nfreeman

I think Krebsie's Sabres comparable is more like Derek Roy than Danny Briere, although Roy was a better finisher than Krebs and Krebs has a lot more heart and determination than Roy had. Roy (one of my least favorite Sabres ever) was also a smallish center who was physically overmatched when he first reached the NHL -- I recall him getting knocked over pretty much every time he entered the offensive zone. But they brought him along slowly -- he played 2 full years in juniors after being drafted and didn't become an NHL regular until his D+5 season, although that was partially due to the lockout in 2004-05. He improved his strength on his skates over time and became a very productive player in a supporting role, at least in the regular season -- after Black Sunday, he disappeared once the going got tough in the playoffs. (Roy also completely fell off the table after leaving the Sabres -- he was one of quite a few guys whom Lindy got far more out of than anyone else was able to.) Krebs is entering his D+4 season, although the pandemic plus injury resulted in him playing only 71 games total in his D+1 and D+2 seasons. He then played a total of 77 games last year, his D+3 season, spread across 2 NHL teams (57 games) and 2 AHL teams (20 games). So he really hasn't gotten that many reps, nor has he had the benefit of a stable, deliberate development path in a winning environment. Hopefully he'll have that type of environment this coming season and will benefit from it. If so, I can see him developing into a Roy-type role on this team -- a smart, speedy, skilled guy who benefits from down-lineup matchups against the opposition's lower-level defenders, can play a 200-foot game well against those matchups, can play special teams pretty well and is quite productive in that role.

I gotta admit -- it will be hard to avoid schadenfreude if the wheels fall off in Vegas again.

Krebsie IMHO is one of the many guys who will be competing for ice time, PP time and higher/lower spots in the lineup. That group includes pretty much everyone other than TT, Skinner and Tuch: Krebs, Cozens, Mitts, VO, Quinn, JJP, Asplund, Vinnie and perhaps KO (although if KO still has his legs, he'll be in the 1st group). There are a million potential outcomes. Based on Krebsie's history, wheels, vision and attitude, I expect him to swim, not sink. I kinda expect him to win the #3C spot from Mitts by the halfway point of the season. It will be fun to watch.

Leaving aside potential injuries, I think JJP will be in the opening night lineup and Sheahan won't, but I won't be super-surprised if I'm wrong about that. It will be a disappointment though if JJP isn't in the starting lineup by game 10 or so. I guess at that point they'd send him down anyway rather than healthy-scratching him.

Well, I think you're only left to infer that inference if you're predisposed to infer that way.

My point here is that we have no idea what kind of non-publicized charitable donations they make — and since we don’t know, it’s awfully PA-ish to assume that they aren’t doing so.

If anyone wanted to list the Sabres' prospects who are participating in the tournament and their teams -- that would be great.

I think we’ve seen the last of Kim and the last episode will be Jimmy/Saul trying to escape, then getting caught and coming to terms with his crimes.

…since you’ve confirmed that TP doesn’t donate to charity and that this fence caper, for the benefit of these “douchebag cretins,” was the only nice thing he’s done for anyone. Fear and loathing.

I agree that he hasn’t done so, and that a time will come when he’ll need to do so — I just think the choice to sign Comrie doesn’t indicate a reluctance to do so, as I think that choice was primarily driven by the absence of clearly substantially superior alternatives. There were arguably slightly superior alternatives, but not at the difference-making level IMHO.

I agree it’s not a given but I think those 2 are going to be an outstanding top pair this season.

But who was obtainable at any price this summer who meets my criterion of being a "sure thing" to be good enough to significantly improve the Sabres' chances? I don’t think a guy like Ullmark meets that standard.

1st bolded -- I don't think I agree here -- I think KA just determined that, of the pool of goalies who were obtainable and willing to come here this summer, there wasn't one who was a "sure thing" to be good enough to significantly improve the Sabres' chances -- i.e. they all, including Comrie, had more or less the same likelihood of being that good, so he took the one he liked the most, which was Comrie. And I don't think KA will be OK with finishing 8th-last again. If that happens, I think we'll see him move on from some of the guys on this year's roster. 2nd bolded -- this is interesting. Since the Sabres were obviously tanking at that point, I haven't thought much about whether Darcy could've ridden out the storm if he'd have chosen a better coach. I guess it kinda depends on whether the Sabres organizationally were committed to a full 2-year tank, which was needed to get Eichel, or whether they would've stopped tanking after drafting Reinhart if they'd shown signs of life under a better coach. Even with a better coach the franchise might still have decided to tank that 2nd year to get Eichel though.

