dudacek

The goal this season and every season from here on in should be the Stanley Cup

Bouncing back nicely from a North American debut season almost entirely lost to injury, Rousek emerged as a savvy, versatile leader for Rochester. His NHL debut didn’t come until late in the year due to the unnaturally good health of the Sabres forwards, but he looked like he belonged in his two-game appearance. https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=207535 At 24, Rousek might lack the top end talent of some of the other rookies contending for a roster spot this season, but he is the most mature and has the most complete game. No longer waiver-eligible, Rousek signed a 2-year contract extension this summer comes with a one-way salary in its second year. What do you expect from Rousek this year?

Very few 2022 draft picks pushed their way further up the prospect rankings over the past 12 months than Kulich. His 46 points in 64 games ranked as the best production by a U19 AHL player in 25 years and the 4th best of all time. Although most believe work still needs to be done on his defensive game, one of the most notable things about Kulich is his performance on his last 3 big stages. U18 Worlds: 9 goals and 11 point in 6 games (MVP). U20 Worlds: 7 goals and 9 points in 7 games (all-star). AHL playoffs: 7 goals, 11 points in 12 games. This is a kid who consistently shows up when it counts. https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=245580 At least one spot is open on the big club due to the Jack Quinn injury. Kulich has made clear his intention is to claim it and a case may be made that his skill set and AHL success last year make him a prime candidate. That said, it should be noted that his production (.74 points/game) lagged significantly behind where both Quinn (1.36 points/game) and JJ Peterka (.96 points/game) were two years ago as AHL rookies. What do you expect from Kulich this year? (*With 27 and 25 taken, I arbitrarily gave Kulich 15, as the only available number that I know he’s worn previously.)

#1 is mostly about experience, I assume? Miller had played 11 more NHL games than Levi. He was 4 years older and 160 AHL games under his belt. #2 Drury had played 80 playoff games. Hecht 27 and McKee 35. Numminen had played 54 but had never won a playoff series. That was the extent of that team's playoff experience. Erik Johnson has won a cup and played 55 playoff games. Alex Tuch has been to the finals and played 66. Connor Cilfton has also been to the finals and played 46. Tyson Jost has 46 playoff games, Kyle Okposo has 24. #3: In terms of games played, it's not as different as you might think Johnson 920 Numminen 1160 Dahlin 355 McKee 460 Jokiharju 273 Lydman 289 Clifton 232 Kalinin 273 Samuelsson 109 Campbell 187 Power 87 Tallinder 120

I think most of the conversation around here seems to be about whether the Sabres did enough to make the playoffs this year. I'd like to see some conversation to about whether the Sabres have enough pieces in place to break out and become a contending team. What are the differences between this years Sabres and the Sabres of 2005/06? Both teams are loaded with young players breaking in together on the verge of breaking out. Both teams are coming off a year where they missed the playoffs, but showed signs down the stretch. Neither team made significant veteran additions, but sprinkled in a big checking forward late the previous season and added a few judicious pieces on defence in the off-season. Both teams had uncertainty in goal. Can this edition of the Sabres follow in that edition's footsteps? For reference, Forwards: Tage Briere Tuch Dumont Skinner Max Cozens Drury Mitts Connolly Okposo Hecht Krebs Roy Quinn Vanek Peterka Pominville Greenway Grier Olofsson Kotalik Girgensons Gaustad Jost Mair Rousek Pyatt Kulich Paille Defence Dahlin Campbell Power Tallinder Samuelsson McKee Clifton Lydman Jokiharju Kalinin Johnson Numminen Stillman Fitzpatrick Goalie Levi Miller Comrie Biron Luukkonen Noronen

Just so others are aware, the guy Patrick talked about in context was Hall-of-famer Guy Carbonneau, not Johan Larsson.

Agree with every sentence of this post save the last. Nobody is talking about these statements and they should not be left unnoticed: “Should our goal be to make the playoffs, to be 2 points better than this year? No. That’s expected now. You set the goal of winning a Stanley Cup and then you don’t touch that. You don’t run from that. You don’t let that weigh you down at all. The time is now.” - Kyle Okposo "I honestly think we can go for a (Stanley) Cup, so I think that's the attitude everyone has got and the attitude we have to have.” - Owen Power Pretty sure you’re talking about management, but I think it’s more important what’s coming from the room.

It think Jost is more skilled than most skating on NHL 4th lines. He’s also got a ton of NHL experience for his age. These are nice qualities to have when one of your top centres gets hurt and the guy stepping up the chain isn’t an overmatched AAAhler or a wide-eyed kid. He also seems to be a good fit with the vibes. Im just not sure his actual game is what this particular roster needs most; I’d rather have “hard-to-play-against” in that slot. One thing I do wonder is where his head is: he made no bones about wanting to be here, and he has to realize that his career is at a crossroads. A best-case scenario is he comes in highly motivated and provides the type of competition at the bottom of the roster all good teams need.

