Around The NHL 2022-23 Regular Season

[LTS]

8 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

So do you think it's Power?

Hard to compare between forwards and defense.  But you can't determine who the best player in the draft is yet. It's early in the career. But I can say that the Sabres need what Power brings to them far more than they need what Beniers would bring.  So for the Sabres, yes.. Power is the better player.

 

[PerreaultForever]

12 hours ago, LTS said:

Hard to compare between forwards and defense.  But you can't determine who the best player in the draft is yet. It's early in the career. But I can say that the Sabres need what Power brings to them far more than they need what Beniers would bring.  So for the Sabres, yes.. Power is the better player.

 

I'm not going to argue that. I did say Power is good and who is better isn't determined - yet. D men develop slower almost always. 

In terms of what the team needs, well if you drafted Beniers you have to draft differently. maybe you don't pick Savoie, maybe you take a D man in the high second. I wanted them to anyway and still think they don't have enough D prospects at this time. 

[Porous Five Hole]

48 minutes ago, PerreaultForever said:

I'm not going to argue that. I did say Power is good and who is better isn't determined - yet. D men develop slower almost always. 

In terms of what the team needs, well if you drafted Beniers you have to draft differently. maybe you don't pick Savoie, maybe you take a D man in the high second. I wanted them to anyway and still think they don't have enough D prospects at this time. 

I’m tagging you to not lose sight of my Power observation in a thread about the entire league. 

I am thinking that Dahlin and his slow, but recent meteoric growth has taken pressure off of Power to be elite immediately. I can easily see local fans fans say, “lay off the guy because look at how long it took our other #1 overall to be elite.” This case in point should give Power a lot more room to develop without the microscope that Dahlin dealt with. That’s a huge plus. 

[sabresparaavida]

40 minutes ago, Porous Five Hole said:

I’m tagging you to not lose sight of my Power observation in a thread about the entire league. 

I am thinking that Dahlin and his slow, but recent meteoric growth has taken pressure off of Power to be elite immediately. I can easily see local fans fans say, “lay off the guy because look at how long it took our other #1 overall to be elite.” This case in point should give Power a lot more room to develop without the microscope that Dahlin dealt with. That’s a huge plus. 

There’s not only the development of Dahlin to compare Power to as well. Tage Thompson is a similar size player that didn’t break out till 24. It’s a little scary to think about how composed Power is back there as a 6’6” rookie defenseman. When he continues to grow into his body, and develops his defensive abilities more, we’re gonna be damn scary to play against. 
 

When thinking about how well this kids line is performing, it makes me even more excited for the future. In 1-2 years we could see a similar kids line of some combination of Kulich/Savoie/Rosen/Östlund/Krebs. Having already established scoring lines of Skinner-TNT-Tuch, JJP-Cozens-Quinn will put a lot less pressure on a similarly talented 3rd line.  
 

All this team really needs (beyond this year) is goaltending, defensive depth, and possibly a revamped 4th line for a shutdown role.
 

[Taro T]

2 minutes ago, sabresparaavida said:

There’s not only the development of Dahlin to compare Power to as well. Tage Thompson is a similar size player that didn’t break out till 24. It’s a little scary to think about how composed Power is back there as a 6’6” rookie defenseman. When he continues to grow into his body, and develops his defensive abilities more, we’re gonna be damn scary to play against. 
 

When thinking about how well this kids line is performing, it makes me even more excited for the future. In 1-2 years we could see a similar kids line of some combination of Kulich/Savoie/Rosen/Östlund/Krebs. Having already established scoring lines of Skinner-TNT-Tuch, JJP-Cozens-Quinn will put a lot less pressure on a similarly talented 3rd line.  
 

All this team really needs (beyond this year) is goaltending, defensive depth, and possibly a revamped 4th line for a shutdown role.
 

Power has none of the awkwardness that Thompson often had on display when he 1st arrived in Buffalo.

Power will continue to improve as he gets used to this level & doesn't make rookie mistakes, but he seems very comfortable in his own body and has been doing that Quinn acclimating into a new higher level but on a much more rapid level for at least the last 2 years.  (Whereas Quinn has (until this year) taken a year to get things working at a new level & then take off; Power seemed to start on the 3rd pairing at every new stop & then end up top pairing about a week later.)

But, yeah, he's going to be truly scary to play against.  Much like Dahlin finally is (he has finally blossemed into the full package & is STILL getting better).  Though doubt we see him throwing the sort of hits Dahlin likes to dish out.

Expecting way more of a Dahlin growth curve than a Thompson spike.  Hopefully a little steeper as he presumably is in a much less toxic environment than Ras was thrown into.

