Matej Pekar assigned to ECHL

[LGR4GM]

 

I wasn't going to make a thread but a know there was talk a while back that Pekar was going to be some 3/4 line guy for Buffalo because in this one training camp he hit Dahlin so here we are. 

[Mustache of God]

Some say the concept of Pekar may never die.

[Contempt]

Is it fair to say our Pekar never fully developed into the rock hard warrior we'd hoped for?

[Scottysabres]

Is this a performance based move, or is the organization making room on the AHL farm team roster?

[inkman]

This is at least his second demotion this season.  He’s the worst player they have drafted and signed since Zagrapan?  At least Matej was only a 4th rounder. 

Just now, Scottysabres said:

Is this a performance based move, or is the organization making room on the AHL farm team roster?

Making room. Although see above. 

[Weave]

He was an underdog that was easy to root for.  He showed some attitude with that Dahlin training camp hit that was woefully underrepresented in Buffalo.  Would have been a nice story for Pekar to beat the odds and develop into an NHL player.  Oh well.

[Scottysabres]

Just now, inkman said:

This is at least his second demotion this season.  He’s the worst player they have drafted and signed since Zagrapan?  At least Matej was only a 4th rounder. 

Making room. Although see above. 

Thanks Ink. I have the AHL stream package for Rochester, just haven't been able to catch but a handful of games, so I'm in the dark ad to what he's done this season.

[sabills]

2 minutes ago, Weave said:

He was an underdog that was easy to root for.  He showed some attitude with that Dahlin training camp hit that was woefully underrepresented in Buffalo.  Would have been a nice story for Pekar to beat the odds and develop into an NHL player.  Oh well.

Pretty much my take, only to add that I might have gotten Peterka and Pekar confused for a while this year...

But yeah, 4th rounder doesn't pan out, more at 11.

[LabattBlue]

Could swear there was a thread created last time he was demoted…unless it was deleted by whomever created it.  Either way…not there any longer. 

[Cage]

This stuff happens.  They can't be afraid to take a chance on a kid who played well in Jr/NCAA/overseas.. lets not forget that Brandon Hegel was a similar pick that played well in Jr and they passed on him.  Would be nice to have him on the Sabres now.  Keep signing them...

[GASabresIUFAN]

1 hour ago, inkman said:

He’s the worst player they have drafted and signed since Zagrapan?

Lol, not even close.  
Alex Nylander for example.  Marcus Davidson, Connor Hurley, Eric Cornel, Vaclav Karabacek, and Brycen Martin.  These are all top 3 round picks.

[LGR4GM]

7 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Lol, not even close.  
Alex Nylander for example.  Marcus Davidson, Connor Hurley, Eric Cornel, Vaclav Karabacek, and Brycen Martin.  These are all top 3 round picks.

Mikhail Grigorenko

[GASabresIUFAN]

4 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

Mikhail Grigorenko

nah.  Grigorenko (12th overall) at least played 249 NHL games.  Nylander, a 8th overall pick, lasted 84.

I'll see your Grigorenko and raise you a TJ Brennan and the immortal Dennis Persson

Edited January 31, 2023 by GASabresIUFAN

[Huckleberry]

Thought he already was in the ECHL, guess he is going back and forward.

[Taro T]

28 minutes ago, Huckleberry said:

Thought he already was in the ECHL, guess he is going back and forward.

He was but got called back up sometime around the WJCs.

Guess this last stint was no more impressive than his previous ones.

Too bad.  Would've been a good story.

[IKnowPhysics]

4 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

I wasn't going to make a thread but a know there was talk a while back that Pekar was going to be some 3/4 line guy for Buffalo because in this one training camp he hit Dahlin so here we are. 

So a common reassignment wasn't thread worthy, but a petty, vaguely-targeted I-told-you-so definitely was.

[dudacek]

6 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Lol, not even close.  
Alex Nylander for example.  Marcus Davidson, Connor Hurley, Eric Cornel, Vaclav Karabacek, and Brycen Martin.  These are all top 3 round picks.

 

6 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

Mikhail Grigorenko

The question was “drafted and signed”

Hurley and Davidsson were never signed. Cornel played 250ish AHL games with 80ish points

Grigorenko and Nylander played a lot of NHL games.

Pekar has just 77 AHL games and 13 points in 3 years. He’s definitely a contender.

Karabecek was even worse though: 24 AHL games, 8 points. And he was a 2nd-rounder. That’s some bad scouting there.

[GASabresIUFAN]

24 minutes ago, dudacek said:

 

The question was “drafted and signed”

Hurley and Davidsson were never signed. Cornel played 250ish AHL games with 80ish points

Grigorenko and Nylander played a lot of NHL games.

