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Everything posted by Taro T
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Annual expectations thread 2022/23: #19 Peyton Krebs
Taro T replied to dudacek's topic in The Aud Club
What in his game reminds you of Connolly? Don't see that at all. At Krebs age he was REALLY lazy in his own end, which Krebs isn't at all. Connolly at that stage also would carry the puck too much before making really dumb passes he was forced into. The dumb passes Krebs makes aren't a result of overplaying the puck but rather from believing he can put the puck through tighter windows than he can actually do so. When Connolly took the game seriously after THE lockout his style still seemed different than Krebs IMHO, though maybe there's a similarity there (thus the Q at the top of the post). -
Annual expectations thread 2022/23: #19 Peyton Krebs
Taro T replied to dudacek's topic in The Aud Club
If you are referring to expected point totals, yes Savoie is more likely to be Briere than Krebs will. Krebs probably fits in more somewhere between Derek Plante & Derek Roy. But wasn't referring to his scoring, was referring to HOW he'll be deployed / have his greatest opportunity at success when playing C. And IMHO that will be as a C mainly in name & less in actual deployment. Briere was not good at the defensive responsibilities of C but he usually didn't need to be because he had guys like Hecht & (until he walked) Dumont on his line & then guys like Leino on his line who could help cover for his defensive deficiencies. Haven't seen enough of Savoie to know whether he'll need help or not, but just don't see Krebs bulking up to a point where he doesn't need help w/ the defensive responsibilities, though could see his savvy and earnestness at the 200' game being able to mask the deficiencies when he isn't going against top lines. Could see him centering Mittelstadt or Cozens with his "winger" getting a lot of responsibility in the Sabres end. -
Johnson. (Ryan's dad.)
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Sabres Sign Forward Riley Sheahan to a Two Way Deal; 950k
Taro T replied to Brawndo's topic in The Aud Club
They're only going to keep 13 F's on the roster when everybody is healthy. Someone besides Bjork will be in Ra-cha-cha IF they come through TC unscathed. -
Official Sabres to Retire Ryan Millerโs Number on January 19, 2023
Taro T replied to Brawndo's topic in The Aud Club
Interesting. Really thought they'd hold the ceremony against the Ducks. ๐บ -
Sabres Sign Forward Riley Sheahan to a Two Way Deal; 950k
Taro T replied to Brawndo's topic in The Aud Club
And for how many years did we expect Eakin to not be in the opening night lineup? Agree that he shouldn't be top 12, but expecting on opening night he is. Until he's actually made this year's Jankowski, will expect he's this year's Eakin. And Eakin did actually get healthy scratched at times by Granato. But he was in the lineup on day 1 every time. As for Asplund, expect he'd get that slot, but could see Hinostroza there as well. (Which is why he was listed 1st of the 2.) -
Sabres Sign Forward Riley Sheahan to a Two Way Deal; 950k
Taro T replied to Brawndo's topic in The Aud Club
With Sheahan, could see: Skinner - Thompson - Olofsson Quinn - Cozens - Okposo Krebs - Mittelstadt - Tuch Girgensons - Sheahan - Asplund/Hinostroza to start opening night if everyone's healthy. -
Sabres Sign Forward Riley Sheahan to a Two Way Deal; 950k
Taro T replied to Brawndo's topic in The Aud Club
You can call him the 14th forward, but unless Granato is being very creative (and he might) Sheahan will be slotted in as the 4C. It'd be cool to see the checking line be a true 2 way line with say Asplund- Cozens-Okposo (& Girgensons as the fill in when things slot around) in which case Riley is the 14 but not expecting that. Expecting him to C Girgensons & somebody. Okposo is an obvious choice, but expect him slotting higher. Maybe Hinostroza, maybe Asplund, maybe ???. -
Annual expectations thread 2022/23: #19 Peyton Krebs
Taro T replied to dudacek's topic in The Aud Club
@Curt probably has the points about right. Expect Krebs will play more W than C but expect him to play a fair amount at each. LT expect him to play a Briere style C role where he's nominally the C but a linemate helps with a lot of the heavy lifting of the job. -
Didn't sell T-shirts to help the local youth hockey team my kids had grown up through. (We didn't benefit, but a lot of my friends kids do.) Nor to buy the Ameks nor revive the Kin-ig-hit Hawks. Pretty sure the donation to Penn State didn't come through a foundation either. Of course they use fan good will/ generosity to make themselves look better. So does Wegmans everytime someone purchases that $1 or $5 charitable donation at the register. Pretty much every other corporation interacting closely w/ the public does the same. There are very few Paul Newman's that actually don't make a penny off stuff like this. Wish there were more like him, but is what it is. (And, sadly, he ain't here no more.)
