dudacek

So we like Granato, and we like Ventura, and we like Karmanos and his team with the Amerks, and now we like Forton too? What the hell is happening? (Seriously, interesting piece. Thanks for posting)

I don't think you can ask for much more than what Z gives you from a 4th-liner. Count me in among the "cup-winners need guys like this" crowd. I think his future with the Sabres is tied to what they get this year from Okposo, Asplund and Cozens (and to a lesser extent Krebs and Peterka) when the other team has the puck. If you've got offensive guys who are also reliable matchup guys he's going to be a spare part, but if they can't defend, you're going to need a player like Girgs for that role.

In each of his 5 previous seasons, Zemgus Girgensons put up between 15 and 19 points. No would should be surprised with last year’s 18. Neither should anyone be surprised that he missed time to injury — 26 games to be exact, after missing the entire previous year with a hamstring tear. As he has throughout his career, he continued to getting some of the toughest deployments on the team, with 64% defensive zone starts and plenty of shorthanded ice time. Overall, he finished 7th among forwards in average ice time, at 14:47 a game. https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=130896 Girgensons was named co-alternate captain to start the season, along with Kyle Okposo. He earned praise for his commitment and attitude, but clearly took a backseat to Okposo as a public face of leadership, on and off the ice. He enters the season with the possibility of being shifted to centre under consideration. He is also a pending unrestricted free agent, on a roster with a number of young forwards pressing for ice time. What do you expect from Zemgus Girgensons? (Last year's takes here):

Why shouldn’t Jack have a similar rookie season to Sam (23 goals, 42points)? He’s a year older than Sam was as a rookie. Sam’s totals the year before his NHL rookie season: 47/19/46/65 in the WHL Jack’s totals the year before his NHL rookie season: 45/26/35/61 in the AHL

Anderson, Okposo certainly enter the season with sway and seem to be the right personalities. Girgs and Hinostroza are the right kind of foot soldiers and by all accounts Comrie and Lyubushkin are glue guys. I think what will make or break the kids is less Granato and more the tone set by the young vets in front of them likely to be playing key roles - Tuch, Thompson, Dahlin, Cozens.

The way I see it, Thompson, Skinner, and Tuch are likely to get top 6 deployment, and Asplund, Girgensons and Hinostroza bottom 6, with Okposo as a swing guy. It will be very interesting to see what kind of pecking order and usage evolves with Cozens, Krebs, Mitts, Peterka and Quinn. Personally, I’d like to see some balanced lines. Edit: missed VO, who is also likely to be top 6.

Anyone know why he requested a trade? The Tweet makes it sound like getting drafted by Buffalo had a role, but that might just be the wording. Kamloops was a very good team last year and I think expected to be good again. Lindgren had a big role.

You’re confusing me. (Not for the first time.) Why do you think 30 points is a huge mountain for Power to climb? It’s not an everyday thing, but lots of U21 top 10 picks have done it. Jamie Drysdale did it last year. Sergachev, McAvoy, Hanifan, Ekman-Larson, Eric Johnson, Lindholm, Ekblad, Myers, Dahlin, Fowler, Provorov, Werenski, Seider, Hughes…

Did we know that Krebs was the Sabres 7th leading scoring in the 2nd half of the season? Ahead of Mittelstadt and Cozens and just behind Okposo? He led the team with 9 power play assists.

Rookie season Heiskanen had 33 points and was -14 in 82 games. Maybe we have different definitions of remarkable.

I think you must be thinking of Stanley Cup final sophomore Heiskanen.

I expect there’s a similar case in between most categories. The idea is to pick the one that best fits your thoughts and post your clarifiers.

Easily the most interesting poll so far: no consensus here whatsoever

No. 😜 (Seriously though, IMO the difference between "non-elite 1st pairing" (top 50ish?) and legit #1 D (top dozen-ish?) isn't significant enough to warrant a separate category for the purposes of the poll)

There's a perception Rasmus Dahlin was awful in the fall and awesome in the spring last season. It's a perception not actually born out of the numbers. Dahlin's best month, production-wise, was November (along with April), with 10 points. In terms of +/-, it was October with a -1. Overall, he was pretty consistent statistically, putting up between 6 and 10 points per month and was a monthly -3 four times. His possession numbers improved from the previous year's but not dramatically so; he's been a positive in 3 of his 4 years, and always been one of the Sabres best possession players. It may be that some impassioned Dahlin-boosting by his coach, followed by more winning hockey by his team played a role in reshaping the narrative in the minds of fans and the player himself. Or it may be that the eye test is what matters here, and that the high-profile gaffs and tentativeness that drove some fans crazy early last year had largely vanished by season's end to be replaced by an assertive, combative difference-maker. https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=201658 Dahlin had a career year in goals assists and points, but it was not what one would call a dramatic breakout statistically; his numbers were actually better on a per/game basis in his 2nd season. What did change was the way he was used. For the first time in his career he was deployed as a true #1D, averaging over 24 minutes a game. He got significant PK time and was out on the ice against the other team's best players. He appears to now have the shutdown type of partner most wanted for him in Mattias Samuelsson and may have 2nd pairing support with Owen Power. Dahlin has been overshadowed on the national stage by the likes of Hughes, Makar and Fox putting up near point-per-game numbers sooner in their careers, albeit at an older age. Those guys are generally treading new ground. Victor Hedman jumped to a 50-point player for the first time in his 5th season and a 70-point player in his 8th. Duncan Keith went from 44 to 69 in his fifth. But if Dahlin is going to hit those heights, it might be now or never. What do you expect from Rasmus Dahlin this year? (Last year’s takes here):

