dudacek

I don’t know how anyone has watched Tage play this year can consider it a fluke.

Offer Fleury one year at $10 million, be sad when he turns it down. Kuemper and Freddie Anderson are also guys I’d overpay for a year, maybe 2, but they’ll want term. I’d definitely do the same for Husso and heks a guy I’d consider signing to term. Doubt Adams will. Braden Holtby is probably more durable than Anderson but otherwise I prefer Craig. I have no interest in signing a Strauss Mann type unless it’s on a 1-year deal. I’m not replacing or blocking Levi and Portillo until I know I have to. I’m slowly coming around to Marty Biron’s idea of Casey DeSmith as being the guy who best fits within Adams’ parameters. I’m not high on DeSmith, but I can buy into Karmanos and Ventura having some insight there. Can we run with Anderson UPL and DeSmith in an open competition?

I would expect the pair of them to share the crease in Rochester and may the best man win. That is if one of them (Levi) doesn’t beat out UPL or whatever bridge goalie is sharing the crease in Buffalo.

It’s even beyond that though. Since Christmas-ish, the Sabres have effectively added: Tuch Krebs Mittelstadt Samuelsson Power Anderson Plus a healthy Olofsson They’ve made a real difference.

It was always a process of letting them learn from their own mistakes this year for Donnie. So I don’t think it’s as much about improving/implementing the system as the players getting better at hockey. I have noticed, as Taro points out, more tactical bench coaching. I wonder how much of that is finally having the roster to make moves? Too little being made about the fact the Sabres best hockey has also happened to coincide with their healthiest roster.

IS this the lovechild offspring of Darcy and the Batman?

It must be the audio feed, but I can’t tell you what the vast majority of Sabres goal songs are. I mean Tage has 35 goals, and I don’t have a clue. Skinner’s Miley is the only inspired choice that sticks out. Krebs Back in Black is the only other one I know.

43 in his past 42. The sample size continues to grow. Obviously there’s a “do it again” element, but It is interesting that the above pace is pretty much spot-on what Eichel gives you. Eichel has been roughly a point a game 4 of his 7 seasons, above once and below twice.

I would do this. He’s going to be a 60-point scorer for most of that deal.

On the contrary, I have been saying from the beginning the reasons for not sending Mule and Krebs down are cultural. I agree good culture survives minor changes. I also think it’s a slippery slope you need to tread with care. We’re still early in our culture-building process.

I find it fascinating how in its brief history Vegas has embodied both sides of the American psyche. The light of the lovable rejects banding together and pulling themselves up by the bootstraps. And the dark of the cult of celebrity and the ruthless pursuit of winning at all costs.

Tanev is better than Pysyk at everything on the ice and is as good a teammate as you will find. Doubt you could find a better match for what the Sabres are looking for. Doubt he is available.

I think there has been a concerted effort by the Sabres to treat every game down the stretch like it matters in order to develop talent and culture. I think it’s working. I don’t think Adams and Granato think the season is over. After what we’ve seen the past decade of Marches and Aprils, I thank them for it.

Oh there’s no doubt that some players got valuable experience in an AHL playoff run, I just doubt it’s been a crucial element for most cup winners. Palat and Killorn went on nice runs. But Point didn’t, Hedman didn’t Stamkos didn’t, Kucherov didn’t, Coleman, Cirelli, Sergachev, Cernak, McDonough, and Vasilievskiiy didn’t either.

Off the top of my head, the top 10 pick would have a 90 percent chance of being an NHL player, and probably a good one, a pick in the mid-teens where Vegas sits is probably closer to 65 per cent and the 2 in the 30 to 40 range 50 per cent chance of being an NHLer. Quinn, Cozens, Mitts, Nylander, Risto are pretty typical of the range of players you get late in the top 10. Girgs to Krebs represent what you can reasonably hope for in the teens. Getting a Samuelsson or Jokiharju with a late 1st is better than you should expect and a Tage there is an absolute home run. Asplunds and Brendan Lemieuxs and Guhles are more common and a lot of guys in that range don’t make it all.

I understand it’s a popular point of view around here, but it is backed up by what evidence? We can only judge a GM by the moves he makes.

