Sabres top 3, after Eichel

[LGR4GM]

Who are the Sabres top 3 players, right now, after Eichel? How does this compare to other teams? 

[Thorner]

Current performance or asset value 

[North Buffalo]

A developing story, still to be determined... Eichel, Dahlin and then maybe Ullmark and Sam.  Cozens and Mitts coming in closely behind and gaining, but that may be a year or two.  After that who knows... D is a work in progress... There are some pieces but they are scattered and still a working in progress.

[Thorner]

14 minutes ago, North Buffalo said:

A developing story, still to be determined... Eichel, Dahlin and then maybe Ullmark and Sam.  Cozens and Mitts coming in closely behind and gaining, but that may be a year or two.  After that who knows... D is a work in progress... There are some pieces but they are scattered and still a working in progress.

Agree fully. Current performance after Eichel:

Reinhart

Dahlin

Ullmark 

 

Asset Value after Eichel:

Dahlin 

Cozens 

Reinhart 

Edited April 26, 2021 by Thorny

[LGR4GM]

1 hour ago, Thorny said:

Current performance or asset value 

Current 3

and

Your predicted top 3 in April 2022. 

[Taro T]

Current:

Reinhart

Ullmark

Dahlin

Could be persuaded to flip Reinhart & Ullmark, and if this were asked when McCabe was still in the lineup would've gone with Ristolainen at 3.

Heading into '22-'23

Reinhart

Dahlin

Cozens

Could see a case being made that Dahlin will have supplanted Reinhart by then (presuming Sam is still a Sabre) & it's possible Mittelstadt could take that 3rd spot but am expecting Dylan to step up.  It'd be good for the Sabres if Dahlin is better than Sam by then because it'll mean he's truly turning into the player we'd hoped he'd become when he was drafted.

[Norcal]

Dahlin Cozens Reinhart 

[Thorner]

Most agreeable thread ever 

[Stoner]

10 minutes ago, Thorny said:

Most agreeable thread ever 

Because everyone knows deep down that after Jack, there are just some good prospects and a good NHL vet or two?

[Thorner]

1 minute ago, PASabreFan said:

Because everyone knows deep down that after Jack, there are just some good prospects and a good NHL vet or two?

Thank you for this response and I’m glad to see the bat signal still works. 

- - - 

I don’t view Dahlin and Cozens as prospective NHLers anymore, being quite impressed by their contributions as professionals thus far. Their ultimate endgame is still up for debate, but when I see the foretelling of great performance followed by good performance combined with a young age, I see high asset value. 

Agree on the vets more less, but Reinhart to me is beyond “good”. “Good first liner” - that fits, to me. Him being in a team’s top 4 current players? That’s ok. But I have him listed 2nd overall including Eichel, and I think for a Reinhart level talent that’s too high. 

[inkman]

7 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

Because everyone knows deep down that after Jack, there are just some good prospects and a good NHL vet or two?

A Stanley Cup team this does not make?

[Stoner]

1 minute ago, inkman said:

A Stanley Cup team this does not make?

Almost certainly not. (Spock's nephew SDS will tell us only 1/32 teams will win the Cup next season.)

And to answer Thorny: Although we are fans, this is the place for Spock-like analysis. Our Top 3 isn't good enough. Not yet, anyway. And it's probably likely those can't be the top three moving forward into contender status.

[Thorner]

5 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

Almost certainly not. (Spock's nephew SDS will tell us only 1/32 teams will win the Cup next season.)

And to answer Thorny: Although we are fans, this is the place for Spock-like analysis. Our Top 3 isn't good enough. Not yet, anyway. And it's probably likely those can't be the top three moving forward into contender status.

I agree on that. We’d need Cozens to surpass Reinhart and by no small margin 

I do think Eichel and say, Jeff Carter and say, I dunno, Alex Pietrangelo is a top 3 that’s in the Conversation. But it still depends so much on how the rest of the roster fills out 

Edited April 26, 2021 by Thorny

[Stoner]

A goalie has to be in the top three, innit? Or maybe nottit?

[Thorner]

Damn should have said Doughty lol 

Kopitar/Carter/Doughty 

And yes, think of how many other players they had contributing. It just shows - we may have the top guys, but it’s also/largely about the REST 

3 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

A goalie has to be in the top three, innit? Or maybe nottit?

Exactly

Maybe not top 3 but up there 

Edited April 26, 2021 by Thorny

[bob_sauve28]

Should be top three after Dahlin...:) 

 

But have not seen Jack at top of his game in a long time 

[dudacek]

1 minute ago, PASabreFan said:

Almost certainly not. (Spock's nephew SDS will tell us only 1/32 teams will win the Cup next season.)