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1. The Knox Brothers buying into the Seals. Set the stage for us getting our own team. 2. Signing Imlach. Set the stage for us having an actual HOCKEY team rather than an expansion team. 3. Imlach putting on his glasses and getting us Bert on that lucky 11. 4. Fleecing Chicago for Dom for only Ruuttu and the pick that turned out to be Daze. (No, the trade in reality wasn't Beauregard & a pick for him. That's the lazy way of looking at it. Kind of like saying we traded Reinprecht to land Drury. Sabres obtained Steve strictly to land Chris. Same durn situation.) 5. 70 saves to go back to Joisey.
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Sabres Sign Forward Riley Sheahan to a Two Way Deal; 950k
Taro T replied to Brawndo's topic in The Aud Club
So, had that call. Hoping wrong about no more real G or D help and also no real top 9 F adds beyond bringing kids up -
Sabres Sign Forward Riley Sheahan to a Two Way Deal; 950k
Taro T replied to Brawndo's topic in The Aud Club
They should've brought him back last year to be able to punt Eakin into the sun for good (minus that late December/January spell when every F was broken, but we digress). Would love to see another guy better than him brought in, but now when injuries hit they've got another actual NHLer ready to step in at 4C. And if nobody beats him out at that slot, they know they have an NHLer there and can keep Girgensons at W where he belongs and Asplund at W where he likely belongs. The only sad thing about this signing is it would seem to indicate Adams is into the stocking of the fringe portion of the roster (as if the 3 AHL tweener D signings didn't already let us know that's where he's at) when there's still room for upgrades higher up. Realistically, he'll get 30-40 games and hold his own there. Glad he's back. -
Annual expectations thread 2022/23: #1 Ukko-Pekka Lukkonnen
Taro T replied to dudacek's topic in The Aud Club
If he's expecting a penny over $1MM / yr, he's nuts. He should be happy w/ his qualifying offer. He's barely earned that. -
Annual expectations thread 2022/23: #1 Ukko-Pekka Lukkonnen
Taro T replied to dudacek's topic in The Aud Club
Expect there's a better chance Levi or Portillo is the guy down the stretch than either Anderson or UPL regardless of whether Comrie falters. And expect this year it's Comrie's job until one of the other 5 take it from him. -
The flip side is that he WILL cost himself some bargains. The hope is that those guys that get priced way to far out of his structure (whatever that turns out to be, we still aren't at the point any of it is above the footers, they they are down & in place which is more than we can say for his predecessor & to a degree his predecessor's predecessor) either truly are core and worth that price or (more likely IMHO) aren't truly core and can be shipped out for pieces that will extend the window once it has opened (the crank is turning, but not even sure it's been cracked enough to let a drizzle in from a monsoon) or that the remaining guys are close enough to core that losing a core piece or 2 isn't truly devastating. The fear is that losing out on those bargains will force the window to close quicker than it should've which IMHO is a legit fear, but it is so far off in the future that it isn't fully factoring in (& Tampa has shown, if you're good enough at evaluating talent that it'll still be open a darn long time). Adams is definitely playing the long game and has the team entertaining enough as it builds (theoretically) to contender status that the fans won't revolt and he'll still be employed here when that long game starts to produce significant results. Gut feel is the Pegulas will give him at least until Levi arrives before he needs to be concerned for job security. And let's face it, if they aren't in the playoffs by then he should be gone & probably should've been gone sooner. ๐
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Face it. Ain't no donation gonna please everybody. Not even to a hospital. Why'd you donate to pediatrics when there's breast cancer research & treatment to support? Why'd you donate to breast cancer when thoracic medicine can save so many more lives? Why'd you donate to thoracic when ... ? And IMHO a lot of the criticism they recieve is another example (like the Peace Bridge Twin Span) of people being upset with the good because they didn't get great. Overall, are we in the greater WNY Region better off for them coming on the scene back in 2011? Again, just MHO, but would say yes we are. Could it be better? Absolutely. But from out here in the cheap seats it does seem to be getting better overall. My 2 cents. YMMV.
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They've been keeping their charitable donations sports related for the most part AFAIK to date. Including putting money into youth sports that hasn't been as well reported as the Penn State one was. Probably because those have been significantly smaller (again, AFAIK). Also, are the Amerks & Kin-ig-hit Hawks not "beloved institutions?" The Kin-ig-hit Hawks would be gone without the Pegulas & possibly the Amerks as well. Didn't see a lot of people lining up to keep them in Ra-cha-cha after Styres got them because they came w/ the original Kin-ig-hit Hawks that were his real prize. B. Thomas Golisano didn't make the huge donation to U of R Strong that changed the name of the pediatric center until 2002. Pretty sure you're onto something when you point out a lot of those sort of donations don't happen too early in a billionaire's life.
