GDT - Bruins at Sabres - Tuesday, September 26, 2023 - 7:00 PM (EDT) - Pre-Season Game 2

[LGR4GM]

Our defense looked meh. Rasmus and Muel were fine but everyone else was uneven. In the 3rd, lots of full shifts hemmed in where I thought forwards could have helped more.

Good to win in preseason but I wanted a bit more from Tage, Skinner, Rasmus, and even Muel. Still, no worries about the regulars. 

[Flashsabre]

My takeaways:

1) I’ve really liked Stillman’s playthe first two games. Physical, making smart decisions, very solid

2) The Big 3 (Benson, Kulich and Rosen) all looked good 

3) Levi was everything you wanted to see tonight but Cooley was really impressive too. He had terrific numbers in Milwaukee last season

4) Rochester should have a dynamite team this season. Such a great blend of talented vets and really good kids. Toker and Cooley should give them rock solid goaltending too.

5) Glad to have hockey back and no doubt the next decade is going to be a lot more fun then the past one

Edited September 27, 2023 by Flashsabre

[K-9]

8 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

Think you mean "Daa-vonn" according to Edward's tonight

Good, pour salt in that empty net wound.

Can’t forget NAY-doe and COO-lick, too.

[...]

Paul Hamilton has the tact of a gnarly cactus. He asked Cedarqvist if he thought his play might earn him a call-up. Dude was like "yeah, sure, but I'm really trying to make the team."

[Two or less]

Nice unselfish play by Kozak at the end for the empty net goal.

[RochesterExpat]

1 hour ago, LGR4GM said:

College ufa a couple years ago. Already 25, might be a depth callup. 

He’s looked good in the AHL absent injuries. Honestly I’m not making any bets anymore on this roster. Biro will need to clear waivers. It’s possible that works to his benefit this season. If he continues to outplay the other prospects in camp, he might get the nod. 

[Archie Lee]

19 minutes ago, RochesterExpat said:

He’s looked good in the AHL absent injuries. Honestly I’m not making any bets anymore on this roster. Biro will need to clear waivers. It’s possible that works to his benefit this season. If he continues to outplay the other prospects in camp, he might get the nod. 

Biro might be perfectly positioned to be the 13th forward. Assuming Olofsson isn’t going anywhere, the top 9 is full. It serves no purpose to have Kulich or Rosen playing 4th line duties. Rousek does not need to clear waivers.  Biro can play wing or centre. 

[Flashsabre]

Biro and Murray both have to clear waivers. I can see one or both being claimed

[Flashsabre]

They play the Leafs tomorrow. Just trying to think who we haven’t seen yet:

Cozens, Tuch, Olofsson, Savoie (injured) Okposo, Girgensons, Kisakov, Neuchev, Mersh

Power, Joker, Clifton, E. Johnson, Janic, Novikov, Komarov, Metsa, N. Savoie

UPL, Houser

Edited September 27, 2023 by Flashsabre

[Bangarang]

I could have missed it but was it mentioned why Tuch was held out tonight?

[bg17]

19 minutes ago, Bangarang said:

I could have missed it but was it mentioned why Tuch was held out tonight?

Intermission report on WGR said general soreness. 

[Two or less]

14 minutes ago, bg17 said:

Intermission report on WGR said general soreness. 

 

34 minutes ago, Bangarang said:

I could have missed it but was it mentioned why Tuch was held out tonight?

 

 

Edited September 27, 2023 by Two or less

[SabresBillsFan]

Really like Benson but I just don’t see how they put him on the roster this season. I know Savoie is probably ready as well but Biro has been playing pretty damn good himself. Plus Benson can go back to juniors and play in the WJC and get much stronger. Savoie could play in Rochester and get primo ice time and heal that shoulder. If Biro has to clear waivers and is playing well then to me that’s an easy call. I thought Cedarqvist look pretty darn good to, like his size and he seems to move much better then Murray. really like a lot of this talent that this team has in the pipeline.

Edited September 27, 2023 by SabresBillsFan

[dudacek]

Devon Cooley might be a sneaky good signing, as in one of those late-blooming goalies who works his way up from the ECHL into a useful piece. He looked big and athletic. The comments coming from the sabres caught my attention when they signed him and his play tonight really piqued my curiousity as to if he can show something on a pretty good Amerks team this year.

