dudacek

I would feel a lot better about the forwards if everyone would stop putting in a 24-point sophomore as the 1C. He’s not and everybody understands that, right? In answer to your question, they have the need, the space and the assets to add a good forward. I will believe it when I see it.

I think “for the right price”!kinda goes without saying in these kinds of discussions. He’s a talented 24-year-old winger with a ton of question marks. Quinn or Krebs straight across are ballpark offers; the kind of thing that gets done if the buyer and seller have opposite views of depreciated assets. Personally, I don’t do either. A top prospect or a 1st-rounder are too much, let alone 2 pieces; if that’s the ask, Waddell has no interest in trading him.

OK, my intent was more “maybe it wasn’t sucha bad idea keeping these guys” than “market sucks”. Basically, I think it was in line with “help where you can get it” 🤷

Curious what you dislike there @Thorny Do you think we should have let those guys walk?

He also floated the idea of him playing with Kesselring (which had the hosts going Dahlin Power?) Seemed very happy with adding Kesselring. Said they needed big right-handers and he’s happy they got some. Says the D corps is going to be a strength of the team.

Interesting to hear Byram tell Marty and Duff he aspires to being a Toews to Dahlin’s Makar. Says he watches and respects what Toews does and believes he can be that guy. Different than the reports saying he aspires to be the lead dog. Kid pretty clearly believes in himself, is focused on improving defensively and seems highly motivated. I feel good about what we’re going to get from him this year.

For sure. I don’t see Chinakov as a make-or-break decision, or as an obvious answer. I would like to add another NHL forward who is at least a 2nd-liner or could play on the 2nd line, full stop. Hes an option Id consider.

So essentially we’re only looking for another forward if he is a clear and obvious top 6 upgrade on Quinn or Kulich? We’re deep enough otherwise?

Out of NhL roster? The current 14th forward and 8th defenceman, so Kozak and Johnson? Out of the starting lineup, assuming full health? Whichever 2 of Malensten, Krebs, Danforth, Quinn, Kulich and Doan he happens to be outplaying? Id also include Greenway and Zucker in that group, but Lindy won’t. And doesn’t Sabrespace just assume one of Norris and Greenway will be out anyway? Should we just ignore that possibility?

It seems like just last week this board was clamouring to trade Byram for a forward and screaming how are we going to replace Peterka’s scoring. Did you think we were getting a special roster exemption for that guy? Chinakov has 23 goals in his last 83 games, Peterka has 27 in his last 77. Come on people, this isn’t rocket surgery.

It’s OK for the team to have 2 spare forwards and one spare defenceman, which is what would be the case under my post. It’s also rare for everyone to be healthy at the same time. Kozak would be sent to Rochester. Doubt he gets claimed, wouldn’t worry too much if he was. Chinakov is a very fast skater with a great shot who may or may not be a better scoring forward than Quinn or Kulich right now and may or may not be a better hockey player than about half the Sabres current forwards. The point of picking him is he may blossom into the guy who replaces Peterka, or at least force someone else to work to earn that spot.

I was kinda down on the zucker and Greenway signings as meh over pays at the time. But looking at what the free agent market ended up being and what players moved over the summer they look a little wiser. Not seeing guys like Joshua and Marchment as big upgrades - roster or contract - and no guarantee we could have got them.

I think the whole point of Chinakov would be to create depth and options. Quinn/Zucker/Chinakov/kulich for offence Benson/Doan/Greenway/McLeod for defence Ideally you’d have 8 options to plug into 6 spots in your top 9 You mix and match around Norris, Tuch and Thompson based on health, chemistry, opponent and who is going well. Krebs, Danforth and Malenstyn are your 4th line options. Basically it’s about not repeating the Quinn Achilles mistake and starting the season with more good players than what you need. If everyone is healthy, give the ice time to those who earn it. If they aren’t you’re covered.

I think the best way to think of Chinakhov is Jack Quinn, not exactly his game, but what he is and what he could be: A young winger who has flashed tantalizing offensive talent but has yet to break through and also battled injury and raised questions through at times spotty play. Hed have similar value based on the beholder and be a risky trade for both sides.

The model says a 21 and 19 1s is literally twice as good a team as 20 1s, 1 player can make a huge difference.

