What young player that we got rid of before Donnie Meatballs would you have liked to see how he developed under him?

[matter2003]

For me it is Evan Rodrigues...he has blossomed into a pretty good player for the Penguins and I can't help thinking he would have really excelled under DG.

Career high 43 points and 19 goals this year, probably could have put up similar numbers here.

 

[French Collection]

Mikhail Grigorenko.

[thewookie1]

Eichel as a rookie; without Kane's influence, Granato probably could of worked some magic with the kid.

[Pimlach]

Pretty much all of them since the tank. 

[Zamboni]

Fasching, Bailey and Baptiste

[PerreaultForever]

1 hour ago, thewookie1 said:

Eichel as a rookie; without Kane's influence, Granato probably could of worked some magic with the kid.

I don't believe any coach could have changed him. Ego way too big. 

1 hour ago, Zamboni said:

Fasching, Bailey and Baptiste

Also don't think any of these 3 would have gotten good enough with a different coach either. 

maybe E Rod, but idk, not really thrilled by what he does even with the Crosby influence. 

I can't think of any kids we gave up on that he could have fixed but it might have been interesting to see if he could have fixed Montour here. He's done alright in Florida. Wish we'd never dumped Lazar. He's a solid 4th liner and don't get me started on Marcus Foligno. 

 

[Weave]

Wonder how Risto would have come along under Granato?

[RangerDave]

Taro Tsujimoto!

[SwampD]

50 minutes ago, Weave said:

Wonder how Risto would have come along under Granato?

As much as I like Risto, I kinda think Donny saw enough of him and had no problem letting him go.

[sabresparaavida]

8 hours ago, matter2003 said:

For me it is Evan Rodrigues...he has blossomed into a pretty good player for the Penguins and I can't help thinking he would have really excelled under DG.

Career high 43 points and 19 goals this year, probably could have put up similar numbers here.

 

While he did well to start the season, he hasn’t been very productive over the back half. He had 15 goals and 32 points in the first 46 games of the season, but only 4 goals and 11 points in the final 36 (post all star break). 

[SHAAAUGHT!!!]

I think Curtis Lazar played 20 something games for Granato, but with more time I think Lazar would have excelled with this system and style.  Johan Larson as well. 

[woods-racer]

9 hours ago, matter2003 said:

For me it is Evan Rodrigues...he has blossomed into a pretty good player for the Penguins and I can't help thinking he would have really excelled under DG.

Career high 43 points and 19 goals this year, probably could have put up similar numbers here.

 

Did you watch E-Rod last night? 

He's still the same player as when he was here. He had a blind squirrel start to the season. 

35 minutes ago, sabresparaavida said:

While he did well to start the season, he hasn’t been very productive over the back half. He had 15 goals and 32 points in the first 46 games of the season, but only 4 goals and 11 points in the final 36 (post all star break). 

I think he was no longer getting minutes with Crosby after the all star break. 

Edited May 4, 2022 by woods-racer

[Buffalonill]

9 hours ago, French Collection said:

Mikhail Grigorenko.

Dude was 30 he had no growing 

[French Collection]

He is currently 27 and I don’t want to bring him back.

I was just wondering what could have been done better with a first rounder that busted.

[Pimlach]

9 hours ago, French Collection said:

Mikhail Grigorenko.

Ahh, the roller hockey guy.  I remember those long slow loping turns, he never did a hockey stop or used his edges.  Just skated around in circles most of the time.  I doubt that DG could have helped much other than advising our GM not to draft him to begin with.  

[woods-racer]

This was futile.

It proves @LGR4GM right though. We drafted like crap for a decade then tanked. 

[inkman]

2 hours ago, woods-racer said:

This was futile.

It proves @LGR4GM right though. We drafted like crap for a decade then tanked. 

Yeah they really weren’t a lot of prospects that developed well elsewhere.  There was a solid decade plus of poor drafting. 

[Sabres Fan in NS]

12 hours ago, French Collection said:

Mikhail Grigorenko.

He was very skilled.  Raw, but talented.  I saw him play here in Halifax many times.

