LGR4GM

Suppose it's possible with our weak defense 4-6 but I'd guess a year in Rochester. Novikov won't even be 20 until July 25th. Lots of time to develop him.

Corey Pronman said Kucherov. "I chose Kucherov because while he’s a slightly better skater and has more physicality than Michkov, he can also score a lot of goals and both have special hockey sense." https://theathletic.com/4510314/2023/06/07/nhl-draft-2023-player-comparisons?source=user-shared-article

Random thought/question, is Östlund better or worse than the 31/32 player going in this draft?

Yea I think they would but Michkov will be drafted in the top 10.

I really hope we draft Matthew Mania. Guy is actually pretty good.

Numbers within the bars represent games played. It was confusing but thankfully the author was asked in the Twitter thread and answered.

No. They wouldn't trade Jiricek for Power.

strange if you ask me, They have Jiricek, Ceulemans, Mateychuk, and Svozil in there prospect pool on defense. Intesting, I wouldn't have done that long of a term but to each their own. I would give them Savoie, 13, and Murray right this second without hesitation for Jiricek.

2 names listed there would greatly annoy me at 13.

I hate Eduard Sale. Like, there are some prospects that I watch and I say "wow that guy has a lot of skill" and then you watch shift by shifts or a full game (like the u18s) and the guy just flat out is lazy unless there is an offensive opportunity. Sale has one of those games where you watch a highlight and it is awesome and then you watch some full shifts and if you dont zone out due to boredom, you realize that Sale forechecks softer than a feather gently brushing your face and his backcheck is uhhh weak? I just do not care for his overall game and this guy is going to be WAY down my list compared to average rankings. His consolidated is 12 and he is going to be in the 26-32 range for me. Great, he's got skills, but skills can be taught. I don't think motor and attitude can be taught as much.

I said this draft is average after you ignore the top 3/4. It really turns into a fairly typical draft after that 1st tier of guys but there is an exception I think I am seeing. I am unsure if this is bias on my part or because of the truth that there are a bunch of really solid RHD picks. Looking at all the positions in this draft, I think RHD is probably the deepest followed closely by Center. Also I would say this draft has better goalies than the previous one which makes the Leinonen pick even more frustrating and wasteful. Anyways... I think I have my top 10 done. I don't think I will do a full list this year because I don't want to.

Savoie sliding to 9 wasn't really that big of a surprise. He slid maybe 2-3 spots and he is short so we see that in the NHL draft. Ryan Leonard, Dalibor Dvorsky, are 7th and 8th in the consolidated rankings I am looking at and neither of them are short. Dvorsky at the WJC18 really solidified his rankings and probably improved his draft stock. Leonard is very much a gritty top 6 forward and teams love him. I suppose it could happen but I just feel that 13th is a little far (now if we had 11... I might be more inclined). But you asked and so let's look at them. Anything can happen at a draft. Dalibor Dvorsky, 6'1" 201lbs C, like a lot of prospects we are talking consistency issues. Now he played in the Allsvenskan so he is in a men's pro league as a 17yr old with a mid June bday, that means he is still really young. I like his shot and I think he sees the ice well. My concern with Dvorsky is that while positionally sound, I am not sure he is overly creative. Jack Quinn is a great example of young and creative, a player that has options when challenged from stickhandle, slick pass, change of skating (attack path/angles/cutbacks), and importantly fakes. Quinn can do all of these at speed. Dvorsky kinda does all of them but I always feel like when I see him (again, most of what I see is some shift by shifts and highlights, I have a life and a job so I don't track games like the in depth guys) there is a lot of coasting and slowing down to execute and I worry a little about that at the pro level. Defensively he is sound and understands how to play that part of the ice. The good part is he does have all the tools and he is smart in terms of understanding the game. He is hard on pucks and I do like his shot. At his age, he could really jump up next year if he figures out how to play at a higher pace. When I watch him, he reminds me a little of Cozens and I think Cozens is probably his ceiling. His floor is something like a lesser ROR (45pt good 2-way center). He knows how to use his body and has physicality, I would like to see it used more and more much like our 2nd guy below. Ryan Leonard, 6' 192lb RW, I can't fathom a scenario where Leonard falls out of the top 10 let alone to 13. He is loved by scouts for a few reasons. I don't think I have ever watched Leonard (who you can watch multiple full games of because USDP) and thought, man that guy is slacking off. He is like JJP in a lot of ways, he wants to attack you and he wants you to know he wants to attack you and he is going to attack you. He is like a better (way more tools and brains) Tyler Boucher. Now Leonard does just about everything well. His shot is really good, his skating is good, his playmaking is really good. If you take the puck from him, he is coming (again like JJP) and he is mad. You draft Leonard in July so you can win Cups in June. Now he played on one of if not the best USDP line of the last 20 years with other first round picks Perrault and W. Smith. This line was the most perfect mix of lethality. Perrault is so smart and skilled the only thing holding him back was skating, Smith is so shifty on his skates and the only thing holding him back was strength, and Leonard... who was a good connector and occasional driver on that line. All 3 I believe are going to Boston College next year so the fun times continue. This is the only thing that gives me a little concern, who is Leonard away from these 2? Can he still drive play and get the opportunities? Is he just the lucky wingman of two players that have more skill? My estimation is Leonard is good on his own. You don't score 51g in 57games just because your linemates are good. He will probably get slightly overdrafted but you put him with a guy like Quinn and Cozens or JJP and Cozens and just let them face f##k opponents all night. Leonard won't be there but man do I love his game. At 2:40ish of the video you see one of the things I like most and something Jack Quinn does, when Leonard goes for the puck, he cuts in front of the chasing defender and initiates contact forcing the defender to go through Leonard if he wants the puck, that's what I want. I don't understand the inside numbers either. I know what NHLe is but not what this chart is showing me.

