Alex Tuch, a key piece in the Eichel trade

[Norcal]

Can't wait to watch Tuch in Blue and Gold. I've watched those 5 plays a bunch of times. He brings something much needed around here. 

[Taro T]

8 minutes ago, JohnC said:

I agree with you that the Peterka/Krebs/ Quinn line shouldn't be rushed beyond their development stage. My point is that these three players and the other players that I mentioned are arguably at the minimum second line players. These young players with potential are in the system and are not far off to moving up the ranks not only to the next level but also to higher lines. I wouldn't be surprised that the trio I mentioned will be on the Sabre roster next year, and if not, shortly thereafter. The timeframe that I think is reasonable is two years. 

With all due respect, the "minimum," aka the floor, for these 3 are bottom 6ers.

They likely each will end up solid 2nd liners & their ceilings are 1st line.  But each & every one of them MIGHT fall short of being 2nd liners.  (And, like your optimism & wouldn't bet against any of them reaching their base midpoint projection.  But each could fall short of what he appears to be headed for.)

[LGR4GM]

7 hours ago, Taro T said:

With all due respect, the "minimum," aka the floor, for these 3 are bottom 6ers.

They likely each will end up solid 2nd liners & their ceilings are 1st line.  But each & every one of them MIGHT fall short of being 2nd liners.  (And, like your optimism & wouldn't bet against any of them reaching their base midpoint projection.  But each could fall short of what he appears to be headed for.)

Hate to say it but you're right. It's why we need to effectively use those 3 firsts we have this year and keep building in failsafes

[Curt]

9 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

Hate to say it but you're right. It's why we need to effectively use those 3 firsts we have this year and keep building in failsafes

I’m on this train too.  Same for 2023 picks.  They have 8 picks in the 1st/2nd over the next two drafts.  Use them all.

I think I actually believe in their drafting, amazing.

Edited November 12, 2021 by Curt

[JohnC]

10 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

Hate to say it but you're right. It's why we need to effectively use those 3 firsts we have this year and keep building in failsafes

 

1 hour ago, Curt said:

I’m on this train too.  Same for 2023 picks.  They have 8 picks in the 1st/2nd over the next two drafts.  Use them all.

I think I actually believe in their drafting, amazing.

Odds are more likely than not that these three players (Peterka-Krebs-Quinn) will be on the Sabre roster next year. It wouldn't be surprising that at the end of the season this troika or at least one or two of them will be given a stint with the big club, if not sooner due to injuries. I'm not suggesting that they any of them are now ready for top two line responsibilities. If you add Samuelsson and Power to this young mix you can see the roster significantly reshaped in the next year or two.  

[Curt]

14 minutes ago, JohnC said:

 

Odds are more likely than not that these three players (Peterka-Krebs-Quinn) will be on the Sabre roster next year. It wouldn't be surprising that at the end of the season this troika or at least one or two of them will be given a stint with the big club, if not sooner due to injuries. I'm not suggesting that they any of them are now ready for top two line responsibilities. If you add Samuelsson and Power to this young mix you can see the roster significantly reshaped in the next year or two.  

I think it’s extremely uncertain as to whether those players will become top-6 players in the future.  They are promising, yes, but things like this are far from certain, and you just can’t count on them reaching that level of play.

I feel that the Sabres need to take a lot more swings at drafting impact players.

[JohnC]

15 minutes ago, Curt said:

I think it’s extremely uncertain as to whether those players will become top-6 players in the future.  They are promising, yes, but things like this are far from certain, and you just can’t count on them reaching that level of play.

I feel that the Sabres need to take a lot more swings at drafting impact players.

With respect to the highlighted commented of yours I totally agree. The organization has recently added a bulk of draft assets to its bucket. As you suggest are they going to make good use of them?  The more assets you have the more room there is for error. Most draft analysts thought our last draft was solid. Will they make good use of their multiple high picks in the next draft? We shall see. 

[dudacek]

59 minutes ago, JohnC said:

With respect to the highlighted commented of yours I totally agree. The organization has recently added a bulk of draft assets to its bucket. As you suggest are they going to make good use of them?  The more assets you have the more room there is for error. Most draft analysts thought our last draft was solid. Will they make good use of their multiple high picks in the next draft? We shall see. 

6 firsts and 6 2nds over a 3-year period is pretty rare territory, especially considering three of those picks are top 10.

You’ve essentially doubled your chances of finding impact players.

[dudacek]

Of course the 5 and 7 we had from 2012 to 2014 didn’t accomplish much at all

Five busts, 6 middling NHLers and Sam Reinhart as the crown jewel .

Gotta make those picks count.

[JohnC]

3 hours ago, dudacek said:

6 firsts and 6 2nds over a 3-year period is pretty rare territory, especially considering three of those picks are top 10.

You’ve essentially doubled your chances of finding impact players.

Adams traded a pick to move up to get Peterka. It appears/hopeful that maneuver added a potential second-line caliber forward to the system. With the number of second and third round picks we have in the next couple of drafts maybe that maneuver will work again to add another high quality prospect or two into the farm system. 

[woods-racer]

On 11/12/2021 at 11:19 AM, dudacek said:

Of course the 5 and 7 we had from 2012 to 2014 didn’t accomplish much at all

Five busts, 6 middling NHLers and Sam Reinhart as the crown jewel .

Gotta make those picks count.

