Devon Levi loaned to Rochester

[Brawndo]

Per Ruff

[#freejame]

[Flashsabre]

Great. He needs work down there and the Amerks need him between the pipes.

[LGR4GM]

[WhenWillItEnd66]

About time

[inkman]

 

[WhenWillItEnd66]

Just now, inkman said:

 

Does anyone else feel this is a serious "Duhhhh" moment?

[spndnchz]

So … we gave up

[Thorner]

Imo this (finally) ends phase 1 of the Levi experiment. The “don’t be afraid to believe in the hype: this guy is following in Hasek’s wake” (not-hyperbole) stage. The “it doesn’t matter that he’s tiny and that goalies are almost never ready for full NHL workloads at his age - if anyone can do it, it’s Levi. He likes Star Wars.” stage.

The cold-sweat-inducing factor is Adams had Levi pencilled in *last* year. Yes, an all-time narrative sales job on a player, probably the most expansive I’ve seen for a Sabre, but the rub is that the *GM* bought in, and in fact planned it.

It’s time for a more level headed and realistic, divorced from KA fantasy phase 2: a good goalie prospect developing in the minors until such a time as he’s ready for a consistent nhl workload, if ever 

 

Edited 1 hour ago by Thorner

[tom webster]

1 minute ago, Thorner said:

Imo this (finally) ends phase 1 of the Levi experiment. The “don’t be afraid to believe in the hype: this guy is following in Hasek’s wake” (not-hyperbole) stage. The “it doesn’t matter that he’s tiny and that goalies are almost never ready for full NHL workloads at his age - if anyone can do it, it’s Levi. He likes Star Wars.” stage.

The cold-sweat-inducing factor is Adams had Levi pencilled in *last* year. Yes, an all-time narrative sales job on a player, probably the most expansive I’ve seen for a Sabre, but the rub is that the *GM* bought in, and in fact planned it.

It’s time for a more level headed and realistic, divorced from KA fantasy phase 2: a good goalie prospect developing in the minors until such a time as he’s ready for a consistent nhl workload, if ever 

Someone will have to explain me how playing a lot of games in AHL helps prepare him to be a back up in the NHL. I’ve never hidden the fact that I believe development through any minor league system is old wives tale stuff, however, if you want to tell me he’s staying in the AHL till he’s ready to be a full time starter, I could at least believe there is logic to the move. Being a seldom used backup is more of a mental thing that will not he improved by a stint in the AHL.

[Ctaeth]

3 minutes ago, Thorner said:

Imo this (finally) ends phase 1 of the Levi experiment. The “don’t be afraid to believe in the hype: this guy is following in Hasek’s wake” (not-hyperbole) stage. The “it doesn’t matter that he’s tiny and that goalies are almost never ready for full NHL workloads at his age - if anyone can do it, it’s Levi. He likes Star Wars.” stage.

The cold-sweat-inducing factor is Adams had Levi pencilled in *last* year. Yes, an all-time narrative sales job on a player, probably the most expansive I’ve seen for a Sabre, but the rub is that the *GM* bought in, and in fact planned it.

It’s time for a more level headed and realistic, divorced from KA fantasy phase 2: a good goalie prospect developing in the minors until such a time as he’s ready for a consistent nhl workload, if ever 

The unfortunate thing is I'm not sure he has much more to learn in Rochester.  He succeeded last year with the amerks with flying colors.  His save % was like 930ish if i recall correctly.  Let's hope the coaching staff down there can challenge him creatively in a way that will better prepare for the next opportunity with the big club... whenever it ends up coming.

 

Maybe he just needs to get his confidence back again.  I don't know.  

[Thorner]

11 minutes ago, tom webster said:

Someone will have to explain me how playing a lot of games in AHL helps prepare him to be a back up in the NHL. I’ve never hidden the fact that I believe development through any minor league system is old wives tale stuff, however, if you want to tell me he’s staying in the AHL till he’s ready to be a full time starter, I could at least believe there is logic to the move. Being a seldom used backup is more of a mental thing that will not he improved by a stint in the AHL.

It’s not so much about how the move helps Levi: we’ve been missing the mark on that front since day 1.

This move is merely the inevitable whiplash to the reason Levi was up here so soon in the first place (Buffalo was never the best place for his development, not if he didn’t have the requisite ability necessary to start the games at this level necessary to facilitate said development). No, Levi was up here because Adams thought it best for the team.

The importance of this move today, the impetus behind it, is removing a player who’s performing absolutely awful from the roster in the name of what best serves the team: the mindset we shouldn’t have been neglecting from the beginning

Whether or not Levi develops *at all* in Rochester is a distant secondary concern to how Levi being removed from the team helps develop our pursuit of the playoffs this season 

There’s no room for non-NHL players. Sabres aren’t a farm team.

