GASabresIUFAN

it was a joke, although defending Toronto's or TB's offenses is no easy task either.

And for your first trick you get to draw into the lineup against Barkov Huberdeau and the rest of the East leading Florida Panthers. No problem. Go get’m tiger.

Vogl on the Athletic tweeted the same thing for all 3 guys. He said they’ll burn a year regardless if they suit up or not because they are all 20+.

So he’ll play on 5 different teams this season?

Great story on Aaron Huglen and his recovery from back problems that cost him nearly 2 years of hockey. https://theathletic.com/3229887/2022/04/08/sabres-prospect-aaron-huglen-nearly-lost-hockey-now-through-pain-he-plays-on/

Sing with me Anticipation, anticipation Is makin' me late Is keepin' me waitin'

Minn the State of Hockey.

That’s way they added Tavares, for all the good that did for them.

Don’t forget the players who KA received for him are on pace (over 82 games) for 21g and 68 pts (Tuch) and 15g and 39 points (Krebs). Good numbers for a rookie. Also TNT vs ROR ytd TNT: 68gp 32g 25a 57 pts ROR: 66gp 17g 30a 47 pts

Revised List: I forgot UPL.

One other thought 4 Sabre prospect enter the Frozen Four and all four leave losing in the semi final. Frankly they were beaten by teams that play a better team game.

Michigan lost that game because they didn’t play with enough structure, played as individuals to often and their coaches failed to have a good gameplan to overcome the trap. Power honestly needs a rest. His game looks tired. Portillo the same.

Just finished watching the game and Carolina was the better team almost all night. Our defense made some bad decisions with the puck, but Eakin’s mindless pass right to Carolina sucked the life out of the team. On the plus side wicked pass by Skinner to Thompson. Also really strong play by Mitts to dig the puck out on VO’s pretty goal. Still not enough of that tonight.

Honestly Power wasn’t the same player after the Olympics

They were with KA signing their contracts

Did you notice that Portillo covered the entire bottom of the net when doing the splits

Huge goal. Really good game so far.

Seriously, calling a goal on a rebound and a goal on a tip from a point shot the same thing is hilarious.

Does Melrose actually know anything about hockey? Power needs to step up

Average age of a Sabres starting goalie this season? 33.30.

With Fitz, Samuelsson, Cozens, Krebs, and Bryson basically graduated from our prospect pipeline, who is left? When I looked at my notes I found 6 “pods” or small groups. Pod 1 is 5 future stars - Quinn, Power, Levi, JJP and Portillo. All have had dominate seasons with the 3 skaters all likely to join the Sabres next fall. I have Quinn over Power because of the unprecedented season he is having in Roch. They are players 1-5 on my list Pod 2 is the near ready D in Laaksonen (7th) and Johnson (6th). Neither is probably ready for immediate NHL duty, but they should be the top pair in Roch next fall and early callups when injuries occur. Laaksonen continues to generate big time O and his in zone D is improving. Pod 3 is the breakout CHL players - Bloom (9th), Nadaeu (10th) and Kozak (11th). All had 30+ goals this season. Pod 4 is Rosen and the Russians. I have Rosen (8th) higher then the rest despite his struggles this season because the talent is there. All three Russians excelled at different points this year, but I discounted them because of the war in the Ukraine which has clouded their availability to come to NA. Kisakov (12th) has 26g in the MHL, Novikov (13th) played 32 KHL games as a 18 year old D, and Poltapov (14th) hit his stride with 10 pts in 10 MHL playoff games. Pod 5 is 3 surprising breakouts. Costantini (15th) blossomed at UND and is still 19. Huglen (16th) became a go to player at Minn and Cederqvist (17th) picked up 32 pts in 49 SHL games. Pod 6 is 3 very good AHL players who can contribute in the NHL in Murray (18th), Biro (19th) and Weissbach (20th). All 3 will be 24 next season, but given the Sabres young forward depth, I doubt any will break into the lineup permanently.

I think you mean that young.

I would love to get a Hellebuyck or Saros, but those guys are unlikely available. Given his past comments about not blocking his prospects, it’s more likely that he’ll want to get a vet that can add to his cap and provide good goaltending while UPL develops into a starter, or UPL gets passed in the pipeline by Levi or Portillo. That’s where someone like Varlamov comes in. He carries a 5 mill cap hit for next year, the NYI have a younger guy who is already their starter, but are still tight against next year’s cap. He is 33 and still a good goaltender with a 2.74 and .918 this season.

I originally thought VO would be traded for a goaltender. I now believe that is in error. I believe KA re-signs him to keep the band together for as long as possible. I believe he and DG like the progress VO has made as a playmaker and improvement as a 200 foot player. So what does next fall's lineup look like Skinner Thompson Tuch VO Mitts Quinn JJP Cozen and Krebs Girgensons Eller KO Asplund Dahlin Jokiharju Power Dumba Samuelsson Bryson Fitz Varlamov UPL

Given the totality of the circumstances, the 2 issues of VO’s next contract vs acquiring a goaltender are separate issues 1) The Sabres are 23rd in goals for. Can we really afford to let one of our premiere goal scorers go? 2) The Sabres are approx $18 mill under the cap floor with surprisingly few job openings. VO’s next contract will go along way toward helping us get to the floor. 3) The Sabres have other assets to use to get the goaltending including 3 1sts this year, 3 2nds next year, and a boatload of cap space to help other teams get under the cap. KA said at the deadline that he was willing to weaponize the cap space. I don’t see the attitude changing in the off-season. 4) KA’s pronouncement that he only wants guys that wants to be here, isn’t lip service. The recent article about Asplund and VO’s bonding in Rochester and being key pieces of the of fun and family atmosphere in the locker room reinforced the idea that KA would bring back VO to keep his scoring and maintain the building culture. Nothing precludes KA from trading VO in the right deal, but it would have to be a huge offer. Also he has been pretty clear that he wants to acquire a top flight RHD to partner with Power and mentor the young D group. 19 teams are either at this years cap ceiling or over the cap using LTIR to stay complaint. Most of the these teams have limited flexibility for next season and will be dumping veteran contracts this off-season. This is how I believe KA will weaponize our cap space. I can see guys like Varlomov and Dumba at the top of KA’s list.