I believe that this a much better run F/O than we have seen in years going back past Reiger. I'm not down on Reiger at all considering the little bit of help he had to work with and thought he did very well. But as a whole this F/O should be our best since????

It may be considered a back handed complement to some (considering past performances) but these guys came in with a big hole to climb out of player/coaching/mentality wise and seem to have righted the ship. 

[Doohicksie]

1 hour ago, woods-racer said:

and seem to have righted the ship. 

Let's not put that in the past tense yet.  Still a work in progress.  But the slope is in the right direction.

[LabattBlue]

On 11/5/2021 at 12:56 AM, dudacek said:

Tuch has 71 career PIMs and, as near as I can find, 2 career fights. He 301 hits in 249 Vegas games.

He’s no Foligno

This.  I’ve seen Vegas games many times over the last 3 years and never once did this comparison come to mind. 
 

That being said, I’m excited to see Tuch become a key part of the new core. 

Edited November 15, 2021 by LabattBlue

[pi2000]

Imagine, if you will, Buffalo finds themselves as buyers at the deadline... with the opportunity to break a 10 year playoff drought hanging in the balance.

Are any of these draft picks in play?

[woods-racer]

5 minutes ago, pi2000 said:

Imagine, if you will, Buffalo finds themselves as buyers at the deadline... with the opportunity to break a 10 year playoff drought hanging in the balance.

Are any of these draft picks in play?

Never say never.

Do their homework like they did with the Eichel trade and good things will happen.

[DarthEbriate]

1 hour ago, pi2000 said:

Imagine, if you will, Buffalo finds themselves as buyers at the deadline... with the opportunity to break a 10 year playoff drought hanging in the balance.

Are any of these draft picks in play?

You'd have to treat it just like you would if you're in a normal "playoff-contender" season, but tend toward the conservative because this franchise still needs to re-stock all the talent it can get. The depth still isn't there.

So -- let's say we're in an awesome spot, sitting 3rd in the division and statistically/historically we're nearly guaranteed to get in: then yes. Give up a 2nd for a vet rental who is a proven playoff contributor on a junk team. A 1st is only in play if it's a good player with term (1 more year). Like usual.

If you're below the cusp, I say no. Trust the kids. Maybe look for a really cheap rental (4 round or lower), but let them run with it. Then stockpile, stockpile, stockpile in what should be a really deep draft.

We're playing the long game.

Edited November 16, 2021 by DarthEbriate

[LGR4GM]

1 hour ago, pi2000 said:

Imagine, if you will, Buffalo finds themselves as buyers at the deadline... with the opportunity to break a 10 year playoff drought hanging in the balance.

Are any of these draft picks in play?

It should have no impact on your plan. Nothing in the first or second round should be in play and you should still sell ufas if you get good offers. 

If their plan is to simply make the playoffs, they've already failed. 

Edited November 16, 2021 by LGR4GM

[Doohicksie]

1 hour ago, pi2000 said:

Imagine, if you will, Buffalo finds themselves as buyers at the deadline... with the opportunity to break a 10 year playoff drought hanging in the balance.

Are any of these draft picks in play?

I don't recall you ever considering such an optimistic scenario with this team.  It's kind of nice.

[DarthEbriate]

2 minutes ago, The Ghost of Yuri said:

I don't recall you ever considering such an optimistic scenario with this team.  It's kind of nice.

Once @pi2000 generations generated immense optimism for the Old Sabres. Before the dark times, before the Tank.

[Curt]

6 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

It should have no impact on your plan. Nothing in the first or second round should be in play and you should still sell ufas if you get good offers. 

If their plan is to simply make the playoffs, they've already failed. 

IMO, the wrong way to look at it.  If the players on the team are playing well enough to make the playoffs, that needs to be acknowledged.  Selling players off of a playoff bound team would be psychologically damaging to the environment that the Sabres are trying to create.

I understand your viewpoint from a cold hard logic perspective, but I believe it would adversely affect the humans involved.

[Doohicksie]

I expect Adams to achieve the proper balance.

Perhaps the biggest thing he could do is pry a decent goalie that has a couple years left on a contract away from a team for a modestly small investment.

[DarthEbriate]

3 minutes ago, The Ghost of Yuri said:

I expect Adams to achieve the proper balance.

Perhaps the biggest thing he could do is pry a decent goalie that has a couple years left on a contract away from a team for a modestly small investment.

It's risky, but you do it if you truly believe UPL will take much longer. Or you believe he has no chance.

(Launch the patrols!)  Yes, it was a quote.

[triumph_communes]

If this team can sniff playoffs, selling destroys whatever mojo you’ve built up in the room. And that’s worth far more than a 2nd round lottery ticket. Silly this autistic line of thinking hasn’t been buried when Murray left 

Edited November 16, 2021 by triumph_communes

[LGR4GM]

Just now, triumph_communes said:

If this team can sniff playoffs, selling destroys whatever mojo you’ve built up in the room. And that’s worth far more than a 2nd round lottery ticket. Silly this autistic line of thinking hasn’t been buried when Murray left 

This is a very strange word choice. 

[LabattBlue]

Just now, triumph_communes said:

If this team can sniff playoffs, selling destroys whatever mojo you’ve built up in the room. And that’s worth far more than a 2nd round lottery ticket. Silly this autistic line of thinking hasn’t disappeared when Murray left 

So where is the line in the sand?  Within 10 points of the playoffs on TDL day?