Sabres Prospect Pool ranked #1 by Yahoo Sports Canada...says rest of NHL should be terrified

[Curt]

9 minutes ago, JohnC said:

Vegas got Eichel in a trade. I consider him to be an elite player. In my view, the return on Eichel was more than fair. What it did for the Sabres is add two players, one of which (Tuch) turned out to be a high-end player. The dealing of Eichel also internally reconfigured the roster in that it elevated Tage's role, and with the addition of Tuch contributed to building a quality first line. I'm not fully disputing your premise about the difficulty in acquiring an elite player. But in the Buffalo/Vegas trade there was a multiplier effect for Buffalo that balanced out the trade of our star player. 

Bedard has the potential to be better than Eichel.

Eichel is very good, one of the better centers in the NHL, but what I really meant by elite is a no doubt top 10 player in the league.

I really really have no interest in having an Eichel debate.

Edited July 12, 2023 by Curt

[mjd1001]

28 minutes ago, Curt said:

Bedard has the potential to be better than Eichel.

Eichel is very good, one of the better centers in the NHL, but what I really meant by elite is a no doubt top 10 player in the league.

I really really have no interest in having an Eichel debate.

I think if Bedard doesn't turn out to be better than Eichel it will be a disappointment.

Eichel won a cup on a team that was always a step or two away from it without him.  He is a guy that for the most part ranks 15th-25th in the league in scoring.   I would think if Bedard doesn't win a cup or drastically rank higher in scoring than Eichel it will be a very big disappointment.

Bedard is thought by many to be the best prospect since McDavid.  The Fan 590 out of Toronto this morning was discussing him as being a top 5 player in the league by his 3rd year AND whether he gets to 100 points THIS YEAR (I don't think he will but one of the guys on the show did).

Edited July 12, 2023 by mjd1001

[Taro T]

1 hour ago, JohnC said:

Vegas got Eichel in a trade. I consider him to be an elite player. In my view, the return on Eichel was more than fair. What it did for the Sabres is add two players, one of which (Tuch) turned out to be a high-end player. The dealing of Eichel also internally reconfigured the roster in that it elevated Tage's role, and with the addition of Tuch contributed to building a quality first line. I'm not fully disputing your premise about the difficulty in acquiring an elite player. But in the Buffalo/Vegas trade there was a multiplier effect for Buffalo that balanced out the trade of our star player. 

Yes, mismanaged teams find themselves in situations where they end up trading away (either out of necessity or just because) high end talent like a Ryan O'Reilly or a Jack Eichel while they are still in their prime.  But, that is a rather rare occurance.  (Slight hyperbole on the part of the post you replied too, but a reasonably true assertion.)

[Skooby]

Great news.

[French Collection]

2 hours ago, Curt said:

One Connor Bedard is worth more than 4-5 Kulich/Savoie/R Johnson/Rosen’s.

Would you trade 4-5 middle 6 forwards or bottom 4 defensemen for Connor McDavid?

Yes, roster depth is important, but there are several ways to find/acquire/build roster depth.  There is really no way to acquire an elite player.  They are worth more because they are nearly impossible to get.

I know your point is star power but since we don’t have Bedard I am looking at the big picture.

Let’s say Bedard has a great HOF career and ends up with 1300 points.

Benson has a decent career as a top 6 winger and ends up at 650 points. Kulich and Savoie may be a notch below and end up between 400-500 points. None of these guys were elite but contributed more than Bedard. Those three may end up as a solid second line for a few years.

Bedard is a crown jewel but it takes a team to win. We’ll see how Chicago builds around him. We know how Edmonton has done with 2 of the top players in the world.

[Curt]

54 minutes ago, French Collection said:

I know your point is star power but since we don’t have Bedard I am looking at the big picture.

Let’s say Bedard has a great HOF career and ends up with 1300 points.

Benson has a decent career as a top 6 winger and ends up at 650 points. Kulich and Savoie may be a notch below and end up between 400-500 points. None of these guys were elite but contributed more than Bedard. Those three may end up as a solid second line for a few years.

Bedard is a crown jewel but it takes a team to win. We’ll see how Chicago builds around him. We know how Edmonton has done with 2 of the top players in the world.

 

You can’t compare one guys production to the production of 3 guys and just call it even.  Come on.  What about the other two guys who will be playing along with Bedard?  

Let’s say you have Bedard, you can then sign, draft, or trade for guys to play on your middle 6 lines.  Yes.  That’s kind of baseline competence.

Let’s say you have several good middle 6 guys, can you then sign, draft, or trade for a Bedard?  Not impossible but pretty unlikely.

Bedard is more valuable.

[French Collection]

1 hour ago, Curt said:

You can’t compare one guys production to the production of 3 guys and just call it even.

This is what I’m getting at. You are saying their prospect pool is better because they have Bedard. If their entire pool gets 2000 points in their careers while the Sabres pool gets 3000 theirs is still better because they have Bedard?

It’s a pool of players and the Sabres depth is as good or better than anyone else’s.

Having a Bedard is great to bring people out of their seats but I’m at a point where 3 scoring lines give you a better chance of winning. McDavid can score 150 points in a season but the team can’t go far in the playoffs due to lack of depth and goaltending.

