GDT: Sabres @ Islanders- Nov. 30, 2024, 7:30PM, MSG 📺 WGR550 📻

[steveoat87]

What struck me about the Islanders game is not that the Islanders are a particularly good team, but how much more physically imposing they look than the Sabres.  When I look at Brock Nelson or Anders Lee, they look so much bigger than their Sabres counterparts.  We still look like we have alot of kids out there.  Now these kids will mature and fill out more, but unfortunately that means we will have to wait and maybe then it will be too late.

[LTS]

18 hours ago, klos1963 said:

Benson isn't expected to score? What is he expected to do,  as a first round pick?

Please go re-read my post.  But in the event that you don't do it I will summarize.

My opening statement was about driving offense. In the same paragraph I stated that it would be nice if he scored more. 

Now, putting that aside.

He's a first round pick, 13th overall and while he was chosen in the 2023 draft he's barely older than the 13th overall pick from the 2024 draft (Jett Luchanko). I think its important to keep his draft position AND his age in mind when setting expectations of where he should be in terms of offensive capabilities.

Looking at 13th overall picks from the past 10 years.. how many of them do you think were offensive power houses in their second season and how old were they when they played their second season?  Because I have a lot of free time right now I will do the work.

Below is a list of 13th overall picks and the number of points they put up in the NHL in the second year after being drafted.

• 2010 - Brandon Gormley - Coyotes - 0 points, didn't make the NHL until 2013.
• 2011 - Sven Baertschi - Calgary - 3 points, 5 games played.
• 2012 - Radek Faksa - Dallas - 0 points - didn't make the NHL until 2015
• 2013 - Josh Morrissey - Winnipeg - 0 points, 1 game played
• 2014 - Jakub Vrana - Washington - 0 points, didn't make the NHL until 2016-2017 season.
• 2015 - Jakub Zboril - Boston - 0 points, didn't make NHL until 2018
• 2016 - Jake Bean - Carolina -  0 points, didn't make NHL until 2018-2019 season.
• 2017 - Nick Suzuki - Las Vegas - 0 points, didn't make NHL until 2019-2020 season.
• 2018 - Ty Dellandrea - Dallas - 0 points, didn't make NHL until 2020-2021 season
• 2019 - Spencer Knight - Florida - a goalie
• 2020 - Seth Jarvis - Carolina - 0 points, did not make NHL until 2021-22 season.
• 2021 - Matt Coronato - Calgary - 0 points, did not make NHL until 2022-23 season.
• 2022 - Frank Nazar - Chicago - 1 point, 3 games played.

Zach Benson had 30 points in 71 games in his first season.
Zach Benson has 6 points in 18 games for the Sabres this year which projects to roughly 20 points.

I'd say, given the production of 13th overall picks, I have no problem with where Zach Benson is performing relative to offense. The problem with the Sabres offense lies with the players who are not in their second season in the NHL, not remotely close to the youngest in the league, and are playing in the top 9 forward positions.

 

[klos1963]

7 hours ago, LTS said:

Please go re-read my post.  But in the event that you don't do it I will summarize.

My opening statement was about driving offense. In the same paragraph I stated that it would be nice if he scored more. 

Now, putting that aside.

He's a first round pick, 13th overall and while he was chosen in the 2023 draft he's barely older than the 13th overall pick from the 2024 draft (Jett Luchanko). I think its important to keep his draft position AND his age in mind when setting expectations of where he should be in terms of offensive capabilities.

Looking at 13th overall picks from the past 10 years.. how many of them do you think were offensive power houses in their second season and how old were they when they played their second season?  Because I have a lot of free time right now I will do the work.

Below is a list of 13th overall picks and the number of points they put up in the NHL in the second year after being drafted.

