dudacek

After doing enough of these, I’ve found it inevitable that some people will not see their vision perfectly reflected in the choices. That’s why I’ve been going with “which best reflects” as the wording: the idea is that hopefully one option clearly better matches the poster’s take than the others and he or she is comfortable clicking that one. And then, of course, the comment offers the chance to clarify.

Great point. Savoie’s D1 year was on par with Cozens, and better than Mittelstadt’s (if you step past the WJC hype) and each played in the NHL in their D2 years. Im not sure he’s ready, and there’s no need to rush him, but there is a spot open and he will be in the running for it. Kid is not going to learn anything new back in junior. I wish they could somehow find him another place to play.

Maybe its because he was overshadowed by Tage and Dahlin rolling the highlight tape. Maybe it’s because I’ve been watching bad Sabres teams for so long, we only talk about the past and the future, not the present. Or maybe it’s because it’s too self-evident to spend much time talking about. But I think Tuch’s excellence last year has been kinda overlooked around here. His size/speed combination is outright elite, as in he’s rarely going to be in a situation where he is physically overmatched and he uses that advantage to dominate as a puck protector, puck retriever and zone-gainer. He also uses his linemates well, makes smart passes and has a sneaky good shot. Donnie deployed him like he’s a driver and expected him to perform like a driver. Alex realized he can be a driver and that he likes being a driver, especially for this team and this city. He is a case of a dominant toolkit finally being in the right situation and headspace to fully exercise that toolkit and I don’t see that falling off at all.

Most expected Alex Tuch to score 20+ goals and 50+ points last year and be a leader and an all-around good 2nd-line player for the Sabres. Instead, they got an all-situations beast and one of the best all-around wingers in the game. He was an outstanding 54% possession player despite playing hard minutes. He finished 5th among NHL right wings in points/game while dominating on the forecheck and the backcheck. His combination of size and speed proved extraordinarily difficult to contain. https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=160632 The biggest question facing any breakthrough player is ‘can he do it again?’ And make no mistake Tuch was one of the NHL’s biggest breakthrough players last year. Can he maintain a scoring pace that was significantly higher than what he had shown in any of his 5 previous seasons? Can he continue to handle the bell cow workload Don Granato fed him last year and avoid the injuries that have seemed to crop up every season? Is he ready to shoulder the expectations of leading this team into the playoffs? What do you expect from Tuch this year? (Last year’s takes here)

Bringing this back as we emerge from a (too?) quiet summer to count down the final month until one of the more anticipated seasons sabre seasons in recent memory. Nine new names added to the stew as we run down the top 3 goalies, 8 defensemen and 17 forwards vying for roster slots. I will try to drop 2 a day if life allows. Gone from last year’s preseason roster are: Anderson, Lyubushkin, Fitzgerald, Pilut, Bjork, Hinostroza, Asplund and Sheahan. *** There’s a bit of a misperception that the play of the Sabres 2022 #1 pick plateaued last year, and that his D+1 year was more or less a carbon copy of his draft year. A more accurate interpretation is that Savoie started slow coming off a shoulder injury and finished playing the best hockey of his life. In his final 53 games (including playoffs) he ripped off 89 points – a 1.68 point/game pace that was significantly higher than the 1.38 of his draft year. https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=227300 The Jack Quinn injury provides an opening, and he is already an NHL skater with good defensive awareness and a squat, 180-pound frame. Top 10 picks make the NHL in their D+2 with some regularity. It’s less regular for them to make an impact. Savoie is clearly ready for a bigger challenge than what the WHL offers, but a pedestrian 2-game stint in the AHL semi-finals raised concerns as to whether he is physically ready for that challenge to be the NHL. Because of his age, he can't go to Rochester; it’s either the NHL or the WHL. What do you expect from Savoie this year?

Some frank talk from James Patrick with Marty and Duffer: On Krebs: loves his energy and his constant thirst for getting better. Credits him for establishing the winning culture in Winnipeg. Said training him to not do it all him self was one of his major coaching challenges. Says Peyton still thinks he can be a top 6 NHL forward but Patrick believes the league will tell him what he is. Compared his situation to Guy Carbonneau and the transition Carbonneau had to make from QMJHL stud to the quintessential 3rd-line centre. On Savoie: 50/50 on whether he can be in the NHL this year. Respects his effort and his all-around game and says he could have been the best point producer in junior hockey this year. Says he needs to raise him game a level and learn how to get inside. On Benson: Unequivocally, the best junior-age player he's ever coached. Consistently created more offensive chances than anyone else on a stacked team, didn't give anything away on defence, and made everyone he played with better. He said he couldn't believe he dropped as far as he did, and implied he wasn't at all in the Sabres plans prior to the draft, but they just couldn't allow his talent to slip by.

