Carmel Corn

My memory of Z could be failing me, but I think Risto has a little more offensive upside as well.

Too soon to judge for me. He has played more than I might have expected. He has certainly made some rookie mistakes as well. I wish his shot was a bit stronger, but that will get better. In his defense, he has been constantly subjected to playing with different defense partners, which is a general complaint I have with the coaching staff. I would also like to see him on the left side more.

So no Bob Corkum to the rescue?

I don't see it that way....people have been suggesting this for quite a while now. It's not an Olof Pilar thread.

Not deflecting at all....my point is that we drafted poorly and that is a key reason we are where we are.

OK, let's do this. Here is the history of our R3 - R7 Picks since 2010. How many of these picks have played for the Sabres and how much impact have they made? I would argue that our drafting history since 2010 has been poor by any measure. The vast majority have played "0" games in the NHL. This is not cherry-picking. 2010 3 68 Jerome Gauthier-Leduc Canada D 0 2010 3 75 Kevin Sundher Canada C 0 2010 3 83 Matt MacKenzie Canada D 0 2010 4 98 Steven Shipley Canada C 0 2010 5 143 Greg Sutch Canada RW 0 2010 6 173 Cedrick Henley Canada LW 0 2010 7 203 Christian Isackson United States RW 0 2010 7 208 Riley Boychuk Canada LW 0 2011 3 77 Daniel Catenacci Canada C 11 0 0 0 0 2011 4 107 Colin Jacobs United States C 0 2011 5 137 Alex Lepkowski United States D 0 2011 6 167 Nathan Lieuwen Canada G 7 0 0 0 0 1 4 0 0 .906 2011 7 197 Brad Navin United States C 0 2012 3 73 Justin Kea Canada C 0 2012 5 133 Logan Nelson United States C 0 2012 6 163 Linus Ullmark Sweden G 26 0 0 0 0 9 13 0 2 .917 2012 7 193 Brady Austin Canada D 5 0 0 0 4 2012 7 204 Judd Peterson United States C 0 2013 3 69 Nicholas Baptiste Canada RW 47 7 3 10 20 2013 5 129 Calvin Petersen United States G 0 2013 5 130 Gustav Possler Sweden RW 0 2013 5 143 Anthony Florentino United States D 0 2013 6 159 Sean Malone United States C 1 0 0 0 0 2013 7 189 Eric Locke United States C 0 2014 3 61 Jonas Johansson Sweden G 0 2014 3 74 Brycen Martin Canada D 0 2014 5 121 Maxwell Willman United States C 0 2014 6 151 Christopher Brown United States C 0 2014 7 181 Victor Olofsson Sweden RW 0 2015 4 92 William Borgen United States D 0 2015 5 122 Devante Stephens Canada D 0 2015 6 152 Giorgio Estephan Canada C 0 2015 7 182 Ivan Chukarov United States D 0 2016 3 69 Cliff Pu Canada C 0 2016 3 86 Casey Fitzgerald United States D 0 2016 4 99 Brett Murray Canada LW 0 2016 5 129 Philip Nyberg Sweden D 0 2016 5 130 Vojtech Budik Czech Republic D 0 2016 6 159 Brandon Hagel Canada LW 0 2016 7 189 Austin Osmanski United States D 0 2016 7 190 Vasily Glotov Russia C 0 2017 3 89 Oskari Laaksonen Finland D 0 2017 4 99 Jacob Bryson Canada D 0 2017 7 192 Linus Weissbach Sweden LW 0 2018 4 94 Matej Pekar Czech Republic C 2018 4 117 Linus Lindstrom Cronholm Sweden D 2018 5 125 Miska Kukkonen Finland D 2018 7 187 William Worge Kreu Sweden D

Let's look at the R1 and R2 picks each year since 2010. Are we happy with the results? 2010 1 23 Mark Pysyk 2011 1 16 Joel Armia Finland RW 180 26 32 58 54 2012 1 12 Mikhail Grigorenko Russia C 217 22 42 64 30 2012 1 14 Zemgus Girgensons ₪ Latvia C 348 44 57 101 103 2012 2 44 Jake McCabe United States D 215 10 37 47 118 2013 1 8 Rasmus Ristolainen Finland D 346 31 120 151 171 2013 1 16 Nikita Zadorov Russia D 222 11 37 48 243 2013 2 35 J.T. Compher United States C 90 16 12 28 24 2013 2 38 Connor Hurley United States C 0 2013 2 52 Justin Bailey United States RW 52 5 3 8 8 2014 1 2 Sam Reinhart Canada C 249 65 75 140 44 2014 2 31 Brendan Lemieux Canada LW 9 1 0 1 21 2014 2 44 Eric Cornel Canada C 0 2014 2 49 Vaclav Karabacek Czech Republic RW 0 2015 1 2 Jack Eichel United States C 209 73 104 177 76 2015 2 51 Brendan Guhle Canada D 21 0 5 5 10 2016 1 8 Alexander Nylander Sweden LW 7 1 1 2 0 2016 2 33 Rasmus Asplund Sweden C 0 2017 1 8 Casey Mittelstadt United States C 6 1 4 5 2 2017 2 37 Marcus Davidsson Sweden C 0 2017 2 54 Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen 2018 1 1 Rasmus Dahlin 2018 2 32 Mattias Samuelsson

