2019-20 Sabres Prospects

[GASabresIUFAN]

5 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

How we liking Jokiharju now that games count?

Haven’t really noticed either way, which for a D isn’t necessarily a bad thing.  As a group we have been solid for the 2 games. He certainly hasn’t looked out of place.

RK must be happy with him.  He is playing 17 minutes a night with 2 minutes per game on the PK.

Edited October 6, 2019 by GASabresIUFAN

[Zamboni]

3 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

How we liking Jokiharju now that games count?

How are you liking him?

 

i think he’s fine this season on the bottom pairing.

[LGR4GM]

Just now, Zamboni said:

How are you liking him?

 

i think he’s fine this season on the bottom pairing.

I enjoy his passing and breakout game. I think he's got to work on lower body strength for down low. Playing with Scandella, you can see the difference in how fast and accurate joker is. 

I love what he has the potential to become. 

[GASabresIUFAN]

My Top 20 Sabres Prospects to start the season - Rules - Age 23 and under, waiver-exempt and played part of last year in the minors or other non-NHL leagues.

1) Cozens - 9 pts in 4 WHL games already 

2) UPL - Still recovering from injury, but has franchise goalie potential.

3) Jokiharju - Made the Sabres and is playing 17 minutes a night. Not sure what happens when Montour, Pilut and Bogo return, but he is earning his spot.

4) Thompson - Returned to the AHL, but looked much better in camp.  Opened the AHL season with 2g in first game.

5) Asplund - He looked in camp like he is getting close to NHL ready.  2 way center’s game will be a nice addition to the Sabres and soon.

6) Laaksonen - Do you place a guy based upon potential or how close he is to NHL ready?  He has 40 pts+ NHL potential, but probably needs two more years before cracking the Sabres roster.

7) Johnson - 1st rd pick looks like a natural pairing for Samuelsson in the World Jrs and for the Sabres in the future. Similar game to Jokiharju.

8.) Samuelsson - Most physical D in our system and has O potential as well.

9) Pekar - 7g in 6 CHL so far. Hard to gauge upside, but at worst will be an agitator that can score 10-15 goals.

10) Borgen - Probably NHL ready as a depth D, but lack of O upside limits his potential here.  Also blocked by youth on D in Buffalo and better prospects just behind him in age.

11) Routsalainen - Was returned to Europe, but showed enough in camp to see what he can do next year when he is in NA full time.  

12) Davidsson - Seemingly a forgotten man, but his development curve is very similar (as is his game) to Asplund and he is a year younger.  

13) Bryson - Thought he looked good in camp, but does he have an NHL future?

14) Portillo - Big Swede goalie is years away but showed real potential in World Jr Challenge

15) Huglen - Mitts lite.  High skill player. It will interesting to see what he does this season.

16) Weissbach - Late round flyer in a small Swedish forward who can score? Have you heard this story before? While more of a playmaker than sniper he continues to improve. My favorite sleeper prospect.

17) Fitzgerald - Another college D now with the Amerks. This year will tell us if he is a prospect or suspect.

18) Hickey - see Fitzgerald.

19) Cederqvist - forward playing full time in the SHL.

20) Kukkonen - D playing in Europe. Not expecting much from him or similar guys like Cronholm or Worge-Kreu.

Top 10 should have an NHL future.  The next 6 have a chance.  After that don’t see much.

Edited October 6, 2019 by GASabresIUFAN

[GASabresIUFAN]

Speaking of Weissbach.  He is playing on Wisconsin's top line with Alex Turcotte and Cole Caufield.  That line has 10 goals and 13 assists in 4 games. Turcotte (3+5), Weissbach (1+7) and Caufield (6+1).

Edited October 22, 2019 by GASabresIUFAN

[inkman]

3 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Speaking of Weissbach.  He is playing on Wisconsin's top line with Alex Turcotte and Cole Caufield.  That line has 10 goals and 13 assists in 4 games. Turcotte (3+5), Weissbach (1+7) and Caufield (6+1).

