dudacek

Can’t wait to see him force a turnover late to seal the Sabres first playoff win since April 22, 2011.

Unless Luukkonen craps the bed in camp, Eric will be on an out-of-town flight by October with a late-round pick coming the other way. Nice guy, fringe NHLer.

Devon Levi is the real deal and will show it immediately. Goalie purgatory is over.

Levi topped off a 2nd straight Richter Award as the NCAA’s top goalie with a 5-2 run for the Sabres in the midst of a precarious playoff race where he posted an adjusted save percentage (according to Clear Sight Analytics) that would have put him just inside the top 10 for NHL starting goalies). For 3 straight years he’s been selected to Team Canada (WJC, Olympics, Worlds). He’s played about as well as any goalie could be expected to in whatever situation he’s been placed in and has clearly been the Sabres’ preferred choice in net since he arrived. https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=226016 It’s not that a rookie goalie can’t play 50 games; it’s happened 13 times since 2000, and as recently as last year with Calder Trophy finalist Stuart Skinner. Karel Vejmelka and Alex Nedeljkovic each did it 2 years ago, and 28 rookies goalies have played at least 40 over that span. The issue is a 21-year-old rookie doing it. That’s happened exactly once this century: Steve Mason with Columbus in 2008/09. Very, very few goalies step into a prominent NHL role without at least some time apprenticing in the minor leagues. Levi may have a history of doing things his way, but if he starts the year as at least a co-starter, he’ll be treading ice mostly skated by names like Price, Luongo and Fleury. What do you expect from Levi this year?

No one was surprised when Z put up his usual 10 goals and 18 points last year while supplying hard skating, defensively responsible play. The fact he only missed 2 games to injury might have been a bit of a shock. https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=130896 A healthy Zemgus will move past Mike Foligno and Rick Martin this year and into 10th place on the all-time Sabres’ games played list. After a decade of wearing the blue and gold, he has yet to play a playoff game. Both the Sabres and Girgensons had options to switch things up this year in free agency, but each signed up for at least one more try. What do you expect from Girgensons this year? (Last year’s takes here)

I think Casey is probably the 2nd most interesting player on the roster, after Levi. And by interesting I mean the player the broadest range of potential outcomes and the greatest chance of influencing where the team ends up, good or bad: it’s like he might be Holzinger, or he might be Roy. After seeing Tuch and Dahlin and Thompson make the steps they did 2 years ago then improve even more last year under Granato, it’s pretty easy to see Casey following in their footsteps. It might feel like he’s been around for as long as they have, but he’s basically a season behind them in terms of development and NHL games played. I tend to think the inconsistencies of last year would chart as growth, rather than a series of peaks and valleys, and he’s won me over with his character. Im optimistic.

I mentioned the same trio a while back with the same mix of intrigue and trepidation. To answer your question, Greenway had 63 assists in 185 games in 3 years on on Minnesota’s checking line with Foligno and Erikson-Ek. He’s not terrible at getting others the puck.

Remember Eric Comrie’s October trip through Alberta? The one where he stopped 86 of the 91 shots thrown at him and led the Sabres in their theft of 4 points? Eric probably does because it was pretty much the only highlight of what was a terribly disappointing season. Signed to be half of a 1A/1B tandem, Comrie instead played just 19 games, and finished with a horrendous .886 SV% — 71st out of the 79 NHL goalies who played at least 10 games. https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=132742 A good portion of Comrie’s struggles could be chalked up to injuries: both his own, and the ones that plagued the Sabres defence corps in the fall. Some have argued that he deserves another chance to prove his excellent numbers from 2021/22 with Winnipeg were not a mirage. Others point to the fact that he is 10 years past his draft and has yet play 50 career NHL games and wonder why we should consider his .897 career SV% to be a mirage. It seem unlikely that the Sabres will carry three goalies into next season and more unlikely that Comrie will be one of the remaining two without clearly outplaying one of his younger rivals in training camp. What do you expect from Comrie this year? (Last year’s takes here)

