woods-racer

"Anderson is the ideal mentor for Luukkonen. Neither adheres to a strict butterfly style. Luukkonen has one glaring weakness that Anderson can help address: tracking the puck behind the net. There's also the mental grind of an 82-game season and how to navigate the obsessive routines necessary to prepare. It also helps that Buffalo has goalie coach Mike Bales, whose guidance helped the Penguins' goalies win back-to-back Stanley Cups in 2016 and 2017." "I think there’s a good opportunity there to kind of share some wisdom with the group that’s there," Anderson said. "I feel like I can still kind of give back to the game, give back to the organization, the guys there – share my knowledge and still compete." Full Buffalo News article here well written by Lance Lysowski. https://buffalonews.com/sports/sabres/sabres-goalie-craig-anderson-could-be-an-ideal-mentor-for-ukko-pekka-luukkonen/article_e3db2e64-f62e-11eb-9298-fba24ca67994.html Anderson knows why he is here. KA and goalie coach Mike Bales expect Anderson to be an on ice coach to all their young net minders. Veteran leadership with hopefully a few could games in him but more importantly a goalie mentor.

What the heck is with you two? This is the internet, no civility is allowed. As the self appointed SS stats recorder I am giving these posts solid F's. Your fancy stats are on the line boys....

I wish I was hitting par. You've got better game than me.

The first thing I think of when they want this kind of hockey is lack of skill. A team doesn't need the most skilled players to be competitive in this set up. Not saying their not wanting skill with it, but a bunch of Matt Ellis hockey players on your team is what I am picturing for the next year or two. It will get them competing on a nightly basis and have a good work ethic environment.

I am. You're getting a C- for that post. It didn't bring anything positive to the board and lacked comedic value.😁

Not giving up draft picks for short term ( if any) relieve seems different than last time. I still believe we had no depth in our farm system and it was the ultimate killer of a very badly planned tank. Heck, 3/4 of our farm system from 14-15 are UFA right now and even we don't want them. If Girgensens and Okoposo are our leaders from the darkness I will for ever admire them. Let's not kid ourselves that leadership is coming here to help us out of this. It will happen from within.

Coyotes signed Carter Hutton. The Sabres have some very good tank competition if that is their plan.

There where several years we where ranked there, we are ranked as an *A* draft year this year also, then reality sets in. I'm not saying they have drafted bad this year, but *experts* giving their predictions for 18 year old's is more fluff than substance to say the least. Who here believes Liger is any better/worse of an expert? Quite honestly I believe him to be more truthful and less BS-full than them. We haven't had the front office and coaching staff to make those strengths on paper make a dent in the NHL. If we did Jack and Sam wouldn't have been so surrounded by players that couldn't help this team win. Not only where the Sabres bad at drafting they where horrible at developing. It's why where are here now. There's no one person or thing about the tank that was bad, it was that they where bad at everything and one or two *generational players* wasn't going to change that. Darcy knew how bad it was, how bad it could get. Welcome to hell.

So he only drafted defensemen Mr. Smarty pants? KA drafted 2 defensemen then *High motor, feisty, skilled* as Liger puts it. Did you see that in JBotts in any way, shape or form? Edit: JBots and KA have one drafting trait they share, they love to be able to get kids that get to brew a few years before they get their ELCs.

Would you sum up JBotts as BPA by some sort of ranking metrics? He didn't seem to have a certain player that he was after to me.

We have had a very bad farm team system since 2005-06. This stretch of bad has pre-dated the Pegula's and wasn't till JBotts that it started to turn around. The Americans have made the playoff 7 times since 05-06 and when they did they never got by the first round. There was no basic support or coaching system that taught players how to be NHL ready. The Americs weren't even considered part of the solution till JBotts. When the young *crop* came up and played well for the Sabres last year we finally got to see how a proper team works their farm teams. We've never had that in recent history, that's why we have never seen it till now. The cupboards had some high draft picks sure, but no players ready to play. That's a monumental difference. I've read on how long Pittsburgh prepared for Mario when they tanked. They had one of the deepest and oldest farm teams when he got drafted. The Sabres had no clue.

That is really the difference between the tank and the *reset* we have now. They actually have a competitive farm team with a lot more talent to come in the next 3 years. When we got Jack and Sam we had nothing much in Rochester. The tank was totally miss-managed and doomed to fail under the management teams that where here. The biggest failure has been the 10 plus years of not restocking the farm team with decent players prior to the tank.

I played the lottery today. I think me and this kid have the same chance.

I must have read 5 articles on the rules for expansion draft. I have yet to see anything written about waivers. Is there an NHL version that is out that lists all the rules that I missed?

It will live in infamy. Just like PA's good goal posts. We never forget.

So we didn't lose much, and it won't take much to get him back if we want him. Took six pages in a thread to get to this point.

How much is he worth?

Even with that they still don't lose. They don't win anything, but it's a low cost/low reward scenario. We didn't have much to offer, it shouldn't cost much to get it back.

Seattle is in a no lose situation. If he's better than expected and makes the roster they win. If someone else surprises them on defense and Borgen is the odd man out they call Buffalo and ask if they want him back for a 3rd, if Buffalo says sure but for a fourth, Seattle wins.

The Kraken will have a better team that 2/3rds of NHL teams unless they totally mess this up. Fair or unfair? Pay 650 million to buy in at it seems fair to me to be given this chance.

From the late great Red Fox... Not just your a**, but your a** whole.

Covid makes it an even bigger crap shoot as we can't evaluate like normal with less talent than most years. There is no cut and clear #1. You just said it. It's a crap shoot with out the talent.

Doesn't matter who the Sabres pick half of SS will be upset. This draft has no standouts as they are all more or less a crap shoot. I'm assuming they will take one of Power, Eklund, Beniers. I don't care which one it is, none of them would be considered in the top 5 next year.

Need to get our protection list in by the 17th. It's happening as we speak.

If they decide to protect someone other that Ulmark that would be very telling of their contract talks.