Taro T

Anton Wahlberg the #1 hockey name? Sounds more like a singer in a boy band.

Clague will likely end up somewhere for the league minimum again. Sabres (presuming they want him back) probably figure they don't need to give him the 10% bump to get him back. Doubt anybody else would give him that premium. They gave him $300k for his AHL salary. Doubt anybody else would top that. Could see them telling him they'd give him the same deal and he's going to look and see if he can find a team that will give him a better chance at staying in the NHL. And if the Sabres just bring in 1 new D-man, Clague probably figures he'll spend a lot of the year in Buffalo; if they bring in 2 guys, Clague probably figures between being behind Stillman and knowing they'd like to get a look at Johnson at some point that he'd have a better shot of getting back to the NHL in-season by signing with somebody that'll only give him $150k to be on their AHL affiliate. Pekar will never see a Sabres uniform. Wouldn't be surprised to see him go back over the pond. Would be mildly surprised if he doesn't end up back in Buffalo. Just he wasn't going to get a salary bump to sit in the press box.

Absolutely. But, believe there's a small set of teams that he even makes sense as being the 13. Unless you're looking for speed in your bottom 6, you're not looking to add him. He is not going to bring the heavy game that a lot of 4th lines are expected to bring. And because theres a limited set of suitors for Jost, Adams has a good chance of being right on his valuation of Jost.

Would be cool if the guy the Sabres wanted to trade up for 2 straight years ended up falling into their lap where they were. But it could be like the story about when Murray wanted to offer all 3 2nd round picks in '14 for Tuch. Well, yeah, but that was after he'd tried to trade up to grab Dylan Larkin. Don't know if Kulich and Wahlberg were both THE targets last year and this (expect it was the case last year, don't really care if it was this year) but nothing wrong with letting the player think he was THE guy even if he wasn't. He's the guy now.

Thought the Sabres were the only team to put in a claim on him last year when he was on waivers. There isn't going to be a whole lot of space between what the Sabres offer him and what somebody else might offer. Until he signs with somebody else will expect him to be a Sabre in '23-'24.

Hmmmmmmm, could be. 😉

Portillo wasn't going to sign here anyhow most likely. And, do you HONESTLY expect that Johnson was going to sign in Buffalo had Botterill still been the GM? IMHO, not a chance that would've happened. And do you know why Bryson has a ton of games played relative to his peers? Pretty sure you've been screaming louder than anybody for Adams to "just do something" on the back end. Well, Bryson being in the top 6 for far too long is a big part of why we "heard" you shouting that the past 2 years. The Sabres defensive depth had been attrocious for at least the past 2 years. Bryson wouldn't have nearly the NHL time he has had he been playing on a team with even just slightly subpar depth. EDIT: And to add, Cullen's model predicted that Botterill with picks 1, 7, 8, 31, 32, 37, 54, 67, 89, 94, 99, 102, 117, 125, 143, 160, 187, and 192 should be expected to have FEWER THAN 5 PICKS HIT?!?!??!? Does that model provide ANY WEIGHT AT ALL to what the pick is? ALL THREE of the top 10 picks should play in the NHL. That leaves his model expecting 1.81 NHLers out of 3 picks in the 30's and another before the end of the 2nd round another 3 picks into the 3rd (today, not when Botterill picked them, still was in the 1st 10 of the 3rd round) plus 10 more lottery tickets. There is no ####ing way he should've gotten fewer than 2 NHLers out of all those non-top 10 picks.

Thought it was mainly Ruy Lopez but it may have been more Sicilian Defense.

Honestly, could see both him and Clague coming back. Would figure whether Clague comes back will depend upon whether the Sabres net bringing in 1 more NHL D-man or 2.

🤨 Pretty sure that Canadians now make up just a tad south of 50% of NHL players, but maybe it is still just a smidge over. And if there are less than 4 out of 8 NHLers that are Canadian; unless you're drafting partial players (with the 4th selection in the 6th round the Buffalo Sabres choose the torso of Jiri Bigguns, the legs of Vladimer Racehorse, and the head and arms of Tony Toosmart) 3 out of 8 is as close as you can get to the average without going over. 😉

