GASabresIUFAN

Thank g-d they put Bjork and Hayden in the lineup. That always helps. G-d forbid they call up Quinn or JJP to fill KO’s slot.

Ullmark is a decent to good starting goalie. He should have been re-signed. Considering the crap KA has foisted on this team in goal and how lousy most of the options are in both the trade and FA market, we would have been much better off just keeping Ullmark. It’s KA’s biggest failure to date and could very well derail next season as well.

5 Bulldawgs taken in the 1st round. Pretty amazing. GB killed it with Wyatt and Cine.

Not surprising. He said before the draft he only had a limited number of players with a 1st rd grade.

neither and both. I'll record the draft and fast forward to the relevant part and then watch the Sabres game on ESPN+ once it's over.

I think it’s their defense. He won’t have that issue here next season.

I wonder what it would take to get Chris Driedger from Seattle? He has 2 years left at 3.5 and is only 27.

From the Athletic: https://theathletic.com/3273694/2022/04/27/down-goes-brown-finding-3-positive-thoughts-for-each-of-the-non-playoff-teams/ Buffalo Sabres Positive No. 3 "Positive thought #3: It sure feels like they won the Jack Eichel trade, doesn’t it?" Other Sabres positives - Rebound of Skinner and "Legit Young Guys" like Thompson, Tuch, Dahlin and Power. Also they like Don Granato.

No kidding. Speed, size, physical and very skilled. What’s not to like?

Ok who do the Bills pick? RB Hall? S Cine? WR? LB? CB? From all I’ve read I doubt they take a CB. Apparently McBeane don’t put a premium on the 2nd CB. My guess is they grab a S, RB, or LB. Key players at these 3 positions are all playing on expiring contracts and apparently McDermott doesn’t like to start rookies if he doesn’t have to.

Does TM work for Wpg?

Why would they care at this point? The league let LV keep 15 healthy players on the injured list.

Might as well bring up Quinn, JJP and UPL. Why not.

Lol, Coyotes win in OT. Dallas and Vegas just aren’t good.

Bye bye Vegas. Dallas headed to overrrrrtime.

If I remember correctly Appert talked about JJP's needing to do a better job of backchecking and that was going to be an area of focus going forward.

Karlsson?

Thanks to our friends at quanthockey.com here is a partial answer to my question. https://www.quanthockey.com/ahl/en/player-age/19-year-old-ahl-players.html JJP has produced more points as a 19 year old then any other 19 year old player in AHL history with 64 ytd. His pts per game of .928 is 9th. Bergeron is 10th. Spezza at 1.25 is first. Okposo was 21st at .8 pts/gp Using their top 10 in pts/gp list, many went back to the AHL for some additional time. Bergeron and Tomasino went to the NHL the following season. 3 guys, Holtz, JJP and Reichel are all still in their 19 year old seasons. Nylander, Spezza and Vrana all went back for another year (Spezza because of the lockout) and Rantanen only played in 4 AHL games the next season. Demita spent two more years mostly in the A.

I wonder how many 19 year olds have produced at JJPs level in the last 25 or so years? Of the one at his level, how many returned to the AHL the following year?

There is no question TNT is better. He deserves all the accolades coming his way. None of that changes the fact that we need to see him do it again to establish him among the elite on the NHL. I have never said he won’t do it or can’t, I’m just saying caution is warranted.

That’s great for this year, but it has to be repeatable for TNT to be established as a No. 1 center or viewed to be as good as ROR. ROR has had 6 20 goal plus seasons and 10 50+ point seasons. Thompson’s had one. Until he does it again, it’s just a career year. As we noted in other threads his 15% shooting % may be an aberration. I hope not, but I’ve seen other players like Hall and Eichel breakout the same way and they haven’t played to that level since.

1) 1st line center - Not yet but very close. Offensively this year certainly, but he needs to repeat for me to agree to that premise. 2) No on the contract as well but close. Michael Bunting for the hated Leafs. 950K 63 pts. He also another year left at that price. Anthony Deangelo as well. A 51 pt D for only $1 mill is a huge bargain. To bad for Car he is an UFA after this season. 3) No not yet, but he maybe at least his equal offensively at this point. ROR is still significantly better 2 way player.

This is what happens when every D who plays with you sees their metrics fall.

Interesting tidbit. On the Athletic’s “hockey player cards”. They now list Thompson’s market value at 7 million. https://theathletic.com/3062387/2022/04/19/nhl-player-cards-buffalo-sabres/ (From 4/19). They list Tuch with a market value of 8.2, Skins @ 5.7 and VO at only 2.7. Obviously some of that may reflect the 4/19’s date for evaluating VO, because no way a consistent 20+ goal, 40-50 pt scorer gets as little as 2.7 in today’s NHL. We’ll be lucky if we get him at 5.5. A couple of nice surprises were Asplund at 2.3 and Vinnie at 2.5. On defense @LGR4GM will be please they have the mkt value for Joki at -.4. Ouch!

I guess he isn’t joining the Amerks next year.