GDT - Sabres @ Ducks - 10/28/2021 - 10:00 PM EDT

[SwampD]

26 minutes ago, North Buffalo said:

Yeh but hard not to with that one time shot... difference is he is starting to create on his own and setting up others without getting knocked off the puck.  Noticeably stronger on his skates.

I think he’s always been pretty strong on his skates. It’s just weird (and awesome) that we actually get to see him creating now. Not sure if he was “allowed” to do that under RK.

That game winning assist,… I can watch that all day,… I most likely will.

 

10 minutes ago, WildCard said:

Just saw the highlights, is Zegras as much of a monster as he appeared in the highlights? He seems incredible.

he seemed a little green, but yes, he will be a really good.

[LGR4GM]

11 minutes ago, SDS said:

His play didn’t turn into points for the Ducks, which is what ultimately matters in his case. However, he was all over the ice last night, in stark contrast to Cozens, who has had a painfully quiet start to the year.

Cozens needs a deep breath. He is pushing too much and his decision making is not fast enough. Reminds me of Quinn in the AHL last year where you see glimpses of the actual skill but it gets buried under the inability to make the simple quick plays and reads needed to succeed. 

[Doohickie]

1 hour ago, LGR4GM said:

 

Zegras totally fell asleep after VO went by, should have picked up Asplund.  Bust!

Edited October 29, 2021 by The Ghost of Yuri

[Doohickie]

8 hours ago, Cal Naughton Jr said:

What in the hell is that?

[GASabresIUFAN]

1 minute ago, LGR4GM said:

Cozens needs a deep breath. He is pushing too much and his decision making is not fast enough. Reminds me of Quinn in the AHL last year where you see glimpses of the actual skill but it gets buried under the inability to make the simple quick plays and reads needed to succeed. 

Cozens (7th) vs Zegres (9) vs Dach (3) vs Turcotte (5) vs Newhook (16) vs Krebs (17).  I think it's going to be very interesting to watch how the careers of these 6 players play out.  I had them all bunched together on my draft board in 2019.  TSN's McKenzie had Turcotte (4), Dach (5), Cozens (6), Zegras (7), Krebs (10) and Newhook (13).  Turcotte is the only one yet to play in the NHL.  

 

 

[Thorny]

10 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

Cozens needs a deep breath. He is pushing too much and his decision making is not fast enough. Reminds me of Quinn in the AHL last year where you see glimpses of the actual skill but it gets buried under the inability to make the simple quick plays and reads needed to succeed. 

The franchise made it clear Cozens was the Face this summer and, really, Cozens seemed to go out of his way to say, a couple times, he was ready to lead by example. Putting too much on him, too soon, like they did with their last anointed future 1C was always a risk, and in the offseason I was surprised KA went with the "no vet insulation" route for his 2 young Cs. My guess was always that Adams felt Cozens to be capable of handling the pressure.

Well, we are witnessing it unfold. I'm not very much concerned with his play in and of itself, I think he'll be fine. But I am (very) interested to see how he responds mentally, and his slower start if anything does seek to illustrate that with regards to the centre ice position right now, the team is on the edge of a knife. There's isn't anything behind Cozens and Casey, right now those 2 *need* to becomes our top 2 centres. Adding some reinforcements to strengthen the likelihood our C spine fills out properly is an area Adams hasn't addressed yet and as we've talked about before, at this point they must be aiming for the draft to address it. 

Short of a Krebs coming back for Jack, I suppose. 

Edited October 29, 2021 by Thorny

[Doohickie]

2 hours ago, LabattBlue said:

To me it reeks of not putting one of your young core in a position to succeed. 

To me it reeks of simply not having enough centers.  He should be skating limited minutes with Bjork and Caggiula on an energy line.

[Brawndo]

56 minutes ago, Thorny said:

True, but it should be noted he was 3rd on the team in even strength points his rookie year, under Ralph. 

