This is my second fanpost where I wanted to air out some of my thoughts to the community and give my opinion on what the Sabres have done this offseason. Originally I wanted to post this before the draft however, I decided to wait until after the draft/free agency to gather my thoughts (this was also partially due to my own laziness). So without further adieu let’s take a look into a very scary place, the mind of the Casual Sabres Fan.
- I can’t say that I completely love what Adams and company have done in FA but having digested all of the moves here’s what I liked and didn’t like. The bottom six getting faster and more defensively sound is a plus in my eyes. After doing some research into the different players that we added I have to say that my favorite addition was Zucker. I’ve always liked Zucker going back to his Minnesota days and still think that he can be a valuable forward for this team. I will say that they did overpay for him though and that he might be in the wrong role. The other FA addition that I find myself getting excited for is Defenseman Dennis Gilbert. Call me a sucker, but I love that another local boy has come back to play for the Sabres plus he brings that physicality that the Sabres want. Realistically he’ll probably only be the 6th/7th d-man on this team that will protect the young kids.
- Now we move on to what I didn’t like about FA for the Sabres. Right off the bat I’m going to say that I’m not a fan of how they addressed replacing Skinner in the top 6. I realize that I just got done saying that Zucker was my favorite addition but I like him as a player as opposed to being the Skinner replacement. The next thing that I don’t like is the fact that I don’t know where the depth scoring is going to come from. I don’t think that the additions made this offseason will be able to provide enough depth scoring to complement the top 6.
- I want to address the major trades that the Sabres made separately. The trade that I’ll start with is Beck Malenstyn for a second. I personally think that they slightly overpaid for Malenstyn but maybe they think that they can get more out of him offensively. As it stands though they did acquire a very good defensive forward who should help their PK so I don’t completely hate the trade. The Savoie for McLeod and Tullio trade might end up being the most impactful trade during Adams tenure. I think that Edmonton will get the better player from this trade in Savoie (If he reaches his full potential), but the Sabres get the 3c they needed. I would also say that while Savoie is a grade A prospect the Sabres dealt from a position of strength which lessens the risk a little bit in my opinion. Both of these trades could blow up in Adams face but I do like that he actually made them instead of assuming that young prospects will fill the role.
- So I don’t know much about the draft but it seems that the Sabres had a solid draft according to all the sources that I looked at. I personally think that the selection of Helenius all but guaranteed that the Savoie trade was going to happen. My two favorite draft picks were Helenius and Kleber. Helenius because I think that he can meaningfully contribute to this team as early as next season and I love his style of play. Kleber because he plays a heavy physical style of hockey without taking too many penalties. I was a little disappointed that we didn’t trade our first for Necas or one of the other big fish but it sounds like the asking prices were super high for those types of players. Ultimately I think that Adams did the right thing by holding onto his first and drafting Helenius.
- The last thing that I want to do is pose a few questions to everyone. My first question is how do you think the Sabres did in the off-season? Did it go like you expected or were you surprised by some of the moves? The second question that I have is what team had the best off-season in your opinion? Personally I think that New Jersey killed it this year by getting Pesce, Dillon, and Markstrom. My third question is which Sabre player do you think breaks out this year? I think it’ll either be Jack Quinn or Jiri Kulich but could totally see it being someone else as well.
I want to thank anyone who reads my ramblings and the DBTB team that runs the website so I have a platform to vent my thoughts on! Well that’s all that I have for this fanpost right now thanks for reading and have a good day/night!
If this Fan Post was published by someone other than one of the Die by the Blade's editors, the ideas or opinions written do not necessarily reflect the opinion of Die by the Blade or For Fans Sports Network.