Derrico

There is absolutely no proof of this being remotely true.

Very true. Anybody read the book freakenomics? The month you are born does have an impact on development from an early age. It's especially the undersized guys that fall under the radar.

Am I the last Ullmark fan left? Guy has looked pretty good as a Sabre when called up and is coming off an AHL all Star season. He was drafted and developed and appears to be progressing nicely. What am I missing?

Bad attitude and can't play D. He probably won't be there at 32 but even if he is I would pass.

Yes please to priority 1 and 5 in particular.

If Carlson goes from the Caps to Buffalo then it's because we severely overpaid. I don't know how we can afford this. It's true we would be losing Risto's contract but in theory the guy coming back at forward would likely have a decent cap hit.

Pi with another bold prediction. I think upgrading the wingers and finding a goalie have to be the top 2. For the record, I'm cool with Ullmark splitting time with a vet as a transition year. I don't need JBOTT to trade for one.

He's getting up there in age now but I've always loved Grabner's game. Assuming he still has that speed left, he would be a very nice depth signing on a short term contract.

That right there will probably be the second biggest factor for his point total. I really wonder what Phil does with the lineup. Casey tends to play the half wall and likes to QB the pp in a very similar way to Eichel. So I could easily see him taking Eichel's spot on the PP2. Then again, kid has unreal vision so maybe Phil loads him on that top unit and tries to get them back to #1 in the NHL again.

Me too. When the season ended I was ready to make some big changes and ROR is about the biggest tradable asset they have. But now that time has passed and the dust has settled, it would be a huge loss moving him. It had been years since we have had this centre depth. All I've heard is Noah Hanifan has been rather disappointing thus far in his career no?

This all sounds right. But in another world, I'm imagining Casey-ROR-Sam as line and Casey looking spectacular playing with two guys that have hockey sense to match him. He's fighting with Svechnikov and Dahlin for the Calder putting up 70 points. Other teams cannot believe this guy fell to 8th overall because he couldn't do a single pull-up (I know there were other concerns as well).

I'm not ready/willing to trade those guys away. But I'm definitely not ready to rely on those as top 9 players either. I agreed with you on Erod. He's the one top 9 (3rd line) guy you listed and I agreed with you. I'm considering the second point. I just think it's a giant leap to look at the list of guys you had and expect atleast 3 guys to basically turn into top 6/9 players. The lineup you have listed there looks brutal. I don't know the answer other than I would describe our wingers as pretty close to hopeless.

You named one top 6. Another a top 6 if healthy (which he hasn't been and isn't getting any younger). Plus one top 9. That's a hopeless situation my friend. Bailey: Isn't consistent and hasn't shown any signs of being a top 6 Baptiste: I think he's a great 4th line guy Smith: Prove it Olofsson: Same as above Wilson: Really should be 4th line, maybe 3rd O'Regan: Really prove it Nylander: Same as above That whole list is riddled with question marks and disappointments

I think this will come down to where he plays. If he's third line C then I think 30 points is a good benchmark. I would expect Dahlin will end up with more points in our rookie battle. If he ends up as a top 6 winger then he's either with Jack, or more likely Sam and ROR. I wouldn't be surprised he puts up 45 - 50 in this scenario.

If Sam is healthy most of the year I need 60 points from him.

fixed.

I could be wrong on this. But didn't Sam play centre his whole career prior to the NHL? I thought Casey was playing wing some of the year last season. I'll have to do some more digging on that. Sam always seemed to be listed as a C in player profiles leading up to the draft. Casey was C/LW if I remember correctly.

Meh, I'm not saying he does today. I'm just saying that would be a fun line to watch. I'm also saying we should also be open to him playing some time at wing. Sam is a way more natural centre than Mitts is but it didn't work out for Sam. I obviously hope it does for Casey. It probably is the best move to have him as 3C. But I want to enjoy watching this team play. Having Casey wasting away with Bailey and Wilson is not very fun.

Maybe. I wouldn't mind seeing him play half the season on wing to get his confidence up first. Can you imagine a Sam, ROR, Casey second line?

Great article and thanks for posting. So the crux of explaining Reinhart's change in production is he played more minutes with better players the second half of the year as the first. Ofcourse that made a huge difference. This is what worries me about Casey Mittlestadt. Do we start him at wing or 3rd line Centre? If it's Centre we don't even have 3 top 6 wingers let alone 9. His stats WILL reflect this. So don't everyone jump off a bridge if his stats aren't huge come year 1.

Calgary ain't trading Gaudreau. He put up over a point a game and is 24 years old. Next highest Flame scored 20 points less than him. Not gonna happen.

The last two straight years the team picking first went on to make the playoffs the next season. That includes Toronto two years ago who were DFL. I'm not betting it, but it still wouldn't shock me if the Sabres make it this coming year. How did the leafs do it? They got lucky having the first pick in a year that was suppose to have a really good player. Check. They added two very high end prospects (Nylander and Marner) for their rookie seasons. We have one (Mitts). But we also have Jack which is a wayyyyyy better player than they had on their roster. They had a high pick from a couple of years ago break out (Kadri). We could have that in Sam. Their D was/arguably still is a trainwreck similar to ours. Big difference is Anderson is a competent goalie they traded for near the draft. We need a goalie but I really don't think we're that far away from the playoffs.

Or he really is a locker room cancer. I don't think a competent GM can decide that with two of the highest rated prospects outside of the NHL ready to step in the lineup and one of the best young ones already here. For what it's worth I really want them to keep ROR. Unless there are things going on behind closed doors in which I say get the best return that will help us today.

Boqvist has been ranked criminally low. If he drops out of the top 6 some team is going to be very very lucky.

Completely agree. However, we may start finding out soon if we have hit on some 2nd/3rd rounders this coming year. Guhle will likely be on the Sabres and I've very interested to find out how Asplund, Borgen and Pu look in Roch. Ofcourse there are no guarentees but those guys (maybe add in an Oloffson from a few drafts ago) and there is some potential in that group.