dudacek
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Posts posted by dudacek
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1 hour ago, French Collection said:
I think UPL has earned the starter’s job.
Levi should not be guaranteed the backup job but KA probably doesn’t get a “blocker”.
If UPL struggles then Levi could challenge for more starts. There is nothing wrong with a 1A 1B scenario, I think competition pushes both to be better.
Ideally, this is Ullmark (the mid-20s talent who paid his dues) and Swayman (the hotshot college kid who arrived quickly and stuck)
I get UPL feeling the way @Brawndo described, but the flip side of that was that UPL didn't actually earn the net either until this December and January.
And once he earned it, he kept it.
Most athletes understand that's the way it's supposed to work.
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Who do people think will be in over their heads in these roles?
- 1C Thompson*
- 2C Cozens*
- 4C Krebs
- T6W Tuch
- T6W Skinner*
- T6W Quinn*
- T6W Peterka
- B6W Greenway
- B6W Benson
To me, this is best case scenario with the current roster. The guys with stars are the guys who didn't live up to their role this year and proof of why you can't count on the best-case scenario.
And it's why I've said there is a Mitts-sized hole in the lineup: a guy who creates competition in the top 6 and in the process strengthens the bottom six.
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8 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:
Lindy has three words for the summer.
What’s the 3rd? No, goal, ?
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8 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:
So just like the NHL playoffs vs. regular season right?
You see where I'm going with this? The one constant I've always had on this board is I want the Sabres to build a team properly. A team that is built for the playoffs and not just the regular season. After over a decade of no playoffs I do not want another decade of Leaf style exits after it (if and when it finally ends).
Teaching our kids how to play that type of hockey and how to battle through it should be part of the learning process and veterans on Rochester should be there to help them through it.
A. The bold is a motherhood statement that most on here would agree with.
B. That the Sabres are the worst franchise in the NHL over the past decade is a fact.
I don’t agree with the implication that B means A isn’t happening.
This is the 6th playoff series Rochester has played in over the past 25 months.
Mersch/Jobst/Murray Biro/Rousek/Weissbach Cecconi/Davies/Prow are AHL veterans “helping the kids through it.”
Rochester has graduated Krebs, Quinn, Peterka, Samuelsson, and Luukkonen during this process. Johnson and Levi will almost certainly join them.
Not trying to change your mind, just sharing a different view. I already know the response to this will be some version of “well the Sabres missed the playoffs again” because that’s all the really matters.
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52 minutes ago, K-9 said:
It was nice of the Crunch to go into Alamo mode in the 3rd period. They simply stopped sending forecheckers and the Amerks enjoyed clean breakout after clean breakout; something they hadn’t been able to do pretty much the entire series to that point. And once the Amerks got rolling, Syracuse was unable to recapture the momentum, which is often impossible in sports.
Any chance that Stillman and Clague might return next Friday?
Pretty sure Stillman is out for the season.
I don’t think Clague was returned when the Sabres were done. Not sure about that though, and no idea why.
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2 hours ago, Jorcus said:
The first paragraph is a myth. The Amerks in general are about the same as any other AHL team age wise. They have a few very young players because they are high draft picks but they had more older players on the ice than Syracuse did last night. If you include Levi Amerks had 7 players who were born after 2000. Syracuse had 9. We also had 3 very old AHL players on the ice (born in 1994 or before) in Prow, Jobst, and Mersch where Syracuse had 1 in Walcott.
Syracuse has almost no Grade A prospects because Tampa has been good and they have traded many first round picks away. At the end of the day it was our older players that won the game last night. They started to skate and jamb the net. Biro, Rousek and Murray were the ones who pulled this game out for Amerks.
This was last night’s game.
Johnson and Levi were key players for the Amerks. Novikov, Kulich and Rosen got regular shifts. The other kids were non-factors.
Mersch/Jobst/Murray Biro/Rousek/Weissbach were the guys who carried the water.
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26 minutes ago, PerreaultForever said:
"don't block the kids" is just a stupid concept plain and simple.
You need a competitive environment where position has to be earned rather than being one of privilege.
