dudacek

2018-20: 18 picks in 3 years, 7 of them in the 1st 3 rounds. 2021-22: 22 picks in 2 years, 11 in the 1st 3 rounds. We’ve certainly bought more raffle tickets.

My post was not referring to the current need. I think others have answered this, but the organization didn’t draft a goalie the past 2 drafts and just 2 in their past 7. A smart organization needs to constantly have someone coming up behind in the pipeline so there are other options when prospects fail like Johansson or move on because of contracts like Husso.

This strikes me as a case where they put need over BPA. Not that he wasn’t rated there on their list - he clearly was - I just think a desire to get a goalie, lack of goalies, his physical tools, good character, and the gap between him and the next goalie all factored in to them not giving enough weight to performance. I’m not overly worried about it because goalies are an inexact science at the best of times. Development matters most, and there is an enormous mound of raw clay to work with.

Scott Wheeler was not talking about the Sabres when he made this quote, but it stuck with me as fitting for this draft: The teams that win the war take chances on talent, the hardest thing to find anywhere. Add in the caveat of competitive talent, and it really describes how they approached this draft. Every pick - at least from what I can see - seems to be talented for where he was taken.

For those who missed this: Winners 1. Buffalo Sabres Pick: 9. C/RW Matt Savoie My ranking: No. 4 (change: -5) Pick: 16. C Noah Östlund My ranking: No. 23 (change: +7) Pick: 28. C/LW/RW Jiri Kulich My ranking: No. 22 (change: -6) If the goal was to draft slick, skilled players, the Sabres sure did with their first two picks. If the goal was to draft centres, they took three kids capable of playing down the middle. I knew that whoever grabbed Savoie in the 8-10 range was likely going to have made one of my favourite picks of Day 1, and lo and behold that’s how I feel about this pick now that the first 32 selections have been made. He’s an explosive skater with maybe the quickest first three strides in the draft, a shot and hands that also grade out right at the very top of the draft, and dogged, high-energy, never-stop-moving approach. For what it’s worth, too: I think he’s going to be a centre, the Sabres’ strong pool’s only real need, to boot. Östlund is a slippery, playmaking centre who is, like Savoie, also one of the better skaters in the draft. He doesn’t skate with the power that Savoie does, but he’s a light, airy skater with soft hands and a standout two-way game. And Kulich is exactly the kind of player who excels alongside players like Savoie and Östlund. He’s got one of the best shots in the draft (especially his one-timer) but he’s also a complete hockey player with a pro build, a driven on-ice approach, soft hands, and impressive balance and control over his skates. Arguably the league’s best pool just got better

I stopped reading after once hit puck with stick…

Forton dropped a nugget that Savoie, Kulich and Östlund were all firmly in the top half of the 1st round on their board. He also said Savoie was one of two players the Sabres were hoping would be there at 9. He also said earlier that he had a very clear top 6. I would bet good money that their top 6 was the same top six that went top six. Im going to guess that the other guy they were hoping for was Kasper, and the trade with Ottawa was to jump over Detroit and ensure they got one of their top 8. Then Chicago moved up instead, took Korchinski and we ended up with Savoie anyway. I wonder what the butterfly effect of moving to 7 would have been? Frankly, I doubt we would have done better than the trio we got. Especially if Detroit had Savoie ranked right after Kasper. Only guy picked between Savoie and Östlund I rank with Östlund is Nazar. Maybe dominoes lead to Kulich not being there at 28? Maybe Matt Murray did do us a favour.

You may be right. I’m not clear if Mat Murray was the cap weaponizing move he was talking about or not. Have we seen other cap-clearing moves beyond McDonough and Mrazek? Because you know they’re coming

5 for 5, baby!

You need to let this one go. Good story. Good guy. Not a good goalie. I’m starting to think Adams might letting perfect get in the way of good. You know, “We have a plan and we are going to stick with it.” I think the main reason he hasn’t got a goalie yet is he’s not willing to pay market rates for players he doesn’t see as worth paying for. Sometimes you just gotta roll with what the world offers.

I don’t recall Terry not being at the table for a Sabres draft.

