dudacek

Gotta get to Scotland one day.

Well, that explains one reason why he slipped. Sidebar, Staal is 50 career goals and points ahead of anyone else in that draft and has a cup. He might be number one.

Why did Patrice Bergeron last until the second round? Perceived lack of high ceiling? Why can’t Beniers be Bergeron? In retrospect, wouldn’t Bergeron have been a worthy 1st overall?

The number of players who should not be available for a healthy Eichel should total what, maybe 10? If loyalty wasn’t a thing, Sidney Crosby should be available for Eichel. Marner?

Risto and 1 for Jones and 5 is worth looking at. Sam for Merzlikins is terrible, IMO.

This is it. Teams will make offers (or not) based on the medical report. The Sabres respond based on the offers. We will see what happens.

Gotta say those kinda posts from Dreger have a history of turning into a big heap of nothing.

Good news. Is there a player in the system Sabrespace is more unanimously positive about? Cozens, maybe?

The thought that we could leave the 2nd round as the the proud drafters of Red Savage and Owen Stankoven pleases me to no end.

It almost certainly will. The issue is that star will probably be someone who not being talked about as the 1st overall pick.

Absolutely, as long as it involves a good player 25-and-under who we can sign long term. I am sick of the approach that the players we acquire have to be 20 or 18. We have 12 players 25 and under on our roster picked in the top 35, six of them in the top 8. Add some players who can lead Casey and Rasmus and Dylan, or be their partners, not more followers.

Or that both sides are using it as a PR cover to justify the break-up. And, in the Sabres case, the willingness to take on a poor return.

Is Jack's career potentially over? Because no one in the industry is saying that but people on the internet are talking about the trade as if that is a possibility. If it is a possibility, then we are talking about a Lafontaine situation. They may offer a token pick, but no team will be making a legitimate offer for Jack and his $50 million contract. Seems to me it comes down to the doctors. If they 80 per cent chance he returns to full value, does that mean you offer 80 per cent of his value? If I'm the GM and I get that report, I'm not trading for him at all.

Is anyone saying Power is a strong #1? I thought the main issue at hand is whether he is #1 this year. all kinds of players who don’t play in the NHL at all at 18 become stars.

Yep. To be clear, I agree that it would be disappointing to me as well to see Power ranked 3rd on our depth chart right now, not so much if McCabe was under contract. That’s not the same as thinking it’s unusual, because Power is a boy, Samuelsson a man. Boys who can play in the top half of an NHL roster don’t come around all that often.

To be third on the depth chart? 2nd overall Quinton Byfield wasn’t in the top four of a pretty mediocre team. 2nd overall pick Sam Reinhart wasnt top 4 on an awful team. Lafreniere was 3rd on the Ranger LW depth chart this year, Hughes was 4C for Jersey the year before.

I’d feel differently if I thought there was clear separation two weeks ago, but if you are starting from the premise the top players are very close, then I disagree with this. When you are looking for incremental differences, 6 games out of a 30-game season is relevant. Games at a higher level of competition are relevant.

I don’t see it as much different than saying Byfield is behind Villardi, or Quinn behind Tage.

Ah sorry. I fell into thinking of Samuelsson as an Amerk still, but I can see that, just in terms of physical development.

The Worlds will affect this. It was close before and Power was in the lead. Since then what has happened? Guenther was meh at the U18s, Berniers was not much of a factor at Worlds. Hughes got hurt. Havent heard any buzz at all about the other contenders. Power was a key player in a gold medal performance at the senior level. Does this mean it’s no longer “close enough”? I think it certainly will in the public eye. @Thorny has alluded to the pressure on the team at the top to take the presumed top player. It took a while, but I think the past week has cemented Power as that guy. I mentioned it before, the internet will erupt with a “Sabres gonna Sabre” chorus if we don’t pick Power. Will that affect Adams’ decision-making process? Perhaps more importantly, will it influence Terry? And given the shape of our scouting department this year, shouldn’t we be more trusting of the consensus? Behind Bryson…? That’s a little disturbing for a top 10 pick, let alone first overall.

Not disagreeing, but I don’t get to hear many actual assessments from scouts. And a good number of opinions on here I find can be pretty well-informed.

Do you have people ahead of him, and, if so, why? Love to see your top 5 or 10. (Or anyone’s really)

What are the odds of Power turning into Alex Pietrangelo? Is that a good comparable? Why or why not?

Why are you assuming we won't be? The Kraken have to draft about $50 million in cap space, and they will be spending close the cap when all is said and done. They will be taking on some big contracts The Kraken have to draft at least nine defencemen. I would be very surprised if 9 better blueliners than Risto will be made available. The Kraken will be attracted to veterans on expiring contracts that they can flip at the deadline for draft picks. How many players will be made available in the expansion draft that will be worth the 2nd-round pick at the deadline that Risto would likely fetch? I know there is a portion of Sabrespacers who would give Risto away for nothing, but I would be shocked if that's his value around the league.

Byfield is unlikely to ever be as good as Eichel, IMO. Personally, with a glowing medical report, I would give up Byfield to get Eichel in a second. I'm not sure what you are saying here, that Kaliyev is worth more than Risto and Victor combined? Kaliyev had 14 goals in the AHL last year, Victor had 13 in the NHL. It's not like Kaliyev offers a ton of other elements to his game that Victor doesn't.