dudacek

Skinner Thompson Olofsson Asplund Mitts Tuch Zemgus Cozens Okposo Caggiula Bjork Eakin Hinostroza Is something I wouldn't mind watching.

Donnie kinda talked around this on WGR. Said VO coming back improves the 1st line by adding him, and the 2nd line by adding Asplund and so on, implying Eakin improves the 4th line. He also talked about the Sabres having some real talent that's not here and suggested Tuch and Casey will have similar effects on the lineup. So my take on your question is that Dylan is the 3C and gets who Donnie perceives as the 3rd best set of wingers. Will be interesting to see how this manifests itself when Casey and Tuch get back, particularly what happens at centre ice. Does Eakin get pushed out and Dylan down, or does one of the current top 3 centres get moved over to wing? I think we might see the Kyle/Dylan/Zemgus line a few of you have been clamouring for, which, in my mind, would be a helluva 3rd line.

He needs to learn to take over games by himself. Adams' plan to use the Taylor Hall effect to slowly neuter the Bruins is starting to take hold. Bjork scores. Sabres win this one.

That's still less than 50 % odds on a straight statistical analysis. And I could be wrong, because I only have a superficial understanding of each prospect, but Lambert and Geekie don't strike me as the types of players the Sabres favour.

Looks like it might be unlikely we grab a centre in the top 10 if we end up picking in the 4-10 range I kinda expect us to. But grabbing a couple with our three picks in the 20-40 range shouldn’t be a problem.

You’ve made this case before and, in general, I agree with it. The reason I’m not automatically agreeing with it now is that I just can’t overlook the fact that Tage Thompson’s physical gifts appear to be much, much higher than Derek Plante’s ever were, like in every single area. I never once thought Plante was driving play, or that he ever could. A featured role can certainly elevate production, the way it did Plante, but I’m not sure it can elevate play. Plante produced, but he never made the sorts of plays I’m seeing Thompson make on an almost nightly basis this year. Tage isn’t padding his stats on the PP, picking up garbage from more skilled linemates, rocking an unsustainable shooting percentage, or getting dominated analytically contrary to what his counting stats say. Forget Plante, and forget history, from what you’ve seen Tage do this year, give me some example of why your scenario applies?

These arguments apply to any position at any time. Of course you need to have as much good talent in the system as possible to protect yourself from any eventuality.

At one point in the game Ray was singing the praises of Werenski and saying how maybe one day Dahlin might be able to do the same things. And I thought 'tonight, Dahlin is doing more than Werenski' The Risto argument was always how his analytics were always hurt by getting #1 usage on a bad team. Dahlin is the #1 D on a bad team and still has a positive Corsi. In the 8 games since the road trip, matched up against 6 of the top 8 teams in the East, and the two best in the Pacific, he's led the Sabres in ice time, while putting up 7 points and emerged a +1. Statistically, what more do you want from him?

This is what I'm seeing as well. He doesn't look like the decent offensive 3C that seems to be getting adopted as his new ceiling, he looks better than that. Is it just a factor of usage and is it sustainable? I think the question of how good TT can be still has to be answered.

Because two of Krebs Cozens Mitts and Thompson will not be available for or up to filling that role for the next 5 years?

To me, Thompson Olofsson and Asplund is looking like a viable NHL middle-six line that I can trust at both ends of the ice, both right now and over the next few years. I’m relatively confident the same can happen with a Mitts/Tuch combo. And I’m also comfortable that Dahlin/Power/Jokiharju/Bryson/Samuelsson/Johnson provide enough pieces to assemble a competitive D corps in the relatively near future. While I am very high on Levi and I think there is a chance we might get something from UPL or Portillo, I think three years away is best-case scenario for any of them. We need a capable 3-year stopgap, no later than this summer and preferably now, or the house of cards will fall apart. The million dollar question is what we can get out of Cozens Quinn Krebs Peterka Rosen Poltapov and this year’s 3 1sts? Are there 3 1st-line players in that stew? Or enough top 6ers to make an ‘06 style team viable? How soon will they arrive? I think the ship has been turned around and our long nightmare of being a laughing stock is coming to an end. It could be as soon as next year. But the above 9 and the goalie will determine whether we can be perennial contenders or just another team.

The Sabres haven’t had very many “good” players since Darcy and Murray gutted the team. Sam Reinhart, Victor Olofsson ….? They’ve had useful players like Zemgus, inconsistent ones like Skinner and Lehner, promising ones like Jokiharju and Foligno, mediocre ones like Johanssen and Miller, bad ones like Benoit and Hutton, a whole host of JAGs, even the odd great player like Jack and ROR. But good players - Jay McKee, Jochen Hecht, JP Dumont - have been few and far between. Really it’s been one of our biggest flaws in the Pegula era. I think in Thompson we actually have a good player.

