Sabres Prospect Challenge September 15-19.

[LabattBlue]

Looking at the schedule of games, very odd that all participating teams play 3 games except for the Pens, who only play 1. 🤔

[Flashsabre]

1 hour ago, LabattBlue said:

Looking at the schedule of games, very odd that all participating teams play 3 games except for the Pens, who only play 1. 🤔

We talked about this a bit before. The Pens have not drafted well or had the picks to draft well in a long time. They might not be able to form a prospects team. Their team might be made up of a lot of free agents that they want to bring in for a game to see what they look like. It is all I can think of.

[LabattBlue]

3 hours ago, Flashsabre said:

We talked about this a bit before. The Pens have not drafted well or had the picks to draft well in a long time. They might not be able to form a prospects team. Their team might be made up of a lot of free agents that they want to bring in for a game to see what they look like. It is all I can think of.

Oops.  Sorry I missed that!  

[Flashsabre]

1 hour ago, LabattBlue said:

Oops.  Sorry I missed that!  

No I didn’t mean you should have read it before I just meant that we noticed it too when it was announced and were trying to wrap our heads around it.  I am curious to see the type of players that make up their squad.

[Marvin]

2 hours ago, Flashsabre said:

No I didn’t mean you should have read it before I just meant that we noticed it too when it was announced and were trying to wrap our heads around it.  I am curious to see the type of players that make up their squad.

I am similarly curious about what the Penguins send here.

[dudacek]

So this is less than a week away.

Any word on the roster? I'm going to guess eligibility will be non-NHL ELCs, unsigned picks and a handful of free agents

 

Some possibilities:

Quinn Krebs Peterka

Rosen Savoie Kisakov

Rousek Kulich Weissbach

Pekar Biro Cedarqvist

Bloom Kozak

 

Power Laaksonen

Samuelsson Komorov

Lindgren

 

Suchanek (unsigned Czech keeper expected to be coming)

 

Nadeau is expected to be out due to surgery. Richard and Sardarian are USHL players I expect will be off to college and unavailable. Others in Europe

I will be surprised if Samuelsson and Krebs are there. Power, Quinn, Peterka though, I'm kinda expecting

Edited September 10, 2022 by dudacek

[Taro T]

21 hours ago, dudacek said:

So this is less than a week away.

Any word on the roster? I'm going to guess eligibility will be non-NHL ELCs, unsigned picks and a handful of free agents

 

Some possibilities:

Quinn Krebs Peterka

Rosen Savoie Kisakov

Rousek Kulich Weissbach

Pekar Biro Cedarqvist

Bloom Kozak

 

Power Laaksonen

Samuelsson Komorov

Lindgren

 

Suchanek (unsigned Czech keeper expected to be coming)

 

Nadeau is expected to be out due to surgery. Richard and Sardarian are USHL players I expect will be off to college and unavailable. Others in Europe

I will be surprised if Samuelsson and Krebs are there. Power, Quinn, Peterka though, I'm kinda expecting

If they had more legit D prospects expect they might give Power a pass too.  But with not really having much of a prospects level D-bench, expect you have it called and he plays this week.

Of course, they might be fully content w/ him getting 82 RS games (& a little extra later?).

[Curt]

2 hours ago, Taro T said:

If they had more legit D prospects expect they might give Power a pass too.  But with not really having much of a prospects level D-bench, expect you have it called and he plays this week.

Of course, they might be fully content w/ him getting 82 RS games (& a little extra later?).

I doubt that the number of legit D prospects in the organization determines whether or not Power plays.

Can you imagine:  We don’t think it’s the best thing for our #1 pick future franchise defenseman to play in these games, but this prospect team NEEDS him!

If they didn’t want Power to play, they would just find a borderline AHL Free Agent to fill a spot.  These games don’t matter.

[Taro T]

33 minutes ago, Curt said:

I doubt that the number of legit D prospects in the organization determines whether or not Power plays.

