dudacek

After 2 years of mildly disappointing play, a scary, life-altering injury, and 2 subsequent years where Ralph Krueger tried to use him as the NHL’s most overpaid 4th-line grinder, Kyle Okposo finally emerged in the 6th season of a 7-year contract as a key member of a reasonably likeable Buffalo Sabres team. Not only did the man teammates called “Dad” become an articulate ambassador for the beginnings of the reforging of a renewed connection with a jaded Buffalo fanbase, and a clear leader for the most unified dressing room the Sabres had shown in years, he also reignited his offence with his best numbers in six years. Skating in all situations for an average of 16:47 a night, Okposo finished 29th among all NHL right wings in points, and 24th in goals. https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=93992 As the franchise drops hints he might be on the verge of being named captain, Okposo enters the last year of his contract facing questions about whether he can repeat his renaissance on and off the ice and be a glue guy for a team on the rise. What do you expect from him this year? (Last year’s takes here):

What it means is a lot of teams were as excited about getting their Gaucher or their Pickering as the Sabres were about Kulich. More evidence of how its silly to get upset when a team goes off the board from the consensus list. Nobody knows who the best player available is. Everyone is basing their choice through different criteria, different information and different filters.

I had no idea there was symbolism there beyond what appeared to me as run-of-the-mill “salute”. Symbols are indeed powerful. Up here, Canada Day was interesting this summer after two consecutive years of low-key or non-celebration. One would think people would have been embracing an opportunity to fly the maple leaf. Instead, I heard reluctance from several people. During the pandemic, the most common place to see a flag flying was off the back of a truck belonging to a horn-honking, often obnoxious person disrupting people’s commutes to oppose pandemic-related mandates. People who normally may have been flying the flag, did not want to be confused with that movement.

This is what I always thought gets missed in all those “size” debates that break out from time to time. Range is a thing, and reach can be a very effective tool in creating that.

I still like the concept of a Quinn Peterka Krebs line, but when I watched in the AHL, I didn’t think there were enough pucks to go around; they all like to carry it, they all like to go get it. Peterka Quinn was good and Peterka Krebs was solid, but I think they need an off-puck thinker as the third. Krebs and Olofsson, or Krebs and Thompson with a structure guy, that might work. The Krebs/Briere thing doesn’t work for me because Peyton is rarely thinking shoot, while Danny attacked the net like a shark. Savoie is more the Briere type. (Savoie/Krebs might be something to look forward to).

I’m a little torn on Krebs. Love his hustle, his unselfishness, his fearlessness, and his off-ice approach to being a Sabre. He’s a kid I am really pulling for to succeed. And he’s got lots of speed and skill, and he really cares about his defence. But he’s got to fix the turnovers, and the number of battles he loses if he is going to earn top 6 or even top 9 ice time. Another NHL coach would have had him nailed to the bench last year. Theoretically, those are the kind of flaws that age and experience will overcome, so fingers crossed. His inability to score goals though, that isn’t going to change. And that’s why I think his ceiling is lower than some of our other touted prospects. His lack of being a shooting threat also counteracts his excellent vision on the power play. He’s going to need more balance to his game. There is a future, however, where it’s pretty easy to envision better shooters like Quinn, Kulich, Rosen and Peterka feasting off those passes. It might even arrive a little sooner for guys like Olofsson, Thompson and Tuch. I’ve got some patience for this kid. Which is good, because I think it will be needed.

Speaking only for myself, it is fully this. Maybe this year he becomes a tweener (heck, I’m the one envisioning him in the Jankowski role) but over the past decade, Sheahan has played about 600 NHL games and 4 in the minors. These are the guys we want in 14th forward spot, as opposed to the #10, where they would have been over most of the past decade.

I’ve never considered Owen Power irresponsible defensively.

To be a true contending team this season, sure. To develop a true contending team, disagree.

And these are tactics that Granato seems to already utilize

A better roster breeds a more competitive team. I'm not sure it breeds better internal competition, although a deeper roster does (Good rosters can get complacent). The model you are suggesting is based on teams that largely have a hierarchy established. As you have said, the Sabres do not. Adams and Granato could bring in outsiders to create that hierarchy like you suggest, or they could do what they are doing: let it form organically. I think both methods are proven (Imlach '74, Regier '06), don't think either method is guaranteed (Murray '16, Bowman '85)

So what you actually want is not competition, it's a better roster right now. Because if you are bringing in, say, Andrew Copp, you are giving him a middle-six roster spot; you don't expect Mitts and Cozens to beat him out; if you did, you wouldn't have invested $25 million in him.

This is what I was trying to say to Weave in the other thread: the fact there is nothing close to consensus her on the roster is evidence the competition is real.

Krebs showed some good chemistry with Olofsson last year and has historically had some good chemistry with Cozens. I like the concept of that line: passer, shooter, power forward. Not sure who would play centre.

