UPL called Up, Tokarski in Covid Protocol

[PromoTheRobot]

11 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

UPL has played really well these last 3 games.  I suspect he's going to be returned to Rochester, but what a great impression he is leaving behind and a great confidence booster for himself.  Hopefully this will translate to a huge surge in his AHL performance the remainder of the year. 

If it does, it will make KA's off-season much easier.

I don't think he'll be sent back right away, maybe not at all. As long as he keeps up his good play, he stays. Don't forget goalie plan B was to have UPL and Anderson. (Plan A was UPL and Ullmark.)

[Weave]

13 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

I don't think he'll be sent back right away, maybe not at all. As long as he keeps up his good play, he stays. Don't forget goalie plan B was to have UPL and Anderson. (Plan A was UPL and Ullmark.)

If UPL continues to play well and is sent back down, it'll be the surest sign yet that we are tanking.

[JohnC]

1 hour ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

UPL has played really well these last 3 games.  I suspect he's going to be returned to Rochester, but what a great impression he is leaving behind and a great confidence booster for himself.  Hopefully this will translate to a huge surge in his AHL performance the remainder of the year. 

If it does, it will make KA's off-season much easier.

If UPL plays as he has in the past couple of games, I don't see him being sent down. The issue comes down to whether he is going to get extensive playing time with the big club. If he isn't because of inadequate play, he will be sent down. Whether it is in the NHL or AHL he has to play a lot and continue working on his game. 

[woods-racer]

1 hour ago, Weave said:

If UPL continues to play well and is sent back down, it'll be the surest sign yet that we are tanking.

They switched up their game plan (went to a defensive style of play) in order to not leave the neophyte goalie out to dry. That is counter productive to their long range goals. If they send him down it's because he should be sent down, not totally because of his play.

[dudacek]

1 hour ago, woods-racer said:

They switched up their game plan (went to a defensive style of play) in order to not leave the neophyte goalie out to dry. That is counter productive to their long range goals. If they send him down it's because he should be sent down, not totally because of his play.

Looked like that’s what they did in his first start.

Not so much in the latter two. 
Shots against went from 23 to 31 to 42.

[woods-racer]

2 hours ago, dudacek said:

Looked like that’s what they did in his first start.

Not so much in the latter two. 
Shots against went from 23 to 31 to 42.

Compared to previous games those shot totals are vastly reduced. That would put them below league average with those stats. The reality is they are much above league average on shots against. 

League average shots against is 847 and we sit at 907. 42 shots on goal against is not bad for this team.

Edited December 14, 2021 by woods-racer

[dudacek]

12 minutes ago, woods-racer said:

Compared to previous games those shot totals are vastly reduced. That would put them below league average with those stats. The reality is they are much above league average on shots against. 

League average shots against is 847 and we sit at 907. 42 shots on goal against is not bad for this team.

42 shots against is the third most we’ve allowed all season. PIttsburgh fired 46 on Tokarski and Florida had 43 on Dell.

Shots against per 60

• Dell 35.2
• Tokarski 33.9
• UPL 31.7
• Anderson 31.6
• Subban 30.0

[matter2003]

5 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

UPL has played really well these last 3 games.  I suspect he's going to be returned to Rochester, but what a great impression he is leaving behind and a great confidence booster for himself.  Hopefully this will translate to a huge surge in his AHL performance the remainder of the year. 

If it does, it will make KA's off-season much easier.

He has a .918 save percentage in 7 NHL games...with our goaltending looking like hot garbage, why is he going back down?

[GASabresIUFAN]

22 minutes ago, matter2003 said:

He has a .918 save percentage in 7 NHL games...with our goaltending looking like hot garbage, why is he going back down?

Because KA is tanking.  Three games of solid play is encouraging but I can't think of any NHL goalie that didn't first prove it in the minors before becoming that man in the NHL.  Maybe UPL will be the exception.  Maybe current circumstances will make UPL the exception.  However three games is a very small sample size and I'm sure KA wants him backstopping the Amerks to the playoffs instead of playing in Buffalo.  

That said, the news right now is that he is staying up for now and Buffalo will carry 3 goalies (if you can call Dell and Subban goalies) on the road trip. Tokarski still isn't ready to return.  My guess is when Tokarski is ready, Dell and UPL get sent down.  

If KA truly wanted to upgrade the Sabres, Samuelsson would also be recalled.

[dudacek]

i agree with your point, but I was curious, so I looked it up.

Lukkonnen has played 37 AHL games. Vaselivskiy, Hart, Shesterkin, Price, Samsonov, Knight, Georgiev, Sorokin, Varlamov, Merzlikins, Korpisalo are all goalies in the Eastern conference who have had around 50 games or less AHL experience.

So it’s not as unusual as I thought.

[pi2000]

4 hours ago, matter2003 said:

He has a .918 save percentage in 7 NHL games...with our goaltending looking like hot garbage, why is he going back down?

