GASabresIUFAN

Jack's 3 year pt average is 1.06 pts per game which if Jack plays down to his average he'll score 64 pts. Hall's is 1.05 which translates to 63 pts. Reinhart's is .71 pts/gp which equals 43 pts in a 60 game schedule. That's a floor for that line of 170 pts. If the the combo works they should exceed those numbers easily. Hall's best is 1.28 pts/gp, Jack's is 1.15, but matching his best goals and best assists and he can produce at 1.23. Sam's is .8, but I think Sam can get to 1 pts per game playing with Hall and Eichel.

By the way; I don't think my 210 point prediction is way out of line. Jack showed over the last two years that with the right winger and his improved goal scoring he can put up about 1.25 pts per game. That's 75 points. Hall, before struggling somewhat last season, averaged 1.2 pts per game the prior two season with a center like Jack. (or even Staal). That 72 pts for a 60 game season. All we are then asking is for Reinhart to average about 1 pt a game playing on a line with two elite players. He should be capable of that.

What do the Sabres do if (when?) the Hall, Eichel, Reinhart line blows the doors off and puts up 210 pts or more in a 60 game season? How does KA keep Hall from walking? Obviously continuing to play with Jack is the biggest draw. How many suitors would he have that can afford the big contract, have a top 10 center to play with and are playoff contenders? Tor has the centers, but can't afford the contract. I doubt he returns to NJ or Edm. TB can't afford what they have, much less adding Hall. The are having a hard time getting Barzal signed with the overhead being paid to Eberle and Ladd. The Rags already have Panarin and Kreider at LW for big $ coupled w NMC. The one team I really see making a run at him is Carolina. So how will it cost to keep him and how do we afford it? He is already 29 and on a 1 year 8 mill deal. Staal, Reinhart, Joker, Montour, McCabe and Dahlin are also on 1 year deals, and we only have 44.7 mill committed for 2021-22 for 10 players. Honestly, if Hall plays great, then I'd offer his 8.5 for 5 years. I also think no one else comes close to this offer. Samson will probably get 7 for 7 (49 mill). Dahlin's deal is the wild card. Does he breakout and become elite, or does he get a Risto type 5 yr 25 mill deal? To afford those 3 contracts, someone is going to have to be replaced by younger and/or cheaper. Buying out KO doesn't really help. Our cap hit would still be 5 mill next season. At that point might as well keep the player. Staal probably won't be back unless it on a dirt cheap deal. We better hope Cozens, Quinn, Thompson, Mitts and a D or 2 are ready.

Eichel vs MacKinnon Eichel 1st 4 seasons - 286 gms 101g 158a 259 pts - .35 g/gp .91 pts/gp MacKinnon 1st 4 - 300 gms 75g 131a 206 pts - .25 g/gp .69 pts/gp Eichel year 5 - 68 gms 36g 42a 78 pts - .53 g/gp 1.14 pts/gp MacKinnon year 5 - 74 gms 39g 58a 97 pts - .53 g/gp 1.31 pts/gp I'd argue that Jack breakout is very similar to Mac's except he didn't have Mikko Rantanen on his wing. Rantanen had 84 pts that season playing with MacKinnon. He scored goals at the same pace as Mac in year 5 and with a performing Skinner the year before Jack added 54 assists in 77 games. Based on these last two seasons don't be surprised if Jack reaches 95 plus pts (in a full 82 game season) with Hall on his wing. When that happens where will he be ranked? My guess is right with MacKinnon.

The best way to do that would actually be by making 4 divisions in the US and one in Canada, but that makes the playoffs harder unless they take 3 from all 5 divisions and only 1 wild card. West - LA, ANA, LV, SJ, AZ and Col Great Lakes/Central - Buf, Det, CBJ, Chi, STL Min South - TB, FL, Car, Nsh, Wash, Dal Northeast - Bos, NYI, NYR, NJ, Philly, Pit

https://www.milehighhockey.com/2020/10/16/21519233/the-nhl-seems-set-to-re-align-divisions-for-the-2021-season-standings

I've seen two proposals for the divisions for 2021. 1) Buffalo, Boston, TB, FLA, Det plus Nash, Stl and Chi. This would then leave the Metro Division basically intact. I think this makes the most sense, but since when has the NHL do things the smart or easy way. Also I think this is more competitive. 2) Buffalo, Boston, NYI, NYR, Pitt, Philly, NJ and Wash. This creates a South/MW division of TB, Fla, Car, Nash, Cbs, Det, Chi and either Minn or Stl . IMHO this creates a very over-weighted Metro division and a walk over for TB especially with Min in the Division.

