GASabresIUFAN

You can’t assume he wouldn’t have stayed for the right deal. Whether he would have stayed or left it doesn’t change the facts that there were multiple opportunities to extend him prior to KAs last failed attempt and that has yet to be adequately replaced. As I’ve said before supporting the kids with at least Ullmark level goaltending is even more imperative this season then last. Looking at who is available I believe KA will have a difficult task in getting there.

Poor Navin Johnson

After that, my guess is most people's interest in the draft wanes until they actually see the kids perform the following season. Bloom, Nadeau (although I liked him on draft day), Kozak and Novikov were all mostly unknown to even most draft observers like us and their blossoming this past season was fun to watch. Even beyond those guys, I don't remember the last time we saw so many of our prospects across the board taking such a big step forward (ok except UPL). Levi, Rousek, Cederqvist, Huglen, Portillo, Costantini, and of course JJP and Quinn all had great years. With so many guys stepping forward, it's really hard to create a prospects ranking chart, which is a great problem to have.

I shall make no bold predictions until I see who both goaltenders will be next season, except Casey Mittelstadt will lead the Sabres in points next season and Quinn will be the NHL ROY.

https://www.capfriendly.com/players/sean-malone

It's a fair statement and one I've made before, but I honestly believe Sabres management (Jbot and KA) had multiple opportunities to get an extension done with Ullmark and failed to do so. If they weren't sold on Ullmark, coupled with Hutton's failure, they also failed to have an adequate contingency plan. The failure to retain Ullmark is a symptom of a greater problem.

So basically if had given Ullmark a 4 year deal that would have bridged the gap. Now we are scrambling again to even get Ullmark level goaltending. It may work out, but KA's short sighted work on the goaltending has been his greatest mistake to date and could still crater this rebuild 3.0 He has a chance to fix this, but even signing a Holtby, or DeSmith, or acquiring Varlomov for a year doesn't even get us back to UIllmark level goaltending. What a mess.

I forgot that KO is likely to be named the team's Captain at some point this off-season. The question is whether the Captaincy comes with a contract extension. I suspect it will. FYI: Here are the Q Offers for the RFAs according to Capfriendly.com VO - $3.25 million UPL and Murray - 750 K each Biro, Bryson and R2 - $832,5000 each.

I guess. Assuming the Sabres have Gaucher, Chesley and Luneau ranked 27, 28 and 29 and all are still available when the Sabres draft at 28. If I'm reading your posts correctly you'd take Gaucher at 28, while I'd take Chesley.

Totally agree. I like the idea of taking Havelid at 41 and his twin brother a goalie in the 3rd or 4th.

The Sabres only have 3 D that you can genuinely project to here long-term in Samuelsson, Power and Dahlin. Bryson, Joki, Fitz are all replaceable and we need guys in the system that can replace and hopefully upgrade them over time. This is the best way to manage the cap. Right now we have not one prospect in the pipeline who we can safely project to be one of those replacements. Johnson may become a UFA, Novikov may never come over from Russia and Laaksonen may never be good enough defensively. We also have only one D prospect in the AHL and none other than Johnson who plays in NA. With 11 picks including 4 in the top 41, KA must some higher end D. “Take what this draft gives you” is BPA and it doesn’t exist. The ranking difference between Gaucher, Chesley and Luneau is miniscule. I like Gaucher but if we have taken two forwards already, you don’t add another, you take Chesley or Luneau.

Signed prospects - Rosen, Cederqvist, Kisakov, Bloom and Nadeau - Rosen, Cederqvist and Kisakov likely to play in Rochester in the fall. Re-signed Malone to a two way contract. Likely to play in Rochester, but could also make the Sabres after a strong season last year. Re-signed G Craig Anderson to a 1yr $1.5 mill deal. Hopefully he’ll be the backup in Buffalo in the fall. Acquired G Ben Bishop’s expiring contract. With Bishop on LTIR, the move helps get the Sabres to the cap floor for a minimum of actual $. Deal includes a 7th rd pick to the Sabres this year. Calendar of Off-season events NHL 1st Buyout window opens - July 1 NHL Draft - July 7-8 RFA Qualifying Offer deadline - July 11 UFAs Signings Begin - July 13 Sabres Development Camp - July 13 - 17 Sabres Pre-season schedule begins - September 25

If we don’t come away with 2 D from our top 4 picks I’ll be very disappointed. Kris Baker in his recent visit with the Instigators couldn’t harp enough on the lack of D in our system. He did say he expects some D late in the draft like Pronman suggested, but he also said we need high quality defensive D like Chesley and Odelius in our pipeline and on the Sabres long-term. Those type guys will be available at 28 and 41 and if we grab more forwards with 9 and 16. We better get D with the next picks. Don’t forget in KA’s 16 picks so far he has taken 13 forwards and only 3 D.

Yes it is. All the positives that can be tied to this move are predicated on actually getting a true No. 1 goalie.

I'm going to take a positive spin on this assuming he is being re-signed to be the backup. 1) He is great in the locker room and that is important to KA 2) In a limited role, he played well enough to at worst keep the Sabres in most of the games he played. 3) It's further proof that UPL isn't ready, but that means he'll be playing most nights in Rochester and hopefully improving. 4) hopefully it means that KA is hunting bigger game for the starting job. 5) It's only a one year deal.

