dudacek

The Okposo as a 4th-liner meme is pretty much the creation of Ralph Krueger. If you want to put your faith in that guy’s judgement…🤷 Ice time and rank over his 6 years in Buffalo 16:47 2nd liner 13:53 3rd liner 12:51 4th liner 13:47 3rd liner 17:02 2nd liner 18:58 2nd liner If the Sabres get to the point Okposo is being benched, that means the team is healthy, and all of Krebs, Peterka, Quinn have taken a big jump, or Kyle’s game has fallen off a Cliff. I wonder how many questioning Kyle’s C also slammed the Sabres for “forcing” the C on Eichel. They stripped the room of the failed core and gave it a season for the new leadership to evolve. This is what evolved. Any one who doesn’t understand that Kyle is the leader of this group just hasn’t been paying attention.

Hockey Canada is publicly funded

Straight out of Donnie’s mouth: Comrie requested the away games, knowing full well what that meant.

Pilut has clearly outperformed Bryson and should start ahead of him, IMO. I will understand JJ ahead of Hinostroza if it happens, or UPL over Comrie - short-term pain, long-term gain and all that. IMO, that doesn’t apply to Bryson over Pilut

I’ve always been a IQ/compete before tools guy, but Tuch’s tools are fascinating. His size/speed combo is top-shelf, as in other than Eichel, who have we ever had to match? He’s a train through the neutral zone and a big cat along the offensive boards. I don’t see a natural goal scorer, but he sees the ice well and moves the puck and himself into the right spots. What I see, and what I think the coaching staff sees, is a nice guy who perceives himself as a complementary piece rather than someone who can and should impose his will on the game. I don’t generally buy the idea of a guy taking a step in his mid-20s, but I look at Thompson, another guy who was not the sum of his tools, see what this staff unlocked there, and can hope. Tuch is, and should continue to be, a good player regardless. *** Ive always been on the Dahlin train because he’s always had the compete and the IQ to match his elite tools once the confidence and the experience caught up. He’s arrived even if his reputation has yet to catch up. Power looks to tick all those boxes as well, is starting later and better prepared in terms of comfort and maturity, and is coming into what appears to be a much better environment. So I think he will arrive more quickly than Ras did as a legit 1st pairing guy. If he even matches, let alone surpasses Dahlin we will be a contender for a long time. Their games are so different: Dahlin is lava, Power is ice.

I believe Donnie started camp with this pencilled intending to roll over these 4 lines at ES: Skinner Thompson Olofsson Quinn Mittelstadt Tuch Girgensons Asplund Okposo Krebs Cozens Peterka Lean heavily on the top 4 of this 6: Samuelsson Dahlin Power Jokiharju Bryson Lyubushkin Rotate these 2 in net until their play changes that situation: Anderson Comrie And lean on these guys a lot as spares: Hinostroza Fitzpatrick Which left one spot potentially open on a healthy roster. Don’t think anything has happened in camp to upset that apple cart, despite what I may think of UPL and Pilut outplaying some of the chosen few, or a lacklustre showing from Bryson, or spotty play from maybe Krebs or Peterka. The money quote from Donnie was when he referenced the body of work prior to camp. He’s going to give this group some time. Bjork, Sheahan and Pilut are the only players on the bubble right now and those decisions certainly aren’t going to make or break our start.

Said differently, but pretty much lines up with what I said in the playoff thread. We make the playoffs if: We get .915 goaltending from whoever emerges as the starter Someone puts up 60ish points driving a 2nd line. Owen Power has an immediate impact carrying a 2nd pair on D I don’t think you’re wrong to isolate on Mitts and Cozens, but it looks to me like Donnie is focused on making Tuch the driver on line 2 - not necessarily a bad choice given that he was our 2nd-best forward last year. I hope his linemates can help him. Im curious if/how soon they turn to UPL. I’ve got a feeling it becomes his crease at some point this year. Power has looked fantastic IMO. You can see him testing and processing; he is the poster child for all of Donnie’s internalizing and learn by doing blab. I think he will be that guy this year, just not sure how soon.

UPL Sheahan and Okposo bring the roster to 26. Three more cuts/moves to IR to complete the final roster. Not looking good for Bjork.

Biggest thing I took away from this game is how overmatched our 5-8 defenders are against a good top 6, at least without a Dahlin to carry them. Also reinforced my opinion that Jokiharju didn’t slide last year, he moved from sheltered minutes to top-pairing minutes and any “slippage” was as a result of that. Guys like Crosby expose people.