It has been a long, hard slog, but last year Mittelstadt finally gave Buffalo fans a taste of what made their imaginations soar in the 2018 WJC. After an at-times painful start, Casey took off in the New Year. His 40 points in 2023 ranked him tied for 42nd among NHL forwards with Jake Guentzel and Joe Pavelski, just ahead of Sebastian Aho and Jesper Bratt. His 32 assists tied him for 15th with Tim Stutzle. Over the full season he finished 4th in the entire league in primary assists per 60, sandwiched between Draisaitl and Matt Tkachuk. https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=192483 It was interesting to see the number of people backpedaling this spring with weak statements like “I thought he was a bust, but I’ll admit he’s a good 3rd-liner”. In terms of ice time, Mittelstadt was the Sabres clear #5 forward. In terms of point production, he was actually a fringe 1st-liner, finishing 84th among all NHL forwards in scoring. For the 1st time in his career, he was also a positive possession player 5-on-5. One open question is how much those numbers were a mirage boosted by a mad streak of 17 points in his final 11 games, much of that time spent centring the first line. Another open question is ‘do the Sabres have the depth to properly support repeats from each of Mitts, Tage and Cozens?’ Finally, is he actually even going to play centre this season? What do you expect from Mittelstadt this year? (Last year’s takes here) https://www.sabrespace.com/community/topic/33397-annual-expectations-thread-202223-37-casey-mittelstadt/#comment-1520503

Sweet, I’d forgotten that one. Kotkaniemi is such a bitch too. I look at Stillman as an interesting test of our scouting and analytics department. Meaning, I think Adams asked them to find a hard-nosed depth defenceman who’d fit nicely into our system that he could buy cheap. The early returns were pretty good, especially compared to what he showed in Vancouver. I like the Weber comparison as a best-case scenario (I liked Weber) and see Stillman as the guy who goes into the lineup when Mule and EJ suffer their inevitable nicks. I think both he and Bryson make the cutdown day roster, but won’t play opening night as the Sabres go 13F/8D/2G. Both might play more than we’d like unless we’re unusually healthy.

Can’t remember a veteran Sabre who has changed my mind as much as Skinner has under Granato. He used to be such a me-first player but he seems to be so much more on board with the team concept and confident with his place in it. He was very good last season, fun to watch and hardly overpaid. Unlike Tuch, I do think last year was more of a statistical outlier simply because of the larger body of work, so I picked “good Skinner”. But the chemistry on that line was marvellous and wouldn’t surprise me if he does more.

After two miserable years toiling in the Ralph Krueger cemetery, very few people saw Skinner rebounding with 33 goals and 63 points two seasons ago. Nobody saw him celebrate turning 30 last season with a career year — nearly 20 points better than his previous high. He also may have been the team’s most consistent player with just 2 3-game pointless streaks marking his season-worst droughts. https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=116085 The most remarkable stat on the Skinner scorecard was his 47 assists, which was 17 more than his previous high and basically double this career average. And the eye test showed those assists were earned, as he consistently found Thompson and Tuch with slick passes. The selfish penalties and lazy backchecks have dried up. He’s clearly found a niche and chemistry with two other players who are also being trusted to carry the load in a way none had been asked to before. He has reached the age where decline could appear at any time, but his skating and his health appear intact. What do you expect from Skinner this year? (Last year’s takes here)

It was a roller coaster year for Stillman, who was acquired by the Canucks to play on their 3rd pair as part of an odd trade where the Canucks gave up a 2nd, but also dumped a bad contract, trimming $1.5 in cap space. He quickly fell out of favour during the Canucks rough start. Vancouver fans had already had enough after just 32 games and mocked the Sabres for paying anything to acquire him. In Buffalo, he put up a shockingly good 58% 5-on-5 corsi over a limited 18-game sample size, thumped some bodies and got his face caved in by Tanner Jeannot. https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=171449 After acquiring Stillman, the Sabres made it clear they thought he would be a much better fit for their attacking defence than the system in Vancouver, where he was frequently exposed in his aggressive risk-taking. He added a physical presence to the Sabres corps and was a full-time player down the stretch run, but frequently for less than 10 minutes a game. He has spent the past 3 years being a full-time NHLer, but not a full-time NHL regular and will be trying to earn a spot in the Sabres starting six. What do you expect from Stillman this year?

Even for Boston?

