dudacek

I betcha the Sabres could get EP40 without any of those players. This is a player you'd have to pay $11.6M for the next 7 years. He was at the middle of a dressing room collapse. The fan base has turned on him. The coach and the front office have been very clear they are unhappy with him. He's been accused of poor training practices. He's coming off an injury that seems to have sapped his quickness. Oh, and there's that little thing about the 15-goal, 45-point season. His value can't be any better than Jack Eichel's was in 2021. So Norris, Helenius, next year's 1st and this year's 2nd, give or take? I'd say less. The Norris/Byram package @Flashsabre proposed is 2 talented players just entering their primes that we know the Canucks like. That's probably your base right there and I think the Sabres would push for Willander for a lesser prospect to seal the deal. I think the Canucks would take Power straight across in a heartbeat, but I doubt the Sabres would. I think there's a very good case to be made for the Canucks to trade him for the highest draft pick offered and repurpose that $11.6M in cap space toward Mitch Marner or some other prominent free agent. it's not "he's flawed" and "he will cost a ton if you are determined to buy him", it's "he's flawed" so "he won't cost a ton if the Canucks are determined to sell him." But I agree, it's very much a buyer beware.

I think Demko is fantastic: a rare real deal top 10 goalie who Sabres fans just don’t see enough of to judge. That’s assuming he’s healthy and last year was a blip.

Been talking about this with my Canuck buddy who is hoping for the same thing. My question is what can the Canucks tie to Pettersson to get them to give up Jack Hughes alone, let alone Jack and Luke? Especially when evidence suggests the Devils can get Quinn for free in 2 years by playing the long game and keeping his brothers.

Can’t argue with the first sentence, although I wonder how current his knowledge and connections are. I think management experience should be a POHO requirement.

Serious question: why do you want a 65-year-old coach who has won exactly 2 playoff series in the past 18 years and never worked in management to take over your hockey operations department?

Pettersson scares the crap out of me, but I don’t know if I’d call that crazy. Whatever that does on the ice, it’s the sort of thing that’s needed off the ice to bring fan interest back to Buffalo and salvage the mess that is the Canucks room.

I'm thinking more and more like Pettersson to Buffalo has a real chance. A real chance Van moves him because they think they have to, a real chance Buffalo takes him because they think they have to.

It's not just you, but people need to step past 1989. The 4th liners on the defending Stanley Cup champions were (pick 3): Lorenz 38 1/2/3 Stenlund 81 11/4/15 Cousins 69 7/8/15 Okposo 67 12/10/22 Lomberg 75 5/2/7 Statistically, NHL 3rd-liners (192-288th in scoring among forwards) had between 21 and 35 points. Benson is already a solid NHL 3rd-liner in terms of production while having average goal differential and above average analytics. He slots as a 3rd-liner already.

I'm struggling to see who fits the bolded. Power certainly never was that guy. Neither were/are Quinn and Peterka. It was never beaten out of Dahlin; it took a while, but he embraced it Cozens maybe? One thing that's different there is that Cozens saw himself as a peer to Dahlin and Thompson and struggled to carry the weight of the drought. I don't see that in Benson at all. He's just playing hockey.

He's an outlier. I mean that in the sense of how few 18-year-olds play in the NHL without an elite size/skill/speed combination; Benson's comparables are few and far between. The first one that came to mind was Ryan O' Reilly. Here are his raw numbers in his first 2 seasons: D+1 Colorado 81 8/18/26 +4 D+2 Colorado 74 13/13/26 -7 He broke out with 55 points as a 20-year-old. The guy I like to compare Benson's game to is Marchand, but he took a far more typical path and didn't make the NHL until his D+5 season. He became a 55-point player in his D+6 year and a point/game player in his D+11 year; he needed time to get fast and strong enough to play his game at the NHL level and he kept getting better. I don't think Benson in any way, shape or form has been ruined; analytically he is one of the Sabres best players and the eye test supports this in terms of positioning and compete. He is in the NHL, not as a talented kid in over his head, learning in the deep end, but as a reliable high-energy 3rd-line forward. It's weird, but it's what he is right now. The question remains is how much offence is in there to be unlocked once his brain and body fully develop? I don't know where the ceiling is because his game at 19 is so unconventional. He shouldn't be compared to guys like Fantilli and Michkov because he doesn't have their elite physical tools. Just like Marchand's path should never have been compared to Sidney Crosby's But to your point, being a teenager on a ***** team early in his career certainly didn't ruin O'Reilly. I think the fact that Benson is a 30-point NHL player at 19 should still very much be considered a positive. I'm pretty confident we will see his game continue to grow. It's just the when and how much that are the open questions.

This. I’ve always thought the chaos of hockey translates +/- 10 points over a season. They sacrificed some offence for defence that may or may not have been due to bounces, sniping or crappy goaltending, but they were pretty much the same team they were the previous year.