If that game is a burden that could affect Comrie all season he was never going to be much help to us in the first place.

Sometimes I think you guys are too rooted in football. Comrie working with his D is not like Josh Allen getting in sync with his receivers.

Not even sure what this means? Each of the prospective goalies got 2 starts in reverse order of how we rate them in games that are designed to get them ready for the coming season. Why would you possibly worry about your 'best' goalie – a player who is both young, and healthy - playing behind the type of lineup he's playing behind tonight? Isn't it a pretty typical preseason lineup, the likes of which most goalies have to play behind in pre-season? Don't you want him to be tested?

Did he play any games during the preseason? (haven't heard anything about him being sent down)

More like they've got 2 guys who realistically should provide .915 goaltending in a division where I'm not confident any team other than Tampa has even one.

I want to sign up, but as a deadbeat owner last year, I probably shouldn't.

It will be really interesting to see how the seemingly inevitable fall of Pittsburgh, Washington, Tampa, Boston and the Islanders — and rise of the New Jersey, Ottawa, Buffalo, Detroit and Columbus — manifests itself: which teams, how far and when?

Boston is underrated IMO; their goaltending, top 4 on the blueline and their 4-line depth is among the best in the division. Their demise is being almost entirely tied to age and injuries.

I see capfriendly has him listed as an RFA and I don’t understand why. He will have finished 7 years when this deal expires. 7 years=UFA status, no? @Taro T?

Just needs to ask Dad.

We will find out where Tage's game goes when the real games start, but the guy has become fun to watch. Speed, strength, skill, shot and attitude: he's ticking all the boxes

Look, I know it’s a meaningless game, but I can’t be the only one noticing how ***** good Owen Power is?

Other have covered it: home team gets last change and therefore their desired matchups. Bruins almost always run Bergeron against the other team’s most dangerous line because he can both neutralize and outscore pretty much any line. The Sabres would probably rather have the Tage line in a winning matchup while hoping the defensively strong Girgs line can hold Bergeron to a -1, instead of having the Tage line in a -1 and the offence-poor Girgs line playing their match to a draw. The reason Donnie has pulled Tuch off the top line is he hopes it will create a second line that can outscore the resulting matchup in either rink. And the reason the youth of the Cozens line doesn't concern me like it does Weave is because it is almost certainly going to be going up against a less-skilled, slower line, because the other team’s best are going to facing the Sabres more experienced units. The way Donnie appears to have his bottom 6 drawn up, I think it will clearly be better than the bottom sixes they will be facing. The bigger question for me is whether Quinn, Mitts and (to a lesser extent) Olofsson will be overmatched in what they are being asked to do.

Like him, but is it it? He’s kinda riding his rookie year as far as his reputation. Tage had 23 more goals and nine more points than Barzal last year. 19 goals and 62 points are his career highs since that amazing first year. 22nd-highest scoring centre over the past 4 years and he’s been healthy. Sam Reinhart, for example, has more points over that span.

Nope, not any more than they would have wanted Bjork Hayden and Eakin out there against them or Cozens Krebs Hinostroza, or The Leafs would want Kerfoot Kampf and Engvall. Hell, how many teams have any line they would want to match against Bergeron? I think Peterka earned his roster spot last year in Rochester. It would take an extraordinary combination of unexpectedly good play by Bjork and Sheahan and both bad play and bad attitude from Peterka over all of September for him not to make the final 23. He’s made the team. I think that ignores what the other Buffalo lines will be doing with their matchups. I would imagine the Bergeron line gets the Tage line in Boston and the Girgensons line in Buffalo. Those lines should be able to insulate the Cozens line most of the time. Not sure why we would think the Cozens line is more vulnerable than any other bottom 6 line on any other team. Anything they give up in their own zone, they should make up on offence. And their speed should give some lines and D-pairs trouble.

Glad to see Power has supplanted Joki on PP2. That seemed a no-brainer. Pretty sure VO will slide into his normal spot on the right wall there, pushing Krebs to the opposite side and Quinn down low. Although it's entirely possible Quinn stays where he is, because he shone in that spot in Rochester. It's just that Krebs/Cozens/Olofsson has been very effective across the mid-zone. And yes, I am reading into the lines for preseason. Donnie made it pretty clear the last two games were regular season tune-ups.