Hot Starts to the Season

[Eleven]

On 10/19/2022 at 1:37 AM, Porous Five Hole said:

By different I mean that the core may have grown up some during the end of last year.  This may be a better hockey team compared to previous good early results. Or maybe it is just a couple of goalies playing out of their mind so far. What do you think?

I think it's both.  The team has improved, but we also have seen two goalies that definitely (Anderson) and likely (Comrie) played above their normal level.  Unless Comrie really is a diamond in the rough, I can't see it lasting, but I do think this team will be more fun this year and I do think it's headed in the right direction.  Maybe a little like the 2017 Bills.

[Curt]

29 minutes ago, matter2003 said:

 

Calgary should not be quite as good after losing Gadreau(sp?) and Tkachuk

Not sure about that.  They changed out

Gadreau, Tkachuk, and Gubranson

for

Huberdeau, Kadri, and Weegar

There isn’t necessarily a drop off there.

[matter2003]

On 10/19/2022 at 1:13 AM, SDS said:

The two goaltending performances are not sustainable. Not sure what you mean by different. 

The dropoff with Comrie won't be as far as most people think...his metrics were outstanding last year and there is no reason to think he shouldn't be very good.

[Taro T]

1 hour ago, matter2003 said:

The best thing two things for me is their defensive zone coverage which I think is light-years ahead of any time in the last decade and the goaltending.

I expect Comrie to come back to earth a little but still be really good. His metrics say he was a really good goalie last year not lucky. Played on a team very similar to ours in terms of giving up a lot of shots and similar types of shots.

Calgary should not be quite as good after losing Gadreau(sp?) and Tkachuk

We shall see, because ...

45 minutes ago, Curt said:

Not sure about that.  They changed out

Gadreau, Tkachuk, and Gubranson

for

Huberdeau, Kadri, and Weegar

There isn’t necessarily a drop off there.

This. ^

Huberdeau is REALLY good.  Weegar is underrated.  And Kadri replaces the dirty play lost w/ Tkachuk moving on.

[Taro T]

5 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

I worry about tonight's game. 

Still, they need to fix their defense issues and get more lines working. We can't only score on the rush and need a better cycle game. 

Am not worried about their cycle, because down the stretch they did that pretty well last season.

The team was focused on looking at AHLers in the preseason and didn't have any of the real lines working together.  When Granato settles in on the lines, the cycle game will improve as the chemistry redevelop.

As for not being able to slow down the Eulers in their own end, losing Lyubushkin was huge as no forechecker feared getting lit up.  Samuelsson & even Dahlin will hit guys, but they aren't going out of their way to do so & the Eulers knew that.  Even still, there really were at most 4 (and might go w/ only 2) truly high danger chances among the 7,000 shots that were attempted.  And that's really the 1st game (or darn close to it) of the Granato era that they were actually trying to protect a 2 goal lead rather than just continuing to do what they'd been doing to get to that point.  Which also implies they'll get better at it as the season wears on.

Again, if the things that you're concerned w/ are still issues playing teams that on paper the Sabres are as good or better than in games 5-9, then will agree they've got significant issues.  But for now, will be happy w/ 4 points out of 6 and won't sweat their dropping to an NHL 0.500 should that be the result after tonight's game.  Calgary on paper is very good.

[French Collection]

1 hour ago, matter2003 said:

The dropoff with Comrie won't be as far as most people think...his metrics were outstanding last year and there is no reason to think he shouldn't be very good.

He’s not the second coming of Hasek but he can be good. This is his chance to be a starter and to be a part of something with the potential to be great.

[Doohickie]

2 hours ago, Taro T said:

Which also implies they'll get better at it as the season wears on.

It didn't happen for Krueger...

[Taro T]

38 minutes ago, Doohickie said:

It didn't happen for Krueger...

Which has absolutely NOTHING to do with the point brought up in the entirety of the post that you conveniently erased.

[matter2003]

4 hours ago, French Collection said:

He’s not the second coming of Hasek but he can be good. This is his chance to be a starter and to be a part of something with the potential to be great.

Of course...nobody is.  But even with league average goaltending, that would be a giant win for the Sabres.

5 hours ago, Taro T said:

We shall see, because ...

This. ^

Huberdeau is REALLY good.  Weegar is underrated.  And Kadri replaces the dirty play lost w/ Tkachuk moving on.

True enough but just because you are a good player doesn't mean you fit in the same with on the lines with other players or who they are playing with.  Not saying they they won't just that it isn't that easy. It's not NHL 22 where you just make whatever trade and the players play the same no matter what.

[Taro T]

8 minutes ago, matter2003 said:

Of course...nobody is.  But even with league average goaltending, that would be a giant win for the Sabres.

True enough but just because you are a good player doesn't mean you fit in the same with on the lines with other players or who they are playing with.  Not saying they they won't just that it isn't that easy. It's not NHL 22 where you just make whatever trade and the players play the same no matter what.

