Dylan Cozens: naive kid, or culture change spokesman

[Dreams Burn Down]

3 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

It’s called Hopium and it’s very dangerous stuff.  It must be taken wisely and used as directed it can lead to championships (Braves, Dawgs 😁).

One legit worry is still the goaltending.  If we don’t get solid goaltending we aren’t going anywhere.

I don't care what you call it.  I'll freebase this type of hope all day long.  After where we've been, this naivete and confidence is so energizing.  I am really looking forward to seeing this young group mature together.

[Gatorman0519]

3 more first rounders to add to the stable this year as well. Likely a top 5 pick in that mix. So there is some light at the end of the tunnel. 

[K-9]

46 minutes ago, Gatorman0519 said:

3 more first rounders to add to the stable this year as well. Likely a top 5 pick in that mix. So there is some light at the end of the tunnel. 

There’s reason for optimism but man, it’s been one fong luckin’ tunnel, I’ll tell you that. 

[PerreaultForever]

4 hours ago, dudacek said:

You haven’t seen much of the players I’m talking about either - certainly not developed and together over an extended period of time.

That is definitely true. The thing is for me after all these years of draining disappointment after disappointment I reached the prove it and show me stage with this team. Believe it when I see it. Adams came in with all the right words, but it's just words. And prospects are just prospects until they do it at the NHL level. Bring it on and I will embrace it if it happens, but until it happens, it's just wishing and hoping. 

[K-9]

2 minutes ago, PerreaultForever said:

That is definitely true. The thing is for me after all these years of draining disappointment after disappointment I reached the prove it and show me stage with this team. Believe it when I see it. Adams came in with all the right words, but it's just words. And prospects are just prospects until they do it at the NHL level. Bring it on and I will embrace it if it happens, but until it happens, it's just wishing and hoping. 

So, everything sucks until it doesn’t? No middle ground? No positives in any incremental signs of improvement? No excitement over the best group of collective prospects we’ve had in the A since the aughts? 

[PerreaultForever]

Just now, K-9 said:

So, everything sucks until it doesn’t? No middle ground? No positives in any incremental signs of improvement? No excitement over the best group of collective prospects we’ve had in the A since the aughts? 

No. I will readily admit this team has made themselves hard to like for me. I almost quit after last season. Thought about going Kraken, but after more than 45 years of following them it's difficult to switch. You just endure. But I'm numb at this point. I admit, I'm cynical. Been let down too many times. No bandwagons for me. Show me. 

[inkman]

2 minutes ago, PerreaultForever said:

No. I will readily admit this team has made themselves hard to like for me. I almost quit after last season. Thought about going Kraken, but after more than 45 years of following them it's difficult to switch. You just endure. But I'm numb at this point. I admit, I'm cynical. Been let down too many times. No bandwagons for me. Show me. 

I’ve been here, most of the last two decades.  If what has happened the last 12 months hasn’t moved the needle for ya, you may be farther down the path than I ever have.  
 

Cozens, Mitts, Power, Quinn, Krebs, Samuelsson, Dahlin, Olofsson, Peterka, Johnson, UPL, Levi, Portillo, a slew of draft picks from last season who look great, another big haul of picks coming this season.  I’m amped. Being in Rochester, watching all the kids, certainly makes it more tangible for me.  I understand skepticism, I’m practically made of it.  I’m finally feeling positivity exuding from this franchise since 05-07 days (not that I was enamored with that team as they were small and got abused).  

[nfreeman]

I get both the skepticism and the positivity.  I like a lot of what I see from a bunch of the kids, not to mention major improvements from guys like Skinner and KO.

OTOH, it seems like for the last 2 months, every time I've gotten psyched to watch a Sabres game, they come out flat and are down 2-0 or worse in the 1st period.

Just gimme a stretch of 7 games or so where they come out flying (like at the start of the season) from the start of the game, aren't besieged in their defensive zone and win a few, and I'll be fully back on team sunshine and kittens.

[PromoTheRobot]

16 hours ago, dudacek said:

“Everyone here is very excited for what we’ve got going and the pieces we have, and we know that we’re going to be a real great team in this league one day and we know that we are going to be a team that can compete for a Cup.” - Dylan Cozens, responding to a question about the recent Rochester call-ups.

When Cozens says this, he sounds like he believes it.

