dudacek

Better than 70% GF%? Wow! 😜

Severson had kind of a rocky year in CBus is the only one of the trade targets i could see being available.

I think we can all agree that Miller is bigger and Byram is more skilled. Miller, statistically at least, hasn't shown to be any better than Byram in terms of his analytics, and despite his size he's not a banger. Is the thinking here that he's cheaper and better fit in terms of usage? Doesn't solve the handedness issue and I think Byram is the better player, but I could be argued into this as the basis of a trade.

in Chad's latest Expected Buffalo pod he talked like this a still very much a live thing. His theories are 'It's Dudley and it will be announced after the Panthers are done" followed by "Bergevin, but he's still in the running for the Isles job". He also ran through a bunch of other names but gave the overall impression to me that he doesn't really have a clue what they're thinking. He did raise a good point though: the combine is nearly here, and the draft and free agency are a month or so away, how much of an impact can an advisor hired in June really have on next year's team?

Or your desire.

Dahlin was a Norris calibre defenceman playing with Bowen Byram.

Timo Maier signed two years ago for 8X$8.8M coming off a 66-point season. I don't think your offer is going to get it done.

I'm not fully on the Dobson train. Don't get me wrong: I like the player and think he would help the Sabres, it's just that he's basically going to demand $2M more than Byram to fill the role Byram just filled. And, like Byram, that role is not the perfect fit for his skillset.

(Reposting from the other thread because it fits here) I'm fine with Ras and JBD in 1D/6D I think Samuelsson and Clifton need to be upgraded in the 4/5 slots. Replacing Samuelsson with someone who actually manages to play well in the role we gave to Samuelsson should be the team's 2nd-highest priority. Clifton should be replaced with someone safer and tougher. I'd keep Byram with Dahlin on the 1st-pair if it was up to me, but I think that ship has sailed. If traded, Byram must be replaced by a legitimate top 4 guy, preferably one who can eat hard minutes. I'm OK with Johnson and Novikov getting a shot to beat out Bryson for 7D and being the first call-ups next year. I wish someone other than Bryson was 7D, but Kevyn obviously disagrees The highest priority on the blueline is figuring out what went wrong with Owen Power last year and fixing it. Moves I'd be interested in: Byram for Andersson Picks/prospects for Schnieder and a cap dump (or Hague, or Whitecloud or...) Sign Gavrikov Samuelsson and picks/prospects for Pulock Clifton and picks/prospects for a cap casualty (meaning a better player on a bigger contract) Other options worth looking into: Sign someone like Fabbro, Ceci, Lindgren, Perbix, Forbert, or Ruuta from the UFA pile Trade Jack Quinn for physical RD of similar age and stature

I'm fine with Ras and JBD in 1D/6D I think Samuelsson and Clifton need to be upgraded in the 4/5 slots. Replacing Samuelsson with someone who actually manages to play well in the role we gave to Samuelsson should be the team's 2nd-highest priority. Clifton should be replaced with someone safer and tougher. I'd keep Byram with Dahlin on the 1st-pair if it was up to me, but I think that ship has sailed. If traded, Byram must be replaced by a legitimate top 4 guy, preferably one who can eat hard minutes. I'm OK with Johnson and Novikov getting a shot to beat out Bryson for 7D and being the first call-ups next year. I wish someone other than Bryson was 7D, but Kevyn obviously disagrees The highest priority on the blueline is figuring out what went wrong with Owen Power last year and fixing it. Moves I'd be interested in: Byram for Andersson Picks/prospects for Schnieder and a cap dump Sign Gavrikov Samuelsson and picks/prospects for Pulock Clifton and picks/prospects for a cap casualty (meaning a better player on a bigger contract) Other options worth looking into: Sign someone like Fabbro, Ceci, Lindgren, Perbix, Forbert, or Ruuta from the UFA pile Trade Jack Quinn for physical RD of similar age and stature

I think you need to do a deeper dive into Andersson's underlying numbers and to watch him play. The contract is definitely a thing that must be accounted for before making any deal.

I'm starting to believe the correct Byram move is to Calgary for Rasmus Andersson. Calgary wants to get younger and needs a skilled top 4 LHD who can run their PP. Byram's the best one on the market Buffalo wants to get older and needs a reliable top 4 RHD who can smooth the way for Owen Power. Andersson's the best one on the market. I'm not sure what will be needed to balance the deal given the cap and the contract status of each player (Andersson is a year from UFA). But the fit seems too good not to work the rest out.

