dudacek

I think they can and should sell of any pending UFA who garners interest in exchange for picks. I think Samuelsson, Johnson, Power, Peterka, Krebs and Quinn make that both viable and necessary. I also think they can and should launder or take on bad expiring contracts in order to help teams that need to free up cap space, again for picks.

Hmmm... Do you think he applies that mantra to his hockey department?

I remembering saying in June 2018 that we just drafted our #1 pairing for the next decade. People told me I was wrong because they both shoot left and the Mule ain't that good, but I'm still hopeful.

I need more than a Butcher return to stoke my interest. Dahlin Pysyk was a good step. I want a similar shift to help Cozens. And I REALLY need Vic and Casey back. When your team struggles to ice half a dozen skater worth watching, missing two of the only sure things on that list is rough.

Of course the 5 and 7 we had from 2012 to 2014 didn’t accomplish much at all Five busts, 6 middling NHLers and Sam Reinhart as the crown jewel . Gotta make those picks count.

What do you think led to Calgary, Vegas and perhaps others to decide otherwise.

6 firsts and 6 2nds over a 3-year period is pretty rare territory, especially considering three of those picks are top 10. You’ve essentially doubled your chances of finding impact players.

Don't you think it's weird how in the aftermath of the trade virtually no one has talked about the terrible risk Vegas has taken on? Jack Eichel is getting ADR. To me that is indisputable evidence ADR was a viable option. He built a case supporting his stance and had multiple teams buy in. I think risk exists, just as it does with fusion, but the above, added to the price Vegas was willing to pay in assets, has convinced me that the risk was not to the degree many on here have posited. If I'm the Pegulas, I see two reasons to allow ADR. One is moral. I believe that ideally the choice over what to do with one's body lies with that individual; that's my default. I don't think the preponderance of evidence in this instance clearly shows a stupidity in Jack's choice, leading to me making a father-knows-best exception. The other is practical, a surgically repaired Jack would increase the bidders and offers for my GM. Again while I am rolling the dice somewhat, I don't think the preponderance of evidence in this instance clearly shows that to be a huge risk. You'll get no argument from me that the Pegulas were within their legal rights to reject the surgery. But they had a choice. Of that, there is strong evidence. As to direct evidence that this got personal and nasty, there is none. As for hints, you have Jack's obvious body language in his follow-up interviews, the Insider reports indicating it was, the large number of industry folks questioning how this situation will affect the Pegula's reputation in the league and the general track record of how this ownership group has done business. It's just smoke, but in the context, it has my attention. If the financial risk of ADR wasn't too much for Vegas and Calgary, I'm not buying that it was too much for Buffalo. And I just don't see this being a situation where a benign Terry is/was saying "gosh, it's so sad what Jack wants to do to his body. I'm going to have to take a stand for his own good." As I said upthread, your my mileage may vary.

Broke out 2 years ago, slumped badly last year. Not sure what’s done this year.

Could be. Or they liked both a lot, but Armstrong was never willing to put Thomas on the table?

Doug Armstrong (edit, not contradicting what Thorny said above) outright said Tage was a player Buffalo wanted and pursued. I think Botterill’s general player judgement speaks for itself, but he may have been right on this one.

This. These guys were pursued, not just accepted.

I don’t think Briere Cozens Drury Krebs Connolly Mitts Roy Thompson/2022 1st is a given by any means - that was a rare group - but I don’t think it’s a reach to say the potential is there. I guess what I mean is the perception vs reality could apply to the current group just as it did for that one. But we’ve got a long way to go. 25 games of Mittelstadt and 10 games of Thompson is the only hint we’ve seen that any of the current group is even an OK “2C,” let alone an elite one.

I haven’t written off Casey Mittelstadt as being an effective Krecji-level 2C, or even more. Hell, prior to hitting 74 in his D8 season, Mika Zibanejad’s ceiling was 51 points. Mark Schiefele went 34, 49, 61, 82 in his D3-6 seasons. Sean Couturier’s career high was 39 before he broke out with 76 in his D7 year. The last good Sabres team did just fine with 4 “2Cs” Still a lot of chapters to write and we have Mitts, Cozens, Krebs, this year’s 1st and now even Thompson with which to write them.

Regardless what we think of the return, I think Adams got his 1st rounder and 2 players he targeted and felt strongly about being part of his core moving forward. I think he also wanted a 2ndary prospect as part of the return package, but failed to get it. Essentially, he caved on that aspect of the ask (be it Brisson, Elvenes, Hague or whatever) in the end as the price he had to pay in order to get Krebs included.

