dudacek

I think they committed to this year being Comrie-Anderson until UPL pushed his way though the door, and next year to Comrie-UPL until Levi (or Portillo) pushed his way through the door. Of course they will deviate if that blows up in their faces, or if Thatcher Demko can be theirs for a 2nd-rounder. But if neither of those thing happen, their inclination will be to stick with it and watch at least one of the three develop. They stick with the players they believe in through good (Skinner, Thompson, Okposo, Dahlin, and more) or evil (Casey) Here’s the kicker: Last year we thought Adams’ goaltending choices were going to kill morale and hurt the development process for the team. We were wrong. There were some bumps early, but both the individual players and the team got better. This year we thought Adams’ goaltending choices were going to kill morale and hurt the development process for the team. It’s early, but it’s starting look like we were wrong again. Both the individual players and the team are getting better. If current trends continue, I can’t see myself being comfortable with UPL/Comrie/Levi as the last line of defence for a playoff team. But if Adams is, and if current trends continue, who am I to argue?

I would be mildly surprised if the Sabres carry any rookies next year. The only prospect with an even 50/50 chance to make the team is Ryan Johnson if he signs. Maybe Rousek as a longshot? What’s happening this year is the settling in of the core and I suspect next year’s additions will be about how to best complement that core to “win now” (you’re welcome @Thorny) Savoie and Kulich aren’t likely to play as teenagers in a bottom 6 that also includes Krebs, Olofsson and Mittlestadt, no matter how good they finish the year, and Levi would have to absolutely blow the doors off Comrie and UPL after he signs to finish the season. If Olofsson or Mittelstadt is moved, I suspect their spots will be taken by new veterans. The cap would pretty much demand it even if team chemistry didn’t. Only semi-related: Okposo will be traded to a contender of his choice at the deadline if the Sabres are out of the race and will ponder an offer to retire into a front office role with the Sabres this summer.

Somewhat quietly Quinn has put up 12 points in his past 12 games. A point tonight will move him into a tie for 2nd in scoring among all 2020 draft picks this year. That’s ahead of Raymond, ahead of Jarvis, ahead of Lundell and ahead of Lafreniere. And way ahead of Drysdale, Byfield, Holtz and Rossi.

10-4-2, 75 goals for, 48 goals against. Sure makes you wonder how the Mattias Samuelsson effect continues to play out this season.

I can’t get behind the idea that Kevyn Adams is blithely sitting on his hands when he clearly spelled out his plan then spent the past 18 months doing exactly what he said he would. And I can’t get behind the idea that Adams needs to deviate from his plan when he has made so much clear and demonstrable progress over such a relatively short period of time. Adams told you he was going to strip the roster of players who didn’t want to be here, and invest his time and effort in developing and rewarding the players who did. And that he would assemble a team that would respect the fans, the city and each other, and grow together into something that would endure. He broke up a 31st-place, .330 team that sported the league’s 29th best offence and 29th best defence with terrible analytics, a league-worst goal differential and, by all accounts a miserable dressing room. His bag of assets included: An intriguing collection of unproven NHL talent (Dahlin, Jokiharju, Bryson, Cozens, Olofsson, Thompson, Mittelstadt, Asplund) Perhaps the worst contract in the league, along with another generally considered bottom-10 (Skinner, Okposo) A bucket of prospects and picks (Quinn, Peterka, Johnson, Portillo, Levi, Samuelsson, 6 1sts and 6 2nds over the next 3 drafts) Not a single proven top-six forward, top pairing defenceman or starting goalie A whack of cap space 109 games later he has progressed to a 24th-place, .464 team that sports the league’s best offence and 24th best defence, with middle of the pack analytics and goal differential, and, by all accounts, a tight, happy room. His bag of assets now includes: An intriguing collection of unproven NHL talent (Power, Quinn, Peterka, Krebs, Luukkonen) No anchor contracts A bucket of prospects and picks (Johnson, Portillo, Levi, Rosen, Poltapov, Kisakov, Savoie, Östlund, Kulich, Leinonen, Neuchev and more, 3 1sts and 5 2nds over the next 3 drafts) An emerging legitimate #1 NHL centre (Thompson) signed long-term on a 2C contract An emerging legitimate #2 NHL centre (Cozens) An emerging legitimate shutdown defenceman (Samuelsson) on a long-term contract A legitimate Norris Trophy contender (Dahlin) A legitimate 1st-line NHL scoring winger (Skinner, 5th in scoring among NHL LWs) A legitimate 1st-line NHL power forward (Tuch, 6th in scoring among NHL RWs) on a bargain long-term contract. No starting goalie A whack of cap space In short, in less than a season and a half, Adams’ plan has produced 6 core pieces where none existed before. And he’s done that without cutting into our cap space, or sacrificing our treasure chest of futures, just trying to maximize what each player has to give. All this and we’re upset that he didn’t put in a waiver claim for a 29-year-old depth blueliner who has been an NHL regular exactly one season in his entire career? Or paid Jack Eichel trade prices for a Doug Bodger-level defenceman? Does the above mean Adams is beyond reproach? Of course not. But it does mean that he is capable and consistent: two qualities this organization’s leadership has been bereft of for far too long. We are making progress - significant, measurable progress. I suspect he will have no hesitation to make moves to fill in the holes when the right moves come available at the right time. I’m confident the groundwork is being laid and re-laid on a daily basis. We’ve been at the bottom of a deep, dark pit for far too long for quick fixes. From my vantage point, he’s doing what needs to be done.

