.
Well last season was already fun compared to the horrible Eichel aera even if they didnt make it in the end.

I am no expert on these things, but given the miracle of Al Gore's inter-webs, it should be possible (and hopefully not too costly) to see some of the games outside of vampire-friendly hours of the night, whether those games are delayed, and/or recorded, and/or condensed.

 

[TheBarnIsElectric]

Lol, after all the talk about it, sounds a lot like Donny was always going back to Skinner/Thompson/Tuch for game 1. He talked about how he's managing psychology and experimenting for other areas of chemistry during preseason, but knows that line is a sure thing.

 

[Beerz]

Nah. They're just there to boo and laugh when the Sabres trip all over themselves. There's no reason for optimism at all.

They're all Ranger fans

Lol, after all the talk about it, sounds a lot like Donny was always going back to Skinner/Thompson/Tuch for game 1. He talked about how he's managing psychology and experimenting for other areas of chemistry during preseason, but know that line is a sure thing.

Ugh... the last guy to talk psychology and hockey didn't work out very well

 

[thewookie1]

They're all Ranger fans


Ugh... the last guy to talk psychology and hockey didn't work out very well

Every coach uses psychology; it all depends on how they use it.

 

[MeenOlViks]

Lol, after all the talk about it, sounds a lot like Donny was always going back to Skinner/Thompson/Tuch for game 1. He talked about how he's managing psychology and experimenting for other areas of chemistry during preseason, but know that line is a sure thing.

Translation: Statistically Donny is expecting a Tuch injury...

 

[debaser66]

I am no expert on these things, but given the miracle of Al Gore's inter-webs, it should be possible (and hopefully not too costly) to see some of the games outside of vampire-friendly hours of the night, whether those games are delayed, and/or recorded, and/or condensed.

Yes there are, but seeing it "live" also while following hfboards gameday thread creates a special kind of camaraderie

 

[CornKicker]

Sabres fans, is Levi going to be the starter in your opinion? was a huge fan of his in WJC and hope so

 

[debaser66]

Sabres fans, is Levi going to be the starter in your opinion? was a huge fan of his in WJC and hope so

yes, no other goalie in the org that has anywhere near his talent level. how he can keep it up for a whole season with going this unorthodox route from college straight to NHL starter remains to be seen but we hope for the best

 

[TehDoak]

Florida is ALREADY bit hard by the injury bug -- they'll be missing their top 2 defensemen (or 2 of their top 3, depending of how you rate Forsling) for roughly as long as we're missing Quinn.....and they're relying on a slew of 3rd pair defenders and OEL in their place. Then you cite Skinner's year-to-year performance while ignoring that Bob largely does the same thing and we have no idea how Knight will come back.

Ottawa is healthier (for now).....but their goaltending questions are the same as ours. Is Korpisalo a legit NHL starter? Cause if not, they're screwed.

Detroit did make a lot of external additions -- but their talent level isn't up to Buffalo's or Ottawa's level. They're still lacking in defense and in net and have no real scoring depth.

Tampa is missing their 60-game-per-year Vezina-winning goaltending for a while. Can they break even while he's gone?

Putting the Sabres in 7th isn't just pessimistic -- it's assuming the absolute worst case scenario for Buffalo while simultaneously assuming the best-case scenario for the 4 above mentioned teams.

7th isn't worst case scenario. Worst case scenario is the losses pile up early, we have a big injury, and Granato loses the room and we're a bottom 5 team.

A realistic scenario is we finish somewhere between 4-7th in our division. Where we end up will depend largely on where players grow/regress and injuries (on our team and others) 7th is a very realistic option, especially if Levi struggles to transition to a pro game workload or teams find a way to expose a weakness after getting more pro tape on him.

I think our scoring will drop a bit an it will put more pressure on areas we've struggled with. We were able to outscore a lot of the big issues last year. If that drops a little, the wins will be much harder to come by unless the other areas (Defensive play, goaltending, penalty killing) grow significantly.

 

[brian_griffin]

Sabres fans, is Levi going to be the starter in your opinion? was a huge fan of his in WJC and hope so

We have a separate goaltending thread where you may find opinions and observations on workload, strategy, etc., for the Sabres goalies. You'll definitely find posts where some complain about the GM's inability to acquire a vet goalie (to pair with Levi) and/or some posters arguing LEvi should start in the AHL this season.

My opinion? Levi will be given the opportunity to play as many games as he demonstrates he can handle and keep his performance level high. Concurrently, with the Sabres having legitimate aims on a playoff spot, I don't see them wanting Levi to be worn out come playoff time, as the past few seasons he's played 35-40 games. What will that mean? Who knows?

 

[Sabresfansince1980]

7th isn't worst case scenario. Worst case scenario is the losses pile up early, we have a big injury, and Granato loses the room and we're a bottom 5 team.

A realistic scenario is we finish somewhere between 4-7th in our division. Where we end up will depend largely on where players grow/regress and injuries (on our team and others) 7th is a very realistic option, especially if Levi struggles to transition to a pro game workload or teams find a way to expose a weakness after getting more pro tape on him.

I think our scoring will drop a bit an it will put more pressure on areas we've struggled with. We were able to outscore a lot of the big issues last year. If that drops a little, the wins will be much harder to come by unless the other areas (Defensive play, goaltending, penalty killing) grow significantly.

