GASabresIUFAN

Costantini has been very active. I also think Kozak and Richard have had some nice moments.

It was one of tweets. It seemed completely out of wack from all the scouting reports and with we are seeing here.

JJP looks like everyones BFF. He literally talks to everyone, pats them on the back, and gives them hugs. He is either the most loved guy in the locker room or the most annoying. But boy can he play hockey. I thought he was nearly as good as Stutzle at the world juniors and he has done nothing to change that opinion.

Harrington said he had to improve his skating. How?

Depends on how they define "prospect," although adding 3 centers ranked by Wheeler at 4, 23 and 22 respectfully doesn't hurt. Wheeler uses 22 (Under 25 for goalies) and under as his prospect criteria and then adds a nebulous "Not a full-time NHL player. This is the arbitrary section of the criteria." His top 10 for us in February were Power, Krebs, Quinn, Levi, JJP, Rosen, Johnson, Portillo, UPL & Samuelsson. My guess is Krebs and Samuelsson graduate from his list as they finished last season on the Sabres (not including being sent down for the AHL playoffs). I doubt Power's 8 games will disqualify him. FYI he had Kisakov 11, Poltapov 12, Nadeau 13 and Bloom 19. Now add Savoie, Östlund and Kulich. Given how highly he thought of the pool 5 months ago, my guess if we'd still be No. 1

Good bye and good luck! (...and there was much rejoicing).

That's ok for the next 2 years, but then we have to re-sign Dahlin and Power and we are going to need a couple of prospects ready to step in. Other than Johnson, we have no one and he may not sign. Compare that to the forwards. Savoie, Östlund, Rosen, Kulich, Bloom, Nadeau, Kisakov and others are signed in the system and will be fighting for jobs in the NHL maybe as early as next year in some case, but certainly in the next 2-3 years. That means as guys like Z, KO, VO, Asplund's contracts expire, we have cheap but quality talent to take the jobs. We don't have that same luxury on defense. Obviously we can continue to fill in with guys like Lyubishkin, but that's not the best solution.

Do you really think Lyubushkin, Joki and Bryson are part of the longterm solution?

Sorry to say this but nearly every job for next season is written in pen already. Up front Tage, Skinner, Tuch, Mitts, KO, VO, Asplund, Cozens, Krebs and Z are all guaranteed jobs. Hinostroza is also making the team but whether or not he is in the starting lineup is another question. The only guys who are guaranteed aren’t Quinn, JJP and Bjork. On defense Dahlin, Samuelsson, Joki, Lyubuskin and Bryson are making this team. Unless Power has incredibly terrible camp, he is making the team. Only Fitz, Clague and Pilut aren't guaranteed to make the squad. In net Comrie is definitely making this team. Unless Anderson quits he is as well. Other than JJP making the squad, the biggest camp drama is going to be who plays with whom. Who is going to be Power’s partner? Do Matt and Dahlin remain partners? Who plays center and who moves to the wing? Does DG scramble the lines or does he stick with what worked late last year?

Maybe we need to draft some D?

Murray for sure, but I doubt JVR.

That is incorrect. https://thehockeywriters.com/nhl-waiver-rules/

Assuming Fitz is the 7th D, who do we like for the 8th slot Pilut, Clague or someone else? The Amerks blueline is getting pretty crowded as well. Prow, Davies, Eliot, Tischke, Priske, and Laaksonen to go with either and or both Clague and Pilut.

I thought those kind of moves would have happened already. Yes they don’t have to the cap until the start of the season but where are the Sabres going to play any acquired players? Rochester? I’m not a fan of Butcher type moves. I only want players that make us better at this point.

I guess I missed on this one. We still have Johnson and Portillo and we drafted both Östlund and Kulich. So with Comrie and Lyubushkin in the house, I feel better about our playoff chances, despite the progress other teams made as well. Both prediction. Comrie is this year's Husso. The Sabres win 44 games end up with 95 points and grab the last playoff spot. Quinn is a top NHL ROY candidate scoring 25 goals. Power has a good, but more subtle year with 7 goals and 28 assists. Skinner leads the team in goals with 35. Thompson does well again with 33, but adds 40 assists to top 70 points and lead the team in scoring. Mitts breaks out with 22 goals and another 33 assists.

How often have I said he was my favorite pick of ours in this draft. After Kasper, this is the one kid I really wanted. Watched him pot 9 goals on a mediocre Czech team in the U18s. He was also good in the Hlinka Gretzky Cup and even in the U20s. I kind of hope he plays in Rochester in the fall, but I wonder if KA will send him to the CHL for a year.

https://www.audacy.com/wgr550/sports/sabres/devon-levi-very-impressed-with-sabres This interview makes it pretty clear that this is one class kid who wants to be here. He became friends with Owen Power at the Olympics. He also is becoming fast friends with Portillo. The more I read about Levi and Portillo these seem like two terrific people regardless of hockey. Whether both come here or just Levi, I think I'll remain a fan of both.

Either can Kevyn Adams. You know that ELC is burning a hole in his pocket.

I agree with Wheeler on this one. Savoie has to play juniors the next 2 seasons if he doesn't make the NHL. He dominated the league last year. How much better will he be this coming season. I can see him spending the season working on his two way game to help get NHL ready much like Reinhart did. Now the question is which forward gets voted off the island to make room for him?

People seem to forget that both these teams were considerably ahead of the Sabres most of the season and the young Sabres over took them in the last 3rd of the season. They had to make moves because they both lack the pipeline of the Sabres. Despite the Sabres adding Samuelsson, Power, Quinn and JJP to the NHL roster, our pipeline is still deeper than Ott and Det.

I love Slafkovsky the player, but I agree Wright should have been the choice.

Jesse Pegula's future doubles partner? I had him 59th on my consensus board and he his average ranking was 59. I was shocked he slipped so far. I had Neuchev at 67.

Dude, Montreal is tanking. Adding Dach is ok, but he has never really recovered from his terrible wrist injury. I love the draft pick of Slafkovsky, but he isn't Connor McDavid. Their best D is Petry and he's 34. Price is likely to spend the season on IR. The Sabres as we wrote above didn't need to make drastic moves to compete, because they changed the roster over mid season last year. They brought in Tuch and Krebs, and then added four top notch kids in Power, Samuelsson, Quinn and JJP. Yes the kids need to step it up to make it work, but when you bring back 90% on an improving offense and then add the two top rookies from the AHL, you are going to score some goals.

There are no sure things. None. Vets get hurt, prospect don't develop and get hurt, coaches change, linemates change etc... I'd have done the Copp deal term and $. As I wrote above, Debrincat would help but not at the money involved. No way I'm paying him $9 mill plus after next season. The goalies I'd have done in a heart beat, but I felt back in May that KA would go the value route.

I went back and looked closer at CBJ's offense and they are actually very deep. They had 10 forwards score in double digits and 2 D score 11 each. They now add Johnny Hockey and his 40 goals. I wouldn't be surprised if the score 270+ this season. They scored 258 last year and the only contributor they lost is Maxi Domi and his 9 goals. Their D last year scored nearly 40 goals as a group. Many of their guys are young and just entering their primes: Laine 24, Werenski 25, Sillinger 19, Texier 22, Roslovic 25, Boqvist 22, Roslovic 25, and Bean 24. Forwards CBJ 1, Buff 2, Det 3 and Ott 4 Defense CBJ 1, Buf 2, Ott 3, Det 4 Goaltending Ott 1, Det 2, Buf 3, CBJ 4