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who do you even keep

Created by: Cozens42
Team: 2024-25 Buffalo Sabres
Initial Creation Date: Dec. 19, 2023
Published: Dec. 19, 2023
Salary Cap Mode: Basic
Description
UNDENIABLY APART OF THE FUTURE CORE:

Dahlin, Benson, Levi

Young players who could be apart of the core:

Peterka, Quinn, Kulich, Savoie, R. Johnson

Young players I thought were undeniably apart of the future core:

Cozens (has looked so ****ing bad, has never shown the puck skills to be a top-6 nhl player, relied on a hot pp and transition-chances where he has open space to score all his goals last season, has taken no step defensively since his 1st year)

Power (has regressed so much, does not have the foot-speed to be a #1 dman, terrible in his own-zone, gives the puck away way too much)

Players in their prime with value:
Mittelstadt (has been maybe the only bright-spot the entire season. Has gotten progressively better the last 2 years)

Tuch (shows up almost every night, hasn’t been as effective as last year but still a solid piece)

Thompson (hasn’t been bad but obviously not the same player as last season. Better defensively this year but still shouldn’t be as dead offensively as he is, could be playing injured)

Skinner (scores goals, but maybe the worst defensive player in the league, is so 1-dimensional. The fact Botterill ever gave him the contract he has after a 63-point season in 2019 is insane)

Indifferent towards:
Greenway
Krebs

Very bad but being used in a role he shouldn’t be:
Samuelsson

Not an NHL-player anymore:
Okposo
Clifton
ERIK JOHNSON
Girgensons (maybe)

Can’t watch anymore:
Jokiharju
Olofsson
Jost
DraftRound 1Round 2Round 3Round 4Round 5Round 6Round 7
2024
Logo of the BUF
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2025
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Logo of the MIN
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Logo of the NSH
2026
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ROSTER SIZESALARY CAPCAP HITOVERAGES TooltipBONUSESCAP SPACE
11$87,500,000$62,481,070$0$2,500,000$25,018,930
Left WingCentreRight Wing
Logo of the Buffalo Sabres
$950,000$950,000 (Performance Bonus$650,000$650K)
LW
RFA - 2
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$7,142,857$7,142,857
C
M-NTC
UFA - 6
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$4,750,000$4,750,000
RW, LW
M-NTC
UFA - 2
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$855,833$855,833
LW, RW
RFA - 1
Logo of the Buffalo Sabres
$7,100,000$7,100,000
C, LW
UFA - 6
Left DefenseRight DefenseGoaltender
Logo of the Buffalo Sabres
$11,000,000$11,000,000
LD/RD
UFA - 8
Logo of the Buffalo Sabres
$3,333,333$3,333,333
RD
UFA - 2
Logo of the Buffalo Sabres
$925,000$925,000 (Performance Bonus$1,000,000$1M)
G
RFA - 1
Logo of the Buffalo Sabres
$4,285,714$4,285,714
LD
UFA - 6
Logo of the Buffalo Sabres
$925,000$925,000
LD
RFA - 1
Logo of the Buffalo Sabres
$8,350,000$8,350,000
LD/RD
UFA - 7
ScratchesInjured Reserve (IR)Long Term IR (LTIR)
Logo of the Buffalo Sabres
$9,000,000$9,000,000
LW, RW
NMC
UFA - 3
Logo of the Buffalo Sabres
$3,000,000$3,000,000
LW, RW
M-NTC
UFA - 1
Logo of the Buffalo Sabres
$863,333$863,333 (Performance Bonus$850,000$850K)
RW, LW
RFA - 1

