dudacek

Stuff like this is not irrelevant, but it doesn't matter nearly as much as the way a guy plays. Rosen doesn't strike me as scared or particularly weak, but he's not strong either and not assertive enough in using his skill for my liking.

Malkin. Zucker talked about it in his introductory presser, where he politely suggested he's got the game to do it again playing with the Sabres most talented players and implied that his totals dropped last year because he was on the 3rd line. Pretty well-spoken guy https://www.nhl.com/sabres/video/zucker-introductory-press-6356483972112 I must have missed the talk on the ES scoring earlier. It is interesting in the context of that being Skinner's biggest strength.

Another interesting number from a player I think most of us are discounting: Did we know that 2 years ago Jason Zucker finished 26th in the entire NHL with 25 even-strength goals? Some of his peers: Skinner 27, Matthews 27, Matt Tkachuk 26, Guentzel 25, Eichel 25, Crosby 24, Kucherov 22 Sure would be nice if the old fella had another one of those in his holster.

People wonder why some of of us are so high on Quinn. Points/60 Minutes, 2023-24 (Min. 20 GP) 1. Connor McDavid - 3.50 2. Nathan MacKinnon - 3.41 3. Nikita Kucherov - 3.06 4. Auston Matthews - 2.95 5. Jack Quinn - 2.93 6. David Pastrnak - 2.88 Of course it is small sample size, but it's 27 games, not 6. And it's coming off 2 serious injuries.

Pending camp developments, and trying to apply Lindy's tendencies, this is my forward lineup: "Top line" One thing that hasn't got a ton of attention around here is the improvement Tage made in his own zone last year. He's no longer a liability, and, in terms of overall possession, he was the Sabres most effective forward. I'm going to use him as straight up 1C, and be comfortable with him lining up against either the other team's top checkers, or their strongest lines. In order to do that he not only needs wingers with offensive chemistry, he also needs them to be reliable in their own zone. Tuch is a no-brainer on one side of that kind of line, He's probably our best 2-way forward, he's got a rare size/speed combination for winning matchups, and he has proven chemistry with Tage. Ideally, I want the LW to have the skill to keep up with them and the brains to exploit and complement their physical tools. I want that guy to be on the right side of the puck for them, get pucks to them and then get to the net to convert the chances they will create. The more I think about it, the more obvious it is that guy is Benson. Yes, I realize it's more "concept of Benson" than actual Benson at this point, but the fit is too perfect and the player too good at defying doubters not to give it a chance. "Scoring line" This is your Roy/Afinogenov/Vanek combo, the line you are constantly sending out against 3rd pairings in order to skate and skill them into the ground. Peterka/Cozens/Quinn has proven chemistry and enough experience under their belts to take the next step. They're pace-setters and dangerous counter-attackers and should be able to embarrass slow-footed defenders and reignite some of the rush magic last year's team lost. Peterka fits better here than on the first line because his lack of defence won't hurt as much as it might with Tuch and Thompson, and his offence elevates the danger quotient of Quinn and Cozens in a way no other player on the roster can. Two years ago we could see the potential this trio had to score a lot of goals. Now they should be advanced enough to turn potential into reality. "Matchup line" I like the idea of a line that can turn a shift into a non-event, basically disrupt the other team's rhythm and force them to spin their wheels. I also like the idea of a line that can set a tone, by beating the opposition to pucks all over the ice, finishing their checks and creating frustration, even against upper echelon opponents. A line that can both be a checking line and energy line would be a valuable tool. Their histories suggest McLeod between Lafferty and Malenstyn could be that line, setting the tone with a forecheck or bringing that one-goal lead home in the third. There's a ton of speed and a nice mix of responsibility and edge. "Options" Lindy's interview from the summer really stuck with me, about how what he wanted his lineup is to have tools, players he can tap for specific roles and situations. A Krebs/Zucker/Greenway line could be exactly that. You've got three guys who you can trust defensively: a versatile, high-energy guy with some playmaking skill, a forechecker with some finish, and a leviathan. Together, they can be a pretty decent bottom six line you can roll out every 4th shift if that's what the game calls for. Individually, you've got 3 different types of players you can tap to move up the lineup when one of the other 3 lines needs something different in a particular situation, or on a particular night. I'm not ignoring Aube-Kubel, he can and would be rotated in as a 4th "option" with a 4th skillset. He starts in the press box partly because he's probably the 13th-best forward and partly because of how I structured the 1st 3 lines. I'm expecting wide variations in game-to-game deployments and ice time under Lindy, a more basketball-style approach to bench coaching based on matchups and situations, as opposed to the Granato preference of locking in 4 lines and trying to stick with them for stretches. I think we may see a lot of games were Lindy starts with the idea of 3 preferred lines then substitutes in the options depending on what he's seeing.

To me Thompson is the obvious 3rd. Guy takes personal responsibility and has fought through a *****-ton of adversity without ever complaining or giving up. Self-made guy who has committed to the city and the franchise and a good example to the younger guys. He’s also one of the senior guys in terms of age, games played and games played in Buffalo. Also doesn’t hurt that he is the biggest offensive threat and probably has a ton of influence with the younger forwards.

In a perfect world we hire the next Bill Zito, who quickly flips Adams mistakes for better players, convinces Pegula to spend wisely and turns things around quickly, the way @Thorny wishes Adams would have. In the real world, Pegula probably either botches the hire, or gets in his way and we get to repeat these conversations for another 4 years as the new guy muddles his way through, and more and more fantastic fans like @Weave and @Wyldnwoody44 just get too tired or angry to invest themselves any more.

