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Sabres Trade Alex Nylander to Chicago for D Man Henri Jokiharju


Brawndo

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  • 2 months later...
1 minute ago, Brawndo said:

I swear I have seen that third question asked somewhere else before ?????

The saying goes that players go from "prospect to suspect to reject."  I think he's clearly in suspect, and going in the wrong direction.

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Here is the question and answer about Nylander 

 

I buy into the idea that (Alex) Nylander is still real young and could develop into something more. But what I don’t buy into is the idea that a coaching staff led by (Jeremy) Colliton has the ability to develop or improve upon the players on its roster. I just don’t see any reason to believe in this unproven coach with no résumé. Can you convince me otherwise? — Tom M.

I’m guessing no, I can’t. We’re 14 months into Colliton’s NHL coaching career, and while objectively speaking it’s probably too early to say anything definitively, it sure seems like most fans have made up their minds. And I get it. We haven’t seen any sort of linear progression from this team; they’re all over the map. The structure and team defense (presumably one of the reasons Joel Quenneville was fired) hasn’t improved. The team has character and resiliency, and that counts, but we still don’t know what its identity is besides hoping Patrick Kane and Robin Lehner steal a win. But if we’re being objective about it, there’s only so much you can do with the player personnel you’re given. Could Barry Trotz make this team a defensive juggernaut? Maybe. Could anyone else? Doubtful.

I also don’t think we can fairly state how Colliton and his staff are developing young players yet. I’ll never understand why Colliton and Bowman were so eager to move on from Henri Jokiharju, but they do deserve credit for the way Kirby Dach and Adam Boqvist have stepped in, each a year earlier than expected, and held their own this season. Colliton has brought Dach along slowly — sheltering him in the bottom six, stingily doling out minutes, putting him with defensively responsible wingers such as Ryan Carpenter and Zack Smith — until finally unleashing him a bit recently with Alex DeBrincat and Dylan Strome. That’s how Quenneville brought DeBrincat along (remember all the wailing and gnashing of teeth over his time spent on the third line as a rookie?), and that worked out pretty darn well. And Strome went from a bust in Arizona to a core piece in Chicago pretty quickly under Colliton. If you’re going to blame Colliton for how he’s handling Nylander (and that’s entirely fair), you also have to acknowledge where he’s succeeded. Dach, Boqvist, Strome and even Dominik Kubalik have made significant strides with this staff.

Bill Belichick had a losing record in five of his first six seasons in Cleveland and New England. I’m certainly not saying Colliton is the next Belichick. But only time will tell whether Colliton is the forward-thinking coach of the future that Bowman envisioned or an inexperienced guy who’s simply in over his head. The problem is, nobody wants to wait to find out.

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In the incomplete vacuum strawman comparisons of just pointzzz....

Since the trade...

A. Nylander ... 39 games. 5 goals, 9 assists. 
 

H. Jokiharju ... 42 games. 3 goals, 7 assists.

Nylander has looked (most games) very pedestrian. Not terrible. Nothing great.

Joker has looked mostly solid, effective and smart with his positioning and puck movement.

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Sounds like Casey in Rochester.

On 1/3/2020 at 9:33 PM, Zamboni said:

In the incomplete vacuum strawman comparisons of just pointzzz....

Since the trade...

A. Nylander ... 39 games. 5 goals, 9 assists. 
 

H. Jokiharju ... 42 games. 3 goals, 7 assists.

Nylander has looked (most games) very pedestrian. Not terrible. Nothing great.

Joker has looked mostly solid, effective and smart with his positioning and puck movement.

 

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1 hour ago, Curt said:

1) Irrelevant to the conversation 

2) It’s been only 2 weeks/ 8 games

3) He has points in 4 of his past 5 games

5) He has a goal in two straight games

The play he made in that video was unlike anything I've seen him do so far. Maybe it was a confidence thing.  

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14 minutes ago, inkman said:

The play he made in that video was unlike anything I've seen him do so far. Maybe it was a confidence thing.  

Mitts is finding he has just a little more time and space to think, act, react in Roch. Not much more, but just enough to where he can grow his game, and dare I say ... develop, yes develop as a pro. You’ve seen him more in Roch, than I have, so I would refer to you if you think my crude analysis is off. As of right now, today, snapshot in time ... he’s becoming more comfortable on the ice. Still has a mountain to climb, but at least it seems (key word) he’s on the right trail.

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1 hour ago, inkman said:

The play he made in that video was unlike anything I've seen him do so far. Maybe it was a confidence thing.  

