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I think his chemistry with Tage is above average. The slash lines are crazy and I hope a harbinger of things to follow. I think I’ve seen 3 games he’s played in and he and Tage were dominant. Let’s see if he can breathe some life into an ineffectual PP.

That..doesn’t make any sense the goal when building a team isn’t to “find a guy at least better than Dylan Cozens”. We were counting on Dylan to be a top 6 C, and that’s the role we are penciling Norris in for, now. That Dylan failed to deliver doesn’t absurdly lower the bar for the next guy where are only need him to marginally replace the failed guy: the playoff line doesn’t follow suit You are thinking in terms of how one might evaluate a trade, I guess. But “winning trades” is a shade of the importance of team building. What matters most is how well he fulfills the role of top 6 C. Anything beyond THAT, is just great Adams’ duty to field a legitimate 1C/2C supersedes his duty to win the trade for Dylan Cozens. Norris’s primary objective isn’t to prove the trade right, it’s to be a good top 6 C. What good would simply avoiding being a net negative while notching 1 goal be if there’s a gaping hole in the top 6? Essentially- we definitely aren’t in a situation where it’s “avoid being a net negative and anything else is gravy” which is basically what you said

No.

AI Rick 1.0 would already be better. What I'm intrigued by is AI Rick 5.0, when the inflections, the rhythms, the pauses, the vocabulary, the creativity are perfected.

The toughest game he had was on Wednesday against Pittsburgh’s AHL Squad. He was paired with Bryson, who should be in the AHL, and it was a disaster. An 18yo defenseman, who does not have the pedigree of a Dahlin or Makar, should probably return to his previous team. He is going to be a good one, but let him develop properly My ideal path for him is WHL-play in the WJCs, then report to the Amerks if they are still playing at the end of his year. 2026-27 Season Amerks and WJCs 2027-28 Amerks and the first call up to the Sabres.

I'm fairly certain it will be no worse than what we currently get

It occurred to me that it won't be long before an AI Rick could call Sabres games and be a reasonable facsimile if not indistinguishable from the real deal. Would you want to have an AI Rick?

I asked you this because I wonder what you base your opinion on how “older people” feel about their savings. You could be a financial planner that studies how people feel about managing finances and risk?

@gilbert11 has not been online in the last week or so. Draft will begin at 645PM today unless it gets changed.

I understand, but imo he needs to learn hockey against superior competition more than being a leader at 18. His leadership will develop as his maturity and game develop, anyway. And it’s gonna be a while before he’s “the man” in the pros, regardless. Being a leader in juniors, while nice, still means he has to earn it at the next level as well.

Keep him as far away from Buffalo for at least two more seasons.

Ideally he's a 2C but on this squad he gets top billing as nobody else good enough unless keep Thompson there.

Twas inevitable.

IF Norris can stay healthy the Sabres win the trade running away. Norris has all the tools Cozens did but he has a brain to utilize the tools effectively. He was the player that impressed me most in the preseason.

Him being here prevents Cozens from being here and actually hurting the team. Any production above and beyond that is just great. As others have said, the key is to stay healthy. Its going to be hard for me to have any concrete opinion at all with hjm, or the team for that matter, until minimum 10 games are played.

I thought his speed and connection with Tage were good. I worry about them being able to dig pucks out of corners. Norris seems to have better effort than a bunch of our players which feels like the difference between most franchises and ours. His shooting and faceoffs are nice. You also don't have to panic like Cozens in the defensive end. He's an effective top 6 center.

Rick didn't. At least he didn't say it the way Dom said it. Should that be the determining factor? One of Schopp's dumber takes was that pronouncing names phonetically is acceptable vs. player preference. It's HAWsheck, btw.

I think if Greenway is in the lineup, its not on the 4th line. If Geersten is, it is on the 4th line. Big difference in minutes played. Any 'greenway' replacement for usage will be someone else.

"Starting today" was a lie?

If only he can stay healthy. To me, he was our best player in pre-season. On both ends.

Yea but it's kinda fake math. We replaced a top 6 forward with a top 9 forward. We replaced a bottom pair defender with a top 4 and bottom pair defender. We moved out a couple 4th liners for different 4th liners. It's like putting new rims and tires on you dodge neon and calling it a Ferrari. Sure, we changed out stuff but the engine, suspension, and pit crew are all the same.

Haven't watched a lick of pre season, decent stats on paper. The question is and will remain.... Can he stay healthy enough for those numbers to matter. Time will tell.

Mrtka's preseason stats with the Sabres: Games: 4 Goals: 1 Assists: 1 Hits: 11 Shots blocked: 3 Penalties: 0 Penalties drawn: 2 SAF%: 40.51 GF%: 60 xGF%: 44.5 ATOI: 17:45

Mrtka is minimum 2 years from playing on the Sabres and 5 to 7 years from getting meaningful power play time with the Sabres. There are a lot of chances to kill penalties in the AHL. I think the Sabres would rather keep him close by. Better to play 16-20 harder minutes and work your way up the ladder.

Curious what people's impressions are so far of the man tapped to be our 1C this year. His pre-season stat line in 4 games played: 3/4/7/+2, averaging more than 19 minutes a game TOI 1 giveaway, 2 takeaways, 3 hits, 4 shot blocks 1 minor penalty taken, 3 penalties drawn 55.91 SAF%, 71.43 GF%, 51.59 xGF% 59.68% on faceoffs