 

[PerreaultForever]

1 hour ago, sabresparaavida said:

In 1-2 years we could see a similar kids line of some combination of Kulich/Savoie/Rosen/Östlund/Krebs. Having already established scoring lines of Skinner-TNT-Tuch, JJP-Cozens-Quinn will put a lot less pressure on a similarly talented 3rd line.  
 

All this team really needs (beyond this year) is goaltending, defensive depth, and possibly a revamped 4th line for a shutdown role.
 

Krebs isn't exactly going to be a "kid" in 1-2 years. imo Krebs will never make it as the kind of center he was in junior. He either learns and develops into a good role player or he will be an AHL perennial. 

all we need is............that's actually quite a lot and are the very things I identified back in free agency. Those are the holes we didn't fill, and they are big holes. 

[triumph_communes]

Krebs is a bust 

[shrader]

9 hours ago, Taro T said:

Power has none of the awkwardness that Thompson often had on display when he 1st arrived in Buffalo.

Power will continue to improve as he gets used to this level & doesn't make rookie mistakes, but he seems very comfortable in his own body and has been doing that Quinn acclimating into a new higher level but on a much more rapid level for at least the last 2 years.  (Whereas Quinn has (until this year) taken a year to get things working at a new level & then take off; Power seemed to start on the 3rd pairing at every new stop & then end up top pairing about a week later.)

But, yeah, he's going to be truly scary to play against.  Much like Dahlin finally is (he has finally blossemed into the full package & is STILL getting better).  Though doubt we see him throwing the sort of hits Dahlin likes to dish out.

Expecting way more of a Dahlin growth curve than a Thompson spike.  Hopefully a little steeper as he presumably is in a much less toxic environment than Ras was thrown into.

 

That type of growth curve with this as his starting point? Sign me up. I can’t imagine that there are very many 19-20 year old defensemen eating up the kind of minutes he has so far. 

[LGR4GM]

10 hours ago, sabresparaavida said:

There’s not only the development of Dahlin to compare Power to as well. Tage Thompson is a similar size player that didn’t break out till 24. It’s a little scary to think about how composed Power is back there as a 6’6” rookie defenseman. When he continues to grow into his body, and develops his defensive abilities more, we’re gonna be damn scary to play against. 
 

When thinking about how well this kids line is performing, it makes me even more excited for the future. In 1-2 years we could see a similar kids line of some combination of Kulich/Savoie/Rosen/Östlund/Krebs. Having already established scoring lines of Skinner-TNT-Tuch, JJP-Cozens-Quinn will put a lot less pressure on a similarly talented 3rd line.  
 

All this team really needs (beyond this year) is goaltending, defensive depth, and possibly a revamped 4th line for a shutdown role.
 

I just want to mention that out of those 5 names, you can pick 2 that will bust and wash out as nothing more than replacement level. The odds of all 5 being good is low. We have seen some good signs from Kulich and Rosen this year. Östlund is hard to evaluate playing in Allsveskan but looks fine. Savoie has a dip in production which is hard to feel great about. Krebs has had a rough go. 

The good news? Kisakov, Poltapov, Neuchev, Bloom, Kozak, Nadeau should give us 1 other good forward (no idea which one) so that helps too. 

AND! We have 4 picks in the top 2 rounds in a deep draft so we could pull 1 other forward there. 

Basically by the start of 2025 we could have another 5 forwards that are middle 6 quality at least. 

[sabresparaavida]

8 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

Krebs isn't exactly going to be a "kid" in 1-2 years. imo Krebs will never make it as the kind of center he was in junior. He either learns and develops into a good role player or he will be an AHL perennial. 

all we need is............that's actually quite a lot and are the very things I identified back in free agency. Those are the holes we didn't fill, and they are big holes. 

My expectations for Krebs at this point in time are not very high, and he won’t be as young as this rendition of the kids line. I think it is fair to note that Cozens has about a seasons worth more NHL game experience than Krebs. 

[Quint]

I like Krebs. Leave him alone. There were plenty of people criticizing Thompson when he was going through his first stages too. 

Edited December 5, 2022 by Quint

[Marvin]

5 minutes ago, Quint said:

I like Krebs. Leave him alone. There were plenty of posters criticizing Thompson when he was going through his first stages too. 

Krebs made Mittlestadt and Olofsson stink less.  That speaks volumes in his favour.

[PerreaultForever]

3 hours ago, Quint said:

I like Krebs. Leave him alone. There were plenty of posters criticizing Thompson when he was going through his first stages too. 

