Sabres Officially Select #9, #16, and #28

[steveoath]

Is there any actual evidence that Lambert is a "bad" guy or has character issues. From reports it suggests that the teams he wanted out of were not utilising him in a good way. Source is the scouching podcast fwiw.

[dudacek]

17 minutes ago, steveoath said:

Is there any actual evidence that Lambert is a "bad" guy or has character issues. From reports it suggests that the teams he wanted out of were not utilising him in a good way. Source is the scouching podcast fwiw.

I don't know if it is about him being a "bad" guy so much as it is about him being high-maintenance.

But the issue for me is as much about hockey as it is character: he might have top 10 speed and good size and hands, but he's not a top-10 talent because his head for the game doesn't measure up.

There are far better skill/smarts/character combos available.

[Curt]

3 hours ago, Brawndo said:

Pronman and a NHL Source did a Mock Together.

The NHL Source has the Sabres taking Kevin Korchinski at 9

Pronman Has Lambert at 16

Pronman Del Bel Belluz at 28

Pronman Jack Hughes at 41

 

Nazar and Lekkerimaki were still on the board at 9 

Super yuck

[DarthEbriate]

This Pronman/NHL Source alternating picks mock draft article: https://theathletic.com/3366772/2022/06/20/predicting-nhl-draft/ for those outside the paywall.

Edit: their mock rules:

"The goal was to predict what we think will actually happen on draft day, not who we personally would select at a given spot.

In terms of the ground rules for this draft, no trades were allowed and no discussions about who we were going to pick next were allowed between the two selectors. After a coin flip, the team source got the first pick of the draft, but we decided I would get the first pick of the second round so we could pick for some different teams."

#9: BUF Korchinski (NHL Source). Next 5 off the board: Mintyukov, Geekie, Bichsel, Savoie, Nazar.   While I can see a run on LHD in the first, I see it in the teens. And definitely can't see the Sabres participating in it at #9.

#16: BUF Lambert (Pronman). Next 5: Yurov, Pickering, Miroshnichenko, Gaucher, McGroarty

#28: BUF D.B.B. (Pronman). Next 5: Bystedt, Lutz, Howard, Snuggerud, 2nd: Schaefer

#41: BUF Hughes (Pronman). Next 5: Havelid, Beck, Sykora, Hamara, Perevalov.

Edited June 20, 2022 by DarthEbriate

[Curt]

2 hours ago, steveoath said:

Is there any actual evidence that Lambert is a "bad" guy or has character issues. From reports it suggests that the teams he wanted out of were not utilising him in a good way. Source is the scouching podcast fwiw.

Well, in the middle of this season, he went back to the team that he had ditched the previous season.  And if the new teams that he went to utilized him better, it wasn’t reflected in his production, which was actually worse.

Even if you take any character concerns out of the equation, he hasn’t been effective against above junior level and he hasn’t shown improvement over the past couple years.

Edited June 20, 2022 by Curt

[DarthEbriate]

Just now, Curt said:

Well, in the middle of this season, he went back to the team that he had ditched the previous season.  And if the new teams that he went to utilized him better, it wasn’t reflected in his production, which was actually worse.

I've not read anything about him being bad in the locker room or as a person, but rather this. The trade for production/minutes, and not being "want to/happy to be here and play a role that the team needs" type player. That's not consistent with Buffalo's messaging. If you're going to go high end talent and risky at 16, go Miroshnichenko or Yurov.

[Curt]

6 minutes ago, DarthEbriate said:

This Pronman/NHL Source alternating picks mock draft article: https://theathletic.com/3366772/2022/06/20/predicting-nhl-draft/ for those outside the paywall.

#9: BUF Korchinski (NHL Source). Next 5 off the board: Mintyukov, Geekie, Bichsel, Savoie, Nazar.   While I can see a run on LHD in the first, I see it in the teens. And definitely can't see the Sabres participating in it at #9.

#16: BUF Lambert (Pronman). Next 5: Yurov, Pickering, Miroshnichenko, Gaucher, McGroarty

#28: BUF D.B.B. (Pronman). Next 5: Bystedt, Lutz, Howard, Snuggerud, 2nd: Schaefer

#41: BUF Hughes (Pronman). Next 5: Havelid, Beck, Sykora, Hamara, Perevalov.

Question.  We’re these picks based on who they thought might actually go to these teams, based on league intel and/or team needs, or is based more on their personal rankings?

[DarthEbriate]

3 minutes ago, Curt said:

Question.  We’re these picks based on who they thought might actually go to these teams, based on league intel and/or team needs, or is based more on their personal rankings?

I edited my initial post with their rules. It's the former. What they think would truly happen.

Which makes it worse.

[GASabresIUFAN]

31 minutes ago, DarthEbriate said:

I edited my initial post with their rules. It's the former. What they think would truly happen.

Which makes it worse.

