Digger
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Posts posted by Digger
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Tim Kennedy wanted to be here..................just not at the right salary at the time.
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1 hour ago, Doohickie said:
Rather than Mitts at 1C, I would at least try Girgensons in that role. He's defensively responsible and has shown decent offense in the past, but with the tank fruit he slid down the depth chart. It might be purely sacrificial to put him in at 1C but if Mitts isn't ready I'd hate to ruin him... again... by putting him in over his head. I think Girgs is mentally tougher at these stages in their respective careers.
Okay but that's tough to see right now. I said in my proposed 2021-22 lineup that I didn't see any one line being the #1 line this season. I would think Girgensons could help with the defensive side of things against the top lines but I don't see the coach putting him out when down a goal or two.
Can you put forward your suggestion with Girgensons as 1C in the "Lineup 2021-22" thread?
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30 minutes ago, Pimlach said:
Mitts had 10 goals in just 41 games last season. He had 12 goals in 77 games when rushed into the lineup at 20 years old. He will likely score more than that this season.Rasmussen has 52 career goals in 9 NHL seasons. His highest goal level was 12 in 81 games. He was never a playmaker either (76 lifetime assists), he was a 4th line player.
1 hour ago, etiennep99 said:Mittelstadt's ultimate production seems more comparable to Eric Rasmussen.
I know at one point Casey Mittelstadt was training with Erik Rasmussen in the off seasons. It's kind of funny, but hopefully the student is much better than the teacher. I'm sure he will be much better overall.
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1 hour ago, GASabresIUFAN said:
For some reason y’all keep selling Casey short. Last season all I heard on this board was Casey is a bust and will never amount to anything. Now, after proving you wrong, it’s he is worse then John Tucker and will never be counted on in the clutch. Lol. All this kid did last season was play clutch hockey. Once inserted in the lineup full time, after soul sucking Rasputin was fired, all he did was play tough minutes as the no. 2 scoring at a 63 pt pace.
https://www.nhl.com/sabres/news/buffalo-sabres-casey-mittelstadt-season-recap/c-325121364Granato, like Chris Taylor the year before, thinks the world of this kid. Maybe it’s time for people here to keep a more open mind on his potential.
I agree that Mittelstadt is a very talented player and I'm looking forward to seeing how he plays and develops in the NHL this season. I'm hoping for the best and that he gets as much support as he needs from Granato and the full player roster. I'm hoping that he can help fill some of the void of Reinhart's smarts around the goal crease.
My concern remains with his overall confidence. He was given the 2C position when he started with the Sabres after we unwisely traded O'Reilly away. It was a bad decision on paper and it was bad for Mittelstadt's development. He was not ready for 2C minutes and it really hurt.
Last season we saw signs of him putting it all together and getting his confidence and belief that he can score and compete in the NHL. This season it appears he's going to be out in the 1C position because of lack of options. Again it seems like a tough position to be putting him into. It will be an interesting year.
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I saw that this was posted yesterday. I did not see an English translation. I'm hoping there's no drama from the Dahlin camp or anything taken out of context. If anyone has anything further on the translated interview then please post.
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Now that they have Fiala signed and most likely know where they stand with Kaprizov will they make another run at getting Eichel?
I think they really needed to understand their salary cap before making another pitch.
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14 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:
Less than I thought he would sign for. I figured he would get $6M in arbitration.
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22 hours ago, Norcal said:
Calgary is intriguing.
Tkachuk won't be coming back but I'd love a player like him on Sabres ice.
At this point it's becoming less likely a trade even happens.
I'm not sure I see Calgary as a viable trade partner but there was a name that stood out to me when I looked at their draft history and prospects in Adam Fox. I found it interesting history.
Calgary drafted Adam Fox in the 3rd round in 2016 (66th overall). He developed well and looked like a great prospect for the Flames. However, he was traded in June 2018 along with Dougie Hamilton and Micheal Ferlund to Carolina for Elias Lindholm and Noah Hanifin. Unfortunately he did not want to sign with Carolina (he grew up in New York) so they traded his rights to the NY Rangers for a 2019 2nd round pick and a conditional 3rd round pick in 2020 (that became a 2nd round pick). He goes on to win the Norris Trophy in 2021.