Devon Levi was sure not showing any cause for concern. You had the vibe that group of plugs in black and gold were never going to score.

Tage and Ras were out for a Sunday skate. Casey turned it on every once in a while.

First time I've like Nadeau's showing. Wouldn't call him a standout, but at least he matched his rep as a guy who got his hands dirty enough to be in the mix for the bottom six some day.

Seems like a nice kid, but i will very surprised if Mats Lindgren ever plays a game for the Sabres

Riley Stillman was nasty and mostly effective and looked like a man fighting for his job.

All of you sure look cute trying to convince yourselves that Zach Benson can't really be as good as he's looked so far.

Edited September 27, 2023 by dudacek

[...]

There's a ton of room for several of these guys starting next year. No need to hurry their development, especially Benson who is particularly young and has the highest upside if baked with care. We don't have a scoring issue but we did have an offensive depth issue last year (ignore the D for now), at least where we didn't have to accept compromises. If Biro is the guy and he continues to look like he does then he can rotate in and out of the third line, leaving the KO line intact.

 

This graph also reminds me that we have Olofsson who will hopefully become an especially attractive trade piece at the deadline. That makes another opportunity to permanently roll in Savoie or Kulich if either prove they're ready. 

Edited September 27, 2023 by ...

[#freejame]

7 hours ago, Quint said:

Last year, I heard Jack Edwards try to cop the "Top shelf where mama hides the cookies." It didn't work. You don't get anywhere in life trying to pay "homage" to legends. You get called out as a cheap imitator. You have to be original and carve your own legend.

 

 

 

 

Good artists copy, great artists steal.  

[SabresBaltimore]

Man Benson looks good: 

 

[inkman]

6 hours ago, SabresBillsFan said:

Really like Benson but I just don’t see how they put him on the roster this season. I know Savoie is probably ready as well but Biro has been playing pretty damn good himself. Plus Benson can go back to juniors and play in the WJC and get much stronger. Savoie could play in Rochester and get primo ice time and heal that shoulder. If Biro has to clear waivers and is playing well then to me that’s an easy call. I thought Cedarqvist look pretty darn good to, like his size and he seems to move much better then Murray. really like a lot of this talent that this team has in the pipeline.

Savoie is unable to play in Rochester this season. 

[Radar]

9 hours ago, stinky finger said:

 

He'd still be douche. Granted, our douche......but douche all day.

Now this I agree with.

[Rasmus_]

The Benson no look apple to Skinny on the PP1.  Looked so filth.  I loved the cycling on it.  The Bruins without Bergeron and Krejci are meh'tastic!

[Buffalonill]

56 minutes ago, inkman said:

Savoie is unable to play in Rochester this season. 

He can do  Conditioning  in Rochester 

[Flashsabre]

31 minutes ago, Buffalonill said:

He can do  Conditioning  in Rochester 

And the Shane Wright exemption could make it interesting. Savoie literally misses by a single day and Covid was thrown into the mix. If they really wanted to fight I think they would have a good argument.

Its just too bad we can’t see him out here in one of these preseason games. The other kids have looked good.

[Taro T]

10 hours ago, Doohickie said:

They LITERALLY faced the same number of shots, Cooley had a very respectable .947 sv%.  I wasn't claiming Cooley was as good as Levi; I said he made almost as many saves which is factually correct. 

 

SHEESH.

Yeah, that response came across harsher than it should've been.

[JohnC]

14 hours ago, Taro T said:

 

Unless the seats are really good (and a corner 21 rows up probably doesn't qualify) $25 is a tough sell for a preseason game.  $20 seems to be a price point that will get you better results.  (He says probably 3 minutes before your seasts sell for $25 each.  LOL)

It would be an interesting experiment to see what the financial return would be if the tickets were sold between $5 to $10 for this type of exhibition game. The place would be filled with parents bringing their kids to see their first game. The concessions and merchandise sales would certainly be higher. This type of major discounting pricing would likely create additional return customers. In the end, the financial return for the Sabres would be dramatically higher. A win for the fans and a win for the hockey company. 

[Ogelthorpe]

Casey was invisible against the junior Bruins.