Buffalo Sabres 23/24 Season Official Thread

[snafu]

17 hours ago, Crap Throwing Clavin said:

 

Does it fill up rapidly?

 

I'm probably going to get there mid-afternoon anyway.  Hit the Naval Park, give a lecture on the P-39 display there, have a quick meal with the wife before the game.

 

You could always find a meter and pay for it until the regulations expire (usually 7:00).

I do that in Manhattan when I go to the Garden for games.  At least I'll do that until they institute "congestion pricing" to drive into Manhattan below 63rd Street.

 

 

 

[snafu]

Sabres (winners of 5 of 6 games) embarrassed the Golden Knights last night.  
 

Next up, Winnipeg (8-2 in their last 10), Toronto (9-1 in their last 10); Nashville (won eight straight).

 

[Crap Throwing Clavin]

 

[Alaska Darin]

Middlestat to Colorado for Bo Byram.  Win/Win for both teams.  Byram was the 4th overall pick in the 2019 draft.  22 years old with another year of control and then is an RFA.

[snafu]

2 hours ago, Alaska Darin said:

Middlestat to Colorado for Bo Byram.  Win/Win for both teams.  Byram was the 4th overall pick in the 2019 draft.  22 years old with another year of control and then is an RFA.

 

LHD.  Now there are 8 Dmen.  Who's getting dealt for some veteran F talent?  Who's going to play 2C?

Makes $1.3mm more than Middlestadt (though the cap isn't really an issue for Buffalo).  And Middlestadt was also an RFA, I think.

 

I know he had value -- but that's because he was one of the few consistent contributors this year.  I hate trading away one of the few guys that is still relatively young and finally figured it out.

 

I know there's little chance of making the playoffs this year, but this feels like a move that looks to next season to pay off.

 

 

[snafu]

On 3/3/2024 at 12:28 PM, snafu said:

 

Next up, Winnipeg (8-2 in their last 10), Toronto (9-1 in their last 10); Nashville (won eight straight).

 

 

That didn't go so well.

 

Okposo traded to the Panthers for ANOTHER LHD who's 24 and in the AHL.

https://www.nhl.com/news/kyle-okposo-traded-to-florida-panthers-from-buffalo-sabres

 

 

 

 

[Crap Throwing Clavin]

Sabers-Edmonton has devolved into complete chaos.

 

2-2 in OT, Owen Powers scored with two seconds left.  Both teams leave the ice, go to the locker rooms.  Then several minutes later, someone somewhere decides that 18 seconds before the goal, Sabers were offsides.  

 

So now they're dragging both teams back on to the ice.  Luukonen has already started taking his equipment off - I think they'd planned on putting the backup in while Luukonen gets dressed...but it ultimately isn't an issue, because  Oilers are nowhere to be seen.  Everyone's just kind-of milling around, waiting to see if they show up.  

 

Bizarre as hell.  If you told me Sean Hochuli was one of the linemen, I wouldn't be entirely surprised. 

[Alaska Darin]

On 3/6/2024 at 3:41 PM, snafu said:

 

LHD.  Now there are 8 Dmen.  Who's getting dealt for some veteran F talent?  Who's going to play 2C?

Makes $1.3mm more than Middlestadt (though the cap isn't really an issue for Buffalo).  And Middlestadt was also an RFA, I think.

 

I know he had value -- but that's because he was one of the few consistent contributors this year.  I hate trading away one of the few guys that is still relatively young and finally figured it out.

 

I know there's little chance of making the playoffs this year, but this feels like a move that looks to next season to pay off.

 

 

Cozens is 2C, Thompson is 1C.  Mittlestadt has played "up" most of the year because TNT has been banged up.  This team has like 934654 highly drafted centers in the system and this was Mittlestadt's last season in Buffalo, regardless.  Getting a high quality, young defenseman who has played his offside a decent amount of the time was an excellent move.

 

The trade of Okposo was a nod to this being his final season in the NHL.  It rewards him for being a good soldier by giving him a shot at winning a Cup before he's done.  The return is meaningless.

 

There's a reason it's tough to trade for RHD - they're hard to find and expensive from both a financial and asset prospective.  The Sabres are more "mindset" away from competing than anything.  I think Don Granato is a nice man but he appears to be just the next overmatched guy the Sabres have hired.

[Ann]

Going global
 

 

[snafu]

5 hours ago, Ann said:

Going global
 

 

 

 

Oom-Pa-Pa!!

Right at the beginning of Oktoberfest.

 

 

[Crap Throwing Clavin]

Sabers are just pounding on the Red Wings like they're the Dolphins in December...

Edited March 13 by Crap Throwing Clavin

[MothersMilk]

Tomorrow's game is basically a playoff game, really looking forward to it... and it's a matinee game so even better.

 

https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nys/buffalo/sports/2024/03/15/suddenly-surging-buffalo-sabres-inch-their-way-back-into-playoff-race-with-8-3-1-run

 

 

More in link.

 

Either way, Luukkonen is dominating in his second full NHL season, and after he struggled during Buffalo's late-season playoff push last year.