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Dec. 19, 2023 at 10:33 p.m.
#1
ht42
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Me, who received somes tomatoes because I said that Buffalo will gonna miss the playoffs.....
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Dec. 19, 2023 at 11:02 p.m.
#2
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I agree with an awful lot here. The low hanging fruit here is probably replace matt Ellis with an assistant to try to get something out of the pp. Everybody likes to rag on the 4th line and guys like jost and olofsson, but to me, the top 6 has a lot to answer for. Skinner might be the worst defensive player in the league, but at least he's on the wing, frankly Thompson and cozens aren't good defensively either, and if your top 2 centers can't play d, and mittelstadt isn't exactly known for his d either, well that's a mess. Still hopeful for cozens, I don't love him on the pp, and I especially don't like him as a shooter, when he's taking wrist shots from outside the faceoff circle, that's not gonna keep the other team honest. Power is starting to worry me- he's got a real mike wilson vibe going- and that's not a good thing. I'm not a fan of jokiharju, if we had two or three defensemen that were more physical and frankly better, I don't think I would hate jokiharju, but as it stands, our top 5 defensemen are soft, and really only Samuelsson is a defense first guy. Too many passive players, no defensive system, not enough players capable of playing defense, a power play that can't bail them out, and a few goalies who aren't good enough to consistently pick up the slack.
Dec. 19, 2023 at 11:05 p.m.
#3
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Quoting: ht42
Me, who received somes tomatoes because I said that Buffalo will gonna miss the playoffs.....


I said Levi would struggle playing top minutes and I got roasted.
Dec. 19, 2023 at 11:18 p.m.
#4
ht42
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Quoting: badoob
I said Levi would struggle playing top minutes and I got roasted.


Personally, that's was my main argument. The other one was Thompson haved maybe a "one year wonder" because he is already at 26-27.

Levi was very overhyped by the hockey fans and by somes medias during the offseason. Even he have a massive potential to be a great 1st goalie, he is far for being a "franchise goalie" in my opinion.
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Dec. 19, 2023 at 11:59 p.m.
#5
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Probably not what you want to hear right now, but...I wouldn't overreact to the Columbus game. You caught us on a good night where all the performing pieces performed and got lucky, and we caught you on a bad night.

Besides, our record is deceiving...of our 22 losses, only 6 have been by more than 2 goals. None have been by more than 4. Even Colorado has lost 7 games by 2+, the worst of which was a 7-0 blanking by Vegas. If this team could hold onto a lead (blown leads in 19 of 33 games, 9 of which were multiple goals) in even a few of these games, we're talking wild card position rather than Celebrini.
Dec. 20, 2023 at 12:26 a.m.
#6
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Quoting: ht42
Personally, that's was my main argument. The other one was Thompson haved maybe a "one year wonder" because he is already at 26-27.

Levi was very overhyped by the hockey fans and by somes medias during the offseason. Even he have a massive potential to be a great 1st goalie, he is far for being a "franchise goalie" in my opinion.


Levi is a rookie
No one knows what he’s gonna be yet
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Dec. 20, 2023 at 12:28 a.m.
#7
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@Cozens42
With youth comes inconsistency, relax
We have A TON of talent
There’s no need to jump off the Peace Bridge

The overreaction isn’t necessary
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Dec. 20, 2023 at 12:49 a.m.
#8
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Quoting: AntiAnalytics
Cozens42
With youth comes inconsistency, relax
We have A TON of talent
There’s no need to jump off the Peace Bridge

The overreaction isn’t necessary


Definitely. IMO, Granato is getting way too much blame for the teams struggles. He wanted to change the way the team played to make winning more sustainable, which was always a good plan. The problem is he was given no personnel to help. All additions made this off-season have made the team worse; Clifton & E.Johnson / re-signing Okposo/Girgensons. ZB is awesome, but there is no way, with the expectations this team had heading into the season, that he should be on the 1st line. The problem is, he's their best option at that position right now. The thought-processes for 21/22 and 22/23 were correct; short-term contracts to bridge the gap for younger players. Quinn and Peterka weren't handed roster spots, their play made it impossible to take them out.

