Pimlach

I think this is simple. The kid has played just 43 games in Junior A WHL. He will not be 19 until this coming season ENDS. I would send him back to juniors and expect him to dominate and be a team leader. The AHL is his next step after that. He played a few preseason games for the Sabres against mixed roster competition, not true NHL teams in real games that count. He did ok but there is no reason to think he is ready for the rigors of professional hockey in North America at age 18. He needs to play a lot of minutes, not watch others doing it. I suspect that after a few weeks in Rochester he goes back to Seattle.

I asked you this because I wonder what you base your opinion on how “older people” feel about their savings. You could be a financial planner that studies how people feel about managing finances and risk?

Lyon is a key, no doubt. Norris was very good with Ottawa, he just needs to stay healthy. You need 2 scoring lines. Tuch helps us get that. With Peterka gone they needs others to step up and produce more goals (Quinn, Benson, Kulich) while still maintaining the contributions from McLoed and Zucker.

Ok. Thanks.

He is 18 and drafted from the WHL juniors. Is his time in Rochester limited? It must be.

But yet he is the opposite with the Bills. His problems with the Sabres stem from these things: 1. He thinks he knows the game 2. He gets infatuated with people he knows and likes 3. He does not fit into or trust the NHL establishment and feels they led him astray. Just curious, are you retired yet?

Having a good finance guy on the staff is a nice.

Preseason training and practice means a lot. Preseason games, not as much when you are looking at AHL players and below. My big concern is if the goaltending holds up, and can even steal some games early, while the team comes together.

Good evening teammates, glad I had family commitments and missed this one. From reading the thread it was up, down, and way down. My first concern is goaltending, just like every year in the Adams era. A team cannot emerge to the next level without goaltending.

Yes. I think he is.

I’ve read somewhere that Power was taught to tone down the physical side in youth hockey because his size attracted a lot of penalties. Physical play is more that just hits and penalties, it’s also about leverage and position, and those things still require you to be strong and to physically engage with your opponent. He needs to use the body (and sometimes his stick) to move people and block them out of making plays around his net. He needs to take advantage of his size and reach. If he ever figures this out he will become a very good player. @dudacek mentioned Talinder. He was not a big hitter but he was still a physical player that used his size and strength for leverage. He engaged his opponent in the way that Power should. He also sacrificed taking a hit to get to the puck first and had the ability to shield the puck, take the hit, and still make a breakout pass so the team could transition to attack and the guy that hit him was now behind the play. Bill Hajt was amazing at this kind of game. Fans complained that he didn’t hit or fight much. Those fans probably never played. Hajt played 13 season and over 850 regular season games and no Sabres coach or GM wanted to trade him. They don’t have fancy stats on Bill, but he was + 340’ish for his career. Not too bad for a 2nd pair most of his career. If Power wants to get stronger and engage physically he will be very good someday. Some of it is a mentality.

The A should be taken away, but I doubt that it will now that we are down to 3 A's instead of the silly 4 A experiment.

For his own good I want Mrtka sent down, even if he is "better" than what we have due to injuries, we don't need him tainted by this staff right now. Another year in Juniors is not going to hurt him. We wont be 19 until June and I think its best to save the 8 -9 games for next season. Play R Johnson and Novikov instead. R Johnson certainly looks ready to be given a legitimate shot. While we can admire Bryson for hanging around in the NHL for 5 season and 254 games, Byson playing more games than Darryl Shannon (255), Rhett Warrener (266), Pat LaFontaine (268), and Rick Dudley (279), just shows the commitment to not winning in the Pegula era. This will be his 6th season on the team. All in the Adams era. Adams got rid of Eichel, Reinhart, Montour, McCabe, and Ullmark and proclaims that Bryson is a player he loves. Ok, that explains a lot.

I think I will stick to stretches and PT.

The topic was Sabres total payroll and I mentioned that they gutted the entire organization since Covid and the departure of Botts, and upon the arrival of Adams. True enough, the entire 14 years of Pegula hockey has been a shambles. Adams traded Reinhart and Eichel, lost Montour, Ullmark and McCabe - all of that hurt the product on the ice. Paying Muel, Cozens, and Power and consistently icing very young teams far under the cap - that hurt. Peterka wanting out is another sign of problems. If this year is another bust then there will be more "Peterka's" wanting out.

No. I can look it up.

I am still in PT - stretches, strength training, and more stretches for hammy, hips, glutes. I am doing knee bends (squats) or seated leg press, but keep in mind I have to knee replacements so there are limits. Sometimes it feels better, but then the pain comes back.

It would be interesting to know the answer to your question. Keep in mind that Terry and Kim gutted the PSE and Sabres staff across the board back in COVID, including many long time employees. They have rebuilt some of the Hockey FO since then, but the EEE policies put in that drove Botts out have really hurt the product on the ice and the teams' perception throughout the NHL.

With age comes increased strength. Hoping the strength, and age, and experience, and confidence breeds some physical edge to him. If he never, ever, will play with more physical presence then I would move him. But he is 22 and we don't know yet. Dahlin provides more offense and is physical and tough. Byram provides just as much offense and is more physical than Power.

Yes. He was both D and F. With the Sabres he pretty much played D and was paired with Schoeny.

Clearly needed 2. He was not up to physical part of being an nhl defenseman. I hoping that this year he is.

Peterka will continue to produce. Quinn, I have major doubts about.

This thinking is why the team stinks every year. Up and coming youngsters like Samuelsson, Power, and Cozens get paid but not proven players like Reinhart and Tuch. They can forget about signing top end free agents.