Pick #1: D Owen Power (University of Michigan)

[stenbaro]

You don't draft two d man with the number one pick so close together. You have to draft a game changer, that puts the puck in the net. Dman can be developed, they are attainable without using the NUMBER ! PICK two times. The thinking of the Buffalo Sabres front office has and continues to be a comedy show, 

[Pimlach]

1 hour ago, WildCard said:

He should/will go back to college for one more year.

This is awesome

Ryan Miller great job.  

[PerreaultForever]

Back to college for one year. Anything else is dumb. 

[Andrew Amerk]

4 minutes ago, PerreaultForever said:

Back to college for one year. Anything else is dumb. 

People liked him in the IIHF. What else does he have to learn in college, besides some useless courses?

[PerreaultForever]

Just now, Andrew Amerk said:

People liked him in the IIHF. What else does he have to learn in college, besides some useless courses?

Maturity, character, leadership. Let him go back and win a championship. It'll do him good learning to be a winner. 

[IKnowPhysics]

1 minute ago, PerreaultForever said:

Maturity, character, leadership. Let him go back and win a championship. It'll do him good learning to be a winner. 

And the chance to lead a veritable college superteam operating at a superb level under excellent coaching while developing physically, mentally, and technically and -get this- not burning a year off his ELC.

[Andrew Amerk]

50 minutes ago, PerreaultForever said:

Maturity, character, leadership. Let him go back and win a championship. It'll do him good learning to be a winner. 

He can learn all of that playing for the Sabres, just like Risto did. 

[JoeSchmoe]

3 hours ago, Eleven said:

His ceiling is the third pairing

I think you meant his D+1 year floor is third pairing. Good try though.

3 hours ago, Eleven said:

His ceiling is the third pairing

I think you meant his D+1 year floor is third pairing. Good try though.

[JoeSchmoe]

3 hours ago, Eleven said:

I love it when alums acknowledge that this place is special.  And for hockey, in the US, it is.  Great post by 30.

Maybe it's the 6 beers but this video is tears to the eyes good.

I've always been a lukewarm Miller fan, but now I want to join the #30 jersey retirement fan club. Is that the beer too? 🍻

Edited July 24, 2021 by JoeSchmoe

[LGR4GM]

They really need Power to work on his short area quickness because his reach won't be as effective in the NHL. I hope the Sabres tell him to unleash his physical side which I have seen suggestions exists but was tempered in college because he was a freshman. Good news is there is lots of reports that Power is a film and rink guy who works very hard. 

[French Collection]

1 minute ago, LGR4GM said:

They really need Power to work on his short area quickness because his reach won't be as effective in the NHL. I hope the Sabres tell him to unleash his physical side which I have seen suggestions exists but was tempered in college because he was a freshman. Good news is there is lots of reports that Power is a film and rink guy who works very hard. 

I would love him to be Pronger 2.0 but he does not look the type. Adding some grit to his game would be good.

[SwampD]

Are there any “highlight” videos that show him actually playing defense?

I don’t need to see him holding the blue line on a power play. That’s not what makes a good defender.

I want to see what he looks like jamming a guy in the corner and sending the puck behind the net to his D partner.

[dudacek]

LOL, 4 pages on the first overall pick in the entire draft.

Tells you where the fanbase is right now.

[Thorner]

4 minutes ago, dudacek said:

LOL, 4 pages on the first overall pick in the entire draft.

Tells you where the fanbase is right now.

I think it's the draft. You know if it was "Auston Matthews" the thread would be gargantuan. 

It's not bias, it's just a fact - Owen Power, as a prospect at the time of the draft, is a below average first overall selection. 

[dudacek]

Just now, Thorny said:

I think it's the draft. You know if it was "Auston Matthews" the thread would be gargantuan. 

It's not bias, it's just a fact - Owen Power, as a prospect at the time of the draft, is a below average first overall selection. 

You’re right, of course.

But even with that, he is no worse than the 4th, and probably the 3rd most-hyped prospect taken by the Sabres in 35 years. We’re just numb and he’s dull. “Expected” and “pretty good” and “nice enough kid” don’t make for great conversation in our grey and dreary world.

[DarthEbriate]

10 minutes ago, dudacek said:

LOL, 4 pages on the first overall pick in the entire draft.

Tells you where the fanbase is right now.

It appears the unresolved overnight Reinhart to Florida thread stole all of Power's... power.

[Thorner]

2 minutes ago, dudacek said:

You’re right, of course.

But even with that, he is no worse than the 4th, and probably the 3rd most-hyped prospect taken by the Sabres in 35 years. We’re just numb and he’s dull. “Expected” and “pretty good” and “nice enough kid” don’t make for great conversation in our grey and dreary world.

Fair enough and I mostly agree, but I don't think he's even that. 

Obviously Eichel, Reinhart, Dahlin were more hyped. And if you count the hype that immediately followed the pick (relevant when considering the thread in question) I'd argue Mittelstadt and Cozens were also more "hyped". Immediately there was talk that we may have a big steal with Casey and I definitely remember Cozens being touted as worthy of the 3rd overall selection right after we picked him, according to some of the underlying numbers, which, as you know, are in vogue as a discussion point. 

