GDT: Sabres Prospect Camp: 3v3 Tournament, Sabres.com, July 6, 2023

[LGR4GM]

4 minutes ago, JustOneParade said:

Whether its 75% that won't make it or the 50% that @LGR4GMsuggests, that number can now be applied to 15 or so legitimate prospects vs. maybe a half dozen in years past. That's what is particularly encouraging for the future.

Both numbers are probably correct. 50% will play NHL games, only 25% will be NHL regulars. 

[RochesterExpat]

14 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

Not to rain on parades but, it is just a summer scrimmage. Half these guys will never make the NHL.

Absolutely agree, but it's still useful for some "bigger" takeaways. As I said earlier in the thread, to me those takeaways would be Novikov's mature level of play and Neuchev's stickhandling.

The same could be said for the prospect challenge last year which, granted, is certainly a step above prospect camp, but is still ultimately just a scrimmage. There's still some takeaways that can be made. The biggest one last year for me was that Juraj Slafkovsky played with his head down and relied too much on his size and I went so far as to say his play was "near suicidal in the NHL." You had the same takeaway about his play not being at the NHL level in the thread as well. 

Slaf played in 39 games. In those 39 games, he was injured against Arizona and missed a few games. The injury occurred because he was skating with his head down. His season ended due to an injury against the Rangers where he was just staring at his skates and got bumped down in the offensive zone.

But that overlooks the fact that he missed shifts due to injury when playing the Canucks, the Wild, and the Sens. He damn near killed himself against Chicago. He was reaching for a puck with his head down... in the NHL. Not to mention he got a game misconduct and two game suspension for boarding in a game against the Red Wings.

All in 39 games. I'd say we were both right on that big takeaway from a scrimmage.

[LGR4GM]

1 minute ago, RochesterExpat said:

Absolutely agree, but it's still useful for some "bigger" takeaways. As I said earlier in the thread, to me those takeaways would be Novikov's mature level of play and Neuchev's stickhandling.

The same could be said for the prospect challenge last year which, granted, is certainly a step above prospect camp, but is still ultimately just a scrimmage. There's still some takeaways that can be made. The biggest one last year for me was that Juraj Slafkovsky played with his head down and relied too much on his size and I went so far as to say his play was "near suicidal in the NHL." You had the same takeaway about his play not being at the NHL level in the thread as well. 

Slaf played in 39 games. In those 39 games, he was injured against Arizona and missed a few games. The injury occurred because he was skating with his head down. His season ended due to an injury against the Rangers where he was just staring at his skates and got bumped down in the offensive zone.

But that overlooks the fact that he missed shifts due to injury when playing the Canucks, the Wild, and the Sens. He damn near killed himself against Chicago. He was reaching for a puck with his head down... in the NHL. Not to mention he got a game misconduct and two game suspension for boarding in a game against the Red Wings.

All in 39 games. I'd say we were both right on that big takeaway from a scrimmage.

You know what is interesting about Slafkovsky is that the scouting reports and what I was seeing in video was a guy who didn't often make moves in stride with head up, a lot of gliding and moves while looking at the puck. I am not saying Slafkovsky can't make it but I think he needs 2-3 years of development to really harness all that skill. Montreal should have let him stay in Liiga for another season or put him in the AHL if possible. I think they did what a lot of teams do and equate size with readiness. Big players might not be ready just like small players might not be ready. He will be interesting to watch. 

One of the things I like about Benson is the pro level habits that you don't need to develop, he already scans the ice, makes not only moves but passes with his head up and in stride, and his backchecking stick work is advanced. Benson needs to work on his overall speed and how fast he accelerates, they aren't bad but we saw it in this prospect tournament (back on topic) where he could be chased down or wouldn't quite get the separation he needed. The good news is I think with some stride work and obviously more muscle he will get that jump but it would be where I would focus if I were him. 

Novikov, comes as advertised. I think his stride needs some work and there were a few times I thought he was a little flat footed just anchoring the front of the net. Outside of that there is an offensive skillset there that is just BEGGGING to be released, his shot was great and his hand eye coordination was also great. He had more handling moves than I realized too. Also, once hitting is allowed, oh man. There were several plays where you could just tell Novikov was going to level a guy but backed off due to scrimmage rules. For a guy who won't be 20 for a few weeks, he was the most composed and reliable defender on the ice. I cannot wait to see what he can do in the AHL. I bet he starts slow in October and November but in December things start to really click and by January, he's going to be a force. 

[Cheektorado]

Of course, most of these young guys won't be in the NHL but filling out spots in the AHL/ECHL with home grown players isn't a bad deal.

[Flashsabre]

The prospects tournament will be fun this year. With college and European league starting up they won’t have Östlund, Wahlberg, Poltapov, Leinonen Strbak, McCarthy, Richard but still should be able to ice a dynamite team with Benson, Matthew Savoie, Kulich, Rosen, Kozak, Cederqvist, Kisakov, Neuchev,Nadeau, Miedema, Ryan Johnson, Novikov, Lindgren, Komarov,  Nicholas Savoie, Ratzlaff

Edited July 7, 2023 by Flashsabre

[Eleven]

19 minutes ago, Flashsabre said:

The prospects tournament will be fun this year. With college and European league starting up they won’t have Östlund, Wahlberg, Poltapov, Leinonen Strbak, McCarthy, Richard but still should be able to ice a dynamite team with Benson, Savoie, Kulich, Rosen, Kozak, Cederqvist, Kisakov, Neuchev,Nadeau, Miedema, Novikov, Lindgren, Komarov,  Ratzlaff

Do you happen to know dates/times/location/etc.?

[LabattBlue]

4 minutes ago, Eleven said:

Do you happen to know dates/times/location/etc.?

Last year was 9-15 to 9-19, so I would expect something similar this year.   All games in the past have been at HarborCenter. 

Edited July 7, 2023 by LabattBlue

[Derrico]

5 hours ago, Zamboni said:

I wish you would have said you were there. I was sitting like 5 feet away from you. The reason I know this is because I was sitting 7 feet away from  Sardarians father and little brother too. It was obvious they were his family by the way they reacted when he was on the ice.

Was great meeting up with you and putting a face to the name.  I’ve been coming to this site a couple times a day for nearly 20 years lol.  Nice meeting up with fellow Sabrespacers!

[Mustache of God]

22 hours ago, PromoTheRobot said:

This team...as in Sabres or Amerks? 

It was a bad attempt at a pun....Naudeu , not doing... I don't know.  He seems like he's been around for awhile but doesn't get talked about much.

[TheAud]

On 7/6/2023 at 2:07 PM, Pimlach said:

I knew I could be near a Sabre Spacer at any time.  I as looking nervously looking over my shoulder, kind of worried that @PASabreFan might be stalking.  

Couldn't happen. Pegula was there and pretty sure the court order prevents PA from getting within 500 feet. 

[7+6=13]

2 hours ago, Derrico said:

Was great meeting up with you and putting a face to the name.  I’ve been coming to this site a couple times a day for nearly 20 years lol.  Nice meeting up with fellow Sabrespacers!

That's pretty cool right there.