dudacek

Who’s up for offer sheeting Will Borgen? 4 years, $2.1 million per, it would cost us a 3rd if the Kraken don’t match.

Because the Sabres seem more invested than most in Russia: Athletic quotes from anonymous scouts. It’s always hard to project where top Russian prospects will land in a draft, but that’s especially the case since the invasion of Ukraine. We discussed Michkov earlier, but where do the Lokomotiv duo of Daniil But (wing) and Dmitri Simashev (defenseman) go? Both are huge players with intriguing talent. Scout 1: “But should be top 15, wouldn’t surprise me at all if he went in the top 10. You compare him to some of the other big wingers like Samuel Honzek, Quentin Musty or Matthew Wood and he’s better than them for me.” Scout 2: “Simashev is just as good as David Reinbacher as a player for me, probably better, but one obviously has a lot less risk as a draft pick so Reinbacher will likely go ahead. Simashev has top-pair potential in the NHL. He’s a 6-foot-4, clear NHL caliber skating defenseman who is solid defensively and can move the puck well.” Executive 1: “Simashev is a good player. He’s big, can skate and can defend like a pro. The lack of offense does worry me a little bit. If you’re stepping up with a high pick for a player in Russia, you’d like them to be a real player, and there’s a chance you may just be drafting a defensive third-pair guy.” Executive 2: “But is top 10 all day on pure ability. He’s a rare talent, has all the offensive tools, can skate and is massive. Just a matter of when someone is willing to draft him, likely in the first.” Executive 3: “It wouldn’t surprise me if But ended up anywhere in the first round. You saw last year with Danila Yurov those guys could slide to the 20s, but he’s a top 10, if not top 5 talent in this draft, and he could end up going that high too.” Executive 4: “They’re both top 10 talents in the draft. Whether you’re willing to pull that trigger or not high in the draft is another story, but they’re high-echelon players.” Scout 3: “Everyone is going to have a top tier of players, the guys they are confident will have long NHL careers. That group could be 8, 10, 12 players deep depending on your opinion of the draft class. Once all the no-doubters are gone, we start talking about But, because on talent, he belongs in that category. Simashev is a little later for me; closer to 20-25 it starts becoming a serious conversation. Executive 5: “If But was playing in the CHL he would be a top 5 pick, Simashev close to top 10.” Scout 4: “I think both are going to go in the top half of the first round, Russian factor included. They’re just too good.”

That would be a major mistake IMO. The team needs better than Stillman or Lyubushkin to elevate when injuries inevitably strike.

I read a lot of other stuff from the site - Lebrun, Duhatschek, Wheeler and Russo in particular - but if Fairbairn is gone I might be too.

I didn’t see a scenario with Clague (or Hinostroza) being part of a healthy 23-man starting roster. That doesn’t preclude re-signing him as a depth guy though.

So barring an unexpected trade, the majority of the 23-man roster is already set: 10 forwards: Tage, Skinner, Tuch, Cozens, Mitts, Okposo, Greenway, Krebs, Quinn, Peterka 5 defencemen: Dahlin, Power, Mule, Jokiharju, Boosh I think it's pretty likely Levi is one of the goalies and Stillman is pencilled in as a 6/7 defenceman, although that could change depending on who gets moved or brought in. To me, there are 6 players in limbo: Olofsson, Girgensons, Jost, Bryson, Comrie, UPL.

If the bolded is true (haven't done the math), that's still on management.

I don't buy in to the idea that Button is pushing clickbait, or doesn't have a clue, with his "out-there" picks. Every individual scout and every individual team will have players they rank that vary wildly from the consensus. Just once I'd like to be able to compare actual team lists. I bet you will see "consensus 10-15" pick Matthew Wood (for example) ranked 7th or 8th in some places and 27th or 28th in others. Other than at the very top, variations in evaluations are normal.

I see no unfair advantages with an expansion teams being given access to one average player from each NHL team and the same salary cap that every other team works under. The success they are having is due to the way they were managed.

Why does how he scored in college concern you?

I think we already have that on the roster with Cozens and Krebs

The same article states Hart, Hellebuyck and Gibson are among the 7 players likeliest to be traded and mentioned only the Sabres as a team potentially interested in big name goalies, although I’m sure there are others. (It states the Kings would like to be in that market, but would need to juggle cap.) Vladar, Swayman, Ullmark, Blackwood, Murray are other names to watch in terms of potential goalies available. Also, it reports Graves is not close to signing with the Devils, and a sign-and-trade, like with Severson, is possible. Same goes for Another Sabrespace favourite, Miles Wood.

Best Mitts comparable might be the 4x4.4 Filip Chytil signed a few months back with the Rangers - similar age career numbers and utility Id be happy to sign Casey to something in that range

That’s not a new take rom Marty and it didn’t waver despite the results this year. Marty knows a helluvalot more about goaltending than me, but he generally seems more enamoured with how a goalie approaches his craft than how many pucks he stops. He’s not the only “goalie guru” I’ve seen praising Comrie’s technical approach.

Any insight coming out of the combine? @Brawndo or anyone else involved this year?

I have been perhaps the biggest Levi booster on this board for a long time now. The presence of Devon Levi should in no way discourage the Buffalo Sabres from acquiring any competent goalie. You need two of them. Play the new guy until Levi takes his job then trade him. If Levi doesn’t take his job, trade Levi.

