GASabresIUFAN

https://theathletic.com/4778405/2023/08/21/nhl-pipeline-rankings-2023-prospects/ The Athletics’ Pronman has begun his pipeline rankings. The list has 25-32 so far comprised of perennial playoff teams and the NYI. 25. Colorado Avalanche 26. Vegas Golden Knights 27. Toronto Maple Leafs 28. Edmonton Oilers 29. Pittsburgh Penguins 30. New York Islanders 31. Tampa Bay Lightning 32. Boston Bruins

More good Sabres related news. My best to Gilbert and his family.

Kowal, a former 2nd rd pick of the Sabres, played 22 NHL regular season games in his career all with the Sabres from 1976 to 1978. I remember him well as he was the first gigantic player I remember watching. He was 6'5" but looked taller on the ice. RIP Joe. https://www.bladeofsteel.com/Former-Buffalo-Sabres-forward-passes-away-at-67-years-old-259687

Lol. So you are saying KA put Bush’s needs ahead of those of the franchise he runs? The 7th D spot is an important role on a contending team. Odds are that the 7th D will probably play 3/4 of the season or more. The trade also diminished the camp competition for the 6th slot. My guess is Bush would rather play for a contender and compete for a starters job here than be banished to a cellar dweller.

He lost confidence in all of Bush, Clague, Bryson, and Stillman, but Clague and Bush were the only ones over the course of the season who played decent hockey at points. In truth, they all stink, but IMHO Bush was the least bad of the four and at least he adds some physical attributes.

Not unless they bring in someone. Not sure why they would add a forward when the issues for the team are stopping the other team from scoring. If they dumped Bush to add another top-flight D or a legit partner for Levi, I'm all for it, but trading away Bush while keeping (so far) Stillman and Bryson doesn't make much sense.

I don’t think they are being undervalued. The fans here understand that players get injured and after last season, when we played 10 D a minimum of 17 games, we need the best depth we can get.

Mostly true, but is the depth on the roster better or worse without him? Are Stillman and Bryson better players? I think most would agree they aren't better players. In fact, IMHO they are considerably worse. Their just cheaper and when Clague beats one or both out in camp, KA will be dumping one or both of them also. KA should have dumped Stillman (another bad trade) and Bryson and made our 7/8 Bush and Clague.

I did the French Connection, 7, 11, 14, with Housley (6), Mike Ramsey (23) and Hasek (39). Sabres on Puckduko today.

There were easier and frankly smarter ways to reduce the logjam on D to get us to 23 players without trading away our 6th or 7th best defender, such as getting rid of Bryson and waiving Clague back to Rochester. Instead, he traded away our highest salaried depth D and kept lesser players with lesser salaries. You can argue that Bush had the most trade value of the depth D, but the goal this season, I thought, was to field the best possible team, not to save a few bucks.

They have Filip Cedarqvist listed twice.

So you’re saying it’s the Sabres being cheap? KA saving a few $ vs what’s best for the team as they try to turn the corner. PS: KA hasn't been within 5 miles of the cap since year 1 and the subsequent teardown, but we have seen him make moves to avoid spending money.

I don't particularly like this move. It now makes the depth after the top 6, Stillman (who is lousy), Bryson (who is worse), and Clague who is marginally better than the other 2. There has to be more going on. This looks like a cap dump of a decent 3rd pairing D for a team that already has $ 6 mill plus in cap room. Unless KA is planning on bringing in a bigger $ contract like Pesce or Hellebuyck, this does not look like a positive move for this coming season.

....and then there were 9 NHL D. Hopefully this is a sign that something bigger is brewing, like a goalie.

Saw this on the Athletic and thought it was a fun exercise. Put together a 6-player unit for the Sabres with 1C, 2W, 2D, and 1G whose jersey numbers equal exactly 100. You can use any jersey the player wore as a Sabre. For example Schoenfeld wore 6 and 13 during his time in Buffalo. You can use either number.

I had hoped that they would turn this franchise around to give him one more night in the booth when it really counted. I honor of RJ, Adams, Grantato, and Pegula, do everything in your power to make this coming season a great one in honor of the greatest play-by-play guy in hockey history.

