dudacek

Annual Athletic ranking is out. They don’t specifically assign numbers, but instead group players within tiers: MVP, franchise, all-star and 1st-line Dahlin is “franchise” in the 25-30 range with Hintz, Hischier, Marchand, Hedman and Karlsson Tage is in the “all-star” tier in the 30-40 range, ranking with group that includes Devon Toews, Slavin, Lindholm, Stone, Stutzle, Panarin, Nylander and Gaudreau. The other 4 are 1st-liners: Tuch in a grouping at 70-95 Power in the 95-112 group Cozens and Skinner in the 112 to 125 group Dahlin was the only Sabre on last year’s list, and made one of the biggest climbs according to the writers.

You shouldn’t really put on much emphasis on two September games. And Rosen is the oldest of the 4 high-end prospects at this tournament. But it is pretty hard to continue ranking him on a tier below Benson, Savoie and Kulich based on what he’s doing. He’s looked fantastic.

I saw Johnson make plenty of good net-front plays over two games. Not sure if you are dramatically over-emphasizing the 3-rebound goal today, or you think the only way to play defence is to overpower people, but calling his play “absolute garbage” is, well, absolute garbage. “Can’t take pucks away”? I saw him do this multiple time. He has been strong defensively. His head is always up and he marks his man with consistency. He mirrors the rush with ease, forcing guys wide, and he has a good stick in one on ones. The puck rarely stayed in the Buffalo zone when he was on the ice. And this was while learning play on his off-hand. No idea if that will hold up against men, but against boys, he’s been good.

Further to the above, Savoie is flat out fast. And not only is he fast, he plays fast: the video game play button is pushed down at all times and at both ends. If you aren’t prepared he can overwhelm you. He seems to always be pushing and both of his goals came, in part, from that quality. Rosen’s hands and feet are NHL level, that’s been the case from day one. People are going to talk about the fact he’s gotten stronger, but what I also saw yesterday was a player who sees the ice better than I thought; he’s taking what the game is giving him, moving himself and the puck to good spots, with authority. Two fantastic assists and a goal scorer’s goal. There was a lot to like last night from each of them.

I thought it was real interesting that with Benson and Kulich sitting at the top of most people’s hopes and dreams list that it was Rosen and Savoie who were the stars up front last night. My point is not that the first 2 were disappointing - they weren’t - it’s more about the depth of skill the organization has collected and the culture they seem to be establishing. Hockey isn’t basketball, the same players rarely shine over all 82 games. To win consistently, you need different players stepping up and taking control on those nights their peers might not be doing that. It’s starting to look like Adams has successfully built the culture of friendly in-house competition he said he was trying to create. No more “it’s Jack’s team, I’ll just sit quietly over here and do my job.” Guys like Savoie and Rosen (or Cozens and Quinn, or…) are saying “this is my team and I can make a difference.” It’s just a rookie game in September, with players who probably won’t be Sabres, but the approach has been deliberate and we’re seeing signs of it bearing fruit at all 3 levels (NHL, AHL and prospects).

Rayzor's talking about Ratzlaff being hung out to dry, don't know if i agree. I mean they've had a few rough patches, but overall they haven't allowed much.

Kisakov usually seems to create in these things. tonight was no exception. Kulich seems to be pressing a bit. Kozak looks like good role player. Plays responsibly and he hustles Still liking Novikov and Rosen.

Rosen pounced on that after Kulich and Novikov hard on pucks

Neuchev's man score there?

Not disagreeing with your general point, but he just turned 22 July 24. He's younger than Jandric and Metsa, both of whom turn 25 in October. Neuchev needs to use his teammates and respect his opponents.

He's so much more assertive than he was a year ago. I thought the best Sabre was Ryan Johnson, heads up and elusive with the puck, alert and closes fast without it.

Marty and Duffer have pumped Thompson’s tires in the past as well

Apparently I pitched Johnson on here as a UFA signing months ago. Idea didn't get a lot of support at the time. 🤷‍♂️

My initial impression when we signed him was "does this guy have anything left?" But, goddamn do I love the concept of what he is supposed to bring. Listening to his Zoom call when he signed, and his session today with Marty and Duffer only reinforces that. If he can bring a measure of that presence to his play on the ice we're going to love him. Fingers crossed.

I'm expecting Clifton to pay similar attacking defensive style to Jokiharju, with a similar level of success. But because he will be checking people with his shoulder as much as his stick, and he will be on a more successful team than we've seen Henri on, and because he will drop the gloves occassionally, he will be more easily forgiven. He'll also be good enough to succeed with either Power or Dahlin, and also good enough to anchor the 3rd pair if that's where he ends up.

Development is hard enough to predict without throwing the goalie factor into the mix. UPL is the last guy from his cohort that we're waiting on, which makes sense since goalies take the longest. He wasn't good enough last year and I honestly don't know if he can be. I guess we're going to find out.

