French Collection

I’m excited to see Savoie skate, this year’s shiny new toy. Kulich is one to watch, showed well at World Juniors. Lindgren may surprise people. I did a bit of research on the free agents at this camp. Here are a few that I think may do well. Declan McDonnell is a Buffalo native playing in the OHL. He was a 7th rounder of Tampa Bay in 2020. He was a point per game player last season. Nolan Burke seems like a late bloomer, the 20 year old hasn’t done much at the junior level until this past season. He put up 34 goals for Sarnia in the OHL. 6’1” centre. Emmett Sproule is a 21 year old forward who put up 86 pts in 65 games with Peterborough of the OHL. Spencer Sova was at Development Camp in July. He is an undrafted ‘04 OHL Dman. He had 28 points in 64 games with the Erie Otters of the OHL. Tomas Suchanek is a 19 year old goalie with Tri City of the WHL. He put up decent numbers on a bad team last season. He had a great showing at the World Juniors with Czechia.

I thought he had shoulder surgery and was out until December.

I expect him to pot 25 goals. I like him with TT, cleaning up rebounds and buzzing around the other team’s net while TT plays keep away. He is not a pest of Marchand’s style but he draws attention, penalties and keeps opponents off balance. I think his PP time will drop a bit to let the young guns get their feet wet. There are more options on PP with shooters like TT, VO, Quinn and KO. Playmakers like Mitts, and Krebs. Big bodies like Tuch and Cozens. There is a place for him on one of the units but DG has more options.

I went to the PGA Championship in Chicago in ‘99 and was also blown away after spending an hour in the front row of the driving range. I was a pretty good golfer but these guys were hitting it solid almost every shot. I watched Furyk closely because of his quirky swing. He was hitting a 5 iron 180-190 yards which was close to my distance with the same club. The difference was all of his shots travelled that far and were all within 5 yards left or right of his target. My comparable accuracy was 4-5 out of 10.

I really liked this video. I’m not a fancy stats guy but Goals saved above expected seems like a good stat. It fairly accurately showed which goalies had good seasons. Comrie gives me hope, he was solid according to these numbers. Can he do it for 50 games? UPL was OK in his limited time.

Boosh had 197 hits last season. Contrast that with Quinn Hughes who had 19.

I don’t know if he’ll be 2nd or 3rd pairing but he will be a PK mainstay and keep other teams honest with a physical game and a shutdown mentality. He is relatively new to the NHL game and should keep improving with the rest of the team. I like the corsi numbers despite the D zone starts, sounds like he wins puck battles and gets it up to the forwards. I am looking forward to see how he fits with DG and the Dmen

I too would like a Brad May. These guys are almost like unicorns now. We had Marcus Foligno and he was a good fit. Fitz will drop the gloves but he may not dress many games. Who knows, maybe Mule’s wires cross and he destroys someone, ending this conversation and other teams thinking they can push the Sabres around.

She has been the Queen for all of my life and then some. She was a steadying presence for us in the Commonwealth for a long time. RIP.

I drove through Quinn’s hometown of Cobden yesterday. I expect him to make the team, have a significant impact (20g 25A) and get his hometown to put up a sign with his picture in a Sabres uniform.

Perreault’s electrifying game, Barasso’s Cup winning ability and progressing beyond a Myers’ like rookie season.

Duffer and Marty made a funny reference to the Queen’s Gambit chess series on yesterday’s podcast. She lays in bed at night and plays chess on the ceiling. They said DG does the same but with line combinations. It will be interesting to see what he tries in the pre season in order to find chemistry.

Coyotes claim to have their best ticket revenue season ever. Ticket prices are above league average and they have sold quite a few. The new formula, smaller rink and higher prices. Bettman must be proud.

Giving him the same AAV as Tkachuk would’ve been a good move politically. Stutzle will probably produce more, but Tkachuk is the heart and soul of the team as well as a productive player. Good deal for Stutzle, he will still be near his prime when he hits UFA, not a 31 year old who magically pulls one more good season out of his hat to get another big deal.

I would add Clague in that battle, he has NHL experience.

Scrub! I’ll have you know I was on the second line of my house league midget team in 1980.

I am not expecting him to make the team this year. Kulich does have a vibe similar to JJP, where he was a “steal” according to their draft board, he has played pro vs men for a season, he has done very well vs international peers and has a lot of confidence. I think he has a great camp and gets accolades from KA saying he was close to making it but needs to hone his skills on NA ice, learn the defensive side of the game and let the team get to know him and see where he may slot in down the road. If he performs well in the AHL he may get a game near the end of the year.

I’ve travelled it a few times by vehicle or RV and it is beautiful. If any golfers are making the trip, 3 of the top 10 courses in Canada are on this route.

Miller’s best previous season was 72 pts. Jumping up to 99pts at age 29 is not the norm but he was hitting UFA so there is that. I doubt he gets that number again.

Health is the big thing this year. I think he is capable of 50 points in a top 9 role. I see him as the 2C but DG may want to balance the lines, where Casey may play wing. He will get some PP time, probably on the second unit. Improved play from him could cement a top six spot.

Coach DG was thinking outside of the box when he moved TT to centre. He had played there before but it had been a while and not at the pro level. Dahlin played RD in Sweden and said he likes it there. DG may put on his thinking cap and devise ways of making this advantageous for Rasmus. If DG wants to play Dahlin, Samuelsson and Power as 3 of his top 4, one of them needs to play RHD. I would rather have those 3 eat up 70-80 minutes of the 120 than having Mule on the third pairing, getting 15 minutes.

Not Sabres related but Chicago won three Cups with Toews as a 1C. He brought more to the table than points but he was never a big point producer. Kane, Hossa and Sharp rounded out a good forward group but those teams never boasted tons of skill down the middle. Dave Bolland, Marcus Kruger, 34 year old Brad Richards, Micnal Handzus, Colin Fraser and John Madden all took turns as 2-3 Cs during those runs. I think the Sabres C spine will be better than that shortly. They need the goaltending to take a big jump and a few of the forwards to mature into what they can be. The D should be able to match up with anyone in a few years.

It’s nice to see he has the skill level to play in the KHL. Fourth line there usually means around 5 minutes unfortunately. 40 goals in the MHL so he needs to move up, he may end up in the VHL.

The Sabres have had to go 5-6 goalies deep in the last few years. I am not sure about the numbers but it seems like other teams have had that many goalie injuries too.

I know I won’t enjoy the story but I read it anyway to find out a new way how to get under Leaf’s fans’ skin. This guy talks about the Sabres potential cap problems. Pot, meet kettle.