dudacek

Yep, 26 was basically grabbed by the official from the beginning but he was swinging and his gloves come off. Basically, it should have been him and Oshie, but Strome and the ref grabbed Dahlin and Clifton grabbed Oshie

Guess I gotta rewatch, but my memory was Dahlin being heavily engaged with someone in the scrum while the linesman was draped all over him and TJ Oshie was jumping on his back. Then he and Oshie got engaged directly with more official interference. He was definitely in the thick of things.

Not something I personally put a ton of stock in. I was actually most interested in the fact of how close the three were using that calculation given how hard it is to compare their three different leagues. I think we all have our favourites when it comes to playing armchair GM, but until they're all Sabres — or at least Amerks — it's pretty hard to tell which is better kept and which should be dangled.

Points per game projected over 82 games for each

I saw Kulich, Savoie and Östlund's stats this year run through an NHLe calculator this week: 24, 24 and 28 points respectively over a full NHL season.

He did it because he was the Rick Martin Award winner. Anyone who doesn't think it's going to be Dahlin hasn't been paying attention. Neither has anyone who doesn't think it should be Dahlin. I honestly wonder if there's some weird mix of Euro-bias and people who are still thinking of 18-year-old Dahlin when this conversation happens. He's the best player, the hardest worker, the guy who sticks his nose in the most, and the guy who cares the most. I hope the "stand-up for his teammates" crowd was watching how that meeting of the minds at the end of tonight's game got started. If his name Stemhavolinski and he had a five-o'clock shadow the poll would be unanimous.

Maybe. But if you applied a similar exercise this year to Thompson, Tuch, Cozens and Skinner I doubt the results would be nearly as shiny, especially when you add the power play to the equation. Whether it's commitment, culture, coaching or circumstance at fault, a significant portion of the failures of this season can be laid at the feet of our top forwards.

Absolutely this. Power still plays the game too often like he's a full-grown man playing against a pack of 12-year-olds and he doesn't want to hurt or embarrass anybody. What I need to see from him is less about punishing people and more about defensive assertiveness. His is a game is built on patience, finesse and thinking one step ahead, but there are so many instances where what's needed is just the simple elimination of "your" man. You don't need to hurt him, you don't need to worry about your next play, you just need to step up with authority to prevent him from making his.

I thought this was interesting: ES points Adam Fox 37 Owen Power 26 Hits Adam Fox 43 Owen Power 43 Blocked shots Adam Fox 116 Owen Power 109 giveaways/60 Adam Fox 1.18 Owen Power 1.29 penalties taken/60 Adam Fox 0.67 Owen Power. 0.36 ES ice time Adam Fox 18:26 Owen Power 19.:29 Possession Adam Fox 53.7 Owen Power 51.8 Goals for % Adam Fox 54.4 Owen Power 54.2

Here are some things people should know about contracts before they dig in about Owen Power: This year he had the salary cap hit of a 7th defenceman ($916K) This year, the median 1st-pairing defenceman cap hit was about $6.5M Next year he will be paid like an above-average 1st-pairing defenceman ($8.35M) Next year, the median 1st-pairing defenceman cap hit will be between $7-7.5M (depending on free agent signings) Every year for the next 7, Power's contract will likely be passed by a handful of players until at the end of his contract he will be getting paid like a good 2nd-pairing defenceman Here are some things people should know about performance before they dig in about Owen Power: he produced total points like a 1st-pairing defenceman he produced ES points like a 1st-pairing defenceman he ate ice time like a 1st-pairing defenceman he threw hits like a borderline 2nd/3rd pairing defenceman he blocked shots like a 2nd-pairing defenceman he avoided giveaways like a 2nd-pairing defenceman he forced takeaways like a 2nd-pairing defenceman he avoided taking penalties like a 1st-pairing defenceman he had the shot attempt possession numbers of a 1st-pairing defenceman he had the goals-for-% numbers of a 1st-pairing defenceman he had the expected-goals-for numbers of a 1st-pairing defenceman he had the expected-goals-against numbers of a 2nd-pairing defenceman And by 1st, 2nd and 3rd, I mean he ranked in the top, middle or bottom 3rd of the league's defencemen who played at least 60 games. He's also apparently the NHL's best stretch passer but I could not find any stats on zone exits created or prevented. He was one of just 6 U22 defencemen to play 70 NHL games this year.

Haven't really watched Novikov this year so it's hard for me to compare. But Samuelsson was a noticeable stud at the AHL level: offensively fine and defensively dominant. If Novikov is near that level as a rookie, I'd be pleasantly surprised and pretty excited.

For context, the article ranks Samuelsson 15th in the entire league. His peers include Hampus Lindholm, Brandon Carlo, Brady Skjei and Brayden McNabb Mattias Samuelsson’s promising defensive profile explains why the Sabres signed him to a seven-year, $4.285 million AAV extension at the start of last season. The problem? He can’t seem to stay healthy. The hulking 24-year-old defenseman was limited to 41 games this season and 55 the year before. Durability, not talent, is the concern with Samuelsson and his contract right now. The model weighs heavily for tough matchups and top 4 ice time and is only about shot suppression during ES play. The author (Harman Dayal) says: This is, of course, only an analytical perspective. The numbers obviously can’t capture everything, especially for defense. That means this exercise isn’t so much a definitive ranking, but rather a conversation starter. You can look at the initial list and then apply your own eye test, context and knowledge — it’s all about how you interpret the data. There will be plenty of quality shutdown defenders who don’t land on this list.