😞 😞

Interesting question. I think we retain his rights as long as we have extended him a contract offer, but honestly, I'm not sure. I did find this article. https://www.nhl.com/flyers/news/meltzers-411-drafting-rights--philadelphia-flyers/c-307757112

Ok. That will make @dudacek happy as well. 😉 Two questions: When (if?) do you see him coming to NA? What’s his offensive ceiling? He has 2 years left on his KHL contract and Fairburn projects him as a 3rd or 4th line player in the NHL. I think that’s a lower ceiling then I’d give Neuchev or Wahlberg. That is not to say that we don’t need smart hardworking edgy forwards, we do, but I think the lower ceiling and uncertainty of his arrival in NA limit him in most rankings (including mine). All that said, After our top 5 players plus Johnson and Novikov, I think people can make a case for the following forwards in any order - Neuchev, Poltapov, Wahlberg, Nadeau and Kisakov. I also like Kozak and can see him coming on this season with a bigger role for the Amerks. I do however think Rosen, because of his skating and shot make him a better prospect than Poltapov. Also he is here and if he continues to progress, he could be competing for an NHL roster spot as early as 2024-25.

A couple of things from the Athletic https://theathletic.com/4782966/2023/08/17/sabres-prospects-isak-rosen-nikita-novikov/ Fairburns Prospects 6-10 6. Rosen - Skating and Shot NHL level. Still needs to add strength 7. Novikov - Smooth skater and puck handler for a player 6'4" 8. Johnson - One of the best skaters at D camp the last 2 years. 9. Poltapov - plays a different style than other Sabres forward prospects. Still years from the NHL 10. Wahlberg - "Talented, fast, very skilled around the net. A hard player." Has size as well at 6'3". https://theathletic.com/4775018/2023/08/17/nhl-prospects-jan-mysak-tyler-kleven/ Players Wheeler over or under-ranked their draft year. Krebs made the list as an over-rated player. I agree with this assessment.

2006-2009

Because he was a Amerks goalie who put up UPL type numbers in the A and therefore never earned a call up.

How do we define “star”? Is it someone in the running for a major award like TNT and Dahlin were last year? Is it a perennial 30 + goal scorer like Skinner? Is it a multi time all-star game participant? Or is it more subjective? Are Tuch and Cozens now “stars” ? For me the guys who compete annually for the major awards are the superstars of the NHL, Makar, McKinnon, Matthews, McDavid, etc…. For forwards it seems to me that pt a game players and guys you can pencil in annually for 30+ goals are stars. Defense and goaltending are more subjective. To answer the question, Levi, Power and Benson have the highest ceilings that could put them in “star” category. I can see Levi having a Saros type upside. Power is unique because of his size and skill level. I can see him as a 50-60 pts D in his prime who plays both ways at an elite level eating 25 minutes a night. Benson should be one a pt a game player in the NHL.

I see no reason why Kulich can't play 3rd line center. Also, Mitts and Krebs are still in the picture, and if Krebs breaks out as the 3rd line center this year, the road to the NHL gets even harder for Östlund. Go back and look at the ROR deal. Stl balked at Thomas and Kyrou and Jbot settled on Thompson. This happens all the time. If Hellebuyck was more than a rental the price would go up, but he is only a rental at this stage. Asking KA for any of the top 3 is a non-starter just as it was for Chychrun. It's also not like Östlund is garbage. He is the 5th best prospect in arguably the deepest prospect pool in the NHL. He is a mid 1st rd pick and had a fine year in Sweden. On most teams, he'd be their 1st or 2nd best prospect.

I said in my post he is a tradeable asset in the future. That said, we all know that many of the forward stockpiled in our pipeline won't make the NHL and of those that make the NHL, some won't ever suit up for the Sabres. There are plenty of examples just from recent history from Hagel to Compher to Armia to Lemieux. So here is a scenario that could very easily play out a year from now. Clifton doesn't work playing 20 minutes a night and Joki struggles in that role again. R Johnson looks NHL ready, but also isn't a 2nd pairing fit. What is KA to do at that point? Like Stl going after ROR, KA is going to make to move a prime asset to fill the top 4 D hole in his roster. What prospects are you making available in trade? Stl protected Thomas and Kyrou, but agreed to move Thompson. So now you are in KA's shoes, which prospect are you making available? The answers as of today are Östlund and Rosen, with Benson, Savoie, and Kulich off the table. Let's even move the timetable up a year. What if Wpg comes to KA and says we'll take a good prospect, UPL, and a 2nd for Hellebuyck? Would you make the deal with Östlund? I would.