Seems to me i saw this reported somewhere too, but it's not accurate. it's less than half the number of wins Donnie Edwards put up in his rookie season, and actually ranks 6th all-time https://www.nhl.com/stats/goalies?aggregate=0&reportType=season&seasonFrom=19691970&seasonTo=20222023&gameType=2&playerPlayedFor=franchise.19&isRookie=1&filter=gamesPlayed,gte,1&sort=wins,savePct&page=0&pageSize=50

Yeah, the Mitts one is interesting because he is a very good player but he and Vic were a mess together. i don't recall Victor and Cozens playing together much, but I think Dylan is about to emerge as a guy who makes his linemates better. I also am very much intrigued by the idea of a Krebs/Olofsson/Greenway 3rd line. On paper I can't think of three non-elite players with better matching skilsets, in that they each seem to fill the holes in the others.

When was the last time we've had a forward as entertaining as Tage? He always looked skilled, but it's hard to believe this is the same player we watched in 2019 — the confidence and authority with which he handles and shoots the puck. I think his physical presence is highly underrated on Sabrespace. Neither he, nor Tuch beat people up, but they are both so massive and difficult to match up with, and they play hard.

Isn't Olofsson highly likely to get ice time with some pretty good players this year?

Ottawa and Buffalo are in roughly the same spot and are going to be nipping at each others heels for years. Each has pretty much all the necessary core pieces in place now. The team with the better depth and better goaltending will emerge this year, but the seeds are there for a long-term back-and-forth rivalry. Detroit could hang with them this year because of their excellent veteran depth, but long-term they do not appear have the core players to match up with the other 2. Really Seider is their only star. Thompson Stutzle Larkin Tuch Tkachuk Raymond Skinner Giroux Debrincat Cozens Norris Copp Dahlin Chabot Seider Power Sanderson Wallman Levi Korpisalo Husso

It was the perception among some at the start of last season that the year was a largely about seeing who among the current roster fit into the team’s long-term plans, and how. It was the perception of more by the end of the year – despite a career-high 28 goals — that for Victor Olofsson the answer was ‘not him, not now”. Too many lengthy droughts where he didn’t bring enough in the other areas of the game, combined with crunch-time healthy scratches seemed to have sealed the deal. https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=142605 Do people know that over the past 4 seasons Olofsson has scored more goals than Evgeny Malkin, Anze Kopitar, Brock Boeser and Jack Eichel? That his production is very similar over that period to that of Jordan Kyrou, Jesper Bratt, Travis Konecny and PL Dubois? Do they know he was tied for 48th in ES goals for the entire NHL last year, and is a positive possession player for his career? Most of us expected Victor to be traded before the season got underway, but the Jack Quinn injury may have put a damper on those plans. There is certainly a spot available in the middle six. Can he take advantage? Will he be given the opportunity? What do you expect from Olofsson this year? (Last year’s takes here)

Remember almost exactly one year ago, when all we were talking about was the wisdom (or lack thereof) of signing big #72 to a 7-year, $50 million contract? Tage erased any and all questions with the 13th-most productive season in Buffalo Sabres history. Only 4 men have ever scored more goals in a season in a Sabres jersey and none in the past 30 years. Thompson parlayed one of the most impressive highlight reels of anyone in recent memory to a spot on the periphery of most NHL “10 best centre’ lists. https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=177831 People talk about his injury hampering him down the stretch. The raw numbers show a player who finished the year with 6 goals and 14 points while compiling a -10 over his final 19 games. If he wants to cement the elite player talk, he’s going to have to prove the final month wasn’t a product of a more prepared, determined opposition. And he’s going to have to improve his play in those areas that aren't about creating offence. What do you expect from Thompson this year? (Last year’s takes here)

He's such a likable kid, he's got great tools and he competes. I wouldn't say I expect him to take a leap, but his history and his circumstance make it seem more likely than not.

I just can't get past how easily Bryson gets overpowered. For most of his 1st 2 years he would tease me that his feet were good enough to compensate, but last year they did not. And he brings no offence whatsoever. I just don't think there's room for him as a regular on a good NHL blueline corps, even one as potentially top-heavy as ours. As a spare part he's probably as good as any, but I think I'd rather have Stillman's bite.

You’re absolutely right. It’s ridiculous that anyone could possibly be bothered by a bunch of obnoxious Leaf fans coming into their home and treating it like their own. I can’t believe we’re even talking about it.

Are there actually NHL teams with a 7-8-9 significantly better than Stillman-Bryson-Clague? Boston has Mitchell-Regula-Lohrei. Florida is rolling out Reilly-Carlsson-Kiersted. Isnt 7-8-9 usually “yuck” by definition?