Sometimes coaches can be guilty of favouring veterans over young players because they trust them more and they are more predictable and reliable but that's a thing you go through on most teams as part of the process. Eventually you EARN the coach's trust and you take the job and if you aren't good enough to take it, you dont' deserve it.
"not blocking": is just dumb.
And how do you build that when you have no proven veterans in your organization and very few outside the organization want to play for you?
3 years ago, when this started, our "veterans" were Skinner, Okposo, Girgenson, Eakin, Coilin Miller, Pysyk, Hagg and Anderson.
And there was nobody for Mitts and Thompson and the rest of compete with for prime ice.
Now they are Skinner, Thompson, Tuch, Cozens, Greenway, Dahlin, Jokiharju, Clifton
And there is plenty of bodies for Benson and Kulich and the rest to compete with.
I mean, you're not wrong with bold, but you also act like they haven't been trying to move toward that, and that it doesn't take time for the talent to be developed and acquired. I mean the year we just finished was probably the first time we could have reasonably expected to be close to that under this rebuild.
You can't snap your fingers and voila.
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I think it’s weird how some things fix themselves in people’s minds.
In it’s genesis, “don’t block the kids” was about force-feeding the Botterill leftovers Thompson, Cozens, Mittelstadt, Dahlin and Jokiharju key ice time to accelerate their development, build their confidence and see what the team had. By and large, it did what it was supposed to do. The team improved notably and those players pretty significantly.
Year 2, it was about giving the 2nd wave - Power, Quinn, Samuelsson, Krebs and Peterka - a similar opportunity, but in mid-roster roles.Those players were younger and predictably didn’t have the same impact. But they did show they belong, and the guys in front of them took big jumps. By and large people were happy with the improvement and were predicting good things ahead.
Year 3, “don’t block the kids” wasn’t really a thing. I mean, I guess it was in goal, but it also kinda worked in goal. Elsewhere, they didn’t hand jobs to Rousek and Rosen and Kulich and Ryan Johnson. Instead, they blocked the kids, re-signing Girgensons, and Okposo and Jost, and adding Robinson and Clifton and Greenway and Erik Johnson.
It wasn’t not blocking the kids that killed last year’s team, it was the fact that most of the above veterans sucked. And they sucked while Thompson, Tuch, Skinner and Cozens - all of whom all now count as vets - also sucked. The players who stepped up - UPL and Peterka - happened to be the kids who weren’t blocked.
This “not blocking” hasn’t been the problem for Adams some of you make it out to be.
Rather, it’s been putting together a consistent, focused and complete team.
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16 minutes ago, Brawndo said:
Ehlers has a 10 Team M-NTC, the Kings need a retool as well.
Could the most famous Sabre Player in History convince another Victoriaville Native to waive His 10 Team M-NTC to come to Buffalo
3 seasons of Phillip Danault at 5.5 million AAV as the the third line center would be perfect
Now that’s the kind of “now” trade I’d look for.
It’s not about not trading futures, it’s about trading them for the right player.
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Some impressions of those prospects after the 3 games:
Rousek is the probably the best forward on the Amerks right now, but doesn’t look fast or strong enough to play the same game in the NHL.
Kulich is MIA. He just hasn’t done anything noticeable.
I want to like Rosen. His feet and his hands are the most noticeable on the team and he’s not timid or irresponsible. But it’s maddening how infrequently he applies his will on the game, he’s got more to give, but he’s content to let it come to him.
Östlund’s lack of strength means he has faded as the clutching and grabbing has escalated. But he sees the game better and plays it faster than anyone else down there. Based just on these 3 games, he projects the best of the big 3, when you account for his lack of AHL experience.
Anton Wahlberg doesn’t know how good he can be yet. His effectiveness wavers because he’s 18 and it shows. But he is a physical specimen who can skate and he wants to make a difference.
When the going got tougher Ryan Johnson seemed to play better. His ability to move the puck to safety shone, rather than wilted under the heavy fire.
Novikov has got some heavy feet, but his attitude is every inch what the Sabres lack. He sees the game very well and pushes first.
Levi has simply been fantastic. Technically poised, cool under fire and athletic. Easily the best player on the ice for either team.