The Sabres need to build their D pipeline.  We have 3 legit prospects and none may ever play for us; Johnson can become a UFA after this next season, Oskari’s defense isn’t close to NHL ready and Novikov is in Russia and may never come to NA.  
While I wouldn’t take a LHD a 9, but I’d consider it at 16, and I have zero issues with grabbing D at 28 and 41 if we take forwards at 9 and 16.

As I posted earlier, I’d take Kasper at 9 (or Savoie if Kasper is gone), Nazar or Kulich at 16 and then take D at 28 and 41.

Edited June 20, 2022 by GASabresIUFAN

[DarthEbriate]

9 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

The Sabres need to build their D pipeline.  We have 3 legit prospects and none may ever play for us; Johnson can become a UFA after this next season, Oskari’s defense isn’t close to NHL ready and Novikov is in Russia and may never come to NA.  
While I wouldn’t take a LHD a 9, but I’d consider it at 16, and I have zero issues with grabbing D at 28 and 41 if we take forwards at 9 and 16.

As I posted earlier, I’d take Kasper at 9 (or Savoie if Kasper is gone), Nazar or Kulich at 16 and then take D at 28 and 41.

Agreed. And although I'd prefer him at 16, Kasper at 9 wouldn't shock me. He might not get all the points, but could become a PP/PK and "every line he's on is better" and fan favorite for 10 years.

I can easily see 2 of the top 4 being defensemen and one of them simply has to be a RHD because we have nothing in the pipeline (Fitz, Laaksonen, Nyberg, Lychasen). And Fitz is already 25 and a NHL/AHL tweener.

But Pronman/NHL Source picked a redundant puck-mover (a few spots too high) instead of what they lament in their comments that Buffalo doesn't have: scoring forwards. It doesn't make sense except to drive "what the heck?" conversations like this thread. 🍺

[Taro T]

10 minutes ago, DarthEbriate said:

Agreed. And although I'd prefer him at 16, Kasper at 9 wouldn't shock me. He might not get all the points, but could become a PP/PK and "every line he's on is better" and fan favorite for 10 years.

I can easily see 2 of the top 4 being defensemen and one of them simply has to be a RHD because we have nothing in the pipeline (Fitz, Laaksonen, Nyberg, Lychasen). And Fitz is already 25 and a NHL/AHL tweener.

But Pronman/NHL Source picked a redundant puck-mover (a few spots too high) instead of what they lament in their comments that Buffalo doesn't have: scoring forwards. It doesn't make sense except to drive "what the heck?" conversations like this thread. 🍺

Wonder if the selections were made simply to get the Buffalo fanbase up in arms and clicking through.  Rightly or wrongly, Buffalo fans in general have a reputation for taking the bait.

[dudacek]

Historically, there are a lot of good defenceman picked in the 28-41 range where we’ll be picking twice and some interesting prospects ranked there.

But I’m not going to feel too much pressure to take one if the board falls a different way.

As far as I’m concerned, we’ve invested 5 recent top 32 picks in the last few years into the blueline and looks like we’ve picked wisely.

We’d still have 7 more picks this year to take some development projects, and four top 60 picks next year to replenish.

No need to force anything.

Edited June 20, 2022 by dudacek

[DarthEbriate]

7 minutes ago, Taro T said:

Wonder if the selections were made simply to get the Buffalo fanbase up in arms and clicking through.  Rightly or wrongly, Buffalo fans in general have a reputation for taking the bait.

By US TV ratings, we're either the best fans (or just the most longing for hockey viewership of any kind). Or the most silly-zealous. Or... or something. I purposefully haven't read any of the comments in the article because I can imagine what any Sabres fan would be writing.

[Palm Trees And Taxes]

Not sure why Pronman has the Sabres taking Korchinski: Do the Sabres need to take another LHD Top 10 in the draft? We already have Dahlin and Power as left handed shots. I don't see this happening.

[Taro T]

1 hour ago, Ruff Around The Edges said:

Not sure why Pronman has the Sabres taking Korchinski: Do the Sabres need to take another LHD Top 10 in the draft? We already have Dahlin and Power as left handed shots. I don't see this happening.

Dahlin

Power

Samuelsson

Bryson

Johnson*

Pilut*

Sure, why not add another?  🙃

[dudacek]

Another entertaining mock from the Athletic, this time from the beat writers.

The Sabres take Savoie at 9 for the skill and are delighted to watch Anaheim, Winnipeg, and Vancouver seriously consider Nazar, then go elsewhere.

Then they too pass on Nazar at 16, in favour of the top 10 upside of Danila Yurov. Nazar falls all the way to 20 where the Canadiens trade up for him.

The Sabres finish it off with raw, big and toolsy high school defenceman Sam Rinzel. A scout’s audit criticizes the pick as too high. Snuggerud, Miroshnichenko, Schaefer and Mesar were the next 4 picks, so he might be on to something.

