Here’s A Look at the Sabres Depth Chart After the Savoie Trade

Here’s A Look at the Sabres Depth Chart After the Savoie Trade

welcome back all right so yesterday we saw a trade take place between the Oilers and the Sabers and there was a lot of reactions a lot of reactions uh but when you look at the Buffalo Sabers the team they’ve got put together I understand why the moves made and we’ll talk about this because seriously I I I get what Kevin Adams is trying to do here this is a team that does need to make the playoffs this is a team that also has cap space still and the teams that still have cap space we need to keep an eye on them the rest of the summer because while yes there’s rfas we’ll talk about that part of the the picture as well uh the reality is that these teams could very well be adding before we get training camp in September it is only July the 6th at the time I’m recording this uh the Sabres currently have 13,728 485 in c space what’s interesting is looking at the last two seasons Buffalo was closer to the playoffs in 2022 2023 where they had 91 points this past season they had 84 points it’s the first time they’ve had two winning records in a row uh in a very long time so it’s a low bar but what’s interesting is they were outscored 300 to 296 in 2022 2023 so defense and goal tending were an issue there this past season defense and goal tending were pretty good they allowed 244 goals but uh they lost 50 goals they ended up with 246 goals this past season so they need to get the scoring back back and um could Matthew seavoy have been part of what the the solution could have been for that problem sure but then there’s the problem of finding exactly where he would play in their lineup uh keeping in mind that Lindy Ruff being hired behind the bench is seen as maybe a way to get Buffalo back above the playoff line and maybe they stay there so the lines on the board are just the ones from cap friendly which is still up I’m surprised too maybe the Washington cap have heard so much negative feedback regarding their purchase of cap friendly that maybe they’re not going to make it go dark quite so fast and and they’re trying to figure out a m way to make this work since so many people are very angry about the cap friendly purchase but looking at the lines the cap friendly has you have PKA Thompson and Tuck is your first line if that’s your first line PKA is 22 years of age Thompson’s 26 and Tuck is 28 p is 5’1 um and when you look at this left side you’ve got zooker is 5’11 and Benson’s 510 this is a league where guys are getting bigger and Matthew seavo is listed it is either 5’9 or 510 depending which site you look at but it seems like 5’9 is the most likely uh to be accurate to his height uh if he is fudging his height a little bit he wouldn’t be the first uh nhlers have been fudging their height they’ve been fudging their age as well for a very long time so yeah um at any rate petka this season had 28 goals 22 assists 50 points he had a really really solid run played all 82 games but uh Thompson the 6’6 26y old forward uh he dropped back to not looking like Superman this year 29 goals 27 assists 56 points in 71 games if Buffalo’s going to get back above the playoff line they’re going to need Thompson to get back to that Superstar level uh tuck 22 goals 37 assists 59 points and 75 games and that’s right in line with where production has been through most of his career he was above a point per game the year before but the expectation was some of those guys had career years but you you didn’t get the support they needed so they added zooker uh he had 14 goals 18 assists last year in 69 games he’s 32 years of age so there’s experience there in fact of their forward group he’s the only one 30 years of age or older so experience is going to be talked about a lot with this crew uh cousins 23 years of age he had a bit of a a not fantastic FC year again comparatively speaking with the one before that 18 goals 29 assists 47 points and 79 games so coming back to the seavoy argument well you got Thompson who’s 26 years of age cousins who’s 23 years of age they’re centers so seavoy I think if he’s going to succeed at the NHL level needs to be playing top six minutes if he’s going to play down the middle it wasn’t going to happen in Buffalo uh then you’ve got Jack Quinn uh 22 years of age only played 27 games due to injury nine goals 10 assists 9 19 points and definitely if quinnn had been healthy all season I think they score some more goals maybe they’re a little bit closer to the playoffs Benson slotted onto that third line by cap friendly would we be surprised if he’s on the second line and zuker’s on the third no uh but a teenager and again 5′ 10 71 games 11 goals 19 assists 30 points and maybe the sin in all of this is that Kevin Adams has drafted players who are very similar