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2 minutes ago, Thorny said:
You’ll have to ask a hardcore fan
They’re all in the shop for their regularly scheduled summer conditionings.
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23 minutes ago, Thorny said:
I wholeheartedly disagree with your take, then
obviously the fact Ehlers is only under contact for next year triggers “in a vacuum” for sabres fans because we’ve been conditioned to put zero value on the immediate. 1 year isn’t anything. It’s not one year with one potential playoffs at all, which would be one more than we’ve seen in 13 years: it has no worth. We only measure in the long term. Ehlers not being under contract beyond that is, apparently, more of an obstacle to being a good NHLer in Buffalo than a guy who may never been a good NHLer for anyone, when if it happens likely results in a player inferior to Ehlers…in a time period significantly more inefficient to Ehlers relative to our timeline
we’ll happily take the risk with Savoie tho because *MYSTERY BOX* 🥳
Your take is fine: in a vacuum. In the real world, what it allows you to do is hold your head high while keeping the asset, because while in your ideal world you don’t wanna pay that much: in the real world, you don’t get Ehlers.
But I’m glad you won the battle of asset value. The war of finding a way to make the playoffs nonetheless continues
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I do enjoy me some armchair GM mode video game, tho. Collecting all these prospects and listing out all their accomplishments in Junior every year is a swell pass time
I was just looking for a yes or no 😜
So you do the deal?
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1 minute ago, Weave said:
I want the Sabres to win now. I want to hold the team accountable. I don’t want to make any sacrifices to make it happen.
Sure, in a vacuum. But Ehlers is a pending UFA.
My take is you shouldn't have to give up that much to get that player; And, if you're giving up that asset, better to use it on a different kind of player.
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10 minutes ago, French Collection said:
He could be MacKinnon or he could be Ralph Intranuovo.
Such an awesome reference. (No way he's McKinnon 😁)
6 minutes ago, Thorny said:95% of the thread is “instant no”.
This fanbase doesn’t deserve the playoffs. Sorry.
Would you do the deal?
It would be the ultimate expression of short-term thinking: clearly makes the team better, but for one year only.
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2 hours ago, seer775 said:
I swear if Lindy leaves before we get into the playoffs I will never watch Sabres hockey again in my life.
This team is so awful I truly wonder why any of us are wasting a second of our lives thinking about it.
Wondering how many people on here know 21 Buffalo Sabres teams finished with worse records than this year's team.
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Dylan Cozens had a bad year.
Even with that bad year, his 47 points ranked him as a low-end 2C.
The 68 points he scored last year would have ranked him as a low-end 1C this year alongside, Eichel, O’Reilly, Larkin, Horvat and Hischier.
There is no doubt in my mind Dylan Cozens will be a very competent 2C for the Sabres next year and probably for the majority of his contract.
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Barring trades, nine of 14 spots in October are spoken for.
Tuch, Thompson, Skinner, Cozens, Quinn, Peterka, Benson, Krebs, Greenway.
If it’s up to me, I acquire real NHL veterans to fill 4 of the other 5 spots.
Kulich, Savoie, Rosen, Östlund and Rousek get to battle for the 5th.
There’s a door, but they’re going to have top step over bodies to walk through it.
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1 hour ago, Thorny said:
His “oh gosh golly gee” personality has *always* been about messaging. He’s not that guy. He’s very calculated imo. Very cutthroat, even, when it comes to it. This was clear from the moment Adams was given the job principally because he was the one willing to fire a bunch of people from their jobs
I don’t think that makes him a snake. It just makes him an NHL GM
Good take, IMO - both parts.
I was one of those who wondered if he had the edge to be a successful GM.
The post-Botterill bloodletting, the Eichel patience, the Mittelstadt trade and the Granato firing - none of these things match the public persona. Adams is a competitive, aware, calculated and stubborn guy.
He had a plan, he stuck with it for 2 years and when year 3 showed the need for a course correction, he has started off with 2 significant moves. (Unless you think firing the coach and trading the leading scorer aren’t significant).
It’s not backbone or operational intelligence that will make or break him. He’s shown both.
