dudacek

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.

"The common denominator or characteristic for all of these guys that I've mentioned — Quinn, Cozens, Krebs, Dahlin I'd throw in that category — is — Thompson and Mittelstadt too — is that they're so ultra-competitive and they love the game of hockey so much that when something bad happens they don't switch to something else and go home and hang their head. They don't let it go until they fix it." — Don Granato on WGR, after responding to a question about Owen Power by saying "his personal standard is as high as it gets."

Donnie said yesterday Kyle and Alex would not play regardless if they were cleared. Still waiting on Krebs?

You haven’t seen much of the players I’m talking about either - certainly not developed and together over an extended period of time.

But the gist of my question is are there enough players coming around Cozens who are like Cozens and approach the game the same way? As far as the bold goes, I think he does, at least in the context of outside the NHL. He's played with or against most of them on the international stage. He's watched most of them perform first-hand and right out of his mouth he's been following their seasons. And they all seem to be dedicated hockey players and winners: captains, top player honours and/or gold and silver medalists on the world stage. Almost to a man.

“Everyone here is very excited for what we’ve got going and the pieces we have, and we know that we’re going to be a real great team in this league one day and we know that we are going to be a team that can compete for a Cup.” - Dylan Cozens, responding to a question about the recent Rochester call-ups. When Cozens says this, he sounds like he believes it. He looks at Krebs and Quinn and Levi and has seen firsthand what they can do against the best players their age in the world. He knows what Johnson and Peterka and Power and Dahlin have done on the WJC stage, and probably Samuelsson and Jokiharju, and UPL and Mittelstadt as well. We saw Krebs responding in a similar way last week, when he spoke about a group coming together for the next decade or more. The Sabres have assembled 10 top prospects (Power, Quinn, Peterka, Cozens, Johnson, Levi, Krebs, Portillo, Dahlin and Samuelsson) all born within a 30-month span. There has to be a certain amount of swagger that comes from seeing that many top athletes gathered on one team at the cusp of adulthood, the type of young alpha confidence that must permeate places like the Alabama football program. We talk a lot about culture change. And I think we recognize that Cozens represents the type of culture we want our team to have. I guess my question is, do the other members of the Blinding Light Brigade feel the same way and are they approaching this opportunity the same way? Have we collected the right pieces at the right time with the right support system for critical mass to be achieved? Can they survive the growing pains and achieve their potential together? Or is Dylan just in the same naive headspace Jack Eichel was five years ago? https://www.nhl.com/sabres/video/dylan-cozens-11022/t-277437090/c-10166546

I think this may have actually happened. Bryson said he was quarantining with him.

@Thorny when was Baker’s ranking from? In general, prior to the Adams era, Ive found him to be rather generous in his appraisal of Sabres prospects, but also pretty much in tune with how the team itself regards its prospects.

Not exclusively about forwards, but I’ve listened to Donnie enough to really start to see a 3-tiered theme in the way he thinks about his players: 1) the blinding light brigade who not only have all the talent in the world, but also have the correct mental approach to developing it. All they need is to continue pushing the envelope and they will get better. He is excited about these guys. His comments on Quinn and Asplund today fit them here. Dahlin and Mittelstadt are the poster kids. 2) the key vets who approach the game and their teammates the right way and he doesn’t have to worry about. The best examples are wearing the “As” or are named Craig Anderson. From what I’ve heard, Hayden and Caggiula might be here as well 3) The guys who don’t fully fit in either category yet and and need to move into one soon or be left behind. Bjork, from yesterday’s comments, has moved into this group. He doesn’t speak badly of them, he just speaks about them in a different way. He has been given chances to elevate Subban, Murray, R2, Hagg, Pysyk, Butcher and Miller, but did not. I have not heard enough to be confident where Olofsson, Skinner, Hinostroza and Eakin are. I will say that when asked about Victor’s struggles recently and Jeff’s early in the year, he talked about what each of them had to do to overcome without the same “and I’m confident he will” that I heard when he had similar questions about Asplund and Dahlin.

That’s been his Team Canada number and R2 hasn’t exactly cemented it.

The big question is will he be wearing 22? With our two best prospects sharing the same number on their respective development teams, I've been curious as to who would grab it in Buffalo first.

And a damn good one. Currently 18 all-time for points by a U22 defenceman, with three months to go. Should end the season in the top 10. Ahead of Leetch, Karlsson and Potvin. https://www.eliteprospects.com/league/nhl/stats/all-time?position=d&age=u22

To the COVID list? Was that why he disappeared mid-game against the Wolfpack?

And Bjork and Fitzgerald come off it.

Also, looks like Murray's demotion was more than a stint aimed at keeping him fresh.

LOL. Figures Bjork and Fitzgerald beat COVID quickly and Okposo Tuch and Krebs did not.