Clague played 18, 36 and 33 NHL games the past three years. The Sabres projected him as their 7/8/9 (forgot Fitzpatrick) and he did about as well as you'd expect an 8 to play. Not saying this about you particularly, but I'm generally reading that people have inflated opinions of other rosters — that they have NHL defencemen regularly sitting in the press box.

I think last year's Sabres believed they had 2 complementary top 4 guys in Joki and Mule. They still believe in those 2, but discovered they had nothing behind them. This year they believe they have 3, with the addition of Clifton. I think last year's Sabres believed they had 2 decent 3rd pairing guys with Bryson and Lyubushkin and OK depth with Clague and Pilut. They were wrong on all counts except maybe Clague. This year they believe they upgraded Lyubushkin with Johnson and Pilut with Stillman. And they hope Ryan Johnson pushes Bryson and Clague. I don't think there's any doubt they are deeper. We'll see if they're right on Jokiharju and the Johnsons I like Bush better than Bryson and Stillman too. But I think the difference is negligible. and we have a couple intriguing kids pushing now too. i remember Bryson's first 100 NHL games as being better than what we saw last year. I think his failures when elevated into a top 4 role in the 8-game losing streak shattered his confidence. I suspect he'll be better this year.

I know this won't be a popular opinion, but Bryson would among the better #8s in the league. He's a mediocre #6 and an awful #4, but not many 8s have his skating ability and NHL experience.

I was surprised how much the numbers demonstrated he has. In his first year we complained he was weak, turned over the puck too much, and wasn't a good possession player. The statistical improvements in all 3 areas last year were huge. it's a credit to both the coaches and to Krebs' coachability. i really see this kid growing into a valuable middle-six glue guy for a good team, and that happening as early as this year.

The 10th-overall draft pick in 2016, Jost failed to elevate beyond 26 points in five NHL seasons and washed out in Colorado. Seeing NHL talent superior to what he was getting from Vinnie Hinostroza and Rasmus Asplund, Kevyn Adams plucked him from the waiver wire from Minnesota in mid-November. He was an NHL regular for most of the rest of the year, split between a defensive line between Okposo and Girgensons and an offensive one with Mittelstadt and Olofsson. https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=170552 Don Granato said it was his mission to rid Jost of the too-conservative tendencies that had been drilled into his head under previous coaches and re-ignite the creativity in his game. He certainly supplied more punch from the bottom 6 than most players cast in that role over the past decade in Buffalo. The question was whether he contributed enough in terms of the shutdown/energy elements more typically supplied by a player in that role. He re-signed as a UFA to a contract that paid him better than most players of his stature, but only committed the team to a single year, making it very much a prove it deal. What do you expect from Jost this year?

Some disappointment must have existed with the fact Krebs failed to appreciably increase his offensive stats in his 1st full NHL season despite playing 26 more games. His 78 shots in 74 games ranked dead last among Sabre forwards and barely beat out Mattias Samuelson, who played 19 fewer games. A deeper dive, however, shows some significant improvements. His giveaway per 60 rate dropped from a team-worst 2.6 to rank 8th among regulars at 1.6, while this hits per 60 went from 1.6 (among the worst on the team) to 5.4, 2nd best among forwards. His 5-on-5 Corsi jumped a full 6 percentage points, from 46.2% to 52.6%. Most notably, his ice time after January 1 climbed to 15:09 per game, good for 6th among forwards, after he skated just 11:59 in the 3 months prior. Much of the ice time increase was fed by the addition of a full-time role killing penalties. https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=197782 It hasn’t sparked a lot of conversation, but there is a fair amount of evidence to support the theory the organization is grooming Krebs to be its long-term 2-way 3C behind Thompson and Cozens. He certainly has the hustle, the hockey sense and just enough rat to succeed in that role with experience. What is less clear is how much offensive growth potential remains in there: can he produce at the NHL level? What do you expect from Krebs this year? (Last year’s takes here)

I'm pretty sure the pair on the left in front of the rail in the Bison caps are just fans. Although 'not-Levi' sure looks like Luke Hughes

I get people's frustration over the "insider" reporting, but i'm not worrying at all about the Ras contract itself getting done. It will. The more interesting developments on the contract front is the Sanderson contract, Adams confirmation that talks with Power's camp have been ongoing for weeks and will continue, and the fact Power and Sanderson share the same agent and roughly the same resume. That tells me a long-term deal can be made with Power and that Terry is willing to commit to more than $8 million per. it's the first time I've felt the Sabres may be willing to go there. I've always thought the sweet spot was $8.6 million, which is the 2nd Ekblad deal, factoring inflation. There is no better comparable for Power. Semi-related, I've been wondering if/when Adams is going surprise us with a new contract for Mittelstadt.

