dudacek

Eight game is too small, but the 18 games before that isn't? He's played just 26 AHL games over the past 2 seasons. During the same time period he was .908 over 14 games in Finland and .904 over 4 games in Buffalo. I agree he hasn't been good and you are right question his play. i just think the breadth of his struggles have been overstated.

Jankowski has played well from what I’ve seen in Rochester - he’s big and fast and a bit of a dick (in a good way). I don’t expect big things, but I do expect he can replace the Drake and be a better fit in the bottom 6 than R2. Hope R2 rediscovers his offence in Rochester. To my mind he’s looked overmatched this year in Buffalo.

New England has a power over Bills fans minds that will take a generation to remove. Fortunately, most of the players haven’t experienced the same degree of trauma and shouldn’t be affected the same way.

Modern day NHL goaltending is mostly about facing the shooter while blocking as much of the net as possible as a defender forces him to hurry his shot so he can't cleanly pick a spot. That is why NHL teams will always pick 6'4" 240-pound behemoths like Robin Lehner over normal sized humans like Dustin Tokarski. Tokarski may be able to track and move as good or better than Lehner, but he can't physically take up enough space when talented shooters like Raymond have time to pick their spots. He has no margin for error. That's why Devon Levi went in the 7th round and will always have doubters until he proves himself against the quick-release NHL guys who can pick their spots. Your tracking, positioning and athleticism has to out of this world to make up for lack of size.

Tim Thomas played 36 IHL games at .892 when he was 26. Probably the most extreme example. Jack Campbell 19 AHL games at .884 when he was 24 Binnington .907 in 41 games at 23 Jake Allen .904 in 35 games when he was 23 Blackwood .882 in 31 games when he was 22 That’s just a quick check, so not unheard of, but he certainly has a lot to overcome. Lets see where he’s at come March.

Noticed he didn’t play as they closed out the Bears game and didn’t see what happened either.

Tokarski can both have a pretty good game and let in a soft goal or two at the same time. It’s kinda why he’s in the NHL but has never been an NHL regular. The idea that Dahlin is being singled out on the winner is…interesting. His play there wasn’t “good” but it is one that every D on every team makes every game. Can we even say it should have been registered as a scoring chance? Goalies who let in that shot on a regular basis don’t stick around in the NHL.

His “badness” has largely consisted of his first 30 AHL games.

I’ve watched maybe 8 full Amerks games. Cant really comment on what you are talking about without seeing the specific plays and his role in them, but I have not noticed him missing many assignments and that costing the Amerks. Appert seems to use him in all situations. Generally speaking, I think he is conscientious about rolling back to stay on the right side of the puck and avoid odd-man rushes, and he back checks hard. He makes a lot of passes and not all of them work, but you generally expect that with your puck movers. I don’t see a lot of high-risk stuff there either, but I do see some mistakes. And he’s usually pretty good with pressuring his man rather than hanging back and giving him too much space. In defensive zone coverage, he’s more prone to covering the point/being an outlet, than coming back low, but he does get stuck in no-man’s land at times, unlike Krebs who plays like a centre in those situations, coming back deep into the zone even when he is lined up at wing, or Peterka, who is often cheating looking for a breakout. From a defensive point of view, I’d say his biggest weakness is physical weakness. He’s not man strong and gets overpowered. It’s even more noticeable with Krebs, especially when you compare each to Peterka who often skates through checkers. I don’t see defence as a weakness keeping Quinn out the NHL right now. He’s smart and he works hard. But I have no problem with him staying in the AHL to gain more experience and strength.

Marco Rossi is having a helluva good season. Quinn has 8 more goals and 9 more points in 5 more games. Cole Perfetti’s numbers are excellent for an AHL rookie. Quinn has more assists than goals and more goals than Perfetti has points.

Not really, he just went Rosen. Got called up to the KHL to be filler. As @Brawndo’s latest post shows, he gets sent back to junior and starts scoring again. Baker addressed your UPL point by calling his problems not unexpected inconsistency: “He’s facing adversity, and this is part of the process,” Baker said. “I think deep down Luukkonen is still the same prospect that was the best player in the OHL a couple years ago and led Finland to a World Junior gold medal. I think he’s still the same prospect that came up and performed pretty well in his first dose of NHL action last spring.” Gotta say that in the AHL games I’ve seen UPL play recently, he’s been pretty good. After allowing 20 goals in his first four games, he’s allowed 19 in his past 8 - stopping more than 40 shots in 3 of them.

Kentucky Cody looking like a real varmint out there again tonight.

One gets the sense with the defencemen it’s an upside thing. Anyone can see that Samuelsson is ready, but I think Baker thinks that he’s close to his ceiling already, whereas Johnson’s is still to be defined. He absolutely loves his skating. As far as the goalies go, I think it’s sample size; he’s looked at Levi this year like a lot of us are looking at Thompson: this guy can’t really be as good as he’s playing, can he? The other thing that was interesting is he sees both Poltapov and Peterka as versatile high-energy guys that will make the middle of the lineup dangerous.

