dudacek

This list is billed as a conversation starter and everyone is going to find something to disagree with. It's also probably the best representation of an informed consensus as you’re going to get. It has 5 tiers: MVP (best player on almost any team in the league) 12 players Franchise (best player on a contending team) 20 players, Dahlin dropped out of this category because his points dropped and the Sabres were bad All-star (strong 1st-liner, above average #1D, borderline top 5 goalie) 30 players, including Dahlin and Thompson. They break tiers into sub-levels, Dahlin is in the highest of the 3 along with Bedard, Hedman and Vasilievskiiy. Thompson the lowest, along with Stutzle and J.T. Miller. Star (average 1st-liner, below average #1 D, top 10 goalie) 36 players Support (below average 1st-line, good #2 D, above average starter) 52 players, including Power, Tuch and Cozens. Power is in the highest sub-level with Stamkos, Sergachev, Hampus Lindholm and John Carlson. Tuch is in the 2nd sub-level with Schiefele, Caufield, and Malkin. Cozens in the 3rd and lowest tier along with Patty Kane, Ovechkin, Byfield and Lafreniere

Tuch. There’s no 5 player per team thing. It’s the NHL’s top 150 players at large. There’s a wide variation per team. Ducks have 1 player in the list, San Jose none, Edmonton and Florida 7 each

He has only played wing as an Amerk and Forton has said that's where he will likely end up.

Cozens. Power is ranked on the same tier, but slightly higher

The Athletic sees him as the 5th-best player on the Sabres and just inside the top 150 in the NHL.

The Athletic pointed out that the reason Tage wasn't higher last year was because he wasn't good defensively. What was interesting is that they said his defensive numbers went up dramatically last year. So they now need to see him maintain that while his scoring bounces back.

They are given an exemption to carry them, but it hasn’t been made clear in anything I’ve read if that will delay the date they have to waived, or to when. In other words, will they be officially Sabres or Amerks on NHL roster cutdown day, despite being in Europe?

I hope Levi stays up and he and Luukkonen form a Swaymand/Ullmark combo. He’s better then Reimer, the playoffs are the priority and running out 2 good, fresh goalies is our best chance of getting there.

Athletic’s annual ranking just came out today. He was ranked at the same level as Hedman as the 8th/9th best defenceman and between the 32 and 39th best player overall - they rank in tiers using statistical analysis then vetting that through real NHL executives. Dahlin fell out of Tier 2 for two primary reasons: He didn’t produce as much offensively as he did in 2022-23 (in terms of both points total and overall impact) and the Sabres regressed as a team. Still, there’s plenty of reason to think a return to franchise-player status is still in the cards for the 24-year-old, starting with the fact he had a second consecutive season of decent defensive play. That’s exactly what some of his doubters wanted to see, and he delivered. ”I do (think he can defend at an elite level),” one coach said. ”I hear great things about him as a competitor. He can defend as well as all those (Tier 2) guys.” If he shows the full picture for a full season — and some of that hinges on his teammates — he’ll regain his forward momentum. He’s got top-five D-man potential. On topic, Tage ranked in the 16 to 20 range for centres - and between 50 and 62 overall. https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5750903/2024/09/24/nhl-best-players-list-2024-2025-season/ Other Sabres to make the list of the NHL’s 150 best players were Tuch and local whipping boys Power and Cozens.

If I was drafting a D from scratch the only guys i would consider over Ras are Makar and Hughes. They are as talented and have had better results over the past 2 years. Hedman and Josi are on his level right now, but I take Dahlin because he is at the start of his prime, rather than the finish. Fox, McAvoy and Heiskanen are in the ballpark to the point where I could see why someone would prefer one of them. I prefer Ras. For me, no one else is in the discussion. So somewhere between 3 and 8 is fair. I agree with @LGR4GM, that his numbers and his reputation among the greater NHL fanbase is tainted by being on the Sabres. Just look at how the perception of Hughes shifted last year. If Buffalo ever gets good, he will be in the Norris conversation.

I see no reason why Dahlin returning would affect either of those 2 in terms of deployment and/or production. Lindy's game plan over the first 2 exhibitions seemed to be "play your regular season lineup as much as possible". And the workaround for Dahlin's injury was to plug Jokiharju into Dahlin's role entirely. There is no reason he couldn't use Byram and Power exactly like they were used the past 2 games. And I suspect he will for as long as they hold their own against NHLers. Given the underlying numbers of Dahlin/Joki in the past, and the way Henri has played so far, I think he starts with Ras. Particularly because Mule/Clifton has some nice ruggedness I can see Lindy appreciating

So the consensus starting 20, plus Reimer, Gilbert, Bryson, Clague, Krebs, Kulich, Rousek? Makes sense I guess.I would have brought Rosen, then Johnson ahead of Clague, but it sends a message to each and hopefully stokes their fire. *** The game tonight will be interesting look at the Amerks. Two extra players on that roster, so a couple will be sitting out, and those are goalies 5 and 6 on the depth chart. But I think that's basically the Amerks team minus Sandstrom, Neuchev and whichever 4 of the Prague 7 ends up being sent down.

I never thought anyone could possibly challenge Owen Power for the the honour, but somehow Dylan Cozens has become the most underrated player on Sabrespace.

Sometimes things like these can be a little hard to judge. Im thinking of Lindy’s post-game after the opener, when he was asked about giveaways. He said something to the effect of “it wasn’t the passer’s fault, the other guy didn’t do what he was supposed to do.” Now don’t get me wrong, I find it hard to believe Cozens is being asked to cover that much territory and your post makes sense, My point is, I’m not sure what it is Cozens has been asked to do. Usually, if a player is blowing his assignment, he stops getting the assignment; that’s certainly been Lindy’s MO in the past. So I guess we’ll see.

