Casey Mittlestadt has been sent to Amerks

[MakeSabresGrr8Again]

2 hours ago, inkman said:

The 2017 draft looks abysmal after the top 5.  I'm still trying to figure out how it was determined Casey would be worth a 1st.  I know he was rated highly.  His High School stats, the only hockey he played with recorded data to that point, wasn't eye popping.  Did scouts go to his games and like the way he skated and moved the puck?  I'm sure there is an entire world in hockey land inkman is unaware of and those in the know get intel on these guys.  Just wondering what it was...

Never mind.  Google is my friend.  Man do they wax poetic on him.

https://www.eliteprospects.com/player/300831/casey-mittelstadt

That does say he has what it takes to make it at the next level....what level is after H.S.?

[LGR4GM]

Ushl

Ncaa

AHL

NHL 

[woods-racer]

Bump.

 

Another weekend of AHL games.

 

Please tell me the young man looks to be finding some confidence.

[GASabresIUFAN]

4 hours ago, woods-racer said:

Bump.

 

Another weekend of AHL games.

 

Please tell me the young man looks to be finding some confidence.

11 points in his last 14 games.  

[pi2000]

Just now, GASabresIUFAN said:

11 points in his last 14 games.  

Do.

Better.

[kas23]

6 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

11 points in his last 14 games.  

Good. He should continue that production for the rest of the Amerks season. No reason for him to come up. 

[Taro T]

3 minutes ago, kas23 said:

Good. He should continue that production for the rest of the Amerks season. No reason for him to come up. 

Eh, see how he's doing at the end of the month and make a decision then.

[Curt]

10 hours ago, Taro T said:

Eh, see how he's doing at the end of the month and make a decision then.

Disagree.  We saw him struggle in Buffalo for the majority of a year and a half.  Two month in Rochester is not going to magically fix him.  At least I doubt it.

Reevaluate at training camp 2020-21.

[Taro T]

Just now, Curt said:

Disagree.  We saw him struggle in Buffalo for the majority of a year and a half.  Two month in Rochester is not going to magically fix him.  At least I doubt it.

Reevaluate at training camp 2020-21.

Where did you read "we must call him up in a month?"

The statement was "see how he's doing at the end of the month and make a decision then." 

Nope, nope, that's completely unreasonable.  We know he's still going to suck, so we don't have to even think about evaluating him. Well, at least we think he's going to suck, so he definitely will and a reevaluation is pointless.  <_< 

[Torpedo Forecheck]

He's making strides since his first few games, he needed to regain his confidence. Let's see where he is ideally in about month or 6 weeks. If we are out of it and he's made strides playing away from the puck, what is there to lose? Throw him a bone and keep him going into the offseason. He can play in the AHL playoffs as well. 'Cause he ain't gonna be playing for the Sabres in the playoffs.

[LGR4GM]

22 minutes ago, Torpedo Forecheck said:

He's making strides since his first few games, he needed to regain his confidence. Let's see where he is ideally in about month or 6 weeks. If we are out of it and he's made strides playing away from the puck, what is there to lose? Throw him a bone and keep him going into the offseason. He can play in the AHL playoffs as well. 'Cause he ain't gonna be playing for the Sabres in the playoffs.

Leave him in Rochester all year. He should not even sniff the NHL again this season. 

[Huckleberry]

Montreal send Kotkaniemi down for the same reason.    Its good to have Casey find his game and maybe come back next year or in two years even.

[Curt]

1 hour ago, Taro T said:

Where did you read "we must call him up in a month?"

The statement was "see how he's doing at the end of the month and make a decision then." 

Nope, nope, that's completely unreasonable.  We know he's still going to suck, so we don't have to even think about evaluating him. Well, at least we think he's going to suck, so he definitely will and a reevaluation is pointless.  <_< 

Sorry.  I just think he needs longer.  Take it slow with him.  Let him stay there.  Let him go to the playoffs with that team.  Let him deal with that pressure.