It’s player evaluation and whether the calls he has made on the coach and the players he’s made big commitments to - Dahlin, Thompson, Cozens, Quinn, Peterka, Power, Samuelsson, Byram, UPL and Levi - were the right ones.
Because we have reached the point where his belief in that group has to start paying off.
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9 minutes ago, ... said:
I feel as though I post into a vacuum.
Why? 😁
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As far as the hiring process goes, I don’t know that the “how” matters nearly as much as the “who.”
- Last time, Adams took weeks and ended up coming back to the guy already on staff.
- Adams was hired from in-house with no search at all.
- Botterill left no stone unturned and got taken in by a smooth-talking outsider named Ralph.
- Housley was a hot league commodity who seemed to be their target from the beginning; they talked to many others, let those guys take other jobs, and waited until Nashville was done and hired him quickly afterward.
- Botterill was the result of a thorough review of an industry approved short list.
- Babcock wasn’t the result of a search, he was targeted because of his resume. When he jilted them, they did exactly the same thing with Bylsma, the next guy on their list.
- Nolan was Pat Lafontaine giving an old crony a 2nd chance
- Tim Murray was picked after a long-drawn-out interview process with the pick of the league’s assistant GMs where Lafontaine was accused of using the process to steal secrets from other organizations.
- Lafontaine was the romantic whim of a star-struck owner.
This time was a bit of Babcock, a bit of Nolan and a bit of Adams.
Honestly, they’ve followed pretty much every process known to mankind and blown it every time. I don’t think it’s the process that’s the problem.
All we can do is hope they finally get it right.
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“Double-digits” offends me about as much as:
“We have no interest in firing…” “we are not shopping…” ”we couldn’t believe he was still available” and “we like the team we have”
It’s pretty much a job requirement that a GM has to spin certain situations certain ways in front of the cameras.
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51 minutes ago, GoPuckYourself said:
I just heard on WGR 550 a few minutes ago than i believe it was Darren Dreger is reporting coaches were never talked to at by Adams, berube said he never spoke to Adams at all. I caught the tail end of it but it's being reported that there was no search at all and it was Lindy Ruff from the get go. Like I said I caught the tail end did anyone else hear this?
I’m sure Adams wasn’t lying when he said he talked to double digit people during his coaching “search”
Im also sure those conversations weren’t serious job interviews.
Before speaking to anyone, Adams felt the team needed specific qualities and he felt Ruff - who he knows very well - was the perfect fit.
The “search” was basically confirming Ruff was the fit he thought he was and due diligence around that.
It was pretty easy to connect the dots in between the two pressers and figure out what happened.
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8 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:
Komarov is 6'3" and shoots, right.
Novikov, Strbak and McCarthy also big D from the past few drafts.
Myths die hard.
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19 minutes ago, inkman said:
He plays physical. I’ll give you that. I want open ice hits. ***** even some dirty ones into the boards. If we are going to have Byram, Joki, Power and Johnson all on the team along with Dahlin and Samuelsson mixing Clifton in, that is one soft D. At least move out Joki for someone way more physical than what we have. Or a blockbuster trade involving Power. That could solve it instantly. Get someone physical up front via trade. Sign some Neanderthal that decks people to fill out the D core.
I’m with you on the gist of your post.
Its just the Dahlin oversight that bugs me. People who don’t watch him think he’s some kind of Lady Byng candidate and knock him down the list accordingly.
The fact if the matter is he gives you an element the other top offensive defencemen don’t.
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UPL's next contract
in The Aud Club
Posted
Was there a Sabrespacer who had UPL ahead of Levi in September?
I can remember being dismissed every time I tried to suggest UPL hadn’t finished developing yet and being told emphatically that he hadn’t even proven himself a competent AHL goalie yet.
UPL was 3/7/2 in February and March of last year. His GAA was over 4 and his S% was under .870.
He was handed the keys and the above is what he did. Levi was then handed the keys and he won.
If he had fallen behind Levi in the pecking order, he had no one to blame but himself.
And when the play level changed this fall, so did the pecking order.
Isnt that the way it’s supposed to work?