BillsFan4

I think Clifton could have some upside left too. I still would have preferred someone like Dumba to cement our top 4. But Johnson + Clifton adds some nice depth. Clifton adds some needed toughness as well. He’s a spark plug! High energy and loves to hit. Hopefully this is just a rochester signing. ⬆️ same here. I assume this is for Rochester. Subban is a UFA and Houser needed to be upgraded on.

Ok, now I like the Erik Johnson signing a lot more! lol I am a lot more comfortable with Clifton in the top 4 than Johnson. It also allows Johnson to slot in where he belongs. Johnson on the 3rd pair is excellent defensive depth.

He’s one of those high character vets. Should definitely be good for the young guys. But he’s 35 and looked his age last year. Not sure if he can handle top 4 minutes anymore. He’d be a great 3rd pairing guy. I wanted a legit top 4 D…

this is annoying if true. Sabres could best that no problem if they wanted to. I would have easily given him $5M x 2 to be a bridge to Levi. i wonder if Buffalo had any interest? Id love to know. edit - it’s official now. 2yrs x $3.4M also: Was kind of hoping for an upgrade to the bottom 6 but I’m not mad at this. Jost is ok.

NHL free agency opens in about 30 minutes. Anyone have a wishlist they are hoping for? I’d like a top 4 D and a goalie who can be a competent starter. A good bottom 6 C who’s good at faceoffs would be ok too. Matt Dumba seems like he would be a decent fit. He’s a right handed defenseman, would fill a hole in the top 4 D and wouldn’t cost anything but cap space. He’d probably be my top choice of the UFA defenseman. https://www.spotrac.com/nhl/free-agents/defenseman/ufa/?ref=trending-pages There’s a few others I’d be happy with too. the goalie market looks thin. Frederick Andersen is the top UFA goalie. I’d be good with signing him to fill in until Levi is (hopefully) ready. He would at least provide league average (or better) goaltending, which is an upgrade on what we’ve had since Ullmark left. Other than that, maybe Varlamov? Or Jarry? Meh. I just don’t see how you go into the year with Levi, UPL and Comrie as your only goalies. I feel like they have to add something. It would be reckless to bet on Levi being ready for #1 duties. Especially if they have playoff aspirations. https://www.spotrac.com/nhl/free-agents/goaltender/ufa/ I am ready to be underwhelmed by cheaper free agent signings though… lol But I am hoping to see a little more aggression this offseason. Playoffs should be the goal next year. a trade might still be the better route to fill both holes.

Here’s the Big 2 way power forward Sabres fans wanted! Sabres having a heck of a draft so far.

Damn that suuckks! What a bummer. but I guess looking at the bright side it could afford a prospect a longer look and/or NHL spot. There were a few guys already knocking on the door. This may open a spot.

this Strbak pick just made too much sense not to happen. He’s exactly what we needed in our system. I think long term he could pair extremely well with Dahlin and/or Power. https://www.flohockey.tv/articles/11080821-2023-nhl-draft-profile-maxim-strbak-a-warrior-defenseman https://www.lansingstatejournal.com/story/sports/college/msu/hockey/2022/12/15/msu-hockey-adds-to-momentum-with-world-class-talent-maxim-strbak/69726689007/ Yeah I get it. But I honestly don’t think he’s physically mature enough to handle the AHL and I wouldn’t went to take that injury risk. I think the Sabres will have him focus on putting on muscle this season. Like you said, he doesn’t have much left to prove in juniors. I wouldn’t mind savoie playing in the AHL though! But even without Savoie rochester will still have some good young prospects hitting the system this year so it should be fun to watch! The amount of talent that will be coming through rochester in the next few years is insane.

Love the Strbak pick! That’s kind of who I was hoping for at #39. So to get him at #45 is great. We needed a right handed D prospect with high end potential in the system.

There are some really good players still on the board! Hoping one of a few defenseman fall to pick #39.

I think his game is close to being ready (if not already) but he needs time to bulk up. He needs to add some muscle/weight. I’m sure the Sabres will have him focusing on that this coming season. He had a shoulder injury late in the season so I’m not sure if that will impact his summer training or not but I don’t see him making the team either way this year. He’s at least a year out IMO. I could definitely see him skipping the AHL though and jumping right from juniors to the NHL when he’s ready. I don’t even know that I’d want Benson in the AHL even if he was eligible. Too many goons and head-hunters in the AHL that would LOVE to crush a top prospect like Benson. Benson is only 159lbs right now. He needs to add some muscle to his frame before he’s ready for the pros. He would get killed in the AHL right now. I think his game is more suited for the NHL than AHL anyway, which is another reason why I could see him potentially skipping the AHL all together.

his relentlessness pursuing pucks on the forecheck and backcheck is one of my favorite parts of his game and why I wanted Buffalo to run up to the podium to draft him when he was still on the board. He just has an uncanny ability to recover the puck. i can’t wait to see this kid develop!

