dudacek

I don't see anyone else on the roster capable of filling in the minutes of either of those guys should they go down. And that's assuming Tage and Dylan can bounce back. I also don't see anyone on the roster capable of contributing anything close to what Mitts could from the 3C slot. This is kinda like the argument against acquiring Byrum. It's actually a good thing to have guys who are better than their roster slot. It's kinda what makes the good teams good.

The Leafs would get a very nice return for Marner without taking on anything close to Skinner's salary.

This is not his history at all. We traded Derek Roy for a guy people thought could become Duncan Keith but so far looks like he's projecting as Brandon Montour. Weren't you one of the guys who stuck by Mitts through his early struggles? Byram is 22, has played 164 NHL games and has 72 points. At 22 Mitts had played 155 NHL games and had 61 NHL points

Incredible.Thanks for posting.

I took a rare walk along the Stadium Wall and damn they are melting down there. The Brady offence looked pretty damn good last year with Diggs being just a guy. Kincaid looked good and is going to be better. Shakir looked good and is going to be better. Nobody talks about the impact player Cook has become. Coleman should be able to replace or even upgrade Davis. Samuel is no prime Diggs, but he should be able to replace what last year’s checked-out Diggs was offering. And it’s Josh freaking Allen getting them the ball. They’re going to score.

Toronto’s biggest problem seems to be they keep coming up against better teams. 😁

You get a guy who you known can play 14 minutes of NHL + hockey a night and you tell Krebs there’s your target; be better than him and those minutes are yours. If I squint hard I can see someone who only watched Byram play in Buffalo say that. Im reminded of last year and what everyone was saying about Greenway. Im not going to say we bought low because we paid a pretty big price. But I will say you weren’t getting him at that price any time before this year. He’s shown he can be better and I expect he will be.

Yep. I think every game was 4-3

Tampa has no picks, prospects or cap space. They are loaded with experience and edge. The Sabres are exactly the opposite. I don't think you'll find many teams that are a better trade match. i wonder if Nick Paul or Tanner Jeannot might be available at a price we can afford.

I’m more interested in the Byram part of this equation. How likely are we to see the dangerous Bo of the 1st few games over the majority of the season? How likely are we to see the overmatched in his own zone Bo that finished the year? What I saw over his brief stint here wasn’t overly impressive; it gave me Brandon Montour square peg vibes. At the same time, I’ve seen this kid play at an elite level at the world juniors and in the Stanley Cup finals. He’s got a ton of talent and is a competitor. Being moved from a Stanley Cup champion to a doormat, after a largely disappointing season playing in a less-than optimal role, dragging his girlfriend from Denver to Buffalo, having to switch to a zone defence after playing man his whole career, and having some kind of family issue playing out behind the scenes are real things. There should be no issue with the roster fit. He can play on the left side in a top-4 role and add a transition and offensive weapon to augment skilled forwards, without hurting the team defensively. There’s room there and he has the skill set. There’s a world where his addition cements the Sabres identity as a dangerous, quick-strike, ice-flipping team that kills you from the back end. But he has to get focused and aligned with his coaches. He has to shake off the past, step up and grab the opportunity. He’s a guy who can be a difference-maker and someone I hope is a priority for Lindy and his staff.

Is it just me, or has the board generally had a pretty dramatic swing from “we can afford to trade Mittelstadt” to “we have a giant Mittelstadt-sized hole on the roster”? Maybe it was more gradual over the past year or so, as Cozens and Tage dropped off and Casey emerged? From a depth perspective, I would be surprised if 1 or more of Krebs, Kulich, Östlund and Savoie doesn’t emerge as a decent 3C or better. But I - and I think most of us - would be shocked if any are that this year. It is my hope that Mitts is replaced not by another Mitts, but by a different kind of 3C: cheaper, edgier, more defensively focused. With Lindy on board, I don’t think it’s a stretch to target a Gaustad or Hecht type of player.

God, I loved watching Hawerchuk on that team. Favourite Sabre no one ever talks about as a Sabre.

I can’t get over how young these Amerks are. Last night they dressed 7 rookies: Neuchev 20, Östlund 20, Wahlberg 18, Johnson 22, Novikov 20, Metsa 24 and Levi 22 And 2nd year players: Kulich 20, Rosen 21 2nd-year guys Kisakov and Kozak, each 21, are among the spares.

All 3 are eligible and under contract. So as far as I know the Sabres control where they play. Östlund and Savoie are expected to for sure. Uncertain about the plan for Wahlberg. I thought Östlund was the most dangerous Amerk on the ice last night. He’s small, but fast and always moving and involved; he’s looked that way every time I’ve watched him play. But even though he attacks the game like Benson, he doesn’t show Benson’s ability to get underneath bigger guys to win puck battles. Definite hole in his game even though overall he’s looked effective.

It’s been the same for all these kids: you see things you like, you look at their age and say “damn, he could really be something when he’s in his prime.” The sad thing is that even if we’re right - and for every Girgensons and Kassian and Zadorov there’s been an Eichel, Reinhart, Thompson and Dahlin - it’s been so long since it’s happened when it mattered.

