Curt

But why do you think that Levi is especially at risk of getting run, and/or being adversely affected by being run? Do you have any examples of goalies who specifically could not make it in the NHL because they could not take being run?

No. He isn’t missing any.

Hey @Taro T, Why do you think that Levi’s biggest question mark is whether he can stand up to getting run? I’d say whether he can stop the puck at the pro level is a much bigger issue. Do you have any examples of small goalies who couldn’t make it in the NHL specifically because they were getting run? As far as just standard durability against injury/fatigue, do small goalies wear down faster than large ones? I wouldn’t think so. Big guys going up-down up-down must be hard on the knees/hips.

If he is actually not putting forth a good defensive effort, then I absolutely would not want him. This team needs to grow a proper mindset. Adding a player who does not contribute to that does not interest me.

Just asking because of how you phrased this. Did you watch/listen to Tuch’s introductory presser, his interview with Marty and Duff on the instigators, or his interview with Peters and Rivet on their Afterthe Whistle podcast? If you have not, you should. He comes across as completely genuine and a true fan of the Sabres. I’m not sure he could fake that.

Name one time that the NHL held a re-Draft.

But there has never been an NHL re-Draft in which a sub-6’2” goalie was not taken in the first round.

Am I missing a joke or are you confused? This guy......... https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=155332

What a legend.

Bergevin’s seat has been warm for years it seems. Feels like over the past 3-4 years he has done just well enough to keep his job multiple times. The most interesting thing to me is that they didn’t go with a francophone.

I honestly do not know.

UPL was not bad in the ECHL. He has played a total of 37 AHL games. Goalies take time.

I think he has adjusted the way he uses his shot. Seems he used to like to pull back and let it rip as hard as he could, generally missing the net. Now it seems like he more often tries to get a shot off quickly, and doing that it still has more than enough zip on it, and it actually gets on net too.

I get that. What I don’t get is the connection between the late, great Macho Man Randy Savage and the Rochester American hockey team.

Laaksonen is mostly an offensive defenseman. Who knows if he will make the Sabres next season. He could, but it probably depends on if they bring in any RD in the offseason. Dahlin and Jokiharju will be in their 5th NHL seasons next year, I don’t think we will really be able to call them inexperienced any longer. Overall it will definitely be a young group though. I hope they have a couple Pysyk type of steady veterans still on the blue line.

I highly doubt you will see a direct LHD for RHD prospect trade. 1) because that can be hard to find such a specific trade partner who has too many RHD prospects, not enough LHD prospects, and also likes whoever you are trying to trade a lot. 2) because NHL GMs are chickens and don’t want to open themselves up to criticism if they “lose” that trade.

What the heck is a Savage of the Game? Whatever it is, I love it.

He is playing pretty well at Minnesota. Would be very surprised if jumps to being a full time NHL player next season though. He likely signs with Sabres after this season, then plays a year in Rochester. Then we’ll know more what we have. Probably there isn’t as much discussion about him because there are several young LHD o head of him on the depth chart. Dahlin, Bryson, Samuelsson, Power, Johnson

He definitely is a shoot first/scoring C rather than a playmaking C. Your last point is worth noting. When Adams gave Thompson that 3 year contract, not everyone thought it was a good move. Now it’s looking quite shrewd. Adams has shown that he is willing to make bets on players that he believes in. Let’s hope that most of them turn out like this one has so far.

I know it’s not sustainable to score 5 goals in 4 games, or even to score 10 in the first 20, but this is really something, right? These haven’t been lucky goals. It seems that Tage has added a lot of finish to his game.

His season, split between J20 and SHL, as well as SHL production was very typical of how Swedish prospects are handled at 17-18, even the very good ones. They just are not given anything more than 5-8 min per game, 4th line roles, with very few exceptions. Its true that Sabres drafted him a little higher than he was publicly ranked. Im just saying that when evaluating prospects, if you are just looking at points production, you are going to be way off base. Just curious, who did you want them to take in that spot?

Don’t know where you got the rankings from, and I’m not going to look up each one, but I know that at least your McKenzie/TSN ranking is wrong. He was 18th in the final rankings. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.tsn.ca/bob-mckenzie-s-2021-final-draft-rankings-1.1669727%3ftsn-amp

Seems that he has played at least some C. Your point remains though. I would expect/hope at least one 1st round C is taken in the 2022 draft, maybe 2 in their first 4 picks.

I think that this method of prospect analysis is extremely superficial. You are excluding a lot of nuance, as well as any actual scouting information.

I don’t think it was much of a reach. Bob McKenzie’s final board had him at 18. What evidence of offensive upside would you hope to see? I don’t understand what you mean by your last sentence.