dudacek

People might be interested in what his coach thinks of him. Donnie with a pretty in-depth take on Dahlin in today's presser. Starts around 11:40. Recommended watch. https://www.nhl.com/sabres/video/don-granato-11222/t-277437090/c-10182957

He still is an improvement over Robson? Worst-case scenario he starts in the ECHL at 20 like UPL did. There's no real risk there. Ordinarily, I'd agree with you on a 2nd year in the NCAA being better for him. But I also believe the best way to retard growth is to keep a player at a level where he's not being challenged. There's no way Jack Eichel was going back to Boston University after one year because he had nothing left to prove. If Levi continues the path he's on, it will be the same situation.

Interesting. I would not be surprised if either is better than Houser or Dell immediately. But I'm not sure if it is in either player's best interest, or the team's. Is there a guy on an AHL or Euro deal that might be signed the same way?

I don't think Laaksonen will be an NHLer. He is at the AHL level what the biggest Dahlin-haters accuse Dahlin of being at the NHL level.

He was a guy who just realized he can play in the NHL playing with a bunch of ECHLers tonight. (I think literally half of each roster because COVID) I remember during one of the lockouts watching Dougie Bodger killing time back home here by playing some shinny with the cream of the local beer leaguers. Best player on the ice without trying. Honestly, I don't think he broke a sweat and absolutely looked embarrassed. Quinn was fired up, but otherwise it reminded me of that. Too easy.

Ted Nolan's impact on hockey vernacular will not be denied.

And Power is the highest-ranked player not in the NHL. Jake Sanderson is number 2, Quinn 11

He's at the top of the 3rd tier "all-star/top of lineup bubble" Dahlin and Power are 2nd-tier "NHL all-star" Sure Absolutely

Quite a bit higher — 16th, and in the same tier "top of the lineup player" as the bolded. Hughes Zegras Cozens Lundell Byfield Dach Norris McTavish Suzuki Thomas Beniers Hischier McMichael Johnson Sillinger Seeing what Suzuki and Hischier and Thomas are doing at the NHL level already, it's pretty promising. And personally I don't think of the last 3 guys as centres, myself

Dahlin 7 Power 8 Cozens 15 Quinn 37 Krebs 45 Even though it is unbelievable to have 5 in the top 50, and I have no right complain, I am with LGR. There is no way I would take the likes of Kaliyev, Perfetti, and Guenther over Quinn, or Krebs for that matter. Peterka 86 Jokiharju 121 Johnson 151 Levi 160 And Levi at 160 will be among his biggest misses (Now taking off my fan-coloured glasses and acknowledging that his opinion and mine don't really matter much)

This is where I am right now. UPL does have a few months to change my mind.

Feel weird saying it, but UPL/Anderson makes more sense me now than it did 6 months ago.

You know who else does that? Victor Hedman. He's been on the ice 43 ES goals against this year. That's 4 more than Dahlin has, despite the fact Hedman plays with much better teammates, in front of much better goaltending, and gets less even-strength ice time. I think people wouldn't be nearly as hard on Dahlin if the Sabres actually won a few.

Like all those breakaway passes wasted on the likes of Cody Eakin?

Bah, I’ve been trying to edit it because I’m not expressing myself well. You can say he’s a bad GM for not trying to improve the roster this year, but you can’t say he’s a bad GM because he failed to improve the roster this year. You can’t fail at something that never was your goal in the first place.. The goal for this year is to keep the room positive, develop and protect the kids, and minimize costs while adding another high draft pick.

By all means debate the merits of the strategy. I’m framing my take in the context of those who say our record this year reveals something about Adams hockey judgement. Let’s be serious. In the context of this year’s team, he dumped last years entire first line - Hall, Eichel, Reinhart, Ristolainen, McCabe and Ullmark - for 2 part-time NHLers and a guy expected to miss half the season with an injury. He slashed the payroll by $30 million, refused to sign anyone for more than minimum wage 1-year deals, and is barely at the cap floor. There was no intention of actively trying to improve the team’s record this year. None. Ever.

I don’t see the point in making the Sabres record this year a talking point. Is there anyone out there who does not think the Sabres have been dressing some of our worst rosters since the tank this year? I mean seriously, they entered the season with their most proven players being Olofsson, Skinner and Miller, plus a bunch of kids and $750,000 JAGs, in front of a career minor leaguer and a 40-year-old pulled out of retirement. Adams team is Mittelstadt, Thompson, Cozens, Krebs, Tuch, Quinn, Peterka, Dahlin, Jokiharju, Bryson, Samuelsson, Power, UPL and the fruits of the 2021-23 drafts. It might suck too, but you haven’t seen it yet.

I don’t like to dwell on things that are done, and I don’t know all the whys as to how the Ullmark departure went down. But the deal Ullmark signed in Boston at worst would have tied the Sabres to a very capable overpaid backup after underpaid starter UPL took his job. Or given the Sabres a trade chip for a team i. desperate need. I said then and I say now, Ullmark on a starter’s contract was always the best option for Buffalo this summer. *** In other news, you thought Anderson was inevitably going to have a long-term injury? Just because he’s old? He’s never had a history of injuries. I always thought you are the same page as me, that he’d be unlikely to deliver starter-level play in anything other than brief spurts because he’s old.

Except didn’t it happen last year? Ullmark, Hutton, Tokarski and Luukkonnen? That’s why we saw Houser? Or maybe Toker was still healthy 🤷 Either way, getting down to your 5th string keeper for an extended period, 2 years in a row is ***** unbelievable.

Can someone please find the most appropriate GIF?

There haven’t been, for me, many games that felt like tonight this year - games where it just seemed like the skaters were totally outclassed and were never in it from start to finish. Before tonight, there have been 9 games where the Sabres have lost by more than 2, and 7 of those were in that 3-week span when Tokarski’s bubble burst and Subban and Dell couldn’t stop a soap bubble. Tonight felt too much like most of the past decade. It could be a bit of turning point - wake-up call for a team crippled by illness, injury and inactivity (4 games in the past 24 nights), or a signpost marking where another ragtag collection of fringe skaters put up the white flag on the season.

I fully admit that I need to see reasons for hope, regardless of whether I believe in them fully or not. That said, I don’t find it difficult to find hope in the plan Adams is following and the values he professes, the group of young players he has assembled, or the way Donnie is coaching them. Right or wrong, good or bad, in these early stages these are people I am finding it easy to root for. And for a fan, particularly a battered fan, that is such a huge part of the battle. Reason to believe is another story. That’s going to take a heckuva lot more than Devon Levi proving the experts wrong in college and Alex Tuch loving the Sabres as much as I do. The franchise has done a hell of a job beating the faith out of us all.

I'm a lot closer to this than you might think. I said months ago that I expected the team to lose a lot this year and would judge the season on two things: the progress of the kids, and how much I am entertained. The number of entertaining games is noticeably up in my opinion, but one can't completely ignore results. The majority of kids are showing growth, but it would be nice to see more of it at the NHL level, beyond Dahlin and Tage. Not having Mittelstadt available has been a bummer; he was I guy i was really looking forward to watching. I need more Tuch. Olofsson, Asplund and Bryson seem to have hit walls, was their early season a mirage? What will Cozens do down the stretch? Jokiharju? Is UPL for real? Can some other Amerks join him? These are the guys I'm watching. We've got nearly 50 games to go. Where is this going to trend?

I would not sign that offer if I was VO. What’s incentive? Sabres would have to up the ante in order to buy UFA years. I think he’d much rather take a one-year reward in arbitration all the way to unrestricted free agency next summer.

This one really has the feel of a depressing evening. Come on Sabres, surprise me.