You can look at this scenario in a few ways. Carolina got an A+ prospect with their trade package but then the player decided he wasn't going to sign with them, potentially play out his time and become a UFA. Carolina would have looked better with Fox on their team. I do wish they would fix this NCAA issue. And it sucks that the Rangers got him at a bargain because he wanted to play for the Rags.
There is a lesson for the Sabres to try and get players that will sign here in this potential trade.
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14 minutes ago, New Scotland (NS) said:
I love seeing these wall murals get created. There was one that went up near where I worked at the time and it was really cool to see the picture develop over a period of weeks. It's also amazing to see the improvement to the drab building if it's done well. Thanks for posting.
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Interesting listen for those that like listening to "The Hockey Guy". Hopefully it helps the Eichel trade now that he has completed a preview with Eichel in the lineup.
I think The Hockey Guy does a nice job on his videos trying to stay neutral and giving an honest opinion.
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5 hours ago, Carmel Corn said:
I know this is a forwards discussion, but let's not forget the power play as well. Not having Jack on the PP was noticeable to me last year and now minus Sam creates an even bigger hole. I do not see anybody from this list of forwards being able to take up the slack and I wasn't convinced it looked much better under Granato than it did with Ralph. Could be a rough season for the powerplay.
Yes it could be. We also had the option of using Risto in front to screen hot goalies so that they could not see the puck. He was another option that's gone to give the powerplay a different look.
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One of the truths in life for everyone is that we cannot change the past. The only thing we can do is learn from the past and implement changes to not repeat mistakes. Businesses do this with "lessons learned exercises" and reviewing "lessons learned" are very important to not repeat mistakes and to implement improvements. What could we have done better is the question to be asked and how can we do it better next time?
Lehner's comments are old. They may be valid from the time period but we are only getting one side of the story. Did the Sabres learn from the supposed mistakes and implement changes to be improved? Perhaps and let's hope so, but I wouldn't expect the Sabres management come out and respond to Lehner's comments from an event in 2017-18. The Eichel scenario will get played out and we will need to wait to see if he gets surgery and how he recovers with whatever team he ends up with.
Time to move forward.
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I think Sam Reinhart is a player with a very high hockey sense and it will continue into the playoffs where he will be very good for the Panthers. I had previously said in other threads that I thought Reinhart had the most hockey sense of any Sabre on last season's roster. Good luck to him but it's time for Sabres fans to move on.
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12 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:
Anyone counting on Tage Thompson to be good at hockey is in for a shock. He's a 3/4 line tweener with size and a decent shot, little more.
Yes and he takes too long to get the shot off. I'm hoping he can finally get enough strength on that huge frame and that coach DG can get him to put in a solid effort every shift. Hopefully he plays hard and stays healthy.
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1 hour ago, I-90 W said:
Who cares about the taxes, every type of fishing imaginable down there. 🎣
Except ice-fishing. 😃
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3 hours ago, postseasonblues said:
At least they got Levi and a 1st that probably won't have a chance to make the team until after Adams and Granato are no longer here.
It's kind of depressing to me. We traded Reinhart who led our team in scoring last season and replaced him with a top 10 protected 1st for next year and a goalie prospect in Levi. Sam signs a deal for 3 years. It's quite conceivable that the Sabres will not have a player on their roster from this trade deal until Reinhart signs his next contract.
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28 minutes ago, Thorny said:
I don't think there's any new information we could ever receive that can't be twisted into more ammunition for people to dislike Eichel
23 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:You're missing the point. It's not about vilifying Eichel. I think it's part of the pressure campaign Jack's agents are orchestrating to shame the Sabres into moving Jack sooner.
My point was that this is only "news" today because of Jack Eichel and a desire to s**T on the Sabres organization. Lehner has played for 3 other teams since his time in Buffalo. It seemed pretty odd to me to have this come up.
I never had anything against Eichel but I do think his comments and his agents actions are not helping the situation at all.
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Lehner hasn't played for the team since 2018. Seems like the media is really digging to keep the negative narrative going against the Sabres.
What's the real point? All about poor Eichel? They should focus on getting some NHL team(s) to step up with a fair trade offer so that poor Jack can get his desired medical procedure.
