Sabres added speed this offseason -Check the numbers

[PotentPowerPlay21]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nhl/need-for-speed-fastest-sabres-skater-revealed/ar-BB1q5UJL

 

The fastest 4 skaters on the team are new additions.

[Night Train]

Nice read. Glad to see our newbies can fly. Hope they can make a difference. 

[Happy Days]

Sabres could put out 4 lines of 2 players with high end speed.

for example

Thompson, Tuch

Cousins, Paterka

McLeod, Lafferty

Aube-Kubel,  Malenstyn

 

 

[PerreaultForever]

and here I thought the plan was to add grit and a "guy who could chuck 'em"  .

[Ctaeth]

kind of feels like lindy is trying to rebuild the 22-23 devils in buffalo and choke teams with aggressive forecheck

[SHAAAUGHT!!!]

This is a great article.  Thanks for posting. 
 

I didn’t realize Muel has that kind of foot speed.  I know he take a lot of heat on this board, but he’s a solid complementary piece to Dahlin and Power.  I’m guessing those two don’t have the bursts and higher top speed because they are playing so many minutes a night.

[Kristian]

Any chance they also skate harder than the current bunch? Otherwise, meh…

[inkman]

5 hours ago, Kristian said:

Any chance they also skate harder than the current bunch? Otherwise, meh…

What does this mean ?  Also, are you familiar with any of the players they acquired?  All these dudes skate hit and fight (Ok McCleod not so much).  

[inkman]

12 hours ago, PotentPowerPlay21 said:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nhl/need-for-speed-fastest-sabres-skater-revealed/ar-BB1q5UJL

 

The fastest 4 skaters on the team are new additions.

Quite frankly.  It smacks of poor roster construction.  None of their top 6 (or top 9 minus McCleod) are fast. Average skaters at best.  They keep drafting average speed guys in the first round (Savoie probably considered fast who is obviously gone).  I don’t want to over value speed and draft 10 Brian Holizingers but it would be nice if the Sabres started drafting players with speed. A couple of the Russian kids in Rochester are fast but they are later round picks with a slim chance at the NHL.  

[LGR4GM]

40 minutes ago, inkman said:

Quite frankly.  It smacks of poor roster construction.  None of their top 6 (or top 9 minus McCleod) are fast. Average skaters at best.  They keep drafting average speed guys in the first round (Savoie probably considered fast who is obviously gone).  I don’t want to over value speed and draft 10 Brian Holizingers but it would be nice if the Sabres started drafting players with speed. A couple of the Russian kids in Rochester are fast but they are later round picks with a slim chance at the NHL.  

That isn't what this article says. 

4 of the Sabres top 6 are in the 85th percentile for speed or higher. Tuch, Tage, Cozens, Peterka. 

[mjd1001]

It is hard to take such raw data and translate it into on ice performance. With that said, I prefer to look at it this way:

Measured top speed = How fast you are

Number of speed bursts = How fast you play

[inkman]

25 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

That isn't what this article says. 

4 of the Sabres top 6 are in the 85th percentile for speed or higher. Tuch, Tage, Cozens, Peterka. 

Typically, I don’t read.  It makes participating in this forum a wee bit of a challenge but I can be ignorant with or without reading. 😎

[Kristian]

5 hours ago, inkman said:

What does this mean ?  Also, are you familiar with any of the players they acquired?  All these dudes skate hit and fight (Ok McCleod not so much).  

It means the decade of watching seemingly good players come in and immediately drop to the level of the current roster, has made me an utter cynic.

[inkman]

2 hours ago, Kristian said:

It means the decade of watching seemingly good players come in and immediately drop to the level of the current roster, has made me an utter cynic.

None of the players brought it are any “better” than who they had.  They are bottom 6 role players.  

[Kristian]

1 hour ago, inkman said:

None of the players brought it are any “better” than who they had.  They are bottom 6 role players.  

I wasn’t expecting them to be anything else, but with any addition, I’ll expect it to be an upgrade. Something that rarely happens around here, sadly. Hence the comment.

[pi2000]

Dahlin and Power.... oooof

[Big Guava]

Having potentially the fastest line in hockey as a checking line is pretty fantastic...

3 hours ago, inkman said:

None of the players brought it are any “better” than who they had.  They are bottom 6 role players.  

But they are a heck of a lot faster than who they lost and that matters when you are pressuring the puck and disrupting the opposition.

Edited July 19 by Big Guava

[Doohicksie]

On 7/18/2024 at 6:22 PM, PotentPowerPlay21 said:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nhl/need-for-speed-fastest-sabres-skater-revealed/ar-BB1q5UJL

 

The fastest 4 skaters on the team are new additions.

Interesting data.  Not sure how he ranked them though; I think he somehow combined the two numbers to get a composite score but didn't define his methodology.  And it's easier for me to digest it as a table:

In order of Max Speed:

In order of number of 20+ Bursts:

Looks like Beck should be Number 2.  But the point is pretty clear:  The four speedy forwards they acquired are the fastest on the team.  If  Lindy taps into this speed it could be an interesting season, and better hockey to watch.

[JoeSchmoe]

6 hours ago, inkman said:

None of the players brought it are any “better” than who they had.  They are bottom 6 role players.  