Can you imagine:  We don’t think it’s the best thing for our #1 pick future franchise defenseman to play in these games, but this prospect team NEEDS him!

If they didn’t want Power to play, they would just find a borderline AHL Free Agent to fill a spot.  These games don’t matter.

Or, can you imagine they don't feel strongly 1 way or another whether he plays in the tourney but have (or don't have) a bunch of guys that they'd like to get a baseline on their performance versus other prospects with the same experience level that they want (or don't want) to see in this format that they decide whether or not to play him based on that?

"We've only got 5 D for this tourney not counting Power, do you want to go through the hassle of finding a 6th or play him?"  "Well Cozens broke his finger in a freak accident in one of these, we# better bubble wrap him and find a scrub."  

If they had relatively as many D prospects as they have F prospects, they might say "we typically have guys play in this the 1st time they're eligible to do so, but considering he's already D+1, a lock to make the 2nd pairing, and we have 10 other guys to look at in just 3 games, so screw it, give him a few extra days off."

Like you said, it just doesn't matter.  So, if they don't feel strongly 1 way or the other, the #'s could help shape the decision.

[Curt]

11 minutes ago, Taro T said:

Or, can you imagine they don't feel strongly 1 way or another whether he plays in the tourney but have (or don't have) a bunch of guys that they'd like to get a baseline on their performance versus other prospects with the same experience level that they want (or don't want) to see in this format that they decide whether or not to play him based on that?

"We've only got 5 D for this tourney not counting Power, do you want to go through the hassle of finding a 6th or play him?"  "Well Cozens broke his finger in a freak accident in one of these, we# better bubble wrap him and find a scrub."  

If they had relatively as many D prospects as they have F prospects, they might say "we typically have guys play in this the 1st time they're eligible to do so, but considering he's already D+1, a lock to make the 2nd pairing, and we have 10 other guys to look at in just 3 games, so screw it, give him a few extra days off."

Like you said, it just doesn't matter.  So, if they don't feel strongly 1 way or the other, the #'s could help shape the decision.

I can’t imagine that, mostly because I’ve had a long day  and your question/sentence was way too long.

Personally, I wouldn’t want Power playing in games with a bunch of scrub prospects who are willing to do anything they can think of to get signed.  So definitely not against Pittsburgh.

I might give Power one game just for fun.

[bob_sauve28]

 

[inkman]

52 minutes ago, bob_sauve28 said:

 

[Flashsabre]

“As expected Power, Quinn and Peterka not playing in Prospects Challenge per Lance Lysowski.”

[dudacek]

13 minutes ago, Flashsabre said:

“As expected Power, Quinn and Peterka not playing in Prospects Challenge per Lance Lysowski.”

Disappointing.

If there is any doubt these guys (meaning Quinn and Peterka) aren't going to be Sabres this year, this should erase it.

20-year-olds who have played 2 NHL games apiece not playing a prospects game.

That said, it's Savoie and Kulich I am most looking forward to watching.

[LabattBlue]

22 minutes ago, dudacek said:

Disappointing.

If there is any doubt these guys (meaning Quinn and Peterka) aren't going to be Sabres this year, this should erase it.

20-year-olds who have played 2 NHL games apiece not playing a prospects game.

That said, it's Savoie and Kulich I am most looking forward to watching.

I thought all 3 would participate...or at least 2 of 3.  Hey...let's go see one of the prospect games...Quinn, Peterka, Power....ummmm, nope.

Did Eichel play in the prospect tourney?  Dahlin?

 

The good news...you can pay regular season box office prices to see them in a pre-season game.

Edited September 11, 2022 by LabattBlue

[DarthEbriate]

13 minutes ago, LabattBlue said:

I thought all 3 would participate...or at least 2 of 3.  Hey...let's go see one of the prospect games...Quinn, Peterka, Power....ummmm, nope.

Did Eichel play in the prospect tourney?  Dahlin?

I have limited notes, but Eichel and Reinhart both skated in the 2015 Prospects Challenge Tournament --- Eichel assisted Baptiste on his first shift 25 seconds into game 1, then Eichel scored twice including the OT winner in another game against Boston.

