dudacek

And he’s taken down moose with his bare hands. Tied behind his back.

And faster And more physical

4th game in 6 days on the road, 6th game in 9 nights overall, the above is probably going to come back to bite me. But it’s what we’ve watched this year.

I know this is kinda generally accepted as the way, but it certainly isn’t the case with Donnie. He talks all the time about defence being the easy part to learn: pick a structure, stay disciplined and work hard within it. He is so focused on finding ways to break down structure, his practices are designed to have the team making plays at a high tempo so those plays come more naturally in games, he pushes his players to be creative, to try things, to be fearless. And you can see it: our players are constantly moving to open up spaces, then dropping pucks into those spaces, confident a teammate is darting hard into those holes. The puck carrier always has multiple options in the attacking zone. He runs into traffic, he has 2 guys nearby ready to bail him out. The team is always coming in layers. That is how they are being coached to play. Victor Olofsson has hit a career high in goals a little over halfway through the season. Tage Thompson and Jeff Skinner are well on their way to career years. Tyson Jost might get there too. Cozens, Mittelstadt, Tuch and Dahlin have already topped their career-best totals. It’s January! That is all happening because of the way this team is being coached.

Not good enough? Only so many slots and we have a lot of youngsters? Why does any pick not get signed? With 22 picks over the past 2 years Adams may have to do some juggling in terms of finding them all places to play.

Does Viljami Marjala get a contract? Leads the Finnish junior league in scoring with 48 points in 30 games. Has 2 points in 4 games in the men’s league. 2021 5th-rounder who was drafted out of the Q, so I think he has to be signed this year or he goes back into the draft.

Since Nov. 21 (the end of the 8-game losing streak), the Sabres are 19/8/3. That is behind only Boston, Carolina, Toronto and (barely) Tampa. That’s 30 games - not a small sample size.

It's not incorrect, it's just outside the point I was trying to make and the discussion I was trying to have. My point was "I expected Jack Eichel to have assembled a body of work by now that puts him solidly in the discussion of the top 10 players in the game. I am disappointed because I don't think he's done that." Whether or not he would have had 2 80-point seasons if not for COVID doesn't sway that opinion. I wasn't trying to suggest "he's not even usually a point/game player." I was trying to suggest that he has never really put up remarkable full-season totals. A better way of expressing the point I was trying to reinforce with that example would be by rephrasing what I said in the earlier post: "He has only once cracked the top 20 in scoring." (Or twice the top 50)

If they miss the playoffs or even don't go on a run, it absolutely did not, at least not the way it was immediately intended. Jack was acquired to put a contender who had been to the final 3 of the prior 4 years over the top.

I think the key distinction here is "this is why Jack Eichel's career has been disappointing TO ME." 😄 I had expectations for what he would be or have accomplished by now that have not been met. They are generalities for the purpose of illustration, not a hard-and-fast checklist. And they are absolutely arbitrary. Of course there are reasons and extenuating circumstances. Choosing not to enumerate them all is not 'willfully skewing'. Are you disappointed in Jack Eichel's career to date? Has he met your expectations?

I'm not arguing against your point. He very much 'tracked' over the first half of his career. But after 8 years, I expected Jack Eichel to have a body of work that cemented him in the conversation of "top 10 players in the NHL". That hasn't happened. To be a Perreault or Lafontaine, he should have had that "peak year" as top 5 scorer by now. It hasn't happened. He should have had multiple top-20 finishes in scoring. That hasn't happened. Multiple 80-point seasons. That hasn't happened. Even if he had stayed on for a healthy 80 points this year, that would still be disappointing to me. With him in his prime years and scoring way up the way it is, he should be gunning for 100 right now. He climbed to the edge of the table of "best in the game" and instead of staying there for 8 or 9 of the next 10 years, he's fallen off it altogether. He's less than I thought he would be and think he should be, given his talent. And yes, he still has plenty of time to change the narrative.

