dudacek

Owen Power looks like a veteran. Head always up, always engaged, always making plays.

Krebs showing why people are concerned

Noticed his passing was way off in those shifts i was able to watch.

Clague with the shift of his Sabre career UPL good down low there. It's usually a strong part of his game. Then another big stop!

It's back, but it is so far off the radio feed I don't have a clue where we are

Sabres twitter says they are aware of the issue and working on it

So not just a me thing

The Thompson/Quinn/Olofsson combo is counterintuitive: probably our three best natural scorers on the same line? They do have other parts to their games, but something to watch. Damn, Weissbach looks different than last year.

Me too. But even more interested in watching Power. Kid continues to fly under the hype train radar

I think Krebs, Biro, Quinn, Peterka, Savoie the first players to get their 3rd games. Any I miss?

Former college free agent coming off his ELC who played some NHL games for the Preds last year. One of four similar puck-moving youngish D we signed (along with Pilut, Clague and Priskie) to anchor the blueline in Rochester and compete with Fitz for the #7 spot. I don't like to put too much emphasis on contracts, but Boosh's $2.75 million and Bryson's $1.85 million deals — signed this summer — tell me what the staff think about those two. The forward combos illustrate what I've been trying to say for a while now: the Sabres can ice 4 lines including Quinn and Peterka without burying them with 4th-liners.

As does the Cozens line. If we start winning some games this year, I suspect our speed is going to become a major talking point.

That is crazy interesting. Im going to try not to read excessively into the combos, or the presence of Davies and Savoie over Pilut and Sheahan. But it really looks like Donnie is turning the page from “let’s shake off the rust” to “let’s get ready for the season”.

It would be hard to find a statistical category where Tuch wasn’t among the most prominent Sabres last year, and we’re not just talking the obvious things like goals and points. Hits, blocked shots, takeaways, zone entries, possession, retrievals: he was among the more productive forwards in all areas, especially when you take into account the fact he only played 50 games. He also led all regular Sabre forwards in +/- and average ice time. The most notable blemish on his season was probably consistency: he had 22 points in his first 22 Sabre games, but 16 in his final 28 and he faded a bit in the end with just 5 goals in his last 33. https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=160632 Tuch blew into Buffalo like a creation of fan fiction: big, fast, competitive, genial, and the epitome of happy to be here. He’d barely finished his first press conference before Sabres fans wanted to anoint him captain and offer him their daughter’s hand in marriage. Despite the fact he scored at a career pace over his 50 games in Buffalo, Don Granato made it crystal clear that he expected more from Tuch than to be the likeable middle-6 foot soldier he had been in Vegas. He said Tuch had the tools to be a first-line power forward and used him that way: PP, PK, and top line matchups. Training camp began with hints that Donnie would be removing Tuch as one of three cogs on the first line and instead see what chemistry he could create with others while driving a 2nd scoring line. What do you expect from Alex Tuch this year? (This concludes the summer expectations series. Thanks for participating)

In Canada our “NHL Live” app has been replaced by a Sportsnet (the NHL national network provider) app. I’m withholding comment until the regular season starts, but it is getting absolutely skewered up here: more blackouts, games only remain available for 24 hours and no choice over which broadcast (home or away) you get are among the biggest complaints.

I think it was more about thrusting Olofsson, Peterka, Quinn, Krebs, Bryson and Comrie to the front of the lineup to give them a challenge.

Agreed. It's got no real traction around here, but the $1.85 million AAV, 2-year Bryson contract continues to look odd.

Am I missing something? Is Twitter exploding? I see one post in this thread that’s down on Comrie. Pi’s post was sarcasm. I’ve explained mine. General feeling seems to be he played well.

Further to Comrie looking like a capable backup: that would give us better goaltending than any we've got save Ullmark, since MIller.

Not at all. It was my impression of this game and it happened to match my impression before we got him. Long way to go before making up my mind.

A backup in the Marty Biron sense: good enough to win if you play well, not a difference maker. He made some excellent saves and looked generally sound, but he also let in 4 in 31 shots. And to be clear, it was one game.

If Priskie and Clague thought they had a shot of being the #7, it's time to reconsider. If Bryson and Fitzpatrick thought they were on the team, they need to take a closer look at Lawrence Pilut. The book on Kozak and Kulich and any other Cinderella story making the team is now closed. For the stories that are going to continue: Quinn, Peterka and Krebs are better than Bjork, but haven't cleared the tougher bars yet, and Comrie looked like I kinda expected — a solid backup.

Rosen looks about as passive as I'd imagined him to be before watching him in prospects camp. Kulich looks over his head as well, but I like how he isn't accepting that and fighting through. Kisakov seems to be the most effective of the 1st-timers. Quinn and Peterka are better, but should be standing out more. Krebs has the most presence with speed and skill, but still makes too many mistakes. Second was that much better than the first. Let's hope that continues.

And you guys think dunleavy babbles on...

Quinn doing some nice things after a nothing first period.