GASabresIUFAN

This is a crazy story. Apparently they fired Cassidy for reasons unknown, then asked him to coach over the weekend, then re-fired him. The rest of the coaches and players walked when the owners issued a BS press statement saying Cassidy resigned and then cut the budget for equipment, after game team meals and other expenses. https://www.grandforksherald.com/sports/hockey/7288467-Omaha-Lancers-players-walk-out-coaching-staff-resigns-en-masse-after-building-tensions-boil-over

Hard way to lose. That said, I like Dunlevy's Tage Thompson's nickname of TN'T. I can see Jimmie Walker going he's Dyn-o-mite. Also leads to a great goal song.

Nebraska, home of the very solid D Neal Poink.

That’s the problem with KA’s plan. The concept is good, but you have to have prospects that are close to NHL ready. Anyone who saw UPL last season knew he wasn’t close to NHL ready. KA knew or should have known that UPL wasn’t close to ready and should have had a legit plan to support his young team. With Levi and Portillo years away, KA has to upgrade this position the sooner the better.

KA signed Dell and Anderson to be in Buffalo and for Tokarski and UPL to play in Rochester. Tokar, who is a steady hand in the AHL, was great insurance if UPL continued to stink (which he has). However Dell sucked in pre-season (no surprise) and 40 year old Anderson got hurt (no surprise). That left Tokakski, a AAAA goalie, as the starter in Buffalo with the terrible Dell as his backup. Sadly Dell has outplayed UPL in the AHL. Now AHL is saddled with a failing prospect in UPL whose numbers are actually worse then last year (if that was possible) and ECHL vet Houser. Now KA's failure to bring in at least decent goaltending in Buffalo has also left Roch without at least decent goaltending, likely taking Rochester playoff chances down with it. All of this was foreseeable and obvious to this board, the media, and any observer with half a brain, except apparently KA. Its great that Levi and Portillo are doing well in college, but it's likely years until either player makes the NHL. If this latest rebuild is to work, KA is going to have to spend some assets to bring in upgrades in goal. He could have grabbed Nejelkovic off of waivers last year and picked up Vanacek for a 2nd this year. It's time to stop giving KA a pass here.

I couldn’t agree more. Everyone knew Hutton sucked and Ullmark has a long injury history. To only bring in Tokarski and not upgrade Hutton was a huge mistake. This year is all on KA, and now his goaltending failure in Buffalo is now endangering Roch season as well.

More terrible goaltending in Rochester.

The last couple of games, we have watched bad goaltending in Rochester doom the Amerks. The bottomline is that the goaltending in Buffalo and Rochester is terrible as expected. Not really a surprise given how all of these goaltenders performed last season. Sadly, as I feared in the off-season, both teams' terrible goaltending is destroying the chances of both team to compete. Yes, we have received some good night from Anderson (now injured), from Tokar and the Amerks have received a few good nights from UPL. However the numbers below are awful. Tokarski: NHL 2020-21 3.54 .904; 2021-22 3.07 .909 Dell: NHL 2020-21 4.62 .839; 2021-22 3.76 .861 UPL: AHL 2020-21 3.60 .888; 2021-22 3.61 .878 Houser AHL 2020-21 2.33 .924; 2021-22 3.12 .881 Admittedly some of this is small sample size, but when it's a continuation of the same terrible play like Dell and UPL with Tokar being only marginally better, the trends don't look good. KA really needs to do something, but probably won't.

Couldn’t hurt. The quicker Butcher and Miller are gone the better. Any one disagree with my assessment of Butcher from the off-season. I still don’t know why he was acquired.

Size only matters when it matters. Size certainly has an effect on the draft. Smaller players are typically under drafted. Also the trend in goaltending is bigger is better. It’s was clearly a factor in 6’ Levi going in the 7th rd vs. 6’6 Portillo going in the 3rd. Did guys like Cirelli and Pointe fall in their draft partly because of their height? I also believe a team of mighty mites isn’t a great strategy. Montreal tried it a few years ago and it didn’t exactly work out.

