Sabres Prospects 2022-2023

[5th line wingnutt]

Article in the Athletic about the Sabres' approach to drafting and developing Russian prospects.

https://theathletic.com/4521429/2023/05/16/sabres-nhl-draft-prospects-russian/

[Rasmus_]

2 minutes ago, 5th line wingnutt said:

Article in the Athletic about the Sabres' approach to drafting and developing Russian prospects.

https://theathletic.com/4521429/2023/05/16/sabres-nhl-draft-prospects-russian/

Can someone please summarize this article?

[French Collection]

Savoie with 1A as Seattle beats Winnipeg and takes a 2-1 lead in the WHL final.

Komarov had 2A as Quebec takes a 2-1 lead over Halifax in the Q final.

No Sabres prospects in the OHL final.

[DarthEbriate]

Goals were exchanged in the opening 90 seconds and then the T-birds scored 3 times in 45 seconds to effectively end the game before the first intermission. Yay!

As a Sabres fan...

Savoie was invisible in the first period (and not in the good 3rd pairing defenseman's name wasn't mentioned sort of way).

The Ice woke up in the 2nd and played with some heart and scrappiness. Savoie's best shift all game was a PP where he took an uncalled high stick from fellow 1st-round pick Reid Schaefer off the faceoff. After that initial clear and re-entry, Savoie showed fantastic reaction to keep the puck in at the blue line, had a nifty stickhandle along the boards to create space and get the puck to a teammate, floated to the slot and made another good pass to generate a scoring chance. Elite hands, good vision and really good movement off the puck on the power play all on display in 1 minute, and he should have drawn a penalty to make it a 5-on-3 to boot. No goal came of it though.

Savoie and his tiny line (Benson, McClennon) were neutralized throughout the game by Seattle's bigger guys. Davidson (13/16) crushed Savoie (4/15) in the faceoff dot all game.

When the game was 5-1, the Ice scored at 4-on-4. Savoie broke loose in coverage and had all day to shoot or pass. He froze Milic and dished to Benson for a tap-in. Lovely play. But that 4-on-4 was the only time he or Benson had any time/space in the offensive zone.

The Ice had 38 shots (Savoie with 4) but Milic made all but 2-3 saves look routine. He had one stellar save in the 3rd to keep it from getting interesting.

[French Collection]

Watched Quebec vs Halifax game #4. Quebec wins 2-1 taking a 3-1 series lead.

Komarov is a big guy, he looks like he might need another year or two for his coordination to catch up to his growth. Another year of junior should help him. He’s getting a regular shift but it doesn’t seem like Patrick Roy uses him as a go to Dman.

He wears number 83, kind of an unusual choice.

I am going to watch as much of the Winnipeg game as I can stay awake for.

[DarthEbriate]

Instead of live, it's television tonight:

James Patrick got in some good coaching today and the Ice look much more composed to start tonight's game. Savoie takes a good breakout pass and turns it into a partial break, but Milic denies him. Savoie finds the rebound behind the net and feeds in front for... probably Benson, but it's tied up.

But... Too Many Men again on Winnipeg; they did that last night as well. This one was... very bad. Maybe 8 or 9 guys in sell-out change as the T-birds were trying to make a long pass to catch them on the change.  Savoie gets a SH breakaway, and they call a slash instead of a penalty shot. They could've called the PS as was a step ahead of Korchinski and the slash on his hands popped the puck off his stick just before he got the shot away.

On the Ice's ensuing PP, Savoie misses on the tap-in redirect back too far toward the far post and basically hits it into Milic instead of elevating shortside for the goal. He's going to want that one and the breakaway back.

Aside: I don't like Korchinski as much as the draftniks. He benefits a bunch from secondary assists to excellent T-Birds forwards and defensively I just don't see it. But he's got good speed and very good skating.

[French Collection]

Savoie showed some speed on that shorthanded breakaway.

[DarthEbriate]

Milic gives up a goal where his d-man gets outskated to a loose puck between the dots and sliding in on Milic. In hindsight, Milic should have come out to play it, but he would have thought his d-man doesn't get beat to that puck. 1-0 Ice.

Edit:  1-1 after 1. Korchinski with a screen shot goal with 16 seconds in the period.

