sabresparaavida

That was an impressive look by Neuchev, didn’t realize that he had that kind of play making ability. Poltapov also looking very good.

I think it’s September 15th for the AHL, not 100% sure though. A player has to be 18 by then to play in the league.

Simp is insulting now because of the acronym it entails, not really anything to do with living with simple means.

My guess would be they tried sending 16+ for 8, in an effort to get Kasper and Savoie.

I don’t know, the defense now looks pretty rough for the Preds. Marc Stone is in their top 4 as it stands.

Thanks, couldn’t remember for sure where he ended up.

No he isn’t, signed with San Jose? I believe. I know he signed somewhere.

A question for those who know goalies better than I: What does Levi need to work on? Right now the only negative I have seen is that he lacks ideal NHL size, but that can be made up for if you are good enough. Is his rebound control, positioning, lateral movement, etc. all NHL level yet? Where does he need to improve most?

He’s a career -8 which isn’t that bad.

So… Stanley cup? Price behind the best young d core ever would be tremendously hard to score against.

1. Mitts wins the 2C job and puts up in the neighborhood of 55-65 points. 2. The defense performs as a top 5 unit in the league, but due to the goaltending and less than defensively responsible forwards, the Sabres end up around average for goals against. 3. The Sabres finish with 88 points, 6 points off the last playoff spot (94)

It wouldn’t surprise me if the plan is to have a non-traditional forward group with 4 scoring lines. Something to the effect of: skinner-Tage-Oloffson Asplund-mitts-Quinn okposo-Cozens-Tuch JJP-Krebs-Vinny/girgs If Quinn or JJP really break out next year, it would give the Sabres a lot of flexibility in the lineup, with scoring throughout the lineup. skinner-Tage-Quinn/JJP Asplund-mitts-Oloffson JJP/quinn-Cozens-Tuch Okposo-Krebs-Vinny/Girgs I had Asplund so high in both lineups because he really balances out a line and helps to tilt the ice in our favor.

Also with that, Krebs had 14:16 TOI/g in March, and 13:36 TOI/g in April. He totaled 4 goals and 12 points in these months.

One thing I think needs some more discussion (maybe even it’s own thread?) is Mitts vs Cozens (and to a lesser extent Krebs as well) I’ve seen a handful of people slotting mitts in at 2C, and a lot of people reacting negatively to that, with a lot of people quite sure that Cozens will be 2C. I think that the coaching staff has a lot more confidence in Mitts than the majority of Sabres fans. Mitts Toi/g last year: 16:07 cozens TOI/g last year: 15:53 That is pretty close, and points to a pretty significant competition between the two in camp next year. (Krebs had 14:44) Mitts also missed time due to injury and was eased back in which brought his TOI/g down some. In March, mitts got a good amount more ice time with 16:55 TOI/G compared to 15:20 for Cozens. In April however, Cozens got slightly more time with 16:16 TOI/G compared to Mitts 16:00. In March/April, mitts had 5 goals and 16 points, while Cozens had 1 goal and 11 points. I think right now, the edge goes to Mitts being the 2C next year over Cozens, but honestly I think it’s more likely that lines 2/3 will be treated similarly, with very similar ice time.

If Johnson signed before the season, would he be an option for 3rd pairing, or do we think he would need some time in the AHL still?

Something else to note on the playoff front: 100 points was good for the last playoff spot in the east. However, there were a lot of bad teams, and Sabres, NJ, Ottawa, and Columbus all improved to a degree (on paper). These improvements should make it harder on the existing playoff teams, and probably will push the playoff line down to 95-96 points.

Note the may have, I did not say got worse. It may have gotten better, but in 2018-2019, both Hutton and Ullmark were better than Anderson In 2021-2022. Sure, Comrie could break out and we Could end up in a much better place, but it’s also possible that he tanks.

Some differences between then and now (comparing to the 2018-19 season: Sabres have 4 players (Tage, Mitts, Cozens, Krebs) which would have been better options at 2C compared to back then. Going by TOI/g to determine the depth chart, every single forward position outside of the 1st line has gotten significantly better. Oloffson was 4th in TOI/g of our forwards in 2018-2019, and he has improved significantly since his rookie year. 5th was Erod, 6th was Sheary. Those players would be on our 4th line at best now. On Defense, arguably every player has improved. Dahlin>>>>Risto, Samuelson >Montour, lybushkin>Bogo, 19yo Power>? 18yo Dahlin. Goaltending may have gotten worse, but this is a much much deeper team, and the “young core” of then was pretty much just the first line and 2 guys on defense. Now, the “young core” (core likely is the wrong word) is the majority of the team.

Rags just signed Trochek, I don’t think they can afford Kadri, and already filled their 2C hole.

I have a Sabres group chat with a couple friends, and one said his brother saw Kane in a flight from Buffalo to Chicago about a week ago 🤷‍♂️

They made it.

The coaching staff likely knows a hell of a lot better than us, whether the improvement we saw was due to a change in position or just getting better at hockey.

Whelp, now we know that Portillo won’t sign, Levi definitely just scared him off. /s

I think the only way we add a forward is if it’s a JVR type deal, where we take on cap for assets.

While he did play a lot in his 8 games with the Sabres, I don’t know if he’s ready for 82 games of first pairing minutes. I think Samuelson-Dahlin is the more likely route, with Power-Joki? as the second pairing. And if Power plays at a high level, I think having Power and Dahlin on different pairs would give us one of them on the ice for 48 minutes which would help to tilt the ice our way.