Around The NHL 2022-23 Regular Season

[Curt]

5 minutes ago, shrader said:

I can see that you’re always the life of the party. 

I resemble that remark.  Not trying to be a pain.  I honestly had no what you were talking about (and I actually still don’t think it’s funny), but that’s ok.  I guess Thorny got it.

[Thorner]

1 hour ago, Curt said:

 

So, I’m a big dummy I guess, but I still don’t get it.

I didn't look at the photo tbh and i actually don't know either really whats going on, its just that..Well  there was a third point i was going to make here

[Buffalonill]

3 hours ago, DarthEbriate said:

To protect them both from the Atlanta Thrashers, they were hidden by Brian Burke when they were drafted. The League knew, as I did, if the Thrashers were to have any joy, they would be a threat to not become the New-Jets.

I mean thats not true at all they got gifted the first pick and  patrik stefan was that guy to be the franchise.

And if that  Conspiracy theory was true they wouldn't have gotten Kovalchuk and Heatley

[PerreaultForever]

Has anyone seen New Jersey play this year? Are they for real? How are they doing it? 

[Brawndo]

8 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

Has anyone seen New Jersey play this year? Are they for real? How are they doing it? 

They are for real. 
 

They have a very talented roster

[PerreaultForever]

3 hours ago, Brawndo said:

They are for real. 
 

They have a very talented roster

I see Miles Wood has 6 goals for them. I always liked that guy. We could use a Miles Wood on our roster. Also looks like Hischier has his game back so that's part of it I guess. Highes coming into his own. 

Also seems like Vanecek is working out. I remember a bunch of us here thought KA should have snapped him up when he was available too. Another miss. 

[Thorner]

4 hours ago, Brawndo said:

They are for real. 
 

They have a very talented roster

So turnarounds can be a little bit faster..

[Brawndo]

58 minutes ago, PerreaultForever said:

I see Miles Wood has 6 goals for them. I always liked that guy. We could use a Miles Wood on our roster. Also looks like Hischier has his game back so that's part of it I guess. Highes coming into his own. 

Also seems like Vanecek is working out. I remember a bunch of us here thought KA should have snapped him up when he was available too. Another miss. 

New Jersey traded picks 37 and 70 in the 2022 Draft for Vanecek’s UFA Rights and 46th Overall. 
 

The Sabres had picks 41 and 74 in the same draft.  Not sure how they beat that. 

[Eleven]

3 hours ago, Thorny said:

So turnarounds can be a little bit faster..

With the right coach.

[Brawndo]

4 hours ago, Thorny said:

So turnarounds can be a little bit faster..

I’m not too sure the Devils are best example of a faster turnaround. 
 

Since Darcy proclaimed there will be suffering, the Devils have one playoff appearance after 2017-18 season. 
They  drafted twice outside the Top 10-2016-12OA and 2018- 17OA 

Since 2017 they have drafted in the Top 4, four out of the past six drafts. 
 

They are a better team, but they have kept the Sabres company in the standings recently. 
 

 

[PerreaultForever]

9 hours ago, Brawndo said:

New Jersey traded picks 37 and 70 in the 2022 Draft for Vanecek’s UFA Rights and 46th Overall. 
 

The Sabres had picks 41 and 74 in the same draft.  Not sure how they beat that. 

Trades can be worked out in any number of ways. So you don't take the 46th overall back, you take a lower pick back or no pick or you toss in a later round or whatever. Where there is a will there is a way. 

Bruins dominated Vancouver today so I guess we are at least better than the Canucks - unless they beat us next game. 

[Sabres Fan in NS]

23 hours ago, Brawndo said:

They are for real. 
 

They have a very talented roster

And a very good coach.

[LTS]

9 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

Trades can be worked out in any number of ways. So you don't take the 46th overall back, you take a lower pick back or no pick or you toss in a later round or whatever. Where there is a will there is a way. 

Bruins dominated Vancouver today so I guess we are at least better than the Canucks - unless they beat us next game. 

If I'm reading the trade correctly it was for UFA rights.  So the Sabres might have been able to beat the deal.. and then have Vanacek not sign with them.  Right?

[bob_sauve28]

Our next opponent 

 

Quote

 

By the time the Vancouver Canucks changed regimes last December, it was too late to save their National Hockey League season. Even a 32-15-10 sprint to the finish under new head coach Bruce Boudreau did not get the team into the playoffs.