Thank you, particularly for the bold. From reading this place I sometimes think people judge defence on Is he mugging a guy when the puck goes to our netfront? How many bad passes did he make (only the bad ones matter)? Is he on the screen when a goal gets scored? I wish people would also pay attention to the amount of rushes or defensive zone attacks broken up or deflected into corners, the amount of pucks routinely knocked off, or prevented from getting to, sticks, the number of contested pucks won, and how often a player executes safe exits. Routinely good defence rarely makes highlight packages because it usually means nothing exciting happened.

The bolded is a far more salient point. The flip side of “lock ‘em up while you can still afford them”. Pretty hard to judge Adams 1 year into a half-dozen long-term deals. But each one he adds makes the next one harder to accommodate and he has to get most of them right.

Most poor decisions can be justified at the time. Most good decisions can be justifiably criticized at the time. I thought Victor Olofsson could serve as adequate insurance for Jack Quinn because he scored 28 last year. I was wrong. I thought the goalie situation was extraordinarily risky to start this year. Turns out Adams was right that his goalies were good enough, it just took him too long to figure out how to deploy them.

I’m not saying adding competition is bad. On the contrary, I’d like it. I am saying it’s necessity at this position in my mind has greatly diminished.

It’s not at all the same principle. This year, three unproven goalies, toss them in a blender, and hope 2 emerge in some shape or form as a competent duo. Next year, clear-cut #1 coming off a strong year, promising #2 who has looked fine in limited rookie sample size. Devon Levi is 22, not 20, and he’ll turn 23 by Christmas. He’s 15-10-2 as an NHL goalie. He’s also 11-5-3 with a .927 save percentage in the AHL after a few seasons of being one of the best goalies in NCAA. Looking at the numbers, pencilling him in as 1 of 2 goalies this October is very much in line with doing the same for Jake Oettinger with Holtby in 20/21, or Jeremy Swayman with Ullmark in 21/22. It’s a risk, but a justifiable one. In fact, looking around the league, I’d wager the odds of having 2 good goalies at the same time is far more likely rolling the dice in this fashion than signing or trading for the “best goalie available.”

Just so everybody is clear on the facts. Dylan Cozens signed his extension in the middle of his career year. Tage Thompson signed his big contract before his career year. Mattias Samuelsson signed his deal the year before his “career” year too (if you can call it that.) Rasmus Dahlin had a year left on his contract when he signed his extension. It was after his best year, but the year after signing has been his 2nd best. He has yet to collect a penny from his big deal. Owen Power signed his after just 87 NHL games and also had a year left on his deal. He has yet to collect a penny of his big deal either. He’s going to finish with roughly the same numbers as in his only other full season. I don’t think the bolded is as obvious as you say.

I think the fundamental disagreement here is in our rating of Levi. Simply put, I think he’s a better bet to give us 3.06, .901 goaltending or better for 30 games next season than most of the goalies you’d consider to be in the 25-50 range of NHL goalies. And that tempers how much I’m willing to invest in another goalie like the 20 or so I listed upthread. Or you’re saying that every team needs 3 NHL goalies when likely playoff teams we’re chasing like Washington, Detroit, Tampa and Toronto clearly don’t. Wants 3? Of course we do. As to the bold, absolutely my stance has moved on our goalie situation, because this year has given me reason to believe we have 2 good ones when last summer it was only blind faith in Levi that led me to believe we had any. Like I said, the frame of reference has changed.

Basically you started last season with 3 unproven goalies, none of them with a defined role, one of them with negligible pro experience, and a loose, unearned pecking order Next season you’d be starting with a clear number one, who played very well in his single year in that role, and an unproven number 2 who was dominant in the AHL and put up a winning record along with a respectable .901 and 3.06 over 27 NHL starts. Would I like to add a 200-game vet on a 1-year deal and similar numbers to Levi? Absolutely because I too want to cover my bases. UPL could go all Tage Thompson on us. But I don’t think it’s the same situation at all as it was last summer in terms of risk management. The context has significantly changed.

Not many NHL goalie situations that aren’t inherently risky. See, the latter sentence gets to the nut of it. And it gets back to my initial question: what exactly is the “problem” you’re trying to solve? It sounds like something that can only be addressed with a Hellebuyck or a Shesterkin. Because to me, the rest of them all look like hypothetical or potential solutions.

Boy is finally on a bender. 9 goals, 8 assists, 17 points, +12 in his last 12 games. Team is 7-5 over that stretch.

I was thinking this while watching last night and running the tape back to Adams trade deadline presser. Plug Greenway into Rousek’s slot with Krebs and Skinner, add 3 fast, tenacious forecheckers, one of which is a defensively strong 3/4C and we’re looking at next year’s roster. Its going to make the place really hard to read this summer but it’s going to happen. Come November, most of Sabrespace will either be eating crow, or praying it’s not too late for our new coach to get us back in the race.

Maybe, but the conversation I’m trying to have is about this summer, not last summer. Is starting the season with Luukkonen (by this season’s numbers a good starter) and Levi (by this season’s numbers an average backup) a problem in need of an active solution?

Why should it be considered a problem?