Savoie must be pumped to see the Sabres draft his linemate. I thought Benson was the better player this past season too. He’s younger than Savoie but still put up more points in less games all while being one of the best 2 way forwards and best PKers in juniors. He’s just relentless. I am still so pumped he was available at #13! I was excited all night and woke up excited today. The way Adams describes Benson’s game is exactly how I see him too. Pretty cool when the GM’s opinion of a player matches your own. I feel like it validates what I saw. It also makes me like Adams more 😂

Nice pick by San Jose. I like Musty.

Great pick by the Blackhawks. Crazy Moore fell to 19. I’d have taken him at 13 if Benson wasn’t there. Man what a first round for Chicago between Bedard and Moore. Heck of a way to kick off their rebuild.

I’m honestly not worried about his size. He doesn’t play small. Just love the way he plays so much! Sabres fans are going to like him IMO. I thought he was one of the top 5-7 players in this draft. I would easily take him over at least 4-5 players drafted in front of him so far. I never thought he would make it out of the top 10. Watch the highlight goal around 1 minute in! Scouting report on Benson https://lastwordonsports.com/hockey/2023/01/18/2023-nhl-draft-scouting-report-zach-benson/

What are they waiting for? please don’t trade back. Yesss!!!!! Love this pick! Can’t believe he was still on the board!

Some good players still sitting there. I thought maybe Buffalo would pick a defenseman with this pick but I don’t see one left worth pick #13. There’s some really good forward prospects on the board! Benson please! I can’t believe he’s still sitting there. Moore would be good too

It was reported that he wanted to be in Buffalo. He just wanted term on his contract (I believe the report was 5 years) and Adams wasn’t willing to give him term. He wanted Ullmark on a short term deal. To me that sounds like a player who wants to be in Buffalo 🤷‍♂️ Comparing Ullmark to Eichel is silly. Ullmark never once bad mouthed Buffalo or complained about being here. He never sulked or pouted. He was always a good Buffalo Sabre and great in the locker room. Always upbeat.

Ullmark won the Vezina award for the NHL’s best goalie of 2022/23. https://www.nhl.com/news/bruins-linus-ullmark-wins-vezina-trophy/c-345017014 I like what Adams has done but I still say letting Ullmark walk over a couple years of term was his biggest mistake. He’s under contract for 2 more seasons in Boston. Even if Buffalo gave him a 5yr deal (instead of 4 like Boston) it would’ve been fine. He wouldn’t have been blocking anyone the last 2 years or the next couple either. And he had no issue splitting the crease with Swayman in Boston (he was super supportive of swayman. Their “goalie hugs” after every game even became a thing) so I’m sure he would’ve been fine doing it here in Buffalo with Levi.

Congrats! That’s a big accomplishment and something to be proud of!

https://www.tsn.ca/nhl/video/insider-trading-jets-and-flames-popular-in-trade-buzz~2711866 Pierre LeBrun saying Connor Hellebuyck is interested in being traded to the Devils and signing an extension there. Ive been saying that I’d love to trade for Hellebuyck but if his reported contract demands are true I have no interest. Lebrun saying he wants something like the Vasilevskiy deal - 8 years at $9.5M. I mean, he has every right to want to be paid like an elite goaltender but that is not something I’m interested in. It would be too hard to trade and I don’t want to freeze out Levi. After seeing the trade Barry Trotz made today as his first trade as Nashville’s new GM, Kevyn Adams needs to be calling about Saros! Ryan Johansen for the rights to a guy who’s a free agent in a week and spent last year in the AHL. And Nashville retained 50% on RyJo’s contract! 😂 https://apnews.com/article/predators-trade-ryan-johanson-to-avalanche-4c0cf833f5c319a2618ec668470e3568 I sure hope Adams at least calls about Saros. It would be the perfect goalie for the Sabres and perfect mentor for Levi. Saros has 2yrs left on his deal and Levi has said Saros is his role model. He studies Saros’ play style, and Saros actually said Levi is one of the goalies he watches too. Both are smaller goaltenders and play a similar style. Levi could learn a lot from Saros. Saros is what we hope Levi will turn into one day. If the price is right the Sabres should be all over it. It might not cost as much as I thought…

I’m good with this. The Bills have been one of the best teams in the NFL for the majority of McBeane’s tenure. https://www.statmuse.com/nfl/ask/most-total-nfl-wins-last-5-years 4th in the NFL in total wins from 2018-present. You don’t just throw that away. Be as good as you can for as long as you can… We’ve been attracting good NFL free agents wanting to chase Super Bowls for a reason.

/thread. That tweet should have ended discussion in this thread. 🤷‍♂️