dudacek

Everybody expected a number of players would be under- or over-drafted last July because of COVID. Van Barnekow, Nadeau, Bloom and Novikov, and even Kozak certainly seem like great value for where we got them. Marjala and Sardarian, not so much.

He is looking to me like the most likely Sabres target.

Olofsson is clearly still bothered by what ever kept him out earlier. He hasn't unleashed his one-timer at all since returning. Last night was the first time I recall him even trying. Dahlin couldn't have served it up to him for multiple chances on the PP because I read here that Dahlin sucks on the PP. I mean the guy is only 8th in the league in PP points among defencemen since he entered the league. That's not even top 7.

Don’t look now, but he’s just 2 points off the team scoring lead all of a sudden.

Every move they have made indicates that this year was about next year: establishing a culture in Buffalo while adding another top-10 pick, maintaining maximum cap and roster flexibility, and playing their top kids in key roles where they can have success and gain confidence. It's why Dahlin is being used as a 1D regardless of his mistakes, and Thompson and Mittelstadt were handed 1st-line roles It's why Power is in Michigan and why Peterka didn't make the team in spite of his great camp. It's why Samuelsson and Quinn haven't been called up despite clearly dominating at the lower level. It's why Krebs got sent to Rochester despite being good enough to play in Vegas It's why 4 of their defencemen are on one-year deals Its why 5 of their forwards are on one-year deals And it's why they now have 4(!) goalies on minimum wage expiring deals They believe in UPL and fully expected him to emerge as a viable NHL goalie and join the team maybe not this year, but certainly next, along with Power and the rest. Maybe one of those cheap 1-year guys emerges as his sidekick, or maybe they have to find someone else next summer. But they are not going invest assets or dollars or term in someone they are essentially hiring to keep a seat warm until they see where they are with UPL at the end of this season. Kevyn has a plan and he's sticking to it.

Butcher, Jonsson-Fjallby, Wolanin, Boychuk and now Subban… New Sabres GM record for most free players acquired in one season? Or is it a new record for most useless players acquired in one season?

Oh I wouldn’t be so sure. Sure he might be an expiring contract, but he makes $850,000.

Adams going for that sweet spot in between Anderson and Dell to keep the season’s real aim alive.

I guess I don't see what I've been posting as hype. I've never once said "Whoo! Power! Kid is our ticket!" I'm generally in line with what posters like @Weave and @Curt are saying. I don't believe in saviours. I believe in assembling a lot of good players under a coach who can bind them into a cohesive team. But I see no problem whatsoever with watching what Power is doing and saying "Wow, that kid is having himself a special year." That's not hype, it's truth. I guess that's me doing what I need to in order to cope with the Sabres continued sucking, and you're doing the same.

You know what it's like with good running backs, how if you don't get square and tackle through them, you're dead in the water? Peterka is like that on skates. He just explodes past and through defenders on the rush. Gets at least one breakaway nearly every game. He's powerful and squat and hard on the puck, both carrying it, and on the forecheck. Like Krebs, he is fast and plays fast. Unlike Krebs, he's got man-strength already. Where he has surprised me most is that, unlike many rocket wingers, he's not a tunnel vision shoot-first type. He will use his speed to create space for his linemates and then find them with accurate passes. Sees the ice very well offensively. Has excellent chemistry with Quinn. i think he can score more goals than he's shown, but circumstances have cast him into a set-up role and he is well-rounded enough to play it. Of our Amerk trio, he's the one who would concern me most defensively. Krebs is good at that part of the game, Quinn is conscientious about it. It's not that Peterka is lazy that way, it's just that he approaches the game in an offence-first manner. He's still shaking off the vestiges of being the kid relied on to score all the time and never really asked to focus on the other end. He will cheat leaving the zone and regularly extends his shifts too long. Personally, I think he has the competitiveness and the vision to overcome that and that he will. As soon as he does, he will be in Buffalo.

Johansson is just another goalie who isn’t good enough to play regularly in the NHL. The problem was not acquiring someone who could. Letting him go was irrelevant.

