dudacek

Do you think Samuelsson is a low price tag? A 24-year-old 6’4” 230-pound defensively strong defenceman on a team that has no one else like that?

What you're saying is we really need to look at how centres do in high-danger faceoffs

Right, but Detroit has done exactly what you wanted the Sabres to do: acquire veterans to teach and "block" and "win now" and "play the right way", and pick bigger 2-way guys instead smaller, skilled types. The Wallinders and Kaspers and Velenos and Cossas and Edvissons and Berggrens have been playing in the minors or down the lineup while the Perrons and the Kanes and Sprongs and Petrys played in Detroit. Over the past 2 years, each team has missed the playoffs by a single win, and the Sabres have outproduced the Wings by a measly 4 points. Basically, there has been no meaningful short-term difference from either philosophy, so the difference will be measured in the long-term. Will Detroit regret some of the long-term veteran contracts they've signed? Will the Sabres regret the contracts they've given some unproven kids? Will the prospects develop better being shielded and slow cooked, or force-fed NHL minutes? I mean you're right, future moves might muddy the waters, but having the mirror image plan unfold at the same time in the same division will be fascinating.

Marchand's is absolutely the right response to what happened and the guy is a heckuva hockey player. He's also a prick and I have not lost touch with my basic Sabre fandom so much as to not enjoy it any time he suffers.

The fact that Ruff signed for 2 years to work in Buffalo when he could have collected millions from NJ to do nothing is evidence the bold is not the case. It will be interesting to watch over the next 5 years if the Wings were short-term gain for long-term pain, or we were. The starting points were similar. The Copp, Chairot and Compher contracts were exactly the things Adams refused to do.

We think so. it was basically the same with all wheat products over your way: pasta, bread etc. Makes her sick over here, but she was in her glory over there; spent 10 weeks last summer Lucky she was walking so much, otherwise she probably would have needed a new wardrobe. 😁

My daughter, who can't usually drink North American beer due to food allergies, has no such problems in Europe. She was in Prague this time last year and raved about the beer.

With the exception McNabb, every single one of them was dumped on by multiple posters on this site. But it's pretty clear that any problems they had here were less about the who, and more about the when and how.

Keep in mind, he was a year older than Reinhart and Cozens and two years older than Benson.

Savoie has NHL speed, plays hard in all three zones. He just had the best points per game of any Sabres junior prospect coming out of the Dub in recent memory: better than Benson, Cozens, Krebs, Reinhart and Tyler Ennis, and by a considerable margin. It was the 3rd best by any prospect period in the past 15 years. There is nothing unusual about a top 10 NHL pick making the NHL roster in their D3 year. It’s pretty common. 5 of the 6 forwards picked in the top 10 the draft previous were in the NHL this year. Logan stankoven is Savoie’s size and a year older. Last year he had a very similar season in the WHL and this year he is playing regularly in the Stanley Cup playoffs for a very good Dallas team. All of that is to say, is that in a vaccuum, it is entirely reasonable. Personally, I hope the Sabres are not planning for it, and, in fact, are actively seeking NHL veterans to put in his way. If he makes it, I hope it happens later in the year, and it’s because he has been playing so well in the AHL he earned his shot.

I agree with this specifically and the philosophy in general. Some people seem to think Johnson is among our top 4 defencemen. I don't think he is in our top 6. If he's not he should be playing, not watching.

As in he doesn't offer it? Not enough of it, I'd say. He's shown great ability to hold off checkers at times. But there's power there that's wasted because he'd rather beat guys with his hands. Without dumping on Granato, we saw no suggestion that he wanted his forwards to engage. We know that's not the case with Lindy. I'm curious to see whether players like Thompson and Tuch are encouraged to use their size more, not so much to punish, but to impose their will and get inside.

Think he was talking about Johnson.

He's been pretty consistently 1 PM for every 2 games played over the past 4 years and it looks like he's had a major every year 🤷‍♂️

I messed this up because I missed Mitts. Should have included his 14 instead of Robinson's 2, which makes the job of the replacements 12 goals tougher.