Agreed. I think he’s less competitive, but more confident than Dahlin, or maybe a better way of saying it is less emotional, more calm? I expect his game to be a lot more even. It won’t be the egregious errors that people will complain about with Power, it will be them wanting to see more fire.

In Dylan’s year-ended he was asked what Donnie wanted him to work on. His answer: disguising his intentions. Dylan has the physical talent to skate and shoot and pass at a top line level, but he has spent his career to date being able to go full speed ahead and simply overpower his opponents. He needs to add a layer of guile and deception, and learn when to dial it back a touch in order to create space for himself. He has offence he hasn’t shown, and it is going reveal itself. There is too much skill and will there for that not to happen.

I think the only role Power gets in the Calder conversation is when a random Sabre fan says “I can’t believe no one is talking about Power for the Calder.” I don’t think he will be on enough highlight films, or produce enough points, especially early, to force himself into the national spotlight. Dahlin will make sure of that. I do think we will notice earlier than the rest of the world how good he is and by the end of the year his name might start to get trendy. He’s eventually going to be a combination of prime Brian Campbell in the offensive zone and prime Hank Tallinder in the defensive, and that should be an all-star in anybody’s book. Don’t expect too much too soon, but this is not going to be a painfully slow process.This kid is a fast learner and physically NHL-ready. We will be seeing signs of it by the end of this year.

Power’s range combined with his brain could eventually make him elite on the PK. I mean, his tools are everything you want in that role. Im wondering if he might get a lot of PK time even early, given Donnie’s propensity for letting the kids learn by doing.

It will be interesting to see how this unfolds. Top 4 PK TOI in the first half of the year Pysyk 97:36 Hagg 77:21 Jokiharju 54:03 Bryson 46:27 And in the second Samuelsson 82:51 Jokiharju 67:28 Fitzgerald 40:45 Dahlin 40:07 That's a pretty significant shift, and then you consider Lyubushkin is likely to get minutes this year, along with Power being brought in to the mix. Hagg, Fitzgerald, Samuelsson and Pysyk (in that order) had the lowest PP goals against per 60 of the regulars. Power had only 20 minutes of PK time, but his PP GA/60 was better than all of theirs. Luyubushkin's PK numbers were mediocre in Arizona and bad in Toronto.

Full agreement on the "it's the fight in the dog that matters" take on the size of the Sabres. Also: Power 6'6' 215 Samuelsson 6'4" 225 Dahlin 6'3" 210 Lyubushkin 6'2" 210 Cozens 6'3' 190 Tuch 6'4" 220 Thompson 6'7" 225 It's not like they've only been adding peewees

A year ago, Sabrespace greeted the 4th 1st-overall pick in team history with a collective shrug; Dulled by 10 years of losing and a handful of failed saviours, the board was ready to accept the (non?)-hype of Power as a non-elite player in a weak draft year. Then the big kid spent the past year trying to change minds. Instead of the mediocre offensive producer he was billed as, Power put up 32 points in 33 college games, matching the U20 totals of recent college studs like Fox, Werenski, Hughes and Makar. He complimented that by delivering poise without the puck and earning the trust of his coaches in all situations. He added 5 points, included a hat-trick, in just 2 games at the pandemic-cancelled WJC, played for Team Canada in the Beijing Olympics, scored twice while averaging 22 minutes in all situations over an 8-game NHL debut, and put himself at or near the top of most “best prospect in the world” lists. https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=217120 Power enters the season already pencilled into the Sabres top 4, but without the weight of the world on his shoulders with Rasmus Dahlin tagged to be “the guy.” What do you expect from Owen Power? (Last year’s takes here):

I wonder if the results indicate people weren’t as high on Pilut as I remembered, or people just think the overall quality of his competition is that much better. Seems to me the only guy he could bump is Bryson and Bryson seems significantly better defending.

Pronman has his personal biases in what he values just like any of us, so most of the time I don't get upset or excited, I just use it is a filter and generally enjoy his work. Samuelsson is a good example of that. It seems like he gets what Mule brings, he just doesn't value it like I do. But the actual scouting report on Dahlin tell me he didn't really watch him play much over the back half of the season. Anyone who says Dahlin lacks compete and physicality couldn't have been watching.

The part about Dawson Mercer filling our need for a 2nd-line centre to replace Sam Reinhart was fantastic, but the line I liked best was the one about Cole Perfetti's blazing speed.