In 2018, Dahlin played in the first game only, then was healthy-scratched the remainder of the tourney. 2-1-3 in that first game. (Olofsson 1 PP, Thompson and Nylander with 1 SHG each) 

Edited September 11, 2022 by DarthEbriate

[Taro T]

51 minutes ago, dudacek said:

Disappointing.

If there is any doubt these guys (meaning Quinn and Peterka) aren't going to be Sabres this year, this should erase it.

20-year-olds who have played 2 NHL games apiece not playing a prospects game.

That said, it's Savoie and Kulich I am most looking forward to watching.

Yep.  This is quite the tell.

Am far less certain Sheahan stays up barring training camp injuries.  (Still not convinced they keep 14 up but don't see any way Hinostroza goes down.  Bjork can't be happy as he's pretty much guaranteed to be an Amerk. (As if THAT changed. 😉 ))

[dudacek]

52 minutes ago, Taro T said:

Yep.  This is quite the tell.

Am far less certain Sheahan stays up barring training camp injuries.  (Still not convinced they keep 14 up but don't see any way Hinostroza goes down.  Bjork can't be happy as he's pretty much guaranteed to be an Amerk. (As if THAT changed. 😉 ))

Yep, really looks like Sheahan is slotted into the Jankowski role.

Wonder if there is interest in Bjork somewhere in the league and he gets picked up on waivers.

But I doubt it given his contract and cap space being the way it is.

[Brawndo]

 

No Quinn, Peterka or Power

[dudacek]

Surprised to see Nadeau's name.

Is he on the roster the same way Savoie was on the development camp roster, meaning there but not playing?

Excited to get our first look at Savoie and Kisakov.

[LGR4GM]

34 minutes ago, Brawndo said:

 

No Quinn, Peterka or Power

Peterka not playing surprises me somewhat. I thought they may send him to Rochester to start the year due to numbers but guess it is an open competition he's getting ready for. If JJP and Quinn make the Sabres, idk how Bjork has a spot. 

[French Collection]

23 minutes ago, dudacek said:

Surprised to see Nadeau's name.

Is he on the roster the same way Savoie was on the development camp roster, meaning there but not playing?

Excited to get our first look at Savoie and Kisakov.

I thought he had shoulder surgery and was out until December.

[Flashsabre]

28 minutes ago, French Collection said:

I thought he had shoulder surgery and was out until December.

From the article:

”Olivier Nadeau , the 2021 fourth-round pick who also signed his entry-level contract after a productive QMJHL season, is included on the Prospects Challenge roster but is not expected to play after undergoing offseason shoulder surgery”

Looks like Pekar is out with an injury as well and won’t play.

Edited September 12, 2022 by Flashsabre

[Flashsabre]

Looks like a lot of talent up front, dicey on the backend and scary in net. They will have to run and gun to be successful. It will be great to get our fist looks at Savoie and Kisakov.

[French Collection]

I’m excited to see Savoie skate, this year’s shiny new toy. Kulich is one to watch, showed well at World Juniors. Lindgren may surprise people.

I did a bit of research on the free agents at this camp. Here are a few that I think may do well.

Declan McDonnell is a Buffalo native playing in the OHL. He was a 7th rounder of Tampa Bay in 2020. He was a point per game player last season.

Nolan Burke seems like a late bloomer, the 20 year old hasn’t done much at the junior level until this past season. He put up 34 goals for Sarnia in the OHL. 6’1” centre.

Emmett Sproule is a 21 year old forward who put up 86 pts in 65 games with Peterborough of the OHL.

Spencer Sova was at Development Camp in July. He is an undrafted ‘04 OHL Dman. He had 28 points in 64 games with the Erie Otters of the OHL.

Tomas Suchanek is a 19 year old goalie with Tri City of the WHL. He put up decent numbers on a bad team last season. He had a great showing at the World Juniors with Czechia.