RochesterExpat

I feel like I should make a parlay bet on Buffalo making the playoffs and Levi winning the Calder since I think one is dependent on the other.

I dated (hung out with? was talking to? what do we call it now?) Jeremy Roenick’s daughter, Brandi, one summer (2014-ish?) when I lived in San Diego. She was doing some equestrian practice with an ex-girlfriend of mine in Rancho Santa Fe and we met through her at some dressage thing. The worst part was I didn’t realize it was him until the third time we’d met and I said “oh *****, you’re Jeremy Roenick” to his face. Not my finest moment.

The only non-Buffalo jersey I own is a Bergeron jersey. Easily my favorite non-Sabre from the last 15 years. His handling last season of the whole Mitchell Miller signing should be taught as an example to every future team captain in the league. Hope he enjoys his retirement.

At what age or point in the career of a player do we no longer consider them teachable? It’s an honest question. I’m curious what opinions people have. Personally, I think the player you have at game 200 is the player you end up with at game 800.

That’s so disappointing 😞

Went to Paramore (wife’s favorite) this past Saturday and saw the Gaslight Anthem (my favorite) earlier in the year.

I bought a t-shirt from there and I wear it every time I visit Rochester/Buffalo just to see how many people catch the "Southlake, TX" part. To answer your question though, pizza is hit or miss and a lot more miss than hit here. We have one local (for me) one that's decent enough, but it isn't worth the drive for you (I live where my neighbor across the road has 4,000 acres). Funny enough, the lack of decent wings here is the reason I've got quite good at making wings. I don't know why I don't try making pizza. If you want a wood-fired, non-"traditional" pizza, this place in Fort Worth is pretty good and the beer is decent. Although, honestly, the sandwiches are the best thing on the menu.

I'm not the biggest fan of Ryan Johnson, but I will add one other underrated skill he has: a pro mindset. If you look at any of the interviews with any of his coaches or the development staff, they all stress just how serious he takes the game. More often than not, coaches are saying he takes it too seriously. That's one thing that can't be easily taught or improved on through practice.

Not sure it's a good idea since half the time I post I'm on the toilet.

I love his vacant expression.

Random side note, his historical look back videos / career videos are interesting. Parts of hockey I’ve forgotten or never knew.

Absolutely agree, but it's still useful for some "bigger" takeaways. As I said earlier in the thread, to me those takeaways would be Novikov's mature level of play and Neuchev's stickhandling. The same could be said for the prospect challenge last year which, granted, is certainly a step above prospect camp, but is still ultimately just a scrimmage. There's still some takeaways that can be made. The biggest one last year for me was that Juraj Slafkovsky played with his head down and relied too much on his size and I went so far as to say his play was "near suicidal in the NHL." You had the same takeaway about his play not being at the NHL level in the thread as well. Slaf played in 39 games. In those 39 games, he was injured against Arizona and missed a few games. The injury occurred because he was skating with his head down. His season ended due to an injury against the Rangers where he was just staring at his skates and got bumped down in the offensive zone. But that overlooks the fact that he missed shifts due to injury when playing the Canucks, the Wild, and the Sens. He damn near killed himself against Chicago. He was reaching for a puck with his head down... in the NHL. Not to mention he got a game misconduct and two game suspension for boarding in a game against the Red Wings. All in 39 games. I'd say we were both right on that big takeaway from a scrimmage.

Murray came off LTIR at the end of last season and was considered healthy enough to be a rostered player. If he goes on LTIR again, the league may actually investigate that one because there's no reason (other than it's Murray) for him to be on LTIR.

Neuchev's stickhandling reminded me at times of Afinogenov and I don't say that lightly. He was doing some pretty wild stuff--and not always successfully. The kid has some serious hands.

