dudacek

JJ has yet to sign, correct? When are we expecting him to come over? Also, can't find a DEL NHLe calculator, how does JJ's 20 points in 30 DEL games compare to Quinn's 9 points in 15 AHL games? How much better is the AHL than the DEL? (Big fan of what I've seen from both these guys.)

What do you think we could get for Will Borgen in a trade prior to the ED? What about Risto?

How?

The concept of Borgen Samuelsson Risto Johnson Jokiharju Bryson and Dahlin is an almost perfectly balanced 7 with snarl, size, skating, skill and smarts. None of them are one-trick ponies and some of them tick several of SDS' boxes. There's enough overlap that we have backup for any role, but no two guys exactly the same creating redundancies. The issue is experience, and how many will actually fulfill their potential.

Too many centres? Just for the record: Eichel Reinhart Cozens Mittelstadt Asplund R2 Eakin Sheahan Girgensons Fogarty That's 10 guys who are natural centres. And Bjork and Caggiula apparently can also play it.

Exactly. The new regime needs to recognize and nurture the right players. Borgen might be one. But why are you, @Randall Flagg so convinced that he is?

This man gets it.

Not saying you're wrong. I am saying the amount of faith some are putting in Borgen relative to what they've seen him do is considerable. It's a hard conversation to have on a forum because it is inextricably tied to to what you think of Risto, which ranges from "top 3" to "shouldn't be in the lineup"

The concept of Will Borgen is strong. This is exactly the move I would be making. And I would take it, if I was Francis.

See I look at that a month ago and I'm vomiting in my coffee. This morning it doesn't look bad at all. Donnie Meatballs, stop messing with my mind!

His NMC means he is automatically on your protected list. He does have the option of waiving, which would allow the Sabres to use that spot for another player.

Here's another way of looking at it: Is Will Borgen really one of this team's 8 or even 10 best players?

We need more elation around this team.

He's gotta be pretty close. They were predicting a return for this week. He's been skating for a while, but I think this might be his first full practice.

If you can acquire a good defensive centre and a top six power forward, keep VO and Sam and make the cap work, that's good General Managing. But I think you've looked at this from the opposite end that I was: How many middle-six spots can you pencil in to unproven players? What's the sweet spot so you aren't wasting cap space and roster spots on the Halls and the Staals, but you also aren't hooped if Thompson and Mitts turn into pumpkins in October? Think Marcus but a strong skater and capable of 30 goals and 30 assists.

Put up decent numbers in the Czech league (29 points in 52 games D+1, jumping to 38 in 49 this year. Already 22. Why not?

Does this have any appeal? Skinner Eichel (Foligno) Cozens Reinhart Asplund Mittelstadt Thompson Girgensons (Gaustad) R2, Okposo, Bjork plug in as needed?

Let's just say: top line: Jack middle six: Tage Casey, Dylan bottom six: Asplund Girgensons, Bjork After that, you've got Skinner, Sam, Okposo, R2 and Victor to mix and match. If I had to add two players to round out what that group is lacking it would be a Paul Gaustad for the bottom six and a Mike Foligno for the top six. Which probably means Sam or Victor is the player that would have to be sacrificed to make room. But that only works if Tage, Casey and Dylan are what they are teasing us with.

I'm with you on this. I struggle though with getting a grasp on how much we are "running back" Thompson, Mittelstadt, Asplund, Ruotsalanien, Bjork and Girgensons were on the periphery of that last-place roster. Cozens and Eichel have been around half the time and good case can be made that next year's versions will be upgrades. That's eight "changes." What do those guys give us next year and how does that affect the players we target and how many?

Maybe it's just house radio blowing smoke, but that actually sounds like there is some actual coaching being done to turn our rat into an NHL player.

McKenzie doesn't generally share his opinions on prospects, so I'm going to need a source for this one. What he does is report the opinions of actual NHL scouts on prospects. In Cozens' draft year he reported scouts were saying big, strong, competitive, fast and skilled, but his IQ and playmaking ability might drop him out of the top 4 or 5. Which was absolutely correct.

They Sabres seem to have have been a notably good 3rd period team, even in back-to-backs recently. It's almonst been their defining characteristic, like the other teams run and out gas and they just keep coming.

Doesn't really look like vaulting over a few teams is going to hurt the Sabres much from a practical point of view considering so many players are so close. From a "because Buffalo" point of view, you know they will drop to 4th and the only guy who would make me really excited — Beniers — goes third.

Well, they're both balding and they each seem to be in pretty good shape for their age.

Because they are all bad players who can't play a role on a winning team?