I think it’s strange that our goaltending struggles are being pinned on Adams as sins of omission, when quite clearly they are sins of commission. It’s not that Adams chose not to address the crease; he quite clearly targeted Eric Comrie as his best available option, then went out and signed him with the idea that he could progress into a viable starter with Anderson as his support and safety net. Meanwhile UPL would get the reps needed to grow into his own in the AHL until his play allowed him to take over from Andy and challenge Eric for the starter’s role. That looks to me a lot less like an unwillingness to “get a real starter” and more like a misreading of what Comrie and Luukkonen are actually capable of. This comes on the heels of underestimating Linus Ullmark’s ability and/or market value (a failure he apparently shares with a lot of Sabrespacers) Personally, I’m not certain I’ve seen enough to judge the real Comrie, especially considering he’s only played 3 games with an NHL defence. But at this point I’m far more skeptical of Adams’ ability to judge goaltenders than I am of his willingness to go get them.

I think Kevyn Adams must be ridiculously busy right now. This is just the top baker’s dozen priority activities I’ve gleaned from reading Sabrespace. Penning heartfelt letters on monogrammed stationary to the league’s biggest agents reassuring them “things are different in Buffalo now”. Forcing his team to watch Lucic/Miller on video loop to the soundtrack of Jack Edwards’ “greatest” calls. Personally choosing those weekly flower arrangements for Patrick Kane’s mother, grandmother, wife and mistress. Figuring out whether Justyce “Haymaker” Smoke and Justin “Bull” Schmidt really want to be in Buffalo. The daily Cohiba Lanceros and Loch Lomond with Terry in the owners suite. Reviewing with his players the latest analytics heat charts on the importance of winning faceoffs, blocking shots and hitting. Making sure Jim Rutherford is still on ignore. Allowing himself a small, self-satisfied smile over how thoroughly Sean McDermott has adopted his philosophies on blocking. Wondering where Casey Mittelstadt hid the original file and how many copies there are. Practicing his best “aw shucks” grin in front of the mirror in the executive en suite to the audiobook version of Mike Harrington’s Twitter feed. Tracking down the current whereabouts of Matt Hackett, Michal Neuvirth, Anders Lindback and Jhonas Enroth. Mindfulness and avocado toast bruncheons with Cozzie, Krebsie, Quinnie and JJ. Sticking to the plan. Frankly, I don’t know how he finds the time to do anything else.

Andor was probably the 2nd best thing I watched in 2022. @LGR4GM nailed it.

They are comparing to 2019, the last pre-COVID season. Numbers are way up already over last year, despite the Bills effect: 13,634 compared to 9,997. https://theathletic.com/3973879/2022/12/07/nhl-attendance-stadium-tickets/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/193749/regular-season-home-attendance-of-national-hockey-league-teams-in-2010/ 1st link is paywalled.

The Deluca .500 reference is interesting because the gap between the Sabres and many of their rivals is about loser points. PIttsburgh, Florida and Washington have 4, Detroit and the Rangers 5. The Sabres just 1.

Seeing quite a few posts about the Sabres blowing too many leads since the Detroit and Tampa games. They are a perfect 9-0-0 when leading after 2 periods, tied with Winnipeg and the Islanders. Dallas is 12-0-0, Boston 13-0-0, Columbus 3-0-0. In general, NHL teams don’t protect leads like they used to. In fact, teams have blown 2nd intermission leads 50 times already this year. Toronto, PIttsburgh and Vancouver have done it 4 times each. League is changing. https://www.nhl.com/stats/teams?report=leadingtrailing&reportType=season&seasonFrom=20222023&seasonTo=20222023&gameType=2&filter=gamesPlayed,gte,1&sort=winPctLeadPeriod2&page=0&pageSize=50

Glad to see recognition and discussion of the “bite-size” approach to building a team. Adams and Granato were very clear a year ago they were focused first on developing hockey players, and Granato was very clear that his primary mission was teaching offence. The team has been a top-5 offence all year. How do you think the young players have been developing? I don’t begrudge your frustrations. I share many of your questions. But I’m enjoying this team. And I trust the process.

I’ve been watching him a lot this year because I seem to be in the minority as a supporter. I have seen the coverage lapses others do, usually a result of stepping up to attack a puck or puck-carrier at an inopportune time. I also see many, many times where those decisions have blunted a rush, or kept in a puck. Yes, he can make risky passes, but overall he’s solid in transition; his good breakouts far outnumber his bad ones Not sure others notice how good a stick checker he is. Matched up 1-on-1 he separates man from puck very well despite his size and snuffs out rushes on a consistent basis. Henri Jokiharju is no star, but he is a capable NHL defenceman, well-suited to the modern style of play and a 4/5 slot on any NHL roster.