I think Leinonen must have been more of an organizational decision, not a scouting decision. And what I mean by that was that Adams felt it was a necessity to add a good prospect to the goaltending stable this year and made a calculated decision that using pick #41 on "the best goalie available" even if he wasn't the best player available was the best way to do that.

What Sabres player has his slot in the roster guaranteed and is not vulnerable to being bumped, or in a position to push his way further up the lineup? That is what competition looks like.

If you think you need to be beating out 40-point players just to make a team, you have a very unrealistic view of the level of talent in the National Hockey League.

Didn't Quinn and Peterka earn anything with their play last year? Didn't they already beat out Eakin and Hayden? Don't they still have to beat out Bjork and Sheahan to make the team, and Girgensons and Hinostroza and Asplund to get ice time? Aren't they competing with Krebs and Cozens and Mitts and Olofsson and Okposo for spots in the top 6 or top 9? This idea that people are being "given" spots is bizarre to me. There are 15 forwards competing for 12 starting spots and plenty of internal competition for ice time within that heirarchy. I'd say there is more competition for ice time among the Sabres forward ranks than among most teams in the league.

I agree that our centre corps is young and unproven, but I think if you look at the forward group as a whole, what you're asking for is already happening. The goal is to challenge the likes of Peterka Quinn, Mitts, Cozens and Krebs push past the likes of Okposo, Girgensons, Skinner, Hinostroza and Olofsson over the course of a few seasons, then ask the likes of Rosen, Poltapov, Östlund, Kulich and Savoie to do the same as they come in behind them. It's a balance of giving opportunities versus giving spots and I think the Sabres are very cognizant of that.

Anyone else recall a WJC featuring 2 Sabres 1st rounders when neither of them were among the team’s top 3 prospects, let alone not even among the top 5?

At 17, Peyton Krebs was the centrepiece in the rebuild of a dismal .278 Kootenay Ice WHL franchise that transformed into a .771 team by the time he graduated to the pros. He totalled 25 goals and 103 points in his final 62 WHL games, spread over two pandemic seasons, coming back from a torn Achilles heel and earning plaudits for his effort, passing and leadership, with a clear path in front of him as the top prospect of a stacked Vegas Golden Knights franchise. Then came Nov. 4, where he unexpectedly found himself in Rochester as a key asset in the year's biggest NHL trade, and property of the lowly Buffalo Sabres. On the ice, Krebs proved himself a very good AHL player, with 31 points in just 30 games, including playoffs. In the NHL, however, things were less smooth. He had just 1 point in his first 15 NHL games, and finished the season with just 1 in his final 8. In between he put up a respectable 20 in 34, mixing some elite passes in with some dreadful giveaways. Off the ice, he became one of the team's more notable marketing chips, being featured prominently in the Sabres Embedded "Putting Down Roots" segment and conducting a memorable interview where he rhapsodized about raising a family on a backyard rink in a wintry, tree-wrapped Buffalo property. https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=197782 In some ways, Krebs is the poster child for the Adams' Sabres: get 'em young, talented, self-motivated and unproven, and give them an opportunity to carve out their best self within the context of the team, while falling in love with Buffalo and being a Sabre. It would probably be unfair to look at his development path as a metaphor for the team's. But it is an easy thing to do. What do you expect from him this year?

This also means the Sabres have 12 actual NHL forwards for the 1st time in recent memory - 14 if Quinn and Peterka are as good as we think they are. Skinner Thompson Tuch Olofsson Mittelstadt Asplund Krebs Cozens Okposo Girgensons Sheahan Hinostroza I mean there are many guys in the top nine who have things to prove, but they are real NHLers and they also give you plenty of reasons to be hopeful. And the 4th line is across-the-board better than the fringe-level Bjork Eakin Hayden group we ran last year. Heck, Zemgus and Vinnie are 3rd liners on many NHL teams. And depth! With JJ and Jack sending guys to the press box or being the next guys up, our forward corps should be JAG-free 90 percent of the games this season, instead of last year’s, well, never. This makes me irrationally happy.

This, this is exactly what I was talking about. Nothing wrong at all with Sheahan as a serviceable 4th line centre, or a guy who can sit in the press box, or a veteran leader in Rochester. If he gets plucked on waivers - the $950,000 makes it less likely - oh well, thanks for coming. He replaces Eakin and/or Jankowski and is probably an upgrade in either role. And the bonus is this likely means Anders Bjork will only play because of injury, or poor play from Quinn and Peterka. And that’s a role where he’s as good as any.

Can’t give the post enough likes. Best explanation I’ve seen of the business rationale underpinning the hockey plan. This is why they aren’t spending now or trading picks. They will spend on the cream of the current group and profit on the play of every pick they made (and will make) after Power on cheap 1st and 2nd deals.

Something about that kid completely rubs me the wrong way.