dudacek

Not an expert on Grans so no comment on that, but Dahlin Samuelsson is something I’d like to watch for next 8 years and the concept of a Lyubushkin/Johnson pairing would be the most reliable 3rd pairing this franchise has had in 15 years. Add Power and Jokiharju and that’s a large, smart, mobile, balanced corps that could mature into a force both ends of the ice.

I think this is pretty reasonable. He wont be an instant stud, but he will adapt. @PerreaultForever’s take (similar process, 3 years) underestimates how good he was in the AHL. He’s not some wide-eyed kid 2 years removed from high school hockey.

Sure, but the line was “in the conversation for” For a forward that means about topping 20 goals, 50 points. Lucas Raymond’s 23 and 57 come to mind. From the posts, I think people’s expectations are typically closer to 15 and 30ish. Mittelstadt had 12 and 25. Im curious why people are seem to be expecting more of a Mittlelstadt season than a Raymond season. (For the record, I don’t expect Jack to be in the Calder race either, mostly because of his track record and the other wingers on the team.)

I’m ridiculously high on Mule. To the point that I think people will eventually consider him a core player, not a support player.

I find it interesting that only about 1 in 4 think Quinn will challenge for the rookie of the year. Should we call it the Mittelstadt effect, as in fans once bitten, or is it more something about his game? It’s worth noting that Casey scored 30 points in 34 games in college the year before his rookie campaign. Quinn had 61 points in 45 games in the much-tougher AHL. Production-wise, there is no comparison to how much more advanced Quinn’s game is.

Did anyone else get the impression the Swedish coach was like the ringleader of a bunch of college frat boys in an ‘80s movie and Rosen was the nerd he was forced to let in? The team had no cohesion and a lot of stupid, self-centred play.

I guess you’re right, But even when games are played and we show improvement, we seem to find ways to say that doesn’t matter either, so 🤷

I don’t want him to go through a season in Rochester like the one he just had in Sweden. He needs to play in order to get better. Use him like Granato used Krebs. If he bombs in that time or can’t earn time over the likes of Weissbach, Jobst, Warren and Pekar, let alone other kids like Kisakov and Cedarqvist, he shouldn’t be in Rochester. Fortunately, the Sabres seem to put developing players first, with a philosophy that you need to play to get better. I don’t think there was a genuine prospect on the roster last year used in the way you suggest.

Samuelsson never got a real chance to make the Sabres in training camp due to injury, but during his rehabilitation in Rochester he quickly showed himself to be a dominant 2-way AHL defenceman. He got called up mid-season and was gradually handed more and more responsibility as the year progressed, particularly in defensive situations. The rookie finished the year just behind Robert Hagg in average TOI short handed and goals against per 60 among regular penalty killers. He was just 20 behind Dahlin for the team lead in total hits despite playing just half a season. His analytics weren’t remarkable - a 47.6% Corsi at even strength - but that was with 61.5% D-zone starts. His ice time increased from 17:45 a game in February to 21:41 in April. https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=196144 By the end of the year he was playing regularly with Dahlin on the top pair, matched up against the best players the other teams had to offer. In the 42 games Mattias played, the Sabres went 21-17-4, including 12/5/2 down the stretch. What do you expect from Mattias Samuelsson this year? (Last year’s takes here):

The Sabres 75-point team last year was a blend of a .400 team over the 1st 3rd of the season and a .600 team over the last 3rd of the season. Those were significantly different rosters. If you choose to focus discussion on the end-of-season roster, then a small improvement might be all the team needs to challenge for the playoffs. If, at the same time, you choose to discount the results over the final 3rd, then it’s not really a good faith discussion.

I think basic math says one should be skeptical of the late-career bounce backs of Anderson and Okposo and expect some regression there. Personally, I don’t think that should apply to Skinner, but he has put together back-to-back 50-point-plus seasons just once in his career. Thompson, Dahlin and Jokiharju were last year’s young breakout players. At this point of their careers, that means leaps and fallbacks are still possible, but generally we should expect what we got. Internal improvement seems likely from Olofsson, Mitts and Cozens, given their experience level and what we’ve seen from them to date. Comrie should be better than Tokarski. Tuch Peterka Quinn Krebs is a gigantic leap in talent over Hayden R2 Caggiula Eakin mitigated only by the drop in experience. Butcher Miller Hagg to Power Samuelsson Lyubushkin makes the blueline better in every aspect of the game. I think it’s indisputable the team is better than the start of last year.

