dudacek

Beck’s a guy I like a lot at 28 if there’s no high-ceiling guys available. Seems like a true centre pretty safe to be a useful NHLer. He’s also someone who might be there at 41.

No NTC, according to capfriendly. https://www.capfriendly.com/players/jonathan-quick

So in his reader mailbag, veteran Athletic columnist Eric Duhatschek responded to a reader who wanted to know who was furthest ahead in their rebuild: Ottawa, Detroit or Buffalo. He said its tight and he would bet on the team that best addressed its goaltending. If you ask me to rank them in terms of the order that I’d choose their rosters (and based on the contracts that have been signed), I would go Buffalo, Ottawa, then Detroit. And then he dropped this little nugget: And I’m waiting anxiously to see who lands between the pipes in Buffalo because they are actively looking for help. If they could ever pry loose a veteran such as a Jonathan Quick to stabilize the back end, they’ll be getting closer. That seems to be oddly specific and makes me wonder if he’s heard something. The Kings just re-signed Petersen to a $5x3 year deal and he is the #1 moving forward. Quick is in the last year of a contract the Kings might like to move and the Sabres can easily absorb. He has no trade protection. LA also seems like a team that could be interested in Ryan Johnson and/or Erik Portillo. Duhatschek has buckets of credibility and connections, particularly out west, and doesn’t make his living with a constant stream of insider babble. To me, this bears watching.

You know, the more I think about it, the more I can see the Sabres taking Korchinski. Go back to Adams marching orders to the scouting staff: don’t look for where a player has come from, look to where he is going look for self-motivated guys wired for self-improvement We want fearless players who play fast Read Wheeler’s fresh profile in the Athletic: Korchinski really ticks all those boxes, and possibly better than anyone in the draft who reasonably projects to 9 or 16. He’s had a very Jack Quinn-like trajectory and draft year. If they really don’t care about position, this pick wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest.

Not pretending to be any kind of draft expert and this isn't a ranking of who’s best. But after informing myself as best as I can, this is my list of the players I’d be most excited for at 9 and 16 - players I like and think would be good fits, in rough order of preference: Nemec Jiricek Gauthier Yurov Savoie Kasper Nazar Miroshnechenko Ohgren Kemmel McGroarty Mintyukov Chesley I would think we would have to trade up for the first 3 and I’m OK with doing that at the right price. I’m assuming Cooley, Slavkovsky and Wright are out of reach. Mintyukov and Kemmel aren’t about the fit - they are the opposite of filling a need. With them it’s more about there comes a point where the talent is too much to ignore. Edit: upon further review, Kulich and Snuggerud somewhere in the final 3. There are definitely scenarios in this draft where I’d be happy to. I’ve down.

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.