Since you've brought it up again, I'll give my answer. I don't care. He can win that and whatever. I don't have to wish hatred and dwell on or in negativity over Jack Eichel. He just doesn't matter much to me anymore.

The pp split was 78 v 37min so are right, unlike other posters such as Nfreeman, I actually admit my mistakes. That split is 78 mins where Olofsson was on the PP but didn't play with Tuch, Dahlin, Tage, and Skinner. What is interesting is there are 9 and 13min of play in which Cozens, Dahlin, and Olofsson were on the PP together. So I think what we are seeing is Dahlin getting double shifts and Cozens not being locked into pp1 but occasionally also moonlighting on pp2. Short version is Olofsson had more PP1 time than you want to give credit for but less than I gave credit for. What I did find interesting though is that in those 78minutes Olofsson was on the ice for 10gf but in the 37min he was on the ice for 6gf. 7 of VO's goals were PP goals. I think VO had 3 empty net goals but my source might be off by 1 (meaning he had 4). So that accounts for 10 of VO's 28 goals. That leaves us with his 18 even strength goals for Mr. Olofsson. He averaged 14:21min a night. Without elite passers, entry/recovery specialists, board battle winners, and otherwise way better hockey players, Olofsson won't be getting the chances he does in Buffalo. It was astonishing watching his goals and realizing how few involve him doing anything other than sitting in areas of the ice, and I mean sitting, and hoping that someone else does something. His shot is great but there isn't any more to give from his end IMPO. I reject your playing a full season with a bum wrist claim even though I see that regurgitated in many places. Olofsson was injured but as this article indicates https://www.expectedbuffalo.com/buffalo-sabres-victor-olofsson-evaluating-pre-and-post-injury-shooting-data/, the season you are claiming was alllll inury doesn't track with the data and I think that 13.8% is actually a really good number considering how many WIDE OPEN nets Victor gets to shoot at because he has elite passers like Dahlin feeding him. Everyone looks at the injury from Nov 2021 and says "well it bothered him all season and that is why we saw a dip" but he only shot 12.2% that season which is within a standard deviation of his average so... maybe it was more like he just shot what he normally does and didn't get enough shots off from good areas. That seems to be more likely as he had the same number of shots as this season. Could the wrist have impacted him? Yes but I think we are overblowing that part a bit. His worst sh% season is the previous year (2020) where he only does 10.1% and that is probably an outlier but it still counts just as his 17.4% is an outlier that counts. Again 13.8 is going to be the norm and as he turns 28, I think a decline is more likely than an increase. Olofsson was lucky to play on the 3rd line where even though he tanks just about every stat for every teammate, he still had a bunch of wide open nets and other quality chances (not everything was wide open cross ice passes but quite a few are). My issue really comes down to how Olofsson scores. He requires a high degree of setup and support from others. Without it, he slumps which is what happened after his 10goals in January. Teams adjusted to his preferred area and stopped those cross ice passes. Greenway may have given them the option to bench him (Greenway needs work too btw) but they should have benched him earlier. I don't think him getting benched at the end was ever in dispute but he still played 75 games so he really didn't get benched much and that was the most games he ever played in an NHL season. What I am saying is he didn't sit out some massive stretch of games which impacted his scoring much. He sat a few games and was already colder than deep space at that stage. In the end I stand by my statement. Victor Olofsson will not be a 30g scorer for Buffalo. I personally think if he were traded to another team it would be highly unlikely he is a 30g scorer there either, unless we use your "but if" scenario to get him playing #1 pp time with Connor McDavid or something. VO is a 22g scorer who needs pp time and exceedingly favorable matchups to succeed.

I disagree with your opinion and "but if" rhetoric on olofsson. It's fairly simply.

The key is to get it done before next season, once the nhl knows the escrow is gonna be paid off and with the Seattle revenue and artificial cap... we might see a 7 mill increase.

You're entitled to your opinion but I think you're wrong. In fact I think olofsson peaked.

No, the Sabres had the 7th worst ga.

I don't think Leonard or Dvorsky will be available at 13.

The flyers were 29th in the league in gf and 10th in ga. Buffalo was 3rd in gf and 7th in ga. I think at the very least we can be assured we will outscore Philly next year.

What in the F is this trade? Good for you Briere but man is it weird.