I thought this was a very interesting quote from Lebrun’s 1-on-1 with Adams about the way he and his team work: “And then we went through every team. We analyzed every team in the entire league and went through a thorough process. Then the phone calls. You can imagine the amount of work to ultimately get to the point where a deal got done.’’ “One (lesson) was to make sure that the work that was done behind the scenes beforehand with our staff, that we felt strongly about, we weren’t going to compromise on, regardless of the pressure externally or what people were saying. So, that is a lesson, you have to trust the work that’s been done and block out the noise. That was a really important part of this.” Basically, the trade was the result of targeting returns based on his team vision and the work the staff put into analyzing the possibilities, then grinding to make one happen.

Wheeler from the Athletic has his projected WJC rosters out and he’s calling for 4 Sabre participants: Power 1LD Canada Rosen 2LW Sweden Poltapov 4RW Russia Novikov 3LD Russia Only notable omission is Kisakov, who is mentioned as an extra. Interestingly, Wheeler says the Russian picks reflect less what he would pick, and more who he thinks will be picked, because Russian politics. He also says 7th-rounder Novikov is almost a sure thing. https://theathletic.com/2938691/2021/11/11/world-junior-2022-roster-projections-scott-wheeler-picks-the-teams-and-medals/

Yep, Caufield has couple as well, but they've each spent the bulk of the year in the NHL. What is amazing to me is how a re-ranking of the forwards would still be wide open. Cozens and Krebs could still easily become the two best forwards of this entire class, or total busts. No one has established themselves yet.

A look at how Quinn is stacking up this season against his draft peers. Still many chapters to be written NHL 4) Raymond 6/8/14 12) Lundell 3/3/6 6) Drysdale 1/5/6 3) Stutzle 0/5/5 1) Lafreniere 3/1/4 13) Jarvis 1/1/2 2) Byfield 0/0/0 (inj) 7) Holtz 0/1/1 AHL 8 Quinn 7/6/13 9 Rossi 2/7/9 10 Perfetti 3/3/6 14) Holloway 0/0/0 (inj) NCAA 5) Sanderson 3/6/9 KHL 15) Amirov 01/1

Probably not the right thread, but weird things happening to the top of 2019 draft class early this year. A number of highly-forwards beyond Dylan Cozens have disappointing production, the top 2 D have been amazing. NHL 6) Seider 2/9/11 4) Byrum 3/5/8 3) Dach 2/3/5 9) Zegras 2/3/5 7) Cozens 1/4/5 1) Hughes 2/1/3 (inj) 10) Podkolzin 3/0/3 15) Caufield 0/1/1 12) Boldy 0/0/0 (inj) 17) Krebs 0/0/0 2) Kakko 0/0/0 11)Soderstrom 0/0/0 AHL 16) Newhook 4/7/11 5) Turcotte 3/4/7 8 Broberg 0/6/6 14) York 1/3/4

The more interesting thing is Quinn has 7 goals in 9 games.

To be 3rd-line forward statistically, you would have to rank between 180 and 270 amongst all goal scorers. Going back to 2019, the last full season, the 181st ranked forward, Derek Brassard, had 14 goals. The 270th, Riley Sheahan, had 9. 20 goals put you in a tie for 113th with guys like Blake Wheeler and David Krecji. In other words, a good 2nd liner. These ain’t your father’s hockey cards.

Nice to see UPL have a solid performance. Good night for all the key guys down there. Jack Quinn is so focused and plugged in to the game, where to go, where people are. And he passes as well as he shoots. Krebs is exactly what I remembered, tremendous hustle, hockey sense, and such a good passer. Too bad JJ didn’t get a shot with them. And Matty the Mule remains everyone’s daddy.

Partly because he didn’t enter the season high on many people’s radar and had a lot of ground to make up, partly because the season ended early before his trending up had peaked, particularly for the armchair scouts. Also, it’s a misperception he was “much lower.” Bob McKenzie is your best insight into where NHL scouts had him ranked. He was 10TH on Bob’s list. He went 8th. Not a single professional commentator blinked at the pick. This is a misperception brought on mostly by Sabres Twitter being so focused on centres, particularly Rossi, and not really having Quinn on their personal radar.

Some people have this picture of Quinn. I’m not sure why. It wasnt his game in his draft year and it’s not his game now. He’s a well-rounded player, competent in all facets of the game, with a really good shot.