Thorny

Thank you so much for saying this

At least they took care to replace him with a right shot. It’s like they didn’t like Laaksonen’s shot at a depth RD role so bumped the process forward a bit to this guy

Would love to get @Ducky‘s thoughts on the Jets so far successful, I’d argue somewhat surprising season thus far, and how it pertains to the idea in the offseason they seemed headed for a rebuild. Has that shifted? Just a retool now? Or do you expect the bottom to fall out? Imo it’s tough to fully rebuild in this sorta situation because Hellebuyck basically provides them a get into the playoffs free card whenever he has an “on” season

By JA’s second year in the league he was better than a 2-1 TD/INT rate at 20-9, by his 3rd year he was 37-10 td-to-pick throwing for 4500 yards. Some of the JA narrative was sullied by the twitter convo that lambasted the pick from day 1, erroneously because he didn’t mesh well with the advanced stats, and they clung to that bias fir a long time. Lots of the more traditional metrics were always in his favour. In Tage’s 5th post draft year, he had 14 points. In Allen’s 3rd season, he was an mvp candidate

Whoops, thanks for the correction Still comes to the same thing for me, and I’ll say it again: it’s not as much about the snap shot in time from when they were drafted (though clearly JA still went in a different, higher tier - he was drafted with the *expectation* of being a starting QB, no?), it’s the context that includes the rest of their paths travelled since their drafts

I agree with everything you are saying tbh. It’s just the coin analogy that doesn’t work for me, because it implies they are equal in value and.. I mean Dahlin is Dahlin. Samuelsson is a great, and valuable, piece. He makes Dahlin better. Still not Dahlin.

Even Jonathan Cheechoo started his 2 year explosion at age 23, during his second year in the league (and then promptly dropped off)

I think Thompson’s rise was crazier. Hasek, (the best Sabres player I’ve ever seen, and the greatest GT of all time), was putting up good numbers from his first season in Buffalo Thompson’s rise is so crazy that people shouldn’t even bother uttering his name in reference to guys like Casey. He won’t rise to Hasek levels but again the key distinction with Tage is how little he had shown for as long as he did. To have his numbers escalate to the level they did, so suddenly, when all the numbers beforehand suggested “wash out” (his elite prospects page is awesome) is something I’m not sure we’ve ever seen, league wide.

Agree with your first paragraph. We were poor without Samuelsson, that’s true, but not only was the sample size small, the logic doesn’t exactly suggest we’d be any better without Dahlin, considering his impacts relative to Sammy, we’d probably be worse. We just aren’t using that as an argument for Dahlin right now cause he has stayed healthy. That’s circumstantial, no? Id be much more inclined to call into question Samuelsson’s durability going forward, as it pertains to value, before questioning if the Sabres wouldn’t suffer greatly w/o Rasmus for some random reason. We shouldn’t forget how much of a plus Dahlin’s durability adds to his side of the ledger, re: value Not sure man there’s a couple different things being added together here haha. - - - im happy with the team

Does this really have to be another Eichel thing? I don’t think Tuch would have the points he does if he wasn’t playing with the guy 3rd in league scoring. Regardless, let’s for sake of argument call offensive production this year a “wash”. Cause at this point, statistically it is. I’m glad you acknowledged how good Eichel has been defensively this year because we are only getting Eichel like production from Tuch if you are talking offensive output specifically, and aren’t using production as analogous to “impact”, as, when accounting for the entire game, their defensive impacts aren’t close.

It’s Thompson by FAR Allen was a top 5 pick - who rose to prominence pretty quickly, on schedule, after being picked. Thompson, several years after being drafted, looked on his way out of the league. Allen’s story is still an eye-opener but that just speaks to the absurdity of Thompson’s rise. You will never see a Sabre do that again in your lifetime

And Makar got the Smythe. With Dahlin set to log the minutes he would in any long run, he’d be my betting favourite for that trophy re: Sabres If one ever won the league MVP it’d be Thompson cause it’s largely a points award / occasionally goals award, kinda like the NFL mvp is earmarked for QBs while guys like Parsons or Donald are probably the league’s most valuable guys imo

You don’t even actually believe this, GA. If you had to trade Dahlin or Samuelsson, return being equal, you are trading Samuelsson.

“Darth Vader will be more powerful than EITHER OF US!”

BREAKING NEWS: “Someone, 43, has been relieved of his duties. The Sabres wish him success in his future endeavours.” Would people rather Tage win the Rocket, or the Art Ross? Don’t say both

Agree

Good question. I like the poll options because there are only 2 true options. It’s close, can’t really go wrong with either. Having said that: Dahlin. Plays more. Slightly more exceptional for a D than Tage is for a F. When talking MVP, for me there’s a bit more distance If Tage takes a game off I think we have the F to compensate. If Dahlin takes a game off I think we are in trouble

The Sabres are 5 points out with a better goal differential than each team they’d need to leap to get to 8th, with 52 games remaining. I say the Sabres make the playoffs, sticking with my preseason prediction. (Ignore earlier in thread where I said they certainly were not eliminated but that it appeared unlikely - I was high)

Dahlin, 2nd in d-man scoring, to within 3 of EK after 2 more points (and the gWg) in nearly 29 minutes of ice time on the road in W. First overall pick is first overall pick. Enjoy the ride. The best player I’ve seen in a Sabres uniform since Hasek.

I thought Dahlin was our best skater tonight

First 3 ten game stretches to start the season 7-3-0, 14 points, 115 point pace 2-8-0, 4 points, 33 point pace 5-3-2, 12 points, 98 point pace .. will the up-down-up alternating nature continue or have we now found consistency? Interestingly enough, we’ve played at a playoff pace in both the 1st and 3rd stretches, and it’s that one streak currently keeping us out of a playoff pace/spot.

Nm they took it away. .500 again. Hopefully we don’t see below that mark again this season. Third was dicey play but pretty decent win on the road.

Thompson somehow gets the assist even though Colorado touched it in between lol

Krebs? He’s pretty thin

Dahlin now with double digit goals on the season, is 3 off his career high of 13. Game 30.