In the 2012 playoff the Mooseheads revealed his flaws and exploited them in an upset series win that year, which was the year before the Mooseheads won the Memorial Cup.

I was thrilled when the Sabres drafted him, but they ruined the chance to develop him properly.  Who knows what might have happened if Granato had been his coach.

[mjd1001]

30 minutes ago, inkman said:

Yeah they really weren’t a lot of prospects that developed well elsewhere.  There was a solid decade plus of poor drafting. 

This was posted a couple years ago, but I still think it is related to what you are saying. They may be the worst drafting team in the past 2 decades.

Forget about 500+ goal scorers or even 400 goal scorers. How many 300, or even 200 goal career guys have the Sabres drafted in the past 20 years (since the 2002 draft)?  Whether they got those goals with the Sabres or elsewhere?  

In the NHL regular season, as of the post I read earlier there were 84 players since the 2002 draft that scored 200+ NHL goals (and of course many of them are WELL over 200 goals).  The Sabres drafted 1 of them, Vanek.

At least they must have drafted some all-star level Goalies or D-men in that time, right?  At least a FEW over the last 20 years?  Other than what is currently on the team or just recently traded away, the best I can find is Risto  and Tyler Myers.

So hopefully guys like Dahlin and Quinn and others will turn into stars...Eichel and Reinhart sure better be for being drafted #2 overall....but by and large, the Sabres have been a drafting nightmare for 2 decades.

If you REALLY want to be depressed, go back a little farther.  The Sabres did draft a 200 goal scorer in 2001 (Pominville). Then you have to go back another 12 years for the next one to Donald Audette.  You want to know how long ago it was before the Sabres drafted 2 guys in consecutive years that scored at least 200 goals in their career?  Mogilney and Turgeon in the late 1980s.

 

Edited May 4, 2022 by mjd1001

[Sabres Fan in NS]

How many players are drafted each year?  250 +/-

How many actually play in the NHL?   23 x 32 = 736 +/-

Most do not ever play more than a handful of games in the NHL.

I don't think that the Sabres have drafted any worse than any other team in the NHL over an extended period (10+ year).  It's a crap shoot at best and if you get lucky you may get somewhere.

 

[Taro T]

7 minutes ago, Sabres Fan in NS said:

How many players are drafted each year?  250 +/-

How many actually play in the NHL?   23 x 32 = 736 +/-

Most do not ever play more than a handful of games in the NHL.

I don't think that the Sabres have drafted any worse than any other team in the NHL over an extended period (10+ year).  It's a crap shoot at best and if you get lucky you may get somewhere.

 

Somebody here, probably @dudacek actually looked at the Sabres drafting by round for the last 10 years & compared it to other team's results.  IIRC, the Sabres ended up w/ nearly the same overall NHLers as expected but rarely (nearly never) punched above their own weight class.

(And if it wasn't Dudacek that put in the work, apologies to whomever did it.  It was quite extensive.  Danke to Dudacek or other.  🍺 )

 

[nfreeman]

Paul Byron and Zack Kassian.

[GASabresIUFAN]

Risto.  He also would have moved Sam to center after the ROR trade.  He also wouldn’t have let Mitts flounder.  You wonder if Mitts and Tnt would have blossomed sooner if he had been their initial coach.

[Buffalonill]

1 hour ago, Sabres Fan in NS said:

He was very skilled.  Raw, but talented.  I saw him play here in Halifax many times.

In the 2012 playoff the Mooseheads revealed his flaws and exploited them in an upset series win that year, which was the year before the Mooseheads won the Memorial Cup.

I was thrilled when the Sabres drafted him, but they ruined the chance to develop him properly.  Who knows what might have happened if Granato had been his coach.

No they didn't he was 26 when Buffalo drafted him .

Are people honestly going to believe  he was 18 ?lol

[inkman]

3 minutes ago, Buffalonill said:

No they didn't he was 26 when Buffalo drafted him .

Are people honestly going to believe  he was 18 ?lol

I’ve heard rumblings of this but do you have anything other than dismissive info?