Because he can, and it's best for him long term.

He goes from being a guy splitting time, HOPING to not screw up... To THE #1 guy, relied on heavily and in a winning environmental.

 

[Zamboni]

Send UPL back down to marinate on a winning team. He’d probably play more than if he was up with the Sabres anyway.

[PASabreFan]

5 hours ago, pi2000 said:

Because he can, and it's best for him long term.

He goes from being a guy splitting time, HOPING to not screw up... To THE #1 guy, relied on heavily and in a winning environmental.

Does he look like a goalie playing on hope? (I know it's a good thing, maybe the best of things.)

[Marvin]

6 hours ago, pi2000 said:

Because he can, and it's best for him long term.

He goes from being a guy splitting time, HOPING to not screw up... To THE #1 guy, relied on heavily and in a winning environmental.

 

2 hours ago, Zamboni said:

Send UPL back down to marinate on a winning team. He’d probably play more than if he was up with the Sabres anyway.

 

15 hours ago, woods-racer said:

They switched up their game plan (went to a defensive style of play) in order to not leave the neophyte goalie out to dry. That is counter productive to their long range goals. If they send him down it's because he should be sent down, not totally because of his play.

If UPL get sent down, these are the reasons which are not "tanking".  How you interpret it and how KA intends it are another matter.

[nfreeman]

Well, he played really well last night and the team seems to be responding to both him and to the increased stability in net.

Maybe, maybe…

[woods-racer]

1 hour ago, nfreeman said:

We’ll, he played really well last night and the team seems to be responding to both him and to the increased stability in net.

Maybe, maybe…

Right now he is top dog playing all the minutes and helping his team and gaining confidence. That is exactly what Rochester was doing for him. He stays till that no longer applies with the Sabres. They won't send him down to tank, they will send him down if they believe he needs to be sent down for said reasons. I don't believe he has the mental where with all to go the rest of the season here in Buffalo, very few young goalies do. 

He has been a joy to watch and I hope he plays this way every game for another decade. 

[Marvin]

23 minutes ago, woods-racer said:

Right now he is top dog playing all the minutes and helping his team and gaining confidence. That is exactly what Rochester was doing for him. He stays till that no longer applies with the Sabres. They won't send him down to tank, they will send him down if they believe he needs to be sent down for said reasons. I don't believe he has the mental where with all to go the rest of the season here in Buffalo, very few young goalies do. 

He has been a joy to watch and I hope he plays this way every game for another decade. 

This reminds me of when Ullmark first came in.  The team responded to him.

While I am thinking of it, it could be that Ullmark was only going to be good in Buffalo because of that psychology.

[MBD]

No way do you send him down.  Tanking hasn't worked yet.  And the NHL probably has other plans for Shane Wright...

[woods-racer]

4 hours ago, Marvin, Sabres Fan said:

This reminds me of when Ullmark first came in.  The team responded to him.

While I am thinking of it, it could be that Ullmark was only going to be good in Buffalo because of that psychology.

 

So your saying that a goalie rising up through the ranks that plays hard for his skaters and who's skaters battle for him is given a better chance to succeed with the *mother club* than an outsider coming in ?

Also, now that he has been traded that *bond* must form again with his new team as part of the goalie/skater psychology because a lot of being a goalie is mental?

I can't answer that, seems logical though.

[Marvin]

35 minutes ago, woods-racer said:

 

So your saying that a goalie rising up through the ranks that plays hard for his skaters and who's skaters battle for him is given a better chance to succeed with the *mother club* than an outsider coming in ?

Also, now that he has been traded that *bond* must form again with his new team as part of the goalie/skater psychology because a lot of being a goalie is mental?

I can't answer that, seems logical though.

That's what I think.  It is not always true, but it does happen.

[Thorny]

UPL looks great but more than any other position, teams will develop a "book" on goalies quite quickly - the big test for UPL will be maintaining his GOOD PLAY through the next several weeks 

Edited December 16, 2021 by Thorny

[dudacek]

9 hours ago, Thorny said:

UPL looks great but more than any other position, teams will develop a "book" on goalies quite quickly - the big test for UPL will be maintaining his numbers through the next several weeks 

There’s no way he can maintain a sub-2.00 GAA and a S% of nearly .940.

The big test will be rebounding from the games that don’t go his way and not allowing them to turn into streaks.

[Doohickie]

 

[Taro T]

Interestingly, they played a very low event game in UPL's 1st outing.  A bit more open the next game against the Rags but not their full out attacking game.  And since then it seems they've been playing Granato's normal scheme.  They have faith in him.  And more importantly he has faith in himself.

Would really be interested in somebody interviewing UPL asking him what was it that changed in his mind when Dell got called up.  Was it the hips finally felt right?  Do they still feel weird but he decided to play through it?  Was it something else?  Because he is 2 completely different goalies before & after that date.

[nfreeman]

U-P-L!  U-P-L!