dudacek

I’m curious to see how the softness and offense actually manifest. IMO, Dahlin is elite when it comes to generating offence from the back-end. Power and Byram have 1st-pairing offensive skill. Jokiharju and Clifton are more or less average and Samuelsson a non-factor. Can this group provide game-changing dangerous offence from the back line? IMO Dahlin is also big and 1st-pairing abrasive and has the numbers to back that up. Samuelsson is a physical force and an upper-echelon defender. Clifton is net plus in this area of the game. Jokiharju is hardly punishing, but he’s squat and a good skater who seems to hold his own one-on-one. Overall, he’s kinda neutral. Byram battles and has an edge but seems kinda skinny and lost at times defending. Power has the size but not the will. Each has the tools to be better here. I’d love to flip Jokiharju for a Will Borgen type, but I wonder if the need will be as pronounced as we think it is once we see Byram and Samuelsson in the lineup at the same time under Ruff.

To be clear, I don't think Byram is dominant either, just very talented. Something I'm not sure people are aware of is how productive Byram is at even-strength and how PP time colours point totals for defencemen. His 28 ES points ranked 34th among defencemen in the NHL last year. His peers included John Carlson, Drew Doughty, Vince Dunn, Shea Theodore, Owen Power, Brock Faber and Torrey Krug. He was 8th in ES goals. He was ahead of age peers like Seider, Sanderson, Luke Hughes and Kaiden Guhle, not to mention veterans like Chychrun, Chabot, Pietrangelo, Seth Jones and Brent Burns.

And what I'm saying is I don't buy in to the popular theory that Adams made this trade because of Casey's looming contract. I believe it was purely a roster trade: we had 3 top 6 centres and 3 top 4 defencemen; Adams traded from a position of strength to fill a position of weakness. Whether Casey signs for $5M or $8M won't really affect my position on the trade much. I will judge it on whether Byram improves the D-corps more than Casey's loss hurts the middle 6 up front. And how Adams backfills the Casey hole (or doesn't) will definitely factor into my judgement.

If you think it was purely contract-driven maybe. For me, it will be moot if the Sabres make the playoffs next year with Byram contributing as a top 4 D For Sabrespace it will end 3 or 4 years after we stop talking about the ROR trade.

Small and fast? To me he looks a lot like Dylan Cozens and Tage Thompson?

Great article about Sam Reinhart in the Athletic. Reading it you would think this type of pro would have to be a lifelong Bruin. https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5515260/2024/05/30/nhl-mock-draft-2024-gm-round-1-expert-picks/

Posted about this a day or 2 ago in the prospects thread. Between what he's shown and what we have in the pipeline, I'm not surprised. I tend to want to sign everybody; letting someone who's not a late-rounder go after just 2 years makes me nervous. But I understand how that's not really how things work, especially with all the picks the Sabres have made recently. Seemed like a nice kid. Hope he gets a shot elsewhere. Just don't go all Brandon Hagel on us.

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. Prospects under contract and pencilled in for Rochester next year: Rosen, Kulich, Östlund, Savoie, Neuchev, Kisakov, Kozak, Nadeau, Wahlberg, Johnson, Komarov, Novikov, Metsa. That's 13 guys fighting for regular ice time. It would have to be be a pretty extreme scenario if only 5 or 6 are playing regularly in Roch. The teams seem to have done a good job creating a scenario where competition allows the cream to rise to the top, but there's not a ton of room to load up with AHL vets. The new coach will have an interesting group to work with and I wouldn't be surprised to see the team to take a step back to allow the young players to develop. You hope the Johnsons and Kulichs step up enough so that is doesn't matter. It all becomes moot though if Levi returns the Rochester. He's so good at that level that the lack of experience in front of him shouldn't really matter. But I don't expect that to happen. (EDIT: Not sure if Metsa is under contract. Believe he was on an AHL deal and I'm not certain of the term. I consider him a prospect since he was a rookie, but his age may make him an AHL vet for others).)

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.