dudacek

I got that. Mostly just pushing back against the idea that Comrie might be better. I mean he might be, but the numbers suggest he’s been equally bad, just for longer.

I liked Borgen and Guhle certainly fits even though I always thought he was kinda overrated. So basically since then.

Comrie is 28, and has 22 wins and a .897 sv% of in 47 career NHL starts. UPL is 24, and has 20 wins and a sv% of .898 in 46 career NHL starts. Why would you roll the dice on either?

Bader sucks even when I like what his model says.

Pretty hard to debate private numbers or any conclusions being drawn from them. (Not doubting your sources exist). Conventional stats disagree. And I’m not debating whether or not UPL needs to be upgraded. In my opinion, he should be.

He played 9 NHL games in 21/22 and his AHL sv% was .900 (in 33 games). It's not hard to find many goalies who were worse. If you're going to dismiss his .917 in 9 NHL games in 21/22, not sure why you're making a big deal about his barely cracking the top 50 .898 in his 9 AHL games in 22/23 Clearly a guy who went 40/33/12 overall the past 2 years is "one of the very worst goalies in whatever league he's played in for about 5 straight seasons now". I mean if you want to really get specific, 5 years ago, he was literally voted the best goalie in his league. No point discussing this further. Your statement was wrong, but if you want to continue to double down on it be my guest

UPL has been very mediocre and inconsistent, but “very worst” is hyperbole. In 21/22 he put up a .917 sv% in the NHL. Over the past 2 years he’s 21/17/6 in the AHL and 19/16/6 in the NHL. Last year in the AHL his sv% barely cracked the top 50, but it wasn’t far behind well-rated peers like Akira Schmid and Piotr Kotchekov. And there were 25 guys who played at least 15 games and had worse, in some cases significantly worse. Im not arguing your main point, his numbers aren’t promising. I just don’t want the bold to become gospel around here, because it’s not true.

Minus Mule’s stint, it feels like it’s been a long while since the Amerks had any D prospects worth watching. These two right now are possibly no better than 12/13 on the depth chart (9 NHL guys and the tweeners Clague and Davies). There’s a chance they may get lost in the crowd, but Appert has proven to be a coach who plays the kids so I doubt it. Johnson played 4 full years in college and Novikov was full-time in the KHL. They should be a lot more prepared for the AHL than most rookies and may not be that far away from the NHL. It will be very interesting to see where they are come spring.

I watched assistant coach Dan Girardi on Spitting Chiclets in a video that sounded like it was done just before Free Agency. He sure talked like the Sabres had a good young core 4 on the blueline. I mean, he praised the other 3 more, but it sure sounded like Henri was a valued piece.

This really is the key to any hope the Sabres have of this build turning into a serious contender. I expect we are finally emerging from the muck and can be competitive for a while given what’s on the current team and what appears to be coming behind. But to be an actual contender we need elite talent leading the way. Dahlin is there. Will he stay there and can Power join him?

Good discussion on Vic on SabresLive. 2 of the interesting points raised: His analytics were good last year His 28 goals led all NHLers who averaged less than 15 minutes of ice time last year by a wide margin. No one else had more than 22.

Regardless of the “I want it now” nature of some segments of fandom, I think Mitts and Krebs are firmly “wants to be here” and “he’s a Sabre” guys in the GM’s books. They’re both guys you’d have to work hard to pry out of Kevyn’s hands.

With all the success of most of the team in Donnie’s system, I really wonder how much we are overlooking Vic not being a good fit in that system? Or at least with his role in it? Did we know he’s a positive Corsi player over his career? How do his analytics compare with Dahlin or Power compared to 3rd pairing guys I perceive him to have played with most?

I was watching a Krebs highlihgth video the other day and it was interesting how many of them involved Olofsson. Maybe they can build some chemistry on a 3rd line with Greenway? I'd have no problem with a Cozens Peterka Mitts 2nd line.

Not sure is we'll see Levi or Rousek, and the college and Euro guys won't be around, but will get a mix of Amerks and juniors Here's a potential roster: Benson Savoie Nadeau Cedarqvist Kulich Rosen Kisakov Kozak Neuchev Fiddler-Schultz Miedema Johnson Novikov Metsa Jandric Komarov Lindgren Ratzlaff

Benson Savoie Kulich Rosen Johnson Novikov, maybe even Levi? Can't wait.

If all drafts were equal and every pick was the "right" one, Savoie would be about 26th, Benson 38th and Kulich 82nd out of the past 3 drafts Turning them into 24, 12 and 25 seems like good work by the scouts (although this list is just one man's unproven opinion).

That one team in a 32-team league has 3 top 25 prospects, and that list doesn't include its actual best prospect (Levi)is remarkable.

Casey Mittelstadt was already ahead of Quinn on the depth chart last year by nearly 2 full minutes a game. In terms of ice time, Quinn (#9) was supposed to be pushing Okposo (#6) and Olofsson (#7) further to the periphery, so maybe that doesn’t happen now, or maybe more falls on the shoulders of Greenway (#8) and Peterka (#10). As it is, we’re going to rely on Olofsson to be a regular in a role he wasn’t good enough in last year and an untested rookie to be the fallback rather than a veteran like Hinostroza. That’s 2 “hope” pieces up front. And that’s to go along with the “hope” that Krebs, Peterka and Greenway are better than last year. And the “hope” Mitts, Cozens and the big line all will repeat what they did last year. And the “hope” we stay healthy. I like our forwards and I think most fit in the “for real” or “should get better” categories. But so much went right last year and that’s not something we should be counting on to happen again.

Gretzky was traded for Jimmy Carson, Martin Gelinas and 3 1st-rounders. The most obvious parallel would be Thompson, Benson and 3 1st-rounders. With the Oilers also sending us something like Foegele and Kulak as the Krushelnyski/McSorley Pretty clearly it’s Victor (call me Slava) Olofsson and a 2nd.

How good are Peterka, Krebs, Greenway and Olafsson as middle-six forwards? The projected 13-14-15 guys (Rousek Kulich Savoie) have combined for 2 NHL games. How are they going to replace Quinn?

To me, the bold sounded exactly like what Donnie was planning to do. And not just during a game, but game to game too, depending on the opponent. Clifton and Johnson offer elements that were missing for him tactically last year, and provide more of a trust factor. As an aside, I love listening to Donnie talking hockey. There’s a deep well of knowledge there and all kinds of purpose - both tactically and in how to handle people. It baffles me that some think he’s out of his depth.

Yes and Keith Tkachuk was the epitome of a Masshole. 😁 It's about favourite trades, not best trades.

There seems to be a perception that Comrie is a proven NHL backup and UPL is not: Comrie has played 47 career NHL games, 19 in each of the past 2 seasons, and has 22 wins and .897 sv% UPL has played 46 career NHL games, 9 and 33 in the past 2 seasons, and has 20 wins and .898 sv% The only significant difference in their NHL careers to date is that Comrie has been able to demonstrate his mediocrity over 4 more seasons.

To me this screams Gibson. If it’s a first and Östlund I wouldn’t do it either. If it’s a 2nd and Rosen, sign me up. In between, maybe that’s where a deal gets made.