Tage Thompson: what’s his future?

[Doohicksie]

On 7/28/2020 at 5:58 AM, Zamboni said:

No matter how he develops and progresses, you’ll still get a few fans attempting to be funny with the tired, old, stale and inaccurate giraffe joke.

Stale?  Those jokes never get old!

Edited July 29, 2020 by Doohickie

[sabremike]

8 hours ago, Doohickie said:

Stale?  Those jokes never get old!

[LGR4GM]

[ubkev]

27 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

I knew Asplund was terrible!

[DarthEbriate]

27 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

 

Should we worry about Asplund then?

[Kr632]

On 7/29/2020 at 12:40 PM, Doohickie said:

Stale?  Those jokes never get old!

Whenever I drive by the zoo I yell what’s up Tage to the giraffes 

[dudacek]

Asplund regressed last year during the season he was supposed to take a step forward.

Two years ago, those times I watched him, he looked really smart and played with pace, last year, he was basically a space filler; he wasn’t exactly a liability, but nothing happened when he was on the ice.

I am worried.

Edited July 31, 2020 by dudacek

[Weave]

Tage had 0 secondary assists?  Weird.

Mitts is solidly middle of the team.  Ugh.

And Asplund will not be an NHL player for any more than a cup of coffee.

[MakeSabresGrr8Again]

7 minutes ago, dudacek said:

Asplund regressed last year during the season he was supposed to take a step forward.

Two years ago Those times a watched him, he looked really smart and played with pace, last year, he was basically a space filler; he wasn’t exactly a liability, but nothing happened when he was on the ice.

I am worried.

He was actually on pace in Roch to equal his '18-'19 pt total (not in goals but pts).

His play was not as exciting, but I don't think there's much to worry about. As I'm not a stats guy, did you see something that shows concern? 

His play in Bflo seemed dull and uneventful, but if he is Larry's replacement I would be ok with that. I'm sure @GASabresIUFAN would agree with me that I hoped that would be his bottom side and could play up the roster.

[dudacek]

1 hour ago, MakeSabresGrr8Again said:

He was actually on pace in Roch to equal his '18-'19 pt total (not in goals but pts).

His play was not as exciting, but I don't think there's much to worry about. As I'm not a stats guy, did you see something that shows concern? 

His play in Bflo seemed dull and uneventful, but if he is Larry's replacement I would be ok with that. I'm sure @GASabresIUFAN would agree with me that I hoped that would be his bottom side and could play up the roster.

I’m not a fancy stats guy, but those numbers upthread reflect what my eyes saw: he was working hard, but he just didn’t impact play. No steals, no faceoffs wins, no board battles won, no smart back checks, no skill plays, no anticipation. 

I saw signs of Mike Peca (minus the hits) in Asplund’s game as a prospect. He just read the play real well, recovered pucks, broke up attacks and just seemed to be on the right side of the play all the time. And he was real good passer. Last year he was behind the play, like the NHL game was too fast for him.

Development is never a straight line, but I had thought he was a safe bet to be a useful 3C. Didn’t see it last year in Buffalo, and he didn’t appear to rebound when he went down.

you’ve got to remember with his Rochester numbers that he paced for less than 20 points in the first half of 18-19 and was nearly a point a game in the back half. There was a ton of growth and nice trend to his game that disappeared last year.

Edited July 31, 2020 by dudacek

[MakeSabresGrr8Again]

12 minutes ago, dudacek said:

I’m not a fancy stats guy, but those numbers upthread reflect what my eyes saw: he was working hard, but he just didn’t impact play. No steals, no faceoffs wins, no board battles won, no smart back checks, no skill plays, no anticipation. 

I saw signs of Mike Peca (minus the hits) in Asplund’s game as a prospect. He just read the play real well, recovered pucks, broke up attacks and just seemed to be on the right side of the play all the time. And he was real good passer. Last year he was behind the play, like the NHL game was too fast for him.

Development is never a straight line, but I had thought he was a safe bet to be a useful 3C. Didn’t see it last year in Buffalo, and he didn’t appear to rebound when he went down.

you’ve got to remember with his Rochester numbers that he paced for less than 20 points in the first half of 18-19 and was nearly a point a game in the back half. There was a ton of growth and nice trend to his game that disappeared last year.

Hopefully he'll come back around. Maybe it was just an off year for him like many players experience at a young age.

[dudacek]

Further to the above: you have to look at the way guys like Asplund, Mittelstadt, Thompson, Davidsson, Lukkonnen (although the hip surgery was certainly a factor here) and Alex Nylander trended over the past two years. You can add in the free agent signings like Smith, Oglevie, Pilut etc.

There was a lot of capital expended there with less than stellar results.

I believe that is what Adams Is talking about when he talks about getting his scouting and development squads on the same page with each other and with the NHL program. It’s not just about identifying talent, it’s about identifying talent that can excel in the type of game the Sabres want to play, and then developing that talent to do the same.

Nylander and Asplund and Mittelstadt and Thompson weren’t overdrafted. They have talent. They’ve looked good in other places. But that talent hasn’t proved useful to the NHL team yet. Why?