Coach Travis Green and general manager Jim Benning were fired after Game 25.

On Sunday, the Canucks staggered through Game 16 by losing 5-2 to the Boston Bruins. At 4-9-3, they are a point worse – yes, unbelievably, worse – under Boudreau this fall than they were with Green at the same point last season. Take a minute to process that.

With their entirely rebuilt hockey operations department, a renovation of the coaching staff pushed by general manager Patrik Allvin and president Jim Rutherford, a handful of new players and a power play that is one of the NHL’s best, the 2022-23 Canucks are behind the pace of the team that caused the most sweeping mid-season changes in franchise history just 11 months ago.

 

 

https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/canucks-takeaways-unbelievably-vancouver-is-on-a-worse-pace-than-last-season/

[Brawndo]

3 hours ago, LTS said:

If I'm reading the trade correctly it was for UFA rights.  So the Sabres might have been able to beat the deal.. and then have Vanacek not sign with them.  Right?

Actually I posted He was an UFA when He was entering His Final Season as a RFA. He could have taken His QF and walked to UFA Status after this year.  Given that Murray and One Western Conference Goalie said no, giving up a 2nd and a 3rd for only one guaranteed season of Vanecek does not make sense. 

[PerreaultForever]

4 hours ago, LTS said:

If I'm reading the trade correctly it was for UFA rights.  So the Sabres might have been able to beat the deal.. and then have Vanacek not sign with them.  Right?

Pretty sure the team making that deal gets to talk to the agent and work out a deal. It's not like the Vesey thing. 

[Thorner]

20 hours ago, Brawndo said:

I’m not too sure the Devils are best example of a faster turnaround. 
 

Since Darcy proclaimed there will be suffering, the Devils have one playoff appearance after 2017-18 season. 
They  drafted twice outside the Top 10-2016-12OA and 2018- 17OA 

Since 2017 they have drafted in the Top 4, four out of the past six drafts. 
 

They are a better team, but they have kept the Sabres company in the standings recently. 
 

 

The stats you point out kinda make my argument, though - I’m not saying they turned the corner, in the past, quicker, and pointing to results of seasons past that illustrate that point. I’m saying they’ve been in a similar position to us lately, as you point out, yet as you also point out - you believe the Devils to be “for real”. We’re in second last in the division. 

Devils are in first. If they are for real like you say, while we end up ~ 7th in division, they in fact turned it around quicker than we did. 

That could change, they could collapse, we could rocket up this year - but the current results aren’t looking that way and we are still preaching patience (some are even saying NEXT year is another no expectations year) while they have designs on playoffs. 

Edited November 14, 2022 by Thorny

[PerreaultForever]

Right now our rebuild is better than the Ottawa plan. Better than the Blue Jackets and probably better than the Flyers in time (although maybe those 2 are still in tear down mode?) It is Not as good as New Jersey or probably not as good as the Red Wings and the Canadiens seem to have fared better than expected (and us) as well. If you want to include the west it would seem the Kraken might have moved ahead of us already but the Ducks and Canucks and Sharks are all behind I think (maybe all 3 still tearing down). (Looking at Boston and the Ducks it seems Lindholm's contributions may have been underestimated all these years). Arizona, surprisingly looks about even with us at this time. Then there are the old teams falling like Washington and St. Louis and the still okay teams like the Islanders who everyone thought would be worse. 

So overall, in terms of rebuilds, I think it puts us roughly in the middle of the pack. Considering how long ours has been going and how many assets we got for the last phase we did we should be much better already but if you look at it as just the KA era it's mid level. Maybe that's good enough for some people. I consider it failure and missed opportunity and........

I am simply tired of half assed efforts and loser hockey. 

 

[Porous Five Hole]

The Leafs are having blue line issues as well. 

[Brawndo]

3 hours ago, Thorny said:

The stats you point out kinda make my argument, though - I’m not saying they turned the corner, in the past, quicker, and pointing to results of seasons past that illustrate that point. I’m saying they’ve been in a similar position to us lately, as you point out, yet as you also point out - you believe the Devils to be “for real”. We’re in second last in the division. 

Devils are in first. If they are for real like you say, while we end up ~ 7th in division, they in fact turned it around quicker than we did. 