I always get into trouble speaking in broad-brush generalities. There are definitely fans who think targeting your guy without a thorough process is unprofessional, and that is a legitimate take. There are also definitely fans who were vehemently saying things like "they should hire ---" and "no way they should hire ---" I'm referring to people who belong to both group A and group B at the same time.

It makes me smile when the same fans who are passionately for or against a particular coaching candidate they’ve never met are furious because Adams targeted someone someone he knows very well, then simply went out and got him.

Picked Ehlers because he seemed to represent the “really good 2nd-liner” level that represents the low end of the peer group. Another way of saying it would be “you score 25-30 goals at 21 and the odds look really good you’re going to continue doing that, or better, throughout your career.” (Which we should keep in mind with Dylan Cozens, who hit 31). The question with Peterka is really “how much can he grow?” His skate/shoot combo is high-end. His compete and vision seem good. His consistency and details need work. He had 25 even-strength goals, that was good for 19th in the entire NHL last year. Leon Draisaitl had 20, Stamkos 21, McDavid 24.

Peterka is an interesting guy to look at comparables. His 28 goals mark the 25th-best 21-year-old season in the past 10. Some guys who had similar U22 seasons: Pastrnak 35 Conner 31 Kucherov 29 Draisaitl 29 Rantanen 29 Petterson 27 Eichel 25 Nylander 20 But then you also get guys like Alex Debrincat with 41 and Jack Hughes with 43, so there are guys who were pretty far ahead. One thing seems to hold true though, very few of the guys on that list of 25 proved to be a flash in the pan. This type of production at the age seems likely to set him up for at least a Nikolaj Ehlers type career.

I was listening to Lindy talk about how he works, and how he basically the same as most coaches, he deploys the guys he trusts most to get the job done in all the most crucial game situations. And I started thinking about how what changes is how much each coach likes a particular player. Donnie clearly had a pecking order that started with Tuch and Tage. He liked to match top lines. He didn't lean on Ras much for the PK, but he played him to death everywhere else. Krebs was an extra. Quinn and Peterka an afterthought on the PP. Girgs a 4th liner. Samuelsson in the top 4 and often with Ras. No shutdown line. All these trends that have kinda come to expect that may get overturned in ways we don't at all expect. It will be interesting how it all settles out. I mean I get the size and the compete level, but the team has a much better match for its Briere clone playing in Moose Jaw. Savoie has those as well, but he also has Briere's shark-like approach to offence and breakaway threat. He even kinda looks like Danny.

2022 #7 (plus a 2nd) for Alex Debrincat 2022 #12 for #27 #34 and #45 2022 #14 for Kirby Dach or Alex Romanov 2022 #19 (plus Brock Faber) for Kevin Fiala 2021 #9 for Connor Garland (plus a bunch of cap dumps) 2021 #14 (plus a 2nd) for Rasmus Ristolainen 2021 #15 for #23, #48 and #138 2020 #15 for Kasperi Kapanen 2019 #11 for #14 and #45 2018 #12 (plus 2 2nds) for Travis Hamonic Most recent time I can find a summer trade of a pick in the Sabres range involving a middle 6 centre was #7 and Tony DeAngelo for Antti Raanta and Derek Stepan, when Stepan was a 27-year-old 55-point scorer. I've stayed away from rentals.

I’d trade picks/prospects for a vet under contract.

Not sure what’s up with your math, but there are 192 top 6 positions open in the NHL (6x32). 224th is upper-end 3rd line production. Benson’s 28 even-strength points ranked 184th. Guys around him: Elias Lindholm, Jake Debrusk, Dawson Mercer, Andrew Copp, David Perron, Mats Zuccarello and Anton Lundell. And that doesn’t even take into account his chops defensively. I also don’t agree with your knock off the puck comments. Did it happen? Absolutely, but I also saw lots of instances where he won pucks along the boards and made plays in heavy traffic. Looked me like he won more battles than he lost. This is just a bad take. He was clearly NHL-ready.

And Marner didn’t play as an 18-year, but put up 60 at 19 as a rookie. The size matches, but Marner’s got that Housley thing, where his skating agility and puckhandling are so, so good. Zach doesn’t have that. But he’s got something. I keep coming back to Marchand without the elevated ***** element. He’s smarter and more competitive than anyone he matches up against and just finds a way.

I gravitate to smart players who don’t quit. He’s become my favourite player to watch on the team. Really hope he can improve his shot. It stood out to me as a significant hole in his game. His performance relative to physical maturity and experience was remarkable, something I’ve never seen before on this team. Housley, Dahlin and Turgeon were much bigger and/or obviously skilled and that’s more or less where the “regulars at 18” list ends. Guys of his size just don’t play in the NHL without hall-of-fame hands and feet, but he doesn’t seem to have either. So that says a lot about his will and hockey sense. It’s hard to project his ceiling given the lack of comparables. But it’s obvious the kid just gets hockey.