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14 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:
Besides that Hasek fellow.
We should remember that we had no idea what we traded for when we got Hasek. Everyone thought he had no style because he was flopping all over the ice and dropping his stick. Otherwise we wouldn't have wasted a trade getting a worn out Grant Fuhr. We should have left Hasek in net for the next series after the Mayday goal and win over the Bruins (but I digress).
Closest young goalie today might be Spencer Knight as the next one. It will be interesting to see him develop this season with Florida. I would love to find another Hasek.
Another interesting thought might have come from the Ryan O'Reilly trade. What if we had got Jordan Binnington in the trade? He hadn't had much impact with the Blues before that year and was an older prospect. I'm not sure it would have been hard to get him.
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46 minutes ago, triumph_communes said:
3 years. Anyone question him being impossible to please on contract now?
No it's a good deal for Sam Reinhart and shows that he is committing to the Panthers. 3 years also allows him to try for a contract with Vancouver in the future should he want the chance to play in his home town with the Canucks.
I wish we would have or could have kept him with the Sabres but it is what it is at this point.
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1 hour ago, Cascade Youth said:
It honestly would not shock me at all if he never puts on a Sabres uniform.
He will sign with the Sabres. His only alternative is to wait it out at college which is ridiculous for a high quality player like himself. He needs to move to the next level to keep developing if he wants to succeed in the NHL.
If the Eichel situation does anything it should demonstrate that it's important to develop as a player and get to that big contract as soon as possible and take the 8 year deal at big money. I'm sure that's the advice he will get from his advisors. The Sabres also offer a great opportunity because we don't have a crowded established blue line.
Personally I think that he will be happy to be a Sabre.
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6 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:
I don't think it's kool-aid at all with the young forwards. If you looks at the numbers, Asplund, Mitts, Tage, R2 all played well and added solid offense under DG. Also Jokiharju and Dahlin also looked significantly better. There is reason for optimism. Sadly without proper support, none of it works. That kids can't play an upbeat offensive game is the D pairs are constantly hemmed in our zone and the goaltenders can't be relied on to make a big save.
Don't get me wrong. I am optimistic about the young players we have and I hope they can stand up to the pressure that will be applied this year. I absolutely agree that that they need the proper support.
Over the past two seasons I talked myself into thinking that we would be okay with Hutton as the backup to Ullmark. He clearly wasn't good enough even though he played a couple of good games each season. And the sad situation is that Hutton may be better than what we have right now.
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12 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:
Sadly, all the kids could thrive and they won't achieve that result with the goalies KA saddled the kids with. It's really a shame. We have the makings of an up and coming team, the the goalie failure literally pulled the rug out of from under the rebuild. No matter how well the kids go, the goalies will allow 4 goals a night. No team, no matter how talented, can overcome such poor goaltending and that is what KA has done. Right now this roster will be lucky to get to 20 wins next year.
Sadly I agree on the goalie situation. I can talk myself into being somewhat optimistic (might be something in that Kool-Aid) with seeing how the forwards and defense come together and play but I cannot see anything positive about the goal situation. Anderson, sure he's okay for a mentor but he can't carry the load. Dell? Tokarski?
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1 hour ago, bob_sauve28 said:
Just heard a rumor on Instigators. So I’ll pass it along and add my own totally speculative thoughts.
A ‘NHL source’ said that Boston was calling KA every two weeks about Jack. That sounds unrealistic. I’d swap them Jack for Charlie MacAvoy and a goalie but doubt that happens.
I recall that KA was trying to get a goalie out of Boston when he traded Hall, but Boston would not budge. Which is curious, if Boston liked their young goalies so much why sign Linus? With Rask that gives them four NHL goalies. Did they do that to screw with us and make us want to make a deal for Jack?
Sounds too crazy to be true.
I assume the goalie being discussed last year might have been Daniel Vladar. He was moved to Calgary after they signed Ullmark.
I can't envision them having enough top end A+ prospects to make the trade. They also don't have much room salary wise so would expect lots of money coming back in the deal.
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Jack Eichel: Trade rumors and speculation
in The Aud Club
Posted
medical reassessment time?