VO has always been given a bit more of a "PP focused" designation than he deserves 

 

52 minutes ago, North Buffalo said:

Yeh but hard not to with that one time shot... difference is he is starting to create on his own and setting up others without getting knocked off the puck.  Noticeably stronger on his skates.

NB and Kevin sum things up perfectly 

[Doohickie]

1 hour ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Dylan played only 10 minutes last night.  Did he get hurt or was he benched for lousy play?

He looked very good early (I commented on it).  He had an end-to-end solo rush that led to a good opportunity.  But then he burned out.  Hopefully not hurt.

[Thorny]

2 minutes ago, Brawndo said:

 

NB and Kevin sum things up perfectly 

I agree with NB but not Kevin. 

Stats to me told a similar story his first year, that went a bit overlooked. He was always producing more at ES than people thought

He's certainly improved but to me that wasn't unexpected, given he was recently a rookie. Trend line going up, if he's good, makes sense

[Doohickie]

58 minutes ago, North Buffalo said:

difference is he is starting to create on his own and setting up others without getting knocked off the puck.  Noticeably stronger on his skates.

"Due to personnel changes, the part of Sam Reinhart will be played by Victor Olofsson."

[PromoTheRobot]

2 hours ago, Flashsabre said:

Tage has been day and night better at centre. That was his first rough game of the season.

They need Mitts back and shift Cozens to RW.

@LabattBlueis a jinx. 😄

[PromoTheRobot]

Everyone make a mental note: Sharks game Tuesday is an ESPN+ exclusive game. No MSG.

[PromoTheRobot]

 

 

 

[K-9]

2 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

 

Good thing Zegras is a talented offensive player. 

[Drag0nDan]

48 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

Cozens needs a deep breath. He is pushing too much and his decision making is not fast enough. Reminds me of Quinn in the AHL last year where you see glimpses of the actual skill but it gets buried under the inability to make the simple quick plays and reads needed to succeed. 

Yeah he's all over the place, he either loses t he puck at his own blue line, or passes to no one.  He's been a mess for a minute this year.

[Drag0nDan]

3 hours ago, LabattBlue said:

As previously stated, this was the first game I watched in its entirety.  Did not like Cozens with Skinner and Vinnie Barbarino. To me it reeks of not putting one of your young core in a position to succeed. 
 

Also, did not care for the Tage at center project.  Didn’t seem to be any different than the Tage at wing project. 
 

That being said, it will be interesting to see how much gas Anderson has in the tank at 40?  He was very solid. 

Tage had a poor game, especially defensively.  But thats been buffalo's best line so far and i wouldn't want to mess with it.  The 2 lines outside of that one and the KO/Girgs line are the messy ones to me.  Haydens clueless out there and just drags down whoever he plays with be it ruots and bjork or bjork and cozens.  Cozens hasn't figured out how to play with skinner and hino.  Getting eakin back, and moving hayden off the ice will do wonders to me.  

[bob_sauve28]

2 hours ago, JoeSchmoe said:

I'm sitting him and Bjork when Mitts and Eakin come back. (Did I just say I'm dressing Eakin? 🥶)

Bjork and R2 will benefit from having Mitts back as they will be put with more talent, however the lines shake out 

[dudacek]

53 minutes ago, Thorny said:

The franchise made it clear Cozens was the Face this summer and, really, Cozens seemed to go out of his way to say, a couple times, he was ready to lead by example. Putting too much on him, too soon, like they did with their last anointed future 1C was always a risk, and in the offseason I was surprised KA went with the "no vet insulation" route for his 2 young Cs. My guess was always that Adams felt Cozens to be capable of handling the pressure.

Well, we are witnessing it unfold. I'm not very much concerned with his play in and of itself, I think he'll be fine. But I am (very) interested to see how he responds mentally, and his slower start if anything does seek to illustrate that with regards to the centre ice position right now, the team is on the edge of a knife. There's isn't anything behind Cozens and Casey, right now those 2 *need* to becomes our top 2 centres. Adding some reinforcements to strengthen the likelihood our C spine fills out properly is an area Adams hasn't addressed yet and as we've talked about before, at this point they must be aiming for the draft to address it. 