Not a lot of takeaways since it's 3 on 3 and a fun tourney for prospects. Probably the biggest one is that Novikov strikes me as a professional hockey player. It's the little things on the ice (like the previously linked stick lift play) coupled with the relatively big things often overlooked in something like this. First and foremost, if you watched him closely, he was actively directing his teammates in the defensive zone. Considering last year at the draft he spoke zero English (no idea on his current language skills), I'm impressed that he has the confidence to even try. He's known these guys for a week and he was already comfortable managing them on the ice--and the players respected him enough to respond. That's a really good sign for things to come.

Capfriendly’s FAQ suggests you can exceed the 10% via LTIR.

So at that rate we've got about 3 years to go lol

Curious to see how Kisakov does this season and how much his 150lb listed weight on eliteprospects changes. He had a disappointing freshman season in Rochester, but sometimes it's hard to remember they're just kids and, in Kisakov's case, he moved half a world away from his friends and family to play a sport in foreign country where he doesn't speak the language. That's mentally tough. Case in point: you can see him in the video say he's excited to "make new friends who can speak Russian."

That was a good one. Never would have got it.

Just because of the last question, I want to say Mike Ramsey, but he wouldn't have joined the team until after the Winter Olympics in February. I can't imagine it was him because he could only have played in a dozen games or so. Honestly no idea. Lindy Ruff?

Ken Morrow

Speaking of 1,000 game milestones, Jeff Skinner will likely hit his this season. Still has zero playoff games on his C.V. though.

This is a really good point and to further it--all of those players except for Korpisalo played in the AHL or NHL the year prior to their age 21 season. Steve Mason: Age 20 season spent in the NHL with 61 regular season games (plus 3 in the AHL) and 4 playoff games (68 total). Age 19: 47 games (OHL/WJC) Carey Price: Age 20 season spent in the NHL with 41 regular, 11 post-season games + 10 AHL games (62 total). Season prior he played 2 regular + 22 post- season AHL games and 46 WHL games (70 total). MAF: Age 20 season in the AHL for 54 regular and 4 post season games (58 total). Age 19 was 43 games between NHL, QMJHL, AHL and WJC. Luongo: Age 20 season split between 24 NHL, 26 + 6 AHL (56 games). Age 19 was 73 games between QMJHL and WJC Hart: Age 20 season split between 31 NHL, 18 AHL, 3 WWC (52 total). Age 19 was 63 WHL games and 6 WJC (69 total). Korpisalo: Age 20 season split between 38 + 2 in Liiga + 3 AHL (43 total). Age 19 he played for like 7 different teams in Finland for only 20 total games. Ward (worth noting he actually played 51 NHL games his rookie season as he added 23 playoff games): Age 20 was 50+11 AHL games (61 total). Age 19 was 56 + 19 (75 total) WHL games. Devon Levi last season played 34 NCAA games, 7 NHL games and 1 WC game (42 total). The year prior he played 32 NCAA games. Of all the goalies above, he played fewer games than anyone in the season prior and lower than all but Korpisalo for D-2. Buffalo is making one hell of a gamble. Best case? He turns out to be close to Bob who, for his age 22 season, was only 3 months older than Levi will be for his age 21 season. Bob played 35 KHL regular season games and 12 MHL post season games (47 total) before coming to NA. Bob's first NHL season he played 54 games, posted 28-13-8 record with a 2.59 GAA and .915 SV%. Of course, if that happens, I look forward to trading Levi in two years and signing an aging goalie to a 9 year contract that we buy out two years later and spend the next 13 years eating the cap hit.

I'd rather Joki than Johnson and I say that as someone who has a pretty low opinion of Joki.

I'm interested in Novikov for two reasons. First, it'll be a good assessment for how the current, post-Ukraine invasion KHL looks as far as actual competitiveness. Second, while I don't think Novikov has the highest ceiling, he looks like he could be a long-term 5th D / PK specialist. He attacks the puck especially well with his stick and he maneuvers his body into lanes really well for a guy his size who doesn't necessarily have the fancy edgework of players like Dahlin. That's the kind of attributes I'd want in a PK guy.