to one another and they’re undersized they’re smaller small players so you add McLoud to this lineup 81 games 12 goals 18 assists 30 points with the Oilers he’s 24 years of age and the good news is because he keep saying well maybe he can be a third line Center but he’s not going to be a second line Center well Buffalo’s not looking for a second line Center they’ve got Dylan cousins they’re not looking for a first line Center they got Thompson so McLoud slots into the third third line spot and again if you have an under undersized third line Center that can be a weakness for your team Greenway 6′ six 27 years of age 67 games 10 goals 18 assists last season 28 points and then a completely revamped fourth line you got malen Stein who’s 26 laford is 29 and Obe kubel’s 28 malen Stein is a restricted free agent currently but he played 81 games for Washington six goals 15 assists 21 points um I don’t expect the offense to get a lot better than that but speed there’s a lot of speed in this bottom six laery 79 games 11 goals or 13 go goals 11 assist 24 points and Obe kubel played 60 games last season six goals 10 assist 16 points and of course he has a Stanley Cup ring as well so there’s some experience there’s some speed there and this is overall a pretty good group but again you’ve got three forwards on the left side again projected left side who are below 6 feet tall in a league where it feels like guys are starting to get a little taller again the undersized player not getting pushed out necessarily but not being seen as as being as as valuable as your big players now on the blue line you’ve got Samuelson and darene both 24 years of age Samuelson played 41 games a goal and six assists for him he’s not an offensive player but I do think him missing half the season hurt Buffalo’s chances he’s also 6’4 dolene played 81 games 20 goals 39 assists 59 points bit of a setback from the year before but again everybody had a really strong season in 2022 2020 3 points wise and goals wise so I think this coming season they should get back to more of an equilibrium and again if you can keep the defensive gains that you’ve had this past season then you’ve got something right Owen pow 21 years of age he’s 6’6 played 76 games this past season six goals 27 assists 33 points poers fantastic Yoki Haru 25 years of age 74 games three goals 17 assists 20 points Bowen Byam I don’t think he’s going to be on the third pairing I’m just going to say that uh but again I’m just going with their combinations because it really doesn’t matter at this stage uh but Byrum’s 23 years of age 73 games 11 goals 18 assists 29 Points uh Connor Clifton 29 years of age now Clifton’s 5’11 he’s the only one on this defense that’s below six feet tall but he plays bigger than his size 79 games four goals 14 assists 18 points he throws the body around he’s not shy about dropping the gloves if he has to and he adds something to these tandems right uh so you’ve got samuelson’s your defensive guy but it does feel like Byrum’s going to force his way up but you’ve got three really good defensemen here I don’t know if Buffalo holds on to all three because when you’ve got power Dalene and Byrum there’s not really enough ice time there’s not really enough opportunities I don’t think for all of them but we’ll see uh and then you’ve got Lucan and 25 years of age 2.57 goals against 910 percentage this past season he’s 6’4 he’s currently a restricted free agent he’s going to get paid I’m guessing it’ll be a long-term deal although he’s in arbitration so if it goes to arbitration it won’t be a long-term deal it is in Buffalo’s best interest to lock him down uh ryr 36 years of age 3.11 goals against average 904 safe percentage he’s 6’2 and then there’s Devon Levi 22 years of age 3.11 goals against average 899 safe percentage he’s 6 feet tall that’s why he was taken late in the draft that’s why wolf was available to the Calgary Flames late in the draft cuz he’s on the smaller side for goenda got three NHL level goal tenders you’ve got Rhymer in case Levi needs some more time in Rochester right and in the event of an injury rymer’s a guy who can play some games here and there you want to make sure that you’re covered for that now there’s the alsos on the board and I wanted to get into into the allos after going through this you’ve got Payton Krebs who’s a restricted free agent he’s 23 years of age played 80 games this past season four goals 13 assist 17 points they acquired him of course in the trade uh for Jack eel he’s 5’1 then there’s rusek rusek 25 years of age he’s 5 foot1 15 games two assists for him rosan uh who is a number 14 pick in 2021 he’s 21 years of age he’s 5’1 played seven games for the savers he did not score a point there then you got Kulik 20 years of age 5 foot1 was seen as maybe passing seavoy on the on the on the list