I think they vastly improved over what they had. Jost, Robinson, and Girgensons were downright terrible. If we're good next year, being stronger in the bottom 6 is definitely going to be a reason why (that and health of the top 6).

But all that said, speed is not a substitute for hockey IQ. Having a line of guys who can blast down the ice, only to skate it into corner and ultimately lose it does not lead to goals. Hockey IQ is the biggest indicator of success on the ice, but it's also the one that can't be measured. 

I'm just thankful all these fast guys we brought can seemingly play good defense (on paper anyways, I haven't really watched them play). 

 

[GASabresIUFAN]

So Benson is slow and small.  Are those the reasons he slipped to 13th ?

I noticed how little offense is generated by our new speedsters. 

Also surprised by how comparatively well Mule faired on these charts and how relatively poorly Joki faired.

Edited July 20 by GASabresIUFAN

[B-U-F-F-A-L-O]

16 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

That isn't what this article says. 

4 of the Sabres top 6 are in the 85th percentile for speed or higher. Tuch, Tage, Cozens, Peterka. 

And, I think it should be pointed out that Quinn had good speed preinjury and it is just unknown at this point. He hasn’t been remeasured yet. Article points out that he should recover and I think he possible gets faster as he gains a lot of muscle from the first time he was measured, especially if they practice getting faster which I think is reasonable to assume.

they also point out that Benson stands a good chance of getting faster as he gets stronger as well and trains more and more on being as fast as he can.

i’dsay right now, that the Sabres are in the top half of teams with speed for sure…. I just love our offseason more and more. I’m dying to see McLeod as he is the guy I’m most worried about because he is the guy we paid for the most by far. I’ll be so disappointed if he is really soft. Sounds like he won’t be to me as it is very hard to be soft and yet good on D….especially very good as we shall see…I guess I wouldn’t call Ramsey or Luce or D Bill Hajt physical players but the were the creme de la creme of defensive forwards…. Except Hajt was a D-man but NOBODY got by him… the way I remember it, not even once…LOL, he’d just stand the forward up and stop him dead in his tracks….You’d see the puck dribble forward without the forward… I can’t remember him ever laying a check but he might of, I don’t recall? No, they weren’t physical players so it could be fine with McLeod now that I think about it…though I hope he develops some grit for sure. I hope all our new gritty players rub off on our whole team….Just toughen them up…Go into those corners and especially towards the net…. And no one should be standing around on a PP….

[B-U-F-F-A-L-O]

Maybe Ziemer turns out something like Mike Peca?

Mike Peca with a better shot…. Though he’s a winger I guess… I liked the pick a lot though…. As you take grit over size….but I think you gotta find at least a couple that have both in a way…. I think Tage fights really well along the boards and wins a ton of puck battles and also goes to the net…. I like him. I’m hoping Lindy helps him to get even better, Tuch too…. I really like the top line as a whole….

[inkman]

7 hours ago, JoeSchmoe said:

I think they vastly improved over what they had. Jost, Robinson, and Girgensons were downright terrible. If we're good next year, being stronger in the bottom 6 is definitely going to be a reason why (that and health of the top 6).

But all that said, speed is not a substitute for hockey IQ. Having a line of guys who can blast down the ice, only to skate it into corner and ultimately lose it does not lead to goals. Hockey IQ is the biggest indicator of success on the ice, but it's also the one that can't be measured. 

I'm just thankful all these fast guys we brought can seemingly play good defense (on paper anyways, I haven't really watched them play). 

 

I was referring to the players on the current roster.  Lafferty, NAK, Malenstyn and McCleod aren’t better than Tage, JJP, Tuch, Quinn, Cozens, Benson, Greenway or Krebs.  Ok maybe Krebs.  

[LGR4GM]

7 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

So Benson is slow and small.  Are those the reasons he slipped to 13th ?

I noticed how little offense is generated by our new speedsters. 

Also surprised by how comparatively well Mule faired on these charts and how relatively poorly Joki faired.

In a word, yes. Teams believe a player under 6ft has to have blazing speed which scouts call "good skating". It's a reason I hate Pronman, he said Benson didn't have good skating but what he means was he wasn't blazing fast. Benson makes up for it with iq and getting to places first that way. His edges and agility are also good. I read Pronman then watched Benson then read EP and well, the eye test matches EP. 

50 minutes ago, inkman said:

I was referring to the players on the current roster.  Lafferty, NAK, Malenstyn and McCleod aren’t better than Tage, JJP, Tuch, Quinn, Cozens, Benson, Greenway or Krebs.  Ok maybe Krebs.  

McLeod is better than Krebs. The other 3 are better defensively than Krebs.

[PotentPowerPlay21]

18 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

So Benson is slow and small.  Are those the reasons he slipped to 13th ?

I noticed how little offense is generated by our new speedsters. 

Also surprised by how comparatively well Mule faired on these charts and how relatively poorly Joki faired.

I found it interesting that Benson was well below average in size, below average in speed, below average in the velocity of his shot, below average in shots on goal, and below average in speed bursts over 20 mph. He may be small, but he makes up for it in being slow. Just kidding? Ironically he beat out Savoie who is very fast, has a great burst and has an excellent shot. Obviously, Benson is young and has massive room for improvement. Hopefully, he becomes a significant player.