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GDT: Buffalo at Toronto, 7pm 9/20/19, MSG WGR


Andrew Amerk

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2 minutes ago, Scottysabres said:

oof, 3 to 0. Well, there is some work to be done, or Krugs has his work cut out for him?

How bout freaking Botts? Get off your ass and swing us a Risto for Rakell deal, or a 2c. Anything please, cause Mitts isn't remotely ready for 2c.

As for the D, meh, not impressed. But there is time.

I mean they only played one defenseman from the top 7 or 8 on their depth chart, what would you expect there?

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So if that was an evaluation game for bubble guys:

  • Thompson and Cozens faded as the game went on but looked physically strong and showed a high skill level. They remain in the mix.
  • Curtis Lazar and Rasmus Asplund showed jump and reliability. I think they could step in for Larsson and Girgensons right now in similar roles and level of play. Asplund gets props for being a last-minute lineup addition and playing out of position. They too remain in the mix.
  • Vlad Sobotka actually had a good game for Vlad. Of course the bar is so low an ant could trip over it, but if he is in the picture, today didn’t knock him out of it.
  • If you thought Remi Elie had a chance to make this roster (I hope he doesn’t), he didn’t hurt it either. Showcased the two things he has, speed and puck pressure, well.
  • Ruotsalainen was one of the few Sabres who got better as the game went along. His head was up and he kept skating. He’s not as good as Asplund, and I had already written him off, but today pointed his needle in the right direction.
  • We weren’t playing Pittsburgh, so we got the Charmin Sheary tonight.
  • I like CJ Smith, But I think he’s done. His first game he showed good jump and good hockey sense but his hands failed him against AHLers. Tonight against the Matthews line, he just faded into the background. He’s a good AHLer but he’s not making the jump.
  • Kyle Okposo makes me sad. That was the second game in a row he looked a step slower than last year. We are getting close to Moulson territory.
  • Casey was better than his first game, although this thread might not make you think so. He completed passes this time, hustled and paid attention to defence, and popped a nice backhand off the crossbar after bursting around the D on a rush. He was out against 34 most of the night and was outclassed. But he looked like an NHL player. Just not a 2C.
  • Jokiharju looked skilled but too casual out there. Borgen got schooled badly on one rush but was otherwise quiet in a good way. If they are battling for Montour’s roster spot it’s going to be more of a reflection of what type of game Ralph wants, than who’s better, because they both have their pluses and minuses.
Edited by dudacek
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5 hours ago, Brawndo said:

If he is not a Top 9 Forward here, he probably would be better playing First Line Minutes In Lethbridge rather than 10 minutes a game here. 

Likely true. What I am saying is I hope he is so good the feel they cannot send him back. Wouldn't be the first to play at that age by far. He is big enough. I suppose it depends on how good the teaching is here. 

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12 hours ago, Taro T said:

One of the very few times he was out against them in the 1st 2 periods.  Pretty sure he was also out for the Matthews goal.  Ruotsaleinen definitely was.

 

Some of his best plays last night where with Matthews, Nylander and/or Reilly on the ice.

And if you look at Matthews 111 Career Goals, I’m pretty sure you will some Top NHL Talent on the ice for them. 

I know Eichel and Dahlin have been out for a few of them. 

I would give him a few regular season games in a Top 9 forward capacity to show him the speed of the NHL and then send him back to Lethbridge with a specific workout plan.

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12 hours ago, dudacek said:

Casey was better than his first game, although this thread might not make you think so. He completed passes this time, hustled and paid attention to defence, and popped a nice backhand off the crossbar after bursting around the D on a rush. He was out against 34 most of the night and was outclassed. But he looked like an NHL player. Just not a 2C.

The more I think about it, the more I like the idea of Casey playing on the wing and Cozens being the 2C of the future.

Something like:

Skinner-Eichel-Johannson

Mitts-Cozens-Reinhart

Oloffson-Rodrigues-Vesey

Girgensons-Larsson-Okposo

Yeah, I can live with this.

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We definitely had our chances and, once again, did everything but score. Great.

Cozens looked good.

Tage looked good. He uses his reach everywhere except his shot. He needs to fix that.

I like watching Lazar.

I don't know where he's going to find it, but Mitts needs some confidence. He leaves plays on the ice.

Ullmark looked good.

Joker made some nice plays.

Looking forward to tonight.

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1 hour ago, Brawndo said:

 

Some of his best plays last night where with Matthews, Nylander and/or Reilly on the ice.

And if you look at Matthews 111 Career Goals, I’m pretty sure you will some Top NHL Talent on the ice for them. 

I know Eichel and Dahlin have been out for a few of them.

I would give him a few regular season games in a Top 9 forward capacity to show him the speed of the NHL and then send him back to Lethbridge with a specific workout plan.