Aside from being run like one most of the time 

Edited 1 hour ago by Thorner

[Thorner]

10 minutes ago, Ctaeth said:

The unfortunate thing is I'm not sure he has much more to learn in Rochester.  He succeeded last year with the amerks with flying colors.  His save % was like 930ish if i recall correctly.  Let's hope the coaching staff down there can challenge him creatively in a way that will better prepare for the next opportunity with the big club... whenever it ends up coming.

 

Maybe he just needs to get his confidence back again.  I don't know.  

I think development, tweaking one’s game, is something that ebbs and flows for a lot longer of a time period than some think. Particularly in goal. I’d even draw a comparison in some ways to Golf: over time the swings for even the greats often undergo full-scale changes and revamps over the course of their career, adjusting to various circumstances that change over time. Or a pitcher. Maybe a baseball pitcher is a better comp. 

It’s not just about raw development with a pitcher, golfer or goalie: a pitcher can fine tune his repertoire, win a cy young, and the league “catch on” to his stuff the following year requiring new skill development. Goalie are much the same way: I don’t think a 20 whatever year old could possibly be beyond learning at the AHL level at this stage. He had a season with good numbers, sure. Let’s see him replicate it as shooters adjust 

And that’s just square 1. Free your mind of the idea Levi is pre-ordained for anything. He’s not above the AHL, not if he’s performing as among the worst goalies in the nhl 

[shrader]

20 minutes ago, Thorner said:

Imo this (finally) ends phase 1 of the Levi experiment. The “don’t be afraid to believe in the hype: this guy is following in Hasek’s wake” (not-hyperbole) stage. The “it doesn’t matter that he’s tiny and that goalies are almost never ready for full NHL workloads at his age - if anyone can do it, it’s Levi. He likes Star Wars.” stage.

The cold-sweat-inducing factor is Adams had Levi pencilled in *last* year. Yes, an all-time narrative sales job on a player, probably the most expansive I’ve seen for a Sabre, but the rub is that the *GM* bought in, and in fact planned it.

It’s time for a more level headed and realistic, divorced from KA fantasy phase 2: a good goalie prospect developing in the minors until such a time as he’s ready for a consistent nhl workload, if ever 

 

Maybe it’s just a matter of semantics, but expected goals against doesn’t sound like a measure of workload. 

[Thorner]

2 minutes ago, shrader said:

Maybe it’s just a matter of semantics, but expected goals against doesn’t sound like a measure of workload. 

It is sort of an odd choice of term based on the layout of the chart, I agree 

[Doohicksie]

24 minutes ago, tom webster said:

Someone will have to explain me how playing a lot of games in AHL helps prepare him to be a back up in the NHL. I’ve never hidden the fact that I believe development through any minor league system is old wives tale stuff, however, if you want to tell me he’s staying in the AHL till he’s ready to be a full time starter, I could at least believe there is logic to the move. Being a seldom used backup is more of a mental thing that will not he improved by a stint in the AHL.

I look at it this way:  He is likely not at his ceiling and still needs development.  To develop he needs to play.  He develop if he's riding the pine.  When his development is further along, then you can decide:  Is he a backup?  A 1B? or... maybe a #1?

If they keep him with the big team, though, his development will stagnate and his game will never be elevated over its current level.

24 minutes ago, Ctaeth said:

Maybe he just needs to get his confidence back again.  I don't know.  

Maybe it was not having Tage on the ice.

[inkman]

Hopefully Devon won’t speak of this time with the Amerks in the past tense like he did the last two times he was sent here. 

[shrader]

13 minutes ago, shrader said:

Maybe it’s just a matter of semantics, but expected goals against doesn’t sound like a measure of workload. 

I’d also swap the x and the y and flip the direction of the expected goals against, but that’s a story for another day. There’s a few head scratching decisions in there. 
 

But that’s the last attention I’ll pay to these figures for a little bit. I’ll never question their usefulness, I just don’t enjoy looking at them. 

[bunomatic]

Ka’s experiment with having the youngest team in the league is one failure among several that KA has subjected this fan base to.

[pi2000]

[Demoted]

That's more his type of play, he isn't an NHL goalie.

[That Aud Smell]

Adams' vision and plan for Levi can be heaped on the pile of Adams' miscalculations and failures in judgment.

I try not to think of the fact that Levi's anticipated arrival was, I inferred, supposed to take the sting out of losing Reinhart.

Who else did the Sabres get out of that deal -- Kulich?

*le sigh*