Kinda hard to get excited about a prospect playing with arguably two of the best players in the world outside of the NHL.  

[dudacek]

5 minutes ago, inkman said:

Kinda hard to get excited about a prospect playing with arguably two of the best players in the world outside of the NHL.  

Talking about some kid on Lethbridge?

[inkman]

2 minutes ago, dudacek said:

Talking about some kid on Lethbridge?

I'm never quite sure what I'm talking about

[shrader]

14 hours ago, inkman said:

I'm never quite sure what I'm talking about

Too much blood flow to the calves can do that.  And yes, I know how people are going to spin this "too much blood flow" comment.

[French Collection]

Cozens with 17 pts in 13 games while Pekar has 20 pts in 13 games.

Alexis Lafreniere is leading the QMJHL in scoring with 36 pts in 15 games, not bad for a 17 year old. Quinton Byfield is doing the same in the OHL with 29 in 15.

[French Collection]

Cozens tied for the scoring lead in the WHL.

https://whl.ca/stats/players/270/1/points
 

 

[Crusader1969]

UPL back to back shutouts this weekend for Cincinnati.

 

[Zamboni]

Keep em’ developing!!! 

[French Collection]

10 hours ago, Crusader1969 said:

UPL back to back shutouts this weekend for Cincinnati.

 

I know it is only the ECHL but that is good considering the surgery and rehab time.

[GASabresIUFAN]

NHL

Jokiharju - 19gp 2g 5a 7pts

CHL

Cozens - 20gp 15g 15a 30pts

Pekar - 19gp 14g 13a 27pts

AHL

Thompson - 16gp 6g 6a 12pts

Asplund - 13gp 1g 7a 8 pts

Pilut - 11gp 2g 7a 9pts

Murray - 11gp 2g 7a pts - is he a prospect now?

Bryson - 16gp 0g 6a 6pts

Fitzgerald - 11gp 1g 4a 5 pts

Johansson 9gp record 4-2-3 2.40gaa .911save%

Borgen 15gp 0g 2a 2pts

ECHL

UPL - 4gp record 3-1 1.24 .948

NCAA

Johnson 12gp 0g 3a 3pts

Samuelsson 8gp 0g 3a 3pts

Weissbach 12gp 3a 11a 14pts

USHL

Huglen - injured

Portillo - 10gp record 8-1-1 2.17 .917

Europe

Davidsson - SHL 17gp 4g 3a 7pts

Laaksonen - SM-Liiga 14gp 1g 4a 5pts

Rousek - Czk - 19gp 7g 1a 8pts

 

 

 

 

[LGR4GM]

OHL: 23gp, 24g, 20a, 44points or 1.913 points per game but hey it's fine, we needed another defender anyways.

[GASabresIUFAN]

17 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

OHL: 23gp, 24g, 20a, 44points or 1.913 points per game but hey it's fine, we needed another defender anyways.

no such thing as enough D.  Arthur is an amazing offensive player but will he play 2 way hockey at the next level?  

[inkman]

6 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

no such thing as enough D.  

What my wife says when I ask why she comes home from work at midnight.  

[LGR4GM]

6 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

no such thing as enough D.  Arthur is an amazing offensive player but will he play 2 way hockey at the next level?  

Don't need him to. I need him to score. To answer your question, i do think Kaliyev plays a decent 2-way game and has continually worked on it.  Samuelsson I think is a bigger concern of a pick than Johnson because I actually think Johnson will succeed in the NHL. 

[GASabresIUFAN]

1 hour ago, LGR4GM said:

Don't need him to. I need him to score. To answer your question, i do think Kaliyev plays a decent 2-way game and has continually worked on it.  Samuelsson I think is a bigger concern of a pick than Johnson because I actually think Johnson will succeed in the NHL. 

I agree on Samuelsson.  I worry his skating won’t be good enough.  

