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Carney is the 12th and the last is the great Sean O’Donnell. He had an excellent career with over 1200 games played. He was drafted in the 6th rd (pick 123) in 1991. Tyler Myers might make it this season. He is 82 games short of 1000.

He did. He is also the latest Sabres pick (pick 156) to reach 1000 games. The 2 hard ones are left.

I put the below previously in the defense thread, but it probably belongs here. In this century how many goalies have played 40 or more games at age 21? 5 since 2000. https://www.quanthockey.com/nhl/player-age/21-year-old-nhl-goalies.html 1. Steve Mason - 58 games - 3.05, .901 2. Carey Price - 52 games - 2.83, .906 3. MAF - 50 games - 3.25, .898 4. Luongo - 47 games - 2.44, .920 5. Hart - 43 games - 2.42, .914 6. Korpisalo - 31 games - 2.60, .920 7. Ward - 28 games - 3.68, .882 So are we asking Levi to give us 50 quality games? Given these stats, is that a reasonable expectation? I think 40-45 is much more reasonable. So if Levi is only going to play 50% of the games, do you trust the Swiss Cheese boys with the other 40+?

3 to go. One easy and 2 hard.

So far so good, but it gets harder from here. 9 down 4 to go. 3 of these four may be hard to guess. Turgeon, Johansson, Perreault, Andreychuk, Housley, Ramsey, Vanek, Pominville and Ramsay Here are some near misses! McNabb, Mogilny, and Fogolin, Sarich and McKegney

In this century how many goalies have played 40 or more games at age 21? 5 since 2000. https://www.quanthockey.com/nhl/player-age/21-year-old-nhl-goalies.html 1. Steve Mason - 58 games - 3.05, .901 2. Carey Price - 52 games - 2.83, .906 3. MAF - 50 games - 3.25, .898 4. Luongo - 47 games - 2.44, .920 5. Hart - 43 games - 2.42, .914 6. Korpisalo - 31 games - 2.60, .920 7. Ward - 28 games - 3.68, .882 So are we asking Levi to give us 50 quality games? Given these stats, is that a reasonable expectation? I think 40-45 is much more reasonable. So if Levi is only going to play 50% of the games, do you trust the Swiss Cheese boys with the other 40+?

If you up the offer beyond 4.29, we'd owe Boston a 1st and 3rd.

I do. 13 and Alex is not one of them. He stopped at 990. He does have 1000 if you count playoffs.

How many Sabres draftees have played 1000 or more NHL regular season games. Who played the most? Who played the most with the Sabres? Who was the latest draft pick to reach 1000 games (by pick no.)

Jarrett Stoll and Erin Andrews.

MAF’s number were better than I thought last year. He certainly knows about winning a Cup and is known as a good lockerroom guy.

Great post. @RochesterExpat One of great things about KA’s work this summer is that despite being 10 deep in Buffalo right now, there is literally no one blocking either Johnson or Novikov’s path to Buffalo in a year. Outside the top 4 all the other 6 guys are on one year contracts. The setup gives them the kids freedom to develop properly in the A and not be rushed to the NHL while also creating an NHL opportunity in a year if they prove ready.

I just watched the Johnson and Clifton videos and a couple of things stood out. From Clifton: How much DG helped his development with the USNTDP. He said DG taught him more in a month than he ever learned previously. He also said how much Monte helped his confidence and allowed him to open his offensive game. However the biggest takeaway way his PT with Lindholm and playing 22 minutes a night. I’d love to see the analytics on this pairing, but it has to be part of the basis of their confidence he can play with Power or even Dahlin. Lindholm had 10g and 53 pts last year. He’s also 6’4 215. From Johnson: The change to a more defensive mind set was the standout point. After hearing both guys talk about coaching to a certain extent, I wonder how much are these guys going to be debriefed by DG and KA about what made them successful with their old teams and are those concept DG might employ here? For example, what did the coaches do to get McKinnon to buy in to back checking and a better D structure? What specifically did Monte do to open Clifton puck moving abilities? What system does Monte employ that allowed Boston to be an NHL leader in GF and the leader in goal prevention? Can those principals be employed in Buffalo?

Ah, the trades you don’t make.

The limit for a 2nd is 4.29 per season. Bos is currently 6.2 under the cap with 20 players under contract. Swayman and Frederic are their RFAs. No word on Bergeron or Krejci returning. Their 3rd goalie is Bussi (25) who had a very solid year in the A last season. Frederic made $1 mill last year, but put up 31 pts (17g) last season. He’ll get a decent raise as well. I think they’d match a 2 year 4.29 per season offer, but it still may be worth the effort.

Once we see them in Rochester, we'll get a much better idea of their preparedness. My guess is both are relatively close.

It's expectations and hopium. I hoped for a real upgrade on defense and instead, we acquired Stillman. It was a wasted opportunity. A better upgrade may have gotten us into the playoffs. That's all water under the bridge at this point. I am rapidly learning that KA does not like the prices for the Chychrun and Pesce of the world. He has kicked the tires and came up unwilling to part with key pieces of his pipeline. I get that. He has a young team with a deep pipeline and wants to build from within. At some point, however, the pipeline won't give you what you need and he will have to do what Stl did and go get the missing piece or two even it costs you a Östlund, Rosen. That said, I really like what KA added on defense. Johnson is the type of player, a veteran leader who can still play, that we've needed on the backend for two years. Clifton is not quite the proven 4 Pesce would have been, but I think this is a very reasonable gamble given his progression over the last 5 years. As I've said before, KA is playing moneypuck and hopefully it works. What I don't like is not upgrading the non-Levi goalies. I think this is an opportunity to spend some capital. With a proven goaltender and the D upgrades, this team could be a beast. Without it, it's still possible, but unlikely. With the improved goaltending, the question for the season will be, given that other teams in the East, like Det, upgraded on paper, will just adding defense be enough to get beyond just sneaking into the playoffs? Honestly, I'm not sure.