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Don't see Adams making that long term bet on a player until at least their 3rd contract. Which, to a degree negates some of the value of having gone all in on a young team because, as you state, he isn't going to end up with that homerun true value contract at the end deal. Maybe that's by design as he tries to be a players' GM & doesn't want anyone on a deal substantially under market & if he has gentlemen's agreements with the players that they won't hold the team over a barrel later on, it might work. But he's already had Hall & Ullmark's contract statuses work against the club. So, personally, would rather see him give guys like Cozens & Power LT deals coming off their ELCs; but doubt he'll do that. So, expecting his next deal to be 2 years at fairly low price. Can't see a 4 year deal under any circumstance. Gut feel is 2, 3, or 6 years w/ almost no chance of 6. Said best guess is 2 years.
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Annual expectations thread 2022/23: #10 Henri Jokiharju
Taro T replied to dudacek's topic in The Aud Club
He should NOT be on the 1st pairing. When all are healthy, he should never be partnered with Dahlin unless they're playing euchre. ๐ IMHO at this point in time he is not a good partner for Power because he makes too many mistakes in his own end & more importantly he doesn't cover for his partner's mistakes there nearly well enough. Maybe he'll reduce one or both like he stopped pinching at the wrong time at the other end last year, in which case that opinion could very well change. But until he does, really would rather have Lyubushkin paired with Power because the expectation is he WILL cover Power's mistakes far better than Henri will. Expecting Granato would rather have him work through those deficiencies tied to Power's hip so expecting those of you that want Henri as the 4 will get your wish. -
Annual expectations thread 2022/23: #10 Henri Jokiharju
Taro T replied to dudacek's topic in The Aud Club
He SHOULD be in the 5/4 role, but he's going to be in the 4. Power will keep him seeming to be only slightly overmatched. (Much like Dahlin's growth last year made Henri seem to take more strides than he actually did. And he DID make strides last year.) Really hoping Lyubushkin settles in too well next to Power, like Samuelsson did with Dahlin, to let Granato give in to his inner "just let him learn into the role" next to Power. But not expecting it. Henri could look like a hero as the 5. -
Annual expectations thread 2022/23: #1 Ukko-Pekka Lukkonnen
Taro T replied to dudacek's topic in The Aud Club
Perhaps ... ๐ -
Yeah, they're all in on 1 last run and then a modest (or so they hope) tank the following year.
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Annual expectations thread 2022/23: #31 Eric Comrie
Taro T replied to dudacek's topic in The Aud Club
IF Dahlin & Samuelsson can keep up their play down the stretch, expect we'll see the Sabres get 50 starts out of Comrie with the majority of them quality. If that pairing is still relied on as 1st pairing but are the Dahlin-Jokiharju we've seen, expect we'll be getting Anderson quality from him. Would really still like to see at least 1 more legit NHL D-man & them figure out the shutdown C, but the hopium says he can do it. -
There's 1 team you missed on that template front & that's Carolina - both the early '00's & this latest iteration. Both got a pretty good core together but didn't have goaltending & then got reasonable/good goaltending and more or less came out of nowhere after stockpiling some talent. Still lean towards Adams doesn't go after established goalies because this team isn't quite ready to make a true push for a championship, so he's willing to pick up another Savoie/Quinn type player next year if Comrie isn't ready to be the man & if he is good enough to shock the world then he's good with that too. Last year showed that he has assembled a resilient group - they never turned on each other when things were bleak around January & they even bounced back and played good & entertaining hockey down the stretch. Expect the mental side hasn't changed regardless of whether Comrie's up to the challenge & because of that we'll see a GM get a 4th year in the job for the 1st time since Regier did it at the turn of the century. Really can't recall a time the team had as many well regarded prospects; had Regier not kept Rolston we'd've possibly seen it back around '15 but he still hadn't rebuilt the scouting department, so don't know if he'd've gotten the full bang for his buck. (And, the comment about Rolston was that he was so out of his element that he got Regier canned with him; had Darcy hired a competent coach he might've survived the "suffering" but by not even looking for a competent coach he made the organization a laughing stock & paid the price with his career.) Adams is definitely assembling a group of kids & letting them grow together. Hopefully Levi's the real deal; if he is, these kids will become special. But really hoping Comrie's special too, because Levi is still likely 2 years away.