dudacek

Krebs has nowhere near the skill level that Zegras has.

Former Norris trophy winner Brent Burns leads NHL defencemen in giveaways with 33. Ekblad, Heiskanen and Chabot are other guys in the league's top 10. You have to scroll to the bottom of page 2 to find Rasmus Dahlin. He's ranked 96th with 12, one more than reigning"best NHL defenceman" Victor Hedman. http://www.nhl.com/stats/skaters?report=realtime&reportType=season&seasonFrom=20212022&seasonTo=20212022&gameType=2&position=D&filter=gamesPlayed,gte,1&sort=giveaways&page=0&pageSize=50 But hey, you've noticed Dahlin's. So nail that punk's ass to the bench. Accountability.

My peak hope for Cozens would be a Ryan O'Reilly level player: 65-70 points, all-situations. And if that's where Cozens ends up, I have no problem projecting Mitts, Tage and Krebs as creating Schenn/Bozak/Thomas level depth. Not ideal, and not a powerhouse, but contender-level. That's a lot on Cozens though and it's probably not soon.

Vogl with a relatively by-the-numbers tell-don't-show feature on Power: https://theathletic.com/2999370/2021/12/06/born-to-play-hockey-owen-power-is-showing-the-sabres-and-michigan-how-special-he-can-be-on-and-off-the-ice/ Nothing really revelatory. Great kid, driven, seeks out coaching, person other kids want to be around... “His focus and his drive are really special,” Karmanos said. “In my time working in the league, the kids that have that type of drive just make themselves better over time. He’s a really, really receptive kid, and that’s a little bit out of the ordinary for the top-end kids in my experience. Usually, what makes them the top-end kids is they think they have it all figured out. “But Owen doesn’t. He has a lot of things figured out, but he’s also very, very willing to learn and listen. It’s all positive that way.” On the ice, the article talks about how his skating, length and hockey sense give him elite range and unmatched poise. “He is ahead of everybody in the way he’s thinking the game,” Sheahan (his former USHL coach) said. “But his true gift is how smart he is. He controls the game when he’s at his best. The puck is on his stick a lot, and he makes the game go in the direction that he wants it to.” “The great thing Owen’s done all year is he puts teammates in position to succeed,” Paetsch (Sabres development coach) said. “He always puts the puck in the right position. He knows when to deliver it, where to deliver it.” In the neutral zone, Power needs only a few strides to move from his left-handed spot to the right side to cut off a forward. And once opponents see his large body coming, they usually decide to dump the puck rather than attempt a play, which returns possession to the Wolverines. “Defending, he just takes up that much more ice,” said Paetsch, who had a 17-year pro career as a defenseman. “It’s just simple math if you really think about it. His reach is automatically taking away more ice defending, and then when he has the puck it’s traveling that much farther, so somebody has to go that much farther to get a stick on him.

Where's your cutoff for a 1C? Barkov, Tavares, Barzal, Aho, Couture...? Could you give me a few comparables to where you see peak Cozens, Mitts and Tage settling in?

I find it ironic that the very same people that want to launch Rasmus into the sun are the one who complain about the Sabres spending way too much time in their own zone. It feels like he is involved in more good zone exits than any three other Sabres defencemen combined.

I don’t think we can ignore the business element to the Sabres strategy here either. The crowds were going to be tiny, win-or-lose. I think there’s definitely a “why spend an extra $20 million to be a 78-point team and pick 8th?” return on investment mindset playing out this season. Absolutely. I need to re-iterate here that certainly I, and I believe @K-9 as well, are in no way absolving Adams of anything. We are simply stating that there is no guarantee that this season is causing irreparable damage to the young Sabres.

I appreciate the posts that have genuinely tried to address the question posed by this thread. Can we please keep the Dahlin-is-the-reincarnation-of-MA-Gragnani-and-must-be-burned-at-the-stake stuff to the clearly marked thread?

Never said I approved of the plan. Pretty sure I predicted it would lead to what we’ve seen the past month.

Let’s not talk past each other here. I don’t think the plan is to have the type of goaltending we got in November right through until the end of next season. I think the plan was to not invest significant assets or long-term cap space in net because they expected UPL to emerge fairly soon as their long-term starter and that we’d get the type of adequate goaltending we got in October from the bargain bin. Subban is proof they hope to stick with that plan at least a while longer, but he is also proof that they aren’t content to hand the reins to Aaron Dell regardless of how poorly Dell plays. Other options will be tried if the beatings continue.