It’s always a good idea to look at the numbers, what changed and why: Points: 84 last year (22nd overall) dropped to 79 (26th) Goals for: 244 (23rd) improved to 265 (10th) Goals against: 243 (11th) dropped to 287 (30th) Power play: 16.6% (29th) improved to 18.8% (24th) Penalty killing; 79.8% (13th) dropped to 76.4% (23rd) Shots for: 30.9 (15th) dropped to 27.8 (20th) Shots against: 29.3 (9th) dropped* to 28.9 (21st) Shooting %: 8.85% (14th) improved to 10.6 (2nd) Save %: 91.4% (14th) dropped to 89.9% (29th) xG%: 47.4% (24th) stayed the same* at 48.1 (24th) Shot differential: +1.6 (14th) dropped to -1.1 (21st) SAT%: 50.7% (16th) improved* to 49.8 (15th) Faceoffs: 45% (32) improved to 47.8 (26th) Hits: 1,786 (21st) improved* to 1,736 (16th) Blocked shots: 1,201 (27th) improved* to 1,190 (24th) Net penalties: -14 (24th) improved* to -16 (22nd) This year, the were good at exactly one thing: shooting to score. They improved in scoring. Their PK declined and their save % dropped significantly. But my overriding takeaway is that their rankings were mediocre to poor in virtually every category and despite the new coach, very little changed.

Lysowski: Changes are expected to the coaching and support staffs, as well as the hockey operations department, two sources familiar with the situation who spoke to The News on the condition as to protect their standing in the organization.

I know he’s a RD, but how much better is Dobson than Byram? He’s 2 years older, 3 inches taller, and about the same weight. This season: Byram 38 points (35 ES),+12, 48.1% Corsi, 22.42 TOI, 50.1% OZ starts, 75 hits, 115 blocked shots Dobson 39 points (26 ES), -16, 52.9% Corsi, 23:16 TOI, 60.8% OZ starts, 57 hits, 127 blocked shots Yes, Dobson had a big year the previous year, but that came the year he started with 238 games of NHL experience. Byram has played 246. It’s not like Dobson brings an immensely different toolkit.

Damn would it be nice to see Jiri light it up. Not only for his sake, but for the sake of the other prospects down there, kind of as an inspiration and a measuring stick.

So good. Is it “hope” to wonder if this means he signed because Adams convinced him that he’s not going to run it back?

I wouldn’t go as far as “stop caring” but this was kinda my approach to the entire season: put the drought in the closet and watch one game at a time with the same mindset I did when I was 12. Being happy with the 36 wins, unhappy with the 46 losses made for a better winter than watching through the overwhelming filter of 14 years. So did appreciating the positives. Dahlin and Thompson are worth watching. I have a lot of respect for Tuch and enjoy Benson. I see the flaws and am not immune to the frustrations. But I managed not to own them.

Of course many are expecting that around the league. Who in their right mind wouldn't given what's happened the past 2 years?

People have been very slow to keep up with what's been going on post-Krueger. They're hanging on to this old version of Terry Pegula, puppet master, when the latest Sabres failures are really more of a case of the owner being too patient and hands-off. Terry was painfully aware of his reputation as an interfering owner with a quick trigger finger and has leaned hard in the other direction with Adams. He's hardly been absent, but he's trusted in Adams and his plan well past its due date. @Thorner and I disagree on the necessity of what Adams did in the great sell-off of 2021, but I think we are in full agreement that the deconstruction was the easy part. The tough part is how you react and adjust when your plan starts getting punched in the face. I’d argue that the Cozens trade was the first time Adams has adjusted at all. Adams decided it was going to be a slow and steady build through the draft process. Adams selected and signed and developed the cornerstone pieces. Adams decided who should coach them and who should surround them. And Adams has stuck with his course until “I believe in the guys in that room” has become a meme. This is Adams' team. These are Adams' failures. Terry's crime this time basically amounts to allowing that to continue.

Any chance we get any of this?

Interview on GR radio yesterday.

I've never bought into the desire of some fans to turn reporters into a conduit for their anger. I just hope they do their jobs. "Six months ago, you said this was a playoff team. Where did you go wrong in terms of that evaluation?" "We heard talk from Lindy about changing culture. What specifically does that mean? How is the culture flawed and what do you need to see it become? "A number of players had disappointing seasons, should we expect more core pieces to follow Dylan Cozens out the door as a result, or will most of them be back? "Do you expect Jiri Kulich and Zach Benson to spend significant time in your top 6 next year? "You've been talking about adding a defensively reliable top 4 defenceman for some time now, should fans expect one to be added this summer?" "Special teams failures arguably cost the team a playoff spot this season, who is accountable for that and how will it be fixed?" "Your goaltenders put up some of the worst statistics in the league this year, do you intend to add a veteran NHL goalie to the roster?" "Are you planning to spend at or near the cap next season?" 'How do you plan to bring fans back into the building next year given your track record?" These are some of the hard but utterly professional questions I'd like to hear asked