Short of a Krebs coming back for Jack, I suppose. 

The weird thing for me is Tage, who is clearly the 1C right now. It certainly wasn't planned and I have no idea how that is going to play out as the season goes on.

But even with Casey out, Dylan has been the sheltered 3C in terms of ice time and usage (Z is the shutdown 2C), which is exactly where we want him to be.

[Thorny]

13 minutes ago, dudacek said:

The weird thing for me is Tage, who is clearly the 1C right now. It certainly wasn't planned and I have no idea how that is going to play out as the season goes on.

But even with Casey out, Dylan has been the sheltered 3C in terms of ice time and usage (Z is the shutdown 2C), which is exactly where we want him to be.

I'd be impressed with Tage at C if it wasn't relative. I don't see him as having actual top 6 centre ability 

I think it's more of a comment on our current C spine

His offensive zone starts are, I believe, off the charts. It's the Thompson line getting the cushiest minutes 

[LGR4GM]

19 minutes ago, Thorny said:

I'd be impressed with Tage at C if it wasn't relative. I don't see him as having actual top 6 centre ability 

I think it's more of a comment on our current C spine

His offensive zone starts are, I believe, off the charts. It's the Thompson line getting the cushiest minutes 

He starts in the ozone 63.4% compared to 36.6% in the d zone

[dudacek]

13 minutes ago, Thorny said:

I'd be impressed with Tage at C if it wasn't relative. I don't see him as having actual top 6 centre ability 

I think it's more of a comment on our current C spine

His offensive zone starts are, I believe, off the charts. It's the Thompson line getting the cushiest minutes 

That's largely a function of being the 1C, wanting his line out when you need a goal, rather than sheltering.

Cushy implies not having to go against other team's big guys, I haven't noticed that to be the case.

• Tage 17:28
• Zemgus 16:35
• Dylan: 14:40
• R2: 12:43

That's textbook 1-4 ice time.

How would Tage finishing the year as a centre with 20 goals and 40-50 points affect your view of him?

Statistically, that's average 2C production.

Edited October 29, 2021 by dudacek

[Thorny]

1 minute ago, dudacek said:

That's largely a function of being the 1C.

Cushy implies not having to go against other team's big guys, I haven't noticed that to be the case.

• Tage 17:28
• Zemgus 16:35
• Dylan: 14:40
• R2: 12:43

That's textbook 1-4 ice time.

How would Tage finishing the year as a centre with 20 goals and 40-50 points affect your view of him?

Statistically, that's average 2C production.

I dunno, I consider o-zone starts to be a part of "cushy"

What's Bergeron's o-zone start time look like? I feel like plenty of 1Cs get significantly less than 63% o-zone starts, but I could be wrong

[Drag0nDan]

Just now, LGR4GM said:

He starts in the ozone 63.4% compared to 36.6% in the d zone

I show it lower here: https://www.hockey-reference.com/teams/BUF/index.html

▼

 

[Thorny]

4 minutes ago, dudacek said:

That's largely a function of being the 1C.

Cushy implies not having to go against other team's big guys, I haven't noticed that to be the case.

• Tage 17:28
• Zemgus 16:35
• Dylan: 14:40
• R2: 12:43

That's textbook 1-4 ice time.

How would Tage finishing the year as a centre with 20 goals and 40-50 points affect your view of him?

Statistically, that's average 2C production.

Probably about as much as Girgensons finishing the 14-15 season with a pace of exactly 40 points affected my view of him - not that much. Both would be finding themselves in the roles/minutes they did because of roster composition, not because you'd want them in a T6 role on a playoff team. 

If Thompson, being given the most constructive usage on the team ends up at around 40, that of like you say an "average" 2C, I'd expect that to look more like a 3rd liner on a good team, once he wasn't being given the minutes we'd want to be giving to better players