He looks at Krebs and Quinn and Levi and has seen firsthand what they can do against the best players their age in the world. He knows what Johnson and Peterka and Power and Dahlin have done on the WJC stage, and probably Samuelsson and Jokiharju, and UPL and Mittelstadt as well. We saw Krebs responding in a similar way last week, when he spoke about a group coming together for the next decade or more.

The Sabres have assembled 10 top prospects (Power, Quinn, Peterka, Cozens, Johnson, Levi, Krebs, Portillo, Dahlin and Samuelsson) all born within a 30-month span. There has to be a certain amount of swagger that comes from seeing that many top athletes gathered on one team at the cusp of adulthood, the type of young alpha confidence that must permeate places like the Alabama football program.

We talk a lot about culture change. And I think we recognize that Cozens represents the type of culture we want our team to have.

I guess my question is, do the other members of the Blinding Light Brigade feel the same way and are they approaching this opportunity the same way?

Have we collected the right pieces at the right time with the right support system for critical mass to be achieved? Can they survive the growing pains and achieve their potential together?

Or is Dylan just in the same naive headspace Jack Eichel was five years ago?

https://www.nhl.com/sabres/video/dylan-cozens-11022/t-277437090/c-10166546

2 minutes ago, nfreeman said:

I get both the skepticism and the positivity.  I like a lot of what I see from a bunch of the kids, not to mention major improvements from guys like Skinner and KO.

OTOH, it seems like for the last 2 months, every time I've gotten psyched to watch a Sabres game, they come out flat and are down 2-0 or worse in the 1st period.

Just gimme a stretch of 7 games or so where they come out flying (like at the start of the season) from the start of the game, aren't besieged in their defensive zone and win a few, and I'll be fully back on team sunshine and kittens.

Maybe if we can ice the same lineup for more than two games?

[Weave]

1 hour ago, K-9 said:

So, everything sucks until it doesn’t? No middle ground? No positives in any incremental signs of improvement? No excitement over the best group of collective prospects we’ve had in the A since the aughts? 

A whole bunch of us are old enough to  have seen Scotty Bowman collect an obscene number of good draft picks and have it fail.  
 

Am I hopeful for these kids?  Sure.  That’s about the extent of the emotion though.

[Thorny]

1 hour ago, inkman said:

I’ve been here, most of the last two decades.  If what has happened the last 12 months hasn’t moved the needle for ya, you may be farther down the path than I ever have.  
 

Cozens, Mitts, Power, Quinn, Krebs, Samuelsson, Dahlin, Olofsson, Peterka, Johnson, UPL, Levi, Portillo, a slew of draft picks from last season who look great, another big haul of picks coming this season.  I’m amped. Being in Rochester, watching all the kids, certainly makes it more tangible for me.  I understand skepticism, I’m practically made of it.  I’m finally feeling positivity exuding from this franchise since 05-07 days (not that I was enamored with that team as they were small and got abused).  

Some people need to see actual results to have the needle moved - it's not necessarily a comment on how far down the road they are with regards to their fandom. 

The Sabres have 5 wins since October. "Moved the needle" lol. It's ok if needles move because they like hoping on prospects, it's also ok for people to want to see actual NHL results from their NHL team. 

We've been in the spot before where we had a good looking prospect pool. We've had the number 1 ranked pool, in fact, more than one time in recent seasons. It doesn't mean anything in and of itself. 

It could work out, or it may not. It's not pessimism, it's just math. Personally, I don't need to be high on hopium to take interest in the process in general - I'm not personally close to giving up on the team. Never would be. Succeed or fail, I'll witness the process as it unfolds, evaluate it based on the metrics I care about, if it succeeds party with everyone else, and if it fails - down a beer and move onto the next venture same as always. 

Edited January 11, 2022 by Thorny

[BMWR100RT]

I joked at my Key bank branch if they were giving tickets away. They told me they might not have any takers, because I am sure they only watch the standings. You have to be a real fan to have any hope, which I do, but I can see how it's a bigger lift for others. For some reason this feels a bit like when Pominville, Miller, Roy and Campbell were in Roch. It just had a good feeling of optimism. Hope I'm right. 

[Thorny]

48 minutes ago, nfreeman said:

I get both the skepticism and the positivity.  I like a lot of what I see from a bunch of the kids, not to mention major improvements from guys like Skinner and KO.