Yeah, I'm not trying to bash Eichel or ignore the context, more taking a look at the big picture. I think it's safe to say we all thought he would be a perennial top-20 point-scorer, with multiple incursions into the top 5 like a Perreault or a Lafontaine. His career is half over and his year-by-year rankings are: 58, 53, 52, 23, 10, 287, 334, 103 So much unrealized promise.

It's actually the skill level of Tuch that has surprised me. I knew he was a missile through the neutral zone, but he is better at entries than I thought, and smart, looked-off passes in full flight like the one to Thompson last night are something that he can do at an elite level. I didn't know he could bait guys the way he does to make plays. But the one thing that has been a revelation is his "checking" – not defence, or physical punishment, but the actual act of taking a puck away from another player through a combination of speed, strength, hands and anticipation. I can't remember seeing a forward as talented in that area. Again, he baits guys.

I'm glad you did. The "bash Eichel to make us feel better" pile-on is something I've tried to avoid, but the idea that Tuch objectively might be a better player right now is interesting to me. it's not piling on Eichel to admit that he is 8 years into his career and for one reason or another has never fully realized what he could be save for that glorious 60-game run in 2019-20. To your question, Eichel has 34 points in 36 games, Tuch 54 in 48.

Better talent: Eichel Better player right now: I've seen Eichel hit higher highs, but I think Tuch is pretty clearly having a better season and consistency matters. Better asset: Tuch rather easily, considering Eichel's run of health issues and the intangibles of each, but most importantly Tuch's cap hit of less than half Eichel's Better player for the Buffalo Sabres organization? Tuch in a landslide Not posting this because of any ill will toward Eichel. I always expected to lose any Eichel trade. The gains would be fresh air and cap space, with the hope one of the 'futures' might surprise and make up for the talent gap. But Eichel continues to fall short of what he could be and Tuch has been an on-ice revelation.

Who do you think is the better player right now, Tuch or Eichel? The better asset moving forward?

Barring injury, it's almost given, I'd say. And he doesn't play the type of game that invites injury. Kid plays the game in a rocking chair at 20, and he'll be doing it at 40.

Not talking about he “lazily” part, but I have noticed his pressure allowing changes. Krebs and Skinner also seem out there late in shifts in a similar fashion. Don’t notice any one guy doing it more on the Cozens line.

But they are the youngest, highest-scoring team in the league. I think they need more experience and the reliability that come with it — especially if Girgs and Kyle aren't back

You know that when that when we finally actually blow one and that record becomes 21-1-4, we are going to hear a chorus of "i told you! You can't get away with that forever!"

The kids double, but the vets are contractually mandated by the CBA to get their own rooms if theywant. Not sure how many games or what age qualifies you for the perk.

I know there has been an actual shutout, but I'm not sure the team has offered their goalie a better opportunity for a shutout this season than last night. Backcheckers snuffed out any sniff of an odd-man rush before it became dangerous and I can only recall two blocks of sustained pressure in our zone the entire night. That Comrie allowed two goals in the second of them is a little troublesome, but we checked well overall, and the best defence really is having the puck all night. It might have been a 3-2 game but in terms of run-of-play that was as dominating a performance we've seen. We did what we wanted and they couldn't do a thing.

Lots of things to like about this game, but this should mean we are going to be relevant for a long, long time. I think we are watching the two best defencemen in franchise history, and they might be playing together for a decade.

Yeah, if you are talking the Cam Neely, Rick Tocchet, Mike Foligno role, no one does, really. Tom Wilson, is he good enough? I mean Matt Tkachuk barely qualifies, he doesn’t really fight and he’s almost more of superpest than a power forward anyway. Power forward today means to me a guy who can overpower you in the corners and driving to the net with his combination of strength and speed.

I don't agree at all with the idea that making a Meier-type deal is outside Adams' style. IMO, one of the reasons he's been hoarding cap space and assets instead of spending them on the Ben Chairots and David Perrons of the world is to keep his powder dry for those times the Timo Meiers and Jakub Chychruns become available. He's not against acquiring good players, they just have to fit in with the rest of what he's building.