dudacek

You must be very selective in your definition of this. How do you define “pressure to perform” and “wilted”? Seems weird to me. Are you saying the only games they had pressure are the ones they lost in mid-March? And that when they lost a tight game in that stretch, like the back-to-back 3-2 Stuart Skinner goalied and Fasching kick-in games, that they wilted? I do think the team wilted at times during that stretch - most notably the Dallas and Philly games. I think they also lost a few heartbreakers and got undone by some horrendous goaltending. But they also had games like when they went into Washington and hosted the Islanders in January while hunting them down in the playoff race and won nailbiters. Or how about sweeping the Florida trip then coming home and kicking Washington’s ass one fine February weekend? The Sabres were bottom 5 in the league In late November. You going to tell me the 40 games they used to climb back into the playoff picture they had no pressure, or they wilted? You going to tell me the past 8 games they had no pressure, or they wilted? Harsh.

I think statistically they were in pretty similar places at the same juncture of their careers. I think eye-test wise Mitts was creating more offensively in his D4 season, but that’s largely because of how Donnie used him post-Ralph compared to how he uses Krebs right now. I also think eye-test wise Krebs is far more advanced as a puckhound and in his defensive reads than Mitts was two years ago. And I look at how far Mitts has come since in those areas. SDS kinda used Krebs role between Girgs and KO to dismiss Krebs, when the fact of the matter is that it’s a plus. Krebs is getting 15 minutes a night in a primarily defensive role. My take on Krebs is that his game is coming along nicely and I won’t be surprised to see him become a pace-pushing, 2-way, middle-6 forward. Kinda like we’ve seen from Mitts.

Because there is no chance he can be better than Boosh or Stillman?

On a more serious note and because this is the Mitts thread: Krebs D+4 season 8/17/25, D+4 career 131 GP 15/33/48 Mitts D+4 season 10/12/22, D+4 career 155 GP 27/34/61

I know 😁

Short answer is yes. Whatever VO’s flaws, finishers always have value.

Your swift and enduring antipathy for Krebs is one of the more unexpected quirks of this board.

Looking increasingly likely the Sabres will be picking 13th pre-lottery. Theoretically, they could still drop to 9th, but 1 win in our last 4 guarantees no higher than 12th and we’d have to lose the other 3 and Ottawa would have to win both of theirs for us to finish 12th. In the other direction, if we win out and everyone we’re chasing loses, we could pick as low as 19th. But we are 3 points back of Nashville for the 14th slot and 5 or 6 back of the others, so movement in that direction is not likely either.

I’m mostly with you on the AHL issue, but I feel you’re missing a crucial element here: the AHL isn’t crucial to development, but reps are beneficial to growth, particularly game reps. Players minds and bodies mature when they are tested through competition far more than just through time. Playing first line minutes against the highest level of competition they’ve ever faced in games that matter is more beneficial than working out in the gym or watching from the stands.

IMO, developmental year is as much about forcing Tuch and Tage and Ras and Mitts to play lead roles as it is giving JJ and Power and Quinn and Krebs ice time instead of adding Chiarots and Perrons and Copps. By my quick count we are 5/7/1 against the league’s top 5 teams and 7/2/2 against the 5 worst. Against the conference rivals we needed to beat to get in: 4/5/1 against Pit, NYI, and Fla, 6/3/1 against Det, Was and Ott.

Or sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. Good response otherwise.

Are these the kind of games people were talking about last spring when they said they needed to see them play well against good teams in games that mattered? That was a playoff-style match against a very good hockey team and we kept coming. Somebody up-thread talked about Donnie never adjusting, others have talked about him not coaching to win. Rolling the top 4 D, benching the kids late, coming back with Levi, Mitts to line 1, Tage to Cozens wing, Power and Dahlin to attack, Joki and Mule to defend, using his pressers to re-iterate his belief in his players.... In the past 2 weeks he's put on a clinic: wins over the Rangers, Devils and Canes on a 6/1/1 run, and the much-maligned D has allowed less than 3 goals against per game during that span.

It won't be enough to make the playoffs, but Granato has a chance to be the first coach to match or even pass the record of Lindy Ruff's last full season with the team: 89 points. As is, it's already the best season since then. Also, back to Deluca .500

He was actually next: 37 %, if memory serves.

Today was the closest I've seen Casey look to the player that had us all so excited during the Buffalo World Juniors: a puck hound and playmaker. It's not lost on me that it was happening between the team's two best wingers. Nor is it lost that it happened against perhaps the NHL's best defence corps. It's looking more and more like Granato has fixed another one.

I'm starting to see a player that more matches the concept: Not necessarily the banger that some were hoping for, but the responsible, strong-on-pucks guy who goes to the net and backchecks with purpose.

Or maybe they had always intended to play Levi and gave him the day off to rest. I’m glad they are trying to give him as much action as possible. He’s the one we need to see more of.

He’s played 20 games and has been sub .880 for 10 of them. What kinda sample size do you need? Granato: Making things easier on Tage with his injury, spreading the wealth over 2 lines by breaking up Tuch and Tage.

Jack Quinn has a tiny sample size, but he is the Sabres best all-time out of players with multiple attempts. Quinn 3/4 75% Tuch 3/6 50% Thompson 7/15 46.7% Dahlin 1/3 33.3% Girgensons 4/14 28.6 Olofsson 2/9 22.2 Mittelstadt 3/14 21.4 No other Sabre has scored a shootout goal for Buffalo. Skinner is 0/1, Peterka is 0/2, Cozens 0/3. Skinner is 6 for 36 lifetime (16.7%) All-time, the leader over a reasonable sample size is Kotalik Kotalik 18/36 50% Gerbe 4/9 44.4% Briere 8/18 44.4% Afinogenov 6/14 42.9% Boyes 5/12 41.7% Overall, NHL shooters generally score 1 out of every 3 attempts.

I’d feel a lot better about adding Kulich to the big club next year if we didn’t already have Tuch, Skinner, Quinn, Mitts, Peterka and Olofsson on the wings, and a team already in need of more physical strength and defensive aptitude. Especially if the player he’s replacing is Okposo. Let’s wait until we’ve seen Jack and JJ make a jump, what Greenway can bring, and what the market is for Olofsson before we add even more offence-first and inexperienced players.

For some reason, UPL has been able backstop the Sabres to a 97-point pace this year. Sometimes he’s been good, other times he’s been terrible. Over the past month (8 appearances), he’s had 3 starts of .923 or better, 4 of .897 or worse and a perfect 23 minutes of relief. Flip a coin.

Please god, dump that kid in the west. Last thing we need is him plugged into Detroit or Montreal for the next 15 years.

Been a lot of talk about Power and Dahlin extending early this summer instead of waiting until the following summer when their deals expire. I wonder if Casey will be offered a similar opportunity? Recent comparable might be Filip Chytil who just signed a 4-year, 4.4 AAV deal. (UPL, Krebs and Jokiharju are the others in the same situation.)

Overlooked in all the other fireworks last night, that was a pretty cowardly run Wallman took at Mittelstadt. Dropped his gloves and skated into the pile toward an unprepared skill guy who wasn’t watching him and started chucking them.