Thank you for this thread.

Virtually none of the goalies rumoured to be trade bait have moved, the Sabres could have picked up DeSmith and picks by laundering money as easily as Montreal did. So I’d say no: he’s neither last hope, nor much hope.

No. My understanding is the lack of a Russian transfer agreement means the Sabres keep his ELC rights in perpetuity. Another Poltapov tidbit for those concerned about his KHL offence. Here are the KHL numbers last year from high pick forwards in the past few drafts. None are what you call impressive, not even Michkov. Matvei Michkov 30 9/11/20 Ilya Fedotov 42 9/5/14 Danila Yurov 59 6/6/12 Victor Neuchev 57 4/8/12 Prokhkor Poltapov 56 5/5/10 Ivan Mirosechenko 23 3/1/4 Fedor Svechkov 27 2/2/4 Daniil But 15 2/0/2 Young players don’t get big roles on KHL teams, particularly the strong teams. Michkov ended up in Sochi because of lack of playing time in St. Pete’s. Poltapov was on the best team in the league.

As our threads have shown, preferences are different as individuals. Control the factors you can: being a good organization that treats people the right way and has a chance to win and you will have a good chance of competing for those players who appreciate what your city offers. Sabres have leveraged Granato and Okposo and focused on young players who put hockey first and brainwashing them about the Sabres and Buffalo, which seems a sound strategy.

I'm curious if anyone thinks we have any actual stars in the pipeline? And by stars I mean players who are in the conversation when people are talking about NHL stars, not really good players and local heroes: Dahlin and Thompson last year emerged as stars. Eichel is a star. Miller was a star. Skinner and Vanek and Reinhart and Pominville and Drury were very good first line players, but not stars. Hasek was a superstar. I think Power could be a star and if anyone might join him it will be Levi. I have very high hopes for Quinn reaching that Pominville level and Cozens is already close, but it's no guarantee. Beyond that, many others could get there, but I suspect most of our best prospects will fall somewhere between Rasmus Asplund and JP Dumont.

I agree entirely with the bold. That was kinda the point of my initial post, seeing what we have in Kulich, Mitts, Krebs and Östlund (and others) before deciding who is disposable. Also, this is true as well: I see no reason why Savoie can't play 3rd line center. Also, Mitts and Krebs are still in the picture, and if Peterka breaks out as the 2nd line winger this year, the road to the NHL gets even harder for Kulich. And this: I see no reason why Östlund can't play 3rd line center. Also, Mitts and Krebs are still in the picture, and if Krebs breaks out as the 3rd line center this year, the road to the NHL gets even harder for Savoie.

I don’t agree with the bold: I would trade any of the prospects for the right return and I disagree that Östlund is a significantly less valuable piece than the three you want off the table. He gets underrated around here and he might be the only centre in the bunch. Rosen, sure. I perceive him as a 2nd line wing ceiling; I think the other prospects are significantly better, we have a lot of other options to fill that role already, and they aren’t that hard to come by.

I think this really premature. Tage, Mitts, Cozens, Krebs Savoie, Östlund, Kulich can all likely play centre in your top 9. Tage, Mitts, Cozens, Quinn, Peterka, Savoie, Kulich, Benson can all likely play wing in your top 9. That's 10 players for 9 spots. Mitts is the only one you have to make a decision on significant money any time soon. Tuch is a UFA in a few years, Skinner shortly after. While i do see the merits of selling high on the prospects you perceive as least likely to make it, I don't think we've seen enough to be anointing some and trading others. We didn't know how good Thompson or Jokiharju was at 21, and I'm pretty sure we can say the same about Krebs and Savoie and really anyone younger than Tage. I also see the merits of trading some expensive veterans when there are kids ready to step into their roles as a smart play under the cap, as people have already advocated for Mittelstadt. And this includes Cozens and Thompson, depending on how players throughout the organization develop. As far as Östlund goes, there is definitely as much of an opportunity for him to grow into a middle six centre as there is Mittelstadt, Kulich, Krebs and Savoie. if he develops as predicted, he will be a middle 6 SHL centre this year, a middle 6 AHL next year and a bottom 6 NHL centre the year after. that's three years before you start to even think about "making room" for him. Instead of zooming in to Östlund as the tradable asset, and one we should move now, I'm having my analytics and hockey people running cost/benefit analyses on all of them and being open to move any when the timing and opportunity line up.

