dudacek

By killer season, I meant a career year.

If Jack is healthy he’s going to have a killer season.

I think this is spot on. Competitiveness is only a virtue when channeled appropriately.

It’s not might, it’s will. He’s going to have arbitration rights and be one year away from UFA.

Renegotiations arent allowed under the CBA

I just read something on the NHL draft about how NHL execs value size, skating and the ability to play centre, and it made me think of this thread. Forget Tage Thompson and everything you know about him. Imagine it is the 1st day of free agency and the agent for a 24-year-old, 6’7” 225-pound centre calls and says his client really, really wants to live and play and raise a family in your less-than-glamorous city? Imagine that this kid can skate, shoot and dangle and has already scored 38 goals in a single NHL season. Is there a universe where you can imagine an NHL GM not being willing to give such a kid $6x6? Let’s quit acting like we’re talking about Ville Leino here.

Good Wheeler Q&A with Brad Lambert in the Athletic this morning. Not revelatory, but the kid comes across well - actually like someone Adams would like. He talks about his hatred for losing and his love for hockey.

Firkus has a Tyler Ennis ceiling. There was talk in the combine about how small and skinny he was, like a 12-year-old.

We’re not quite there yet, but we’re beginning to see signs that the Sabres are no longer atop the list of the NHL’s red-headed step-children. Montreal just had one of the worst seasons in recent memory and has hit the reset button. Seattle is an expansion team in the traditional sense of the word. Philadelphia is broken and looks poised to go on a wildly bad overspending spree. San Jose has no prospects, no GM and the worst collection of bad contracts in the league. Chicago has a shameful scandal, a dinosaur owner and is poised to tank Arizona is a salary cap dumping bank for the rest of the league and poised to play in university gym And now nobody wants to be in Winnipeg. We’re in a group now with Ottawa, Detroit, New Jersey, Anaheim and Columbus with some kids, cap space and signs of hope.

You said it yourself: Tage only played 145 games prior to this year. After 145 games, Eichel established his baseline, he didn’t regress to it. He improved for following 3 consecutive seasons. Breakout Hall came five years after he played 145 games. Tage can’t regress to a baseline when he hasn’t yet established it.

LOL. "I think the Sabres with no goalies and multiple UFAs up front and on D are shopping to improve their 23rd-place team in all positions." I'm not usually an Insder-basher, but sometimes just say "I haven't really heard any news"

When I watched Tage Thompson play last year he showed a lot more skill than I have ever seen from William Karlsson. And for me, I think that's the kicker: I believe in the player I watched this year, not his stat line.

Would you take 5X5 if you were Thompson? I wouldn't. I should still get that next summer even if I only put up 50 points this year.

@SwampD you’re coming in late to this, and I think you legitimately want to understand, so I am going to try one more time, since you are one of my favourite Sabrespacers. Fact: the Sabres cannot carry more than 23 healthy players on their roster. Fact: the Sabres must spend at least $61 million to stay above the cap floor Generally accepted likelihood: Adams wants Skinner/Thompson/Tuch/ Mitts/Olofsson/Asplund/ Girgs/Okposo/ Krebs/Cozens Quinn/Peterka Dahlin/Power Joki/Mule/Bryson on the roster We can probably assume Olofsson and Bryson sign for a combined 6 million. That leaves the Sabres about $13 million under the floor and with roster room to add 2 goalies, one defenceman and up to 3 other players. You with me so far? The issue is that Adams is so far below the floor that he could acquire 6 $2 million players and he will still be under. You cant get to the floor with a bunch of Hinostroza/Pysyk type little contracts because you only have room for six of them. Once you get to 23 those guys are getting sent down and most of their cap hit falls off. You can acquire some big contracts to make up the $13 million. But it’s not that cut and dried. It’s not that Adams can’t make a deal, or multiple deals, or that he won’t. It’s that it’s a free market. Some people worth those contracts may not want to come to Buffalo at any price, and others are only coming if you take on a bad contract.. What happens if “good” deals don’t materialize for you? Then, in order to get to the floor you are going to have to take on “bad” deals. Instead of waiting, Adams made a pre-emptive strike: he took on a bad deal that gives him a $5 million insurance policy. But the beauty of Bishop's bad contract is that it does not take up a precious roster spot because he’s on IR. It does not cost his owner much in real money - reportedly only $750,000. It has no long-term repercussions since it does not continue beyond the coming season. And it does not bring an unwanted and potentially divisive extra body into the organization. Plus he actually added a 7th in the process. In short, as far as “bad” contracts go, it’s about as good as it gets. It doesn’t mean the Sabres won’t be acquiring new players: they still have up to 6 spots to fill and $8 million they will have to spend. (And they can still spend more) It just means they aren’t backed into a salary cap corner, where they will be forced into making bad deals if the good deals don’t come together. They can now fill out the roster with Hinostrozas for $1 million instead of Mrazeks for $3. It’s probably going to be meaningless once the rubber hits the road in July. But it is still smart, prudent GMing.