I asked that in another thread. How much and for how long?

Comparison 74/75 Sabres to 22/23 Sabres. What I remember about the 74/75 team was how big and strong, but offensively capable that D squad was. I didn't realize how young they were. Hajt, Carriere, Fogolin, and Schoenfeld were Sabres draftees. Korab and Guevremont came in trade. 22/23 seems back to the future. This may be the biggest Sabres D group ever, but the size, skating, and roles remind me of the first Cup contender. There are 3 draftees, and 3 UFAs signees. 74/75 Korab 6'3 218 (age 25) - 12+44=56 Guevremont 6'2 202 (23) - 7+25=32 Hajt 6'3 205 (22) - 3+26=29 Carriere 6'1 204 (22) - 1+11=12 Schoenfled 6'2 206 (21) - 1+19=20 Fogolin 6'0 200 (19) - 2+2=4 22/23 (points from last year) Dahlin 6'3 202 (23) - 15+58=73 Power 6'6 218 (21) - 4+31=35 Lyubushkin 6'2 200 (29) - 2+12=14 Samuelsson 6'4 231 (23) - 2+8=10 Johnson 6'4 225 (35) - 0+8=8 Clifton 5'11 190 (28) - 5+18=23

Same for Washington under Trotz.

Interesting to note that the Amerks will have 4 rookie pros in their D group (Savoie, Jandric, Metsa, Johnson), plus NA rookie (Novikov), plus Cecconi and Davies who still qualify as "developmental" (less than 260 pro games) players under AHL rules. Only Prow is considered a vet. That said the 4 rookies have 18 years of college or Jr experience and Novikov has 2 years of experience in the KHL. It's kind of an intriguing group.

I did not like the trade of Bloom for Stillman because I thought then and still think that Stillman was and is a lousy NHL defenseman. KA must have re-thought him as well because he is now down to 8th or possibly 9th on the depth chart depending on how management views Clague who they just re-signed. I thought acquiring Stillman was a waste of an asset and still do. Granted we need another depth-type forward prospect like a hole in the head and Bloom won't be missed (unless he becomes Brandon Hagel 2.0). Now back on topic; Goaltending or lack thereof. When I made the list, it's pretty clear to me that Briere will move Hart at some point this summer or this coming season. Why acquire Petersen when you have Sandstrom and Ersson behind Hart, unless you plan to move Hart to make room for Ersson to play with the more veteran Petersen. Hart is kind of the ideal candidate for me. He is young, but has years of experience already. His numbers are good and he'd benefit from a change of scenery and a competitive team. Buffalo also gets a goalie with 2 years of control. That should be a bridge long enough for Levi to earn the No. 1 job instead of getting it handed to him now because there is no viable alternative. I also think it's worth monitoring how Askarov (NSH) and Wolf (CLG) do in camp. Do they force their way onto the NHL rosters, allowing Nash to trade Saros and Clg to trade Markstrom (he has an NMC) or Vlader?

Here is the goaltending situation across the NHL Ana - Gibson, Dostal (RFA) AZ - Vejmelka, Ingram Bos - Ullmark, Swayman (RFA) Buf - Levi, UPL, Comrie, Tokarski Calg - Markstrom, Vladar & Wolf (Minors) CAR - Andersen, Raanta, Kochetkov Chi - Mrazek, Soderblom, Stauber Colo - Georgiev, Francouz CBJ - Merzlikins, Tarasov DAL - Oettinger, Wedgewood DET - Husso, Reimer, Lyon EDM - Skinner, Campbell FLA - Bobrovsky, Stolarz (Knight - IR) LA - Copley, Talbot, Rittich Minn - Gustavsson (RFA), MAF, Hunter Mon - Allen, Montembeault, (Price-IR) Nash - Saros, Lankinen. Askarov NJD - Vanecek, Schmid NYI - Sorokin, Varlamov NYR - Shesterkin, Quick Ott - Korpisalo, Forsberg-IR PHI - Hart, Petersen, Sandstrom, Ersson PIT - Jarry, DeSmith, Nedjelkovic SJ - Kahkonen, Blackwood Sea - Grubauer, Daccord STL - Binnington, Hofer TB - Vasilevsky TOR - Samsonov (RFA), Woll, Murray VAN - Demko, Martin VGK - Hill, Thomspon, (Lehner-IR), Patera WAS - Kuemper, Lindgren WPG - Hellebuyck, Brossoit I've underlined teams that may be willing to trade a goalie. I've put in bold the goalies I think could be or are on the market. The top goalie prospects according to the Athletic in Feb 23 are Wallstedt (Minn) - Iowa (AHL), Askarov (NSH) - MILW (AHL), Wolf (Calg), Levi (BUF), Cossa (DET) - Toledo (ECHL), Dostal (ANA), Kochetkov (CAR), Schmid (NJD), Ersson (PHI), and Commesso (CHI) - BU (NCAA). I put in italics the top prospects who played in the NHL some last year. 7/10 played at least 1 NHL game last year.

Especially when you look at Rochester. They have 7 D as well. That’s 17D in the top 2 levels of the organization.

I'm not the GM, but I've stated numerous times I'd trade for Helle as a rental. Their price would have to come down to a more reasonable level since we aren't asking for an extension to do the deal. I'd also make a try for Hart. I'd have also offered Andersen 3 years at 4 to see if he'd come.