The Athletic has Kris Baker’s ranking of Sabres prospects just out and it is interesting that Rosen is there at #4. https://theathletic.com/2980977/2021/11/27/ranking-the-sabres-top-10-prospects-from-ukko-pekka-luukkonen-and-erik-portillo-to-owen-power/ “I put Rosen higher than Peterka based purely on goal-scoring ability,” Baker said. “I could see Rosen, when he’s physically developed into a man in five years, being a top-line player. His acceleration is A-plus. He’s got a quick shot, can just wire shots. He’s got a very good wrist shot. “But he just needs to physically develop.” Rosen is listed at 5-foot-10 and 148 pounds by Leksands of the Swedish league, which uses him just 8:38 per night. “He’s just kind of finding his way in his first professional year,” Baker said, “but I think he has very high-end acceleration and goal-scoring ability.” Overall: 10) Portillo/Lukkonnen (tie) 9) Levi 8 Samuelsson 7) Poltapov 6) Johnson 5) Peterka 4) Rosen 3) Krebs 2) Quinn 1) Power He says Samuelsson is closest to the NHL, followed by Power, then the Amerk forward trio.

Guess it depends on your definition, but he went 60, 58, 65 from 02-04, then took another step to my eyes with a 90-point pace in ‘06. But, as @Taro T says, the game did change, and his team was much better.

Not so much the whys but the path. Both are late first round picks. Both got looks in the NHL before they were ready. Both had obvious talent at lower levels that didn’t immediately translate to the NHL. Both were slow developers in terms of making the leap Both finished their D5 year with 30-something NHL games, and some glimpses of middle six offence, but no one was really certain yet if they were real NHL players. Danny emerged - rather unexpectedly - as a legit top 6 30-goal, 60-point man in his D6 year. Tage has started his D6 year on the same path. It was actually Danny’s D10 season when he stepped up as a legit 1st-liner in 2006.

Laaksonen skates well and knows how to work the offensive blueline. When I watched him as a junior he rushed the puck a lot more and turned over a lot more than I see him doing now in Rochester. He gets overpowered in puck battles and loses coverage in his own zone. Personally, don’t think his offence is good enough to make up for his defence and his transition game is meh. Maybe he overcomes that; he’s 22 and a 2nd-year pro. Best case scenario is 3rd pair PP specialist and we don’t need one of those. I don’t think he’s an NHL player.

Coaches really started moving away from it over the last decade or so when the number crunchers showed that the average save percentage in the 2nd game for a goalie playing back-to-back was something like 10 points lower than than the first game.

Johnson is in the mold of Bryson or Jokiharju - not particularly big or offensive, but very smooth and capable. He might ultimately be better in his own zone than either. He is a fantastic skater, whose biggest strengths are defending the rush, evading the forecheck and moving the puck out of his zone. His numbers are solid - 10 points in 15 games - and he reads the play well, but he won’t be a big points producer in the NHL. He looked good winning gold in last year’s WJC and is a key member of a very good Minnesota blueline. Despite the fact he’s a college junior, he is also a baby. He turned 20 in late July and is only two months younger than Jack Quinn and last I heard, still has some filling out to do. Adams recently told WGR that he still has to refine what kind of player he is going to be. In answer to your question, it doesn’t look like he is either disappointing, or exceeding expectations given his age and where he was picked. Logic dictates the Jake McCabe path; he’s in a similar situation and is a similar level prospect. That means he signs at the end of his college season, possibly gets a look in Buffalo, and hopefully joins the Amerks for a playoff run. He’ll probably need at least next year in the AHL, and if that goes well, fights for a spot in Buffalo the following year. Personally, I see his ceiling as a reliable, smooth 2nd-pair guy in a Henrik Tallinder role, - obviously without Hank’s length, and with his elite feet as his calling card. Not a slam-dunk he gets there.

That was the most NHL Brett Murray has resembled AHL Brett Murray. He had a presence. If you don’t allow shooters time to pick their spots Toker will hold his own. He tracks well, battles and controls his rebounds. He just shows way too much space when they get ckean looks. I swear I have seen Jeff Skinner make more good passes in 10 games with Thompson than he did all season with Eichel. 16 NHL players have 10 goals. Tage is one of them. It feels like every one of his goals was earned. Cody Eakin’s best game as a Sabre? His been solid all season, but a few times this year Kyle has reminded me of how good a player he was before he came to Buffalo, I think he’s been my favourite player this year. Wasnt the best night for the other two pairs, but Bryson and Jokiharju looked good. Henri has been an asset. Habs folded up their tents when the Sabres scored their 3rd. It was a noticeable contrast to the way the Sabres haven’t really done that. Montreal looks really bad in their own zone. What’s happened to Jeff Petry? Needed that one.

Wonder what Karmanos thinks of Murray? Should know him very well and must have been intimately involved 8n the discussions leading up to the Pens picking him over Fleury.

So you have this kinda power? I have no idea why Krebs, not Peterka got an assist on the Jankowski goal. Nasty game. Hit all the minor league stereotypes.

What amazed me tonight is how a guy that long could stick handle in close quarters the way he could. The way he handles, protects and strips pucks this year has been eye-opening. The talent was always there, the game is just finally starting to click. He’s kinda mirroring the Danny Briere development path, isn’t he?

And people don't get a chance to enjoy a blowout Bills victory every week either. When have I ever made a comment about you?

We have to play Aaron Dell. Every name interests me. Also, Elliotte really digging deep to uncover this scoop, eh? 😆