Before I found out how they were using camp, I was wondering if Krebs would get a look on one of the scoring lines. It’s a little surprising though under the condensed circumstances. Maybe a peek at their intentions for him this year? He’s going to be a Swiss Army knife that gets plugged throughout the lineup as needed, as opposed to a 13th guy who gets plugged in at the bottom of the roster and everyone else moves up? I’m particularly interested in seeing what McLeod brings. Hope the Jackets dress more NHLers than PIttsburgh did.

Amen. It's like Bruce Smith, or Perreault or Hasek: it's a rare privilege to have a guy that good on your team. Enjoy it while you can. I my view, Josh is 2nd-greatest Buffalo athlete ever, after Dom.

Staff has made it clear they are icing a similarly strong roster for both pre-Munich games. Lindy says some of his regulars will play one game, more of them will play 2 Zucker is clearly the next man up on the PP after Kulich, but I can't see him in that same slot. I wonder if he'd go into Cozens slot and Dylan slides up higher. Id think he'd go where Byram is an Byram where Kulich is. Regardless, expecting a lot more motion and rotation anyway.

Agreed. I think it shows that the Sabres forwards are theoretically old enough to make a jump this season. Good enough is an entirely different question.

I respect this view too, but you can't really compare what the Sabres are trying to do with the majority of playoff teams This is not a contender looking to add a missing piece, or an established team trying to hold on to a playoff spot, or climb back into one. This is a downtrodden franchise attempting to rebuild from within with youth. Who has had success with that method and what did they look like? When Toronto took its step from doormat to perennial contender, these were the ages of its 6 highest-scoring forwards Matthews 18 Van Reimsdyk 27 Kadri 25 Nylander 20 Marner 19 Bozak 30 When Carolina switched from 9 consecutive playoff misses to 6 consecutive playoff appearances, these were theirs Aho 21 Teravainen 23 Williams 36 Ferland 26 Svechnikov 18 Neiderreiter 25 Colorado MacKinnon 22 Rantanen 20 Landeskog 24 Kerfoot 23 Soderberg 31 Comeau 31 New Jersey's leap 2 years ago Hughes 21 Hischier 23 Bratt 24 Mercer 20 Tatar 31 Haula 31 This is how the Sabres compare Tuch 28 Thompson 26 Peterka 22 Cozens 23 Quinn 22 Benson 19 If you want to follow in the footsteps of those teams, age should not be an excuse anymore. If our guys are going to be good enough, they're old enough to show it.

I’ve been waiting to see where Lindy was going to go with this. Basically, sub Dahlin in for Jokiharju and that’s a very likely PP1. Wondering if she’s got Quinn and JJ reversed because Quinn’s a RH shot, and the right half-wall is where JJ has excelled in Rochester and with the German national team. i wanted Byram there but thought Appert would go with JJ. Also Quinn down low fits with what Lindy and Appert were saying in terms of what they want to do. And PP2 looks like it could be a PP1. I wonder if that could be Kulich’s ticket to making the team, because having Byram, Power and Benson breaking down the box for his shot sure puts him in a position to succeed. No clue who else would go there if he gets sent down. Granato never used Cozens in that low spot, but I’ve seen him succeed there with Team Canada. Not expecting magic right away, but I like the way they’ve constructed things.

Good post. 23ish, 3rd or 4th season-ish, 200 games-ish: those are typical signposts where players transition from developing to regular. Kevyn Adams is right about one thing: youth is no longer an excuse. There are a lot of Sabres at the point of their careers where they need to become who they will be.

This post is the Sabres and Sabrespace right now in a nutshell: ”I know these players are talented but they’ve given me no reason to have faith they’ll be GOOD THIS YEAR.” It applies to Cozens, Benson and Quinn. But is also applies to Thompson and Tuch, and Luukkonen and Peterka, and Byram and Power and Levi and Samuelsson. It even applies to Dahlin, (except with him it’s not about how good, it’s about how great.) That’s half the team and its entire core. The flip side of that is they’re young, but they’re not rookies any more. Most of them are at the point where they need to show us what they’re made of. We’re pushing the chicks out of the nest and they’re going to fly or fall. And if they fall, we’re probably on to another rebuild. It’s ***** terrifying.

Setting aside the top 15 arguments, I will be very surprised if Tage isn’t more productive this year. I think @mjd1001 put together a pretty compelling statistical argument about how the hand injury affected his shooting percentage and the resulting dip in production. His scoring trend over the year - putting up a point per game over the final third of the season - supported that as well. Not sure if it’s chicken or egg, (probably both), but a good chunk of any statistical improvement will be tied to the success of the Sabres power play. He had 18 fewer points (11 of them goals) on the PP last year than the year before.

Incredibly unscientific, small sample size, but I’m pretty sure this is the line that finished the season playing together. Over the month of April (7 games), they went Quinn 4/3/7 +3 52.2% Corsi Benson 2/5/7 +1 55.2% Cozens 3/2/5 +3 53.8% They were 3 of the team’s top 6 scorers and 3 of its top 5 possession players. In short, they were pretty good. The team beat Washington twice, Philly and TAmpa, lost to Dallas, Detroit and Florida in OT

It’s weird given their relative physical stature and style, but I think Briere and Thompson are very good comparables: Not only in terms of how each kinda slow-cooked their way to excellence, but also in terms of production relative to age, and how they impact the game.