This isn't glass half full stuff, it's glass 1/4 full. Shuffling out Fitz, Pilut, and Bryson and replacing the games they were forced to play with CC and EJ and probably RyJo is a pretty big upgrade. Not only that, the first half of last season was littered with brain-dead mistakes leading to a last place rank in odd-mans against. They cleaned that up middle of the season, and as I said have better D-corps depth. Levi might struggle at some point but he's very likely not going to be worse than Anderson. Add in the step up that most young FWs will probably make (Cozens, JJP, maybe Krebs, Greenway over Asplund, Jost over Hino), and you have to be really...really pessimistic to be thinking 7th place is realistic. I'll straight up quit this board if that happens.

 

[Zman5778]

A realistic scenario is we finish somewhere between 4-7th in our division. Where we end up will depend largely on where players grow/regress and injuries (on our team and others) 7th is a very realistic option, especially if Levi struggles to transition to a pro game workload or teams find a way to expose a weakness after getting more pro tape on him.

"7th is realistic if bad things happen to us and no one else" is basically what you're saying here.

And sure, agreed -- if we're the only team to have bad things happen to us, of course we're finishing 7th.

Hell: Tage, Dahlin, Levi, Power, Tuch, Skinner and Mitts could all get hurt and then having the most ping pong balls for the draft is realistic.


Realistic is acknowledging that every team will have some things break their way and some thing won't. For Buffalo, if more breaks our way than against -- we could finish as high as 3rd. If more goes against us than with us -- sure, 7th is possible.

But the most likely realistic scenario has us battling with Florida, Boston, Ottawa and Tampa for spots 3-6 in the division.

 

[CaliSabresfan24]

HAHAHAH!!!!!

 

[Kublakhan]

7th isn't worst case scenario. Worst case scenario is the losses pile up early, we have a big injury, and Granato loses the room and we're a bottom 5 team.

A realistic scenario is we finish somewhere between 4-7th in our division. Where we end up will depend largely on where players grow/regress and injuries (on our team and others) 7th is a very realistic option, especially if Levi struggles to transition to a pro game workload or teams find a way to expose a weakness after getting more pro tape on him.

I think our scoring will drop a bit an it will put more pressure on areas we've struggled with. We were able to outscore a lot of the big issues last year. If that drops a little, the wins will be much harder to come by unless the other areas (Defensive play, goaltending, penalty killing) grow significantly.

Well that's not very optimistic lol

 

[Sabresbyswords104]

Opening night lineup ?

 

[Gabrielor]

Well that's not very optimistic lol

Wait for when Buffalo succeeds.

“Well, they can’t do it again”

Some folks are just content trying to make this an experience of misery, not enjoyment.

 

[jcbeze]

Lol, after all the talk about it, sounds a lot like Donny was always going back to Skinner/Thompson/Tuch for game 1. He talked about how he's managing psychology and experimenting for other areas of chemistry during preseason, but knows that line is a sure thing.

Timestamp on this?

 

[Daz28]

Opening night lineup ?

I'll try:
9 72 89
53 24 37
12 19 77
28 17 21
71 15

26 75
25 6
23 10

27
31
1

 

[K8fool]

They're all Ranger fans


Ugh... the last guy to talk psychology and hockey didn't work out very well

master philosopher and hockey aware Donny? I beginning to think kruger was brought in or at least left longer to set up the KA/granato effect. cia.. space/drumz into the emerging frequency best damn eddie cracker ever

 

[TheBarnIsElectric]

Timestamp on this?

3:00ish.

Edit: I recommend watching the whole 10 minutes. Granato is an interesting guy.

 

[Deep Blue Metallic]

Have we been eliminated yet?

The Sabres certainly aren't a playoff lock, but this is the most optimistic I've been in a long time. Clean up the d-zone play and PK, and get .905 goaltending, and I think they get in.

 

[Sabreality]

weird how so many already hate Greenway when F shot suppression has been such a problem.

 

[Sabresbyswords104]

I'll try:
9 72 89
53 24 37
12 19 77
28 17 21
71 15

26 75
25 6
23 10

27
31
1

Names ?

 

[Jim Bob]

Names ?

Benson-Thompson-Tuch
Skinner-Cozens-Mitts
Greenway-Krebs-JJP
Girgesons-Jost-Okposo
VO-Biro

Dahlin-Clifton
Power-EJohnson
Samuelsson-Jokiharju

Levi
Comrie
UPL

Personally, I do not believe that they only keep 6 D and waive both Stillman & Bryson.

 

[Matt Ress]

Benson-Thompson-Tuch
Skinner-Cozens-Mitts
Greenway-Krebs-JJP
Girgesons-Jost-Okposo
VO-Biro

Dahlin-Clifton
Power-EJohnson
Samuelsson-Jokiharju

Levi
Comrie
UPL

Personally, I do not believe that they only keep 6 D and waive both Stillman & Bryson.

I'm going to have a problem if they keep 3 goalies for the sake of not giving Savoie a look. Hopefully they're just waiting for everyone else to solidify their goalies so that they can sneak one down, pull Savoie off the injury list and rotate the Wild forwards in games.

That's not how I necessarily see the lines but I don't want to lose anyone. With that, if VO is spending significant time in the press box, just move on however.