dudacek

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.

Got a bit of an insight into the coach’s mind yesterday on WGR when he said how important it is to be able to kill plays quickly on defence, but basically implied that killing plays is kinda useless if the defender isn’t able to transition after the kill. Kinda explains why Lyubushkin became the odd man out, why they targeted Clifton and what he sees in Bryson and Jokiharju. The latter 2 can be quite good at stepping up to blunt the rush and flipping the play up ice. Apparently that outweighs their struggles when that doesn’t work and they get pinned, overpowered and chasing in their own zone. Our coach is not a big fan of the old-fashioned stay-at-homer.

I’m a little concerned by how bad Clifton looked in his 2 preseason games. He’s clearly a better player than that, but he also is being asked to play in a much different system and we can’t afford his adjustment to take weeks. There’s a reason he’s starting the season on the 3rd pair with our most stable vet. I’m also a little concerned about Owen Power, mostly because Donnie hinted that he’s a little concerned that Owen is putting too much pressure on himself. He’s an extremely analytical kid, whose head is stuffed full of thoughts about leading this team to the playoffs and signing a big-money, long-term deal. I saw what happened when Dahlin spent too much time thinking and not enough playing.

I don't think it would be correct to characterize it as "because he's Dahlin's friend" influencing roster decisions I do think "wants to be here" and "he's a Sabre" do influence roster decisions and can often be congruent with the above. Semi-related, I think people are overlooking the contract with Bryson. I don't mean the Sabres are keeping him up because they don't want to be paying him that much to be in the minors. I mean the Sabres gave him that contract because it represents what they think of him as hockey player. They agree he was disappointing last year, but they don't think last year represents who he is. He is being given a chance at redemption. Like the goalies, most of us disagree. We'll see who's right.

I think @Thorny nailed it yesterday. As frustrating as it may be for us armchair GMs, Adams is going with the goaltending he has because he believes he will get capable goaltending from the goalies he has. All we can do is hope he's right.

Oh, i think Ottawa and Buffalo are pick 'em and could be for years to come. I also agree that the Sabres not making the playoffs is entirely possible and will be crushing to the hope Adams has been selling (largely successfully, in my case).

Greg Wyshynski picked the Sabres to be the league's most disappointing team this season. Says everyone seems to think they're about to make a step and they aren't. Says Ottawa is top-to-bottom better.

I believe the top 3 picks - Bedard, Carlsson, Fantili - and Benson.

I think the presser makes it absolutely clear unless you think Dahlin is a totally devious, skilled and bald-faced liar: Andrew Peters was wrong and the idea that Dahlin was pushing for 5 years was never a consideration.

Quinn?

So happy for him and for us. He’s a keeper. https://www.nhl.com/sabres/video/rasmus-dahlin-press-conference-6338736075112

Yeah, I think that spot was being held for Patrick Kane, unless Benson (or even Olofsson) makes him redundant.

Colorado claimed the Coyotes #3G today on waivers. Im not familiar with him, but UPL and Comrie certainly appear to have better resumes. https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=196998

Adams said Benson is on the team because he earned it - not because he put up points, but because of what he did with all his puck touches and how he matched up against NHL players in all situations. He’s still here because they think it’s the best thing for both him, and the team.