Curt

My mistake. So...... Who was awesome? Who had a stick up their butt?

Said he’s there for physicals on Saturday.

Yeah, why would an AHL team without any defenseman signed want to bring in a former AHL all star defenseman? F that guy.

Interesting, I haven’t really seen him described as extremely aggressive in the neutral or offensive zone. You have any reports that you can share with me? I don’t know if he should be described as a stay at home defenseman, but from everything I’ve seen I would definitely say that he is described as defense first. He has some offensive tools but they are raw. Maybe he could end up like a Samuelsson where we would say that he is a shutdown guy, but you see him get down below the goal line in the offensive zone a couple times a game.

Bloom can not be in the AHL next season. He isn’t old enough.

I don’t think Dell will be back under any circumstances. They were hoping he could be an NHL backup, and I think they feel he came into camp out of shape. I believe that they were very disappointed in him. Then he did that really stupid thing that got him suspended. He still has outstanding NHL suspension that he needs to serve before he can play in an NHL game.

In a similar vein: I’m not really in favor of taking a LHD, but Liam Bichsel is someone who really grabs my interest. He is a primarily defensive D, big and physical, but a good skater with somewhat mixed reviews on his offensive upside. 6’5” 215. I saw some video of him playing RD too. He is Swiss but played in Sweden last season. He consistently played regular shifts in the SHL which not many 17 yr olds are able to do, especially defensemen, so he can’t be too terribly raw. There is not that much info out there on this guy but I get a good feeling about him. He is generally ranked in the 25-45 range and I wouldn’t be upset about taking him at 28 or 41. Anyone else have an opinion on this guy?

I don’t think your assumption that the OHL or QMJHL is better than the Swedish junior league is an accurate one. Also, scoring rate in the Swedish leagues is less than in the CHL. Those other players were not “virtually” invisible at the WJC. They were actually invisible, because they were not even invited to be there.

I did not get the impression from the tweet that Rosen expects to do waltz into an NHL spot. I didn’t interpret it as anything approaching arrogance. He is going to camp, and the best players from camp make the Sabres. That’s what he is competing for. Also, this isn’t even anything that Rosen himself or his representatives said.

Savoie, Gauthier, Lekkerimaki, all 3 probably end up on the wing. Savoie is the only one who plays C full time so far. Gauthier has played both this season. Lekkerimaki is a W. Im on board with the Kasper love. McGroarty too, at 16. I think Kulich almost surely goes before 28.

For me, I think Nazar, Lekkerimaki, Ohgren, and Miroshnichenko are the next forwards with the highest offensive upsides.

Interviews and heights/weights. Sometimes you want to know if that guy listed as 5’10” is 5’10.25” or actually 5’8.75”, and you can see who has put on weight. The tests have some use in that you might get a glimpse of how close a guy is to being ready to play against men, but it definitely can be over rated.

His scoring against other kids is not pedestrian. He is as close to the league leading pace as any of those other prospects are and as you said, the sample size is so small that quibbling over tenths of points per game is absolutely useless. The fact is that he has been very productive against players his age.

The character stuff is all going to depend on what they are hearing about him from sources and what his interviews are like. That has the potential to take him off the board completely. But if they feel ok about Lambert the person, I still wouldn’t take him at 16 for hockey reasons. He can really skate and handle the puck, but he hasn’t been able to turn that into productive play against men and a lot of people think it’s because he doesn’t think the game at a high level. I’m not sure how much you can improve that. At 16 I would much rather take a chance on Miroshnichenko’s health issues, which are said to be progressing well.

What exactly are you basing this on? Rosen has played against men for much of the past 2 seasons. None of those other players have. When Rosen has played in junior leagues, he has always produced.

I would not take Lambert so high and I doubt any other team would. I also would not want the Sabres to take a LD in the top half of the 1st. I think they should focus on trying to find a couple forwards with skill and grit at #9 and #16 (Savoie, Gauthier, Kemell, Ohgren, McGroarty, Kasper, Miroshnichenko). Then at #28 and #41 look for RD (Cheasly, Luneau, Warren) and home run swings at forward (Lambert, Trikozov, Perevalov, Beck, Snuggerud, Firkus, Howard, Goyette, Gaucher, Schaefer)

I didn’t realize that this thing was this week. Is our own @Brawndo there as an on site corespondent this year?

If the offer sheet is for less than $4.1M then they don’t need their 3rd for it. Compensation for that is a 2nd.

If PLD goes to another team this offseason, that would make it 3 teams in 3 seasons.

I think that he made that exact transition in the 2021-22 season. I’m not sure though, as I don’t watch NJ closely.

Well, I think his brother would put a good word in. A 3 year deal would be ages 33-35 for PK. That’s a little old but not terrible. Im not sure how management would feel his personality might fit in the room. That’s not a knock on him, I think he is great, but he has a big personality and on a young team where they are trying to empower young leaders to emerge, would there be too many young guys looking to him instead of looking inside themselves and to each other? I don’t know the answer to that. He also is not the prototypical PK/defense first guy I’m looking for to fill that RD hole. On the other hand, I think he could be great as a mentor for our young skilled defenseman. He has played that role at an extremely high level, and I’m sure he could help them improve. Mixed bag. I’d be ok with it. If he is the best guy you can get, I’d take it.

Not to my knowledge. Nemec is a smooth skating, puck moving maestro who put up record breaking offensive production for a player his age in his league. Not big but not small, not bad defensively, but not too physical. Jirecek is bigger, stronger, meaner, and more raw. He can be nasty to play against, but is also a good skater. He is a 2-way defenseman who gets involved offensively but his game isn’t as polished as Nemec’s. I’ve seen people say that Jirecek actually has a higher upside but will take some time to reach it, as most large defensemen do. Nemec looks like a super safe bet to be a top 4 defenseman, who can also QB your PP though. Just my impression from everything I’ve seen.

I don’t watch F1. This makes me feel validated. Zing!

Yeah, it’s basically going to be the same show in a different setting. You probably just don’t like it. I don’t know what’s wrong with you, but it’s ok.