With this being said, I understand where you're coming from. If we're talking about organizational rosters, I would still take BUF & OTT's over Detroit's despite their early season success. I think Adams should've added some middle-6 players to fill out the lineup better, but I'm glad he hasn't done what Detroit has, where their roster is legitimately old. Like Seider and Raymond are nice pieces, but the rest of their NHL roster is UFA's who'll regress over time. And I'm not a huge fan of any of their prospects aside from ASP. All in all, I'm still confident about the organizations future, but I think the forward core of the team that will eventually make the playoffs will be Benson, Savoie, Kulich, Quinn, Peterka, 2024 1st round pick and not Tage, Cozens, Skinner, Tuch.
Dec. 20, 2023 at 1:41 a.m.
#9
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Quoting: Cozens42
Definitely. IMO, Granato is getting way too much blame for the teams struggles. He wanted to change the way the team played to make winning more sustainable, which was always a good plan. The problem is he was given no personnel to help. All additions made this off-season have made the team worse; Clifton & E.Johnson / re-signing Okposo/Girgensons. ZB is awesome, but there is no way, with the expectations this team had heading into the season, that he should be on the 1st line. The problem is, he's their best option at that position right now. The thought-processes for 21/22 and 22/23 were correct; short-term contracts to bridge the gap for younger players. Quinn and Peterka weren't handed roster spots, their play made it impossible to take them out.

With this being said, I understand where you're coming from. If we're talking about organizational rosters, I would still take BUF & OTT's over Detroit's despite their early season success. I think Adams should've added some middle-6 players to fill out the lineup better, but I'm glad he hasn't done what Detroit has, where their roster is legitimately old. Like Seider and Raymond are nice pieces, but the rest of their NHL roster is UFA's who'll regress over time. And I'm not a huge fan of any of their prospects aside from ASP. All in all, I'm still confident about the organizations future, but I think the forward core of the team that will eventually make the playoffs will be Benson, Savoie, Kulich, Quinn, Peterka, 2024 1st round pick and not Tage, Cozens, Skinner, Tuch.


I get that you’re frustrated- we ALL are
But i also think you’re really overreacting here
This team is EXTREMELY young- and with that comes the inconsistency you see
That’s why we can look great beating the best teams in the league- dominant wins over BOS, NYR & VGK
Yet also look horrible against CBJ, MTL, etc etc

Adding a middle6 guy or 2 could certainly help,
but this team will be scary once our youthful talent grows up a bit more & develops their talent into consistent good play

Don’t let half a season dissuade u from that
This could be a REALLY fun 2nd half
If we can get healthy….
Skinner-Tage-Tuch
Peterka-Cozens-Quinn
Benson-Mitts-Greenway/Olofsson

That top9 will give teams fits
And Kulich & Rosen are gonna be forcing themselves into the lineup soon enough
Plus Savoie is lighting up the WHL, & we’ll be seeing him soon too

The future here looks very, very bright
Just need a tweak or 2 & a bit more time
But it’s coming…..
Dec. 20, 2023 at 1:00 p.m.
#10
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Quoting: CaseyFlyman
Probably not what you want to hear right now, but...I wouldn't overreact to the Columbus game. You caught us on a good night where all the performing pieces performed and got lucky, and we caught you on a bad night.

Besides, our record is deceiving...of our 22 losses, only 6 have been by more than 2 goals. None have been by more than 4. Even Colorado has lost 7 games by 2+, the worst of which was a 7-0 blanking by Vegas. If this team could hold onto a lead (blown leads in 19 of 33 games, 9 of which were multiple goals) in even a few of these games, we're talking wild card position rather than Celebrini.



I watched that team and like the Michigan boys Fantilli K.Johnson, I'm like how r u in last????
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Dec. 20, 2023 at 1:03 p.m.
#11
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They gave guys money pinching penniers hope they get a deal, instead of seeing if it was more than a flash in the pan.
Dec. 20, 2023 at 1:24 p.m.
#12
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Quoting: Burnzie8_88_4Cup
I watched that team and like the Michigan boys Fantilli K.Johnson, I'm like how r u in last????


Fantilli wasn't putting it all together until recently, Johnson's time in the AHL did wonders, and the team regularly turns into a pumpkin after 40 minutes. That and the Russian line is new as of about a month ago. That's how you string together a ton of losses before now!
Dec. 20, 2023 at 1:48 p.m.
#13
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Quoting: CaseyFlyman
Fantilli wasn't putting it all together until recently, Johnson's time in the AHL did wonders, and the team regularly turns into a pumpkin after 40 minutes. That and the Russian line is new as of about a month ago. That's how you string together a ton of losses before now!



Yeah, I follow ROC Amerks and we played Clev. And Johnson got us, they said he had like 15 pts in 9 games. I don’t think he’ll be going back down.
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