dudacek

…to start his NHL career, after pitching 25 in 38 college games. He finishes with 8 after nearly dragging the Sabres on a late run into the playoffs.

I think typically only 50-60 players from each draft go on to be NHL regulars. It would stand to reason that guys between 15 and 45 would tend to be mid-roster players, by simple math and averaging, no?

This sounds both like an Onion headline and an accurate depiction of Adams’ off-season plan.

Probably my least favourite choice of any of the players being projected to us at 9. Not even wArm to him at 16. Not my type of player, nor a good fit for team needs.

I’ll also say that after watching the presser @inkman’s pessimistic take on Adams getting another goalie looked more accurate to me than the positive take I got from his WGR interviews It also struck me that he may have also been talking to a trade partner: “I’ve got 2 goalies now, I’m not desperate I don’t need your goalie that bad to pay outrageous price.”

He finally did address him by name at yesterday’s presser kinda came across as “oh yeah, he had a good season too…”

It’s just Yzerman in people’s heads. They’re just casting around trying to find the most out-of-the-box pick they can think of At this point it will now be Kemmel - the (gasp) consensus highest rated player left on the board!

Agreed. I think he also thinks/hopes UPL emerges as soon as this year as a suitable Ullmark-level bridge

Interesting to revisit the opening post to see what perceptions were a year ago Who the ***** is Maddox Fleming

Or even 9

Scott Wheeler of The Athletic offers this on Olivier Nadeau's play at the Memorial Cup: Oliver Nadeau (Buffalo Sabres): I thought Nadeau was tremendous. He exceeded my expectations and I’ve watched a lot of him. He was making the decisions with the puck. He was around puck shift-to-shift. Took some draws on his strong side to free up Bourque as a top-of-the-circle shooter. He was great along the cycle. He saw through layers for several nice passes, both at five-on-five and on the power play. He’s a PK1 guy for them. He goes to the middle and the front of the net and scored a team-leading four goals because of it. He’s still got a bit of a pitchfork in his skating, but I like the rest as far as B-level prospects go. I’m not sure if he’s an NHLer long term but the Sabres are smart to have signed him.

Friedman says Ryan McDonough is on the market as the Lightning try to negotiate the cap. Still a warrior. 3 years left at $6.7. He’s 33. Left shot. Good buddies with our coach, Dan Girardi. Interest? Under what circumstances?

Not really. If they were 27, 28, and 29, they would presumably have nearly identical scores on my board. In that case who we have in the system - including who we picked at 9 and 16 and who looks to be available at 41 - would factor in to my decision-making. Now if I had Gaucher ranked significantly higher than Chesley, that would be a different story. I believe in tiers, as opposed to a firmly demarcated pecking order.

This, minus undervaluing Joki, is more or less true. It in no way means the Sabres have to pick defencemen among their top 4 choices this year. The same thing could be said about centres and goalies. Right now, UPL is in Buffalo, Levi and Portillo are unsigned. Right now, there is no burning need for those defence replacements. Nor should there be for a few years, given the age of our existing group. Mark Pysyks can be signed to fill out the depth chart as well as Craig Andersons. I’d take Chesley at 28 too. Good example of taking what the draft gives you.

Don’t forget the Sabres have 5 defencemen who were top 32 picks from the past 5 drafts, including 2 that were 1st overall. You’d be hard-pressed to find another team that has invested so much draft capital into the position during that span. Sure there is a need to ensure a pipeline behind that group, but it’s going to be your core for the foreseeable future. There are 7 other picks available after pick 41 and another 4 1st and 2nd rounders next year. Take what this draft gives you. There is no need to force anything.

If we were to walk away with Savoie and Yurov that would probably the biggest injection of forward talent we could possibly hope for. Each has mitigating questions that pushes them down, but in terms of raw offensive skill I don’t see either as being significantly different from the big 3 forwards at the top of the draft.

It’s also good GMing. He is now covered with a fallback and won’t be left scrambling for scraps if he fails when the real action begins. He’s doing what he failed to do last year and was rightly criticized for.

Can’t believe I overlooked Quick after touting him just a few days ago on here. Personally, I think he might be our most realistic target, all things considered.

No

Mackenzie Blackwood, John Gibson and Semyon Varlamov are the ones I've seen discussed.

I don’t interpret this as we are NOT definitely getting another goalie as many of you are

I don't see how this can be considered anything other than good news. I'm not sure we could ask for a better scenario than Anderson and UPL in the 2 and 3 positions. Anderson is perfect for the room, good in low-use situations, capable of carrying the load if the starter falls and won't go all Al Smith if UPL passes him. UPL gets to play a ton in Rochester and hopefully forces his way into the NHL before the season is over. Not a single prospective new starter has been scared away and not a single asset has been squandered. Good to see Adams making a move early, getting some insurance in place, and setting himself up to be a player for multiple possibilities over the next 2 weeks. Much better than being caught with his pants down and looking for scraps after the frenzy like last year.

Good. Now go get a starter.

Probably doesn’t mean anything, but the Sabres own website profiled: Savoie, Kasper, Kemmel, Lekkerimaki and Gauthier as possibilities at 9 Kulich Yurov, Snuggerud, Geekie and Korchinski at 16 and Miroshnichenko, Lambert, McGroarty, Firkus and Hutson at 28

I think a team targeting a D might want to be giving Adams a call to vault up to 9. I think it’s likely there’s a run shortly after Buffalo’s pick. Wonder what teams picking between 11 and 15 might give up to move up. We could move down and still pick up a good forward.