Character limits: Twitter on many levels

Athletic did a good piece on this: https://theathletic.com/4747247/2023/08/09/nhl-commit-team-decision-player-contract/ Star players know they'll get paid buckets, so things they tend to care about more: Lifestyle and privacy: Is this going to be a good place for their family to live in the foreseeable future? Legacy and the chance of winning a Stanley Cup: What is their fit and their role? Ownership., culture and franchise health Proximity to family Those things all apply to everyone, but salary plays more of a role for the middle class.

Definitely not an issue for nhl players, or a lot of rich, healthy people. i was thinking about the regular folk posting on the thread.

Now, I'm actually curious. My perception of Alberta is that it's a wealthy province with relatively low taxes Alberta has personal income tax rate of 10% on the first $134,000, and no provincial sales tax. Health care is paid for. Calgary has an average household income of $140,919 and a median of $99,715. Taxes turn that into $111,867and $84,770, according to federal government figures. (multiply by .74 to get US dollars.) How does that compare to what you expect south of the border? *** I'm also curious how much reality matches perception. Calgary itself is a nice, clean, modern young city, that seemed to function well in my visits; it's not far out of the Canadian Rockies, which are beautiful. it's not small; there's $1.4 million people, lots of recreation. it's also the air hub for Western Canada — travel is relatively easy. Winters can get real cold, but usually only in patches, summers are nice and the weather varies a lot. it has four seasons and plenty of sunshine. Culturally, it's the most midwest/republican of the Canadian provinces, so middle of the pack for the US.

it wouldn't even enter into my thought process.

Toronto - hate the city, hate the fans, hate the spotlight Islanders - living in Metro New York would be my nightmare Rangers - living in Metro New York would be my nightmare Devils - living in Metro New York would be my nightmare Dallas - don’t think Texas would be a good fit for this Wet Coaster Top 5 cities not on my NTC: Vancouver Seattle San Jose Buffalo Montreal - these are all about where I think I’d like to live, keeping in mind I’ve never been to the latter 2, or about 2/3rds of the league’s cities.

4 points in 17 games last year as a 17-year-old and apparently showed quite well in the playoffs.. 27 in 32 at the junior level. For comparison, also in their draft years: Östlund 0 in 11, 42 in 32 Rosen 1 in 22, 12 in 12 Dahlin 20 in 41, 2 in 1 Asplund 12 in 46, 0 in 0 Asplund was an early bloomer. Really thought he was going to be a strong 3C, but he just couldn’t make the step.

NHL teams averaged 3.18 goals against per game and a .904 SV% last year. I'd say his peak would be the 11 games he put up more than .920, and his nadir the 10 games under .880. My takeaway on UPL's season was not "low peak" but rather unacceptably frequent low lows. As far as the bold goes, that might be a dated view; Only 27 of the 79 goalies who played at least 10 games were over .908. Just 9 of them were backups.

Sure, tell Lou Lamiorello that

The issue and lasting memory with UPL was the number of dumpster fire starts down the stretch: 18 saves on 25 shots in a 7-0 loss to Boston 6 saves in 10 shots in a 6-3 loss to the Leafs 33 saves in 40 shots in a 7-2 loss to Calgary 3 goals against in the first 12 minutes in a 5-1 loss to Carolina He was 3-6-2 with GAA over 4.00 and a SV% under .870 in February and March. He had just 3 quality starts in that stretch and lost 2 of them (the 2-1 back breaker to the Isles and a 3-2 SHootout loss to the Rangers a few days later. It kinda makes you forget his big games In January December that saved the season’ 37 saves in 40 shots to beat Boston in Boston, back-to-back .950s on the road in Colorado and Vegas And 39 and 38 save wins over Minnesota and Nashville He was 12-4-1 with a respectable 3.09 GAA and .908 SV%

I've never been worried about Savoie's size long-term: he's got a Danny Briere build: that squat, low centre of gravity combined with his burst is a great hockey player's build when combined with his competitiveness. My context was more about filling out the roster this year: the weight numbers right now aren't seemingly giving any of them an advantage.