MakeSabresGrr8Again

Thank you McFly for the updates and keep them coming. I could actually visualize some of this, lol.

first off I would like to say that I was at Development camp and the WOW factor of Olafsson is....just that, WOW. Love the player but, because of that WOW factor I didn't pay much attention to the rest of his game. Great skater and great shot and would love to see him on a call-up to see what he can do. His "lower" expectations arise from being a 7th rd pick and being smaller in stature. He has come in at "above" expectations so far but has cooled off a bit recently. Also, I'm not a big fan of Nylander but more because of "high" expectations that seemingly are not being met. He also has cooled off a bit recently and coincidentally(?) both players have "cooled" since Pilut has been up here. Can't say that's the reason though. Let's compare the two for a moment....Nylander is 20yrs old while Olafsson is 23 and has had plenty of SHL experience that Alex didn't have. Nylander seems to have been more consistant offensively than Olaf and while Nylander is a +11...Olaf is only +1. Do you know that Olafsson's "wicked shot" on the PP has only produced 2PP goals? Yet Alex has 3PP goals. I'd like the both to get an opportunity so we can evaluate better at this level. However, I don't think either one is the savior we are looking for right now. Are they an upgrade? maybe and maybe not. For the time being why mess with the future and possibly derail what we've built throughout the organization. If we bring up both AND Pilut what will that do to our future and depth built in Roch? Will they be able to overcome the loss of those players? Sending TT down might help some but who do we send down to replace Pilut? I guess where I'm going is that we just might have to address our issues elsewhere outside the organization for the time being so we don't break down what we've built, which is strong organizational depth. If need be, using draft picks and expendable players to solve current issues. We have more possible help coming down the road with players like Laaksonen, Samuelsson, 6k's, etc. The problem right now is that offensively our #8 over-all picks are not performing as well as we hoped (not quite the same as "below expectations").

Calling all advanced stat people.....which I am not. Has anyone looked into... why the change in Berglund ? I honestly hoped that he would show us the offensive prowess that he had in St. Louis where he was scoring about 20g/yr. Is it usage? Is it linemates? Is it aging? I hoped that his scoring ability would help ease the O'Reilly Factor even if he was used in certain roles. Yes, the ROR "lite" as you will. I'm not convinced yet that you just lose that aspect of your game so suddenly without some reason. I'm not unhappy with him in the role he's playing, just hoped for a little bit more. Just wondering if there is a better situation we could put him in to draw that out.

Maybe they could figure a way to build the ice rink underground and the football above it. As for the concerts ...I went to some of the Summer fest concerts at Rich and they were great back in the '70's with more than 80k people. Also, don't we play hockey in football stadiums now without out special accomodations?

AAAAAAAHHHHHHH the good old days, I remember well. paid much closer attention to the games back then...not the distractions we have today. Actually starting to pay attention more again and loving it.

20 year "statute of limitations" is running out soon.

Agree. At least Casey isn't a liability on the ice, which is credit to his hard work.

Wow, do you really expect Casey to be another Tavares, Malkin, Backstrom, etc playing with Tage and KO? All the players you mentioned have years of experience and good wingers for the most part over Casey. I think Casey will be fine but yes, it will take a while. They've been treating him like Eichel was the last few years with a parade of wingers(KO has been the most consistant). Tavares, a #1 overall has Marner and Hyman and 10yrs experience as a 1C. Malkin,a #2 overall has Hornqvist and 14yrs in the league. Even Point, who is only 22yrs old, has 3yrs and Kucherov/Johnson for wings. Trocheck has 5yrs and Huberdeau. Oh, and isn't Backstrom a 1C and play w/ Ovie? I believe that Kuznetsov is the 2C. With that said, I feel Casey is coming along nicely but a little slower than we all would like. I also think he needs better wingers if he is to meet your expectations. I get it that we lost a 2C in O'Reilley but we need to get over it and move on. If you look to the draft or within the organization for the answer then you're gonna be likely waiting awhile unless Olafsson/Nylander/Smith step up.FA and draft won't help until July (essentially next year or after). So the only way to help the 2c/3c is looking at trading for one. We definitely have better wings in the system than centers and need to address that. Either way it's gonna take awhile unfortunately unless JBot can find a good trade.

Jumbo Jack will be fine. The Eichel Tower will not turn into the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

I guess that's one way to look at it...lol That way we can be surprised if he plays well.

This might upset eleven

Being the "generational" player Dahlin is expected to be is the reason why. Pilut was supposed to need to get acclimated to the rink size and American-style of play in Roch. There were no real "knocks" on Pilut's game that I recall. He's also tearing up the AHL. I hope Pilut is at least 2/3 the player Dahlin is...I will be ecstatic.

Can you give an input as to what aspects Dahlin is better? QB PP? Passer? Skater?

Available evidence could make for a good argument that, a this point, Pilut could be on Dahlin's level. They played in the same league last year and Pilut was named the Best D-man and scored more than Dahlin. At this point in tine, Pilut has the upper hand in experience and not necessarily skill (or rather "up-side"). They say he's a great skater, calm under pressure, good passer, etc just like Dahlin. This might be a comparison like....Hedman/ Karlsson and wouldn't it be great if that ends up being the case. The only thing i can see right now is the size difference but I haven't seen Pilut play in person. Can any of our Amerks fans chime in that have seen both play and give me a comparison prior to game time so I know what to watch out for.

I think that Johansson is goalie down there.

At least Tampa knew they were in a game.

obese woman is politically correct

I think they said 14th

But 13 might

YES

By the end of this game we'll be Tampa...up by one goal.

And if we won 3 of those then we can win this one seeing we are a better team now. GO SABRES

That just means they CAN be beat in their house. Go Sabres

I was thinking some of the same. It seemed as if every time I looked at the standings we were moving up slowly but, it also seemed like teams behind us were catching up even though we hadn't lost (Caps were one team). They weren't really but it seemed like it.

Maybe you should've went with the prebiotics, lol