pi2000

McCabe is a very underrated defenseman. He has a +7 TRpm :), tied for 2nd among Sabre defenders.

Cozens stature is not whats holding him back. He needs to learn to see the ice better and improve his awareness, which will improve with another year of juniors.

rayzor: "that is not what you wanted to do there.."

you sure Eichel has another year in him?

Hutton ?

yes

They picked a lot of guys that didn't end up playing for them...

In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is King

The best case scenario is JBOT fills out the middle six via trade, allowing Mittlestadt and Thomspon to start the season in Roch where they belong. Let them build confidence, learn how to win and build some chemistry together at least for a few months until they prove they're too good for the A.

I won't invest any time in this discussion for two reasons... It's 2 years away, the roster could completely turn over by then. The team is bad, losing one guy to expansion is the least of our worries. Lockout.

Thomspon and Mittlestadt are JBOTs guys. It would look bad for JBOT if he sent Thomspon down earlier in the season. My theory with Mittlestadt is that he was the teacher's (Housley) pet... Both Minnesota boys, no way was Housley going to push for him to be sent down... they take care of their own. I could see this rubbing guys like Berglund the wrong way when Casey continues to see regular 2nd line minutes while struggling. Will be interesting to see where Mittlestadt fits in Krueger's world. That said, Casey better take some steps this summer. He's always come off as kind of aloof when asked about his fitness and training habits... He gives the impression that his hands are the key to his performance, not fitness or strength, so it's a concern... that and his tobacco fueled fortnite sessions. It's time to grow up Casey.

punk

Whatever Buffalo offers them to take him. There were many deals like this in the Vegas draft.

Absolutely. He's legit. Still can't believe Chicago traded him, young D with his skillset don't grow on trees.

Prolly end up in Seattle... but yeah will need to offer picks and or other players as incentive.

His last name sounds too much like Josefson.

In the land of the blind, the one eyed man is King.

Can you define adjusted plus minus? TRpm's... Reinhart +5 Eichel +4 Dahlin +3 Larsson +2 Girgensons -2 You mentioned shooting percentage... Do you know their high danger shooting%? I'm curious because, yes they work hard, but my eyes tell me they see quite a few high danger chances but rarely convert... missing the net entirely on a many shots in tight. I'd like to see what % of their attempts hit the net vs other 4th liners around the league.

Again, hockey is controlled chaos, you cannot simply focus on a single statistic (DZS%/points), unless it's TRpm ?, to quantify their worth to the team. There are thousands of unquantifiable plays during a game that only a trained eye can measure. We've seen the lack of awareness in all zones, lack of skill, making poor decisions with the puck, out of position, failure to execute a simple pass, missing wide open nets, etc... It's been a recurring theme for these two since day one, and frankly I've seen enough. These two combined for 10 goals last season. 10. That's simply not good enough. Their TRpms IIRC are around 0, which, on a bad team, means they're part of the problem.

They don't deserve roster spots just because they can get the puck out of our zone. That's setting the bar way way way too low. You need players who can play a 200ft game and chip in offensively. Girgensons and Larsson simply lack the skill required to be an effective contributor on an NHL roster. Package them together with picks or prospects or whatever and upgrade those bottom 6 positions.... It's not rocket science. Get creative, try something different for a change, there are still a lot of UFAs, and RFAs that might be available via trade. But to put those guys out there year after year after year and then complain that they contribute zero offensively and we're not scoring enough, is just stupid.

Good thing they keep hanging on to guys like Zemgus and Larry while launching the Kane's and O'Reilly's. There's a saying in Tennessee....

Tired of the "because Buffalo" mantra.... he needs another year of juniors anyway, this is nothing in the grand scheme of things.