GASabresIUFAN

CB or Oline in the second? I’m going CB. Samuel or Tyson Campbell. Worried we may have to trade up to get one.

People who have been advocating for massive turnover have already received it. I am getting on board with making this lineup tougher. We are still getting manhandled by the Bruins. They are taking it better and maybe some of that will come from experience but we could certainly use a physical middle 6 winger. No idea who that is and whom we can afford.

Rousseau. Grrrr! Wrong guy Beane. Very disappointing.

Stokes to GB. Great pick. Ok the Bills are up. Ojulari please.

Possibly, but that doesn't mean Mac isn't a good player.

Only GB and NO to get through now. Don't blow it Bills

LOL. You know who my fingers are crossed for.

@LGR4GM 2 RBs taken in the 1st.

I've seen this guy play a ton and I can say not only that he doesn't suck, but NE may have gotten the steal of the 1st rd. G-d I loath the Pats. Now can the guy I want fall to the Bills. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

For me it was the day he was hired. This season it was the soul sucking terrible offense from nearly the start of the season.

Good article in the Athletic about Beane and who he might draft and why. The author's mock has us getting Samuel (CB) in the 1st, Ojelari (Edge) in the 2nd and moving up in the 3rd to get Myers (G/C). If this is how this goes, we will have to bow at the greatness of Beane. The story talks about how Beane focused on future needs and present depth and then uses the best available. He'll move up or down depending on his list and how many players in a particular tier remain. Our long-term needs (and I agree) according to the author are CB (need an upgrade on Wallace), Edge Rusher (only 1 signed beyond this season), and G/C (Morse can be released after this season at a huge cap savings).

@dudacek the above looks like new math. Cozens has played 10 games in April and has 7 assists. That's about 56 pts in a season. Mitts has played 15 games in April and has 7 goals and 5 assists. That's about 37 goals and 27 assists over a full season.

Probably true

If they do, it will be 3 times in the last decade in the 1st year of a new rookie GM that we finished last in the NHL. There is a dubious accomplishment. The only real difference is that I have hope for this lineup going forward.

Mitts' 200 game is substantially better then Cozens at this point and Cozens isn't going to catchup in one off-season. It's Mitts who Granato is giving the tougher minutes. It's Mitts he puts out on the ice in late game situations. It's also Mitts on the PP and he's begun to use him some on the PK. It's also Mitts who is scoring with 13 points in his last 16 games. Cozens is going to be just fine, but with only 1 goal in his last 23 games the offense isn't there yet. It will come, and he may eventually eclipse Mitts as a player, but it isn't going to be as early as the beginning of next season. By the end of next season? Possibly, but you are also discounting any continued growth from Mitts. It think he is talking about upgrading Eakin.

Eichel, Reinhart, Mittelstadt is the spine going forward if Granato is the coach. Honestly, I like this alignment. It allows Cozens to add depth at RW along with Thompson and Bjork. Skinner, Olofsson and Girgensons give us plenty of depth at LW with R2 and Asplund able to play there as well. R2 also has given us excellent minutes at RW and both he and Asplund can also play center. Skinner Eichel Cozens Olofsson Reinhart Thompson Asplund Mittelstadt R2 Girgensons ????? Bjork Okposo Eakin (AHL?) I'm going to assume we lose Miller in expansion. This means that KA doesn't have to do anything with the forwards this off-season other then retain the RFAs. Don't think he'll sit on the forward group this off-season however, I think he tries to add a vet RW and possibly a replacement for Lazar.

Unlike the tanks, this has been evaluating the talent in the organization and getting our best prospects maximum NHL playing time. Mitts and Dahlin are playing hard minutes to see if they can handle it. R2 is getting prime minutes to see if his Euro game translates to the NHL (it does). Samuelsson is playing to see if he can adjust to the speed of the NHL and if he is ready to stay in the NHL (not sure) etc... This is making the best out of a bad situation and look who is benefitting. By my count 11 key Sabres prospects/young players are really benefitting from this evaluation. Dahlin and Jokiharju solidified their positions on the team. Cozens, Mitts, Thompson, and Asplund all improved their status as well. Prospects R2, Borgen, Bryson, Samuelsson and UPL are also showing they aren’t out of place in the NHL and for R2, Borgen and Bryson they may be earning full time gigs for next season. Honestly this needed to happen. We needed to stop relying on outside help and give our kids a chance. Dumping RK and restoring modern hockey to this team has made all the difference. The purge needs to continue. KO and Eakin also need to be gone.

I don't care other then we are rehashing most of the discussion from the other thread. Eichel, Reinhart, Mitts

Since RK was fired, this season is about seeing what we have and who is part of the solution and who is expendable. Getting a better look at Caggiula, Bjork and R2 makes sense. Thompson being demoted is probably not about him so much as seeing R2 with Mittelstadt who is our 2C or 3C moving forward. I do see a little irony of putting two college scorers who haven't found their NHL touch with a top flight CHL rookie. I would have liked to see them with Mittelstadt.

Dont we have a forward thread?

https://theathletic.com/2543151/2021/04/26/what-does-the-sabres-impressive-youth-movement-mean-for-the-kraken-and-the-expansion-draft/ Vogl’s list - Skinner, Eichel, Reinhart, VO, Mitts, Bjork and Thompson. Asplund available - Why? He also says protect Borgen and trade Risto for a goalie. I’m in total disagreement with the idea.

I’m not saying I agree about protecting Bjork. I don’t, but I’m presenting another possible point of view.

At this point you do nothing. You expose either Asplund or Bjork at forward and Borgen and Miller on D. Seattle gets one of those players and if they take Miller without incentive we come out ahead on the deal. We shouldn’t and KA shouldn’t over think this. Don’t be surprised when KA protects Bjork. He just acquired that guy for Hall and he may want to guarantee his more physical play in the lineup. With Girgensons returning, R2’s fast adjustment, Skinner and VO, LW is a position of depth and losing Asplund would hurt the least up front. (Yes R2 is playing RW because of our need on that side). I do like the idea of using a 3rd to get a signed goalie. We have no NHL goalies signed for next season.

Aren’t the bottom 11 teams eligible for the no.1 pick (including Seattle)? So even if they are eliminated from your list they are still eligible to steal the pick.

He is under contract for next year.