by the way, so did Olofsson. He went from 14g-15a (2015/16) to 9g-18a (2016/17) in the SHL. The next season at age 23 he exploded. Mitt's development kind of reminds me of JP Dumont. JP, 3rd overall in 1996, spent the next two seasons back in the Q, then spent parts of the next two seasons in the AHL and NHL, regressing from year 1 (15 pts in 25 NHL games) to year 2 (18 pts in 47 NHL games) and then got traded to the Sabres. Here at age 22 he made the Sabres and blossomed in good player with 54 pts. He took the next leap in his development with Nashville at age 28 to 30 with seasons of 66, then 72 and 65 pts.

NHL Networks Top 20 centers (2020) in order - I added the ages and draft class NHL Network’s Top 20 Centers Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers (24 on Jan 13) - 2015 Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado Avalanche (25) - 2013 Leon Draisaitl, Edmonton Oilers (25) - 2014 Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins Auston Matthews, Toronto Maple Leafs (23) - 2016 Jack Eichel, Buffalo Sabres (24) - 2015 Patrice Bergeron, Boston Bruins Evgeni Malkin, Pittsburgh Penguins Brayden Point, Tampa Bay Lightning (24) - 2014 Mika Zibanejad, New York Rangers - 2011 Aleksander Barkov, Florida Panthers (25) - 2013 Mark Scheifele, Winnipeg Jets - 2011 Sebastian Aho, Carolina Hurricanes (23) - 2015 John Tavares, Toronto Maple Leafs Ryan O’Reilly, St. Louis Blues Elias Pettersson, Vancouver Canucks (22) - 2017 Steven Stamkos, Tampa Bay Lightning Sean Couturier, Philadelphia Flyers - 2011 Mathew Barzal, New York Islanders (23) - 2015 Anze Kopitar, Los Angeles Kings So.... Draisaitl is the 3rd best center, but 5th on the trade list behind the 5th best center in Matthews and a winger. Eichel is the 6th best center yet 12th on the trade line behind 9th and 16th best centers who are the same age or older. What a joke of a list. FYI I like this center list from the NHL. As to Matthews vs. Eichel - Matthews is a great goal scorer, but Eichel is the better all around player and improving as a goal scorer. Jack actually kills penalties on occasion and is on the ice at the end of games defending a lead. No so much for Matthews. Matthews is much better in the faceoff circle. I guess what it comes down to for me is that I look at Matthews as a one dimensional player (goal scorer). Eichel scores, but also creates and makes the players around him better.

Matthews is one of the most over-rated players in hockey.

If ND can beat Clemson in the ACC Championship game then they go to the CFP. However struggling with team like BC and Louisville and then beating Clemson without Lawrence, a nice win, but doesn’t make them a top tier team. Sorry.

Tough loss for the NW Cats. Looks like GA found a QB, and IU keeps rolling on a personal level. However, Bama, Clemson, FL and Tex AM are the best teams with ND and OSU nearby. Is it wrong of me to hope that OSU doesn’t get to 6 Big 10 games? CFP prediction Bama, Clemson OSU and Cinn. I’m figuring Clemson destroys ND in the ACC Championship. Bama kills FL in the SEC. OSU gets their 6 games and wins the Big 10. That leaves one slot for Tex AM, ND or Cinn. Let’s give the undefeated little guy a shot.

That's the real question. Ralph failed in that department last season in how he handled Skinner. Not completely his fault do to our lack of center, however Reinhart can be a driver of offense and he refused to create a Skinner Reinhart line to see if he could get Skinner going. Also an aside about Thompson vs Mitts Thompson NHL 107gms 10g 11a 21 pts = .2 pts/gp AHL 70gms 21g 20a 41 pts = .59 pts/gp Mittetstadt NHL 114 gms 17g 22a 39 pts = .34 pts/gp AHL 36 gms 9a 16a 25 pts = .69 pts/gp

I’m concerned about this as well.o

I tend not to write off 21 year old kids. He hasn’t underachieved. We had unrealistic expectations for a 20 year old forced into the NHL. Thompson went through a similar development curve and is now primed to have a full time NHL roster spot. Casey is also more talented then Thompson. People here seem to only think that Casey is the lost player who failed last year and that is all he’ll ever be, while ignoring all the good work he did in Rochester. Many of these same people fawned over Larsson because he finally developed into a decent NHL player at 26, yet his best offensive season is 18 pts. That’s 7 pts worse then Casey did in the NHL as a 20 year old. This kid has so much more to give, he just needs the right opportunity.

