Sabres Prospects 2022-2023

[SwampD]

17 hours ago, dudacek said:

The Sabres tried to address the first issue by acquiring Chychrun. They failed, but I assume they will try again.

The fact that Owen Power and Mattias Samuelsson are not yet “good” 2/3s is frequently glossed over here because of how good they are considering their inexperience. Getting them that experience, along with addressing the first issue should go a long way to addressing the 2nd issue.

Acquiring Riley Stillman is an attempt to address the 3rd issue. I hope signing Ryan Johnson will be another step in that direction.

And I hope signing Johnson and acquiring a few more young defenceman over the summer will help solve the final issue.

I’ve never disagreed any of these things are issues, I just think people need to recognize that solving them takes time.

And is it simply just “time” that is going to solve them?

[French Collection]

Olivier Nadeau continues his good play in the Q. 2 goals last night in a win to bring his season totals to 19G & 19A in 26 games for Gatineau.

A full season at that pace would put him in the top 10 in league scoring. Rochester will be a good spot for him next year.

[Taro T]

20 hours ago, dudacek said:

 

I agree.

There are four separate issues that are bleeding into the same conversation:

• The fact the Sabres are short one good 2nd pairing guy on the NHL roster.
• The current inability of the Sabres current 2/3/4/5 guys to play up in the lineup when someone above them is hurt
• The inability of our 6/7 guys to play up the lineup at all
• The lack of prospects we can project into filling any of those holes, made worse in the eyes of some by Ryan Johnson's status (both ability and contract)

That's part of the reason why I posted this over here. I wanted to concentrate on the last issue.

 

20 hours ago, dudacek said:

The Sabres tried to address the first issue by acquiring Chychrun. They failed, but I assume they will try again.

The fact that Owen Power and Mattias Samuelsson are not yet “good” 2/3s is frequently glossed over here because of how good they are considering their inexperience. Getting them that experience, along with addressing the first issue should go a long way to addressing the 2nd issue.

Acquiring Riley Stillman is an attempt to address the 3rd issue. I hope signing Ryan Johnson will be another step in that direction.

And I hope signing Johnson and acquiring a few more young defenceman over the summer will help solve the final issue.

I’ve never disagreed any of these things are issues, I just think people need to recognize that solving them takes time.

Yup.  Organizationally this team had holes everywhere when Adams took over.  They're getting to the point where there are significantly fewer holes.

Am hoping D is a focus of this draft, but am more hoping that the 4D this team really needs and 1 more true NHL depth D-man gets found this summer.  Get that and have a legit #1G and this team can do some serious damage.

[Stoner]

And if I had Taro's hair, ink's calves and Eleven's 11, I'd be pulling major ass.

[Weave]

44 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

And if I had Taro's hair, ink's calves and Eleven's 11, I'd be pulling major ass.

Ink’s calves gain 10lbs in camera.

Just sayin’…

[SwampD]

2 hours ago, Weave said:

Ink’s calves gain 10lbs in camera.

Just sayin’…

So does Eleven's 11.

[Crusader1969]

3 more points for Savoie tonight.  
 

 

[French Collection]

26 minutes ago, Crusader1969 said:

3 more points for Savoie tonight.  
 

 

First star of the game too.

Mats Lindgren with an assist in Red Deer’s win.

Olivier Nadeau with an assist for Gatineau.

[dudacek]

Hockey News Future Watch is out.

Sabres are ranked as the 4th best pool behind New Jersey, Anaheim and Detroit.

Our top 5 prospects are:

• Kulich (15th overall)
• Savoie (28)
• Östlund (55)
• Rosen (73)
• Luukkonen (NR)

Levi was our 7th-ranked prospect and also failed to crack the top 100 overall. I counted 6 goalies in the top 100, with Wallstedt as the highest-ranked at #8 overall.

Johnson was 6, Poltapov 8, Kisakov 9 and Portillo 10

[Flashsabre]

I went to the Oshawa Generals game tonight against North Bay.

After watching Bloom play live in person, I’m not losing any sleep over losing him.

8 minutes ago, dudacek said:

Hockey News Future Watch is out.

Sabres are ranked as the 4th best pool behind New Jersey, Anaheim and Detroit.

Our top 5 prospects are:

• Kulich (15th overall)
• Savoie (28)
• Östlund (55)
• Rosen (73)
• Luukkonen (NR)

Levi was our 7th-ranked prospect and also failed to crack the top 100 overall. I counted 6 goalies in the top 100, with Wallstedt as the highest-ranked at #8 overall.

Johnson was 6, Poltapov 8, Kisakov 9 and Portillo 10

Lol, there aren’t very many prospects that will be as impactful as Levi will. Not being in the top 100 is an absolute disgrace.

[French Collection]

2 minutes ago, Flashsabre said:

I went to the Oshawa Generals game tonight against North Bay.

After watching Bloom play live in person, I’m not losing any sleep over losing him.