I'm not sure speed is a huge factor. Cozens needs better wingers then the trash he's playing with. In the long-term Dylan is the two way center we need and who better to teach him the 2 way game better then KO and Z, especially if Meatballs is going to keep giving Dylan the tough assignments. R2 also needs better wingers and Caggiula and Hinostroza, while not great are certainly an upgrade over Hayden and Bjork.

I wish DG would try Cozens between Girgensons and KO, put R2 with Caggiula and Hinostroza and drop Eakin with Bjork and Hayden.

I'm not low at all. I just hoped I'd never see a performance like that again.

That was the Sabres I sadly hoped I didn’t ever see again. Oh well.

Can’t think what is more painful watching this or Thursday night football.

It’s going to be a long game folks.

Sobatka was better. Ville Leino was better also.

When I do these lists I weigh both upside and time to the NHL. Because of that I tend to downgrade goaltenders because of how long their development curves can be. Portillo and Levi may not turn pro for another 2 years and then it could be 2-3 more years in the minors before their ready.

@LGR4GM says faceoffs don’t matter.

@dudacek I like your list except for a couple of quibbles. Fitzgerald, Cederqvist and Costantini have played their way on to this list, while Biro not so much. Costantini has 9 pts in his first 11 college games. Cedergvist has 11 pts in 18 SHL games. Fitz is the shutdown RHD for the Amerks, but has now added some O. I’m also not sure that Levi is better then Portillo. I also think R2 will make more of an impact as this season progresses. My updated list 1-5. Power, Cozens, Quinn, Krebs, JJP 6-10. Samuelsson, Bryson, R2, Rosen, Johnson 11-15. Levi, Portillo, Laaksonen, UPL, Weissbach 16-20. Poltapov, Kisakov, Novikov, Nadeau, Costantini 21-25. Bloom, Murray, Fitzgerald, Cedergvist, Rousek, 26-30. Pekar, Huglen, Van Barnekow, Sardarian, Marjala,

As to the question of drafting better. Our team for next season potentially could include at least 12 and maybe more of our draftees or internal prospects. At center - We'll have draftees Mitts, and Cozens On the Wing - We'll likely have draftees (or UDFAs) Olofsson, Girgensons, JJP, Quinn, Asplund, and Routsalainen On defense we'll have draftees Power, Dahlin, Bryson and Samuelsson (and in theory Pysyk if retained) That's 12 (13 w Pysyk) internal prospects, plus acquired prospects Thompson, Jokiharju and Krebs The breakdown: GMDR (1 or 2) - Girgensons (& Pysyk) GMTM (2) - Olofsson and Asplund GMJB (6) - Mitts, Cozens, Dahlin, Samuelsson, Bryson and Routsalainen GMKA (3) - Power, JJP & Quinn Seems like we have seen an uptick in drafting since JB took over. KA has also done a quality job so far.

Rob has sadly taken just a few hit to the head over the years.

Erod is taking advantage of this opportunity. All I’m asking for is R2 to get a similar opportunity with real players before we write him off. The guy scored 5 goals last year in 17 games while playing with decent players.

I doubt it. They were particularly awful against Pitt last night after the first period. Like R2, Cozens needs better players. Thompson's line likely remains Mitts and VO form a line with someone at RW, hopefully R2, but possibly Hinostroza or Caggiula. I can see Cozens moved between KO and Z This will form 3 really solid and capable lines. After that Eakin will probably center the 2 guys not paired with Mitts. Like I said before, if DG isn't going to pair R2 with good players, then R2 and the Sabres will be best off sending him down.

Caggiula and Hinostroza kill penalties, Bjork not so much. Tuch won’t return for at least 2 more months. When Mitts and VO return, R2 will be on someone’s wing to help create more offense.