[Curt]

31 minutes ago, French Collection said:

This is what I’m getting at. You are saying their prospect pool is better because they have Bedard. If their entire pool gets 2000 points in their careers while the Sabres pool gets 3000 theirs is still better because they have Bedard?

It’s a pool of players and the Sabres depth is as good or better than anyone else’s.

Having a Bedard is great to bring people out of their seats but I’m at a point where 3 scoring lines give you a better chance of winning. McDavid can score 150 points in a season but the team can’t go far in the playoffs due to lack of depth and goaltending.

All I’m saying is that it is relatively easy to acquire players that can fill out a middle six compared to how hard it is to get a player like Bedard.

For example, the Blackhawks could definitely build out a wonderful group of middle six forwards over the next few years, but Buffalo ain’t getting a Bedard over the next few years.

The Oilers issues aren’t because of McDavid, I’m pretty certain of that.

I get it, the Sabres have a lot of good prospects.  It’s tough.  Maybe the Blackhawks shouldn’t be #1 ahead of Buffalo, but it’s close and they should definitely be higher than 6th.

[sabresparaavida]

3 hours ago, French Collection said:

I know your point is star power but since we don’t have Bedard I am looking at the big picture.

Let’s say Bedard has a great HOF career and ends up with 1300 points.

Benson has a decent career as a top 6 winger and ends up at 650 points. Kulich and Savoie may be a notch below and end up between 400-500 points. None of these guys were elite but contributed more than Bedard. Those three may end up as a solid second line for a few years.

Bedard is a crown jewel but it takes a team to win. We’ll see how Chicago builds around him. We know how Edmonton has done with 2 of the top players in the world.

One large part of the big picture that you’re missing is the rest of Chicago’s pool. Without Bedrard, I think Chicago would still have a better than average prospect pool (maybe top10?). They have Reichel, who posted 15 points in 23 NHL games last year, Korchinski (7OA last year), Frank Nazar (13th last year) Sam Rinzel (25th last year), Oliver Moore (19th this year and fastest in the draft), and 3 second rounders this year. There is a lot of talent in the pool, their defensive pool is stronger than ours, and they have a solid goalie prospect in Drew Commesso. 

[That Aud Smell]

2 hours ago, French Collection said:

Having a Bedard is great to bring people out of their seats but I’m at a point where 3 scoring lines give you a better chance of winning. McDavid can score 150 points in a season but the team can’t go far in the playoffs due to lack of depth and goaltending.

[Zamboni]

2 hours ago, French Collection said:

This is what I’m getting at. You are saying their prospect pool is better because they have Bedard. If their entire pool gets 2000 points in their careers while the Sabres pool gets 3000 theirs is still better because they have Bedard?

It’s a pool of players and the Sabres depth is as good or better than anyone else’s.

Having a Bedard is great to bring people out of their seats but I’m at a point where 3 scoring lines give you a better chance of winning. McDavid can score 150 points in a season but the team can’t go far in the playoffs due to lack of depth and goaltending.

Just like Hasek in 99’ and other years he was at the top of his game. Not enough depth to help him win a cup. Oh Detroit. Sigh ….

[Crusader1969]

On 7/11/2023 at 11:05 AM, Randall Flagg said:

What year is it

The Sabres have had a great prospect Pool for a long time but the Sabres lineup had lots of holes in it...so we needed to wait for those prospects to develop and fill the holes 

Hear are the some of the stiffs the sabres have had on their opening night rosters for the Sabres since the Tank

15/16 David Legwand, Jamie McGinn, Josh Gorges, Cody Franson, Mike Weber, Carlo Colaiacovo , Chad Johnson,Risto  (lost to Ottawa 3-1)

16/17  Hudson Fashing, Nicolas Deslauriers, Matt Moulson, Casey Nelson, Derek Grant, Josh Gorges, Risto  (lost 4-1 to Mtl)

17/18 Jordan Nolan, Jocab Josefon, Seth Griffith, Benoit Pouliot, Victo Antipin, Matt Tennyson, Nathan Beaulieu, Risto  (lost to MTL 3-2 in Shoot out)

18/19 Vladimir Sobotka, Conor Sheary, Casey Nelson, Patrik Bergland, Nathan Beaulieu, Carter Hutton, Marco Scandella,  Risto (lost 4-0 to Boston)

19/20  Conor Sheary, Jimmy Vesey, Colin Miller, Marcus Johansson, Vladimir Sobotka, Risto, Carter Hutton (Won 3-1 vs Pitt)

20/21 Riley Cheahan, Curtis Lazar, Tobias Rieder, Cody Eakin, Erik Stal, Colin Miller, Risto , Carter Hutton   (Lost 6-4)

21/22 Drake Caggiula, Andres Bjork, Cody Eakin, Vinnie Hinostroza, Jacob Bryson, Hobert Hagg, Mark Pysyk, Colin Miller ( Won 5-1 vs Mtl)

22/23 Jacob Bryson

 

What player above would be on the Sabres 2022/23 Opening night roster?   I doubt any would   

 

So now for the 1st time we have both a loaded opening night roster and a Prospect Pool

Be Happy!