dudacek

I'm curious as to what the board thinks about the centre ice depth of our pipeline. I'm of the belief that it's strong after taking 3 centre in the first round 2 years ago and another in the 2nd last year. But I get a sense that a lot of fans don't perceive Savoie, Wahlberg or Kulich as NHLs centres. I get why these guys could become wingers, especially as rookies, but not why they won't be centres. Kulich spent the year as a first-line AHL centre at just 19. Savoie is a lifelong centre with high-end speed and awareness, defensive diligence and he wins faceoffs; those are the things small centres use to overcome lack of size. You've got 3 more years of development to see if Wahlberg has the acumen for the position. I mean I'm always up for adding more centres, but i don't look at it as a priority area of concern. To be honest, I don't look at any aspect of the pipeline as an area of real concern. It's the NHL roster that needs attention.

Athletic's latest mock shows some good talent available at 11. With Iginla, Sennecke and Helenius still on the board, they have us taking Cole Eiserman. https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5515260/2024/05/30/nhl-mock-draft-2024-gm-round-1-expert-picks/ This is just 3 guys playing GM, not an insight into how teams are leaning. I've seen enough to these to feel pretty good about the chances there will be some good talent available at 11. Catton and Yakemchuck — 2 guys I frequently see mocked in our range — went considerably higher here. I'm also starting to see scenarios where one of top consensus D — Buim, Parekh and Dickinson — slips While I think the "not another offensive or Left D" crew might be upset, those are better players than are often available where we are picking.

Ah, I took that to mean he was going to upgrade the bottom 6. Guess we will see what it means. I agree the chance of a Cirelli/Tanev level of player is unlikely.

I’m assuming by this you mean something equivalent to replacing Girgensons, Okposo Jost and Olofsson without upgrading any of them is the best we get? Why do you think this?

The concept of Jeannot intrigues the hell out of me. It’s all about the price there.

As much as I’d love to add Cirelli, I can’t imagine a world where the Lightning would give him up. They just traded for McDonough, they aren’t blowing things up.

NTC doesn't kick in until July 1.

What would people think of UFA Adam Henrique on a short-term deal? 52 points, versatile, good on faceoffs... https://www.hockey-reference.com/players/h/henriad01.html

Dudley signed the day after the final? In other words, he was already gone while playing for the Cup?

Agreed. Gritty is a word that seems to have different meaning for different people. He's not going to scare anybody, but he competes hard on both sides of the puck, gets his hands dirty and plays the game the right way.

I wouldn't call him a gritty player, but I would call him a brave player.

So I am kinda like your mirror universe doppelganger?

Dammit man, I was just trying to be funny. Nobody gets me. I really have become Bizzaro @PASabreFan 😜

And I have X's eyes and Neo's hair.

I’m also curious what will happen with Jokiharju. I’m not one of those “Joki is garbage” types. He’s a legit NHL 4/5, 25, mobile and right-handed, a good value at his $2.6M qualifier. But I’m wondering if the Sabres would rather have someone cheaper and more abrasive given their other 5 under contract and there is trade value there. I could see him moved. If he’s not moved, there is probably a good chance he goes to arbitration, takes his reward and moves on at the deadline as a rental, or next summer as a UFA.

Am I the only one who thinks it unlikely that Jacob Bryson receives his qualifying offer? I think he rehabilitated his game quite nicely last year and is a serviceable 7, but his QO of $1.9 is far too much for a spare defenceman, especially with what the Sabres are paying their top 5 (or 6 if Henri comes back). I think the Sabres and Bryson like each other, but I think the only way he’s back is if he agrees to a pay cut. Which he might, because no team is going to give him $1.9M.

Jakob Konecny and Albert Lyckasen - Euro 7th rounders from 2020 - are 2 others whose rights are expiring. Neither has done much in Europe and Id be very surprised if either is signed.

I believe the deadline is June 1 for signing or losing the rights to 2022 4th-rounder Mats Lindgren. Kid’s a great skater but doesnt have size, or create or defend that well and doesn’t seem to have progressed much from the day he was drafted. Sabres already will have Komarov, Novikov and possibly Johnson in Rochester next year. They signed all the other guys they had to (non-Euro and NCAA) months ago. They’ve hyped the kid on social media in the past, but the clock is tIcking. Im kinda thinking they may let him go back in.

I tend to agree. Not only were there legitimate reasons for the stall, but the fanbase was still in the honeymoon phase, not beaten down by a decade of constant disappointment and losing. Oh for the misery of the late 70s again, when we wanted the GM fired because he wasn’t winning the cup. Expectations.

In the 4th year of the Punch Imlach build - with a roster including Martin, Perreault, Robert, Schoenfeld, Luce, Ramsay, Dudley, Korab and Robitaille - the Sabres finished with just 76 points, after a feel-good 88 points (up from just 51) the year before. I wonder what Sabrespace was saying.

No person who ever sat beside a pool should ever wear the "C" for an NHL franchise. Brad Marchand spends his vacations wrestling bears in Siberian coal mines.

Tampa fans are saying a 3rd or a 4th — to them he's basically a cap dump. Given how easily I'd pay that, I'd say it's got to be more. GMs will remember what he was in Nashville. But given his play the past 2 years on a good team, maybe not much more? Tampa paid pretty much an entire draft (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and Cal Foote) to acquire him.

Friedman is saying Tanner Jeannot is a player to watch after a brutal season in Tampa. No idea what happened to this guy, but at $2.6M for one year, I’m definitely kicking those tires.

Benson just had the 19th-best 18-year-old season since the 2006 lockout. It looks even better when you look at the top 30. Sillinger is an outlier. Most of these guys are studs. https://www.eliteprospects.com/league/nhl/stats/all-time-season?age=u19&from=2005-2006&to=2023-2024

First bold was a reference to you saying they were a bottom 1/3rd defence in the league, which from your past posting I took to be a reference to expected goals against. That's a useful stat, but it is also a team stat that measures chance prevention, not a measure of how effective your defencemen are at their all-around games. It's kinda like saying they are a top half defence in the league because of their team Corsi numbers Also, the numbers for this past season reflect 18 games of Byram and 41 of Mule, two players expected to play top 4 minutes in the coming season, so not exactly apples to apples. Second bold is absolutely a great point, but the flip side is also true. Paying your top 2 centres just $7M each long-term and 5 of your top 6 forwards only a combined $20M right now allows you to spend more on your D. And the hope is clearly that Cozens/Thompson/Power/Dahlin provide a useful artificial cap moving forward when the cap rises and contracts are needed for Byram, Peterka, Tuch and Quinn — similar to what the Bruins did with Bergeron and their other leaders all those years. People talk about what kind of influence Ventura has or doesn't have on coaching or pro scouting decisions. I wonder how much influence his department has had on contracts and roster makeup. The Sabres braintrust has clearly decided their key players are Dahlin and Power and their key position is the blueline and invested accordingly.