The more I think about it, the happier I am that we wiped out our hockey staff. Hopefully the new regime can be better.

Edited July 31, 2020 by dudacek

[MakeSabresGrr8Again]

18 minutes ago, dudacek said:

Further to the above: you have to look at the way guys like Asplund, Mittelstadt, Thompson, Davidsson, Lukkonnen (although the hip surgery was certainly a factor here) and Alex Nylander trended last year. You can add in the free agent signings like Smith, Oglevie, Pilut etc.

There was a lot of capital expended there with less than stellar results.

I believe that is what Adams Is talking about when he talks about getting his scouting and development squads on the same page with each other and with the NHL program. It’s not just about identifying talent, it’s about identifying talent that can excel in the type of game the Sabres want to play, and then developing that talent to do the same.

Nylander and Asplund and Mittelstadt and Thompson weren’t overdrafted. They have talent. They’ve looked good in other places. But that talent hasn’t proved useful to the NHL team yet. Why?

The more I think about it, the happier I am that we wiped out our hockey staff. Hopefully the new regime can be better.

Well, could have been too much change in the roster that stunted the development this year? Maybe they just weren't able to mesh well. You also had players like Bryson and Fitz and goalies that changed the roster quite a bit. This year might be worse with the staff changes ( or could be better...who knows).

But anyhoo, thanks for your input. I always get caught up in the hype leading into a new year, will try again not to but I'm not counting on it working. Love hockey too much.

[Thorner]

3 hours ago, Weave said:

Tage had 0 secondary assists?  Weird.

Mitts is solidly middle of the team.  Ugh.

And Asplund will not be an NHL player for any more than a cup of coffee.

Chart does look like that but I can’t see that being the case. 

2 hours ago, MakeSabresGrr8Again said:

He was actually on pace in Roch to equal his '18-'19 pt total (not in goals but pts).

His play was not as exciting, but I don't think there's much to worry about. As I'm not a stats guy, did you see something that shows concern? 

His play in Bflo seemed dull and uneventful, but if he is Larry's replacement I would be ok with that. I'm sure @GASabresIUFAN would agree with me that I hoped that would be his bottom side and could play up the roster.

I’d be ecstatic. Larsson is quite a valuable player - he was the second best play driver on our roster last season by the numbers. 

[Thorner]

1 hour ago, dudacek said:

Further to the above: you have to look at the way guys like Asplund, Mittelstadt, Thompson, Davidsson, Lukkonnen (although the hip surgery was certainly a factor here) and Alex Nylander trended over the past two years. You can add in the free agent signings like Smith, Oglevie, Pilut etc.

There was a lot of capital expended there with less than stellar results.

I believe that is what Adams Is talking about when he talks about getting his scouting and development squads on the same page with each other and with the NHL program. It’s not just about identifying talent, it’s about identifying talent that can excel in the type of game the Sabres want to play, and then developing that talent to do the same.

Nylander and Asplund and Mittelstadt and Thompson weren’t overdrafted. They have talent. They’ve looked good in other places. But that talent hasn’t proved useful to the NHL team yet. Why?

The more I think about it, the happier I am that we wiped out our hockey staff. Hopefully the new regime can be better.

Casey maybe wasn’t over drafted relative to the talent available on the board, true, but all of his predraft and post draft numbers scream  NOT an 8th overall talent, generally. As much as a craps shoot as that pick can be. 

His numbers have always projected more like third-scoring line forward #’s, but this was often ignored for other factors. I’m not saying 2nd line W is out of reach, but I don’t consider it a good projection.

Edited July 31, 2020 by Thorny

[MakeSabresGrr8Again]

19 minutes ago, Thorny said:

Chart does look like that but I can’t see that being the case. 

I’d be ecstatic. Larsson is quite a valuable player - he was the second best play driver on our roster last season by the numbers. 

There is no way I'll argue against Larry's value to this team.  His value is in the fact we don't have a middle 6 roster. If we get that middle 6 taken care of I would hope we have players that can not only drive play but also "finish" those plays. He won't get 2nd line minutes either. His value will still be in his proper role.

[Thorner]

11 minutes ago, MakeSabresGrr8Again said:

There is no way I'll argue against Larry's value to this team.  His value is in the fact we don't have a middle 6 roster. If we get that middle 6 taken care of I would hope we have players that can not only drive play but also "finish" those plays. He won't get 2nd line minutes either. His value will still be in his proper role.

Ya, it’s a good point. 

I’d love to see Larsson go to work on this team with actual centres in front of him aside from Eichel.

[LGR4GM]

Hopefully Tage is fully healed and went to the Cozens school of getting ripped. 

[Drag0nDan]

On 7/31/2020 at 10:38 AM, Weave said:

Tage had 0 secondary assists?  Weird.

Mitts is solidly middle of the team.  Ugh.

And Asplund will not be an NHL player for any more than a cup of coffee.

Considering it doesn't include zone starts 5on5 or any of the other components of hockey its hard to say with asplund.  It's not a good look to be near the bottom of that list, but there's a lot of reasons for it to be that case.