The model does seem to assign far greater variation to the good players. Dahlin is worth Thompson and Tuch together, Tuch is worth Byram and Peterka together. And it recognizes that guys like Clifton and Bryson are actually negatives but not to the same degree Dahlin is a positive. I assume usage and ice time are factors What I tired to say with the previous post is a think the model actually does try to account for that

Yeah, I mean it’s just an honest attempt to quantify evergreen hockey questions like who is more valuable: JJ Peterka or Bowen Byram? (They’re both +4) And it completely ignore the pertinent question of the whole not equaling the sum of its parts. For a decent reference point +9 would have been the equivalent of the Sabres losing no one and adding one good player, like a FilipnForsberg or a Noah Hanifan. Good conversation fodder, but that’s about it.

In: Josh Doan, Justin Danforth, Michael Kesselring, Conor Timmins, Alex Lyon Out: JJ Peterka, Sam Lafferty, Connor Clifton, Jacob Bernard-Docker First group minus the second, at least that’s how I read it

Peterka was a +4 player under their model, Kesselring a +6; the model thinks the Sabres got a better player. So the +9 represents the net value change of the players going in and out.

Their analytics model gives each player a ranking based on his overall impact. Its built on tangible measurements but I’m not sure it represents anything tangible like points in the standings, more like how valuable one guy is relative to the league mean. For example, Dahlin is the Sabres most effective player at +21, Bryson the worst at -13

That one makes me angry assuming the Sabres are done.

The model the piece is based on ranks Samuelsson in the 46th percentile defensively

I always get the CBus Russians confused, but as a group I like. Pretty sure he’s #3 of the 3, but what the hell, git er done Jarmo! 😁

The athletics model disagrees with us. Speaking strictly from the players out/players in perspective it says Buffalo improved more than all but 6 teams 7. Buffalo Sabres Net Rating added: +9 In: Josh Doan, Justin Danforth, Michael Kesselring, Conor Timmins, Alex Lyon Out: JJ Peterka, Sam Lafferty, Connor Clifton, Jacob Bernard-Docker There are a lot of folks who haven’t been thrilled with Buffalo’s offseason and that’s understandable. For the third straight year, it feels like it’s been time to push the chips in, spend some money and gun for a playoff spot. Instead, the Sabres made depth moves and shipped off a true top-six scorer without addressing the void afterward. ADVERTISEMENT It feels like a wasted opportunity, which probably makes Buffalo’s placement here seem out of touch with reality. Maybe it is — betting on the Sabres has been a terrible idea for over a decade. But maybe this is the year Buffalo does turn the corner, thanks to internal jumps buoyed by cleaned-up depth. Josh Doan is not as good as JJ Peterka. That’s a downgrade without question. But his underrated defensive game compared to Peterka’s issues without the puck does mean the gap might not be as large as their point totals suggest. Add more Justin Danforth and less Beck Malenstyn on the fourth line and it’s possible the Sabres can cover up the loss in the aggregate. There is arguably enough young, developing forward depth to sustain a Peterka-sized loss. The more important factor, though, is that the jump from Connor Clifton to Michael Kesselring is substantially larger than the drop from Peterka to Doan. Buffalo’s defense corps was a major weakness last season, one that Kesselring’s presence can help fix. He did well in a top-pair role when Utah ran into injuries last season, enough to believe he’s a true top-four defenseman. Pair him with Owen Power and Buffalo’s top four looks genuinely decent for the first time in a long time. The addition of Conor Timmins should help with things as well. He showed some promise in an elevated role with Pittsburgh, enough to believe he can form an actually good third pair with the defensively stout Mattias Samuelsson.Timmins isn’t much, but he’s probably a better option than what Buffalo was toiling with last year in the same role. Defensive depth is something this team has been missing for a while. If everything goes according to plan after this offseason, it’ll finally be a source of strength for Buffalo. And that could be what changes everything for this team. The Sabres have gone from one good pair led by Rasmus Dahlin to potentially three

Adams catches ***** for all his premature long-term deals, but in retrospect his failure wasn’t the contracts but some of the players he gave them too - evaluation or development. Because have-nots need to get them tied up when they’re young and idealistic if they want any hope of getting off the treadmill of being the Pittsburgh Pirates