Isn’t the bold what an NHL GM does? Map out the next 5 years or so by combining the needs of the current roster and what’s coming? Two years ago, the Oilers, should have been far less concerned about top 6 centres in the pipeline than the Bruins, given the ages of their existing top 2 centres. You can’t argue that Mitts, Cozens and Thompson aren’t prospects any more and then also argue they aren’t being pencilled into the lineup for the foreseeable future. Unless you see them as busts, two of them will likely be our top two centres for the next few years at least, with the other and Krebs pushing and adding depth, whether at centre or on the wing. The Sabres centre hole isn’t about the number of young, improving centres they have under team control, it is in the number of good NHL centres they have right now. Remember this isn’t a discussion about whether the Sabres should pursue more talented centres, it’s a discussion about whether the system is barren. I don’t think what you are really arguing is that the Sabres system is barren of NHL centres, because it looks like they have at least 3 of them for the next 3-5 years and a 4th coming. I think what you are arguing is that it is barren of 1st line centres and we need to keep trying to find one.

Not arguing your conclusion — I want to add more centres, and all things being equal, would prefer one with our first pick. But the characterization of a "barren' system is false. Under 25 and under team control for a minimum 3 years Cozens (7th) Mittelstadt (8th overall) Krebs (17th) Thompson (26th overall pick) Bloom (95th) Costantini (133) Van Barnekow (165) Kozak (193) Konecny (216) https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/draft/teams/dr00005054.html How many teams have that much draft capital invested in centres? The Bruins, for example Trent Frederic (29) John Beecher (30) Jack Studnicka (53) Brett Harrison (85th) Curtis Hall (119) Cedric Pare (163) Riley Duran (182) Everybody's favourite prospect pool is LA 2) Quinton Byfield 5) Alex Turcotte 11) Gabe Villardi 20 Rasmus Kupari 41) Jaret Anderson-Dolan 42) Francisco Pinelli 51) Akil Thomas 59) Sami Helenius 138) Drake Rymsha 142) Mikey Eysimont Are Turcotte, Kupari, and Villardi better than Mitts, Cozens and Thompson? Not that they've shown as of yet. We don't have a Byfield and that's why the Kings group is better. But you can say the same thing for most prospect pools. Thompson and Krebs have changed things. Can we name 10 teams with a better group of young centres than the Sabres?

This is very disappointing. Was looking forward to watching them play.

It's just amazing that it took nearly two months for it to actually manifest. Kevyn was never going to move if it wasn't costing us games. Will he now that it is? This pretty much nails it for me. This is probably the most understandable and justifiable viewpoint out there. I have actively chosen to focus and judge on things like effort and development and building a foundation because the alternatives for me are anger and apathy.

He gives the puck away and hangs on to it too long as much as anyone on the team for sure. That’s because he handles it so often. His ratio of passes made to pucks given away is ridiculously positive. Here are the NHL leaders in giveaways this year. Dahlin isn’t on the list, but a lot of good players are. https://www.statmuse.com/nhl/ask/nhl-player-most-giveaways Who is the better defenceman, the one who carries the puck safely out of the zone 6 times a game, passes it out safely 8 times, turns it over 3 times, and springs 3 guys on partial breakaways, or the guy that rims it around the boards and out 6 times and around the boards and not out 6 times? He is head and shoulders above any other Sabre in both getting the puck out of our zone, and in doing it in way that creates offence.

I’ve decided he actually is a good player. What comes next is figuring out how good. The fact he apparently also is a centre and a pretty good one at that really changes the look of the team’s depth chart moving forward.

Now officially a half-season under Don. 15 goals, 10 assists in 41 games. 6/3/9 in his past 10. His goal tonight is his only point on the PP.

I honestly think you guys aren’t watching the same Rasmus Dahlin, I’m watching. He had a rough stretch in and around the western road trip, but for the bulk of the season, he just continues to make more plays than anyone else in all three zones: more entries and more exits, more breakout passes, more rushes defended, more shot assists, and more shots. His ability to win puck battles in our zone is way up, his defensive zone coverage and his assertiveness have improved, and his turnovers are way down. He’s turning into a real NHL defenceman.

Another very entertaining game. They looked like a team out there - playing with and for each other. You knew the shaky goaltending was coming and it will be hard to keep the spirits up as the losses pile up. But they worked hard, kept me interested, and I feel like I have been slowly watching Thompson, Dahlin and Cozens blossom into their best selves before my eyes. We’ve got a long, long way to go, but I can see the foundation being laid.

Ask us in five years. Snark aside, anything written prior to the last month or so would not account for the addition of Krebs, nor the jumps shown by Quinn, Peterka, Levi and Power. I suspect when updated lists start coming out in the spring, the Sabres will be moving up. The Sabres have both high-end talent, and depth in their pool at the moment. Personally I think it would be hard to objectively justify ranking them outside the top 5, but opinions are opinions.I mean someone just ranked Jack Quinn - currently having the 9th best U21 AHL season in in the past 20 or 30 years - as the 96th best prospect in hockey.

Apples and oranges is right. Dahlin's lack of having a Lidstrom-like career in no way precludes one from saying he played a Lidstrom-like game. And he did. You're having a different discussion than I am.

Yes, the one he made a half-hearted attempt on another guys check, then coasted away from the play over to the sideboards leaving Cozens hung out to dry and Zacha buried it on a 2-on-1. But people around here would rather focus on Dahlin not being Bobby Orr.

I remember the time Dahlin had a Leino-esque game. It wasn't last night. He was excellent, and it sure as hell wasn't his fault they lost.