Updated prospect depth chart Centre: Krebs (L) Savoie (R) Östlund (L) Kulich (L) Ruotsalainen (L) Biro (L) Huglen (R) Costantini (L) Kozak (L) Karlsson (L) Konecny (L) Sjodin (L) Wing: Quinn (R) Peterka (L) Rosen (L) Poltapov (R) Kisakov (L) Nadeau (R) Bloom (L) Neuchev (L) Rousek (L) Murray (L) Weissbach (L) Richard (R) Pekar (L) Sardarian (L) Cedarqvist (L) Marjala (L) Von Barnekow (L) Ratovic (L) Defence: Power (L) Samuelsson (L) Fitzgerald (R) Johnson (L) Lindgren (L) Novikov (L] Laaksonen (R) Komarov (R) Lyckasen (R) Goalie: Luukkonnen Levi Portillo Leinonen

Only young fella on the stage for the Sabres picks last night was Terry and Kim’s little boy Matt.

I wonder how much of that is analytics driven? He passes the horseflesh test with that frame, but apparently not the eye test, based on his consensus ranking. His counting stats are meh. I want four years like last year, when all the prospects were popping, so people start talking about to the Sabre development pipeline like they do Tampa's. I want to be that team where pending UFA Victor Olofsson gets flipped for a 1st at the deadline and Victor Neuchaev (I'll learn to spell it later) slides right in to take his place.

By grit, do you mean 'ready to drop 'em?' Because by the definition of grit as "painful to play against" our first rounders are gritty. They don't stop coming. Forton was hired by Darcy as an assistant coach to Ron Rolston in 2013-14 (replacing Kevyn Adams!) and then moved over to scouting when Ted Nolan brought in his people. He's been here for almost the full Pegula tenure.

I’m pretty sure that translates to Joe Smith.

Johnson should slide in as a 1st pairing D with Mule and Power at camp, facing and feeding Quinn, Peterka, Krebs, Savoie, Östlund, Levi and the most loaded group of Sabres prospects ever gathered in one place, with Granato and Appert feeding the vibe. If he doesn’t want to be part of that, then it was never meant to be.

Yeah but 5 centres! Adams can take the next 2 years off again 😄 Wait, so @Thorny is James Patrick and you are Craig Rivet?

Big, big boy. Know nothing about him, but the Sabres have not taken a goalie this high since Mika Noronen went at 21 in 1997. 5th highest pick used on a goalie in Sabre history (Barrasso, Biron and our own Bob Sauve we’re all 1st-rounders.) Guess we’ll see where this one goes. Would have rather nabbed an RD

It probably means they like this kid a lot more than the internet does. And that they see a need to keep the goalie pipeline flowing with fresh bodies so there are always options down the road and the current situation is not repeated.

Goalie? Big surprise there

Watched the draft with some Habs fans friends who (obviously) had been doing a ton of research on Wright. They said they’ve noticed that Wright comes across poorly in interviews: he says the right things he has been programmed to say, but leaves the impression that it’s posturing, he doesn’t really believe it. Rather than “alpha dog” his body language says self-doubt and insecurity. That was even before the “death stare” thing. Take that for what it’s worth, but if GMs were getting the same impression you can see why he dropped.

So basically a 3rd and a slight move up worth maybe a 4th? That one hurts a bit.

Couldn’t say how fast he actually is on a stopwatch, but Savoie is the definition of plays fast. He’s just as fast with the puck as he is without it. He attacks the game, is fearless and his hands are as good as anyone in this entire draft. He led the entire draft class in goals and was just 3 behind Wright in points, well ahead of the rest of the pack and ahead of Sam Reinhart and Dylan Cozens in their U18 years. And people should not be overlooking the sheer entertainment value he brings to the game. Best player left on the board.

The Sabres now have 7 players under the age of 25 who project as centres on the 3rd line or higher. I see Ostlund as the only one who you couldn’t easily shift to the wing. Organized by where they were drafted, all picked in the top 34: Cozens Mittelstadt Quinn Savoie Ostlund Rosen Krebs Thompson Kulich Poltapov Asplund Peterka That’s a lot of skill, a lot of speed and a lot of compete. It will be interesting to see how they develop.