dudacek

Connor Clifton hasn’t exactly covered himself with glory so far in blue and gold. Nice of the refs to give the Sabres a penalty and the Isles a goal on pretty much the same forecheck. Jordan Greenway continues to be what the Sabres got him for and his line continues to be impress. Signs of life from Tuch and Thompson. Hope we can get some more in the 2nd. We’ll need it.

Yes. Thought I might have had another from the Bowman years: John Tucker, who was a 2nd-rounder who played in his D1 year. But he was another fall birthday. Turned 19 on Sept. 29

Reinhart is one. Girgensons, Selling and Cozens were 19. Ray Shepard was 21 and Derek Plante was 22. Marty was 18, but emergency recall wasn’t on opening night, so he doesn’t count. Turgeon, Benson, Eichel, Dahlin, Reinhart, Barrasso, Housley and maybe Cyr. 3 (or maybe 4)to go.

I thought these were good, but they were both 19

Barrasso and Housley confirmed. Wasnt Andreychuk. He turned 19 on Sept. 29 of his rookie year. Cyr turned 19 on Oct. 31 that year, but I don’t know if he was on the roster opening night or not.

Eichel played his 1st game about 3 weeks before his 19th birthday. And it looks like Mogilny was 20. I’m wondering about some of the other Bowman kids: Cyr, Andreychuk…?

Yep. HockeyDB says Gare and Martin were 20 on opening night and Perreault turned 20 in November of his first year.

With you on Barrasso and Housley, but I think the 1st 3 all pre-date the 18–year-old draft. Eichel and Dahlin.

According to the Buffalo News, Zach Benson is the second youngest skater to ever play a game for the Sabres. The youngest was Pierre Turgeon. There have been 9 other 18-year-olds to suit up in a season opener. The News doesn’t name them. Without looking them up, can we?

Savoie is practicing, but he remains on IR and ineligible to play anywhere. Adams says he is still seeking clarity from the league in terms of when and where Savoie can play and under what conditions.

This is absolutely dangerous framing. Skinner/Thompson/Tuch/Cozens/Dahlin/Power is the core now and for the forseeable future, their contracts show it. All except Power are experienced enough that youth is not an excuse for anything. If they aren't good enough to lead the team into the playoffs this year, why would they be good enough to lead the team into the playoffs next year? The time is now: the players know it, the coaches know it, the management knows it. They've all said it. It's about winning.

Another train of thought, but which of the Levi goals did you think was a softie? 1st and 4th were back-door tap-ins, so no way there, and the 2nd was a power play deflection, so it must have been the 3rd? I'd call that one just a snipe, just under the blocker and inside the post. Levi looked in position and he didn't whiff on it, it just seemed perfectly placed.

For a team whose strength is supposed to be offence, we sure didn’t look very dangerous last night. Tuch, Tage, Skinner and Cozens created very little. Wondering if the team core was feeling the pressure a bit too much. A lot of them seemed to be inside their own heads. The Rangers looked patient, mature and just better at hockey. I ***** hate Laviolette.

I hate the “blame the closest guy to the goal scorer” thing fans always do. The 1st goal started because of a Krebs giveaway on the breakout. He forced a 5-foot pass to Okposo just outside the blueline that was picked off and launched a semi- 3-on-2 the other direction. Instead of darting into the lane to block Panarin’s path to the goal and puck, Girgensons drifted back towards the boards, opening the direct line to the net 72 moved the puck into and Panarin exploited. Power gave Panarin way too much space on the initial rush, weakly waved his stick at him, then turned away from him on the shot instead of staying with him and limiting his access to the rebound. Levi kicked the rebound directly to Panarin who no longer had a good shot angle, but had a great passing lane, thanks to Power compounding his initial bad turn by not moving to fill it. Jokiharju got transfixed by the puck carrier instead of protecting the back door by either filling the passing lane or looking for encroaching threats from the outside. And Okposo also got caught staring and stopped moving his feet when he was in the best position to actually see and pick up Lafreniere, who came all the way from the far wall behind him. Plenty of blame to go around. (Never mind the good plays by the Ranger who picked off the pass and fed Panarin, Lafreniere to drive the net, and particularly Panarin for the speed at which he executed his rush, his shot and his pass)

It’s his release. Stick and gone, wherever he wants it to go. Mike Bossy-esque.

I'm now officially Henri Jokiharju's biggest fan on sabrespace. Olofsson and skinner continue to kill it. But Peyton Krebs wins, hands down

In balance, the co-host said "they're just betting on their young guys, just like the Canucks did with Hughes, andlook how good that turned out'

For a different perspective, Vancouver sportsradio take this morning: “Owen Power? Oh, yeah, he was the #1 pick a few years ago. I kinda forget about that guy” “It’s kinda funny with Buffalo. It seems like any time anyone remotely good there gets close to free agency, it’s like LOCK HIM UP! NOW! DONT LET HIM GET AWAY!”

i just compare him to other previous top 5 defencemen taken in the past 15 years: Dahlin, Heiskanen, Makar, Hanifin, Juolevi, Ekblad Jones, Murray, Reilly, Gudbranson, Doughty, Hedman, Bogosian, Pietrangelo Most of them are/were worthy of that level of contract relative to the cap over their 3-10 season, especially when you compare Power's D2 year to their's. Consider that power ranks as the 55th-highest-paid player in the NHL next season right now. That ranking is only going to get lower over the next 8 years I think we're pretty safe.

I think being first is still an advantage. (Not that we're first, Ottawa and Jersey are also there) The others adopting the strategy later will be paying more. (Anaheim, Montreal, Chicago...?)

Next year the Leafs will be paying their 3 best players $35 million with Tavares and Marner a year away from UFA and Matthews 3 years. We will be paying our 4 best $34 million for the next 6 years (Power for 7, Dahlin for 8).

Coming due a year before Dahlin and a year after Cozens, Tage and Samuelsson. Not many teams have locked down their cores like this prior their peaks, right through their peaks. If the cap skyrockets we should be in excellent shape

Right there with the Ekblad contract, like i figured. Little under. Hope this takes a load off Owen's mind, rather than adds to it.

If i took preseason seriously, I'd expect most of these things to come true this year: 1) Alex Tuch and/or Tage Thompson will put too much pressure on themselves, struggle to find a groove, and regress 2) Casey Mittelstadt will have a career year — 70+ points and good 2-way play 3) JJ Peterka will take an obvious step forward 4) Victor Olofsson will be elsewhere before the trade deadline 5) Peyton Krebs and Jordan Greenway will emerge as those useful, complementary 3rd-line-level players that all good teams seem to have 6) Zach Benson will remain a Sabre for the entire year 7) Owen Power will have a sophomore slump 8. Henri Jokiharju will have a career year and settle nicely into a solid 2nd-pairing guy 9) Connor Clifton will be a large disappointment 10) UPL will be ejected early and Levi/Comrie will emerge as surprisingly solid 50/30 split in net Curious to see how many, if any, actually come true. It might make me take next year's preseason more (or less) seriously.

It's striking how unanimously the local media is drinking the koolaid. The goaltending and the defence aren't proven fixed until they are. The offence is not guaranteed until it is. I mean, aside from a dedicated balloon-pricker like Jerry Sullivan, the media is generally going to reflect the vibes the organization is giving off, so I chalk a portion of it to that factor. But I certainly raised my eyebrows at the above. Not sure many on or around the Sabres this year is equipped to cope with disappointment this year. The meltdowns could be epic. Keeping the ship on even keel might turn out to be Granato's biggest challenge.