But overall, I like this one much better than the Korchinski Lambert Del Bel Belluz clunker.

https://theathletic.com/3374958/2022/06/22/nhl-staff-mock-draft/

Edited June 22, 2022 by dudacek

[French Collection]

12 minutes ago, dudacek said:

Another entertaining mock from the Athletic, this time from the beat writers.

The Sabres take Savoie at 9 for the skill and are delighted to watch Anaheim, Winnipeg, and Vancouver seriously consider Nazar, then go elsewhere.

Then they too pass on Nazar at 16, in favour of the top 10 upside of Danila Yurov. Nazar falls all the way to 20 where the Canadiens trade up for him.

The Sabres finish it off with raw, big and toolsy high school defenceman Sam Rinzel. A scout’s audit criticizes the pick as too high. Snuggerud, Miroshnichenko, Schaefer and Mesar were the next 4 picks, so he might be on to something.

But overall, I like this one much better than the Korchinski Lambert Del Bel Belluz clunker.

https://theathletic.com/3374958/2022/06/22/nhl-staff-mock-draft/

I like those picks.

I prefer Beck to Del Bel Belluz if they take a C with 28. Easier to pronounce too. Beck has more versatility.

[dudacek]

8 minutes ago, French Collection said:

I like those picks.

I prefer Beck to Del Bel Belluz if they take a C with 28. Easier to pronounce too. Beck has more versatility.

It could be a home run. Each comes with questions, but they aren’t questions of character or intelligence, and Yurov and Savoie are probably top 5 forwards in this draft in terms of skill.

[DarthEbriate]

4 hours ago, dudacek said:

Another entertaining mock from the Athletic, this time from the beat writers.

The Sabres take Savoie at 9 for the skill and are delighted to watch Anaheim, Winnipeg, and Vancouver seriously consider Nazar, then go elsewhere.

Then they too pass on Nazar at 16, in favour of the top 10 upside of Danila Yurov. Nazar falls all the way to 20 where the Canadiens trade up for him.

The Sabres finish it off with raw, big and toolsy high school defenceman Sam Rinzel. A scout’s audit criticizes the pick as too high. Snuggerud, Miroshnichenko, Schaefer and Mesar were the next 4 picks, so he might be on to something.

But overall, I like this one much better than the Korchinski Lambert Del Bel Belluz clunker.

https://theathletic.com/3374958/2022/06/22/nhl-staff-mock-draft/

It's important to get the beat writers involved in the mock because there's has to be the decision point of "best player available meets critical organizational pipeline need" (see Detroit: goalie, so they took Cossa in 2021; see Buffalo: RHD this July). Matt Fairburn did well at getting "X expected to go in this area" matched with the pipeline needs (C, scoring W, RHD). Obviously, each team will have their specific targets, but this is a solid 1st round all around, even if it lacks many surprises.

[JohnC]

Within this WGR link from the Howard and Jeremy Show is a 12 min segment talking about the draft. He characterized the player rankings as volatile. At the end of the segment he talks about Power and Jack Quinn. He described Power as a given established player. He also glowed about Jack Quinn. Interestingly, he said that he believes could play center. 

Also within this link is a 20 min Marty Biron segment talking about goalies and how the organization is going to address this offseason. He sees the goalie market as being murky and he didn't see the Sabres being very active this offseason. 

https://www.audacy.com/wgr550/authors/howard-and-jeremy-show

[Buffalonill]

5 hours ago, JohnC said:

Within this WGR link from the Howard and Jeremy Show is a 12 min segment talking about the draft. He characterized the player rankings as volatile. At the end of the segment he talks about Power and Jack Quinn. He described Power as a given established player. He also glowed about Jack Quinn. Interestingly, he said that he believes could play center. 

Also within this link is a 20 min Marty Biron segment talking about goalies and how the organization is going to address this offseason. He sees the goalie market as being murky and he didn't see the Sabres being very active this offseason. 

https://www.audacy.com/wgr550/authors/howard-and-jeremy-show

Welp ... anyone surprised

Edited June 22, 2022 by Buffalonill
Drinking

[JohnC]

1 hour ago, Buffalonill said:

Welp ... anyone Suppressed? 

If you meant to say surprised my response would be no as far as this being an active offseason. That doesn't bother me very much because most of the additions will come from within the system. As far as the goalie position, I simply don't know who is going to be brought in? 

[Curt]

1 hour ago, Buffalonill said:

Welp ... anyone Suppressed? 

Sabres have made me feel suppressed for years......oh wait, that’s depressed.

Edited June 22, 2022 by Curt

[Buffalonill]

40 minutes ago, Curt said:

Sabres have made me feel suppressed for years......oh wait, that’s depressed.

I'm telling you buffalo is going to bring in the Subbans and think that's the recipe to  Success

[Huckleberry]

4 minutes ago, Buffalonill said:

I'm telling you buffalo is going to bring in the Subbans and think that's the recipe to  Success

I would not mind PK on the 3rd pair for  2 years.