The Sabres Prospect Pool 2024 Edition

[GASabresIUFAN]

6 minutes ago, Weave said:

Who are you sitting?  Thats a roster spot.  

Send Dunne down, bench Clifton and play Novikov for example.

[Weave]

38 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Send Dunne down, bench Clifton and play Novikov for example.

Right.  Give him a spot.  13 ***** years.

If you had said, bring him up and see what he looks like in practice and if he looks better than Clifton, Id have no argument.  But your plan is to give a guy a spot for a few games that hasn’t shown he’s ready to beat out the guy who is sitting.

Whatever, Kevyn.

[Crusader1969]

9 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Every time I see a post about this prospect I think about the old Sabre Jacques Richard.  It would be great if this kid could erase the prior Richard from my memory.  Seriously how does a guy put up 24 goals over three seasons in Buffalo score 52 in a season with Quebec a few years later?

 

Cocaine?

[GASabresIUFAN]

18 hours ago, Weave said:

Right.  Give him a spot.  13 ***** years.

If you had said, bring him up and see what he looks like in practice and if he looks better than Clifton, Id have no argument.  But your plan is to give a guy a spot for a few games that hasn’t shown he’s ready to beat out the guy who is sitting.

Whatever, Kevyn.

What are you talking about?  Teams have been brining up prospects late in the season for 100 years to help determine if they are ready for the NHL.  We are not talking about Novikov or any of the kids playing out the season in Buffalo, but for a few games.  Practice?  Don't make me laugh. Clifton has been mostly lousy this season.  He has 2 pts and a -3 in his last 10 games, and this maybe his best stretch of the season.  Who the heck cares if he is benched for a few games to see if a key prospect is ready for NHL duty.  It's not like Clifton is helping us win games down the stretch for a playoff spot run.  My guess is Novikov is a better player than Clifton right now.  The best way to find out is to put him out there against NHL competition.  

[Weave]

53 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

What are you talking about?  Teams have been brining up prospects late in the season for 100 years to help determine if they are ready for the NHL.  We are not talking about Novikov or any of the kids playing out the season in Buffalo, but for a few games.  Practice?  Don't make me laugh. Clifton has been mostly lousy this season.  He has 2 pts and a -3 in his last 10 games, and this maybe his best stretch of the season.  Who the heck cares if he is benched for a few games to see if a key prospect is ready for NHL duty.  It's not like Clifton is helping us win games down the stretch for a playoff spot run.  My guess is Novikov is a better player than Clifton right now.  The best way to find out is to put him out there against NHL competition.  

No other team in league history has had a 14 season culture of losing.  No other team has focused on youth for this long as this team.  This is so far from normal that normal doesn’t apply.  Bringing up Novikov now disassembles any message that winning is important right now.

[GASabresIUFAN]

1 hour ago, Weave said:

No other team in league history has had a 14 season culture of losing.  No other team has focused on youth for this long as this team.  This is so far from normal that normal doesn’t apply.  Bringing up Novikov now disassembles any message that winning is important right now.

These current players already know winning isn't important to this organization.  LOL!  Did bringing up Murray, Rosen, Dunne, Kulich, Kozak change the messaging?  Bringing up a player who has earned an opportunity sends the right message to the players in the A and to the players in the NHL.  That message is roster spots are earned and that players in the NHL who aren't doing what is necessary will be replaced.  This team has already been eliminated from the playoffs.   Finding out who can contribute long-term is much more important than winning an extra game here or there.

Don't forget I have been harping on bringing in two veteran stay at home D to this roster for 3 years.  I've wanted failed D like Joki and Bryson gone for years.  You want to build a wining culture, this team needs to make better offseason acquisitions.  That doesn't change the need to properly evaluate your prospect pool.  

Edited Saturday at 07:09 PM by GASabresIUFAN

[DarthEbriate]

NCAA Frozen Four tournament is under way and the Sabres' representative prospects have been halved already.

