dudacek

Granato on Dahlin: "I mean, he’s a great player and he’s going to make more plays than he’s going to give the other team. And that’s going to be a progressive thing.”

To keep their secondary guys? What happened to JT Miller, Yanni Gourde, Blake Coleman, Barclay Goodrow, Kevin Shattenkirk and Tyler Johnson?

Has anyone else noticed the quiet effectiveness of John Hayden lately? Still has stone hands but he has been quite responsible and strong on pucks for a player I was calling not an NHLer a few weeks ago. Might be a coincidence, but PK has been much improved since he started working into the rotation.

NHL goaltending sure can change people’s perception of what they are watching. Only the 3rd time since Ryan Miller left that a Sabres goalie played 4 straight games and never let in more than 2 goals in any of them. Ullmark did it in January of 2020, Lehner in November of 2016.

Toni Lydman for a 3rd was one of Darcy’s more under-the-radar sweet deals.

I'm fully bought in on Levi. I've gone from thinking we got a late 1st and the equivalent of a 5th in the Reinhart deal to thinking we got the equivalent of 2 firsts. Kudos to whoever it was on the Sabres staff who identified Levi as a target and picked him over other prospects who may have been offered.

I definitely doubt 7,000 was part of the plan, and agree the "hard work" thing is precarious. Thing is, the Pegulas have never fired a GM for results. Murray was fired for being a boorish boozer who ran an embarrassingly loose ship. Botterill was fired for not following orders. Somehow I don't think those things are a concern with Adams. Maybe attendance will be, but it's hard to make a case the bad attendance is Adams' fault, or that it's a situation like Jim Benning in Vancouver where the fans were demanding his head.

I'm pretty sure the minimum wage payroll right now is an acknowledgement that they expected the barn to be empty this year. The business plan is to plant a seed with a "hard work" identity this year, and put more butts in seats next year with Quinn/Power/Krebs etc. garnering more hype and more wins.

I don't pretend to know how this is calculated, but the Dahlin numbers — good in offence, mediocre in defence, elite in transition supports what my eye test has been telling me, rather than what Sabrespace posters have.

I'm bummed as to Poltapov and Kisakov not being on there, particularly Poltapov, whose game I have really enjoyed in clips and who I wanted to watch in this setting. As anyone heard scuttlebutt as to why he's not there (Kisakov too) and several less-highly-drafted prospects are?

I could see a world where Olofsson is traded at the deadline if we are offered a haul or his ask gets silly. But I don’t see it as likely. He’s an RFA, not a UFA.

i agree with your point, but I was curious, so I looked it up. Lukkonnen has played 37 AHL games. Vaselivskiy, Hart, Shesterkin, Price, Samsonov, Knight, Georgiev, Sorokin, Varlamov, Merzlikins, Korpisalo are all goalies in the Eastern conference who have had around 50 games or less AHL experience. So it’s not as unusual as I thought.

Small sample size but he’s been really bad this year. WTF stat of the year: Khudobin 7 GP, 181 shots faced, .873 SP, Oettinger 7 GP, 182 shots faced .951 SP. Playing for the same team!

42 shots against is the third most we’ve allowed all season. PIttsburgh fired 46 on Tokarski and Florida had 43 on Dell. Shots against per 60 Dell 35.2 Tokarski 33.9 UPL 31.7 Anderson 31.6 Subban 30.0

It will be a huge surprise to me if Krebs and Quinn are not on the team and I expect Peterka to make it as well. Personally I like Thompson Olofsson Asplund as a reliable 2-way 2nd line I’m comfortable putting out in all situations. The idea of Kyle Okposo on the 4th line is so Ralph Krueger to me. Okposo and Cozens are showing some chemistry. I think Cozens improves both ends and you add Girgs to the mix for a 2nd line to match up against the tough lines. Jeff Skinner is always a tough one to fit for me. Putting him with Mitts and Tuch might maximize his offensive chances. They’d be scary in our zone, but they should be good on the rush and the cycle. That’s my offensive situations 2nd line. And I’d want to roll with JJ Peyton and Jack as an exciting 4th line who should be able to outskill their matchups. I believe Bjork Murray and R2 have to be in the mix for spares, but ideally I’d rather sign a Sheahan type and a Deslauriers type in those roles. I get the desire to push Girgs and Kyle down, I’d rather give the kids a chance to make that happen organically before shopping around outside. When you’ve got 20-year-olds producing like they are, it’s not a risk giving them a shot, it’s time.

Never mind the title, Karmanos’ role in Vancouver would be pretty much identical to his role in Buffalo, no? One would think a move would have to pretty much come down to his relationship with Adams versus his relationship with Rutherford, and the degree of investment he has in the work and the people so far here.

Looked like that’s what they did in his first start. Not so much in the latter two. Shots against went from 23 to 31 to 42.

Granato’s like a high school coach with some athletic Grade 10s and a handful of misfit seniors who has decided to coach with the Grade 10s grad year in mind.

Let's talk about my development contentions — as opposed to yours, or LGR's — which are quoted above as refresher. So in your view there are zero facts supporting my contention that Quinn, Krebs, Samuelsson and Peterka are in situations where they can dominate? And that Nylander, Mitts and Tage were put in situations above their heads? OK, I guess we've exhausted this one.

@GASabresIUFAN That was a properly lawyerly reply. Are Quinn, Power, Peterka, Krebs and Samuelsson in situations where they can excel? Could the same be said for Mitts, Tage and Nylander the majority of the time under Botterill? A yes or no will suffice 😁

Exactly. This is the bet Adams has made and the decision we can't really judge him on until we see where Mitts/Tage/Dahlin/Jokiharju/Cozens/Power/Quinn/Krebs etcetera are in the next year or two. This board is definitely coming from a place of 10 years of failures resulting from the exact process Adams has chosen to adapt. No one can blame us for being skeptical of the idea that he can do it better. However, with the exception of Dahlin, the hockey department and the roster are coming from the perspective of - at the most - two years of this. Close to half of next year's team will not have been exposed to it all. Adams is betting they will survive.

My point is — and maybe this more a response to @GASabresIUFAN than you — is that if you are trying to a) reserve spots on next year's team for top prospects and the Eichel return b) maximize the amount of cap space you have to supplement them and C) hang on to the futures in your asset pool, you've really shrunk the pool of viable options available to you on this year's team.

Fair or not, Botterill was handed a pair of foundational centres. Adams was given one and asked to trade him. Mitts, Thompson and Nylander have been handled dramatically differently than Quinn, Krebs, Samuelsson and Peterka. The latter are playing in leagues where they can dominate. The former were all put in situations where they were in over their heads.

@Thorny This is the team we have been watching: Skinner Thompson Olofsson Girgensons Cozens Okposo Hinostroza Eakin Bjork Caggiula Hayden Asplund Ruotsalainen Dahlin Jokiharju Bryson Miller Hagg Pysyk Butcher Tokarski/Anderson/Dell This is team I think Adams is building for as soon as next year Skinner Thompson Olofsson Girgensons Cozens Okposo ??? Mittelstadt Tuch Quinn Krebs Peterka Asplund Dahlin Jokiharju Power ??? Samuelsson Bryson ??? Lukkonnen ??? At least half the team will be different. That’s a team that he is counting on to compete. That’s the team I will be judging him on.

I should have clarified with a “minus the goaltending” this is a much more competitive team. As always, you’re welcome to disagree. The bold is not an opinion I hold, or have ever expressed. I’m sure you know this, but not everyone will and you did quote my post.