dudacek

The Sabres draft videos show Terry at the table throughout, both days.

Tuch 25, Thompson 24, Mittelstadt 23, UPL 22, Jokiharju 22, Dahlin 21. Samuelsson 21, Portillo 21, Krebs 20, Cozens 20, Quinn 20, Johnson 20, Levi 20, Peterka 19, Power 19. 7 picks in the top 100 last year, 8 more in the 1st 2 rounds this year and next. We need players on the front-end of the Dahlin bubble more than the back end. Tuch is on a good contract and will still be good in 5 years. He fits. Keep him. *** Separately, I feel like i don't know you any more.

I don't think Terry is tired of this toy and ready to cast it aside. I don't know why a bored billionaire would lock himself into a pandemic Buffalo office space in the middle of summer for an entire weekend to listen to Jerry Forton and Sam Ventura debate the merits of Viljami Marjala and William Van Barnekow. That is pure and utter Sabrespace level hockey geek behaviour. I do think that he is about to embark on a building project worth 10 Douglas Jemals and should be fixated on getting a) his personal fiscal house in lean order, and b) any kind of investment support he can. These rumours need to be filtered through that lens. If he's close to getting the stadium deal done, I would guess any deal related to the Sabres is either a) past being necessary, or b) already pretty much done.

But he would have been a decent #1 guy this year and next, and a fine backup/trade chip for 2 years after that.

There is not doubt in my mind the dog in the picture could do better than what we’ve had the past 10 years. Why not a Sabrespace poster?

Do you see Asplund behind Eakin Bjork and Hayden?

If .900 is the Mendoza line for NHL goaltending, this might be of interest: .871, .893, .842, .926, .906, .857, .818, .886, .909, .882 Individual game save percentages for the Sabres in February. 1 good game, 2 barely acceptable games, 7 bad or worse.

Boy, it sure would be nice to see the 5th line instead of the 4th. Don't see it happening after the Eakin line had their best game in a month in Dallas. (Because the other 12 games apparently didn't count.)

He was. He denies this was his source, but it was almost certainly because of his connection with the Tuch family. The for sale rumour is not just Peters. Hamilton talks more about here, starting about 15:25. https://www.audacy.com/podcasts/schopp-and-bulldog-20261/sbd-the-end-of-the-paul-hamilton-athon-1269215340 I have no opinion on the rumours, but I think the Sabres are behaving like a team that's for sale.

Deflection, in front!

Yet that’s how far away we are. And the thing is, we have the cap space and the assets to acquire those pieces, if Adams had Darcy’s player acquisition skills. This is roughly what those assets cost, translated to today’s market Numminen - 1-year $2.8 million (today’s dollars) UFA Gaustad - Vegas first McKee - 4-year $5.3 million UFA Drury - Olofsson and Sabres 2nd Biron - Fla 1st We’ve got the assets, we just need to identify the players and make the right deals happen.

Mix up the lines, substitute different vets, but I'd be fine with something like this next year: Skinner Thompson Tuch Krebs Mittelstadt Drury Quinn Cozens Okposo Girgensons Gaustad Asplund Peterka Mair Dahlin Numminen Power McKee Samuelsson Jokijarju Bryson Fitzgerald UPL Biron Levi

They have the league's lowest payroll, are using a retired player to reach the cap floor and have spent less than $4 million combined on their five! best goalies. They traded or let go 3 of their 4 best defencemen, their 3 most talented forwards and their best goalie for players who have combined for 14 goals this year, and invested a grand total of $1.05 million in their biggest free agent signing. Does anyone think they didn't choose to ice a bad team? Seriously.

Haven't made up my mind about Fitz yet. I have about R2. He's not an NHLer. I haven't given up on Asplund though.

100% He’s not significantly better than the rest of the depth back there, but he sure is easier to root for.

Don’t think we’re too far apart on this one. Still hoping we get 20 games of UPL to show they are right (or even wrong) about him.

Eh, he always was going to be 1/2 the battery with a shot at being #1. The real concern is who he’s paired with. I think the article made it clear they do. The question is more about how they deliver.

Had some references elsewhere on Sabrespace, figured it deserved its own thread. https://buffalonews.com/sports/sabres/as-sabres-unveil-new-initiatives-for-season-tickets-theyre-mostly-holding-line-on-prices/article_938b3cd4-9727-11ec-bac9-eb84ea008c6b.html The team has hired a new VP of ticket sales and created a 25-person fan council to advise them. "Ultimately, we're going to take some of the experiences that I've had in other markets and see what works here and be able to listen to our fans. They've told us plenty of what they want to see and what they want to do, and we're going to look to execute on those items."

Cozens, Krebs, Quinn, Asplund, Power, Samuelsson, Bryson, Luukkonen, maybe Fitzgerald and Peterka. If you expand that to 240, add Jokiharju, Mittelstadt, Thompson, Olofsson and Bjork.

I’m of the opinion the team will be better next year simply because it will be adding UPL, Quinn and Power, because it should have a more effective Krebs, Cozens and Samuelsson, and because hopefully Mitts and Tuch will be around and playing up to their potential all season. I am also of the opinion that if management thinks that’s enough, we are in for another dull ache of a season. As far as I am concerned we need to be selling more than just fringe roster players come the trade deadline, we need to selling the cap space we have so zealously protected. And over the next 6 months, we need to start buying.

Both? I think Adams wants to build from the ground up based on a traditional draft and develop strategy. I think Adams did want his blinding light brigade (Dahlin, Jokiharju, Cozens, Thompson, Mitts, Olofsson, Asplund) force fed important minutes and pushed into leadership roles this year. I think Adams is focused first on the team he is building down the road and unwilling to make a move for today that could be counterproductive then. I think Terry Pegula is willing to spend money in order to help the Sabres win, but he’s tired of spending it to watch them lose. I think Terry was well aware that the arena was going to be empty this year regardless and would much prefer to lose $20 million on Adams rebuild than $40. I think Terry is interested in selling a portion of the team and has positioned it with minimal overhead and long-term liability in order to make it attractive to investors. I hope all parties want and are planning for a better Sabres team next year as an economic and development necessity. I think the bus is driving down a road where these interests align.

Gotta tackle these separately. Not sure what you mean with the bold. My post was irrespective of Adams’ intent, we’ve learned things about our young players that should help shape what comes next. It would have been very nice to know if Casey Mittelstadt was a building block, a support piece or an asset to be flipped. Fortunately we got those questions answered for most of his peers.

Makes sense in that frame. I did not expect the fully-formed Cozens to emerge this early. His game is too strength-based. I’m sticking with my Ryan Kesler comparison. The fact he’s going to put up 20ish goals and 40ish points this year is exciting to me. From a pure development perspective, we’ve learned a lot about what we have this year. The only “young NHLer” I haven’t solidified my opinion on is Mittelstadt. It’s really a shame, because he was #2 behind Dahlin in the “let’s see what we have” list. From a “worth sacrificing a season for” I’m not sure any player development was worth that. To me that aspect of this year was always more about economics - not spending $20 million for an additional 10 points in the standings - than development. And I never agreed with that. I really need to see Adams use some of that space in order to remove some of the sting.

Surprised you aren’t including Cozens. Doubled his points and tripled his goals and has been getting experience against all the top players.

That cross grain backhand pass by Dahlin to Thompson was sick.