dudacek

Yes. I hope that's the kind of expectation the majority of the fan base has for him.

There are 5 spots available next year, right now barring any moves. OUT: Eakin, Hinostroza, Hayden, Caggiula, Jankowski, Tuch gets one of them. Murray, Quinn, Peterka Krebs and R2 are in the mix for the other 4. We might add/retain 1 or 2 bottom-sixers, but I doubt we make another Tuch-level commitment.

A more likely outcome is the Kyle Okposo of this season. Tuch's best season is 20 goals and 32 assists. 18 goals and 36 assists is what Kyle is pacing for this year. The level of toughness and hard work is similar.

I wish Sabre fans would show some restraint for Tuch the same way they are for Owen Power. Guy is going to be a very nice piece, but I get the sense some people are anticipating the 2nd coming of Mike Foligno. He is not going to score 30 and he’s not going to beat people up.

There’s no way he can maintain a sub-2.00 GAA and a S% of nearly .940. The big test will be rebounding from the games that don’t go his way and not allowing them to turn into streaks.

Starting next year we will have following between the ages of 20-24 available to start the season: Thompson, Bryson, Asplund, Murray, Mittelstadt, Lukkonnen, Jokiharju, Samuelsson, Dahlin, Portillo, Krebs, Cozens, Johnson, Quinn, Levi, Peterka Coming behind them are: 6 1st rounders and 6 2nd rounders between the ages of 17 and 19, including one and very likely 2 top 10 picks. We don't know what any of them will become, but Adams has bet his job on them becoming something.

Mule sure didn’t play like he was wanted to get called up tonight. Very lethargic effort with some Dahlin-like moments of nonchalance. If I found out tomorrow he’s been sharing water bottles with Quinn it wouldn’t surprise me one bit. Worst game I’ve seen him play.

We don't care. We want our Mule. Also, I wonder if Fitzgerald gets the call. I expect he will at some point this year, he's a righty, and they have a better feel for what Mule can do at the NHL level.

Granato on Dahlin: "I mean, he’s a great player and he’s going to make more plays than he’s going to give the other team. And that’s going to be a progressive thing.”

To keep their secondary guys? What happened to JT Miller, Yanni Gourde, Blake Coleman, Barclay Goodrow, Kevin Shattenkirk and Tyler Johnson?

Has anyone else noticed the quiet effectiveness of John Hayden lately? Still has stone hands but he has been quite responsible and strong on pucks for a player I was calling not an NHLer a few weeks ago. Might be a coincidence, but PK has been much improved since he started working into the rotation.

NHL goaltending sure can change people’s perception of what they are watching. Only the 3rd time since Ryan Miller left that a Sabres goalie played 4 straight games and never let in more than 2 goals in any of them. Ullmark did it in January of 2020, Lehner in November of 2016.

Toni Lydman for a 3rd was one of Darcy’s more under-the-radar sweet deals.

I'm fully bought in on Levi. I've gone from thinking we got a late 1st and the equivalent of a 5th in the Reinhart deal to thinking we got the equivalent of 2 firsts. Kudos to whoever it was on the Sabres staff who identified Levi as a target and picked him over other prospects who may have been offered.

I definitely doubt 7,000 was part of the plan, and agree the "hard work" thing is precarious. Thing is, the Pegulas have never fired a GM for results. Murray was fired for being a boorish boozer who ran an embarrassingly loose ship. Botterill was fired for not following orders. Somehow I don't think those things are a concern with Adams. Maybe attendance will be, but it's hard to make a case the bad attendance is Adams' fault, or that it's a situation like Jim Benning in Vancouver where the fans were demanding his head.

I'm pretty sure the minimum wage payroll right now is an acknowledgement that they expected the barn to be empty this year. The business plan is to plant a seed with a "hard work" identity this year, and put more butts in seats next year with Quinn/Power/Krebs etc. garnering more hype and more wins.

I don't pretend to know how this is calculated, but the Dahlin numbers — good in offence, mediocre in defence, elite in transition supports what my eye test has been telling me, rather than what Sabrespace posters have.

I'm bummed as to Poltapov and Kisakov not being on there, particularly Poltapov, whose game I have really enjoyed in clips and who I wanted to watch in this setting. As anyone heard scuttlebutt as to why he's not there (Kisakov too) and several less-highly-drafted prospects are?

I could see a world where Olofsson is traded at the deadline if we are offered a haul or his ask gets silly. But I don’t see it as likely. He’s an RFA, not a UFA.

i agree with your point, but I was curious, so I looked it up. Lukkonnen has played 37 AHL games. Vaselivskiy, Hart, Shesterkin, Price, Samsonov, Knight, Georgiev, Sorokin, Varlamov, Merzlikins, Korpisalo are all goalies in the Eastern conference who have had around 50 games or less AHL experience. So it’s not as unusual as I thought.

Small sample size but he’s been really bad this year. WTF stat of the year: Khudobin 7 GP, 181 shots faced, .873 SP, Oettinger 7 GP, 182 shots faced .951 SP. Playing for the same team!

42 shots against is the third most we’ve allowed all season. PIttsburgh fired 46 on Tokarski and Florida had 43 on Dell. Shots against per 60 Dell 35.2 Tokarski 33.9 UPL 31.7 Anderson 31.6 Subban 30.0

It will be a huge surprise to me if Krebs and Quinn are not on the team and I expect Peterka to make it as well. Personally I like Thompson Olofsson Asplund as a reliable 2-way 2nd line I’m comfortable putting out in all situations. The idea of Kyle Okposo on the 4th line is so Ralph Krueger to me. Okposo and Cozens are showing some chemistry. I think Cozens improves both ends and you add Girgs to the mix for a 2nd line to match up against the tough lines. Jeff Skinner is always a tough one to fit for me. Putting him with Mitts and Tuch might maximize his offensive chances. They’d be scary in our zone, but they should be good on the rush and the cycle. That’s my offensive situations 2nd line. And I’d want to roll with JJ Peyton and Jack as an exciting 4th line who should be able to outskill their matchups. I believe Bjork Murray and R2 have to be in the mix for spares, but ideally I’d rather sign a Sheahan type and a Deslauriers type in those roles. I get the desire to push Girgs and Kyle down, I’d rather give the kids a chance to make that happen organically before shopping around outside. When you’ve got 20-year-olds producing like they are, it’s not a risk giving them a shot, it’s time.

Never mind the title, Karmanos’ role in Vancouver would be pretty much identical to his role in Buffalo, no? One would think a move would have to pretty much come down to his relationship with Adams versus his relationship with Rutherford, and the degree of investment he has in the work and the people so far here.

Looked like that’s what they did in his first start. Not so much in the latter two. Shots against went from 23 to 31 to 42.