dudacek

The most logical place for Johnson remains the Sabres: the team that picked him, nurtured him, treated him first-class and offers him an opportunity to be part of an exciting young group on the rise in a community where hockey actually matters.

Not eligible for AHL next year

Or at least that’s what he told Kevyn Adams. https://www.audacy.com/wgr550/sports/sabres/sabres-adams-still-waiting-on-decision-from-ryan-johnson Has insight on both Portillo and Johnson.situations.

I think Adams is handling this one correctly.

There was a play yesterday where he came out of nowhere to strip the puck and snuff a good Flyer rush that was elite hustle. He’s been backchecking like a beast. Some people are noticing. Not disagreeing with this at all. You have to acknowledge that his play last night was why young defencemen get benched by most coaches, though, right? If Joki had that game this board would be all over him.

NHL.com. I ran each month individually Dec. 1 to Jan. 1.

Correct. Not going to give hints yet.

Outstanding, thank you. My “type” has always been highly competitive, highly intelligent, team-first. Explains why I am in tune with where Adams appears to be steering us.

Not Ramsey or Schoeny, yes to Lindy, Krupp and Smehlik. And yes to the rest. Van Boxmeer’s 18 is the best by a player not named Housley or Ruff. I certainly wouldn’t count Ruff because many of those goals were scored as a forward, but he is the only one on the list other than Housley to hit 20. Little surprised Bodger only did it twice (11 and 12). Looks like 2 more.

The chart is kinda interesting: October .688 November .286 December .318 January .385 February .250 March .700 April .444 They would seem to indicate slow improvement from a bad team, with unexpected blips in February and March.

It’s been hit by a defenceman 37 times in Buffalo Sabres history, 8 times by Phil Housley. Good trivia question: name the Sabres blueliners other than Housley, Dahlin and Leopold to reach 10 goals. I think there have been 15 of them.

I honestly think we haven’t made enough of Tage. He’s well-past the hot streak/puck-luck stage. He creates his own chances and legitimately snipes. He can dangle and protect the puck. He’s fearless and he plays with swagger. To my eyes he’s been very much a leader on the ice. When things are tight, he’s the guy I look for to make a play. I know he hasn’t had much competition in the past decade, but 34 goals in the same ballpark as the best Sabres seasons by the likes of Hawerchuk, Drury, Pominville and Eichel. It’s a number reached by (rough count) only 16 other Sabres. Other than Eichel, he’s become the most dangerous offensive weapon we’ve had up-front since Danny Briere. And it has literally come out of nowhere. Im sure I’m forgetting people, but the only Sabres I can recall making this sort of jump from spare part to legit top-6er are Robert and Satan.

This should make me excited, but it actually makes me question the validity of the stat.

I am troubled that Montreal, Ottawa, Detroit and Philadelphia are very much going to have a shot at this kid.

I don’t think this thread is asking an unnecessary question, just one that’s a little premature. We’re still in the process of taking the step from bad team to competitive one; which is is about adding talent and developing culture. Once we are competitive, there will be an increased focus on composition, filling the holes necessary to push from competitor to contender. And that may involve needing to add more brute strength or bite. in terms of identity, Adams talked early on about wanting to be fast and relentless; I think that is where we are trending. if there is a signature player who best represents that identity, I’m going to say Dylan Cozens, both in approach and in development.

Mitts has 15 points in 22 games since March 1, which also coincides with when he seemed to get past his injury in terms of the eye test. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the team started playing better around the same time. I don’t think he quite trusts his shot yet, but he’s got a good wrister. He may only end up as a Derek Plante level player, but on this team he has been the critical mass that seems to have jumpstarted us from being a 2-line team to a 4-line team.

They’ve been dealt a rough hand with injuries, but the real blow was the Fits/Mule call ups. Without those two the back end just hasn’t been able to defend. Losing Mule for them was like the ‘80s Sabres losing Mike Ramsey.

Hope we’re mature enough that it doesn’t bite us on the ass tomorrow, but we played the first like we thought it would be easy and the the 3rd like we wanted to give it away; we won despite playing just one period the way we’re capable of. I guess it’s a milestone when we aren’t the team on the wrong end of that equation. Philly is bad.

I gotta disagree with this. Dont get me wrong, I want the Amerks to win, but even more I want them to graduate good players to the Sabres. To me, they’ve turned Mule into a bedrock defenceman, Krebs into an NHLer and Fitzy into a useful spare part this year. And I suspect they’ve also prepped JJ, Quinn and UPL to do the same next year. That’s a damn fine season, certainly the best they’ve had by that definition since Ennis/Foligno (that may have been Portland, but you get my point) and it has the potential to rival the lockout team for among the best of all-time.

Thanks for the update. Missed you around here. My impression of the bold is that it’s actually good news because it means he’s actually going to try to get someone better. Ive been concerned he’s going to be OK with that pair and not even try for an upgrade.

I think we are starting to see confirmation that if Hayden, Bjork, Eakin, Miller and Pysyk have any future with Buffalo next year it will be as a spare part. They aren’t part of the experimenting, just filler rotating through. It’s something we’ve been waiting for and needing for a long time. A page is turning.

Ian Mendes and Katie Strang of the Athletic with a thorough and uncomfortable look at the late Senators owner. https://theathletic.com/3243198/2022/04/14/eugene-melnyk-ottawa-senators/?source=twitterhq Paywall. Homophobic comments and verbal abuse of staff are the things getting the headlines, but overall the piece is a portrait of how much impact the person at the top can have on all facets of a hockey team.

I agree with the first half of this post. Since four of the past five college players who stayed in college long enough to go to free agency ended up signing with the Sabres anyway, why do you believe the 2nd half? Particularly when just 3 months ago Johnson is on record as saying he was happy with the organization and there has been no indication that’s changed.

I like the fact they are using the stretch to try new things. Ive been hoping to see Tuch/Mitts since we added Alex, and I like Okposo/Cozens and think Asplund will make that combo hard to play against. I see VO as a guy who thrives on structure and Skinner on chaos, so I have my doubts there, but that line is 3 talented guys playing well, so why not give it a look?

You’re not wrong, particularly in comparison to the Leafs. Yet they also gave up a ridiculous amount of Grade A scoring chances. A ridiculous amount. The 1st 2 Tarasenko goals were well-earned, where the Blues created glorious scoring chances and buried them. I’m not sure how many other Grade A ES chances they had? 6? 8? To my eye we had significantly more. Butcher off the post, Olofsson all alone between the legs and wide, Krebs over the net on a breakaway, Asplund on a breakaway, Thompson twice from between the circles, Skinner poking it through beaten by the whistle, Tuch multiple times… It felt like they went 2 for 8 and we went 1 for 15 on glorious chances where the offence beat the defence. They scored 2 PP goals on penalties that aren’t always called penalties, a lucky bounce off Tuch’s skate and an empty netter. We got the Asplund deflection. So, 15–8 Buffalo on even strength chance generation 2-1 St. Louis on execution And 4-1 St. Louis on “hockey randomness.” Not making excuses, it’s just hockey. There’s no guarantee you can control it, you can only tilt the odds in your favour. It’s a chaotic, unpredictable game.