These four vets are certainly capable of more than they scored last year: Tuch: last year 22, average past 2 years 29, career high 36 Thompson: 29, 38, 47 Cozens: 18, 25, 31 Skinner: 24, 30, 40 They need to do so. History says players rarely peak in the 2nd year. As a group, Quinn, Benson, Krebs and Peterka should be able to improve and need to do so. Okposo, Girgensons, Olofsson, Jost and Robinson averaged 6 goals per player. They need to be replaced by 5 players who will contribute more. Is it unreasonable to think they can get 25 more from the 1st group, 20 more from the 2nd and 10 more from the 3rd?

Unless Byram flames out, Henri’s contract is going to force a move sooner or later. As to the bold, pretty much exactly how I saw it. Thought I was the only one. If they can improve the areas you mention and Lindy can get the forwards to commit to helping out the way they should, this blueline corps could be very good. Not many blue lines have their hands and feet.

Certainly nothing textbook about him. His decision-making can be so frustrating on the ice some times. His off-ice demeanour continues to impress me though. This is the son of minor-league-tough-guy-for-hire-turned-coach. he’s a kid with a healthy mix of resolve and don’t-give-a*****-what-you-think, who thrives on being told he can’t or won’t. He doesn’t complain or make excuses, and he’s all business. Only centres to have scored more goals over the last 3 years are named Matthews, McDavid, MacKinnon, Draisaitl and Point. That’s impressive.

I saw something about how Samuelsson is doing well. There will be no (current) issues with him being ready for training camp. Im curious about the potential for Johnson (blocked) or Jokiharju (contract, and way more in demand than this board would have you believe as a 24-year-old veteran RHD) being moved this summer. The top 4 is set and Clifton is safe. I think they’re comfortable with Bryson as a #7 if they move someone, or decide to cook Johnson some more. Not sure Jacob gets qualified though. The progress of Komarov and Novikov, plus the additions of Strbak and Byram has done wonders for the defensive depth.

Pretty sure this was just being funny. But for those who didn't hear the interview with Duffer and Marty, it sounded to me like Karmanos was more being respectful of those two rather than seriously considering them. He specifically mentioned their lack of experience.

Which of these key people do you see as being in over their heads? GM: Adams AGM: Karmanos Head scout: Forton Player development director: Mair Analytics director: Ventura Head coach: Ruff 1C: Thompson 2C: Cozens Power forward: Tuch Goal scorer: Skinner 1D: Dahlin 2D: Power Shutdown defender: Samuelsson Starter: UPL Captain: ??? I’d say only Karmanos and Lindy are proven fully in their position, although I would make arguments for Ventura and Dahlin. Some might add Skinner, but not me.

The bold in a nutshell is why Granato is not the coach any more and Lindy is. It’s what all that crap about “being accountable” means and it’s the story to watch for the coming season.

Listening to Karmanos the other day, he was just the latest Sabre exec I hear hammering on about needing players to get to the inside. Granato talked about it all the time as his tenure wound down. Adams talked about in the season’s aftermath. Watching the absolute lack of “skill” goals in the playoffs only emphasizes it more. They know what needs to be done. The question is can they do it.

I would absolutely be interested in Ehlers for the right price. Very much would prefer to see them use their assets on a similar-level player with a different skill set.

"Utter revisionism" on Ulmark is strong. I thought about pulling him out and rewriting that portion and decided "long already, people know the history." Ultimately he didn't re-sign and has told the media since that after his Dad died during COVID he could have never stayed in Buffalo. You can remove him from the equation if you want, but the point about most of the better veterans being done with Buffalo still stands. "Considerably worse hockey" simply meant this: 2023/24: .512 2020/21: .330 2019/20:: .493 2018/19: .463 2017/18: .378 As for the rest, arguing against the degree of the rebuild is entirely fair. Personally, I don't think a quick fix built around Eichel was going to work for reasons I've already outlined. To the bold, the Krueger COVID year was far and away the worst year of my fandom. Only thing that came close was the year we bottomed out and Bowman got fired. The 2 years previous to this one were (sadly) 2 of the 3 best since Pegula bought the team.