Pekar has just 77 AHL games and 13 points in 3 years. He’s definitely a contender.

Karabecek was even worse though: 24 AHL games, 8 points. And he was a 2nd-rounder. That’s some bad scouting there.

But to draft kids in the 2nd rounds, like Hurley, who weren’t good enough to even get signed is the definition of poor scouting.  Also relative value.  Top 10 picks are supposed to be sure fire NHLers.  Maybe not stars, but at least everyday players if even in a depth role.  Nylander might be the worst pick by the Sabres in this century.  Zagrapan and Persson were god awful picks, but Nylander was supposed to be a key piece of TM’s rebuilding of the Sabres.  We needed him to be a top 6 forward and instead got a AAAA player from a hockey family who can’t even dominate at the AHL.  Truthfully had Nylander been a 3rd rd pick, he’d have never seen the NHL.  So while Pekar may have not worked out, his not making it isn’t much of a loss, but the Nylander failure set the rebuild back.  We were lucky that Jbot was able to turn TM’s failure into Jokiharju, who while not a star is at least a capable defenseman.

PS Persson was signed and played 171 games in the AHL scoring 8g 25a.  Karabacek is still playing in the Czech league and according to Hockeydb has 0 pts in 33 games this season.

Edited February 1, 2023 by GASabresIUFAN

[dudacek]

44 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

But to draft kids in the 2nd rounds, like Hurley, who weren’t good enough to even get signed is the definition of poor scouting.  Also relative value.  Top 10 picks are supposed to be sure fire NHLers.  Maybe not stars, but at least everyday players if even in a depth role.  Nylander might be the worst pick by the Sabres in this century.  Zagrapan and Persson were god awful picks, but Nylander was supposed to be a key piece of TM’s rebuilding of the Sabres.  We needed him to be a top 6 forward and instead got a AAAA player from a hockey family who can’t even dominate at the AHL.  Truthfully had Nylander been a 3rd rd pick, he’d have never seen the NHL.  So while Pekar may have not worked out, his not making it isn’t much of a loss, but the Nylander failure set the rebuild back.  We were lucky that Jbot was able to turn TM’s failure into Jokiharju, who while not a star is at least a capable defenseman.

PS Persson was signed and played 171 games in the AHL scoring 8g 25a.  Karabacek is still playing in the Czech league and according to Hockeydb has 0 pts in 33 games this season.

Sure, not arguing this at all, but he wasn’t asking who the worst draft picks were, he was asking if there was a worse player that we drafted and signed than Pekar?

There may have been, but there weren’t many. Pekar is not good and certainly was not a better player than Nylander, as ineffective as Alex was.

[Doohicksie]

Has anyone tried moving him to center?

 

 

Oh... he *is* a center?

 

 

To be fair it looks like he's had some physical challenges.

https://www.buffalohockeybeat.com/sabres-prospect-matej-pekar-close-to-playing-ready-to-be-pest-for-amerks/

[Pimlach]

17 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

 

I wasn't going to make a thread but a know there was talk a while back that Pekar was going to be some 3/4 line guy for Buffalo because in this one training camp he hit Dahlin so here we are. 

I think Dahlin leveled him in the open practice?  The one with the intra-squad game.   I was there, hard to recall now who hit who.  Time flies. 
 

Looks like Pekar is never going to be the next Barnaby.  

[GASabresIUFAN]

Ultimately he’s just a “Minor” Pekar.

[inkman]

8 hours ago, dudacek said:

Sure, not arguing this at all, but he wasn’t asking who the worst draft picks were, he was asking if there was a worse player that we drafted and signed than Pekar?

There may have been, but there weren’t many. Pekar is not good and certainly was not a better player than Nylander, as ineffective as Alex was.

You explained this infinitely better than I could 

[inkman]

9 hours ago, dudacek said:

 

The question was “drafted and signed”

Hurley and Davidsson were never signed. Cornel played 250ish AHL games with 80ish points

Grigorenko and Nylander played a lot of NHL games.

Pekar has just 77 AHL games and 13 points in 3 years. He’s definitely a contender.

Karabecek was even worse though: 24 AHL games, 8 points. And he was a 2nd-rounder. That’s some bad scouting there.

That 2014 draft could have sent this franchise down a very different path.  Reinhart, Lemieux and Olofsson are obviously great picks but every other Sabres pick from that draft was hot garbage.  
 

 

[Doohicksie]

47 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

I think Dahlin leveled him in the open practice?  The one with the intra-squad game.   I was there, hard to recall now who hit who.  Time flies. 
 

Looks like Pekar is never going to be the next Barnaby.  

Pekar took out Rasmus.