dudacek

People around here talk a lot about Adams' reticence to go get proven assets. What doesn't get talked about much is how many of Adams moves have involved acquisitions that fit the Dahlin age group (Krebs, Byram, McLeod, Levi) and involve players with the possibility of untapped upside (Tuch, Malenstyn Clifton, Comrie, Greenway) The man told us his plan 3 years ago and has definitely stuck with it.

You know Byram and Lohrei are the same age, right?

Isn't much difference? One player at 23 played 17 of the most sheltered minutes a night on one of the league’s most disciplined teams and still ended up among the team’s worst at -2. The other, at 21, played 23 hard minutes a night on a “do whatever you want” team and was +8. It’s not really hard to judge at all.

Power and Byram have each played about 160 NHL games, were the first defenceman picked in their respective drafts and have a lot of possible upside. That upside is not just in their ability to put up points. Power has elite length and his range; Byram has elite mobility and a high degree of edge to his game. Those are skills that help players play defence too. Neither were particularly effective defensively last season; plenty of players you can say that about at their level of experience. Each was drafted as a 2-way defenceman. Each has the ability to become very effective defensively in the same way Dahlin did. It may not happen overnight, but I would be surprised if they don’t get there.

Statistically, there is literally not a single thing, counting stats, eye test or analytically, but you're not accounting for the Buffalo tariff and the Boston tax

Following this through another step, I think the Bruins have the best defence corps in the division and one of the best in the league. The thought that the Sabres are some growth from a pair of 160-game defencemen picked in the top 5 of the NHL draft away from being comparable in your mind is something to think about.

I strongly doubt it. But I also think he will be better 5-on-5.

It's certainly what put the Lightning ahead of us. If I remember correctly, they were top 5 in both special teams and a minus team at even strength.

Ok that's weird, because when grabbed those numbers, I was surprised, because I remembered them as better as well. Not sure what I did wrong, Edit: Figured it out. The numbers I posted were from the playoffs, not the regular season. Will adjust my earlier post.

I'm really interested in seeing how the Sabres newfound speed manifests itself on the ice NHL edge stats (top speed/bursts over 20 mph) as a league percentile Peterka 59/92 Thompson 82/74 Tuch 85/77 vs Knies >50/69 Matthews 60/76 Marner >50/>50 Benson >50/>50 Cozens 85/78 Quinn >50/>50 vs McMann 95/84 Nylander 54/84 Domi 64/74 Zucker >50/>50 McLeod 97/99 Greenway >50/>50 vs Paccioretty >50/>50 Tavares 56/73 Holmberg 63/69 Malenstyn 97/97 Lafferty 93/96 Aube-Kubel 94/93 vs Lorentz 60/>50 Kampf 70/67 Reaves 52/>50 Dahlin >50/>50 Jokiharju >50/>50 vs Reilly 70/69 Tanev >50/>50 Byram 86/>50 Power >50/>50 vs McCabe >50/>50 Ekman-Larsson 83/>50 Samuelsson 59/>50 Clifton >50/>50 vs Benoit 66/>50 Liljegren >50/>50 Last year's Leafs had average team speed, the Sabres below average. One thing to consider is how fast the players are and how fast a team plays are not necessarily the same thing.

He doesn’t give off the captain’s vibe. But the fact that he has consistently been one of the youngest players on his team over that period probably has a lot to do with that.

Tage has started slow in each of the past 3 years. Be nice if that changes. He’s looked very..self-possessed? ..in the preseason. Controlled, business-like and capable. I’ve made no secret of the fact I think this guy is a pro - a shut-up-and-get-it-done son of an old school minor-league player turned coach, with a proven history of over-coming adversity. The tools are obvious. I think he’s going to bounce back quite nicely.

People always talk like it's weird that captains get traded, or like its something particular to the Sabres. I'd think it's probably more unusual when a captain retires with his team.

The main objective should be getting the Sabres ready to sweep New jersey.

The thing with Boston (and Tampa and Toronto) is that they are good teams but they have an aura about being some sort of insurmountable obstacle, which simply isn’t true. It’s the inverse of the Sabres. It isn’t necessarily true, but believing it helps make it true. The truth of sports and life is everybody dies some day. This, so much.

After dumping on Rosen a last night, he was much better tonight; asserting his talent and making more plays, although he passed off on a few opportunities he should have wired. As the winner showed, the shot is top-tier. Östlund was quieter after an outstanding game against the Pens, but still good. Well, quieter until the OT at least 😁 That was one of the prettier goals we’ll see this year. It should not go unremarked that each came up big at clutch time. I found it very impressive that a team with no NHLers and about 10 players with 2 or less years pro so thoroughly outplayed the rosters they did over the past 2 games. It’s basically been our 25-50 versus the opponents’ 15-40 - guys with basically no NHL shots this year against the guys fighting for the Sens and Pens 8-10 last spots. They skated fast, they limited chances and they worked.

Near as I can see, since Adams has become a GM, 4 GMs in addition to Adams, have traded a prospect they personally picked in the 1st-round: Tom Fitzgerald traded Alex Holtz and Shakir Muhkamadulin Bill Armstrong traded Conor Geekie Kevin Chevaldayoff traded Rutger McGroarty (because he had to) Kyle Dubas traded Brayden Yager (for McGroarty) EDIT, missed one Vegas' McCrimmon traded David Edstrom the last pick in the 2023 1st round

And the legend of the Bs grows some more.

Tuch is the only letter-holder not on a long-term deal. Power is the only one on a long-term deal not to get a letter.

Adams has had 8 1st rounders and 9 2nds over 5 drafts. He’s traded 2 of those picks (2nd rounders for Malenstyn and Greenway) and one of the prospects he’s taken with them (Savoie). 1st-rounders Benson, Power and Quinn and 2nd-rounder Peterka are with the team. 1st-rounders Helenius, Östlund, Kulich, Rosen and 2nd-rounders Kleber, Wahlberg, Strbak, Leinonen, Poltapov and Kisakov are still in the system. He also traded Botterill high pick Mittelstadt, keeping UPL, Dahlin, Samuelsson, Cozens and Johnson

All right, I’m out. 15 years on this site and I finally got something right. Time to step aside and build a house in Minnesota.

Doesn't mean anything other than the Sabres are largely irrelevant and the prognosticators are lazy.

I've listened to and read a lot of league-wide preseason talk. As far as the greater NHL media and fanbase goes, the Sabres are among the league's biggest afterthoughts. They're neither a bubble team, nor a disaster waiting to happen, and they certainly aren't a playoff team. They are just a consensus not-really-worth-thinking-about non-story that the talking heads quickly skip over. For the most part, I'm not even hearing any serious dives into their strengths and weaknesses, more of a "not really worth our time." I'd sum up the consensus as this: "Buffalo? Eh, they weren't good last year and didn't do anything exciting this summer to improve. I mean cutting Jeff Skinner, how is that going to help? And recycling Lindy Ruff (insert eye roll here)? I'm sick of waiting for them to break through. They never have and I've given up thinking that they ever will."

No Johnson, and he wasn't part of practice line combos I saw elsewhere. Wonder if he's nursing something. 13 forwards listed. I suspect Neuchev will be coming in. Kisakov's out.

The discrepancy comes because Pominville was an older draft pick.