I chose option 4 -- solid top 4 guy. As I've said previously, I'm a fan of Joki's and am pretty confident that he'll quite capably pull his weight as a 20+-min-per-game complement to the rising star Power. Joki just turned 23 in June and IMHO has improved each season despite spending his 2nd and 3rd pro seasons playing for the highly dysfunctional Krueger-coached Sabres. He spend 1 year in juniors after being drafted at the end of the 1st round, then split his rookie year between Chicago and their AHL team, then was traded to the Sabres for Nylander. Then 2 years of Krueger/pandemic, then last year under DM, who, as @dudacek notes, has consistently praised his play in public statements. My point is that the first part of his pro career has been spent under pretty trying circumstances and he's still performed pretty well. Now he'll get a chance to play in (hopefully!) a much more stable set of circumstances, with (hopefully!) a potential star D partner and a real NHL roster around him led by (hopefully!) a real NHL coach and backstopped by (hopefully!) a real NHL goalie. He won't be anyone's favorite out of the top 4, because Dahlin and Power have star quality while Mule brings the blood and guts, but I think Joki will deliver what the Sabres need in that slot.

I'm not sure Barzal is elite, but he is a very good player and I think still viewed by the Isles as a core guy. I will be pretty surprised if they trade him as a cap dump.

Not just yet, but I’ll guess that you’re going to watch the games in the first month with hope and anticipation for Quinn, Comrie, Dahlin, Power, Cozens, TT, etc, just like the rest of us, and if they deliver some rousing wins and are competitive every night, which is going to happen, you’ll be pretty close to all in.

I agree that in that scenario they’ll bring someone else in, but I would guess it would be someone that UPL would compete with for one of the 2 NHL spots (with Conroe presumably keeping the other one). I wouldn’t expect whoever it is to get a significant contract, so there wouldn’t be a major commitment to the new guy. As a related point, if UPL doesn’t impress enough this coming season and Comrie doesn’t get an extension next summer, but the team otherwise takes a big step, then the Sabres probably start to look more attractive to Portillo, whom I’d bet is very much monitoring the situation.

I took the optimistic legit NHL starter option. It’s mostly a bet on the acumen of KA and his staff. We’ll see. He needs to be right on this one.

I agree with most of this but I’m not sure this year is quite as critical as it sounds here. UPL is entering the last year of his contract, after which he’ll be an RFA. It seems fairly likely that next summer, Levi will sign, Portillo will bail, Anderson will retire, Comrie will not get an extension and so will have 1 year left on his contract and the Sabres will not make a big move to bring in a high-profile goalie. If all of those things happen, and if UPL shows promise this year but doesn’t seize the job, or even if he shows promise but gets hurt again, the Sabres don’t need to make a long-term decision on him. They’ll control his rights and can just roll it over with him on another short term, low cost deal to see if he develops. That’s kinda what I would expect them to do in that scenario.

I chose the middle option but he’s gotta stay healthy this year. Also: great thread and series! thanks @dudacek

I am all in on VO having a big year if he stays healthy, which unfortunately hasn’t always been the case. I think DM will be astute and well able to maximize his contributions, and I think VO has a lot of offensive game. It’s also quite possible that one or more of the young guys aren’t ready for prime time. That plus injuries could put VO into quite a bit of ice time — with, as noted upthread, high-skilled line mates. I do think @Taro T is being a bit generous in his description of Mitts’ season last year though. I need to see Mitts really deliver for an extended period this year before I drink that kool aid.

Michigan is an elite hockey program and is pretty likely to bring in a well-regarded coach. Unless the program gets hit with major sanctions and/or a bunch of players leave, I think Portillo is pretty likely to stay there.

So I heard on a podcast that the title of the next episode is "Waterworks," and since Kim now works at a sprinkler company...it seems likely we'll see Kim again.

It's possible, but last year, there were only 2 35-year-olds with 70 points or more -- Ovechkin and Pavelski -- both of whom are much bigger and stronger than Hubie. And Hubie is getting $10.5MM per year in his age 35, 36 and 37 seasons. Jason Spezza is the cautionary tale here -- he started producing 25ish-point seasons in his age 34 season.

Regarding Poltie's KHL contract -- assuming the Russia geopolitical situation calms down in the next year or 2, is he totally locked in to the KHL for the duration of that contract? Haven't teams or players bought out KHL contracts previously to get them to the NHL?