PerreaultForever

This is the point where I stop being confidant in my assessments and don't know enough about these guys to say much. Draft a bunch of D in these rounds and see what happens. They say this guy has some "push back" so sounds good to me.

and the Hockey News had him at 54 so who knows? Like a number of this year's prospects the rankings varied a lot. To be clear I'm not saying this guy is going to be a bust, I think I just reacted to the Samuelsson comparison. I don't see that at all.

Perhaps unsurprisingly I have never shared the Jake McCabe love some people here have.

Oh it's definitely possible. I'm not arguing with that or with his skill level. There's huge potential. But there's also a little uncertainty. As I said initially that's 2 years in a row where the little guy dropped in the rankings and we took him. Time will tell if our GM is smarter than those guys who passed and took the bigger guy.

"This is a Sabre"? That could be taken a number of ways 🙂 Yes he's a D man, but I don't care for this pick myself. I don't see the Samuelsson comparison at all. I see him as a bottom pairing guy at best. I would have taken Kalan Lind.

It's possible, but to the bold, that's at the junior level. The question will linger as to how he will manage that against NHL D. These type of guys have skill but the Briere type strength and grit is a rarer commodity. So the little guys always raise questions. I feel more confidant when they draft more size along with a level of skill.

I don't hate this pick. This guy goes to the net and if he gets a little greasier he could develop into a good power forward. The rush on goalies made me wish maybe we'd gotten one of them but I will take this guy as a solid prospect. Finally some size 🙂 Too many of them projected for here went early. First round.

They all have potential, but my problem is that we have too many guys with similarities. This is either keep throwing things at the same target hoping one will stick or eventually you need to flip some of these guys for need. Hopefully things change after the next few rounds but (although I generally do believe in BPA) we still lack D prospects and to some extent goaltenders. We also do not have many prospects who project to be 2 way players, checkers, or physical lower end guys. At some point this has to be addressed.

Big D going early. Guess that's not a surprise after Vegas won the cup with, big D. Little skilled guys dropped, and no trades. That guy Winnipeg took at 18, Colby Barlow, sure looked mature for his age. He intrigues me. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the Leafs picked a child.

Yup, if you didn't think size mattered he was top 10 for sure. Second year in a row we've picked the guy who dropped because of his size. Time will tell if it's the right thing to do or not.

Character, leadership, toughness. Next to hiring Kreuger, JBot's biggest mistake.

Talk of the Leafs looking at Reaves in free agency too. So maybe we've got Lucic, Jeannot, Reaves, all in the same division ready to pummel each other and we will send...................Stillman? in to stand up to them? Can't wait for the "that guy should be banned from hockey" thread after one of them runs our goalie.

Well, of course we ended up with the little guy. What else could I have expected? In fairness, my first choice Reinbacher went super early and my hopeful choice went a little early as well in Danielson (Yzerman is a smart man). Benson fell further than expected. Size obviously the issue (plus the Yotes with Simashev way early go figure that one) so he's maybe the most skilled at that point, but if it had been me at that point I would have gone with Wood. He could be good, he could be very good, but once again the size question will linger until he actually IS good at the NHL level. As an aside, Michkov to the Flyers seems right and most of round 1 felt right aside from the Yotes who are insane. Speaking of Philly though I was hoping for Bonk with their pick in round 2 but obviously they took him early and so much for that.

So I guess Stone will go on LTIR for the full year (until the playoffs of course).

What we lack, in terms of leadership. is NHL playoff winners. The best captains/leaders in the NHL that I can think of from the last few years include, Patrice Bergeron, Jordan Staal, Anze Kopitar, Crosby, Stone. There are other leaders and former captains like Nick Foligno but we have had nobody like this. Okposo's a good guy, but he's not an experienced winner. Girgs is just a veteran we have. Tuch, imo, is the closest thing we have. Eichel should never have been captain. Dahlin? idk. Not sure if he has what it takes. maybe.

If Gourde was available I'd trade 13 in a heartbeat. But, he's not available.

I hope the gap is narrower next year too, but I think back in 2019 a lot of people here were saying NJ was in worse shape than the Sabres and predictions were dire. They've added high draft picks like we have, but they have also balanced their roster with veterans for immediate need. When they added Hamilton lots of people scratched their heads and wondered but it paid off big time. We, are "prioritizing a 4D according to LeBrun" but so far haven't got one. The lesson here in comparison is make this happen.

They won a playoff round already. Ahead of us, that's the only hard fact at this point. Can or will we catch up or surpass them? Remains to be seen.

Nice idea, but neither is moving. Never say never but near impossible.

Just remember, as the Zen masters say, there is no past, there is no future, there is only now.

Say what you want about the price tag, but I think you can say the Devils rebuild is over and they are now a top competitor. So in 2018-19 Sabres and Devils were bottom dwellers with 76 and 72 points respectively. The next year we tied with 68 points each. They are now a playoff team and our future remains to be seen. Compare the differences in approach.

Maybe we all need to thank Hall for his lack of effort? Maybe it took that situation for Adams to move to the full deconstruction/rebuild and take us away from that era? Hall was good in Boston. Not MVP level but good. Bruins fans are by and large unhappy with him leaving although accepting of the cap reality they face.

Did he? Seems to me Sabres made a choice. A bad choice.

yes, low IQs, just like his brother stumbling all the way to the final. Such idiots. NJ getting it done. They know what it takes and what they needed. Wood going to go elsewhere then? Make an offer.

I don't think that's it. They need the contracts to get to the cap floor. That's obviously part of it, and they will eventually flip Hall to a contender like we did (probably for more) but a veteran power forward to start with Bedard isn't a horrible idea either. They gave up next to nothing. 2 AHLers. The big non Tim Murray aspect imo is dumping 4 million on Foligno for a year. This is the kind of move Murray should have made with Eichel. There is no better leader, professional, mentor for young players than Nick Foligno. They're paying him to set that culture right from day one and he will.