Out after one game: Mich St. (Strbak and Geary); Minnesota (Ziemer) -- and technically they still hold Huglen's rights.

Next round is today/tomorrow and features BU (Gavin McCarthy), Western Michigan (Mateo Costantini), and UConn (Jake Richard). None of them face each other in this round to go to the Frozen Four.

[Brawndo]

On 3/28/2025 at 7:28 AM, FrenchConnection44 said:

Just going to mention him. He was featured in ESPN’s prospects to watch in the NCAA tournament. He’s also not yet under contract. But good to see some promise.  
 

 

I hear that Muldowney and Richard are planning to return to UCONN next season, they are in line for NIL Deals apparently 

[Weave]

7 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

These current players already know winning isn't important to this organization.  LOL!  Did bringing up Murray, Rosen, Dunne, Kulich, Kozak change the messaging?  Bringing up a player who has earned an opportunity sends the right message to the players in the A and to the players in the NHL.  That message is roster spots are earned and that players in the NHL who aren't doing what is necessary will be replaced.  This team has already been eliminated from the playoffs.   Finding out who can contribute long-term is much more important than winning an extra game here or there.

Don't forget I have been harping on bringing in two veteran stay at home D to this roster for 3 years.  I've wanted failed D like Joki and Bryson gone for years.  You want to build a wining culture, this team needs to make better offseason acquisitions.  That doesn't change the need to properly evaluate your prospect pool.  

Murray, Kozak, Dunne were brought up due to illness.  Kulich showed he’s ready to displace someone.  You have yet to convince me bringing up Novikov is because he is ready to displace someone on the roster.

[GASabresIUFAN]

2 hours ago, Weave said:

Murray, Kozak, Dunne were brought up due to illness.  Kulich showed he’s ready to displace someone.  You have yet to convince me bringing up Novikov is because he is ready to displace someone on the roster.

Kulich only showed he was ready to displace someone after getting time in the NHL.  Thank you for proving my point.  Kulich played in one NHL game last season and this season had little impact in his 1st 17 games with just 2g, 0 assists.  

As to Novikov, he has been the Amerks best defensive D that last 2 season despite being only 20 years old in 2023/24 and 21 this season.  He hits, blocks shots, and even chips in some offense with 23 points last season and 20, including 6 goals, so far this campaign.  The thing that stands out is he was the Amerks leader in +/- in 2023/24 at + 20 and now this season he is the leader again at +30.  Metsa, the next D, is only + 18.   This indicates to me that he is doing a great job at suppressing opponents offense.  Novikov's performance isn't really a surprise.  Novikov played the majority of his 18 year old season in the KHL and was full time at 19.  

Now look at the Sabres.  Besides Dahlin, the rest of our D group stinks defensively.  The Sabres have allowed the 5th most goal in the NHL this season.  Is it really so hard to believe that a defensive stalwart like Novikov might do a better job at playing defense for the Sabres than Clifton, Bryson, Samuelsson, Power or Byram?  Certainly it's reasonable to give the kid a shot because there is almost zero chance he'll be worse than Bryson or Clifton.  The Sabres just got blown out by the Flyers; allowing 7 goals. Haven't you seen enough of our crap defenders to be willing to try someone else?

Edited yesterday at 05:32 AM by GASabresIUFAN

[Weave]

4 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Kulich only showed he was ready to displace someone after getting time in the NHL.  Thank you for proving my point.  Kulich played in one NHL game last season and this season had little impact in his 1st 17 games with just 2g, 0 assists.  

As to Novikov, he has been the Amerks best defensive D that last 2 season despite being only 20 years old in 2023/24 and 21 this season.  He hits, blocks shots, and even chips in some offense with 23 points last season and 20, including 6 goals, so far this campaign.  The thing that stands out is he was the Amerks leader in +/- in 2023/24 at + 20 and now this season he is the leader again at +30.  Metsa, the next D, is only + 18.   This indicates to me that he is doing a great job at suppressing opponents offense.  Novikov's performance isn't really a surprise.  Novikov played the majority of his 18 year old season in the KHL and was full time at 19.  