• 2010 - Brandon Gormley - Coyotes - 0 points, didn't make the NHL until 2013.
• 2011 - Sven Baertschi - Calgary - 3 points, 5 games played.
• 2012 - Radek Faksa - Dallas - 0 points - didn't make the NHL until 2015
• 2013 - Josh Morrissey - Winnipeg - 0 points, 1 game played
• 2014 - Jakub Vrana - Washington - 0 points, didn't make the NHL until 2016-2017 season.
• 2015 - Jakub Zboril - Boston - 0 points, didn't make NHL until 2018
• 2016 - Jake Bean - Carolina -  0 points, didn't make NHL until 2018-2019 season.
• 2017 - Nick Suzuki - Las Vegas - 0 points, didn't make NHL until 2019-2020 season.
• 2018 - Ty Dellandrea - Dallas - 0 points, didn't make NHL until 2020-2021 season
• 2019 - Spencer Knight - Florida - a goalie
• 2020 - Seth Jarvis - Carolina - 0 points, did not make NHL until 2021-22 season.
• 2021 - Matt Coronato - Calgary - 0 points, did not make NHL until 2022-23 season.
• 2022 - Frank Nazar - Chicago - 1 point, 3 games played.

Zach Benson had 30 points in 71 games in his first season.
Zach Benson has 6 points in 18 games for the Sabres this year which projects to roughly 20 points.

I'd say, given the production of 13th overall picks, I have no problem with where Zach Benson is performing relative to offense. The problem with the Sabres offense lies with the players who are not in their second season in the NHL, not remotely close to the youngest in the league, and are playing in the top 9 forward positions.

 

You didn't do all this research yourself did you? Just to defend Benson?

Maybe,  like those other players listed,  he doesn't belong in the NHL yet.  

He's on a pace for 20 points this season,  so a big step back from last season.  

You want to be patient, great,  and it's not on Benson,  it's on the organization. I don't dislike him, but for all the games in the first half of the season where he was invisible,  having a quality veteran playing instead might have won us a couple more games, maybe fight a little better for a playoff spot. 

[LTS]

12 hours ago, klos1963 said:

You didn't do all this research yourself did you? Just to defend Benson?

Maybe,  like those other players listed,  he doesn't belong in the NHL yet.  

He's on a pace for 20 points this season,  so a big step back from last season.  

You want to be patient, great,  and it's not on Benson,  it's on the organization. I don't dislike him, but for all the games in the first half of the season where he was invisible,  having a quality veteran playing instead might have won us a couple more games, maybe fight a little better for a playoff spot. 

Yes, I did do all that research. Not just to defend Benson but also to help support what my eyes tell me.

I am sure there are teams in the NHL where Benson would not be on the roster. As was discussed with Benson when drafted, he was good enough to be in the NHL last season (30 points) and he could not play in the AHL because of rules. 

Yeah, he's on pace for 20 points this season, but until the end of the season it's hard to really know where he will end up. I look at his assist last night on the Peterka goal. He takes a solid hit, bounces up, gets the puck and makes a great pass.  I don't see other Sabres doing that.

I think on this team, if the top 6 were actually playing as hard as Benson, you wouldn't even question it. But they aren't and so you try and compare him to a first overall pick on a bad team but it's not the same.  He's playing way above his position and we should be happy about that.

Also, this team went out and got the veterans it could get. They had to give Zucker $5M just to come here. Let's not pretend that there are a line of veterans the Sabres could bring in that would do more than Benson is doing right now.

[klos1963]

19 minutes ago, LTS said:

Yes, I did do all that research. Not just to defend Benson but also to help support what my eyes tell me.

I am sure there are teams in the NHL where Benson would not be on the roster. As was discussed with Benson when drafted, he was good enough to be in the NHL last season (30 points) and he could not play in the AHL because of rules. 

Yeah, he's on pace for 20 points this season, but until the end of the season it's hard to really know where he will end up. I look at his assist last night on the Peterka goal. He takes a solid hit, bounces up, gets the puck and makes a great pass.  I don't see other Sabres doing that.

I think on this team, if the top 6 were actually playing as hard as Benson, you wouldn't even question it. But they aren't and so you try and compare him to a first overall pick on a bad team but it's not the same.  He's playing way above his position and we should be happy about that.

Also, this team went out and got the veterans it could get. They had to give Zucker $5M just to come here. Let's not pretend that there are a line of veterans the Sabres could bring in that would do more than Benson is doing right now.

There might not be any now, but I bet there were plenty in the off season. 

I hope you're right and he does better than the 20 point projection.