Even if he is dominant in Rochester at the end of the month.

[Taro T]

16 minutes ago, Curt said:

Sorry.  I just think he needs longer.  Take it slow with him.  Let him stay there.  Let him go to the playoffs with that team.  Let him deal with that pressure.

Even if he is dominant in Rochester at the end of the month.

He will definitely be on Ra-cha-cha's playoff roster.

And it may very well make sense for him to stay on the farm the full season.  But it seems, IMHO, foolish to make that decision prior to seeing what has actually happened over the next 4 weeks. 

Creating a plan and then sticking with it regardless of how the environment has changed is how we end up watching not just Briere and Drury walk but Zubrus as well.  It's also how we get to watch a GM sit on his hands as a season in which the Sabres were in 1st place in the entire league 2 months in is flushed down the toilet because Rodrigues was the best option at 2C and it took the coach about a month to even figure that much out.  And the GM refused to upgrade that.

Again, it may be the right thing to keep him in Ra-cha-cha until training camp rolls around.  But really don't see why we should make that determination today.

Edited February 3, 2020 by Taro T

[LGR4GM]

4 hours ago, Taro T said:

He will definitely be on Ra-cha-cha's playoff roster.

And it may very well make sense for him to stay on the farm the full season.  But it seems, IMHO, foolish to make that decision prior to seeing what has actually happened over the next 4 weeks. 

Creating a plan and then sticking with it regardless of how the environment has changed is how we end up watching not just Briere and Drury walk but Zubrus as well.  It's also how we get to watch a GM sit on his hands as a season in which the Sabres were in 1st place in the entire league 2 months in is flushed down the toilet because Rodrigues was the best option at 2C and it took the coach about a month to even figure that much out.  And the GM refused to upgrade that.

Again, it may be the right thing to keep him in Ra-cha-cha until training camp rolls around.  But really don't see why we should make that determination today.

4 week from now there won't be a reason to bring up Mitts so you might as well let him continue to refine his game in the AHL. 

[Taro T]

1 hour ago, LGR4GM said:

4 week from now there won't be a reason to bring up Mitts so you might as well let him continue to refine his game in the AHL. 

That very well could be true.  But there is no ####ing harm in reevaluating the situation at that time.

He still has a tendency to try to skate through guys that he's clearly faster / more skilled than, which is pretty much THE habit they need him to break.  Considering there's far more of those guys in the AHL than in the NHL, depending upon how he's progressed and what the big club did at the trade deadline, it MIGHT make sense to review his status at that time.

It really is perplexing how many people here take issue with what should be a commonsense suggestion: let's see the Sabres evaluate his performance through February at the end of February rather than at the beginning of February.

No one has suggested that he will necessarily get brought back up, nor has it been suggested that if his play is still lacking he can't/ won't get sent back.  In fact, it has been suggested that he WILL be on Ra-cha-cha's playoff roster (barring a miraculous run from the Sabres, and even then he still could get sent back assuming he was called up), so should he get called up, theexpectation is that he will go back down again.

[triumph_communes]

8 hours ago, Huckleberry said:

Montreal send Kotkaniemi down for the same reason.    Its good to have Casey find his game and maybe come back next year or in two years even.

Isn’t that the guy HFboards was fawning over nonstop?  Oops, maybe they don’t know everything 

[LGR4GM]

If he was so good he'd be dominating the AHL and he's not. Leave him there. 

[Taro T]

14 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

If he was so good he'd be dominating the AHL and he's not. Leave him there. 

Again, it could very well make sense to do so at the end of the month.  It makes sense to keep him on the farm at present.  But it is downright foolish to make that decision to keep him down for the full season at this time.

[Curt]

1 hour ago, Taro T said:

Again, it could very well make sense to do so at the end of the month.  It makes sense to keep him on the farm at present.  But it is downright foolish to make that decision to keep him down for the full season at this time.

Leave him down there.  We are sick of seeing his pudgy face.  End of discussion.  ?

