DarthEbriate

Hino was a very pleasant surprise last season. He started the year with Skinner-Mitts on the top line. Mitts was injured immediately to dissolve that and Tage and VO became the top line, but Hinostroza still remained in the top 6 until Thanksgiving (US version). An injury in January and Tuch's arrival meant he was not getting back into the top 6, but he still produced some points until April when he had only 2 goals. His playing time dropped from 14:06 min pre- to 13:33 post-All-Star Game. I see much of the same this season. Hino starts as 4RW, moves around the lineup a bit, but keeps his speed dialed up at all times. I see 30 points, especially since he can open up the ice. Something like Quinn- Krebs/Mitts- Hino as a 4th line option early in the year. By season's end, JJP might overtake his spot in the lineup and Hino becomes a very solid 13.

Head--butt--ing will be our delight for by headbutting we turn round right. This team will need a Varada-esque player somewhere down the line. (And I include the PP2 goals and overall excellence in the 1999 playoffs in all my Varada statements.)

Dallas signs RFA Oettinger to a 3x$4M (and RFA status) contract. That, paired with the Sabres taking Bishop's contract, will give them $6M in cap for Robertson, so a bridge deal is in order.

If the worst comes to happen (say... he damages his shoulder again, it becomes a recurring thing, the shot disappears) there are a ton of forwards coming who could become a top-6 NHL center if they hit. They'll be ELCs and initial bridges through the meat of this extension. They won't all hit, but all it takes is one. And I don't think anyone said Tage would be a 1C after seeing him after his first two seasons as a Sabre. At year 4 with a growing cap, a buyout wouldn't be awful, trading + a pick... the options will be there to get out of it, if needed. If the best comes to pass... this will be a great contract.

I like it. Give Tage an entire season of either healthy-VO or healthy-Tuch for some more points, plus more experience as a center, stir, and serve on the rocks. Cheers to you, GM Sheevyn and congrats, Tager!

Rise up, Latvia! This season: 3 Sabres All-Stars (Tage, Dahlin, and... Zemgus?)

Sounds good. Thompson has played 1 season as a center since becoming a professional. He'll improve defensively, he'll improve at faceoffs. If he then goes out and continues to shoot really well, make the occasional wildly good pass, and make Skinner into a 30G+ top-line winger... this contract could look fantastic for the next 3 years, and then even better as the cap rises.

The Locomotive will be reliable and stay mostly healthy. He's also going to benefit from (and provide aid to) a deeper, more balanced scoring attack. I think the Sabres are capable of 250 goals this season. Girgens gets 12 goals or so, but scores more assists than recently because he's skating with Okposo, Hinostroza, Krebs, some Mitts, Quinn, and maybe JJP (and...maybe Bjork) in the bottom 6 instead of Murray, Hayden, Eakin, and Bjork. Let's say 70+ gp and 12-15-27.

Odd to want to get traded from a solid roster. Alas, instead of having plenty of options to go see Kamloops, now I have only a single T-Birds game all season with Red Deer in town.

Reinhart started the season as Eichel's 2RW and had some games as a 3C/W early, but once Ennis went down, Reinhart was O'Reilly's winger on the top line for almost the entire season, plus PP1 time as the net-front presence with deflections. If a VO or Skinner injury occurs, then I think Quinn could be the logical skater to step up into that top line role. But I don't want to rely on an injury to a specific player in general expectations. I think Quinn will have a more difficult time than Reinhart did in starting the season on the 2nd line.

Interesting comparison choice. If Cozens ends up playing almost 1300 NHL games, I think that'll be quite alright. I see Cozens as a better offensive player overall, although his opening seasons have included a cellar-dweller team and half a season of Kruegering, whereas Zubrus' first two seasons he quite good offensively and was on a loaded Flyers team. Then, Zubrus' career hit a slide as he was traded to an rebuilding Habs squad and the dead puck era. He was a reliable top 6 with the Caps and quite solid with with brief Sabres stint. Then riding it out in his 30s as a mid-6 option. In contrast, Cozens' career appears to be coinciding with an offensive era (goalie pad restrictions, referees calling penalties in the regular season). I believe Cozens handily beats Zubrus' career best 23-34-57 and should outproduce Zubrus overall (if health allows a 1000+ game career). The real difference I see is defensive. Zubrus finished with Selke voting once in his career (placing 31st, so he got... 1 vote?) and he was regarded as a fair two-way guy in the second half of his career. If Cozens has even a single more season of nullifying Auston Matthews, he's going to start gaining significant Selke attention. Cozens has the tools and battle to be an excellent 2nd-line (and occasional 1C time if injuries happen) and D-zone center, which will give him opportunities and accolades of which Zubrus could only dream.