@Taro T Look at the ages. https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/leagues/seasons/teams/0000352009.html https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/leagues/seasons/teams/0000552014.html Some of the best teams of the cap era didn’t look too much different than this Sabres team before they started to emerge: a group of young players getting good at the same time. This team had 99 points after missing the playoffs the previous 9 years in a row. (Oddly enough their biggest off-season moves were trading their talented young 2C for a talented young defenceman and dumping Jeff Skinner) https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/leagues/seasons/teams/0009792019.html Pointing this out leads to me being called a Pegula/Adams apologist, but the plan is proven to work IF YOU PICK THE RIGHT PLAYERS. Adams needs to prove he did.

Agreed. I think Murray, Jobst and Dunne are probably top 9, but Wahlberg, Rosen, Kulich, Östlund, Helenius should join them and Tullio, Kozak and the Russians could be in the mix. Am I missing anybody? Kisakov and Kozak really need to step up or risk becoming irrelevant.

This. College guys are never in camp. Euros under contract to a European team rarely are. What's really interesting about this team is how many of them will be playing for the Amerks this year. Meidema, Ponocha, Brunet and the goalies will be headed back to junior. The rest will be Amerks or their ECHL affiliate. It's kinda unheard of.

Plus Johnson, who I guess makes sense but I could have seen excused, and Chevaldayoff who I'd completely forgotten about. Wonder if he'll do something to get noticed. Feels like we haven't had that type of prospect in a long time.

Pretty much everyone we'd expect, no?

It was. Of particular interest was Lindy’s success with puck-moving defencemen, arguably the strongest element of this team and one accompanied by a large degree of uncertainty. I can add that I took a look at how Lindy used his defence 2 years ago when the Devils took their huge leap and discovered that his top 5 got within 2 minutes of each other and his #6 was used much more sparingly. Last year was kinda similar, except injuries factored in, so it was more a 4/2 split when Hamilton was unavailable. A lot of their drop last year can be traced back to losing their best guy for most of the year and replacing 2 of their top 5 with rookies, even though they were talented rookies. Im curious how having a prime Dahlin - something I don’t believe Lindy has ever had - factors.

plenty of bad people and bad owners have won when the stars aligned for them. Just like teams have won with bad goalies, or without franchise centres, or overwhelming speed or toughness. There is no magic formula, it’s all about lining up as many pieces as possible in your favour and then executing while getting the proper bounces. Pegula it appears will always be an anchor, therefore you need a GM who can manage Pegula in the way Beane and McDermott apparently can and Murray and Botterill could not. Kevyn’s ability to get along with Pegula should not be discounted as a plus, and neither should his seeming ability to install a working environment that his employees seem to like despite Pegula’s capricious ownership. But all that is wasted if he lacks the ability to acquire and develop talent on and off the ice.

Just another reason to suspect that there is indeed a multi-year on the table for Krebs for more and he has to decide whether its in his best interest to bet on himself and take the qualifier like Mittelstadt did, or go for security and take the term like Tage did.

How do you decide whether such things are there or not, if not by wins?

By this you mean wins, right? More specifically, enough wins to get them in the playoffs?

I don’t expect any of them to be better than Krebs in a bottom 6 role. It’s possible Rosen or Kulich might be better in an offensive role, but I’d be surprised if either beat out Krebs for a roster spot. I have the new guys ahead of Krebs in the pecking order because of attributes, but I don’t know that they are clearly better players than Krebs is.

Not disagreeing with your point, but was Krebs ever a healthy scratch last year? He was 3rd in games played with 80 and I don’t remember him sitting out, really since the first half of the previous year, when Donnie was rotating him with Peterka and Quinn initially and then they added Jost. But since he kinda found a slot between KO and Girgs, it feels like he’s been a regular.

From Mike Harrington’s interview with Alex Tuch: Tuch and his teammates have ramped up preparation for the new hockey season under new head coach Lindy Ruff. Tuch said nearly two dozen Sabres have been skating at LECOM Harborcenter. Thoughts on the Gaudreaus and routine “excited about Lindy and the element the new guys will bring” comments comprise most of the interview.

Assuming he’s healthy, committed to this team, and here, I’d put the over/under of Krebs games at 70.

The thought that the Sabres have become so good there is no way Krebs can squeeze into the lineup seems wildly optimistic to me. 215 20/46/66 105 8/16/24 282 31/47/78 289 36/47/83 219 32/43/75 Never mind the inevitability of injury, check out the career stats. Statistically, he’s cut from similar cloth to our 4 new bottom-6 guys and he’s capable of playing in a similar role. Effort and coachability don’t seem to be issues. And he may have more utility further up the lineup. Like most of you, I see him starting the season as #13, but it’s not like this team is stuffed full of far better, or more proven players and the coach isn’t the type to sit still. He has as much chance of being an everyday player as most. He just has to earn it.

Annual Bills game bond becoming a team tradition. https://www.instagram.com/p/C_qVh6mu5Zn/?igsh=cWd6ejV6Y3I0b2tx Looks like about 20 of them made the outing. The kid on the left end not looking nearly as scrawny as Corey Pronman told me he was.

Wouldn’t an absolute worst-case scenario be Kulich, Rosen and Johnson? All of whom should be cheap and ready, unless they’re busts? Isnt it the whole point of having a prospect pool? Never mind the fact that these are the kinds of decisions every playoff team has to make every year.

Thanks Chad for doing the homework and @LGR4GM for posting. The “they need to keep space open for…?” is such a red herring. There is one “dangerous” contract looming and that is Byram’s because he will be 2 years from UFA and will have arb rights. Quinn, Benson, Levi and Peterka are all on ELCs and have no leverage whatsoever. They can choose to sign them to bigger long-term deals, but they can also take the Reinhart route. And the fact is if any of them warrant fat deals, it will be because THEY PLAYED FANTASTIC HOCKEY AND EARNED IT and if they all do, that means the Sabres WILL BE GOOD!