Sorry misread your post; I know nothing about Czech league attendance.

Summer, the sense it wasn’t a “real” tournament, the Hockey Canada scandal and the lack of media hype (tied in part I’m sure to the scandal) are the reasons most commonly cited. High prices and a sales campaign that forced you to buy multiple games to get the one or ones you wanted also apparently discouraged people as well.

I think he’ll be like Kulich: whether he’s in Rochester or not depends on his camp. He can still go back to juniors. Rousek, Cedarqvist, Kisakov and Rosen are the ones ones already there and worth watching.

I think I’m tired of being fully invested in every move the Sabres make without ever believing they are going anywhere. That’s not how I felt when I discovered the team when I was 8 years old, or 14 or even at 40. Not even during the lows. I’ve always loved the franchise and the logo. Always will. It’s been a long time since I’ve liked the people wearing them. I don’t know if this group is any good. Way too many question marks. Way too many scars to trust my eyes. But I could like these guys. I just want to be a fan again.

Only thing surprising about this is the timing.

Fantastic post. I am drinking this Kool-aid. The final 2 months, I watched a team worth cheering for.

I'm a huge Jack Quinn fan and expect him to have a Thomas Vanek-level career. But this is what his history has taught us to expect.

Thus the question mark in the title

Quinn and Peterka's NHL journeys will be fascinating for me as they represent the first Sabres prospects I have ever watched extensively in Rochester. To me, the skillset Quinn showed with the Amerks — the vision, the hands, the focus — should translate to the NHL very well, as in 30-goal scorer as soon as this year. The lack of strength, however, gives me pause; I'm not sure if he will be able to create space. Granato needs to turn him loose on the power play. Thompson and VO have harder one-timers, but he's got a great shot, and no one in the organization is a better pass/shoot combo threat.

Few would argue that over the past 30 years the two best forwards ever developed out of the Buffalo Sabres minor league system were Thomas Vanek and Jason Pominville. Vanek played more than 1,000 NHL games and scored 373 goals. Pominville also had more than 1,000 games and put up over 700 points. Vanek was an AHL rookie the year he turned 21, putting up 68 points in 74 games. Pominville was an AHL rookie the year he turned 20, putting up 34 points in 73 games. Jack Quinn, as a 20-year-old AHL rookie, outskated mono and bum ankle to score 61 points in just 45 games. His 1.36 points per game is easily the best in the past 30 years by a U21 Amerk who played at least half a season. It’s also the best of any U21 AHL player in that period, even ahead of studs like Briere, Spezza and Couture. https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=208510 While those numbers certainly have caught the attention of Sabres fans, they haven’t created a huge buzz with NHL prospect-watchers, who consistently seem to only grudgingly give Quinn a top-30 or even top-50 ranking, as opposed to the top-10 slot his numbers might suggest. A disappointing AHL playoff may have played a role. As he prepares to try and earn a spot on this year’s Sabres team, he comes in riding an intriguing pattern: a nondescript 1st-year of junior, followed by a 50-goal year, followed by a nondescript introduction to Rochester, followed by last year’s explosion. Vanek had 48 points in 81 games as an NHL rookie the year he turned 22. Pominville had 30 points in 57 games as an NHL rookie the year he turned 23. What do you expect from Jack Quinn this year? (Last year’s takes here):

I'm quite happy with Adams approach to culture, fine with his plan, and big fan of his coaching choice. That's a long way from being confident. He's invested all his chips in Dahlin/Thompson/Tuch/Mitts/Jokiharju/Samuelsson/UPL/Comrie/Cozens/Krebs/Power/Quinn/Peterka/Levi/Savoie/Östlund/Kulich/etcetera. I need to see their reality continue to approach their concept.

The Athletic's annual NHL management confidence survey is out. The Sabres have jumped from 32nd and dead last to 14th overall in this survey of Athletic readers asked to rank their faith in NHL management teams in 6 separate areas: roster building, cap management, drafting and development, trading, free agency and vision. When ranking teams strictly by what their own fans think, Buffalo comes in 11th. 94 percent are more confident than they were a year ago. https://theathletic.com/3516625/2022/08/18/nhl-front-office-confidence-rankings/ it appears fans are buying what Kevyn Adams is selling. What does Sabrespace think?

I was thinking about "other things" — scrutiny, language, taxes, team and the opportunity to relaunch his career.

Treliving was never going to make this deal with the Sabres after the way Adams ***** him on the Eichel trade. 🤔