That's not wrong. So send him to Rochester, just like they sent Thompson. 

[mjd1001]

6 hours ago, Quint said:

I like Krebs. Leave him alone. There were plenty of posters criticizing Thompson when he was going through his first stages too. 

I have picked on Krebs alot this year, but I am not going to label him a bust now. He's what, 21 years old?  Some guys flounder around the league until their middle 20's before they 'get it'.  21 is really young, I'm going to give him probably another couple years.

With that said, he is currently playing really bad.  Well, I think in the last couple of games he has stopped 'hurting' the team with bad turnovers, so maybe he isn't playing 'bad', but he hasn't scored in over 30 straight games played now. At some point you have to think of sending him down and come up with SOMETHING for him to work on down there.

[Zamboni]

And because this year is not a “ZOMG we must make the playoffs or everyone gets traded and fired” , I’d like to see Krebs work thru the hard times surrounded by NHLers. He knows he’s not playing up to his own expectation of himself. A lot of younger guys feel that pressure. Do we really have to rehash (again) what younger guys on the Sabres alone, are much better today because they (wait for it) developed.
Keep Krebs up with the Sabres. Keep working with him. Continue the development. And if he gets sent to the Amerks, so be it, hopefully it’ll help his game. I just don’t believe it’s a “must be done”.
At this point, calling him a bust at 21 is IMO, highly ignorant. Just like calling any number of young players, busts.

[Porous Five Hole]

4 hours ago, mjd1001 said:

I have picked on Krebs alot this year, but I am not going to label him a bust now. He's what, 21 years old?  Some guys flounder around the league until their middle 20's before they 'get it'.  21 is really young, I'm going to give him probably another couple years.

With that said, he is currently playing really bad.  Well, I think in the last couple of games he has stopped 'hurting' the team with bad turnovers, so maybe he isn't playing 'bad', but he hasn't scored in over 30 straight games played now. At some point you have to think of sending him down and come up with SOMETHING for him to work on down there.

So Krebs has three points in 19 games this year…not sure where you’re getting the pointless in 30 games remark?

While he’s a net negative player right now, he looks like he is working hard. He back checks with urgency. He’s only played 80 NHL games in his three pro seasons combined. Krebs has 26 points in those first 80 games (along with 25 AHL games, 25 pts in those games…35 games, 36 points if you add the Amerks playoff run last year).   

He’s a very young player.  People are way too hard on the guy who has the equivalent of one NHL season under his belt in his career thus far. 

The Sabres believe he needs to develop his game at NHL speed. I’ll defer to them on that.  

For reference, Cozens scored 51 points in his first 120 NHL games (not cherry picking 120…that was his first two NHL seasons combined—Covid shortened year one). 
 

Would anyone be shocked if Krebs accumulated 25 points in the next 40 games to equal Cozens point total at the 120 game mark? Ok, I might be…that’s probably slightly out of reach, but what about 15-20 points in the next 40 games this year? That’s totally achievable.

That doesn’t put Krebs far outside of what Cozens put up. Let’s take it easy on the kid.  

[Andrew Amerk]

On 11/30/2022 at 7:53 PM, Thorny said:

The guy who berated the team and every member of this board on his way out lol 

 

On 12/1/2022 at 7:55 PM, Broken Ankles said:

He did it more than just on his way out. Delta Bravo in the first degree.

 

On 12/1/2022 at 8:51 PM, Zamboni said:

Agree. And I’m sorry but if you are a fan of a player more than a fan of the team …. Seeeee ya. No skin off my ear lobes.

Yes, that guy. 

I enjoyed his posts, and I’ve never liked the pack-rat mentality around here. 

[Curt]

5 hours ago, Andrew Amerk said:

 

 

Yes, that guy. 

I enjoyed his posts, and I’ve never liked the pack-rat mentality around here. 

Pack-rat mentality?  Like hoarder?  Or like we hold on to stuff?

[Eleven]

10 hours ago, Andrew Amerk said:

 

 

Yes, that guy. 

I enjoyed his posts, and I’ve never liked the pack-rat mentality around here. 

Now that I know who we're talking about...I liked him too.  And he was fun to meet in person.  But he did seem angry at the end, there, maybe it was because of Ullmark.

[mjd1001]

13 hours ago, Porous Five Hole said:

So Krebs has three points in 19 games this year…not sure where you’re getting the pointless in 30 games remark?

While he’s a net negative player right now, he looks like he is working hard. He back checks with urgency. He’s only played 80 NHL games in his three pro seasons combined. Krebs has 26 points in those first 80 games (along with 25 AHL games, 25 pts in those games…35 games, 36 points if you add the Amerks playoff run last year).   