My take....he has played on a bad TEAM his entire career (vs. him being a bad defenseman). Being asked to be too much when he may be more suited to a number 3 or 4 guy vs. top 2. "But that is easily replaced if we want to"....my response to that is "Easier said than done"

Tough challenge indeed for this current squad. I always felt there needs to be a 'critical mass' of new vs. old thinking in order to change the old thinking. It's not done with just one player or even a new captain. Also, it is a rather awkward situation in that our anointed captain is maybe not the ideal person to lead the 'unlearning' process. Change can maybe start with one person, but it will quickly die unless others visibly buy-in and infect the others with the same attitude.

Risto brings something that 'analytics' fail to capture. Let's refer to it as the 'macho' factor. With Risto, our score is maybe 2.0 out out 10.0. If we trade him away, we go down to -1.0. He is the only reason why other teams do not confuse the Sabres with the Buffalo Beauts.

Nice 2nd....hope to see that same version of the team in the 3rd!

Don't get too attached....he may be somewhere else by this time next week.

The only Sabre I saw giving Florida a little shove was Beaulieu in front of Ullmark after a save. That should guarantee he gets traded next Monday.

And now we build off this great first 20 minutes going into our favorite....period #2. Will we even get a SOG the next 20?

The period is almost over....fans there better get up now to beat the lines to the concessions and bathrooms.

If he had 'real' teammates, somebody else would have jumped in and spared KO from the fight. Even if it meant a misconduct penalty as a result. If they really have each other's back, then you do not allow the other team to inflict damage on your teammate who can least afford to be in that position. I would not want to find myself in the same bunker with this team....they'd probably want me to take the bullet on top and hide underneath my dead carcass.

I long for those days and guys like that on the roster. Back then, our teams had both talent, grit and they would stand up for each other. It's been so long that we now see their son's or nephews playing now.

I think the main question from the OP is whether Jack is captain material or not. Where he grades out from a player standpoint (scoring, generational, etc.) maybe somewhat related, but is not the main point. Teams can have great players or scorers who are not their captains. Is Jonathan Toews more talented than Patrick Kane? I would argue not, but I think he is a better CAPTAIN than Kane would be. Jack is a great player, but I am also in the camp that questions whether or not he has the right stuff to be a great captain. Yes he is still young, but I also think natural leadership shows at any age. My concern is that I cannot name somebody that is obvious to me as being a natural leader on this team.

Agree, a net front presence is PP 101 in my mind! Tage needs to bulk up....feed that guy some bread and carbs for crying out loud! That being said, I don't know if I've seen enough of TT's game to know if he has the knack for tips and deflections. Sam is pretty good there and needs to continue. Hell if the PP were so important, I'd get Thomas Vanek back just to camp out in front and do his magic as well.

I would LOVE to see this version of Jack! Did you catch the Blackhawks game when Risto checked P. Kane and then J. Toews attacked Risto? I cannot recall if Jack was on the ice....which is a bad thing, because nothing else happened worth remembering. If the version of Jack you described was there, I would definitely not forget him going after another player. If nothing else, I'd like to see Jack respond like Toews did to Risto.

To me, it's a little bit of a chicken and the egg thing. Do you hire a GM and HC (in that order) and construct the team around "their" philosophy, or does ownership have a specific vision and brings in management to reflect their views? Flame away, but IMHO the Sabres have been a "soft" and/or finesse team for the majority of the last 10 years or longer. Other versions of this team have had some rugged players sprinkled in, but this year's version is devoid of hard-nosed hockey playing. I myself would like to see the Sabres move towards being a fast/physical team that hits, finishes checks, get's dirty, stands up for each other and scores garbage goals by crashing the net, etc. I would like to see our superstars push back and create their own space vs. mope and complain. Such a vision requires a different head coach, possibly GM and an overarching vision by ownership saying this type of style will be our identity and what the rest of the league will come to know us by. The revolving door is frustrating, but I think we need it again.

I might take exception with the movement and attack on the PP. They stand around too much and are too easy to defend against.

He must have got tired of be the exception and wanted to fit in with the rest of the guys. It's kind of like working a government job, you don't want to stand out by outworking your co-workers.

Agree the numbers are not in his favor, but I can count the number of "non-soft" players on this team with just two or three fingers....and Risto is one of them. I would also add that he is not the only player whose game has dropped by a considerable margin.

What was especially bad was when the Buffalo Beauts tweeted that the Sabres were soft......just kidding.