Absolutely.  He looks like he'll earn a 6-9 game look.  Based on that, maybe he'll get more.  Botterill is not opposed to that.

My main point, not particularly well expressed last night, is that it seems that people are starting to slot Cozens into the 2C role this season, and it is extremely unlikely he'll be ready for that role.  Yes, he looked very good last night, but only a handful of his shifts were against NHL top 9ers and (almost positive, as his primary RW was definitely out for it) one of those resulted in a goal in the Sabres net.  Based on the extremely limited work he's had against actual good NHLers, it is difficult to project him as an 18 yo into a top 6 C slot.  Which it seems people are doing.  If not, my bad.

I expect he'll be an NHLer next year, and expect he'll get the 9 game audition & wouldn't want money either way whether he'll stay up after that though I'd lean towards him getting sent back.

And the other reason for pointing out most of Cozens shifts were against borderline talent was the additional piling on (early, people let up later) about how "bad" Mittelstadt looked.  And, had they been referring to his 1st game, they would've been correct; but that's not the game they were referring to, they were referring to last night's game when he was primarily matched up against a guy who is clearly better than him (and 95% of the rest of the league as well) and for the most part he held his own.  When out against Matthews, Mitts typically had a tough slog, but played well against the 4th liners and AHLers also including a couple of dominant shifts.  (Yeah, his line gave up the 3rd goal, but he was playing Krueger's attacking style giving Kyle a headman to pass to and shouldn't have expected the pass from Smith to Okposo to have been flubbed so badly.)

And though not discussed in this thread, but if part of your taking exception to myself comments on Cozens in this thread have to do w/ saying in other threads I'd like to see him on Eichel's wing eventually; as others have mentioned, he looks very good along the boards and it could be a truly formidable line having Eichel & Cozens with size, speed, and hands together along with Skinner who can backcheck in the offensive zone almost better than anyone (he's very good at picking the pocket of a defender at their blueline) and can finish.  And by doing that all 3 projected top C's could be in the top 6 and the 2nd line could be Olofsson-Mitts-Reinhart which could turn out to be pretty formidable in itself.  Should they, say bring in another true top 6 guy via trade for Ristolainen plus, then when he's a Sabre full time, maybe you keep Dylan at C and figure out who's 2C and who's 3C between him and Mitts, but that's not an issue now (neither is IMHO) and would be a good problem to have.

And all of this assumes both Dylan & Casey continue to grow, which Randall will point out isn't an absolute given. 

 

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Cozens was diligent in his defence last night. He came back hard on the backcheck, showed good awareness covering for teammates and crisply moved the puck out of the zone.

I hope @That Aud Smell got a chance to see him in board battles after the concerns he expressed about how skinny he was. Kid showed no issues on the wall against men.

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50 minutes ago, dudacek said:

Cozens was diligent in his defence last night. He came back hard on the backcheck, showed good awareness covering for teammates and crisply moved the puck out of the zone.

I hope @That Aud Smell got a chance to see in in board battles after the concerns he expressed about how skinny he was. Kid showed no issues on the wall against men.

I think he even played D for half of a shift because somebody (Gilmour maybe?) wanted to show off their offense and got caught in the zone

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1 hour ago, dudacek said:

Cozens was diligent in his defence last night. He came back hard on the backcheck, showed good awareness covering for teammates and crisply moved the puck out of the zone.

I hope @That Aud Smell got a chance to see him in board battles after the concerns he expressed about how skinny he was. Kid showed no issues on the wall against men.

I was clowning for sure when I chirped the kid as a gawky giraffe.

I’ve seen zero hockey so far.

I read a Harrington write-up (blechk). Evidently Cozens is making a real splash and Mittlestadt is sh-tting the bed. 

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1 hour ago, That Aud Smell said:

I was clowning for sure when I chirped the kid as a gawky giraffe.

I’ve seen zero hockey so far.

I read a Harrington write-up (blechk). Evidently Cozens is making a real splash and Mittlestadt is sh-tting the bed. 

You still read Harrington?

Like ... um .. . Why?

I stopped cold turkey about 10 years ago, he’s just not a good writer or “sports journalist”. There are better reading choices to waste my time with than that bloated sack of protoplasm.

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I don't have a problem with Cozens returning to Jrs......

.....what I would have a problem with is all the talk about "competition" and "earning a spot on the roster" just being LIP service.

What if Cozens truly is one of the top 6-9 players on the ice every day? What does that do to his confidence and development? Do you lose faith in the organization that even if you are better than another player that you won't get the spot because you're only 18 and they want you to develop? Can keeping players in a development process longer than needed actually hurt them? I hope not and probably no real evidence that it does but sometimes you have to wonder. I had high hopes for players in the past (Baptiste was one) that I thought maybe didn't get a real good chance (and the development system probably wasn't that great) and I think it hurt him (likely to see him play tonight on the other team).

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