Maybe?  Try darn near definitely.  (Not saying he definitely won't be a bust, but it's not like he was an 80's JEST level draft reach, nor closer to home, Aaron Maybin.  Still am expecting him to be useful as a Sabre by mid-next season at the latest.)

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  • 6 months later...

Dom luscysnsnsnsnysnysn with the Athletic is doing a complex statistics-based analysis of young players showing who their path most closely resembles. Basically, he charts and compares how a player has been used and what he has done using a variety of stats and analytics. Nylander is today’s subject, and he’s tracking to be Kyle Turris.

https://theathletic.com/1891542/2020/07/13/the-next-ones-can-alex-nylander-be-the-next-kyle-turris/

Other players who resemble Nylander include Josh Bailey, Brayden Schenn and Mika Zibanejad. 

There are, of course, less flattering comparables among the 93 names that have a similarity score greater than 50 with Nylander – his statistical profile isn’t very unique – but the majority of them did turn into productive NHLers and a lot of them are Nylander’s top comps. It leads to an optimistic forecast, a trajectory that likely has Nylander becoming a productive top-six player during his prime. Nylander has the tools and pedigree to get there and others in his situation have shown him the path. Now it’s on him to get on it.“

Before you get completely depressed another player that shares a similar profile and still is a Sabre is Casey Mittelstadt.

 

Edited by dudacek
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3 hours ago, shrader said:

You don't sell subscriptions by comparing players to Sam Bennett (insert the name of whichever high draft pick who never amounted to anything).

Tangent time:  We were real close to drafting Bennett.  Unanimous consensus in 2014 was that Florida was going to take Ekblad, leaving us our choice of Sams.  Rankings were split between the two; and Bennett was the higher ranked skater according to several sources, including Central Scouting.  Several mock drafts had us at Bennett, likely moreso than Reinhart.  Draisaitl/Sabres conversations were late to the party, and while he was an interesting pick pre-draft, consensus was that Draisaitl was a top-five pick, not a top-two pick.

The Sams' first seasons after the draft were pretty similar.  Reinhart put up 0.53P/GP, Bennett 0.48P/GP.  But the next three seasons would tell the tale, as Bennett put up 26P, 26P, and 27P, while Reinhart put up 47P, 50P, and 65P (more than double!) .  Bennett was surpassed by his CGY peers, and it shows in his TOI, whereas Reinhart is playing top line minutes with EIchel: Bennett played 12:38 per game this past season; Reinhart played 20:32 per game.

I, and most others, didn't expect Buffalo to take the risky chance on Draisaitl.  I think the majority of people who second guess that decision use hindsight.  Our decision at the time was between the two Sams, and we chose correctly.  Anyone who thinks things couldn't be any worse for our franchise right now, isn't taking the time to imagine if we had tanked that entire miserable 2013-14 season, and then came away with Bennett instead of Reinhart.

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41 minutes ago, IKnowPhysics said:

Tangent time:  We were real close to drafting Bennett.  Unanimous consensus in 2014 was that Florida was going to take Ekblad, leaving us our choice of Sams.  Rankings were split between the two; and Bennett was the higher ranked skater according to several sources, including Central Scouting.  Several mock drafts had us at Bennett, likely moreso than Reinhart.  Draisaitl/Sabres conversations were late to the party, and while he was an interesting pick pre-draft, consensus was that Draisaitl was a top-five pick, not a top-two pick.

The Sams' first seasons after the draft were pretty similar.  Reinhart put up 0.53P/GP, Bennett 0.48P/GP.  But the next three seasons would tell the tale, as Bennett put up 26P, 26P, and 27P, while Reinhart put up 47P, 50P, and 65P (more than double!) .  Bennett was surpassed by his CGY peers, and it shows in his TOI, whereas Reinhart is playing top line minutes with EIchel: Bennett played 12:38 per game this past season; Reinhart played 20:32 per game.

I, and most others, didn't expect Buffalo to take the risky chance on Draisaitl.  I think the majority of people who second guess that decision use hindsight.  Our decision at the time was between the two Sams, and we chose correctly.  Anyone who thinks things couldn't be any worse for our franchise right now, isn't taking the time to imagine if we had tanked that entire miserable 2013-14 season, and then came away with Bennett instead of Reinhart.

What went wrong with Bennett? Was he simply a tool guy who couldn't convert his assets into production or was he the type of player who could dominate at the lower level but simply wasn't good enough to make the leap into the manly NHL league.? Would a change of scenery possibly resuscitate his up to now disappointing career? 

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