As to Johnson, I wasn’t surprised he went D after taking Cozens first.  

 

[LGR4GM]

2 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

I agree on Samuelsson.  I worry his skating won’t be good enough.  

As to Johnson, I wasn’t surprised he went D after taking Cozens first.  

 

I was. In the 3 drafts that Botterill has overseen they have drafted in the first 3 rounds the following.

1st round: 2 forwards, 2 defenders

2nd round: 1 forward, 1 defender, 1 goalie

3rd round: 1 defender, 1 goalie

They have taken 4 defenders, 3 forwards, and 2 goalies with their first 3 round picks. Considering you have only 6 defense slots and need 12 forward slots filled it seems a little odd. Considering the depth of forward talent they left on the board in the last 2 years in particular it is a little surprising. 

 

[Taro T]

11 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

I was. In the 3 drafts that Botterill has overseen they have drafted in the first 3 rounds the following.

1st round: 2 forwards, 2 defenders

2nd round: 1 forward, 1 defender, 1 goalie

3rd round: 1 defender, 1 goalie

They have taken 4 defenders, 3 forwards, and 2 goalies with their first 3 round picks. Considering you have only 6 defense slots and need 12 forward slots filled it seems a little odd. Considering the depth of forward talent they left on the board in the last 2 years in particular it is a little surprising. 

 

The flip side of that is, at the NHL level Botterill and crew have brought in, Dahlin (luck, but still they got him), Scandella, Montour, Miller, Jokiharju, Gilmour, and Pilut.  That's not even counting non-NHLers that are prospects that have been brought in.

If you are good at identifying NHL quality defenders, you should be able to flip some of them for positions you aren't good at selecting.  We haven't seen that yet, but theoretically it should happen.

And, the hits they've had limit how much I don't like the Samuelsson drafting.  I'd trust their judgement on D at this point.

Edited November 19, 2019 by Taro T

[LGR4GM]

54 minutes ago, Taro T said:

The flip side of that is, at the NHL level Botterill and crew have brought in, Dahlin (luck, but still they got him), Scandella, Montour, Miller, Jokiharju, Gilmour, and Pilut.  That's not even counting non-NHLers that are prospects that have been brought in.

If you are good at identifying NHL quality defenders, you should be able to flip some of them for positions you aren't good at selecting.  We haven't seen that yet, but theoretically it should happen.

And, the hits they've had limit how much I don't like the Samuelsson drafting.  I'd trust their judgement on D at this point.

You hit on another interesting thing. They have acquired 5 starting NHL defenders under Botterill but only 3 forwards. Dahlin, Montour, Miller, Jokiharju, Pilut are all NHL players even with Pilut in Rochester. 

Maybe they will trade a defender for forward help. We can only hope at this point. 

[dudacek]

3 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

I was. In the 3 drafts that Botterill has overseen they have drafted in the first 3 rounds the following.

1st round: 2 forwards, 2 defenders

2nd round: 1 forward, 1 defender, 1 goalie

3rd round: 1 defender, 1 goalie

They have taken 4 defenders, 3 forwards, and 2 goalies with their first 3 round picks. Considering you have only 6 defense slots and need 12 forward slots filled it seems a little odd. Considering the depth of forward talent they left on the board in the last 2 years in particular it is a little surprising. 

 

Maybe it’s just a false impression, but don’t defenders picked 25-40 have a much better hit rate than forwards taken in the same area?

[Taro T]

2 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

You hit on another interesting thing. They have acquired 5 starting NHL defenders under Botterill but only 3 forwards. Dahlin, Montour, Miller, Jokiharju, Pilut are all NHL players even with Pilut in Rochester. 

Maybe they will trade a defender for forward help. We can only hope at this point.

At some point Botterill has to unless he wants to either send Jokiharju down (not happening) or risk the high likelihood that Gilmour gets snagged for the price of a waiver claim.