The perception is that Cozens has a higher ceiling than Power, I'd imagine

[JujuFish]

14 hours ago, Eleven said:

Underwhelmed?  Not overwhelmed?  Just whelmed?

Whelmed means overwhelmed. Yay, language.

[Stoner]

12 minutes ago, Thorny said:

Fair enough and I mostly agree, but I don't think he's even that. 

Obviously Eichel, Reinhart, Dahlin were more hyped. And if you count the hype that immediately followed the pick (relevant when considering the thread in question) I'd argue Mittelstadt and Cozens were also more "hyped". Immediately there was talk that we may have a big steal with Casey and I definitely remember Cozens being touted as worthy of the 3rd overall selection right after we picked him, according to some of the underlying numbers, which, as you know, are in vogue as a discussion point. 

The perception is that Cozens has a higher ceiling than Power, I'd imagine

Grigorenko was hype city too.

Just now, JujuFish said:

Whelmed means overwhelmed. Yay, language.

Nice!

[triumph_communes]

3 minutes ago, JujuFish said:

Whelmed means overwhelmed. Yay, language.

In old english

[Rasmus_]

People talk about Brandt Clarke's skating, but Owen Power's skating is not pretty.  I'm just not impressed with this.  

[dudacek]

11 minutes ago, Thorny said:

. 

The perception is that Cozens has a higher ceiling than Power, I'd imagines

Here for sure. Around the league, no way.

Sabres fans pretty quickly adopted “no franchise guys available” and melded it to “if Eichel and Dahlin couldn’t fix it” and shrugged. Around the league Power might not be thought of by general fans in franchise player terms, but he’s still BPA and a likely 1D in their minds.

[LGR4GM]

Quote

The NHL seems to have arrived at University of Michigan defenceman Owen Power as the consensus No. 1 overall talent in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft. We’re not quite there, but Power is easily the best defenceman in the class, and the No. 3-ranked prospect on our board. The way we tier these prospects is every bit as important as their specific place, and Power is firmly in that top-tier of players. There still was a faint call from within our group to keep Power near the top of our board, and we think he has the potential to be the draft’s best player when we look back on this group 10 years later. It’s just that we give him the third-best odds of getting there.

It’s easy to understand the appeal with Power. There just aren’t many 6-foot-6 defencemen who can skate quite like he does. Power integrates linear and non-linear crossovers in space, moves with a good posture, and shows adequate flexion in his ankles, knees, and hips. He’s agile, elusive, and moves about as well as anyone could reasonably hope for from a player with his build. That Power leveraged his skating, among other tools, into a top-four role with Michigan as an 18-year-old is some kind of impressive. According to our partners at InStat Hockey, he played nearly 23 minutes a night, and his team controlled 61 percent of the shot attempts at 5-on-5 in that time. The data that Elite Prospects Dir. of North American Scouting Mitchell Brown pried from Power’s season paints a similarly dominant picture concerning how he generated those sterling two-way results. It’s just not common for 18-year-old freshman defencemen to dominate between the blue lines like this. 3 The low turnover numbers speak to Power’s composure. He doesn’t make many mistakes with the puck, and he has no problem working the short-range passing game to let his teammates do the legwork in transition.

Numbers always need context, though, and this is true of Brown’s microdata set, too. Here’s the thing: Power not turning the puck over, and executing controlled breakouts from the defensive zone should be a regular occurrence. That’s not entirely to his credit though. He’s deferential to a fault, settling almost exclusively for short-range passes, often at the slowest possible pace, almost always from a glide or a standstill. Players with a transition profile like Power’s usually run into speedbumps as they make their way up the ranks to professional hockey. It’s a hurdle for Power to clear, at the very least. He’s much, much more effective as a primary puck-carrier or joining the rush as part of the second wave as his team attacks up ice. He doesn’t hesitate. He has a great knack for finding space. And he has a big enough shot to credibly threaten from range.

Power’s bad habits start to rear their ugly head again as his team has establishes sustained offensive zone pressure. He operates predominantly from a standstill or at a glide and does so with his hands and feet tied together in lockstep. He’s more reactive as a result, and he doesn’t create many opportunities with his feet. Nonetheless, Power’s vision is exceptional, and that gives us some confidence that his in-zone playmaking will hold as he makes it to the NHL. That said, don’t expect him at the top of the defensive scoring leaderboard at any point in his career. Some secondary offence to the tune of 30-plus points at the height of Power’s career seems reasonable enough. Anything else would just be found money. Power may not have it in him to play top-pair minutes in the NHL, but he has all of the tools and craftsmanship to carve out a lengthy, productive career as a No. 3 or 4 defenceman, at the very least.

EP Rinkside's draft guide

https://www.eliteprospects.com/player/504240/owen-power

[Weave]

10 minutes ago, Rasmus_ said:

People talk about Brandt Clarke's skating, but Owen Power's skating is not pretty.  I'm just not impressed with this.  

This runs counter to what little I’ve read about Powers skating.  I think just last night someone posted a report that said something along the lines of “doesn’t just skate well for a big guy.  Skates very well”.

[LGR4GM]

1 minute ago, Weave said:

This runs counter to what little I’ve read about Powers skating.  I think just last night someone posted a report that said something along the lines of “doesn’t just skate well for a big guy.  Skates very well”.

The issue with Power and his skating is that he glides often and he's not necessarily quick.