You think that's what it was about? i think it was more about the Sabres being very disappointed with what Boosh brought last year. They've brought in 4 new players since the deadline and 3 of them were literally bottom 4 physical defenders— exactly Lyubushkin's role. They simply didn't believe in him. Check out Lyubushkin's ice time down the stretch. Check out Jokiharju's. Ilya's corsi numbers were among the team's worst: worse than Henri's, worse than Bryson's and way below Stillman and Clague. From what i've read he also struggled with preventing zone entries, an area the Sabres are on record as wanting to improve. I think it really boiled down to the organization thinking that Lyubushkin didn't skate well enough to succeed in their system. They think maybe Stillman, Johnson and Clifton can. Now I don't necessarily agree with all of the above, but I think it's pretty clearly why Boosh got the diaper treatment.

Quinn's injury is the most disappointing part of the off-season to me: the way he constantly pushes and tries things bodes well for his future and I was expecting he'd make a big stride toward what he'll become this season. I'm not sure if i put a ton of faith into Adams "4-6 months" recovery timeline, but the 4 month end would only have him missing about 20 games. Like most of you,i think its best to consider whatever he gives a bonus. I would have liked the team to give an outside vet a shot to replace him.

One of the things I struggle to understand around here is the number of people who want more veteran leadership while at the same time wanting Okposo gone. To me, the guys kinda become the epitome of what you want out of a bottom-six vet; he's hard on pucks, responsible and hasn't completely lost his hands. I think he's done a fantastic job setting the dressing room up for future success and the core is ready to carry that baton when he no longer can. i also think he's headed for the sabres hockey ops department when he's done — not in any sort of public relations role, but as an actual part of Adams' brain trust.

Comrie Stillman Mitts Bryson Tuch Tage Krebs Dahlin Cozens

Okposo slid back statistically from his solid comeback season two years ago. His ice time dropped from 4th among Sabres forwards to 6th — fed largely by less time on both special teams — as Casey Mittelstadt and Dylan Cozens moved past him. At the same time his production fell off, his possession numbers took a significant leap to 52.4% 5-on-5 despite starting ice that was heavily skewed to the defensive zone. https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=93992 Kyle was named captain to start last season and quickly cemented his position with his forthright, articulate takes with the media, effort on the ice, and unanimous support from a seemingly tight room. Many players called him the best captain they’d played with. After a brief period of reflection, the UFA resigned for one year, making it very clear that this team needs to embrace a higher standard: “Should our goal be to make the playoffs, to be 2 points better than this year? No. That’s expected now. You set the goal of winning a Stanley Cup and then you don’t touch that. You don’t run from that. You don’t let that weigh you down at all. The time is now.” What do you expect from Okposo this year? (Last year’s takes here)

After a stellar year in Rochester, Quinn more or less met the expectations of most observers last season, finishing 7th among NHL rookies in points and 8th in goals. His season was the 8th-best by a Sabres rookie this century, 11 points fewer than Thomas Vanek and 5 back of Sam Reinhart. He was also pretty responsible defensively over the year, despite a quiet -16 run over the final 2 months of the season. https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=208510 One of the things that stood out about Quinn was his absolute fearlessness in trying to attempt plays. He had some spectacular misses and instances where he was clearly overpowered, but he kept pushing and seemed to create more time and space as the season progressed. All this was rendered somewhat moot in late June when he suffered an Achilles injury that Kevyn Adams said would keep him out for 4-6 months. Anthony Duclair suffered a similar injury in July of 2022 that kept him out until Feb. 24. What do you expect from Quinn this year? (Last year’s takes here)

I'd take Dahlin, but Stutzle is pretty clear #2 for me as of this moment And I'd take Tkachuk over Tuch and I'm a huge fan of Alex. But the gap between Tage and Stutzle is lot smaller than the gap between Dahlin and Chabot. Power over Sanderson, but that one will have to play out over time Cozens over Norris easily Mitts looked like he hit Batherson's level last year, but will have to repeat this year

I heard that discussion. Generally fits with my interpretation of what Granato was saying after free agency too, although it led me to pencil Johnson with Dahlin and Jokiharju with Mule as the base alignment, which puts a puckmover on each pair.

I said it months ago: there is no incentive for Power to sign for less than 8 million if he’s going to give the Sabres 8 years.