Buffalo Sabres

[Tophdaddy 5]

The Sabres suck any ideas how they can get better as a team

Edited March 2, 2019 by Tophdaddy

[Award97 8]

Sign mcdavid in a few years

[Fire Tortorella 2,653]

Need to score more goals. 14th in GA isn't that bad, but 22nd in GF is pretty bad.

[SaltyTalty 7]

They need to sign toph daddy

[Spade18 1,305]

15 minutes ago, flyersfan1453 said:

Need to score more goals. 14th in GA isn't that bad, but 22nd in GF is pretty bad.

 

Isnt skinner like top 5 in goals this year? how is the rest of the team that bad.

[Gooningitup 1,290]

25 minutes ago, Spade18 said:

 

Isnt skinner like top 5 in goals this year? how is the rest of the team that bad.

 

Skinner, Eichal, Reinhart then it just drops off a cliff. Middlestadt, hit or miss the defense is good but verryyy young and they set their fate i think in 2 bad goalies in Ullmark and Hutton

[Hybrid1486 577]

Pominville is old as balls and can only play well when he's on a line with Eichel. The defense isn't contributing much of anything outside of Dahlin and hopefully Montour now. I hate to say Okposo has been a bust, but he's injured a lot and doesn't play very well when he isn't. The return from the ROR trade has netted a young fourth-liner, an older fourth-liner, and a guy who quit in the middle of the season. Really, at this point it's mostly what @Gooningitup said, those four guys and it drops off a cliff.

[Gustav 6,406]

Sign a few veterans. The team is all young guys and has been for a while. 

Cut Okposo.

Though I hate to say it we could do without Pominville as well if he's taking up significant cap space

Fire Housley. I've never been able to take him seriously as a coach.

SIGN JEFF SKINNER IMMEDIATELY. He's been great for not only Eichel but Reinhart as well.

Start picking forwards who can score. We have our defenseman in Dahlin and Montour is a proven starting-caliber player. Draft another goalie with potential--Luukonen is looking pretty good but is no guarantee. 

I'm tired of hearing for the past 5 years about how our prospect pool is great but nothing ever happens. Again, this team absolutely needs to go out and spend big money on somebody who is a proven leader in this league. I don't care what we have to give up. It's unfair to just throw our rookies and prospects in with a few other inexperienced players and expect them to become team leaders with a group of people they don't even know yet. 

As a fellow Buffalo fan, I feel you. Let's get that cup sometime in the next 50 years or so.

[Hybrid1486 577]

2 hours ago, GustavMattias said:

I'm tired of hearing for the past 5 years about how our prospect pool is great but nothing ever happens. Again, this team absolutely needs to go out and spend big money on somebody who is a proven leader in this league.

 

When you do that, it leads to this:

 

2 hours ago, GustavMattias said:

Cut Okposo.

 

[Gustav 6,406]

Just now, Hybrid1486 said:

 

When you do that, it leads to this:

 

 

I would be completely fine with keeping Okposo for the leadership factor if the Sabres weren't paying him $6 million this year. Here's why his contract was a big mistake in the first place:

 

-He had two seasons above 20 goals with the Islanders and was more well-known for being John Tavares' linemate than for putting the puck in the net.

 

-In 4 of his 8 seasons (not counting rookie year) with the Islanders, he didn't manage to play 70 games.

 

-In 2010-2011 he played 38 games and scored 5 times (~11 goal pace for the year) and in 2012-2013 he played 48 games and scored 4 times (~7 goals per 82 games). Both of these should be obvious red flags to any GM.

 

-They signed him to a seven-year, $42 million contract. Since then he's been slightly above average, topping out at 19 goals two years ago and scoring 15 last year. These numbers don't deserve top-line money, and it shows as he isn't on the Sabres' top line, even losing out to Sam Reinhart, who, though he's put up the points this year, never lived up to the expectation of an elite power forward that the team had for him when he was drafted.

 

-He's continued to struggle with injuries, particularly with concussions. Just a few weeks ago he got one from a single punch to the chin--not even to the part of the head containing the brain--and last year he had one that put him in the hospital and ended his season. 

 

Now before you say "that's what you have to do to get a player who is a leader at that level," let's compare Okposo with James van Riemsdyk, who was (and continues to be) much more productive than Okposo for similar pay. 

 

-James van Riemsdyk signed with the Flyers last year, getting a 5-year contract worth $7 million a year. A bit more than Okposo's, but not as long of a commitment and similar enough in that both are significant investments. 

 

-Van Riemsdyk is 6-for-9 in terms of seasons where he played 70 games or more, not counting this ongoing season, of course. Not much difference ratio-wise, but the difference here is his ability to stay healthy. Kyle Okposo has NEVER had back-to-back seasons where he played more than 70 games, and if he hits 70 this year, it will mark the first time he has ever done so. van Riemsdyk, on the other hand, has never not followed a 70-game season with another, a sure sign that any significant injuries of his have not been recurring throughout his career. 

 

-Van Riemsdyk's rookie year was the only year in which he played 70+ games and did not score 20 goals. Okposo, on the other hand, is 3-for-5 with these types of seasons. van Riemsdyk has also hit or broken 30 goals twice, which Okposo has never done.

 

-Okposo is 30; van Riemsdyk is 29. Okposo has played two more seasons than van Riemsdyk, so any discrepancies in stats cannot be made up to be due to a difference in experience in favor of van Riemsdyk. Both have a good number of years ahead of them, but both are experienced enough to be leaders.

 

-Both have had 4 seasons at 50 points or more, and, in fact, Okposo has the higher of the two high scores, scoring 69 points back in 2013-14. Furthermore, 3 of these seasons came in his last 3 years with the Islanders...so it was perfectly understandable for him to be a big name in free agency. If you were GM of the Sabres, would you brush aside his injury problems and sign him for $6 million a year for SEVEN YEARS IN A ROW because of this? Possibly. Apparently someone thought this was a good choice, because here he is and here he continues to be. 

 

Even if you'd agree with his initial signing, it's impossible to contend that he should still be around in Buffalo for $6 million a year. He had a no-move clause through last year, so it's entirely possible that the team has just been waiting for the right moment to cut him. But there are so many other things you can do with 6 million dollars. 

 

...like scrape together an extra million and sign a player like van Riemsdyk, who's been as good as and arguably better than Islanders Okposo for his entire career. 

 

I'm not saying "Let's go out and sign Patrick Kane," or trade for Connor McDavid, or Nikita Kucherov. I'm talking about a player who's just been pretty darn good but doesn't have the "superstar" label that commands millions more than this. We were all excited when Okposo came here--I was too. It's just become apparent that he isn't worth nearly as much as he's being paid, and paying someone who pretty much used to be James van Riemsdyk just isn't the same as...well, paying James van Riemsdyk (or some other equivalent player. He's just the first one that came to mind). 

 

If Okposo were paid something like 2 million, even 3 million, I'd be willing to let it slide and keep him for the experience he has and the leadership he'd bring here. 

 

But 6? No thanks. Get someone who's worth it. 

 

I hope this clears things up.