dudacek

Is sub planting sorta like sub tweeting? Im not real good with you kids and all that social media stuff.

Fair enough. We have different views of his worth. I look at the Avs winning the cup last year with Logan O’Connor and Daren Helm playing regularly and the Lightning with Pat Maroon and Pierre Bellemare and I think Girgs measures up fine.

I have no idea what you are talking about. I think that as of this moment Mittelstadt is our 5th best forward. I don’t believe that necessarily means he has to be on the 2nd line. Coaches deploy players based on chemistry and matchups, not heirarchy and are constantly reshuffling the deck throughout the year based on the above.

For me, he does most of the things you want a “4th-liner” to do: Slot into multiple roles or positions Forecheck hard to keep the puck pinned in the other team’s zone and wear down their D Backcheck hard to limit scoring chances and hold better players off the score sheet Set an example by showing up to work every day, being a good teammate and pro Protect the puck and limit turnovers Win puck battles Kill penalties Add some strength and speed to the lineup Chip in 10 goals Now he doesn’t fight or win faceoffs, but he does check most of the boxes. I guess my question to you would be what’s your definition of “much better”? I’d say very few of the guys you could name tick as many boxes as Zemgus does,or if they do, they aren’t really 4th liners.

Weird, I always thought the 4th line was exactly where 1-dimensional players stayed. Jost is not better than Krebs right now and has less potential to develop. And this idea that Krebs isn’t fast enough is absolutely bizarre.

My point being that I didn’t give up on Casey after 100 games, and I’m not going to give up on Krebs.

I think you need to re-read that chain of posts. My position was basically that Casey and Krebs had similar production over their first 2 pro seasons. Pretty sure I specifically said Casey has reached a level that Krebs may never reach.

Some interesting reasoning going on here. Krebs scores a point per game in the minors last year, puts up 25 points in his first full NHL season and is “done”. To make room for Kulich, who (checks notes) produced at a lesser rate in the minors this year, than Krebs did last year? And this comes in the same post you admit you were wrong about Mittelstadt, OK.

Fit, of course - roster and cap. We just traded for Jordan Greenway because the Wild have a lot of players offering a similar skill set and we don’t. It’s not that Victor is a borderline NHLer, it’s just that the Sabres have Tuch, Skinner and Mittelstadt who can play that role better, Quinn and Peterka we’re trying to develop, and Savoie and Kulich coming. The Calgary Flames, for example, have one winger who scored more than 18 goals. Same with the Nashville Predators. There will be teams interested in Victor’s 27 goals and his shot on the PP. The only question is what will they give up.

Good take. A bit of context to that is that 5 of Levi’s starts were must-wins against playoff teams. And in those 5 games he allowed 13 goals, with a 2.6 GAA and a .918 sv%

This is fantastic. I know it’s marketing, but I don’t care. Hits me right where I want to be hit. I want to believe and for the first time in a decade, I feel like I can let myself. If they pull the rug out from under me, so what? It’s better than wallowing in the misery. Grab a little bit of joy and hope when you can.

I don’t think Skinner’s career year has gotten the attention it deserves. His +/- led the team and his 47 assists are tied for the 3rd most by a Sabre in the pAst decade. And those numbers aren’t mirages, he made plays and paid attention to defence like I never thought he could. You can’t really call him the most improved player, but for me he was the most surprising. Ive never been a fan of his game prior to this year, but the way he’s filled out the missing pieces and eliminated the selfishness is truly remarkable, especially at the point of his career. This season he was truly a top-10 left wing.

In terms of production by a Sabre, Casey’s 59 points are the 14th most of the past decade. His 44 assists are the 5th most during that period, more than Eichel had in 7 of his 8 NHL seasons. For comparison, Sam Reinhart’s most productive Sabre seasons were 50, 50 and 65 points; Ryan O’Reilly’s were 61, 60 and 55; Evander Kane’s 35, 43 and 40. @Weave used to talk about how, if the Sabres ever got good, Reinhart could be their Patrick Sharp: a versatile 5/6th forward capable of moving around the lineup as situations demand. Sharp became that player for the Hawks in his mid-20s. https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=54873 I wonder if (Hope?) we just saw Mitts take a similar step.

Mitts finished the season with 15 goals and 44 assists. That was good for 24th in scoring for NHL left wings, just behind Killorn, Boldy and Dubois, just ahead of Perron, Kreider and Laine. By definition, there are 96 1st-line forwards in the NHL. By production, Casey was a borderline 1st-liner.

I have no interest in re-litigating the whys of the Jeff Skinner situation, but anyone who suggests he was banished to the 4th line and kept there despite good play needs to rewatch the tape. He was objectively terrible for all but the first month or so of Krueger’s tenure.

Let the record show that we finished the season just 7 points behind the Lightning. We were 2 points ahead of them in 2023, and matched up exactly head to head: lost 5-3 and 6-5 in OT, then won 6-5 in OT and 5-3. They will not be better next year. We will. Next year’s goal should not be a wild card, but top 3 in the division.

They won’t be signing him to a bridge this summer; it’s long-term or nothing with a year still on his deal. The best and only comparable is Aaron Ekblad’s second contract, which was for 10.2% of the cap, or about $8.5ish today If the Sabres can get him for under $8 million per they should be happy. Don’t know that there’s any incentive for him to sign for less. Remember Dahlin took $6 on a bridge.

I was more looking at it from the perspective of middle six wingers, that they had too many “VOs” and not enough “Greenways.” I know others think otherwise, but I don’t think they got Greenway intending to use him on a grind line with the likes of Girgensons, I think they got him to ride shotgun with skill guys higher in the lineup.

It think once it all shakes out Adams will have effectively traded Olofsson for Greenway, which is exactly what this season showed he needed to do in terms of the composition up front. Time will tell if he choose the right player to trade and the right player to acquire.

The solution to me is simple: keep the salary cap constraints into the post season.

Unfortunately, Tage is not expected to play.

Why do posters fear Brisson? If it’s the Eichel situation, then Eichel was long gone well before hiring Brisson, and it was only after Brisson stepped in that the situation started moving. Take this for what it’s worth, but Adams was very complementary of Brisson at the time. His other Sabre clients are Samuelsson, who just signed long-term and Okposo who clearly loves the organization. Is there something else that I’m missing?

Definitely, most notably Owen Power.

The concept of Toews is highly enticing: a competitive, 2-way 3C with 3 cups and the ability to win faceoffs, who can move up the lineup in a pinch and share some wisdom with the kids on a short-term deal as an upgrade from Jost. The idea of a player like that between between Peterka and Quinn next year is enticing. I suspect that's not what you're getting though. I worry about entitlement issues and how much he has left. He'd have to come in with an Anderson mindset, and I just don't think that's who Toews is. I'd be taking a look though. Granato will have some insight and a connection.

And he was 0-5-0 the 5 games before that and 9-9-1 overall. UPL was 17-11-4. Neither goalie is going to ruin our chances of the playoffs in a backup role, assuming Levi can win 30+ games in 50+ starts. The question is do you trust Levi to be up to that?