PerreaultForever

maybe, but I don't think he is. Benson might actually be stronger than Quinn or Peterka. His build, despite his height, seems to have a more solid and compact look to it. Doesn't have as much of a skinny kid look as most 18 year olds have. Still has much growing to do, but I can see him turning into a Briere (as a comparable). Savoie still looks like a lightweight from what I've seen.

I'm not debating NHL vs junior. I'm debating his ice time and how much they have used him. Going back to junior was clearly not valuable.

There are ways to do it but it would take a lot of time that I'm not going to put in and I'm sure nobody else will either. You simply compare teams and how they do it and consider their success rates comparable to their draft positions. That math could be done and done over a long time period.

Oh, yes, can I win? If I'm not winning this I will start saying nice things about Brad Marchand until I do. As for this poll, it's Skinner. How can it be anyone else? Not even close.

No the NHL vs. junior thing was obvious. What I'm saying is about the minutes he gets, whether he plays every game or not. The amount of playing vs. off ice development. He's been placed in too high of a role and he's just kind of thrown out there regardless of what happens on ice. We do that with too many of them but that's a whole long discussion and unlikely to go anywhere as it's KA and Granato who make that decision not us. They are idiots.

Oddly we conclude completely different things from thew same example. Development is not bunk. Sabres development plans however are. the results speak for themselves.

Depends on how motivated he is and how hard he works after he has all that long term security. This isn't the place for a Vanek discussion, but contrary to many here I think he was very over rated and not nearly as good as he could and should have been. We should have let Edmonton have him and signed Briere instead.

Oh I think he could be very good for sure. I'd say he's our top prospect right now, but I also think he has in fact faded quite a bit, and they've asked too much from him at this point. Look at how many dumbass stick penalties he takes as an example. We need to be putting him in and out of the line up accordingly and teaching good habits not letting him develop bad ones. I cannot stand the way the Sabres consistently just throw players out there and say learn by playing. It's a terrible development plan and there isn't another team in the league that does that.

Worrying? I doubt that's the right word. It seemed fitting to me that his 50th was into an empty net. I could be wrong, but I'm going to bet that if someone offers him a big money long term deal they will regret it much like Calgary regrets Huberdeau. This conversation comes up with various players on Sabrespace about players needing linemates to succeed. Reinhart to me is the perfect example of that sort of complimentary player who can succeed at what he does with the right linemates, but not really on his own. As for spending our time better, maybe we could debate whether Byram is any better than Montour. That might be fun 🙂

Sure he has, but that's not what I was saying. Rookies have irregular development paths and when you rush them in they often have fall backs before putting it all together. Again, look at Mitts path as an example of a first rounder drafted roughly around the same level. Up, down, looked like a bust, got it together, came into his prime. It took years. Benson might have a quicker and more direct path but he could also easily take huge steps backwards first. It's just the way it is, and we rush our prospects as a "plan" and it's not a good "plan".

Right side of an even game so no complaints. Can't say I thought it was a great game, but it's a win.

That was pretty entertaining. Preds are playing playoff style hockey too. Saros could pull some Hasek level play for them to be a playoff upset team. Unlikely, but definitely possible. (I'm fondly remembering Hasek vs. Ottawa as I type this)

You'd think right? Scheduler certainly gave them some time to relax in sunny warm Alberta 🙂

This article posted on this site might allude to it. https://www.buffalohockeybeat.com/after-slow-start-sabres-prospect-viktor-neuchev-thriving-in-rochester/ It's about Neuchev but if you read it it alludes to players needing to take charge of their own development. Talks about how he "didn't do anything" outside of the rink on his own time. Says Appert had a similar interaction earlier with Kulich. I wonder if it's an organizational thing. Point being, there does not seem to be an organizational expectation/demand that I would suggest other successful teams definitely have. Honestly, I think some of them are still just playing video games (and that was a thing a few years back if you remember related to Mitts and others).

No tanks. To quote Torts again "tanking is asinine". You don't build a culture of winning by trying to lose for better draft odds. No reason to bring anybody up though. Nobody's ready and they might as well let Rochester have whatever kind of run they can have (although I doubt it's much).

This is absolutely true. I expected Cozens to have more meat on him by now but he still looks like a beanpole. Dahlin has finally added some muscle and he plays more solid but there's a definite lack of muscle building on this team. I was watching the Bruins Flyers game today and saw this beautiful goal by Brazeau in front and the first thought I had was - if only Tage would do this, he'd be a league leading force. Now to be clear, Brazeau is a very slow fringe player and has nowhere near Tage's talent, but he's a huge guy with reach, just like Tage. What he does differently is he goes right to the front and controls the puck in front and jams his goals home or creates havoc. Point is it's the element missing from Tage's game. (now I know he's done it a few times, and when he does we all go wow what a goal, but it just doesn't happen on a regular basis and that's because he doesn't like the contact, it's just that simple).

Maybe, but Philly is playing tough. Beat Boston at their own game today. Erik Johnson even doing some things for them surprisingly. Philly will not go down easily. So Eichel and Reinhart weren't "names"? I think your theory is flawed.

Washington beats Carolina so go figure.

Given your Zappa image, maybe it should be "Dumb All Over"

More likely you get Pale Shelter. I often wonder, well, "how did I get here?"

As was I. I think you said 7 and I said 5 so right in between. Repeat offender and deserved, but I'd also say Trouba has done worse this year and gotten nothing for it (he has had another suspension I know). Going to hurt Washington's chances for sure, but they were already a long shot imo.

I agree only in part. I don't think what Adams is doing is the right thing. It's too far in one direction imo. Does he have to rely heavily on the draft? Of course he does. Buffalo is also definitely on no trade lists, but you just aren't going to win without a proper mix of veterans/leaders and young kids with talent. You need to make a serious run at winning to convince players you are serious about winning. You build an incredibly young team and veterans (even those from Ontario who might like the location) are going to think "I don't have time to wait for that to develop, I want to win sooner than later." It's a self fulfilling prophecy. I also believe if you had someone like Trotts as your GM you'd command more respect and people would believe you were in fact serious about winning. Culture change is the big key difference imo. We could have paid Schenn more than they did. We could have overpaid Hathaway. There are things we could have done to make a stronger push now and turn that winning idea into reality. Trading away a 2C who has finally come into his own in his prime signals the opposite. It makes us look like a farm team and nothing more Question for you, are you a bigger Preds fan or Sabres fan and has that changed over time? I'm guessing you were a Sabres fan and maybe moved to Nashville? I think you are in a similar spot to me in terms of Preds/Sabres as I am with bruins/Sabres but I could be wrong. You might just like the uniforms 🙂

Nobody's ready imo and I wouldn't be surprised if Benson steps backwards and has a rocky up and down road for a years much like Mitts had. Probably doesn't take quite a s long as Mitts did, but the discussion next year might be should he go to Rochester. Johnson would be the only maybe unless you add Levi who is also a maybe but not really ready either. Sabres will probably use him as UPL's back up though. The additions to the current line up will be Quinn and Samuelsson.

Nope, not without changes, big changes, like many of the comments above.

Ain't that the truth! Those were the days. The next 2 had some financial issues and thus Pegula seemed like a godsend, but his failure to just sit back and enjoy while turning it over to good hockey people to run is our undoing. Pegula doesn't get hockey at all. I don't follow football closely any more but it seems to me the Bills are actually underachieving despite having a stud quarterback which in today's NFL is pretty much the cornerstone you need for any franchise. So maybe that'll end up a fail as well. Looking back we maybe all should have seen the future when Pat walked out the door.