Granato gave us good insight into their thought process this week when he said one of the biggest mistakes he observed as a pro scout was a tendency for teams to move on from young players before fully figuring out what they have. We don't fully know the "how" or the "how long" but we do know that the team is committed to giving people the opportunity to reach their potential. And, by and large, it's working. I mean Adams may not agree, but I'm confirming a ton of ***** this season about players they've been watching for a season and a half: Rasmus Dahlin and Tage Thompson are stars and true building block players Jeff Skinner still has it as a top 6 forward and Alex Tuch is definitely one as well Casey Mittelstadt is not Victor Olofsson is a luxury player Henri Jokiharju is a mid-roster player, Jacob Bryson is not UPL is not the answer I might have suspected a lot of these things before, but now I feel like I know and I didn't last year. Still more data needed on Comrie, Peterka, Krebs, Quinn, Cozens, Mule and Power (but my god are the returns looking good on the last 3). But maybe we're closer to the tipping point than we think. We did get Marek's remark last week that there is a feeling around the league that the Sabres have identified their core and are ready to start building around it. The holes on this team are becoming pretty obvious and we do have the ammunition to fill them. I hope that ammunition gets used judiciously, by targeting the right pieces, even if it means watching 6-5 games for remainder of the season. In the meantime, this team continues to be both frustrating and promising, and surprisingly fun to watch.

Is this deliberately disingenuous? In the past 2 months Tage Thompson and Mattias Samuelsson chose to be here for 7 years each, giving up 6 and 3 UFA years respectively. This summer Vinnie Hinostroza, Eric Comrie, Craig Anderson and Ilya Lyubushkin who were unrestricted free agents who could have gone anywhere else chose to be here. Kyle Okposo and Jeff Skinner signed as unrestricted free agents who could have gone anywhere else and chose to be here. Zemgus Girgensons and Victor Olofsson each chose term here instead of walking to unrestricted status and bolting at the first opportunity. Casey Fitzgerald could have walked out of college into free agency like Cal Petersen did, but chose to be here. Literally half the roster, by their actions, chose to be here.

Quibble over the 6D and the starting goalie if you’d like, but that might be the most attractive top-to-bottom overall lineup they’ve put on the ice since Lindy was coach.

40 of the NHL's top 50 scorers right now were drafted before 2015. Four of the top 50 are 22 or less. Not sure those numbers are saying what people think they are.

Adams has been keeping his powder dry for the right player at the right time. Chychrun is 24 and fills a need, now and 5 years from now. He fits. Recent comps: Alexander Romanov went for pick #13 Hampus Lindholm (pending UFA) for a late 1st and 2 2nds Seth Jones for (more or less) Adam Boqvist and two high 1sts Rasmus Ristolainen for a 1st and a 2nd

Remember when a battered team driving 90 yards late in the final quarter for the go-ahead TD, holding the opposition to a game-tying 51-yard field goal, then marching 48 yards downfield in less than 25 seconds to win the game was something to celebrate? People’s choices are strange to me.

Here’s an interesting statistic from this year, not sure what to make of it. The Sabres currently have the: #1 highest-scoring NHL players from the 2018 and 2016 drafts #5 highest-scoring NHL players from the 2021, 2020 and 2019 drafts. That’s a top 5 producer from 5 of the past 6 drafts and 2 of those players are defencemen.

A bit of context to UPL’s season: 5 good starts, 2 poor, 2 indifferent. https://theahl.com/stats/player/7644 This moment is maybe arriving a little earlier than the brass hoped, but it was always going to happen sometime this year. Ive been looking forward to it, basically since Ullmark walked. The door is open. Let’s see if he can step through and slam it behind him.

Poltapov is now a full-time KHL rookie with 5 goals in 27 games. This is the best place to find prospect stats: https://www.eliteprospects.com/team/53/buffalo-sabres/in-the-system

Missing context: Leinonen is 3.08 GAA and .841 SV% after a couple rough outings playing parts of 8 games with men in Liiga. Against his peers in juniors he is 1.71 and .943 in 7 games.

I wonder why people are so reluctant to believe their eyes. Dude has 34 goals in his past 50 games. That’s 4th in the NHL over that span - only 2 less than McDavid, 1 less than Mathews. More than Robertson and Pastrnak and McKinnon and Tkachuk and Stamkos and Ovechkin and Kucherov and Marner and Crosby and Draisaitl. He’s scoring (and has a great shooting %) because his shot is elite. He’s a star. @Thorny remember a year ago when we were comparing this build to the lockout team and I said maybe Tage could be the Briere and you (correctly) said hold your horses, that Briere was a helluvalot more than a good 2C? It’s happening.

OK, this avatar absolutely has to be the new Islanders logo. Fantastic.