dudacek

Off topic, but in addition to Devon, Krebs, Cozens, and Power have lengthy Hockey Canada connections. Skinner and Miller have some. Tage and Tuch would be naturals for Team USA. Mitts and Mule maybe? Dahlin, VO, Joker...? Might see a healthy group of Sabres at the Worlds this year.

There must be something in the way he hunches his shoulders, or gets a pained expression that inspires these posts. He was among our best forwards last night and his line was good despite the fact Brunette was trying to target it. And when Krebs Cozens Quinn Dahlin Power etc. hit their prime together in a few years the way Ekblad, Bennett, Reinhart, Barkov, Duclair etc.have we should also be that good. At least that’s the plan.

My immediate reaction was “sure they have, last night” They’ve had bad moments, but that was like the 1st game in a month where they were outclassed and hanging in for basically the final 2 periods. And then I remembered what we looked like in the fall against a Florida team that barely broke a sweat. And that was a whole different level of bad. Our standards are becoming more what a real NHL team’s should be. And it sure is nice.

I was all fingers crossed for Cooley and Nemec when were looking top 5. Now that the pick looks more 8ish, it’s been more Nazar and Jiricek. That your ranking has them flipped makes me happy. The Buffalo Sabres top draft pick will be fine.

Anyone know why he hasn’t really been part of the PK rotation? It’s been nagging me for a while.

I though he struggled against big bodies tonight and I don’t think it was a coincidence that it showed more because the opponents were bringing it harder than 90 per cent of the games Ive see him defend. That said, he’s played 100. Maybe games like tonight help him grow.

Hockey culture demands that players say they are focused on their current teams, therefore you will never hear a college player say "I am going pro as soon as I can." Sabrefan psychology says "if something can go wrong it will." Therefore, we will be treated to anxious posts until a player actually signs, regardless of the fact we haven't seen any indication of Portillo, Power, Johnson or Levi not wanting to start their career here. I counted 24 college players drafted by the Sabres since 2000. Petersen is the only one who walked.

The pre-season favourites rarely win rookie of the year in hockey. That out of the way, come September, will there be anyone ahead of Quinn and Power?

Well, I guess with R2 on his way out the door it’s pretty much a given Power gets 25, eh? 22 Quinn 23 Samuelsson 24 Cozens 25 Power 26 Dahlin Pretty interesting to see the backbone of the future on a run like that

There it is, the 1st of what is sure to be years of never ending posts about Owen Power not playing physical enough. Ive expected it from the first few times I watched him play. Thanks for getting it started even before he’s put pen to paper on his contract. 😂

I tried but I got this message. “This is an automated response. LGR has already used up all Sabrespace circuits allotted to Cody Eakin scorn for today. Please delete your post and try again.” 😜 Also, you don’t actually think this board likes Eakin?

Wilford is the Sabres assistant coach in charge of the defence. Basically Steve Smith’s replacement.

Not defending Henri (his being on the PP is about development), but Bryson is not a better option IMO. It's easy to see the way Bryson skates and handles the puck and confuse that with offence. He has no shot that I've seen, or ability to make quick passes. Dude has less than 20 points in 100 NHL games. When was the last time you remember him creating a great scoring chance? This discussion becomes moot anyway come next week, when we get a power surge.

I was noticing the same thing, because I went into the game thinking the Canes were among the fastest teams in the league and at times we outskated them. Tage, Olofsson, Girgensons and suprisingly Okposo are all pretty fast Skinner isn't real fast in a straight line, but he's quick and such a great skater Tuch, Asplund, Cozens, Krebs, and Hinostroza are flat out fast Mitts ain't fast but he's playing fast. And the latter is becoming a calling card for our team, not just being fast, but playing fast. Even (especially?) the fast guys.

I am a huge Aho fan, think Svechnikov is a real talent and have a ton of respect for Slavin. I don’t think any of those players are superstars.

😜 I really hate it when a broadcast team is invested in storytelling when the play is underway. This is hockey not baseball. I want my announcers to be the melody relaying the rhythms of the game. Separately, Callahan is neither insightful, nor entertaining. I’m seeing some more love for this down thread, but it can’t be stressed enough what a glorious fake that was by the tall kid, punctuated with some skilled hand twisting to deliver the pass. He really has. He’s not fast, but he’s more than making up for it with his tracking and doggedness on pucks. He’s hands are good enough to deliver more of those perfectly placed shots moving forward. It wasn’t boarding, sure, and probably not a major, but why not interference or cross checking? The puck was certainly long gone and the arms extended. Well finished for sure, but the pass was even better and the glory in that play was the keep-in. Donnie used the word resilient and it fits. We seem to keep coming back from our potholes. Yeah, they were rightfully making a big deal of our current 6-game stretch, but 18 of our last 19 have been against teams in a playoff race.

That’s a good team-friendly contract for a 25-goal scorer. And that’s what Victor is. I’m putting more stock into the rest of his career than the middle 30 games of this year. (Actually saw some emotion on the winner tonight)

It occurred to me while watching the Canes tonight that they are a contender with neither a superstar forward, nor a superstar defenceman, nor a superstar goalie. It also occurred to me that as much as I respect them, I would be surprised if they ever won a cup. The Sabres as constituted now can easily grow into the Canes. If they want to win a cup though, one or two of our kids is going to have to find that higher level.

A while back Donnie talked about Dahlin’s partner and basically said it doesn’t matter who it is because he is so well-rounded. Ideally, the player would be tough in order to deter opponents from running Ras, but he looks at it as scenario where Ras is elevating his partner, rather than the other way around, no matter who the partner is. Im paraphrasing from memory, but the gist was he doesn’t seem too worried about finding Dahlin a new partner, or married to the idea of keeping him with Joki. I think it might have been in the After the Whistle pod with Wilford, but I’m not sure.

Pretty sure UFA remains 7 years pro or 27 years old, whichever comes first.

They’ve been few and far between. Our centre spine has 21 goals in the 2nd half of the year; Tage has 17 of them. Dylan and Casey have been getting lots of assists, but the goals have been hard to come by.

That Twitter thread builds on previous reading I’ve done about Levi. He’s no iconoclast, but neither is he ever going to be a conformist. He doesn’t fit the boxes; he does it with a smile on his face, but he does it his way. And history has supported his choices. Kid’s going to be special.

Didn’t mean that as literally give him whatever term and money he asks for. I meant if Kyle wants to be traded at the deadline, trade him wherever he wants to go; if he wants to stay, keep him regardless of offers; if he wants to retire, offer him a job in the organization; and if he wants to return, sign him to a short-term deal at a fair but generous rate for his performance level. Don’t steer him with a particular agenda, let him take the lead. He’s earned it. Whatever path he picks is highly unlikely to handcuff the Sabres and the younger players need to be sent a message about how this organization is going to treat its good soldiers.

Those are ES numbers from NHL.com