GASabresIUFAN

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Tage is an exception but there are many others. VO is another who made the team at 24 and is still improving at 27. Rousek like Tage lost a year to injury and is clearly still improving at 23. 22 is just to young a limit. At least he got rid of the even dumber NHL games played rule.

Top 5 not posted yet. Minn, Chi, Det, CBJ, and NJ are the 5 teams not yet posted

FYI: Wheeler’s criteria is 22 & under (Skaters) and 25 & under (goalies). He claims that skaters over 22 are done with the “steep” part of the development curve. Whatever that means. Tage is just one example of why this is a probably incorrect. Physical maturity is a huge piece of the development curve, but I guess you have to have some cut off, but 22 is to young. For example, I still think Rousek (23) is developing. I also wonder why Cederqvist isn’t at least a consideration for the top 15. He seems to be adjusting very well to his first season in NA.

https://theathletic.com/4147000/2023/02/04/sabres-nhl-prospect-pool-rankings-2023/ Highlights from his top 15 1. 2022 1st rd picks are the top 3 - Savoie, Kulich and Östlund. 2. 4 goalies in the top 15. Levi tops at No. 4. Portillo (7), UPL (8), and Leinonen (14). 3. 2 D made the list - Johnson (6), Lindgren (12). The rest are forwards - Rosen (5), Neuchev (9), Kisakov (10), Nadeau (11), Poltapov (13), Marjala (15). Others he considered - Richards, Komarov and Novikov. Surprises - Bloom not even considered. Personally I’d slot him as high as 12. I’d also have Komarov, given the season he is having, a top 15 rating. IMHO Lindgren and Leinonen are not among our top 15. Graduates - Krebs, Power, Quinn and JJP.

He was filming a State Farm commercial.

Have they won a game in these terrible uni's?

Defense wins championships and our defense isn't close yet. I guess Dahlin is going to the All-star game after all.

Not ready for prime time.

Right up there with FIFA, The Olympic Committee and USA Gymnastics.

There has got to be a Yogi-ism in here somewhere. Maybe “NHL players give 110% 100% of the time in 85% of their games”?

We have a team on a back to back. We are rested and healthy. We need two points to be in a playoff spot heading into the all-star break. If this team is going to prove they are ready to be a contender this game is a must win. Sabres 4-2. Skinner (2), Mitts and Samuelsson with the empty net goal to seal the victory.

I thought that was trading McNabb and 2 2nds for Fasching and Delo

He is and he was the only tank fruit player I wanted KA to keep. However, Draisaitl should have been the pick. He was 2nd on my consensus draft board.

They were all bad picks except for VO. Reinhart should have been Draisaitl. Lemieux has been mediocre at best, he didn’t want to be here and we could have numerous better players like Demko or Marcus Pettersson who were drafted soon after. Sorokin and Point were drafted in the 3rd after we took Johansson and Martin. Just awful.

Ultimately he’s just a “Minor” Pekar.

Historically the team who trade acquires the best player usually “wins” the deal. That also depends on when you view the deal. Stl won a Cup by getting ROR, but TnT is now our franchise center. I think the biggest issue with such a trade isn’t the 3 pieces to get Meier, but how his big contract could negatively affect our ability to re-sign guys like JJP and Quinn when their ELCs end.

But to draft kids in the 2nd rounds, like Hurley, who weren’t good enough to even get signed is the definition of poor scouting. Also relative value. Top 10 picks are supposed to be sure fire NHLers. Maybe not stars, but at least everyday players if even in a depth role. Nylander might be the worst pick by the Sabres in this century. Zagrapan and Persson were god awful picks, but Nylander was supposed to be a key piece of TM’s rebuilding of the Sabres. We needed him to be a top 6 forward and instead got a AAAA player from a hockey family who can’t even dominate at the AHL. Truthfully had Nylander been a 3rd rd pick, he’d have never seen the NHL. So while Pekar may have not worked out, his not making it isn’t much of a loss, but the Nylander failure set the rebuild back. We were lucky that Jbot was able to turn TM’s failure into Jokiharju, who while not a star is at least a capable defenseman. PS Persson was signed and played 171 games in the AHL scoring 8g 25a. Karabacek is still playing in the Czech league and according to Hockeydb has 0 pts in 33 games this season.

Does that make the NBA a 50% league. They don’t seem to take it seriously until the playoffs.

The goal for the Sabres going forward is to be a buyer at the deadline. KA won’t acquire him unless an extension is already agreed upon.

He won’t be. His cap hit is to high for teams to fit under their cap. Hard for Van to get their asking price if so few teams can afford his cap hit. Most deals like this happen in the summer.

nah. Grigorenko (12th overall) at least played 249 NHL games. Nylander, a 8th overall pick, lasted 84. I'll see your Grigorenko and raise you a TJ Brennan and the immortal Dennis Persson

There is no question that the above is true. The question is what does KA think and how will he proceed. My guess is he'll default to the status quo.

Lol, not even close. Alex Nylander for example. Marcus Davidson, Connor Hurley, Eric Cornel, Vaclav Karabacek, and Brycen Martin. These are all top 3 round picks.

I think Meier would be an upgrade over Olofsson or Mitts. I think JJP and Quinn are off the table.