Edited May 18, 2023 by DarthEbriate

[French Collection]

3 minutes ago, DarthEbriate said:

Milic gives up a goal where his d-man gets outskated to a loose puck between the dots and sliding in on Milic. In hindsight, Milic should have come out to play it, but he would have thought his d-man doesn't get beat to that puck. 1-0 Ice.

Enjoy the rest of the game, I’m out.

[DarthEbriate]

2-2 after two. And where Savoie was mostly invisible in game 3, he's been very good tonight. Attacking, good passes, and a couple high quality scoring chances so far.

[Flashsabre]

Seattle won 4-2 with an empty netter.

These might be the two best teams in junior hockey. Seattle are absolutely loaded. 

If Winnipeg are out here soon does Savoie join the Amerks for the next round? Would love to see it.

Edited May 18, 2023 by Flashsabre

[Crusader1969]

13 hours ago, Flashsabre said:

Seattle won 4-2 with an empty netter.

These might be the two best teams in junior hockey. Seattle are absolutely loaded. 

If Winnipeg are out here soon does Savoie join the Amerks for the next round? Would love to see it.

I assume he joins them ; don’t think he plays though…unless injuries start to pile up   Tough to break up a winning squad 

[Turbo44]

17 hours ago, Flashsabre said:

Seattle won 4-2 with an empty netter.

These might be the two best teams in junior hockey. Seattle are absolutely loaded. 

If Winnipeg are out here soon does Savoie join the Amerks for the next round? Would love to see it.

He’s not allowed to play in the AHL, so probably can t join them either

[LGR4GM]

7 hours ago, Turbo44 said:

He’s not allowed to play in the AHL, so probably can t join them either

@Turbo44 Not exactly. 

The way it works is that you have to be 20 on or before December 31st of the season to be sent to the AHL from your NHL club IF and ONLY IF you are a OHL, WHL, QMJHL player (this really impacts Savoie who has a Jan 1 bday). However, if you have played 4 qualifying seasons in one of the Canadian Jr leagues you can also be sent if you don't meet the age requirement. Savoie does not meet the 4 season requirement. 

There is also 1 more caveat to all of this, if your jr. team has finished play for the season you can be assigned to an AHL roster for the remainder of that season since the purpose is to make sure jr players still play for their jr teams. Once your jr team is done for the year, Buffalo for example, could assign any of those jr players to the AHL. If Savoie's team is eliminated, aka their season is over, then Buffalo is allowed to assign Savoie to the AHL. 

Will you be 20 before Jan 1, if no you go to jrs. Are you not 20 before Jan 1 and your jr team is still playing, if yes you go to jrs. Are you not 20 before Jan 1 and your jr team has finished its season, if yes you are eligible to be assigned to an AHL roster. Are you going to be 20 before Jan 1, if yes your NHL team can assign you to either jrs or an AHL roster. 

Final note, your NHL club can assign a player under 20 by the date to their own NHL roster. There is no age requirement after you qualify for the NHL draft of course (18 on or before Sept 15th).

If I messed anything else, someone please correct. 

Edited May 19, 2023 by LGR4GM

[Amerks8796]

9 hours ago, Turbo44 said:

He’s not allowed to play in the AHL, so probably can t join them either

He sure can. If they lose tonight, I’d hope he’s in the lineup for game 1. 

[DarthEbriate]

1 hour ago, Amerks8796 said:

He sure can. If they lose tonight, I’d hope he’s in the lineup for game 1. 

I'd reassign him to join the team, but like Nadeau I wouldn't put him in the lineup. The team is in fire and just got Cederqvist back. Jobst is red hot and also has a full-grown body, if short.

I dig Savoie's game, but having watched the past 2 vs. Seattle, he's on the ice a lot. Reino was given a bunch of gruff in his D+1 (and D+2 full rookie) seasons because he was off his skates a bunch. That was in the NHL. Savoie is a still a very slight guy. He was on the ice a bunch against a big (relatively) Seattle team. Including Korchinski straight up tackling him (no call) on a rush along the boards. Savoie doesn't need to get run over by adult AHLers this season.

Based on what I saw, he's a 13F next season in Buffalo. I really can see him getting 8 games and going back to the WHL to fill out. The game is good; the body is not ready. When it is his ceiling is Briere. Maybe Point. 