Small sample, but 3-0 suggests that the acclimation period isn't as rough as their fans might've feared.  😉

 

[ddaryl]

But this time its going to be different....

[matter2003]

They have been on a 105 point pace for their last 32 games.  It's actually more than 1/3 of a season.

[PromoTheRobot]

On 10/20/2022 at 12:25 AM, PerreaultForever said:

This is it. There's virtually no depth to this roster. Any number of injuries to any one position will undo whatever they have going. 

No depth? Really? The depth is playing in Rochester right now.

6 minutes ago, matter2003 said:

They have been on a 105 point pace for their last 32 games.  It's actually more than 1/3 of a season.

Don Granato is an early Coach of the Year candidate

[matter2003]

20 hours ago, Taro T said:

Small sample, but 3-0 suggests that the acclimation period isn't as rough as their fans might've feared.  😉

 

You mean 3-1? 😎

[Thorny]

On 10/19/2022 at 11:25 PM, PerreaultForever said:

This is it. There's virtually no depth to this roster. Any number of injuries to any one position will undo whatever they have going. 

I think we have F depth, and currently, could probably withstand a short goalie injury while comrie and Anderson are both fresh. 

D depth, ya, it's lacking 

On 10/20/2022 at 8:12 AM, Curt said:

Not sure about that.  They changed out

Gadreau, Tkachuk, and Gubranson

for

Huberdeau, Kadri, and Weegar

There isn’t necessarily a drop off there.

Still really skeptical about Calgary, especially long term. Florida still makes out a lot better imo cause of the age of their main acquisition 

[Weave]

1 hour ago, Thorny said:

I think we have F depth, and currently, could probably withstand a short goalie injury while comrie and Anderson are both fresh. 

D depth, ya, it's lacking 

Still really skeptical about Calgary, especially long term. Florida still makes out a lot better imo cause of the age of their main acquisition 

Our forward depth is a raw rook that is getting sat, Sheahen (sp?) and then Bjork.  Thats not depth.

[Thorny]

Just now, Weave said:

Our forward depth is a raw rook that is getting sat, Sheahen (sp?) and then Bjork.  Thats not depth.

You are correct. 

I did say we have depth, not lots of it. 

To me, having one forward on the outside looking in who I think is good enough to play (Quinn) IS noteworthy depth.

It's only been 33% of my lifetime since that's been the case 

[Taro T]

28 minutes ago, Weave said:

Our forward depth is a raw rook that is getting sat, Sheahen (sp?) and then Bjork.  Thats not depth.

When's the last time it was THAT good?

Most all of the past decade those 3 are in the lineup when all are healthy rather than on the outside looking in.

Baby steps.

[dudacek]

29 minutes ago, Weave said:

Our forward depth is a raw rook that is getting sat, Sheahen (sp?) and then Bjork.  Thats not depth.

Unlike Stanley cup favourites Edmonton and Calgary whose counterparts are:

Tyler Benson, Raphael Lavoie and Carter Savoie, and Adam Ruzicka, Radim Zahorna and Jakob Pelletier, respectively?

Very few teams have players as good as Quinn and Hinostroza occupying their 12/13 slots.

[PerreaultForever]

8 hours ago, PromoTheRobot said:

No depth? Really? The depth is playing in Rochester right now.

How much of that roster is NHL ready ?

[LGR4GM]

37 minutes ago, PerreaultForever said:

How much of that roster is NHL ready ?

Kulich would probably survive the nhl in a limited role. Rousek and Weissbach are probably bottom 6 ready. Murray maybe bottom 3.

[Curt]

7 hours ago, Thorny said:

Still really skeptical about Calgary, especially long term. Florida still makes out a lot better imo cause of the age of their main acquisition 

I agree on the long term aspect, but the post I was replying to was specifically referring to the Calgary of today vs last season.

[Thorny]

2 hours ago, Curt said:

I agree on the long term aspect, but the post I was replying to was specifically referring to the Calgary of today vs last season.

Fair enough, we’ll see how their season goes. 

[Doohickie]

Jackie Redmond at NHL Network is on board.

And that unbuttoned top button is.... attention getting.

She also touches on the Berglund thing.  She knows her stuff.

Edited October 22, 2022 by Doohickie

[PerreaultForever]

4 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

Kulich would probably survive the nhl in a limited role. Rousek and Weissbach are probably bottom 6 ready. Murray maybe bottom 3.

I'd like to think you're right about Kulich, but I don't think you are. 

Rousek and Weissbach are definitely less than Quinn and imo Quinn isn't ready. Maybe in a limited capacity, but not really. Murray, well, he had moments last year but he's not as good as anybody on the current roster. I guess I'd accept that assessment of bottom 3. 

It's a drop off in all cases though, which was kind of my point. Depth to me is guys who can be inserted as equal to what's already there. Or very close. Pilut will apparently sub for Jokiharju and that too is a drop off imo. I'm not sure how many injuries this roster can handle before it totally drops off. Not that many more. Definitely not more to the D.