Buffalo Sabres & NHL 2020-2021

[Chandler#81]

Please continue.

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

Shouldn't we end the previous version with someone saying "thank you Sabres"?

?

[shrader]

38 minutes ago, Ridgewaycynic2013 said:

Shouldn't we end the previous version with someone saying "thank you Sabres"?

?

 

Ooh ahh, Sabres on the golf course

[Beast]

Does the NHL even have a plan to come back this summer or fall? I heard they said they were going to play a couple weeks back but have heard nothing since.

Edited June 9, 2020 by Beast

[billsfanmiami(oh)]

I’m still not ready to think about the Sabres for a while. 

[snafu]

Here’s the current status of the roster. Looks ugly to me. Seriously ugly.

https://www.capfriendly.com/teams/sabres

 

 

[4merper4mer]

12 minutes ago, snafu said:

Here’s the current status of the roster. Looks ugly to me. Seriously ugly.

https://www.capfriendly.com/teams/sabres

 

 

Pilut signed a 2 year with the Russian league.  I guess he had enough of Botts jerking him around year after year.  

 

Look at that roster.  Imagine as a GM you were spotted Eichel and Dahlin and came up with the rest of that and had that cap situation.  Granted some of it was created before him but Good Lord an average hockey fan that put in 30 hours a week could probably do better 95% of the time.

[JohnC]

10 hours ago, snafu said:

Here’s the current status of the roster. Looks ugly to me. Seriously ugly.

https://www.capfriendly.com/teams/sabres

 

 

There are five UFA on the roster. Not all will be back. Some of those players will be replaced with demonstrably cheaper younger players such as Cozens.   And if there are trades it will mostly likely be salary for salary. What the organization wants to do from a personnel standpoint they will be able to do. This team is not going to pursue high cost elite free agents. That approach was never in its repertoire. 

[4merper4mer]

17 minutes ago, JohnC said:

There are five UFA on the roster. Not all will be back. Some of those players will be replaced with demonstrably cheaper younger players such as Cozens.   And if there are trades it will mostly likely be salary for salary. What the organization wants to do from a personnel standpoint they will be able to do. This team is not going to pursue high cost elite free agents. That approach was never in its repertoire. 

The plan is to retain young talent like Pilut, right?  

[snafu]

35 minutes ago, JohnC said:

There are five UFA on the roster. Not all will be back. Some of those players will be replaced with demonstrably cheaper younger players such as Cozens.   And if there are trades it will mostly likely be salary for salary. What the organization wants to do from a personnel standpoint they will be able to do. This team is not going to pursue high cost elite free agents. That approach was never in its repertoire. 

 

This team needs an infusion of players.  First and foremost a very good goaltender not named Ullmark or Hutton.  There are no free agent goalies available who fit the bill and we've got no trade capital.  There are three forwards under contract. That's the ugly part. There's really been no history with this current GM which would lead me to believe that he's capable of signing helpful free agents at any cost.  He will have to overpay just to make his offer competitive in a free agent's mind.  

 

Honestly, the way things look now, this team is in line for a couple more years of bottom dwelling absolute misery.

 

 

[JohnC]

2 minutes ago, snafu said:

 

This team needs an infusion of players.  First and foremost a very good goaltender not named Ullmark or Hutton.  There are no free agent goalies available who fit the bill and we've got no trade capital.  There are three forwards under contract. That's the ugly part. There's really been no history with this current GM which would lead me to believe that he's capable of signing helpful free agents at any cost.  He will have to overpay just to make his offer competitive in a free agent's mind.  

 

Honestly, the way things look now, this team is in line for a couple more years of bottom dwelling absolute misery.

 

 

Ullmark is going to be the primary goaltender. Is he worthy of that status? I'm not sure but the hope is that he will continue to progress. If Hutton can get his eye sight issues corrected and return to his backup form then for the short term he is a tolerable.

 

Your perspective is much more negative than my perspective. With a trade for a genuine second center and with internal improvement from the young players on this roster I am more upbeat than you are. Without a doubt there needs to be a reshuffling and better balancing of the roster. I'm more positive than you and many others are that some of the necessary alterations will be made this offseason. If the GM can't make that happen before the later start of the next season then his contract that is concluding will not be renewed.  

[snafu]

44 minutes ago, JohnC said:

Your perspective is much more negative than my perspective.

 

Yes.  Yes it is.

