Brawndo

Here is what The Athletic had to say about the Sabres Top Line 3. While all eyes are on Eichel at the moment, some attention should be given to the player Buffalo landed in the deal: Alex Tuch. Tuch has fully embraced Buffalo as his home which can hopefully create an infectious attitude that helps shift the franchise’s losing culture. It helps a lot that he’s been playing spectacular hockey along the way. Buffalo got a real good one here. In just 16 games as a Sabre, Tuch has seven goals and 19 points, a 97-point pace over a full season that would eclipse Eichel’s best pace as a Sabre of 94 points. Now, it’s unlikely that Tuch does keep that up — his on-ice shooting percentage is 14.4 percent — but the fact he’s even flashing this kind of offensive upside suggests he can be a real bonafide top-line player. That’s a massive get for Buffalo and the proof is in the underlying numbers where the Sabres, a team that routinely gets badly out-chanced, has 53 percent of the scoring chances with Tuch on the ice. No one else on the team is above breakeven. All of that has come on a line with Jeff Skinner and Tage Thompson who have earned 59 percent of the expected goals together in 100 minutes. Those are incredible numbers for a top line and that’s a great start for Buffalo’s rebuild redux. Keeping that up would be a massive win for the Sabres and that starts with Tuch. Skinner should be especially thankful. Since being placed on a line with Tuch full-time, the overpaid winger has 11 goals and 17 points in 16 games. That’s the type of play that makes him worth his lofty price tag.

This is this season This is the past three seasons

That’s the ballgame

The Top Line is drunk tonight

*****

Dammit

Okie usually, however He who shall not be named called Him Yoda

Here are Toronto’s

OKPOSO

It’s amazing what Krebs and Tuch have done for passing on the PP

Here’s the lines in warmups

Here in lies the rub. Skinner is 29 this Season and turns 30 in May. Historically NHL Forwards begin to show a significant decline in production starting at age 29. So as the Sabres continue to add talent to the NHL Roster and move towards becoming a playoff contender, there is a significant chance that Skinner will have a drop off in points. Based on history it’s unlikely that Skinner will be able to level up in terms of production in future seasons to those of similar AAV, based on aging curves. There are a few players that have maintained high level of play well into their 30’s, hopefully Skinner can be added to the list.

Injury risk and He really has nothing left to prove at that level. I would release Him for the World Championships in May though

Fixed, thanks for catching that

Looks like the 40th Anniversary Buffalo Wordmark on the Pants

Power is not expected to be on Team Canada as it will be close to start of the Sabres Season

I’m going to preface this with the fact I love Skinner on this team and that His resurgence this year has been sight to behold. I was one of the posters who argued for Him to be paid after His 40 Goal Season, as historically He had been one of the league best 5v5 goal scorers. Watching Skinner-Tage-Tuch has been a positive, along with the young guys growth in an otherwise dismal season. That being said, Skinner is tied with Minnesota’s Kaprizov for 4th on the list of the NHL for highest paid LWs in the league, 500k less than Ovi and Jaime Benn who are third. Skinner ranks 24th in scoring amongst LWs this season, Jaime Benn is the only one with a higher AAV who is scoring at lower rate. As great as the Sabres Top Line has been playing, only Alex Tuch is on an 82 Game Pace for Elite Level Production with 92 points over a full season. Skinner and Tage are on pace for low 60’s. Look at the teams that played last night on TNT in Florida, Carolina, Vegas and Colorado, they have a ways to be before they are there. Yes, the team has quite a bit of cap space in the next 2-3 years, but they also have quite a few players who are coming off of ELCs and those who will need new deals (Tage after next season) who are going to be due for pay raises and I would rather the team keep the younger core intact. Botterill taught a master class in how to evaporate cap space while maintaining Bottom 5 Finishes. VO will be 27 when His next deal starts, as I mentioned in My Original Post giving Him term and an AAV North of 5 million has the potential to hamstring the team moving forward. If he wants 2 years 5 Million, maybe even three years at that AAV sign him. If he wants a longer term with that AAV and or takes the team to arbitration, then all bets are off And yes every team will have players who are overpaid and underpaid on the roster. That’s the goal of having a strong analytics department who can find underpaid players who can produce.

Tuch was on WGR 550 this AM and He mentioned His Love of the 2005-06 Team. Both Jeremy and Howard mentioned that they have repeatedly told Kevyn Adams that the Sabres deserved to win that Cup and that Tuch should say the same thing to Him. Tuch replied with I’m not doing that, He’s My Boss and I have already been traded twice, I don’t want to make it a third time.