Probably only about 30 points unless Dahlin is injured and Power has to take over PP1. But the page has been turned, the new age is upon us. I’m not saying the Sabres will be a positive goal differential team this season. You need good goaltending for that. But I am standing by my original prognostication: Uncle Owen Unlimited Power will be a career positive +/- for the Sabres and it continues and his buffer grows this season.

AHL All-Star and rented at the trade deadline to a team looking for a #8 for the playoffs.

That's not how Vegas works. LTIR him.

That's a lot of goals and everyone staying healthy. Florida had 4 last season and Bennett was on pace to make but missed 11 games. 5 30-goal scorers would likely outscore the entire 2013-14 Sabres (157 GF).

The chance to ask things like, "What happened to Track 9?" "Smoked it."

Olofsson (paced for 40 last season when healthy) and Quinn (Thompson's left circle on PP2) would like a word, but I do think Cozens has the potential to be a 30-50-80 guy a few times over the course of his career.

Power and Dahlin both need new contracts the summer of 2024. The cap might begin to climb that year, but is more likely to start climbing in 2025 and beyond. Power may elect for the bridge and bet on himself on for the 3rd contract. Two comparisons in the event he has career-altering injuries and only gets 8 years of NHL service: A) 2024 signs 8x$8M. B) 2024 signs 2x$4.5M, 2026 signs 8x$11M (but only plays 6 seasons) with the escalated cap. Option B nets more cash. And, if healthy, he still has 1 more mega contract in either case. Every one of these bolded were the undisputed #1 and PP defensemen at the time of signing their contract. Ekblad. Signed 2016. In 2015-16, Ekblad led the D in scoring and Brian Campbell was in his final year of contract as the only other viable PP guy. Ekblad was taking the reins. Hughes. Signed Oct 2021. Previous season outscored the next closest D (Myers) 41 points to 21 points. Werenski. Note: 3rd contract (3-yr bridge). Signed July 2021. Previous season missed 1/3 of the games. Had the highest ATOI on PP, but was 2nd in scoring D to Seth Jones. Chabot. Signed Sep 2019. Note: ELC had 2 slide years. Previous season was 3rd on team in scoring and doubled the next closest D in points (Ceci). Heiskanen. Signed Jul 2021. Previous season was 2nd in D scoring to Klingberg, but ATOI was 24:58 (25 min/night) to Klingberg's 22:42. But, Klingberg was killing it on a 7x$4.25M cap hit so Dallas could afford to lock in Heiskanen as the #1 future. I'll stop there because Fox, Makar, and McAvoy are likely even more extreme. My main argument is simply Dahlin is the guy and is still ascending himself. You make top dollar as a D by getting points on the PP. Dahlin's going to get the first 1:20+ of PP time with the top snipers to pad his stats. Power has only his rookie and sophomore seasons to build enough of a case points-wise to get the massive payout and unless Dahlin is hurt or the Sabres decide to trade him (but why?), Power won't get that opportunity on this 2nd contract.

I can easily see Power's 2nd contract being a bit of a bargain (in the $3.5-$5M range). He'll get a chunk of cash for being #1 overall, but he's not going to be a massive points producer unless Dahlin gets hurt. I don't see Granato putting two D on the top power play unit and I don't see Power kicking Dahlin off the top PP in the next two seasons as Dahlin also is continuing to improve. The cautionary tale: What's better than a #1 point-producing defenseman? TWO #1 point-producing defensemen. The trouble is, there's only minutes for one #1 PP QB type guy on the ice, particularly the D-man who can play 1:30 of a power play if you keep the puck in the offensive zone. Burns was scoring 67-83 points per season in SJ, Karlsson was scoring 62-82 points per year in Ottawa. Since they're both on SJ they've combined for: 83 Burns 45 Karlsson (it half worked!), 45 Burns 40 Karlsson (same as one of them alone), 29 Burns 22 Karlsson (epic fail, injuries), 54 Burns 35 Karlsson (same as one alone). Burns ended up getting traded with 34% salary retention.

