dudacek

Summer, the sense it wasn’t a “real” tournament, the Hockey Canada scandal and the lack of media hype (tied in part I’m sure to the scandal) are the reasons most commonly cited. High prices and a sales campaign that forced you to buy multiple games to get the one or ones you wanted also apparently discouraged people as well.

I think he’ll be like Kulich: whether he’s in Rochester or not depends on his camp. He can still go back to juniors. Rousek, Cedarqvist, Kisakov and Rosen are the ones ones already there and worth watching.

I think I’m tired of being fully invested in every move the Sabres make without ever believing they are going anywhere. That’s not how I felt when I discovered the team when I was 8 years old, or 14 or even at 40. Not even during the lows. I’ve always loved the franchise and the logo. Always will. It’s been a long time since I’ve liked the people wearing them. I don’t know if this group is any good. Way too many question marks. Way too many scars to trust my eyes. But I could like these guys. I just want to be a fan again.

Only thing surprising about this is the timing.

Fantastic post. I am drinking this Kool-aid. The final 2 months, I watched a team worth cheering for.

I'm a huge Jack Quinn fan and expect him to have a Thomas Vanek-level career. But this is what his history has taught us to expect.

Thus the question mark in the title

Quinn and Peterka's NHL journeys will be fascinating for me as they represent the first Sabres prospects I have ever watched extensively in Rochester. To me, the skillset Quinn showed with the Amerks — the vision, the hands, the focus — should translate to the NHL very well, as in 30-goal scorer as soon as this year. The lack of strength, however, gives me pause; I'm not sure if he will be able to create space. Granato needs to turn him loose on the power play. Thompson and VO have harder one-timers, but he's got a great shot, and no one in the organization is a better pass/shoot combo threat.

Few would argue that over the past 30 years the two best forwards ever developed out of the Buffalo Sabres minor league system were Thomas Vanek and Jason Pominville. Vanek played more than 1,000 NHL games and scored 373 goals. Pominville also had more than 1,000 games and put up over 700 points. Vanek was an AHL rookie the year he turned 21, putting up 68 points in 74 games. Pominville was an AHL rookie the year he turned 20, putting up 34 points in 73 games. Jack Quinn, as a 20-year-old AHL rookie, outskated mono and bum ankle to score 61 points in just 45 games. His 1.36 points per game is easily the best in the past 30 years by a U21 Amerk who played at least half a season. It’s also the best of any U21 AHL player in that period, even ahead of studs like Briere, Spezza and Couture. https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=208510 While those numbers certainly have caught the attention of Sabres fans, they haven’t created a huge buzz with NHL prospect-watchers, who consistently seem to only grudgingly give Quinn a top-30 or even top-50 ranking, as opposed to the top-10 slot his numbers might suggest. A disappointing AHL playoff may have played a role. As he prepares to try and earn a spot on this year’s Sabres team, he comes in riding an intriguing pattern: a nondescript 1st-year of junior, followed by a 50-goal year, followed by a nondescript introduction to Rochester, followed by last year’s explosion. Vanek had 48 points in 81 games as an NHL rookie the year he turned 22. Pominville had 30 points in 57 games as an NHL rookie the year he turned 23. What do you expect from Jack Quinn this year? (Last year’s takes here):

I'm quite happy with Adams approach to culture, fine with his plan, and big fan of his coaching choice. That's a long way from being confident. He's invested all his chips in Dahlin/Thompson/Tuch/Mitts/Jokiharju/Samuelsson/UPL/Comrie/Cozens/Krebs/Power/Quinn/Peterka/Levi/Savoie/Östlund/Kulich/etcetera. I need to see their reality continue to approach their concept.

The Athletic's annual NHL management confidence survey is out. The Sabres have jumped from 32nd and dead last to 14th overall in this survey of Athletic readers asked to rank their faith in NHL management teams in 6 separate areas: roster building, cap management, drafting and development, trading, free agency and vision. When ranking teams strictly by what their own fans think, Buffalo comes in 11th. 94 percent are more confident than they were a year ago. https://theathletic.com/3516625/2022/08/18/nhl-front-office-confidence-rankings/ it appears fans are buying what Kevyn Adams is selling. What does Sabrespace think?

I was thinking about "other things" — scrutiny, language, taxes, team and the opportunity to relaunch his career.

Treliving was never going to make this deal with the Sabres after the way Adams ***** him on the Eichel trade. 🤔

Not sure why Montreal would be a more attractive situation

It wasn’t to my mind, at least not in the way you’ve broken it down, but this is a great explanation of your thought process and a good reminder to me that not everyone frames their concept of line-up building the same way. Thank you.

So minutes on the PK are less meaningful, or shouldn’t count as part of a player’s value?

I find this strange. What better measure do we have of how useful a coach feels a player is than the amount he utilizes him?

Neither can I. There seems to be a lot of people reading things into my posts that I didn't mean to suggest, so I guess that's on me for not communicating clearly enough. To clarify, I think Olofsson is behind Okposo in the ice-time pecking order, but is perfectly capable of playing well enough to pass him, even if Okposo maintains his current level of play. I think that is true of many Sabres. Therefore, I see Okposo as a signpost player: the more players who surpass him this season, the better the season will be.

You think Olofsson is clearly established in the lineup pecking order as a top 6 player ahead of Okposo and is in no danger of losing that slot, regardless of whether he has another stretch like he did in the middle of last season? If so, I guess we disagree.

Three-point night and praise as one of the better players in Czechia's upset of the US yesterday. Seth Appert was on with Marty and Duffer this week and dropped offhand that Kulich might be an option for the Amerks this year. So we know it is under consideration.

Objectively, the Sabres goaltending could get ugly.

That's what you took from my post about Kyle Okposo, that I think Victor Olofsson is a kid? I don't and he's obviously not. Olofsson has played less than 200 NHL games and I think he's still got things to prove, including that he's clearly a better hockey player than Okposo, who he trailed by a 1:24 minutes a game in ice time last year.

Haven’t been watching, but it looks like Rosen is leading Swedish forwards in goals and +/- and has 4 points in 5 games, 1 behind the leaders? Ahead of Lekkerimaki and Ohgren? Are the stats misleading?

I don't see Kyle duplicating last year's numbers at 34. But I don't expect much of a drop-off in his 5-on-5 play. He will play hard and will play smart and he will find a way to be effective. Some people see the need to add a veteran who the kids will have to leap over in order to earn their place. I see Okposo as that guy. To me, he opens the season as the #4 forward behind Skinner, Thompson and Tuch. Girgensons or Hinostroza are the stick: They're here to make sure Krebs, Cozens, Quinn, Peterka, Asplund, Olofsson and Mittelstadt play hard or they sit. Okposo is the carrot. He is here to make sure they play well. You want PP time? Outplay Kyle. PK time? Outplay Kyle. 15 minutes a game? Outplay Kyle. Crunch time ice time? You guessed it. If enough of them measure up, we'll have a good team.

Does it? What is “enough?” Are you going to tell me Kane, Toews, Sharp, Byfuglien, Seabrook, Keith, Ladd, Bolland and Hjalmarsson’s development was crushed because Robert Lang, Brent Sopel Marty Lapointe and Yanic Perreault were all they had to lean on in 2008? https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/leagues/seasons/teams/0000352008.html The Hawks got 88 points that year. A case could be made that the Sabres are at a very similar point in their development, if the kids are actually good. Kevyn Adams should have some insight, he was that team’s Riley Sheahan. Good environments matter, but not as much as good players. And the environment here is good. Let’s see how good the players are. (I actually agree with the idea we could use another, I just disagree that we require it.)