LGR4GM

Really glad there's this great story of leadership and team bonding and the responses are essentially: the Bills lost so I bet the trip was demoralizing and hope none of the team was punch and killed. Glad we have a team that gives a *****. The rest here is just noise.

Kozak is only 20. Even good prospects like Quinn and JJP struggled in the NHL at 20. I think Kozak will need another couple years in the AHL to really fulfill a bottom 6 roll in the NHL

Ask again in 2 years.

Biron has been tossing this idea out since July.

Kyle Okposo and his wife organized a team bonding trip to the Jets game. https://theathletic.com/4874752/2023/09/18/kyle-okposo-buffalo-bills-sabres-culture/?source=dailyemail&campaign=601983 He's the heartbeat of this team. He's not the Captain we deserve but he's the one we need right now. Best Captain since perhaps 2007

Novikov had 5 assists through 2 prospect challenge games. He was very good at the 3v3 tournament as well. He has 2 years of KHL experience and just turned 20 at the end of July while being 6'4" and over 200lbs. What do you expect from him in the AHL? Personally I think we might have a sleeping giant about to explode. His puck handling and skating are shockingly advanced for someone who did not flash in the KHL point wise. His KHL role from what I have gathered was to play about 10min a night and simply, stop the attack, get the puck out. He seems to be exceedingly good at shutting down opposing forwards both with his stick and with his body as needed. My guess is that if he plays 60games in the AHL we see about 35pts in his first NA season while being excellent on the PK. Guess time will tell.

Novikov having 5 assists in 2 games is pretty solid. I think there is a ton of offensive potential just begging to be unlocked in his game. He's going to end up getting tons of minutes in Rochester once the coaches realize what they've got. Good news is he will be getting way more minutes and opportunities than he did in the KHL.

I don't worry too much about their size. Outside of Savoie and Benson, they really haven't drafted small in terms of height and personally weight matters so little for 18yr olds because some of them add anywhere from 20-40lbs in muscle by the time they hit 22.

I can't do multiple years because things change but I will do 2024/25 Skinner - Tage - Tuch JJP - Cozens - Quinn Savoie - Mitts - Greenway Rosen - Krebs - Kulich Rousek Now some of you will look at this and yell, too many rookies! what about a checking line! And I think there is the possibility that Kulich and Savoie end up in the AHL next year with callups galore. However I also think that there is a good chance they might not do that. Essentially your "checking" line is Savoie - Mitts - Greenway and we all forget that Mitts is solid defensively and so is greenway. Savoie gives that line some extra speed but you could also swap Rosen into that, he's very good 2-way. Now that 4th line has Rosen on it because it balances a bit better than putting Savoie there. Rosen has the speed and connection with Kulich already and Krebs is a good distrubtor to either. You may think this lineup is too young but Rosen will 21 and Savoie 20 to start the year. Kulich will be 20 as well. JJP, Quinn will be 22. Krebs will be 23. So it isn't as young as you think and everyone except Savoie will have had 2 years or more of pro experience (AHL or better). Zach Benson in this scenario is hopefully in the AHL. If I were Buffalo I would argue very strongly that the shortened CHL season in which Benson played 24 games counts as an accrued season. The number for accrued is 25 games btw. Either way, Benson isn't here yet because I think Savoie fits that line better and also gives Benson the extra year to get ready. If he is in the AHL, he is a first callup type of player. Östlund in this scenario is just getting settled in NA so we won't worry about him until 2025 or 2026. Anyways that is what I would project with the possibility of one of Kulich or Savoie staying in Rochester and a UFA being brought in instead. Rousek is the 13th forward here.

But he only has 4 years left. Kulich, Savoie, Benson are all highly unlikely to burn and ELC year this season. That means all of them will be on their ELC contracts for the duration of Skinner's remaining years. If Skinner produces within 10% of what he did this past year for the duration, he is well worth his cost. Think of it this way... would you worry about Skinner at all if Cozens made 8mil, Tage made 9mil and Skinner made 6mil? Because with Tage and Cozens making 7mil, you could essentially redistribute the money like that and you have the same cap.

Did you know that hits are one of the worst recorded metrics in the NHL. In fact they vary wildly between NHL rinks. https://thewincolumn.ca/2021/01/30/breaking-down-the-inconsistencies-in-counting-hits-between-different-nhl-arenas/ This was from 2021

I don't think there is any room on the roster to start the year for some of the younger guys. That said I think Nikita Novikov is going to be beating down the door sooner than later for a shot at an NHL job.

That list is trash. I'm sorry but Rasmus Dahlin is as good or better than Fox and Makar at this point. There are what, 4 other defenders you could rank around Dahlin overall and their criteria is "The best player on almost any team in the league." and that is Dahlin. I can't wait for this season, he's not going to turn heads so much as break necks.

Great post. Sidenote, I would contest that the US was close to the losing in July of 1863. Even if the Army of the Potomac was destroyed in part at Gettysburg or there abouts, the Confederacy would still have been cut in half on July 4th with the ending of the Siege of Vicksburg and the Army of Cumberland was still driving towards Atlanta. However, since I don't want to come across as nitpicking, I want to add that I fully agree the 3 days in July were the most perilous for the US. One can easily envision a shattered Army of the Potomac limping back to Washington DC with the confederates hot on their trails.

lol

Not "triggered" in the least. I explained my point and am moving on.

Id still rank Rosen a tier below Benson and Savoie. Kulich, Östlund, Rosen though is hard to judge because of Rosen's age and Östlund not playing in NA.

Why shouldn't someone who is in demand, ask for their full value? Further more since you brought up Tampa. Hedman signed for about 10.5% of the cap when he did his last deal. In today's dollars that would be about 9.2million if the cap goes up to 87.5million next year. Adding 1million more to that number brings you up to 12% of the cap. Point and Kucherov make 11.4% of the current cap. Eichel makes 12% of the cap, Stone makes 11.4% of the cap. Makar currently makes 10.4% of the cap. My point is that the cap% number for Dahlin says he should get around 10-10.25 if the cap is truly going up to 87.5million. That would put his number right in along with what we see from other stars and all those teams I picked won cups recently. While the players (as far as I could tell) were signed to those deals and on the teams. 10.5 is probably a little high but anything 10.25 or less is right in line with what we should expect and keep in mind the 10.5 would only be slightly high for a year.

And yet you picked a specific example outside the bounds of the current conversation. Says more about you that you see Kamala Harris as a "token" pick when Archie Lee's point is more accurate to how vps are chosen. This is like when PA tries to argue that Don Granato is not qualified to be an NHL head coach. It lacks an objective look at facts and just relies on the reality you want to believe in... so basically modern America.

100% this.

That's how every vp candidate has been picked for years. McCain, picked a white women Obama, white dude Trump, actual Christian Hillary, white guy They all pick a vp that represents a voting block they want to appeal too.

Come on David Jiricek

What a dumpster fire 🔥

You would need to draft Fleming. This roster has updated height and weights based on what I assume is the players physicals when they got to camp. There is a link in here for that pdf. https://www.nhl.com/sabres/news/buffalo-sabres-prospects-challenge-roster-zach-benson-jiri-kulich-matt-savoie-isak-rosen