Another interesting thing to consider is Thompson's shooting percentage, which leapt from 8.3 to 15.0. An easy conclusion is that he got lucky: pucks were just going in for him and that percentage is unsustainable. I buy that to a degree, but not entirely. All of us are familiar with the pre-Granato Thompson: big windups and ill-considered toe-drags to 'improve' his shooting position. With the Granato Thompson, it was on the stick and off before the goalies could get set. So while I do think some regression is likely, I also think there has been a fundamental shift in how Thompson was shooting that leads me to believe more than just luck was at play. The actual mechanics of his shot — the power, quickness and accuracy - are those of a legitimate goal scorer.

Not exactly. Tuch arrived in late December. December, however, was Tage’s worst month, so he did perk up when Tuch arrived. On the other hand, Tuch slumped down the stretch -16 points in his final 28 games - while Thompson continued to thrive.

Here’s an interesting stat about Tage I haven’t seen discussed much: he got better as the year went on. From Feb. 1 (a point by which he was firmly entrenched as the team’s #1 centre and facing opponents’ top defenders) he scored 24 goals and 39 points in 38 games.

Fantastic post. A better question in the opening post might have been “do you think Tage Thompson is a 60-70 point scorer, for real?” Because if he is and you wait, all of those long-term deals are bargains, and you’ve walked him to the same place you walked Sam Reinhart: a chance at arbitration and to walk on a one-and-gone deal.

Tage Thompson just finished 19th in the NHL in goals and 56th in points. He is eligible for a contract extension on July 13. Would you offer him one and how high would you go? (For reference the 20th highest paid NHL forward made $9 million last year, the 50th made $6.9 and the 100th $5.2)

I’ve read where Okposo has a great analytical mind for the game and where he is pretty diligent follower of the league. Couple that with his obvious intelligence and leadership persona and he would seem to be a natural for a career in coaching or the front office.

I think people are still carrying baggage from the O’Reilly trade when it comes to Tage. I thought he conducted himself with the requisite levels of seriousness, swagger and respect for the crest. His work ethic was outstanding, he’s shown he’s got the fortitude to overcome adversity. More importantly, he led on the ice; when the team needed a goal, he wanted to be the one to deliver and he often did.

It’s the 4th-liner remark, and the diminishing Okposo as simply a respected vet likely to be traded, and who should not be re-signed that I took issue with. Anyone paying attention knows Okposo was a key contributor on the ice - both special teams, all situations. Everything I’ve read and seen coming directly from the Sabres - management and players - points to Okposo as the focal point and catalyst for the good vibes this year. Adams wanted the captaincy to develop organically this year and it did. In the minds of everyone in and around the organization, Kyle is the captain. *** Separately, your concerns about age and decline are valid. I’d counter that with giving the C to anyone other than Kyle right now would make the C a lie.

I don’t have a problem with you not liking the choice. I do find it weird how a Sabre fan can confidently say Ullmark and Swayman are best buds, yet be so out of touch with what happened with Okposo and Buffalo this year.

Article implies that Graham knows, or at least believes something, but nothing in there confirms it. The money section: "Would it be crossing a line to say Okposo will be Buffalo’s next captain? Not based on the way his teammates insisted on naming his name at the end of the season. “To a man,” Sabres GM Kevyn Adams said, “almost every player in the exit meetings found a way to make sure that I knew how much they respect Kyle Okposo. That’s pretty unique. It wasn’t like I was asking players, ‘Hey, tell me what you think about Kyle.’ They just said it to me. “Everybody you talk to in the game of hockey, across the NHL, they all say the same thing. This is just a world-class human being. We should be proud as an organization to have him represent us every day.” Adams and Granato didn’t divulge who the 2022-23 captain will be. That announcement will be made with pomp, as is hockey’s tradition. But all signs point to Okposo wearing the “C” for the first time since the Sabres unstitched it from Jack Eichel’s sweater three weeks before last season began." The article is outstanding, an example of why I have a subscription. Kyle has become my favourite Sabre.

It could be a home run. Each comes with questions, but they aren’t questions of character or intelligence, and Yurov and Savoie are probably top 5 forwards in this draft in terms of skill.