Cozens is our Kessler/Cirelli with better offensive potential. We'll see improvements in the dot, improvements on the scoresheet (he plateaued last season, but will achieve more consistency), and he'll secure himself as the 2C in terms of ice time. The consistency is still coming. He'll have more defensive zone draws than Thompson and likely only PP2 time so the overall points totals won't be there. 50 points won't surprise me. 2021-22: Auston Matthews 4 gp 1-1-2, -5. Connor McDavid 2 gp 1-2-3, +0. (One EDM game was a 6-1 Oilers victory; McDavid had a secondary PP assist in the Sabres win.) 2021-22: Cozens v. TOR and EDM: 6 gp 2-3-5, +2. 1 GWG. That's Peca-ish right there.

I'm thinking Thompson looks much better defensively in what will only be his 2nd pro season as a center. VO is decent positionally defensively, and although Skinner sometimes gets lost in his own zone, he's still a good forechecker. Their best defense is their offense -- we could easily see three 35+ goal scorers on that line.

His recovery from his health scare, the removal of Krueger and stapling him to a line with unoffensive-Girgs and Larry (yes... the GLO/LOG line was great at what it did, but Okposo couldn't generate that many point with those two), and reintroduction of PP time gave him new life. I agree, the PP time likely starts to drop as Quinn pops, or Krebs finds a shot to even out his pass-only approach. It's over. Oky-Lan Kposobi has the high ground.

Since the team started purposefully stinking, they haven't had a go-to #1 defensive pairing. The top pair was a pair by default, not because of awesomeness. The last pair I can even find that skated together for more than a season is Regehr-Myers. Samuelsson-Dahlin looked like a thing at the end of last season. A very good thing. A #1 pairing thing that's going to control the ice for 24:00+ minutes/game. Muel will still make some mistakes, but the team's increasing skills are going to overcome them. He's also going to rub so many players out into the corners and deflect shot attempts harmlessly into the net with his reach. Muel + Rasmus the Youngest. Are you ready Regehr-Myers? Lydman-Tallinder? McKee-Warrener? Zhitnik-Smehlik? You're all about to be surpassed by parsecs.

Even leaving aside the incremental increases by young players, the improvement is across the board between the opening lineups of this season and last: F- Tuch > no Tuch. Quinn/Peterka > Bjork. Krebs/Mitts > Eakin. Hinostroza/Sheahen > Hayden D- Muel > Hagg. Lyub > Pysyk. Power > Bryson. (and post-ASG Dahlin > pre-Dahlin) G- Comrie > Anderson. (Backup goalie is a push. I think Toker=Anderson at this point.) 10/14/21 - a 5-1 beatdown of MTL in front of a silent player introduction sequence at home, and a rowdy 6000 by the end of the game Skinner - Mitts - Hinostroza (that's right, Mitts had a tremendous camp last year and earned 1C) Asplund - Thompson - VO Girgensons - Eakin - Okposo Bjork - Cozens - Caggiula (Hayden INJ) Dahlin - Jokiharju Bryson - Miller Hagg - Pysyk (surprisingly steady pair to start the season) (scratched: Butcher. Injured: Samuelsson, after a great camp) Anderson (Tokarski) My guess for opening this season is based on 4/29/22 lineup vs. CHI, with Okposo inserted back in the lineup. Yes, I'm starting JJP in Rochester. (And I also would like to see Mitts at 3C, Girgs at 4LW where he belongs, and Quinn up to 2LW shortly after opening night.) Skinner - Thompson - VO Mitts - Cozens - Tuch Asplund - Girgensons - Okposo Quinn - Krebs - Hinostroza (Sheahen). (Bjork in Rochester with JJP) Samuelsson - Dahlin Power - Jokiharju Bryson - Lyubushkin (Fitzgerald) Comrie (Anderson)

That's the one. Harry the Hat made so much money off of Major Derlin (who told the princess that the shield doors must be closed) that he was able to buy his way into a NYC judge position.