dudacek

Whatever you think of Don, this team ranks among the most improved in Sabres history. In terms of point percentage, last year’s team projected for 54 points. This year’s team has 71, projects at 74 and could get to 77. The Sabres have made a 20-point jump 6 times in their history. Best-ever leap was 37, from 51 to 88 in ‘72-‘73 and from 76 to 113 in ‘74-75. The others: ‘15-16 27 points ’05-06 25 points ’79-80 22 points ’87-88 21 points

Wasn’t Anderson nicked up and missed practice?

I think people tend to forget Jokiharju is 22. (Not disagreeing, or agreeing with either of your points)

i believe it’s 5 games for Ras on the right side now. He’s got 3 goals and 5 assists and is +2 averaging 24 minutes a game. Have we solved the question of our imbalance on D?

It's complicated because its point percentage, not points; teams are playing different amounts of games this year. That said, they are in now (barely), so if they win out I doubt they can be knocked out.

Since the catharsis of the Eichel return game, our record is 12/6/3. That's good for 11th in the NHL, 4th in the division and 6th in the conference. Our offence is 13th in the NHL Our defence is 15th in the NHL Our PP is 5th Our PK is 19th Shots for 27th Shots against 12th

Part of why I’m feeling optimistic is that everything I hear from the players and coaches screams optimism. I’ve specifically heard them speak to the bolded and suspect we will hear a lot of that on locker room clean out day.

I think those looking for sweeping upgrades are going to be disappointed. We're going to add a goalie and an RD and upgrade Eakin. None of those 3 will be big names. Adams will be counting on internal growth from UPL, MItts, Quinn, Power, Krebs, Cozens and Peterka.

Couple recent national podcasts (I think Custance and Marek) made a point of saying something good and long overdue is happening in Buffalo.

It's too bad this thread went the way it has, because there's a decent discussion to be had here on two levels: One is how the hockey sense a healthy Victor has shown this season is reminiscent of Sam's and big leap from what we've observed in his game before. He has made some of the sweetest passes we've seen this year. He still needs good linemates to maximize his game, but it's become more of a two-way street. Another is how a healthy Victor has produced: 18/14/32 in 33 games in October, March and April. That raises the question of how productive he can be over a full year. A developed Sam Reinhart was essentially a 65-point per 82 games player for the Sabres. Based on recent numbers, wondering if Victor can better that is not a silly exercise. Forget "who's better." Make it about "what level can Victor reach?"

It's the not the bad passes, although they have been reduced. It's the good ones. Skinner is looking for, finding, and hitting the open man in a way he never has in his career. I'm with @Taro T, he has been a better hockey player this year than during his 40 goal year.

Legend

“The fans will come back when we earn it.” - Kevyn Adams

Don speaks highly of everyone. You’ve got parse through the attitude stuff and the talent stuff and focus in on what he says about a player’s actual play. That said, I’m still not clear why a 30-point scorer with the best defensive numbers on the team in his first full NHL season would be in danger of being pushed out.

Mitts and Krebs are a work in progress in their current roles. Wish each was showing at least a bit of a threat as a shooter.

Sabrespace feels worried about his numbers, his size and where he played this year. Sabrespace also knows he was a long-term project given his physical immaturity and is willing to give the current regime the benefit of the doubt this early.

Our 2nd unit is almost as dangerous as the 1st lately and that’s new territory for this team. I’m a little surprised about how much Tuch and Thompson have not handled zone entries well on the PP, because at even strength they seem pretty good.

From the Buffalo News: Since March 1, Buffalo’s power play ranks fifth in the NHL with a conversion rate of 28.6% across 24 games. What do you think about what you are seeing? Does anything need to change?

Interesting quote from Granato when applied to our most high-profile free agent. “Kevyn (Adams) did an amazing job with setting us up for this as a coaching staff, to have guys that we know will return. Not a lot of activity as far as re-signing guys for the summer. There is some, but we know the guys want to be back and we know we’ll be able to get it done."

Because he doesn't have Reinhart, Skinner and VO finishing for him? 🤔

Only from people with no information other than the fact he hasn't signed yet. Most recent quotes from late January: The Sabres development staff has also maintained solid communication with one of their top prospects in the system. He says the development coaches frequently check in and always contact him before they come to see him play. "Whether it's Tim [Kennedy], Nate [Paetsch], or even GM Kevyn Adams, they've all put a lot of effort into me," he said. "It's really cool to see and makes me very confident in the future." Johnson feels confident that he will be able to take the next step in his career sooner rather than later. He's paid attention to the Sabres throughout the season and is thrilled to be a part of what is being built for the future. "I really do see lots of positives within the organization right now," he said. "They have continued to draft skilled players and develop them. It's just a matter of time before things really start to click in Buffalo." https://www.nhl.com/sabres/news/buffalo-sabres-prospects-update-ryan-johnson-university-of-minnesota-gophers/c-330249152

Tage hatty and an assist on Power's 1st.

Sorry i didn't mean NHL lottery picks. I meant three shots at adding a good player. Generally speaking, that means a pick in the 1st 2 rounds, or a prospect who was picked, or should have been picked in that range. And obviously that's a sliding scale. Tage, as a prospect, was way higher on that scale than Josh Bloom In my view, ROR's market value should have been the equivalent of 2 mid-firsts and 2 high seconds — you know, the price we paid to get him. They got the equivalent of 2 late 1sts and a 2nd. They were hell-bent on trading him and got a bad return. I just don't think it's the all-time bad trade it's made out to be. It's no Hasek for a pouting Kozlov and the last pick in the 1st. In terms of assets, we got more for ROR than we got for Reinhart. It's just that people quickly convinced themselves Tage sucked and Levi is a god. We'll see.

Tage a 1st and a 2nd. And the bold is a myth. They had an excellent pool. Their best prospect was Robert Thomas, who was probably ranked similarly to Krebs and they refused to trade him. They had 4 other highly-ranked guys generally considered on the next tier. We picked Tage over Jordan Kyrou, Domink Bokk and Klim Kostin.

That’s an interesting open question for sure. I know I would tell myself that to justify the trade at the time. But you can’t forget that the Blues had to shovel $7 million into a reworked trade at the the last minute in order to make the cap work. The original deal fell apart and they had gone out and signed Bozak instead to fill their centre hole.