Now look at the Sabres.  Besides Dahlin, the rest of our D group stinks defensively.  The Sabres have allowed the 5th most goal in the NHL this season.  Is it really so hard to believe that a defensive stalwart like Novikov might do a better job at playing defense for the Sabres than Clifton, Bryson, Samuelsson, Power or Byram?  Certainly it's reasonable to give the kid a shot because there is almost zero chance he'll be worse than Bryson or Clifton.  The Sabres just got blown out by the Flyers; allowing 7 goals. Haven't you seen enough of our crap defenders to be willing to try someone else?

Ive seen enough icing the youngest team in the league to know I don’t want them to ice one even younger. And there is no indication whatsoever that Novikov is better than Bryson or Clifton.  I get you are dissatisfied with the Sabres but noone is saying Novikov is ready to displace anyone on the roster.  Its an emotional, illogical reach to want him in Buffalo now.

[North Buffalo]

interesting discussion... 10 games left... Sabres still technically not out of the playoffs... yet they are... so Im in the camp of why not give a couple of the best players on the Amerks a couple games and see how they fare... play them against playoff teams that need points.

[shrader]

9 hours ago, Weave said:

Murray, Kozak, Dunne were brought up due to illness.  Kulich showed he’s ready to displace someone.  You have yet to convince me bringing up Novikov is because he is ready to displace someone on the roster.

And that’s how it has to be. They can’t just call up players at will. They only get 4 non-emergency call ups the rest of the way, if they haven’t used some already. That’s also a part of why they can’t just shut down UPL and move Levi back and forth a few times. 

[LGR4GM]

I'd rather tell Novikov to be ready to fight for a spot in camp....

 However adams has no spots and is going to run the same defense again like a moron. 

[steveoath]

76GP 4G 28A +10

124GP 9G 34A +50

 

Bryson v Novikov at AHL level

[Flashsabre]

42 minutes ago, steveoath said:

76GP 4G 28A +10

124GP 9G 34A +50

 

Bryson v Novikov at AHL level

Signing Bryson just shows how clueless he is. Novikov, Brannstron and even Metsa could provide more next season as a 7th dman and his entire schtick has been “don’t block the kids” Nothing Adams does makes sense.

[DarthEbriate]

6 minutes ago, Flashsabre said:

Signing Bryson just shows how clueless he is. Novikov, Brannstron and even Metsa could provide more next season as a 7th dman and his entire schtick has been “don’t block the kids” Nothing Adams does makes sense.

He'd have to sign Metsa to a contract first.

[Jorcus]

1 hour ago, steveoath said:

76GP 4G 28A +10

124GP 9G 34A +50

 

Bryson v Novikov at AHL level

Novikov can defend close to the net. A skill that is lacking on the Sabres. Bryson is puck mover, not a people mover. I am not worried about the Bryson contract. They can bail out on that with no problem. At the end of the day Komorov may end up being a better defender. He is faster and he can lower a boom. Being a right shot does not hurt his chances. He needs another year though.  

[LGR4GM]

1 hour ago, Jorcus said:

Novikov can defend close to the net. A skill that is lacking on the Sabres. Bryson is puck mover, not a people mover. I am not worried about the Bryson contract. They can bail out on that with no problem. At the end of the day Komorov may end up being a better defender. He is faster and he can lower a boom. Being a right shot does not hurt his chances. He needs another year though.  

The problem with the Bryson contract is that it was signed at all. No effort to upgrade that spot, just run back the thing. 

[GASabresIUFAN]

They made a recall of Jack Rathbone.  Hilarious.  🤣 

This organization is clueless. 

[shrader]

13 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

They made a recall of Jack Rathbone.  Hilarious.  🤣 

This organization is clueless. 

They called up a guy to sit in the press box. How dare they.