dudacek

So the 7 goals in 21 games to finish the year wasn’t any kind of “click”? He certainly looked a lot better to me than he did when Botts sent him down 40-50 games earlier.

You might be right. Let’s not overlook the transition from the awkward giraffe Botts finally mercifully sent down, to the 25-ish goal scorer we saw at the finish with Donnie took place over just 24 games under Chris Taylor and a similar amount riding the pine under Krueger. He’s been around for a while, but he hasn’t actually played a lot.

Totally on the same page with this and it’s why Tage will never be a Reinhart-level player. The question is can he leverage the things he does do well to make him an effective middle-sixer? Donnie had a great segment where he talked about players having to learn to play a different game when they go up a level because what worked on a lower level doesn’t work for them at the next. He said his priority is getting players to focus on what they can do that still works at this level and rebuilding their games around it. With Tage, it’s about limiting the open ice dangles and Reggie Leach slap shots and focusing on using his length to protect pucks and get to the net on offence and pick pockets and block lanes on defence. In other words, simplify, stop trying to be the driver, let the Reinharts create for him and benefit. Because he has the skill set to benefit. I think he can succeed if he makes the transition.

Agree completely with certain themes of this post and not with others. I think learning what you should and shouldn’t and can and cannot do at NHL pace is the hardest thing to learn, that some never get it, and that this is the biggest question with Tage. However, I also think it is where we have seen a lot of growth from him as well. 2018-19 Tage was absolutely terrible at this. It was obvious he couldn’t process at an NHL level. Finishing last year it was obvious he could, just not as consistently as you want him to. The question is, can he continue growing or have we seen his ceiling? Next year will effectively be his first full season starting the year as a full-fledged NHLer who believes he has made the team, with a coach who thinks seeing him develop is a priority. Very interested to see how he does in that environment.

Daughter just cancelled a planned trip to the Yukon because they still don’t want her visiting. All three had 1st shots, but only one had 2nd. @digger and I may hang with different crowds, but most of the people I talk to are ready for the border to be opened but only to people who are fully vaxxed. Living on an west Coast Island does tend to skew people’s perspective here somewhat over, say, an Ontario border town. Wife and got off the Island for the 1st time since Christmas 2019 last week after many of our in-province restrictions were lifted July 1. We’re finally getting our 2nd shots Wednesday. Our province is at about 80 percent 1st and 50 Percent 2nd. I’d like to see a much higher percentage with 2 shots before I’m comfortable opening things up to protect against variants.

Can’t recall much of a media backlash up here that is was, and I’ve never heard a real person in public or private conversation suggest it was.

Jack’s work with kids is exemplary and comes across as utterly sincere.

Your collective attitude about COVID scares me and a majority of Canadians.

For the record, I only believe the Sabres should have retired two numbers: 11 and 39. But if the standard is Gare and Robert, then Miller absolutely deserves it. *** On topic, maybe that’s a Jesper Olofsson jersey? Wonder if his contract rolled over and he’s coming over this year?

All this and we are experiencing the hottest, driest summer on record up here. Climate change is as made up as COVID.

What does this even mean?

Would you agree with me that under the expansion rules, the Kraken would really have to ***** things up, not to be better than the Sabres?

Again, expansion is designed to give the Kraken an average team: the 11th best asset on every roster. It stands to reason they should be an average team if they do an average job of picking. And an average team should be better than the Sabres. Why are people making this a thing? It’s supposed to be like this.

I understand Donskoi and Compher’s contracts are considered a bit of a burden to the Avs, but they aren’t exactly Jeff Skinners. Leaving those two, along with Landeskog, unprotected was eyebrow raising to me. They protected Logan O’Connor…?

Be ready for the huge backlash Friday when the Sabres don’t take Power. Part will be from Sabres fans, but most of it will be from outside fans who are being conditioned right now by the talking heads to think Power is the guy. I expect a lot of “LOL, the Sabres gonna Sabre” Might be wishful thinking on my part, but I think Eklund is the best player available and I have a good feeling he’s ours.

So The Leafs arrange it so they effectively lose Hallander or their 5D in the draft. McCann is basically Kerfoot’s replacement if he goes. Nice move by Dubas.

Checking the available lists this morning, the only goalie that moved the needle for me was Vanicek and he apparently only plays well against the Sabres.

You would have traded 33 for him?

In other news, kids in wealthy US suburbs are way healthier than kids in Chad.

Hmm… The player who played every minute of those 8,000 on the worst ***** team in the league against the best opponents in the toughest situations was going to have the worst numbers in the league based on shot attempts? Isn’t that kinda like being smug about how that the kid taking care three younger siblings in a household with two unemployed addicts for parents isn’t getting grades as good as your private school kid with the personal tutor? It’s posts like this that gave analytics a bad name.

I would not have traded pick 33 for Adin Hill. Too high a price. He went for pick 39, I think? Allen will be protected and I believe Khudobin will be as well, since Bishop and Price waived. Don’t think the Sabres want to add those latter two contracts at that age and Bishop’s health. Holtby has a $4 million cap hit and is flat out terrible. He’s been bad for a while. Canuck fans are wondering if they can offer the Kraken something to take that contract off their hands. Wild fans were divided and who to leave unprotected but some were hoping to use one as bait to stop the Wild from picking a defenceman instead. (Or maybe Talbot is part of the Wild’s Eichel offer.) 😜

He’s actually from Anahim Lake, an 11-hour drive from Vancouver, basically as close to Vancouver as Buffalo is to South Carolina. It’s rural ranch and timber country in the remote Chilcotin Plateau about 5 hours driving away from the nearest town of any size, and home to only about 1,500 people, a majority of them First Nations. Price’s mom (who I met once) was (maybe still is) the chief. The highway in just re-opened after being closed by wildfires. In some ways, Price is actually more of an edge-of-the-world longshot in terms of where he grew up than Dylan Cozens. (Not trying to be pedantic, so I hope you don’t take it that way. Call me Pierre, but I just find Price’s background and how big and empty my province is interesting.)

A show of appreciation in the absence of real enthusiasm.

Not going to go all Dominik Kahun on this until I see the hand get fully played out. Adin Hill was the only goalie to move and he netted more than I would have been comfortable paying. Maybe, as @Archie Lee said, the market is such that most teams are kinda hoping their backup gets picked in order to save them from losing a skater? There might be one, but at the moment I’m not aware of top-notch keeper who is being exposed that makes sense for the Sabres given the amount of free agents out there. Fingers crossed they are quietly close on Linus.

If this happens, Adams deserves a polite round of applause.