Goalie valuations more so than any other position seem to be all over the map. It seems to be an emotional combination of your first impression of a guy, what you saw the last time you watched him, whatever you want to make of his numbers, and your interpretation of his situation, filtered through a lack of context in what goalies actually get paid, or traded for. I put less faith in what the internet says about goalies than on any other position, because I don’t think fans really understand the position well, myself included. I look at Carter Hart as a talent who lost his game for a bit but has bounced back to be a legitimate 2nd-tier NHL starter and who is still young enough that he can be “your guy”. I wouldn’t give up 13 for him, but I would be happy to trade pick 39 and 45 for him. You’ve got him under contract for 1 year and under team control for 2. There’s a decent chance they could decide he is their guy, and a good chance they can trade him for a decent return if they don’t. Short term he is a better fit than most and long term we keep our options open. For the right price this would be a savvy move, but I imagine there will be plenty of suitors. A lot of teams are looking for “their guy” and not a lot of 24-year-olds have his resume.

Dahlin has earned it, IMO, he’s the centrepiece. But ideally I’d avoid them. I just think the idea that Östlund is “easier to sacrifice” at this stage of their careers is short-sighted. Jason Pominville was “easier to sacrifice” than Jiri Novotny in 2002. Let’s see a little more of what they have to offer before deciding who is core and who isn’t.

My initial reaction to the above string of posts was “there we go, minimizing Krebs again” but that would be my own bias talking. The fact if the matter is none of the forwards who are Sabre property are safe from being trade bait, not even Tuch and Thompson. Right now, Cozens might be the cream of the crop of the kids. Two years from now, maybe he’s stalled as a 60 point scorer while Krebs and Östlund have hit the same level at cheaper prices and Cozens has become our most marketable trade piece. Right now, Kulich might be the apple of Sabrespace. Two years from now, maybe he’s struggling to make the jump while Rosen is coming off a 22-goal rookie season and he, Quinn and Peterka have made re-signing Tuch poor cap management. The story has played out to the point Thompson and Cozens and Samuelsson have earned term, but that’s about it. They don’t have trade protection, and they do have marketable contracts. Their full stories have yet to be told. The stories of the Savoies and the Poltapovs haven’t even started yet. We will need to trade people, but we don’t need to trade them yet. The buyers will determine who goes nearly as much as the sellers.

I’d tend to agree given the choices I see being available. Kid is generally underrated around here.

So I was trying to think of the last team that built a champion the way the Sabres are trying to, assembling a young core and chucking them into the deep end together. The best match seems to be the Blackhawks, who miss the playoffs in 2007/08, then won the cup 2 years later. In between they went to final 4 with an inexperienced lineup almost totally bereft of veterans. They literally did not even have an Okposo or a Girgensons, adding vet Sami Pahlsson at the deadline for the closest comparable. Here’s how the career NHL games played stack up between 2023/24 Sabres vs the 2008/09 Blackhawks for players being asked to play similar roles. Okposo 984- Skinner 939- Havlat 470 Girgensons 625- Tuch 379 Ladd 157 Dahlin 355 Keith 322 Greenway 334 Eager 195 Thompson 301 Kane 162 Lyubushkin 279 Byfuglien 178 Mittelstadt 277 Sharp 334 Jokiharju 273 Campbell 493 Cozens 201 Toews 146 Krebs 135 Bolland 121 Samuelsson 109 Hjalmarsson 34 Power 87 Seabrook 314 Peterka 79 Versteeg 91 Quinn 77 Brouwer 81 The next year they added Hossa and John Madden as the missing pieces and won it all.

Which of Tuch, Thompson, Skinner, Cozens, Mitts, Quinn, Krebs and Peterka should have their roles cut back from last year?

I am a big fan of Demko, advocated for the Sabres to buy low on him after his slow start (to little or no support here) Personally I don’t believe he’s available given what the Canucks say they are trying to do, but if he were, I think Robin Lehner (pick 21) and Corey Schneider (pick 9) aren’t bad comparables - youngish and touted - although Demko is more proven than either. He is better and more highly regarded than this board thinks. (Keep in mind the Schneider trade is an outlier and kinda marks the last time a team has paid big for a goalie.) My Canuck fan friends think the return should be Dylan Cozens, but they are as ill-informed about Cozens as Sabrespace is about Demko. 13 might be too much, but not by much in my opinion. If I don’t have a goalie and I do have picks and prospects, like Chicago or Columbus, I’d trade pick 19 or 22 for him. He’s a legit #1 on a reasonable contract, who could be around for a while.

Not about the player himself, but Willander has a far better chance of being the pick at 13 than 39. He, Simashev, Reinbacher and Sandin-Pellika will be the first 4 D taken and from what I’m reading any of them could go top 15

Vegas had the league’s 11th best defence, Florida its 21st. Florida was 6th in the league in goals for. They knocked off the league’s 1st, 7th and 2nd best defences to get to the final. The 1st, 4th, 5th, 6th, 9th and 10th best defences lost in the 1st round The 1st, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th and 9th best offences won in the 1st round Not seeing any evidence that defence is more important than offence in this year’s playoffs.