And to answer Thorny: Although we are fans, this is the place for Spock-like analysis. Our Top 3 isn't good enough. Not yet, anyway. And it's probably likely those can't be the top three moving forward into contender status.

Right now there is no doubt Sam is our #2 player and a team can't contend with Sam at #2. Just like a team can't contend with Risto as our #1 D.

We can contend with Dahlin as our undisputed #1D and pushing Jack for our #1 player spot, and with Cozens (and/or possibly Mitts) legitimately in the conversation with Sam for #3. Rasmus seems back on track for that. The other two have a long way to go.

[dudacek]

4 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

A goalie has to be in the top three, innit? Or maybe nottit?

I was wondering about that too. They tend to be off to the side in these conversations — some teams ride a stud goalie, others just have a serviceable piece that gets the job done.

One of the reasons I have been pushing to re-sign Linus so hard is that I am one of the few around here who seems to think he can be a core part.

[Thorner]

Dustin Brown led the 2012 Kings Cup team in scoring (tie with Kopitar). Mike Richards. Jonathan Quick. Justin Williams. Alec Martinez - we need to surround our top guys with talent to allow the top guys to flourish 

Edited April 26, 2021 by Thorny

[Thorner]

9 minutes ago, bob_sauve28 said:

Should be top three after Dahlin...:) 

 

But have not seen Jack at top of his game in a long time 

29 games (21 here, 8 to end last season) 

The talk before those 29 games was “will Eichel get the third Hart nomination spot?” 

Edited April 26, 2021 by Thorny

[Scottysabres]

I cannot answer the question, it would be construed as "recency bias"...... 😛

[dudacek]

3 minutes ago, dudacek said:

Right now there is no doubt Sam is our #2 player and a team can't contend with Sam at #2. Just like a team can't contend with Risto as our #1 D.

We can contend with Dahlin as our undisputed #1D and pushing Jack for our #1 player spot, and with Cozens (and/or possibly Mitts) legitimately in the conversation with Sam for #3. Rasmus seems back on track for that. The other two have a long way to go.

I will say that the above is based largely on watching Sam as a right wing.

The Sam Reinhart that has 9 goals and 5 assists in the past 15 games, putting up a -2 with (the corpse of) Jeff Skinner and Victor (not good 5-on-5) Olofsson while learning how to play a position he hasn't played in years, and in a first line role?

That Sam is pretty ***** good. (Just re-sign this guy. Please.)

[Thorner]

8 minutes ago, dudacek said:

I was wondering about that too. They tend to be off to the side in these conversations — some teams ride a stud goalie, others just have a serviceable piece that gets the job done.

One of the reasons I have been pushing to re-sign Linus so hard is that I am one of the few around here who seems to think he can be a core part.

And Quick won the Smythe

Just now, dudacek said:

I will say that the above is based largely on watching Sam as a right wing.

The Sam Reinhart that has 9 goals and 5 assists in the past 15 games, putting up a -2 with (the corpse of) Jeff Skinner and Victor (not good 5-on-5) Olofsson while learning how to play a position he hasn't played in years, and in a first line role?

That Sam is pretty ***** good. (Just re-sign this guy. Please.)

Agree on Sam but Skinner has been decent lately 

[Gabrielor]

3 hours ago, Thorny said:

Agree fully. Current performance after Eichel:

Reinhart

Dahlin

Ullmark 

 

Asset Value after Eichel:

Dahlin 

Cozens 

Reinhart 

This is definitely the correct answer. Pretty cut and dry.

 

It is however, no longer death valley behind them, since Mittelstadt, Jokiharju, etc. have returned to the positive.

[#freejame]

Top fifteen teams in league by standing (top four by points):

Stone, Pacioretty, Theodore, Marchessault

Aho, Trocheck, Hamilton, Necas

Crosby, Guentzel, Rust, Letang

Huberdeau, Barkov, Verhaeghe, Hornqvist

MacKinnon, Rantanen, Landeskog, Makar

Hedman, Point, Palat, Stamkos

Backstrom, Ovechkin, Carlson, Oshie

Kaprizov, Fiala, Zuccarello, Greenway

Marner, Matthews, Tavares, Nylander

Barzal, Eberle, Pageau, Bailey

Marchand, Bergeron, Pastrnak, Krejci

Scheifele, Ehlers, Connors, Copp

McDavid, Draisaitl, Barrie, Nugent-Hopkins

Panarin, Fox, Zibanejad, Buchnevich

Forsberg, Josi, Arvidsson, Granlund

Sabres top four:

Reinhart, Olofsson, Dahlin, Eichel

 

All things considered, I would swap with Tampa, Toronto, Colorado, and Edmonton and that's it.