The podcast itself didn’t really seem to reflect the impression I got from the Tweet. I mean, it wasn’t way off or anything, but the meat of the discussion was far-ranging and speculative. “Dahlin wants 5 and is pissed off he hasn’t got it” was a conclusion I might draw from the Tweet that I definitely would not draw from the pod. “Dahlin wants to be here” and “Dahlin is pissed off it isn’t done yet” are 2 direct quotes. Dahlin asked for $11.5 is another thing that was implied. I can tell you one thing if Dahlin is still at $11.5 for 5 and the Sabres are at $10.5 for 8, that’s nowhere near “virtually done” or whatever was stated 2 months ago, nor is this going to be resolved in the next week. I’m sure Peters did have the conversation he says he did, and he tries to be professional, but he just doesn’t really know how to be professional. I.e. what constitutes a usable source, and how you need to verify things before you report them.

It’s very likely that if you told Sabrespace one year ago that UPL was poised to go 17/11/4 for the Sabres, virtually every poster would have happily taken it. That’s exactly what happened, but those who have embraced Luukkonen as a part of the Sabres this year seem few and far between. A save percentage ranking 63rd among the 79 NHL goalies with a minimum 10 games played last year will do that. As will posting a SV% of .875 or worse in nearly 1/3 of his 33 appearances. https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=196751 The flip side of the bad games were the 12 appearances with a SV% of .923 or better. The issue is obviously inconsistency. Kevyn Adams has gone out of his way to publicly support UPL, including inviting him over for dinner to reassure him of his value to the organization and what he needs to do to solidify it. It remains to be seen if that support is authentic, a savvy GM trying to salvage an asset, or a bit of both. UPL enters the season with a spot in Buffalo his for the taking, at roughly the time in his development he should be taking it. But it’s a spot that’s also there for the giving away. What do you expect from Luukkonen this year? (Last year’s takes here) This marks the final installment of this year’s expectations threads. Thanks for participating. I’ll give people some time to catch up on their votes and post a results thread in a few days just in time for training camp and some real hockey to talk about.

After a few seasons of hovering on the fringes of the Bruin lineup, Clifton vaulted into an everyday player role last year. He played 20-minutes a night over most of the first 2 months on the first pair with Hampus Lindholm while Charlie McAvoy got healthy, before dropping down into a 3rd-pairing role in the 17-minute range to play out the string. He finished 3rd on the team overall in total even strength minutes played and had a secondary role on their PK. His possession numbers, however, were among the worst on the team. He led the Bruins in hits (23rd in the NHL), and was also among their leaders in blocked shots and giveaways. https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=145656 Clifton’s dad says the family is all about loyalty and his son is Sabre in large part to the loyalty Don Granato has shown him. His game is all-out fearlessness and attacking on both sides of the puck, and his willingness to sacrifice his body and go to war for his teammates should add an element the Sabres have been lacking. Two questions need to be answered: is he a late bloomer or the product of the Bruins system? And is he ready for the additional responsibility he seems destined to get in Buffalo? What do you expect from Clifton this year? (*I arbitrarily gave Clifton 4, the number he wore in college. He was 75 in Boston where 4 was not available.)

After a long run of being a 25-point man, Johnson’s counting stats fell to negligible last year. He played a lot of minutes in the middle of the season as the Avs fought through a raft of injuries, but his ice time dropped at season’s end and into the playoffs to finish at 17:15 for the year, heavily tilted toward defensive zone starts. After 13 years of being a good soldier in Denver, he was essentially squeezed off the team by the salary cap and the $27 million dedicated to the 5 D they already had under contract. He said in free agency he very quickly targeted Buffalo as the type of organization he wanted to be a part of, encouraged in part by old friend Kyle Okposo https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=95359 It would be unfair to say Johnson’s counting stats and analytics last year played no role in the Sabres decision to pursue him this summer. But it would be fair to say they meant less than 6’4”, 225 (his height and weight) 920 (his career games played), 1 (his draft slot, and number of Stanley Cups won) and the fact that he added plenty of PK expertise, hits, blocked shots, safe puck management, and the type of veteran experience and leadership Buffalo needed, especially to fellow 1st overall picks Owen Power and Rasmus Dahlin. What do you expect from Johnson this year? (*the team hasn’t officially announced it, but Johnson has always worn 6 and has flashed it in Sabres colours.)

Wish @qwksndmonster and @darksabre were talking hockey on here rather than being drawn back in by more important things.

He was with Mitts and VO for that one.

Defence is not hard to learn or to execute, the issue is self-discipline not ability. Offence tends to be the opposite.

Good post. It is sorta weird how Clifton/Johnson/Greenway/Levi seem to have perfectly targeted last year’s weak spots (goals against, PK, physical presence) at the required positions and Sabrespace has collectively kinda overlooked that.