A couple of thoughts. The Euro teams have their own players and may take a couple from the NHL/AHL but they play shorter seasons and are already under way. Hard to just send Mitts to Euro. He'd have to quarantine etc... I they are going to have a taxi squad, might as well have the AHL play out of the parent club's home arena. Sell TV rights to those games as well as and play them when the home team is away since I doubt they'll be to many scheduling issues outside of NBA cities or do double headers with the AHL team being a warm up act for the NHL game. Amerks/Sabres vs Phantoms/Flyers would be a blast to watch. This way the parent club can easily monitor the AHL team and insure prospect development and proper protocols. As to Mitts, he is probably the most controversial player on the list. Is he better, is he physically and mentally ready, where can he play etc..? However, I think he is probably ready to answer most of these questions and earn a roster spot. We all seem so eager to slot a 1st year pro (Cozens) on to the roster based on RK's and others comments. However he just that, a 1st year pro, we have zero idea whether or not he is ready as he has never played at this level. On the other hand Mitts has 100+ games under his belt and despite his lost confidence last season, much of his time on the NHL was adequate to good. If Mitts has matured as I think he has, that experience gives him an advantage.

The Mittelstadt and Routsalainen threads got me to thinking about who has guaranteed a job with the Sabres in Jan and who has to fight for a roster spot. Eichel, KO, Hall, Staal, Skinner Eakin, Reinhart, VO and Girgensons all will be in the lineup opening night assuming they are healthy. That leaves 4 slots and a boat load of guys fighting for them. Guys likely to take some of the 3 of the 4 slots. 1) Lazar - 2 year 800K one way deal was earned last year and the loss of Larsson makes him the 4th line center at least in pencil. Still could lose job if others step up there by demoting Eakin to the 4th line center job. 2) Thompson - 3 year one way deal likely means he is making the Sabres, but that could also mean as the 13th forward 3) Rieder - Vet on a one year 700K deal and was brought in to kill penalties and see if he can find his scoring touch again. Only 27. Still 700K player can easily be waived and sent down if his game isn't up to snuff. The Prospects 1) Cozens - Center playing for team Canada which should give him a nice step up on the competition for a job in Buffalo. 2) Routsalainen - C/W burning up the Liiga so far. He'll come to camp in game shape. Should be interesting to see if he can force his way into the lineup 3) Mittelstadt - C/W Unsigned RFA. KA likely wants him to start in Roch (if the AHL plays), but a more mature Casey could force the issue with a good camp. I think he will 4) Quinn - 1st rd pick in Team Canada camp. If he makes the team, that could help propel him into a lineup desperate for scoring. 5) Asplund - Former 2nd rd pick got 29 games in the NHL last year. Just 22. Could he also potentially steal a 4th line job with a good camp? Bold predictions 1) NHL goes with a taxi squad to start the year, giving teams 3 extra roster spots that don't count against the cap 2) Rieder and Lazar get outplayed in camp by Cozens, Mitts, Thompson and Routsalainen. However, Routsalainen doesn't make the team but instead stays in the extended camp. 3) Lines Hall Eichel Reinhart Skinner Staal Cozens Mitts Eakin Olofsson Girgensons Lazar KO Thompson

Maybe Casey wants a multi year deal like Thompson got. Maybe the Sabres want a multi year deal and Casey doesn't. Who knows. There isn't any urgency. Camp may or may not start in Jan. Once we get close to the opening, the Sabres can always say sign the QO or don't play. If Casey bolts to the KHL or SHL, the Sabres retain his rights just like Pilut, but I doubt he will bolt. Most likely is Casey wants a one way contract and the Sabres correctly don't want to give him one. Frankly Casey should just sign the QO go to camp and earn a job.

Not sure why nothing is going on. However, nothing is going on anywhere. Good UFAs Haula, Hoffman, DuClair, Granland, and Vatanen all remain unsigned. TB has yet to sign Sergachev, Cernak or Cirelli or fix their cap issues. I don't think Barzal has signed either.

Wit!

They were favored by 20.5. Great game by the Hoosiers. They showed they were worthy of their top 10 ranking. Loved the NW D against the Badgers. So far this season, Florida and Alabama look like the two best teams followed by Clemson, OSU and Cinn. OSU defense is very suspect.

Why isn’t Faith by George Michael on this list.

That was easy.

I read the blurb wrong.

Just to add to staged nature. Cozens and Dach are both WHL vets and the coaching is from Lethbridge in the WHL.