sabresparaavida

Looked like it went off Dahlin stick to me

Beautiful puck movement

They are using a loophole, any NHL player that is scratched for 5 straight games can be sent down for a one time “conditioning stint” in the AHL for 2 weeks. This can only happen once a season.

Give some examples of teams that would be fine losing their top 2 centers. Having centers that are good at shutting down/faceoffs as your top 6 centers for an extended period of time will make it hard to win hockey games.

What team would be alright if they lost their top 2 centers?

No they aren’t.

Beautiful

Sounds like this board would quickly turn on him: ”As far as weaknesses, Chychrun is turnover-prone, though that can happen when a player handles the puck as much as he does. Last season, Chychrun committed turnovers on 16.2 per cent of his total touches, tied for 186th out of 223 qualified defencemen (min. 500 minutes).”

Seems silly to me. He’s wanted out for how long now without being traded? And he’s decreasing the potential suitors?

Skinner is so close to having a hat trick

Tell me you don’t understand statistics without telling me you don’t understand statistics.

You can’t just sign him, we would have to put a claim in on his current contract. It could handcuff us quite a bit in a couple years.

Lousy? I don’t think a team that was 20-14-2 with a goalie going .895 is lousy.

So Theoretically: Skinner-Thompson-Okposo JJP-Cozens-Tuch oloffson-Mitts-Quinn Girgs-Jost-Asplund may be our best line combinations. I’d hate to see JJP-Cozens-Quinn broken up with the way they’ve been playing though.

They were primarily looking at his xGF, not the xGF%. He had the highest xGF at even strength when he was on the ice of the past 15+ years, but he also let up a decent amount of chances. Of that list of the 10 highest xGF of the past 15 years, Power had the highest xGA, and the expected difference was the second lowest in the list.

They were the best line on the ice that period. Generated quite a few good chances to go with the goal. Our top line hadn’t done toooo much outside of TT taking over for a sec.

I get that it’s a surprise with Vancouver, but Kraken are second in that division and are a pretty solid hockey team.

Owen Power is a 1 OA pick. Using him as the example for big players not taking as long seems silly. Especially when you consider that he didn’t play his D+1 season in the NHL (other than a few games at the end) and every other 1 OA pick since 2008 went straight to the NHL. (2008 was where I stopped checking, I’m sure it goes back much farther).

Isn’t this just the opposite of true? Isn’t it usually the case that bigger players take longer, as they still have to grow into their bodies? Or at least isn’t that the usual trope?

I think the question needs a bit more clarification. What do the Sabres need to make the playoffs? What do the Sabres need to win the cup? 2 very different questions. Currently, the Sabres have 4 players in the top 53 of scoring. Cozens is also tied for 106. Skinner-Thompson-Tuch has been playing like a high end 1st line. cozens has been playing like an average 2C. With a bit more time I think he’ll be a high end 2C (Think Kadri of last season) JJP and Quinn have been playing like solid middle 6 forwards. In a years time, I think they’ll be solid 2nd liners, with more room to grow. Krebs has been scary for me, and I’m not sure he’ll be much of anything at this level, but it’s possible. Asplund is a good 4th liner. Mitts has potential to be the 3C, but needs to do a lot more at even strength first. Vinny, Girgs, are spare parts that are adequate for 4th line roles. Okposo is a good middle 6 forward, but is on an expiring contract, Oloffson is a fine 3rd liner. Dahlin is a 1D. Samuellson is a nice complement for him. Power will be a great 2/3D (that may play like a 1D)for us with time, right now he’s not quite there, is more like a 4 now. Jokiharju/Lybushkin are both solid 5s. bryson is a 7. On Defense, we need some time for Power to mature, and to add a 4D. Once that happens, our defense will be playoff calibre, possibly cup calibre. Goalie is the rough spot. Levi is the hope of the future, but could be 2-5 years from being ready for the starters workload. We need a #1 goalie bad. To make the playoffs, all this team needs is a #1 goalie, and to stay reasonably healthy IMO. To become a cup contender, we need time for our rookies to get to the level where they can make an impact, as well as a #1 goalie, #4D, and a depth forward or two.

Finally a decent power play

If an offside 30 seconds before the goal can get pulled back, why the hell can’t too many men 5 seconds before the goal get a goal called back.

Looks like there’s gonna be some high event hockey here, especially with the Thompson/Matthews line matchup.

Holy stickhandling Batman

He had a Short handed goal earlier this season.