Five weeks since the Sabres season ended. Rangers let Housley go April 19 Flyers let 2 assistants go April 23 Devils let two assistants go May 9 Ducks dropped two assistants (including Tage's dad) May 10 Three of those teams also named new head coaches. I'm not sure what's normal with new assistants, but if the Sabres aren't planning to bring the band back again, one would think they would have made a move by now.

I mean, other than Norris and Greenway instead of Cozens and Benson it's basically a proven 80-point team, right? So with 72 games of Hasek-level goaltending, sure. 😄 Wait, it's still not official?

Josh Norris is a good player, but that comes with 2 caveats: 1) Kevyn Adams was stretching things considerably when he said Norris can be a first-line centre. 2) @Thorny was not stretching things at all when he consistently points out that questions about Norris' ability have to be leavened with questions about his availability. In 5 NHL seasons he has been health exactly once: his rookie year when he played all 56 games in the bubble. Since then he has missed: 16, 74, 32 and 29 games — or about 46% of his potential starts. Prior to this year, a vast majority of those missed games were due to a chronically bad shoulder, something that did not trouble him this year and the Sabres doctors assure us should not trouble him again. Technically, Norris is capable of centring a 1st line; he has high-end speed, a diligent approach to positioning, makes good and quick decisions with the puck, and has a deadly shot. But he is a 1st-line centre only in the sense that he can keep up with two high-end wingers, as opposed to drive a line in the manner we traditionally think of when we talk about 1C. You may not remember this as well as folks out here on the West Coast, but I think a good comparable is Brendan Morrison when he skated for the Canucks 20 years ago between Markus Naslund and Todd Bertuzzi. And understand he is a finisher, not a playmaker. His career numbers put him at around 30 goals and 22 assists over 80 games. I think your expectations would be best centred at a Derek Roy to Derek Plante level 2C, who can win face-offs and help both special teams. Or maybe this: The Ottawa Senators most certainly watched Dylan Cozens play this year and decided they preferred Cozens to Norris.

Shocking that you would say that. 😉

There’s a large part of me finding it really hard to reconcile the Jack Quinn I watched tear up Rochester 4 years ago, and the Jack Quinn I watched play 27 games coming off an injury 2 years ago with the Jack Quinn I watched last year. They were like 2 completely different players. One part of my brain says: the easiest way to improve the forward ranks is by replacing Quinn with an abrasive defensively responsible player who can pop 20 goals. Another part says sell low on this guy right now and you might seriously regret it for a long time. How can you be that wrong about a player? Which I guess makes me Kevyn Adams 😬😫

That’s certainly fair, and also what I expect. That said if the Sabres wanted to operate in old-school vets-first way, they could, by icing the following top 9: Tuch Norris Thompson Quinn McLeod Peterka Zucker Krebs Greenway Every one of those players save Zucker is in their 23-30 prime. So if Kulich and/or Benson were to break into the top 9, it wouldn’t be because of “no blocking” it would be because of the poor play or injuries of a “veteran”. Quinn, Peterka and Krebs aren’t kids any more, physically, or by experience.

I hope everybody around here realizes that “youth” and “blocking” are no longer talking points with the Sabre forwards. Tage Thompson is turning 28 next season and will be entering his 7th NHL season Zucker 34 and 12 Tuch 29 and 9 Greenway 29 and 8 Norris 26 and 6 McLeod 26 and 5 Krebs 25 and 5 Peterka 24 and 4 Quinn 24 and 4 These guys have been around long enough to know what the league is about. Yes, there are 2 babies also vying to break into the top 9 in Kulich and Benson (and 2 vets in Malenstyn, 28, and Lafferty, 31) but putting them there is a choice, not an excuse. This is group that should be considered largely in its prime. The questions should be are they good enough, and are they balanced enough? “ Are they old enough?” is so 2022.

It’s all about action, not words. The Sabres decided the fitness department and the lack of management trainees needed to be accountable for the lack of results last year.

Yes, I’ll be starting Thursday.

But Jeff Skinner, Kyle Okposo, Matt Moulson, Christian Ehrhoff and Ville Leino all went so well.

Ryan O'Reilly did it a couple years after Bergeron. I may be missing somebody, but I think he, Benson and Cole Sillinger are the only 18-year-olds since Bergeron to play in the NHL full-time in the D+1 year that were not top 10 draft picks. The list of players to score 25 points as an 18-year-old this century doesn't have many players on it who didn't become stars.

I'm really curious if Peterka has another gear. He's turned 23 and cracked the 200-game mark: was this his breakout year? Is he a 30-goal, 65-point top 6 winger, or can he graduate to a 40-goal, point-a-game star? He's young enough and he's skilled enough to take another step but does he have the processor and the will? Personally, I don't think so. But I'm not quite ready to rule it out.

Definitely is relevant.