dudacek

It's nothing to do with calculating or lack thereof. The kids are well aware of the fact Levi won back-to-back Richters and tore up college hockey, and of his spectacular 5 goals against in 7 games run at the WJC. Quinn, Krebs and Cozens were on that team. They also watched him go 5-2 down the stretch with the Sabres. He is a peer. I think they will judge him primarily based on their own experience. I'm already on record as saying Adams should be acquiring another goalie and that he should be held accountable if he goes with the current three and they fail. I find nothing inherently offensive or dumb about either question.

I wonder if the players think or talk about how good Levi looked in his 7 games. We don't seem to. I think the bulk of the roster — Dahlin/Krebs/Power/Cozens/Quinn/Samuelsson/Peterka etc. — don't doubt him at all; he's of the same pedigree they are. The veterans like Tuch/Skinner/Johnson/Okposo? Very good question There's no doubt Adams will be (rightfully) crucified if Levi fails. I wonder what people will be saying if he succeeds?

Östlund has it in him to be a Mike Peca-level (level, not style) player - a smart, competitive, reliable big-game all-situations player who dominates middle-six matchups. I think some people mis-perceive him as being a small, soft skill guy, without elite skill.

Guess Redmond is Paestch’s replacement.

Ah yes, the old "we traded O'reilly and only got back their 5th-best prospect" thing. Hard to say what false narratives take hold, but they certainly do happen.

4 to 6 months was the estimate on return to play, so early November at best, but more likely in the new year. Return to form is anyone's guess. Anthony Duclair had a similar injury last year: " Duclair sustained a torn Achilles in July and didn't make his 2022-23 debut until Feb. 24." — nhl.com

My apologies. Dumba has sucked for a while. Surprised you’re interested.

Did you know he was minus player who had 14 points on a playoff team last year, has had negative possession numbers for 3 years running, and hasn’t topped 69 games played or 27 points in any of the 4 seasons before last year? Maybe - like a lot of other teams apparently - they did their homework and said “pass”.

This is funny when it’s about a team that dressed 3 first-year forwards regularly last year, in addition to having 3 others in their top 5 in ice time who had played less than 200 NHL games to start last year.

I mean everyone thought Olofsson was going to be traded because we didn't have room for him. So the net effect to Adams' plan is that he may have to hold off on flipping VO. A lot of people were saying he was trash anyway, so they aren't happy slotting him back into the lineup. But I wasn't one of them and i don't think you were either. He's a flawed player, but he is an NHLer and he can score goals. Adams pretty clearly thinks more of several of his guys than the average fan does because there were clearly things he could have done this summer and chose not to. And i guess he will live and die on those evaluations.

Except for a bubble team they might be. I had never really broken down this kinda stuff in that way, but it kinda supports my theory that teams become good by incremental improvements across the roster as much or moreso than anything else. And stars have less of an impact than we think. A top centre playing over 20 minutes a night doesn't even account for close to 10 per cent of his team.

It's not quite that simple because linemates and role affect player value: Olofsson was a far more useful player riding shotgun with Sam and Jack than he was on a 2nd line with Mitts and Jost. Mitts played like a star with Tuch and Skinner. But I can get on board for sake of argument. Assuming Olofsson is 80 percent of the player Quinn is, and that roster spot represents 5% of the Sabres lineup, for half a season, aren't we talking the team taking a 0.5% hit this year replacing Quinn with Olofsson? The 80 percent is completely made up, the 5% is a rough estimate, and every percentage point matters to a bubble team, but i think this kinda shows the degree of impact Quinn's injury could have on the current roster. I'm sure Tatar would help, but I'm not sure how significant that help would be.

A lot of people around here think Olofsson isn’t an NHL player, or at least one with much value. I think most GMs would love to have an Olofsson handy to plug into their lineup at no acquisition cost if a regular forward went down for a half-season with injury. I also think that guys like Rousek and Kulich need to see they have opportunity and giving them the first shot when an opportunity arises is sound people management. But only once your organization has arrived at the point where it has that kind of organizational depth. That’s what I meant when I said that “next man up” is what a strong organization would do.

Mitts replacing Quinn on the 2nd line is not a downgrade, but that isn’t really what we are talking about here since Mitts was better than Quinn last year anyway. I mean you’re absolutely right that every person in the lineup can move up a slot without a huge net overall loss if your depth is strong. But @thorny is also right that your team might be better if you moved Tatar into the lineup instead of Olofsson.

The Sabres have a ton of defencemen. Depth is not an issue, I am interested in Dumba if he’s a clearly going to be our 3 or 4. I’m not sure if he is that player any more.

This is what a team that believes in its depth would do.

Putting aside the goalie factor for a moment and consider how often a prospect as good as Matt Savoie gets moved for a rental. For the Sabres, Hellebuyck is essentially a rental.

@nfreeman seems to be suggesting Hellebuyck won’t be moved unless you are including a centrepiece better than Östlund or Rosen in the deal. I think it’s kinda the opposite: he won’t be moved until someone offers a piece as good as Östlund or Rosen in the deal.

The Jets know what they’ll get for Helle if they trade him now. They’re betting they’ll get more if a Levi or a Vanacek or a Husso falls on his face this fall.

I’d would much rather go with an unproven guy in the system already than a proven JAG like Nick Ritchie or Jesse Puljujarvi. Kulich or Savoie could be like Peterka was last year: good enough to play and develop, not good enough to make a difference. Tatar or Suter on a 1-year deal make a ton of sense to me.

It would be a huge surprise if Maxim Strbak doesn’t play for Slovakia, and Norwin Panocha is a possibility for Germany. He was considered a possible winger during his draft year too, which seems to be largely a function of his size. He’s got high-end speed, excellent hockey sense, takes a ton of faceoffs and is conscientious defensively. He was a 1st-line centre pretty much exclusively for the ICE, ahead of the guy (Geekie) Pronman mocks as Canada’s 1C.. Briere was the centre of his line, but it seemed to be Hecht was the one who did the heavy lifting down low in the defensive zone. Fleury played both centre and wing. Keller is a winger. Those are some high-end comparables. I think if he ends up at wing it will be more a function of depth and chemistry choices, rather than any unsuitability for the position

Maybe they are looking at it like you often do: Savoie closer to the NHL? Savoie was a higher pick? Savoie is more physically developed? Savoie had a more impressive playoff? Savoie is a faster skater? It’s not like they said Mittelstadt is better than Thompson, more like Peterka is better than Quinn. It’s a minority opinion but it’s not indefensible 🤷

Depends what the other team thinks of those pieces and how badly they are looking to sell. Prospect valuations are all over the board. I think Östlund is significantly better than Rosen, others disagree. Is Devon Levi a recent 7th round pick, or an NHL starter in the making? Are Cody Hodgson and Zach Kassian potential core pieces, or prospects their drafting team has developed serious doubts about? The Devils might flip Alexander Holtz for a goalie. I see him as a Rosen, others might see him as a Quinn. Hellebuyck has a motivated seller. When he goes, it will be for a package, the best piece of which some will see as the equivalent of Rosen or Östlund.

65 Roses. He arrived shortly after what was, at the time, the nadir of Sabres fandom.

Even Kevyn Adams would agree. It'just that many aren't too certain of his choices.