of where everybody was in the in the dep on the depth chart uh he just played the one game for the Savers this past season but he was a number 28 pick in 2022 they also drafted ausland that season uh he’s 20 years of age he’s 5’1 he was a number 16 pick in 2022 so you have 510 511 5’11 5’11 and then who did they just draft constant helenius uh he’s 18 years of age he’s 5’1 he was the number 14 pick in I got the wrong ear there I’m going to go ahead and fix it we’ll just pretend that that that the the entertainment guy did it that’s what happened and then that’s a different color we’ll just forget that but in 2024 helenius who’s also below 6 feet tall gets drafted by Buffalo um it’s not a matter of and and again this is where we can have that conversation about Kevin Adams and ask ourselves has he been adding too many undersized forwards has he been drafting too many of them is this something they shouldn’t have been doing in the first place did he look at their dep chart and then look at the Florida Panthers lineup look at the Evon lineup and go these are pretty big teams we need to get bigger and so you add McLoud who’s not below six feet tall um he’s not a gargantuan player or anything but still and he’s got the NHL experience he’s 24 years years of age there’s still room for growth there maybe he gets to 20 goals if he’s on their third line maybe he doesn’t maybe they don’t need him to hit 20 goals when you look at that top six and you look at some of the players they’ve got there now on the blue line you’ve got Bryson who’s 26 years of age played 36 games a goal and seven assists this past season Ryan Johnson 22 years of age 41 games and seven assists he’s another talented young defenseman they’re going to be trying to get into that top six as soon as possible you only have so many top six positions uh gilbertt 27 years of age added as a free agent 34 games one goal six assists seven points and then you got kale clay who’s 26 years of age got into three games this past season and had one assist so I I don’t mind the way this team is made up I really feel like the trade yesterday may have been a sign that Kevin Adams realized we we need to improve this lineup and we have a lot of undersized forwards we need a truth third line Center may have seen McLoud from the Oilers as that and may have had a more difficult time seeing seavoy playing that third line role I understand that and we’ll see whether or not it pans out maybe it doesn’t maybe Buffalo is a miserable season it all falls apart and Kevin Adams is looking for a new job in in the spring but there is that chance that this helps uh the other thing that would help is Quinn staying healthy Samson staying healthy and Tage Thompson getting back to being the Tage Thompson we saw in 2022 2023 and for the Sabres to have that offensive punch they had uh not this past season but the one before while maintaining that defensive structure while maintaining that really good goal tending Lucan was the best goal tender in the league at points uh after the the the turn of the the the calendar once we got into January and so they’re going to need more of that this season so I’m not all doom and gloom on Buffalo I’m not predicting playoffs or anything but but I I I do understand why the move was made that was made because you have a lot of young players here that are waiting for their chance to get into the lineup and a lot of them are similar to what Matthew SEO would bring to the lineup so let me know your thoughts in the comments section below as always don’t forget to hit like And subscribe in the event that you’ve not done so already and again I’m not trying to say that everything’s fantastic in Buffalo or that people who have concerns over the way things have been run aren’t necessarily right I’m just saying that when a trade gets made you you kind of have to look at the bigger picture and it doesn’t necessarily mean that if seavoy hits the ground running in in Edmonton and he has a really good run that he would have done the same in Buffalo or that there was a way to make it work in Buffalo unless you want to trade Benson and I don’t think there’s a buffalo fan that wants to see Benson go out uh and I I really don’t think Benson’s going anywhere either uh but Buffalo definitely has the cap space to make moves before the season starts even if Lucan and gets a big a chunk of that 13 million they’ll still have some cap space left to do something so let me know your thoughts in the comment section as I said if you haven’t already hit like And subscribe please do thank you guys so much for all your support as always I will talk to you again soon

I think the Sabres just had a lot of undersized young forwards which can be redundant in a league that often favors players with more size.

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