[Amerks8796]

3 minutes ago, DarthEbriate said:

I'd reassign him to join the team, but like Nadeau I wouldn't put him in the lineup. The team is in fire and just got Cederqvist back. Jobst is red hot and also has a full-grown body, if short.

I dig Savoie's game, but having watched the past 2 vs. Seattle, he's on the ice a lot. Reino was given a bunch of gruff in his D+1 (and D+2 full rookie) seasons because he was off his skates a bunch. That was in the NHL. Savoie is a still a very slight guy. He was on the ice a bunch against a big (relatively) Seattle team. Including Korchinski straight up tackling him (no call) on a rush along the boards. Savoie doesn't need to get run over by adult AHLers this season.

Based on what I saw, he's a 13F next season in Buffalo. I really can see him getting 8 games and going back to the WHL to fill out. The game is good; the body is not ready. When it is his ceiling is Briere. Maybe Point. 

Nadeau and Savoie aren’t even close. One is a middling prospect with a mediocre chance at becoming an NHL player, versus a dynamic prospect that is one of the top forward prospects in the sport. They aren’t remotely comparable. 

[Crusader1969]

26 minutes ago, Amerks8796 said:

Nadeau and Savoie aren’t even close. One is a middling prospect with a mediocre chance at becoming an NHL player, versus a dynamic prospect that is one of the top forward prospects in the sport. They aren’t remotely comparable. 

Is there a spot for him in the top 9?  Maybe if they go back to 12f and 6D?  With weissbach and Biro both out 

one thing I know Savoie is ready for is to play on the PP

Edited May 19, 2023 by Crusader1969

[Amerks8796]

34 minutes ago, Crusader1969 said:

Is there a spot for him in the top 9?  Maybe if they go back to 12f and 6D?  With weissbach and Biro both out 

one thing I know Savoie is ready for is to play on the PP

Yes, easily. You make room. Weissbach is probably back for game 1. For me it’s simple, you insert Weissbach & Savoie and take out Eliot & Olischefski. It’s really not easy to take out Olischefski in particular, but Savoie is way too talented to watch from the press box. 

Edited May 19, 2023 by Amerks8796

[Flashsabre]

 

[Flashsabre]

I would like to see Murray get a chance next year. 4th line LW or extra forward. He has worked his butt off for a chance and is a forgotten prospect.

If not he will be a nice trade piece. Another team will want a 6’5, 225 pound winger with his production.

Greenway on line 3 Murray in line 4 would really boost the size in the bottom 6.

[Crusader1969]

7 hours ago, Amerks8796 said:

Yes, easily. You make room. Weissbach is probably back for game 1. For me it’s simple, you insert Weissbach & Savoie and take out Eliot & Olischefski. It’s really not easy to take out Olischefski in particular, but Savoie is way too talented to watch from the press box. 

Warren I thought was really skating well the last few games

i agree, unless Olkscbefki has an important role like penalty killer.  

1 hour ago, Flashsabre said:

I would like to see Murray get a chance next year. 4th line LW or extra forward. He has worked his butt off for a chance and is a forgotten prospect.

If not he will be a nice trade piece. Another team will want a 6’5, 225 pound winger with his production.

Greenway on line 3 Murray in line 4 would really boost the size in the bottom 6.

Too slow in my opinion and really doesn’t dominate 

I’ll be surprised if he’s in the organization next season

[DarthEbriate]

The Sabres need to draft Milic with a mid/late-round pick so that Savoie doesn't ever have to face him in a game situation and can work on his shot in practice. Milic owns him.

[French Collection]

6 minutes ago, DarthEbriate said:

The Sabres need to draft Milic with a mid/late-round pick so that Savoie doesn't ever have to face him in a game situation and can work on his shot in practice. Milic owns him.

I’d be OK with Milic as a later round pick. He’s ready to turn pro, nothing left to prove in junior and he’s aged out. He’s won World Junior gold.

The old story of small (6’) goalies will keep suites away.

[DarthEbriate]

7 minutes ago, French Collection said:

I’d be OK with Milic as a later round pick. He’s ready to turn pro, nothing left to prove in junior and he’s aged out. He’s won World Junior gold.

The old story of small (6’) goalies will keep suites away.

Yup -- he or Suchanek as a 5th/6th to take an Amerks backup role next season and... maybe someday something more. But that way you have someone ready to play if Subban or Houser wants to test UFA.