That could change, they could collapse, we could rocket up this year - but the current results aren’t looking that way and we are still preaching patience (some are even saying NEXT year is another no expectations year) while they have designs on playoffs. 

The Devils have had consistency in Their Front Office Though. Fitzgerald was hired in July 2015 as AGM by Ray Shero and has been directly involved in Hockey Operations since.  The Sabres have had three GMs in the same time with the current one, as the board knows all too well, a massive reset button was hit.  NJ has had the advantage of a front office with a consistent vision and not having to move its Top 2Cs.  They should be a lot further ahead then Buffalo. 
 

 

 

[PerreaultForever]

7 hours ago, Brawndo said:

The Devils have had consistency in Their Front Office Though. Fitzgerald was hired in July 2015 as AGM by Ray Shero and has been directly involved in Hockey Operations since.  The Sabres have had three GMs in the same time with the current one, as the board knows all too well, a massive reset button was hit.  NJ has had the advantage of a front office with a consistent vision and not having to move its Top 2Cs.  They should be a lot further ahead then Buffalo. 
 

 

 

This is true, especially about their top 2Cs and the front office, but unlike Buffalo they also added veterans. They signed Doug Hamilton. They got the goalie as mentioned. Tatar is playing well for them. They kept grit in Miles Wood and added (or re-added)Bastian, and Ryan Graves. This is not a team built on draft picks alone.

[LTS]

20 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

Pretty sure the team making that deal gets to talk to the agent and work out a deal. It's not like the Vesey thing. 

Given.  As always with these things, can anyone confirm it never progressed to that level and the discussion was not a positive one.  I don't know the answer. I think a lot of times these things get thrown out as real misses without knowing for certain that they were a miss or it was a possibility.

[Thorner]

21 hours ago, Brawndo said:

The Devils have had consistency in Their Front Office Though. Fitzgerald was hired in July 2015 as AGM by Ray Shero and has been directly involved in Hockey Operations since.  The Sabres have had three GMs in the same time with the current one, as the board knows all too well, a massive reset button was hit.  NJ has had the advantage of a front office with a consistent vision and not having to move its Top 2Cs.  They should be a lot further ahead then Buffalo. 
 

 

 

Yup, they should be. 

They are still ahead - I simply said they were "further ahead" and you took issue with it for some reason. Or else, please direct me to where I said they were "wow way further ahead they are so awesome!" or that "the Devils are THE model of how to do a turnaround, hat tip for sure"

My point was merely a comment on how long it's taking the Sabres ie we've taken longer than a team you've just explained has, in isolation, taken way longer than it should. Ie even a team that has struggled mightily, mightily, to get things turned around, STILL figured out how to do it sooner. That's EXACTLY the original point I was making. 

Your argument..doesn't change what I said, at all. It serves to make my point

Edited November 15, 2022 by Thorny

[mjd1001]

On 11/13/2022 at 10:07 AM, Brawndo said:

They are for real. 
 

They have a very talented roster

They have 5 solid, but not spectacular D-men that they roll out there with pretty consistent minutes. No one is asked to carry too much of a load, they are all under 30 but yet none of them are too green-behind the ears. I have watched 2 devils games and they look solid back there.

Same thing up front. They pretty much 'roll' 3 lines but even the 4th line doesn't get left out. They stay fresh at the end of games.  Main difference I see between them and the Sabres is they have almost a perfect blend of young guys up front, late 20's guys, and older-than-that veterans.  But they 2 main young guys up front are Hirschier and Huges. They have almost 500 NHL games experience between them already, so they aren't going through the same D-zone mistakes and 'learning' the 200 foot game anymore that the likes of Quinn, Krebs, Peterka, etc are.  They played those guys the last couple years, they made mistakes (part of why they weren't that good) and now they are better for it. Something the Sabres can look forward to with their young guys up front next year and the year after.

What will make them dangerous is in the next couple of years, they still have 2 more top 5 picks that will eventually make the team that aren't there now....they have their top guys locked up, but will have a lot of cap room/flexibility next year also.

Edited November 15, 2022 by mjd1001

[SabresBillsFan]

Not sure why Granato got an extension when he really hasn’t accomplished much. They jumped the gone and I’m not sure if he’s the right guy for this job.