 

[BillsFan4]

https://wgr550.radio.com/articles/news/pilut-signs-two-year-deal-with-traktor-chelyabinsk-in-khl

 

Well, that sucks. If we still qualify him, I believe we will at least hold onto his rights for a few years.

Edited June 10, 2020 by BillsFan4

[4merper4mer]

1 hour ago, BillsFan4 said:

https://wgr550.radio.com/articles/news/pilut-signs-two-year-deal-with-traktor-chelyabinsk-in-khl

 

Well, that sucks. If we still qualify him, I believe we will at least hold onto his rights for a few years.

Maybe by that time we'll have a GM that won't jerk him around.

[4merper4mer]

2 hours ago, JohnC said:

Ullmark is going to be the primary goaltender. Is he worthy of that status? I'm not sure but the hope is that he will continue to progress. If Hutton can get his eye sight issues corrected and return to his backup form then for the short term he is a tolerable.

 

Your perspective is much more negative than my perspective. With a trade for a genuine second center and with internal improvement from the young players on this roster I am more upbeat than you are. Without a doubt there needs to be a reshuffling and better balancing of the roster. I'm more positive than you and many others are that some of the necessary alterations will be made this offseason. If the GM can't make that happen before the later start of the next season then his contract that is concluding will not be renewed.  

I'm ok with Ullmark until our prospect is ready which is estimated to be in 2037.  Wrt the forwards and Botts history of alternating between miserable failures of trades and picking up guys whose careers might top out on a third line.......your positivity has no evidence whatsoever to back it up.  

 

It is very clear that Botts is simply way way way over his head and that the first chance at improvement is the year after he departs.  COVID saved him but it really hurt the franchise.

[K-9]

1 hour ago, BillsFan4 said:

https://wgr550.radio.com/articles/news/pilut-signs-two-year-deal-with-traktor-chelyabinsk-in-khl

 

Well, that sucks. If we still qualify him, I believe we will at least hold onto his rights for a few years.

It will be interesting to see if he is qualified. Even if he’s not in their plans it makes sense to control his NHL rights, regardless. That said, I’m not sure he was looming large in the plans, anyway. 

[JohnC]

1 hour ago, K-9 said:

It will be interesting to see if he is qualified. Even if he’s not in their plans it makes sense to control his NHL rights, regardless. That said, I’m not sure he was looming large in the plans, anyway. 

Pilut was a nice young player. But those chronic detractors who are portraying his departure as a significant loss are losing perspective on where he was ranked within the unit. On the Sabres he was at best a third pairing player. The addition of Joki  made it likely that Pilut was not going to get much playing time. Joki not only had a similar style of play but clearly he is better and has more upside.

 

The NHL is a league with a lot of player movement. A lot of that movement can be attributed to the hard cap and a lack of roster space. I wish Pilut the best. He did what every player and team does i.e. act in his own best interests.  

[May Day 10]

i like the part that the Sabres knowlingly played a goalie who was suffering from vision problems for a period of time while he lost 12 straight games for 3 months.  In games that counted.   In the standings.  

 

Now us fans have to sit here without playoff hockey because they failed to make a field of 24 teams (even when they 'bought' at the deadline, lol).

 

I have zero faith in the management or direction of this team.  

[JohnC]

Attached is a 16 minute link with the Amerk's GM, Randy Sexton, on WGR's the Instigator Show. The AHL GM mostly talked about the players on Rochester and whether they are ready to move up to the NHL. Within the discussion he talked about some prospects on the defensive unit. And he also made some very positive comments about Casey Mittelstadt.

 

https://wgr550.radio.com/media/audio-channel/06-10-amerks-general-manager-randy-sexton

 

[4merper4mer]

3 hours ago, JohnC said:

Pilut was a nice young player. But those chronic detractors who are portraying his departure as a significant loss are losing perspective on where he was ranked within the unit. On the Sabres he was at best a third pairing player. The addition of Joki  made it likely that Pilut was not going to get much playing time. Joki not only had a similar style of play but clearly he is better and has more upside.

 

The NHL is a league with a lot of player movement. A lot of that movement can be attributed to the hard cap and a lack of roster space. I wish Pilut the best. He did what every player and team does i.e. act in his own best interests.  

So the spin is that THIS roster can afford to lose viable young players with no return?  Meanwhile we're pinning hopes on maybes like Kahun and Joki?  Those guys might work out ok or maybe not but with borderline types like that, numbers help.