I’d basically agree. I’ll also add that he engages all the time and loses most of those battles. He is fast and he plays fast. Knows where to go. Works his ass off on both ends. He gets chances but can’t bury them worth *****. I’ll be shocked if he gets 20 goals regularly in the NHL. His hands are good aside from that though to go with his vision. 40 assists at his peak wouldnt shock me. He needs to get stronger but otherwise is ready. He won’t be good until he can win some battles. Best case scenario down the road would be a Peca or Drury. Worst case Eakin (the Dallas/Vegas version)

The bold is what i am having trouble with. He is leading his team in scoring as a defenceman. That deserves more than 'pulling his weight.' And he is having the best season in 35 years. Is that really just "the way you'd expect"? FInally, Michigan is loaded, but I wish people would stop talking about them them like they are the '77 Canadiens. They are loaded with high picks, but they are also just the 3rd-ranked team in the country. Maybe that's where the brakes need to be pumped. This post captures exactly why I think there is no hype for Power. Buffalo fans are so bruised and shriveled from past disappointment, they look for reasons not to believe.

Do you pump the brakes on the point totals of all players on good teams? Do Gretzky's records not mean anything because of who he was playing with? Was Lafontaine not as good as his stats because he played with Mogilny and vice versa? And both padded their stats on the best PP in team history? Your post basically says I'm not going to get excited by the best numbers in 35 years. What would Power have to be doing to move the needle?

You mean 3rd-ranked Michigan? And what brakes exactly should I be pumping? There are no opinions in my post, just facts.

Back to the least-hyped #1 overall pick in Buffalo Sabres history... Jack Quinn is not the only player to be putting up some amazing numbers. Owen Power's 23 points in 16 games is the best PPG production by an NCAA U20 defenceman in 35 years. More than Brian Leetch, Adam Fox, Chris Chelios, Quinn Hughes, Zach Werenski, or any other college notable you can think of since the mid-'80s. He's not having a good season, he's having an historic season for the modern college era.

Fortunately the Sabres aren't making enough progress this year to follow that not-unusual trend. Unfortunately, if they take a jump next year it makes them a prime candidate for a falloff two years from now. 😁

It's interesting that in his extended absence a lot (most?) posters seem to be sliding back towards their established perceptions of Mittelstadt — good or bad — as if last April never happened. Me too. Personally, I think what we saw late last year is what I expected him to turn into and who he is. The injury may be a factor early.

Is there mid-aughts template forming here at all? It's pretty easy to draw parallels between: Mitts - Connolly Quinn - Vanek Asplund - Hecht Okposo - Grier Dahlin - Campbell Power - Tallinder Samuelsson - McKee Levi - Miller Squint a little harder and this might work: Thompson/Cozens/Krebs/Girgensons/Jankowski - Briere/Drury/Roy/Gaustad/Mair Tuch/Olofsson/Rosen/Peterka/Poltapov - Dumont/Pominville/Afinogenov/Kotalik//Pyatt Johnson/Bryson/Jokiharju - Lydman/Kalinin UPL/Portillo - Biron/Noronen Toss this year's three firsts into the mix to make up for some of today's unproven kids not developing? It's enough to make you wonder if it's at all conscious.

Do you think Dahlin's play this year is more of a net negative than that of most of the other defencemen?

Looks like the Sabres are auditioning their older prospects first. R2 didn’t cut it, Murray’s turn.

He’s no Jonsson-Fjallby, that’s for sure. (And damn, does Roch, need a DMan now)

UPL has more NHL raw material than Tokarski or Dell. I don’t think he’s near ready, but he has a better chance of catching lightning in a bottle than either. I think he’s highly likely to implode, but he can’t be worse than what we’ve got from Toker in half his recent games. And Dell every game.

Have you seen Cozens? Great kid, but the only difference between him and that kid bagging your groceries is a rare ability to skate and shoot. He is a boy. It’s a rare 20-year-old who has what it takes to command a winning NHL hockey team. It’s a rarer one who can do that while playing on the third line and trying to prove himself as something more. (And, for the record, Schoeny was 23 when he captained his team to the finals.)

Different personality, different concerns.