Odelius is on the wrong line. 33-35 had one extra. I fixed it in my earlier post.

Worth a listen

I hate to update the consensus rankings again so soon, but actually I found 2 updates for some of the rankings in my list of 15. The 15 are 2 each from the Athletic and TSN, Sportsnet, THN, THW, Dobber, McKeens (but only to 32), Yahoo, Smaht, Daily Faceoff, Draft Prospects, FC/Sportsing News, and Leafsnation. Top 7 - Wright, Cooley, Slafkovsky, Nemec, Jiricek, Savoie and Kemell 8-12 - Gauthier, Lekkerimaki, Nazar, Yurov, Korchinski 13-16 - Mintyukov, Mateychuk, Lambert and Kasper - I feel much better about Lambert after hearing about his amazing skating from Kris Baker. 17-20 - Geekie, Ohgren, McGroarty, and Howard 21-23 - Kulich, Miroshniichenko, Ostlund 24-28 - Snuggerud, Firkus, Pickering, Mesar, Chesley 29-32 - Gaucher, Luneau, Bichsel, Odelius Second Rd 33-35 - Beck, Hutson, Del Bel Belluz 36-38 - Casey, Goyette, Rinzel 39-42 - Trikozov, Havelid, Hughes, Nelson - Maybe we take RHD Havelid at 41 and then his twin brother a goalie later in the draft. 43-47 - Bystedt, Zhilkin, Salomonsson, Lorenz, Sapovaliv 48-51 - Perevalov, Schaefer, Lamoureux, Lutz 52-55 - Nyman, Forsmark, Ingram, Hamara 56-60 - Lund, Warren, Sykora, Lindgren, Ludwinski, 61-65 - McConnell-Baker, Poitras, James, Grudinin and Minten

Malone earned a call up last year, but got hurt (again). He is a smart Nichols kid 😎. I can easily seeing him earn a shot at the 4th line center gig in camp. Maybe he can pull a Derek Grant who became a full time NHLer 27 and has had 3 12+ goal season and last season with Anaheim at 31 put up career highs with 15g and 29pts.

I readily admit that the odds of the draft falling to us with Gauthier at 9 and Kasper at 16 are unlikely. That said it's not outside the realm of possibility. On my consensus board Gauthier is 8th with rankings as high as 5 and as low as 18 with 9 of the 15 having him at 9 or later. Kasper is 16th on the consensus board with rankings as high as 8th and as low as 31. 10 of the 15 have him 16th or later. Obviously it just takes one team to love a a guy and things change. However the talent on the board from 6 to 25 is very good and the guys could go nearly anywhere. For example Snuggerud is 25th on my consensus board but Craig Button put him as the 8th best player in this draft. As I wrote in the Rankings thread I like all the guys that consensus has 19-23 in Ohgren, Howard, Kulich, Miroshniichenko and Ostlund, ahead of Geekie (17th) and McGroarty (18th). If KA takes any of those 5 guys at 16 I wouldn't be upset. I think all of them will be good NHL players. I'm especially fond of Kulich. I think he's a very close substitute for Kasper. By the way I also really like McGroarty, but I worry his skating isn't NHL quality.

Other than Peterson, the others weren’t our picks.

Ideal 9 - Gauthier 16 - Kasper (Kulich) 28 - Chesley, Luneau or Gaucher

Updated Consensus Board - 15 rankings only one not a final is FC hockey from April Top 5 - Wright, Cooley, Slafkovsky, Nemec, Jiricek 6 & 7 - Savoie, Kemell 8- 12 - Gauthier, Lekkerimaki, Nazar, Yurov, Korchinski 13 - 15 - Lambert, Mintyukov, Mateychuk 16 - 18 - Kasper, Geekie, McGroarty - Personal Note: Kasper will go before 16th and I'd take all the players 19-23 below before Geekie and McGroarty 19 - 23 - Ohgren, Howard, Kulich, Miroshniichenko, Ostlund 24 - 27 - Firkus, Snuggerud, Mesar, Pickering - Snuggerud seems to be a player moving up the rankings. 28- 32 - Chesley, Bichsel, Luneau, Gaucher, Odelius - Chesley, Gaucher and Luneau would all be great picks at 28 IMHO Second Round 33 - 37 - Beck, Del Bel Belluz, Hutson, Casey, Goyette 38 - 40 - Trikozov, Havelid and Hughes 41 - 46 - Perevalov, Nelson, Rinzel, Bystedt, Zhilkin, Salomonsson 47 - 49 - Lorenz, Nyman, Sapovaliv 50 -54 - Forsmark, Lamoureux, Lutz, Ingram, Hamara 55 - 62 - Schaefer, Lund, Warren, Sykora, McConnell-Baker, Lindgren, Poitras, Ludwinski - I expect Schaefer, Lund and Warren to all go higher than 55. 63 - 65 -James, Grudinin, Minten

Friggin Iphone spellcheck.

https://www.nhl.com/bluejackets/news/blue-jackets-2022-nhl-draft-consensus-poll-rankings/c-334744042 Let’s hope that the draft goes according to this consensus list. Getting Gauthier at 9 and Kasper at 16 would be awesome.