dudacek

Jack Eichel hasn't played hockey for a year, and been healthy for nearly 2. He's on a new team. He's going to take some time to find his groove. He will. Alex Tuch has played more like the Vegas Tuch for the past two weeks or so. It will be interesting to see where he settles. Sabres didn't make the trade to get better this season, so the timing makes this question moot as far as they are concerned. Knights did make the trade to get better this season, specifically the playoffs, so TBA.

My Amerks-watching has fallen off lately, has his approach during most of the game changed, or has it looked coincidental? In my view, becoming a perceived threat to hurt people would be a smart thing to do. Murray isn't making the NHL with the game we've seen this year. To be clear, I'm not talking becoming a goon, I'm talking playing more like a Kyle Clifford/Patrick Maroon.

O course it does. It's happening right now with Tage Thompson, who started to become a player after Krueger was fired. Sam Reinhart in the back half of 2017-18 another notable recent example off the top of my head. Players taking a jump at/around their 4th season or 23rd birthday give or take a year is so common I can't believe we are even talking about it.

20 points in his past 26 games. But never mind the points, he’s played tough, smart and assertive and he can move the puck in all 3 zones at an elite level. I can’t wait until the team catches up to him and everyone can grow to appreciate how good he really is.

Not sure if it will work as well against a grinding system, but the line combos were a great fit tonight for the game Donnie has been preaching. A talented player who is pressing (Olofsson, Mitts) with two puckhounds (Asplund/Krebs, Okposo/Cozens). And of course the top line has 3 talents who can all hound the puck. The Sabres played one of their stronger defensive games of the year, but we only noticed because Anderson didn’t let in any weak goals and made his best 2 saves (the Engvall breakaway) at exactly the moment in the game they were needed. Please, please find us a goaltending combo who can do that on a regular basis. It would mean so much. I wasn’t surprised Bryson had his best game in ages tonight. Playing with a legit #1 NHL defenceman will do that.

The Sabres draft videos show Terry at the table throughout, both days.

Tuch 25, Thompson 24, Mittelstadt 23, UPL 22, Jokiharju 22, Dahlin 21. Samuelsson 21, Portillo 21, Krebs 20, Cozens 20, Quinn 20, Johnson 20, Levi 20, Peterka 19, Power 19. 7 picks in the top 100 last year, 8 more in the 1st 2 rounds this year and next. We need players on the front-end of the Dahlin bubble more than the back end. Tuch is on a good contract and will still be good in 5 years. He fits. Keep him. *** Separately, I feel like i don't know you any more.

I don't think Terry is tired of this toy and ready to cast it aside. I don't know why a bored billionaire would lock himself into a pandemic Buffalo office space in the middle of summer for an entire weekend to listen to Jerry Forton and Sam Ventura debate the merits of Viljami Marjala and William Van Barnekow. That is pure and utter Sabrespace level hockey geek behaviour. I do think that he is about to embark on a building project worth 10 Douglas Jemals and should be fixated on getting a) his personal fiscal house in lean order, and b) any kind of investment support he can. These rumours need to be filtered through that lens. If he's close to getting the stadium deal done, I would guess any deal related to the Sabres is either a) past being necessary, or b) already pretty much done.

But he would have been a decent #1 guy this year and next, and a fine backup/trade chip for 2 years after that.

There is not doubt in my mind the dog in the picture could do better than what we’ve had the past 10 years. Why not a Sabrespace poster?

Do you see Asplund behind Eakin Bjork and Hayden?

If .900 is the Mendoza line for NHL goaltending, this might be of interest: .871, .893, .842, .926, .906, .857, .818, .886, .909, .882 Individual game save percentages for the Sabres in February. 1 good game, 2 barely acceptable games, 7 bad or worse.

Boy, it sure would be nice to see the 5th line instead of the 4th. Don't see it happening after the Eakin line had their best game in a month in Dallas. (Because the other 12 games apparently didn't count.)

He was. He denies this was his source, but it was almost certainly because of his connection with the Tuch family. The for sale rumour is not just Peters. Hamilton talks more about here, starting about 15:25. https://www.audacy.com/podcasts/schopp-and-bulldog-20261/sbd-the-end-of-the-paul-hamilton-athon-1269215340 I have no opinion on the rumours, but I think the Sabres are behaving like a team that's for sale.

Deflection, in front!

Yet that’s how far away we are. And the thing is, we have the cap space and the assets to acquire those pieces, if Adams had Darcy’s player acquisition skills. This is roughly what those assets cost, translated to today’s market Numminen - 1-year $2.8 million (today’s dollars) UFA Gaustad - Vegas first McKee - 4-year $5.3 million UFA Drury - Olofsson and Sabres 2nd Biron - Fla 1st We’ve got the assets, we just need to identify the players and make the right deals happen.

Mix up the lines, substitute different vets, but I'd be fine with something like this next year: Skinner Thompson Tuch Krebs Mittelstadt Drury Quinn Cozens Okposo Girgensons Gaustad Asplund Peterka Mair Dahlin Numminen Power McKee Samuelsson Jokijarju Bryson Fitzgerald UPL Biron Levi

They have the league's lowest payroll, are using a retired player to reach the cap floor and have spent less than $4 million combined on their five! best goalies. They traded or let go 3 of their 4 best defencemen, their 3 most talented forwards and their best goalie for players who have combined for 14 goals this year, and invested a grand total of $1.05 million in their biggest free agent signing. Does anyone think they didn't choose to ice a bad team? Seriously.

Haven't made up my mind about Fitz yet. I have about R2. He's not an NHLer. I haven't given up on Asplund though.

100% He’s not significantly better than the rest of the depth back there, but he sure is easier to root for.

Don’t think we’re too far apart on this one. Still hoping we get 20 games of UPL to show they are right (or even wrong) about him.

Eh, he always was going to be 1/2 the battery with a shot at being #1. The real concern is who he’s paired with. I think the article made it clear they do. The question is more about how they deliver.

Had some references elsewhere on Sabrespace, figured it deserved its own thread. https://buffalonews.com/sports/sabres/as-sabres-unveil-new-initiatives-for-season-tickets-theyre-mostly-holding-line-on-prices/article_938b3cd4-9727-11ec-bac9-eb84ea008c6b.html The team has hired a new VP of ticket sales and created a 25-person fan council to advise them. "Ultimately, we're going to take some of the experiences that I've had in other markets and see what works here and be able to listen to our fans. They've told us plenty of what they want to see and what they want to do, and we're going to look to execute on those items."

Cozens, Krebs, Quinn, Asplund, Power, Samuelsson, Bryson, Luukkonen, maybe Fitzgerald and Peterka. If you expand that to 240, add Jokiharju, Mittelstadt, Thompson, Olofsson and Bjork.