dudacek

I remember annoying the hell out of people in a game day thread once by pointing out every time a transition play quietly died because of Skinner. I wonder what would happen if I pointed out every time a transition play quietly stayed alive because of Dahlin. Like with Skinner (who has been much better) I really think people are focusing far too much on a few high-profile moments.

I’d be curious to see a risk-reward analysis of Dahlin breakout passes - how many he completes, how many he misses, how many result in rush chances. He does make some bad ones, but he also makes so many good ones.

I mean he’s right it’s a small sample size and weak linemates, but that’s more or less true for most Sabre forwards. Thompson and Asplund started the season in the same place as R2, but they’ve stepped up their games. They got better. Cozens has JAGs on his wings and has been up and down, but you can see flashes of what he can be despite that.

No, the PP got bad when R2 replaced Olofsson. Hayden’s not good (works hard, but the only guy in the roster who’s definitely not an NHLer) but not sure why you’re so down on Caggiula, he’s been more effective than R2. Also, Caggiula has played mostly with Cozens. What are you seeing R2 do well right now?

I think people must be putting too much weight on the 10 minutes after Dahlin took that puck in the side and was clearly hurting. Otherwise he looked pretty good to me.

Dylan Cozens was so good in the first period before vanishing later. He was executing and identifying plays against men the way he did against boys. At some point he’s going to break through, and then it’s going to be fun to watch around here for a long, long time.

After tonight I am starting to wonder if Dustin Tokarski could be on the verge of something rare and unexpected. He doesn’t look like a modern NHL goalie, but he’s making every stop he should and many he shouldn’t. The two points tonight are entirely on him.

Can you imagine at the start of the season that the likes of Tage Thompson and Jeff Skinner would be tasked with bringing a tight game home in the last two minutes? Its not about coaching to win tonight, it’s about putting players in challenging positions asking them to go for it, so they can learn and grow. We’re seeing exactly what Adams and Granato promised we would. I guess you’re surprised because you aren’t used to hockey execs telling the truth?

Hope you’re right, and a bad game is reinforcing too strongly some trends I’ve been seeing, but I’m not so sure. A lot of rookies need time because the game’s initially too fast for them, but I don’t get the sense that’s the issue with R2. He’s 24 and I don’t see him getting much stronger or faster.And those elements do seem to be issues. Maybe it’s a role thing and he just needs other guys to create space. But so far he hasn’t looked good on the PP either.

R2 is fading for me. He’s determined, and he knows what to do, but his quickness and strength combo is just not looking like it’s NHL level. He can’t get into the leverage positions he needs to be successful. It was really evident in contested space situations tonight.

That snippet has prepared me for the most contrived, hipster list ever.

How I'd rank 'em, in terms of how useful they are (assumed healthy) at the moment VO Mitts Thompson Tuch Asplund KO Girgs Skinner Cozens Caggiula R2 Hinostroza Bjork Eakin Hayden But really there isn't much separation between VO and Tuch, Asplund and Skinner, or Cozens and Eakin, in terms of tiers

I can already picture the scene in March when the Amerks get called up. Krebs grabs a tray and heads into the lunchroom. Cozens smiles an eager smile and slides over on his bench to make room. Krebs refuses to make eye contact, strides past, and plunks himself down two tables over between Jack and JJ, to laughter and high-fives. Cozens face sags. He turns back to his plate. Anders Bjork says "hey Dilly, is this seat taken?"

Fatty's game was never built for playoff marches.

Can someone please calculate the odds of: A) the Sabres being in a playoff race; B) None of Power, Quinn, Krebs, Peterka or Samuelsson being good enough to help that team; and C) Eakin, Hagg, Butcher, Hinostroza and the rest of the Legion of JAG being indispensable parts?

Don't you want guys like Power and Krebs playing in the playoff run, if we're in one?

The bold is the crux of our disagreement entirely. You're saying if we are in the race, then the JAGs MUST be key. I'm saying NFW, it's Cody Eakin. There is no way replacing him with Krebs is going to cost us a playoff spot.

Wouldn't it then also a bad course not to re-sign these guys in the off-season? "Cody and Robert were in the trenches with me during our glorious run to a 1st-round knockout. I can't believe Adams isn't bringing the band back. What's this Power kid ever done? Our GM clearly doesn't want to win."

Of course the way he's been playing lately matters. And it's right to be concerned. What isn't right is to say UPL is ***** and will always be ***** based on a couple dozen AHL games.

The Sabres players know what Adams is doing. He's had the "honest conversations" Their job is to get better every day. That same mandate will apply pre- and post-deadline, to both the Legion of JAG and the Blinding Light Brigade. Selling off JAGs to make space for core prospects who are ready doesn't send the wrong message. This isn't Jason Botterill ignoring centre ice as the season slips away. If Adams can get a 3rd-rounder for Eakin and in the process create a spot for Krebs to get into a playoff run, he is also staying true to that mandate. He's certainly making making the team better in the long run, and very likely making it better in the now.

Do you really think trading the likes of Eakin and Hagg at the deadline and replacing them with Krebs and Power is going send a bad message to Dahlin and Cozens?

This is interesting to me. I thought Boucher was a bad pick, but I do want to see why a team that picked Brady Tkachuk, Shane Pinto, Jake Sanderson and Tim Stutzle the three previous years are going to be bad.

You can’t talk about sell-off in the abstract. If we trade Hinostroza, Butcher, Miller and Eakin for futures and replace them with Quinn, Power, Samuelsson and Krebs, haven’t we actually made our team better for the playoffs? The only pending FAs on this roster you could actually trade and realistically make this team worse are Anderson and Olofsson.

I’m pretty sure Mitts was 4 to 6 weeks and Joki 2 weeks more than that, no?

People, UPL was great for his entire last season of 54 games as a junior prior to hip surgery. Since then he played 23 mostly good games in the ECHL, 13 mostly good games in Finland, and 24 mostly bad games in Rochester through 2 years of COVID. How about we let him play 50 in Rochester this year, and see where he is at at then before we make any judgements?