[Torpedo Forecheck]

1 hour ago, Taro T said:

Again, it could very well make sense to do so at the end of the month.  It makes sense to keep him on the farm at present.  But it is downright foolish to make that decision to keep him down for the full season at this time.

Bottom line is It is an ongoing evaluation. If they think they can use him with the big club and it is in the best interest of Casey and the Sabres they will bring him up. He's taking positive steps.

[bob_sauve28]

From today’s News article: 

 

"The biggest thing for me down here is now that I’m playing more, I’m a lot more patient," Mittelstadt said. "When I was in Buff, I’m sure I forced things more with fewer minutes and trying to do more than what’s given. I’m learning to be more patient. … Sometimes live to fight another day.

"When you’re playing a lot and you make one mistake it’s not a huge deal. You go back out and kind of make up for that. Obviously playing less minutes in Buffalo, if you make a mistake you’re usually not going back out for a while. That’s been new. It’s been different for me. And the more you play the better you’re going to get and less mistakes happen."

Mittelstadt has logged more than 20 minutes in games with the Amerks, including time on the power play and penalty kill. The latter is helping him improve defensively at even strength -- Rochester used a similar plan with Victor Olofsson and Tage Thompson -- which is earning Taylor's trust.

Mittelstadt took defensive-zone faceoffs with the opposing net empty in the final moments of Rochester's 4-2 win Wednesday in Cleveland.

The improvement is part of a thorough plan to help Mittelstadt return to Buffalo.

The Amerks' coaching staff works with its forwards after practice on nuances such as winning battles along the wall, an area in which Mittelstadt needed to improve. Video study has also taught him the value of patience.

Rather than trying to stick-handle around defenders when there isn't an open passing lane -- a common occurrence during his 114 games in the NHL -- Mittelstadt is learning to use his shot to create chances in front of the net. He has 19 shots over his last seven games, compared to 10 in seven games from Jan. 4-19.

"He’s got the vision to make plays and it’s great to see him generate off of shots," Rochester assistant coach Toby Petersen said. "It’s something we’re trying to point out to him a lot through video – how much shooting the puck can break up a good defense. Guys will have good structure and they’ll have good positions, but all of a sudden the puck gets to the net and you see that’s when mistakes are made. … It’s good to see him start to shoot the puck and play the sort of good, selfish hockey we’re looking for."

[bob_sauve28]

Also: 

The acclimation period is over. Mittelstadt has three goals and four assists in his past seven games entering Saturday's game against the Toronto Marlies. He scored a goal in three consecutive games from Jan. 3-8, and he had two points in Rochester's 5-2 loss to Syracuse on Friday.

[woods-racer]

It's happening 2 years later than it should, but it's being done right.

 

You can blame Botterill for trying to rush his development by being on the big club, which is justified.

But, Botterill also knew he made a mistake and did the right thing by sending him to Rochester. I'm willing to bet more times than not a GM in the same situation trades a  player in the same situation.

The other major point in all this, Botterill has assembled a decent coaching staff in Rochester it appears. There is very little success on the big club unless the players coming up know how to play. When is the last time we had a GM we felt had this going for him?

[LGR4GM]

15 minutes ago, woods-racer said:

It's happening 2 years later than it should, but it's being done right.

 

You can blame Botterill for trying to rush his development by being on the big club, which is justified.

But, Botterill also knew he made a mistake and did the right thing by sending him to Rochester. I'm willing to bet more times than not a GM in the same situation trades a  player in the same situation.

The other major point in all this, Botterill has assembled a decent coaching staff in Rochester it appears. There is very little success on the big club unless the players coming up know how to play. When is the last time we had a GM we felt had this going for him?

You're hitting on something that gives me just a hair of faith in botterill. Rochester is finally what it should be. I think that's a reason Olofsson has had the success he did. I just hope Mitts gets there too because if you have Mitts and Cozens as top 6 players in 2 years, so many problems solve themselves.