 

“It means a lot, kind of finding my footing in the net and kind of proving to myself, too, that I’m an NHL-caliber goalie and I can handle the starts,” Luukkonen said.

 

The key is maintaining focus.

 

“Once you kind of lose sight of the next game and start to think too far ahead, you really don’t do any favors for yourself,” he said. “I think it’s just kind of knowing what we’ve been doing right and trusting that.”

 

With 15 games remaining, the Sabres still have a hill to climb with the team embarking on a five-game road trip that opens at Detroit on Saturday.

 

Cozens recalled how the Sabres closed last season going 9-2-1 only to fall two points short of a playoff berth.

 

“We knew what we did last year and found a way to get close. And I think, last year, we kind of let the outside noise make us think we were out of it,” Cozens said. “And that’s something we’ve learned this year. Don’t worry about the outside noise, just just worry about this dressing room.”

[MothersMilk]

PP time... lets not waste this opportunity...

[MothersMilk]

@#$%

[bdutton]

The Sabres Season so far.

 

[Crap Throwing Clavin]

Sabres still aren't eliminated from playoff contention yet...

 

[Crap Throwing Clavin]

I mean...he's not wrong...

 

 

[Alaska Darin]

HOW IS DON GRANATO STILL EMPLOYED?

 

I rarely complain about coaching changes during a season but man, Granato must have pictures of Adams/Pegula tag-teaming a goat or something.

[Alaska Darin]

Midway through the 3rd period, down 2 goals in desperate need of a regulation win...Granato has Robinson, Rousek, and Jost on the ice.  DO YOU KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THIS GAME?

[Taro T]

2 hours ago, Alaska Darin said:

HOW IS DON GRANATO STILL EMPLOYED?

 

I rarely complain about coaching changes during a season but man, Granato must have pictures of Adams/Pegula tag-teaming a goat or something.

 

This season was beyond frustrating.

 

They need to make changes on the coaching staff but am not expecting any.

 

Yes, they scored a PP goal today, but their PP is hot trash and has been for years (barring a 6-7 week stretch last year when they had far and away the league's best PP).  They love them some Matt Ellis, but he has no idea what he's doing.

 

The team is ~ a -33 in the 1st period - the worst in the league.  That is absolutely unforgivable.

 

Add on an inexplicable 4-9-1 record on Tuesdays (that's WITH going 3-3-0 in their last 6; after their 1st Tuesday night game which they won, they were on an 0-6-1 stretch; just go 0.500 during that stretch and you're in a playoff spot) and they're set for a 13th straight spring spent on the golf course rather than at the rink.

 

Wasn't thrilled that they traded Mittelstadt away.  Do like Byram (or at least the concept of him) and he looked very good his 1st 4 games as a Sabre.  But he's only 22.  The Sabres traded away a guy who had entered his prime for ANOTHER one that's ~4 years away from it.  They made a team that was already the league's youngest even younger. 

 

Frustrating.

 

Went to the Blue and Gold Insights session they held in early March (a few days after the trade deadline) with Adams and Granato.  Adams said they are very happy with their D and their goaltending.  So, am expecting them to bring the 6 that have been playing the last month and Samuelsson and Johnson back.  That grouping IMHO is set for next year.  (Management doesn't appear to see a need for a vet to help out as all those 8 (except for Ryan Johnson) have a couple hundred + NHL games under their belt.)

 

Personally am expecting UPL and Levi to be the tandem next year, but am hoping they bring in a solid vet that can help out and allows them to start the year with both UPL and Levi the man respectively on their own team with the possibility of bumping Levi up should they need him in Buffalo.  If they're running on day 1 with the 2 kids, there is more risk in that plan than they really need to run with but that's what it appears will happen.

 

Adams said that they'd like to add a top 9 winger for next year and a vet 4C that is very good on faceoffs and the PK.  It was implied that the winger would be coming from outside the organization but it was also stated that Kulich and Rosen would have an opportunity to win that spot (though personally wouldn't be surprised if both started the year in Ra-cha-cha but end up getting an injury callup and simply play too well to get sent back (Kulich more likely for that scenario than Rosen)).  Would expect Savoie will get a legit chance to win a job as well, but it does seem that Adams does realize that a team CAN be too young to be successful.  (The roster construction the past 2 years not withstanding.)

 

Personally expect Girgensons will be back next year as well with the top 9 W and 4C being the only new additions to the roster.  It MIGHT work, and if it does, the Sabres will have a ton of prospects to move up to the big club over the next 3-5 seasons to keep the team in the mix; but if it doesn't work, are you going to get some of the other players on the roster "lose their love of the game" and force Adams to either make the roster even younger or overpay for middling FAs to fill the new roster holes.

 

Granato was Granato at the B&G I.  The only thing noteworthy that was not necessarily expected was him saying that the PP creates a lot of chances though guys don't necessarily make the right play to see & cash in on those chances.  Which says Matt friggin' Ellis will be back again next year.  Ugggggghhhhh!!!!