This is an outstanding series of posts. I will take it a step further and suggest that this season is intentionally a crucible designed to forge and test the type of character you speak about. I believe the coaching staff has made sure from day one the players are fully aware of this and watching to see who cracks and who perseveres. I agree with those who say Adams is walking a dangerous road, but it’s a road that his chosen role models (Z and KO) have passed through and continue to walk. And I believe that if and when reinforcements arrive it is one that will serve the survivors well.

This has been my theory as well. I think it’s pretty clear that the organization has annointed UPL, not as clear how universal the feeling is, who is driving that boat and how flexible they will be in that plan if UPL continues to cast doubt on his readiness.

Adams is a half-year into a traditional build-and-develop-from-within plan that generally has unfolded better than expected. Really, who would have bet on the Sabres being middle-of-the-pack in scoring and Thompson, Asplund, Power, Quinn, Peterka and Levi all making the leaps they have? It seems so weird that he would risk all that on an Anderson/Dell/Tokarski crease and even weirder that he seems content to see that through.

Second time I’ve seen someone post this. It’s actually year 2. He’s been on the job since June of 2020.

Hockey games are too chaotic and complex to ever blame one thing, but some numbers stand out to me over the past 10: Vs. Canes: Sabres goals 2, Sabres starting goalie SV% .760 Vs. Panthers: 4, .884 Vs. Kraken: 4, .806 Vs. Wings: 2, .927 Vs. Habs 4, .962 Vs. Bruins 1, .818 Vs. Jackets 4, .667 Vs. Rangers 4, .861 Vs. Flames 0, .873 Vs. Penguins 2, .978 Here are some generally true statements about the modern NHL: 4 goals for should be enough to win. .920 SV % should be enough to win SV % < .900 is not enough to win The Sabres skaters have given their goalies enough goals to win 5 times. The Sabres won once. The Sabres starters have given the skaters enough saves to win 3 times. The Sabres won twice and lost the 3rd in OT. The Sabres goalies have absolutely ***** the bed statistically 7 times, giving the team no chance to win. When the goalies have done their jobs, the skaters have done enough to win. The reverse has not really been true.

So according to Marty, Dahlin is winning the Corsi shot attempt battle 17-6 after 2 periods. Sabres winning the shots battle 21-19?

Everybody expected a number of players would be under- or over-drafted last July because of COVID. Van Barnekow, Nadeau, Bloom and Novikov, and even Kozak certainly seem like great value for where we got them. Marjala and Sardarian, not so much.

He is looking to me like the most likely Sabres target.

Olofsson is clearly still bothered by what ever kept him out earlier. He hasn't unleashed his one-timer at all since returning. Last night was the first time I recall him even trying. Dahlin couldn't have served it up to him for multiple chances on the PP because I read here that Dahlin sucks on the PP. I mean the guy is only 8th in the league in PP points among defencemen since he entered the league. That's not even top 7.

Don’t look now, but he’s just 2 points off the team scoring lead all of a sudden.

Every move they have made indicates that this year was about next year: establishing a culture in Buffalo while adding another top-10 pick, maintaining maximum cap and roster flexibility, and playing their top kids in key roles where they can have success and gain confidence. It's why Dahlin is being used as a 1D regardless of his mistakes, and Thompson and Mittelstadt were handed 1st-line roles It's why Power is in Michigan and why Peterka didn't make the team in spite of his great camp. It's why Samuelsson and Quinn haven't been called up despite clearly dominating at the lower level. It's why Krebs got sent to Rochester despite being good enough to play in Vegas It's why 4 of their defencemen are on one-year deals Its why 5 of their forwards are on one-year deals And it's why they now have 4(!) goalies on minimum wage expiring deals They believe in UPL and fully expected him to emerge as a viable NHL goalie and join the team maybe not this year, but certainly next, along with Power and the rest. Maybe one of those cheap 1-year guys emerges as his sidekick, or maybe they have to find someone else next summer. But they are not going invest assets or dollars or term in someone they are essentially hiring to keep a seat warm until they see where they are with UPL at the end of this season. Kevyn has a plan and he's sticking to it.

Butcher, Jonsson-Fjallby, Wolanin, Boychuk and now Subban… New Sabres GM record for most free players acquired in one season? Or is it a new record for most useless players acquired in one season?

Oh I wouldn’t be so sure. Sure he might be an expiring contract, but he makes $850,000.

Adams going for that sweet spot in between Anderson and Dell to keep the season’s real aim alive.