He’s a very young player.  People are way too hard on the guy who has the equivalent of one NHL season under his belt in his career thus far. 

The Sabres believe he needs to develop his game at NHL speed. I’ll defer to them on that.  

For reference, Cozens scored 51 points in his first 120 NHL games (not cherry picking 120…that was his first two NHL seasons combined—Covid shortened year one). 
 

Would anyone be shocked if Krebs accumulated 25 points in the next 40 games to equal Cozens point total at the 120 game mark? Ok, I might be…that’s probably slightly out of reach, but what about 15-20 points in the next 40 games this year? That’s totally achievable.

That doesn’t put Krebs far outside of what Cozens put up. Let’s take it easy on the kid.  

Not sure where i'm getting that? When I say 'scored' I mean goals. I do not consider getting an assist 'scoring'. He is without a goal in 30+ games. 

And as far as backchecking with urgency? MAYBE in the last 2-3 games, but for the rest of this season not at all.  I have pointed out in previous threads when you look at the replay of goals allowed by the Sabres, at least a couple times the eventual goal scorer  was right in front of Krebs with him either 'gliding' to them or just way too slow to get back and impact the play.

Even in the last 3 games I haven't seen all of, one of them he had 7.5 minutes of ice time. That is vitually unheard of for a forward to have that little ice time unless they are injured.

I have also pointed out SEVERAL plays where goals were scored against the Sabres that were a direct result of him losing a battle for the puck on the boards or a major giveaway by him.

If you have watched the replays of the times I have cited the above it is obvious he is a boy agaisnt men out there in his own zone.

Again, I am not saying I am giving up on Krebs, but he isn't even a young guy that is 'learning his way'.  He is not contributing goals at all and is a major liability causing goals against.  I have not seen all of the last 3 games by the Sabres so maybe it has changed in the last 3 games, but up until then he as been a major liability of this team while contributing very little. 

Something has to change. I understand  the Sabres feel he is best served up here practicing with the team, but he isn't helping the team on the ice during games days, and they are barely using him (scratched a few times and getting very little ice time in others.)  He is hurting the team on the ice, you have to wonder is a point approaching where he can practice here but you keep him off the ice to prevent him from hurting the team (which they ARE doing with his ice time)....would it be better to put him in Roch and have the coaches have more time to work with him on specific parts of his game (less games played, more productive practice time in the AHL) and during the games give him almost double the ice time he gets here?

Edited December 6, 2022 by mjd1001

[matter2003]

On 12/4/2022 at 10:04 PM, PerreaultForever said:

I'm not going to argue that. I did say Power is good and who is better isn't determined - yet. D men develop slower almost always. 

In terms of what the team needs, well if you drafted Beniers you have to draft differently. maybe you don't pick Savoie, maybe you take a D man in the high second. I wanted them to anyway and still think they don't have enough D prospects at this time. 

Power is going to be a freaking stud back there within a few years.

[kas23]

2 hours ago, mjd1001 said:

Not

Again, I am not saying I am giving up on Krebs, but he isn't even a young guy that is 'learning his way'.  He is not contributing goals at all and is a major liability causing goals against.  I have not seen all of the last 3 games by the Sabres so maybe it has changed in the last 3 games, but up until then he as been a major liability of this team while contributing very little. 

One great thing about DG and KA is patience. When we were collectively screaming at the TV screens, they have been patient and it has paid off. Let’s ignore the development of Tage (which is the ultimate show of patience and reward) and look at Dahlin and Cozens. Many on here were at wits end with Dahlin prior to the All Star break last year. Remember all those shorties he was giving up on the PP? We were looking at him as a reclamation project at that point. We were a little bit more patient with Cozens, but many (myself included) were wanting much more last year (including a stint in Rochester). He would have a few games of brilliance, then disappear. Even this year, we were wondering if he still had the ability to hit the back of the net, but our patience has paid off. 
 

Krebs is not doing so well, but Donnie’s going to keep him in the games to learn from his many mistakes. Sooner or later, he may respond or maybe not and take the Mitts route. Either way, I don’t see anything as being too unusual right now. 

[steveoath]

Some good sabres chat in amongst an enjoyable couple of podcasts. Well worth a listen:

 

[SwampD]

To bring this back around to the NHL, the attendance of the Penguins/Blue Jackets game looks pretty close to a Tuesday Sabres game.

I think the Guins are done.

[K-9]

8 hours ago, matter2003 said:

Power is going to be a freaking stud back there within a few years.

Hard to believe he’s just 19. 19!