Lol, there aren’t very many prospects that will be as impactful as Levi will. Not being in the top 100 is an absolute disgrace.

That’s OK about Levi. There is enough pressure from the Buffalo fan base, he doesn’t need extra attention. Probably a heavy dose of size bias from reporters.

Let all of these guys eat crow when he becomes a star.

[dudacek]

16 minutes ago, French Collection said:

That’s OK about Levi. There is enough pressure from the Buffalo fan base, he doesn’t need extra attention. Probably a heavy dose of size bias from reporters.

Let all of these guys eat crow when he becomes a star.

Agree with the size bias, but this isn’t the only chart Levi ranks well-down on. He seems to have as many skeptics as fans.

And these aren’t reporters, what I like about the Hockey News list is it comes from polling hockey executives and scouts.

As usual, the polling is done around the WJC and gets coloured through that lens.

Levi is going to prove a lot of hockey people wrong.

[Thorner]

It’s a size bias. But they’d probably freely admit that.

[PerreaultForever]

Do we have any potential NHL prospects who hit people and/or play a nastier type of game? 

[Brawndo]

 

[sabremike]

7 hours ago, dudacek said:

Agree with the size bias, but this isn’t the only chart Levi ranks well-down on. He seems to have as many skeptics as fans.

And these aren’t reporters, what I like about the Hockey News list is it comes from polling hockey executives and scouts.

As usual, the polling is done around the WJC and gets coloured through that lens.

Levi is going to prove a lot of hockey people wrong.

Hockey executives and scouts are the dumbest and most incompetent in all of pro sports. They lack progressive thought the way Dracula lacks a suntan.

[GASabresIUFAN]

3 hours ago, sabremike said:

Hockey executives and scouts are the dumbest and most incompetent in all of pro sports. They lack progressive thought the way Dracula lacks a suntan.

You say that but the draft success says otherwise.  When the vast majority of players in the NHL are 1st rd picks and the vast majority of star players are high first rd picks, the data suggests these professionals do their job very well.  @LGR4GM recently posted a chart about draft hit rate and what % become star players.  

Size also does matter. Have you seen Bryson getting physically moved off the puck game after game? However since the rule changes 20 years ago, the game has opened up and more small players are succeeding so more smaller players are being drafted.  Savoie, our top prospect is only 5’9”. Bedard is 5’10.” Saro’s success has also removed some of the bias against smaller goalies.  

 

[Thorner]

2 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

You say that but the draft success says otherwise.  When the vast majority of players in the NHL are 1st rd picks and the vast majority of star players are high first rd picks, the data suggests these professionals do their job very well.  @LGR4GM recently posted a chart about draft hit rate and what % become star players.  

Size also does matter. Have you seen Bryson getting physically moved off the puck game after game? However since the rule changes 20 years ago, the game has opened up and more small players are succeeding so more smaller players are being drafted.  Savoie, our top prospect is only 5’9”. Bedard is 5’10.” Saro’s success has also removed some of the bias against smaller goalies.  

 

It’s still uncommon for goalies of Levi’s size to start consistently in the nhl. The lion’s share are bigger dudes. He can absolutely be the exception to the rule, just like Saros. His talent suggests it. It’s becoming more common, like you said - but he’d still be bucking a significant trend. I’m sure analysts that see less of him especially simply acknowledge this battle and default to some sort of an odds-play re: “I’ll believe it when I see it at the nhl level since goalies of his size aren’t commonly starters“

if they used this logic they’d be right 8/10 times, without looking at any numbers. Personally, looking more in depth at Levi makes me think he’s going to carve out a solid nhl career. For me re: prospects that’s actually a significant endorsement 

as for beyond that, we’ll just have to see. So much potential landing ground, timeline a huge question mark  

Edited March 11, 2023 by Thorny

[Flashsabre]

How does NorthEastern have so many empty seats for a playoff game?

[Ctaeth]

16 minutes ago, Flashsabre said:

How does NorthEastern have so many empty seats for a playoff game?

spring break

[Flashsabre]

4 minutes ago, Ctaeth said:

spring break

Thanks. The announcers just mentioned it.

[Crusader1969]

12 hours ago, Brawndo said:

 

I’m excited to see him in blue and gold next year 

[French Collection]

Mats Lindgren has started scoring again. 1G 2A today, 2nd star in a win for Red Deer.

[dudacek]

Just now, French Collection said:

Mats Lindgren has started scoring again. 1G 2A today, 2nd star in a win for Red Deer.

 

I wonder what the issue has been for Lindgren — slipped in the draft, requested a trade, has had kind of a disappointing season.

Wonder if there's something going on off-ice?

[French Collection]

1 minute ago, dudacek said:

 

I wonder what the issue has been for Lindgren — slipped in the draft, requested a trade, has had kind of a disappointing season.

Wonder if there's something going on off-ice?

Don’t know why he started so slowly.

New team with some vets on D. He had to earn his ice time?

Point a game Dman since Jan.20th.