I think Adams and Granato are molding Cozens to be their matchup guy; whether that’s as the 1C, 2C or 3C is TBD. i honestly have no idea at this time how Krebs, Mitts and Thompson will be utilized in the long run, but Thompson has proven to me he can be a legit top 6 centre. To me, they guy you’re looking for is a short-term need, but not a core piece. I suspect they will pick a centre in the first who will have a similar level projection to their current 4. It will be interesting to see how his development and theirs affects the direction of the roster down the road.

You’re not wrong that it would be good for the top prospects. I just think you might be overestimating the importance of a run. Have there been a lot of contenders out there where that has been a key element? I bet there are more where it wasn’t a factor at all.

ideally for me is that Tage would take a 6 x 6 deal this summer. I think he’d be smarter to wait another year and bet on himself that more would be available the following year. All that would take is a near repeat of this year.

I’m going to channel @Thorny again here and point out that this is both a convenient whitewash of Adams first year as GM and misreprentation of Tim Murray, who both had a plan and stuck with it using both barrels. Not sure “deviation” applies to Botterill either, partly because I”m not sure he had a plan to deviate from, and partly because he seemed entirely content to move forward every year through low/risk low reward moves believing success was somehow inevitable.

I don’t think this is a hot take in general, but with two caveats: Cap space may enable it, but it will have nothing to do with getting to the floor. The player being moved is being moved because the team has decided he is not going to be a core player moving forward and the player being acquired is; in other words, the team will not think as highly of the player as the fans do. (I disagree with Triumph’s take on Krebs, but agree that type of move is entirely feasible.) Adams has been blunt about this year being about deciding who is core and who is not. To my mind, the players he is referring to mostly are Olofsson, Thompson, Asplund, Mittelstadt, Dahlin, Jokiharju, Bryson and (perhaps) Fitz, Mule and UPL. But maybe they figure they are in a position to judge some younger guys as well.

It don’t think there has a ever been a time I haven’t followed them closely since I was about 7. Maybe it was a little less obsessive in the early ‘90s (college/marriage) and in the post-Hasek/prelockout period (not sure why), but there’s never been a time I couldn’t tell you the roster right down to the top prospects. As for specifics about games and plays, aside from the ubiquitous highlights, they don’t stick in my mind the way trades and draft picks and lineups do.

“I wasn’t loaned to the corporate office sir, I was promoted with the salary and all the perks that were implicit to that promotion. It was something that I desperately wanted, I worked my whole life for and I earned. Of course I will do exactly as I am asked. But I would much prefer that I get to complete my current project that I am fully invested in first. I hope I will be given enough time to readjust to the warehouse and that the crew there welcomes me back. Because given the turnaround time, I am not sure I am capable of giving them the lift you seem to take for granted. Off the record we both know that I am far more useful to the corporate office than the person you will be using instead of me and we both know corporate will be worse off from my absence. I am not out the door at the first opportunity because of this but I do keep a ledger on where you draw the lines between family and business, and I will remember it.” One thing I’ve learned from Sabrespace is how likely it is that everyone reacts to exactly the same situation the same way. Im sure that holds true for hockey players in this situation. Just like I’m sure that in the court of industry opinion the Sabres are perceived more bourbon than than Portapotty water and wouldn’t benefit at all from little gestures to shift that perception.

More than anything else, it is the way he takes charge on the ice. He demands the puck during the crucial moments of the game and he delivers in those moments. He’s got a real “give me the ***** ball” attitude going now. There’s no fear or no compromise. Complementing that is a bit of a natural understated swagger. He’s not afraid to stand up for his teammates or himself, and he’s not shy about rubbing the opposition or their fans the wrong way. That has carried over into his interviews. He comes across as focused and determined, with an equal mix of caring about his teammates and belief that he needs to be an example for them. And finally, I see teammates deferring to him.

”Thanks LGR for all the work you did up here in corporate. It’s paid off in our best quarter in years. But we’re pulling you out of there before you can wrap up your project in order to put in some OT at the warehouse two states over at your old pay grade. But no worries, you like those guys!”