Why does it matter? A comment was made that everybody chooses lots of Canadians in the draft. Was simply making the point that while the point is generally true it is not universally true. No need to immediately spring to the aid of your boy Botts; but seeing as you did ... It does seem rather foolish to completely ignore the single largest pool of talent when drafting. As to his incredible draft record, on the surface it looks extremely impressive. And would say that he did a reasonable job at the draft. But having 1/3 of the players making it to the NHL isn't quite as impressive as it might seem at 1st blush when you look at when those players were selected. He had 3 picks in the top 10 of the draft. There is something substantially wrong if ALL of those don't make it to the NHL barring major injury or death. And a total of 5 of those picks would be 1st rounders in the 32 team NHL. And another 2 were taken in the top 1/2 of the 2nd round. You really should be able to get 6 NHLers out of all that and your 11 other picks. Plus, Portillo flat out refused to sign with Buffalo. Botterill gets little to no credit for that pick. Had Botterill still been running the team when you consider how horrible he was at selecting head coaches, see absolutely no reason to expect that Johnson would've signed with the Sabres either. And 2 of his "NHLers" include Bryson and UPL. Now UPL will likely be at least a legit NHL backup if not better but the only reason he's an NHLer at present is because ALL Sabres GMs since Murray came on the scene have yutzed up the goaltending. And, really, would Bryson be an NHLer were he in ANY other organization? Not sure he'd even make Arizona's squad at present. When you actually look at the opportunity he had regarding really high selections and also the results, it isn't quite as impressive IMHO. Obviously, YMMV and does. 😉

Prior to the injury, wasn't Jost the presumed depth F with Rousek (or another kid) sliding into the top 12 after the Olofsson trade? And do expect that either Olofsson stays or that 4C we've been pushing for (or perhaps even a 3C) now becomes inevitable.

For kids playing in NA only 18 & 19 year olds can have their ELC slide a year (or 2). Quinn is too old for that to happen.

Really? Looks back the the drafting record of the Botterill led Sabres. Dylan Cozens, check. Umm, ...

And it would be great to have him back in the or-gan-I-zay-shun, but just don't see it happening. He's been an assistant at the NHL level and has now coached a very successful CHL squad. Have to believe there is an opening either at HC in the AHL/college for which a team would be lucky to land him or an NHL assistant coaching vacancy. We aren't even to the start of the league year yet; can't believe all the chairs have been taken in the game of musical chairs. If he doesn't get one of those other offers, could see Ra-cha-cha being very appealing to him; but can't see it being appealing if he has other (better) options.

No, that's what the thought was he was disputing. He wanted them both playing in the same games.

Interesting how Adams keeps landing his guy even when he can't trade up to get him.

Several reasons, but the biggest being you burn a year of each of their ELCs the moment they step on the ice in the 10th game.

Had heard some people had seen Carl the Groundskeeper lurking nearby.

Most likely it is Rousek. But, there will be an open competition at camp and considering the timing and the time that Quinn will be out, it gives Savoie &/or Benson their absolute best shot at getting a look after camp closes. That there are a ton of home games to start the year makes it more possible that they'd "waste" a roster spot on having an extra kid up getting that 9 game look-see. Not much fear of getting caught short handed due to an injury when Ra-cha-cha is just over an hour away. Rousek won't slot into Quinn's spot on the 2nd line. Savoie &/or Benson could slot in there (at least in the 1st 40 minutes of games). Mainly just playing devil's advocate here to the suggestion that 1 of Savoie or Benson could get their 9 game look because of the injury. If one gets it, don't see why the other wouldn't as well.

Training mishap. No details beyond that.

Doubt he does make the team even with Quinn out. But IF they're giving Savoie a 9 game look at the beginning of the season AND as those that watched Winnipeg play universally say that Benson was better; then wtf wouldn't they also let Benson earn 9 games (if he in fact is good enough to earn the look see)? And prior to the 2 game AHL stint, was expecting Savoie to get that look see, but he'll have to play much better in camp to earn a short stay with the big club. So, it's possible neither earns a 9 game tryout; but wouldn't rule out allowing both of them to at least get a few games. Almost all the Sabres early games are in Buffalo. It'd be very easy to call somebody up if there's an injury as this would essentially have them keeping 1 spare D on the team and 1 spare F on the team. (Wouldn't put both Savoie and Benson in the same game unless they're really lighting it up.)

And you only play 1 of them in any particular game. (That's how you're rolling the coverage of the Quinn roster spot out for 18 games.)

Keep 7 D-men and 14 F's. If an injury happens, somebody else can get called up. Easy-peazy. Where do they play? F on any of the 2nd - 4th lines.

Why not keep both of them in Buffalo for their 9 game tryouts which gets you through nearly 1/4 of the season before they have to go back and about then Quinn should be ready and if he isn't then Kulich gets his look. Washington won't be happy about it, but tough noogies.