OTOH, it seems like for the last 2 months, every time I've gotten psyched to watch a Sabres game, they come out flat and are down 2-0 or worse in the 1st period.

Just gimme a stretch of 7 games or so where they come out flying (like at the start of the season) from the start of the game, aren't besieged in their defensive zone and win a few, and I'll be fully back on team sunshine and kittens.

Pretty much. 

People like to draw comparisons to the 2003 team, mapping it out player from player - I'll believe in the comparison if they finish the season like that 03 team did. 

[K-9]

1 hour ago, PerreaultForever said:

No. I will readily admit this team has made themselves hard to like for me. I almost quit after last season. Thought about going Kraken, but after more than 45 years of following them it's difficult to switch. You just endure. But I'm numb at this point. I admit, I'm cynical. Been let down too many times. No bandwagons for me. Show me. 

I fully understand. I hope you can find some kernels to enjoy in the meantime. 

[dudacek]

Just now, Thorny said:

Pretty much. 

People like to draw comparisons to the 2003 team, mapping it out player from player - I'll believe in the comparison if they finish the season like that 03 team did. 

I'm a lot closer to this than you might think.

I said months ago that I expected the team to lose a lot this year and would judge the season on two things: the progress of the kids, and how much I am entertained.

The number of entertaining games is noticeably up in my opinion, but one can't completely ignore results.

The majority of kids are showing growth, but it would be nice to see more of it at the NHL level, beyond Dahlin and Tage. Not having Mittelstadt available has been a bummer; he was I guy i was really looking forward to watching. I need more Tuch. Olofsson, Asplund and Bryson seem to have hit walls, was their early season a mirage? What will Cozens do down the stretch? Jokiharju? Is UPL for real? Can some other Amerks join him? These are the guys I'm watching.

We've got nearly 50 games to go. Where is this going to trend?

[Thorny]

1 minute ago, dudacek said:

I'm a lot closer to this than you might think.

I said months ago that I expected the team to lose a lot this year and would judge the season on two things: the progress of the kids, and how much I am entertained.

The number of entertaining games is noticeably up in my opinion, but one can't completely ignore results.

The majority of kids are showing growth, but it would be nice to see more of it at the NHL level, beyond Dahlin and Tage. Not having Mittelstadt available has been a bummer; he was I guy i was really looking forward to watching. I need more Tuch. Olofsson, Asplund and Bryson seem to have hit walls, was their early season a mirage? What will Cozens do down the stretch? Jokiharju? Is UPL for real? Can some other Amerks join him? These are the guys I'm watching.

We've got nearly 50 games to go. Where is this going to trend?

I like the bold - I believe it, and I'm sure you'd believe that I'm probably closer to optimism on this than you might think. Like you've mentioned before we tend to agree on most and spend the lion's share of our discussion time on the smaller details, that we disagree on. Such is a nature of wanting to find a way to discuss the team at all costs lol. Makes for more content. 

You do an excellent job pointing out the reasons why we should believe. Maybe I just try to do a passable job of pointing out the reasons we should be cautious. It's informed solely on a mathematical approach, but perhaps part of the reason for sharing is motivated partially by fear of getting let down again...it's certainly possible. 

[bunomatic]

2 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

No. I will readily admit this team has made themselves hard to like for me. I almost quit after last season. Thought about going Kraken, but after more than 45 years of following them it's difficult to switch. You just endure. But I'm numb at this point. I admit, I'm cynical. Been let down too many times. No bandwagons for me. Show me. 

I’m right there with you but I am mining a few nuggets of hopium out of guys like the mighty Quinn and JJ P.

[dudacek]

1 hour ago, Thorny said:

I like the bold - I believe it, and I'm sure you'd believe that I'm probably closer to optimism on this than you might think. Like you've mentioned before we tend to agree on most and spend the lion's share of our discussion time on the smaller details, that we disagree on. Such is a nature of wanting to find a way to discuss the team at all costs lol. Makes for more content. 

You do an excellent job pointing out the reasons why we should believe. Maybe I just try to do a passable job of pointing out the reasons we should be cautious. It's informed solely on a mathematical approach, but perhaps part of the reason for sharing is motivated partially by fear of getting let down again...it's certainly possible. 

I fully admit that I need to see reasons for hope, regardless of whether I believe in them fully or not.

That said, I don’t find it difficult to find hope in the plan Adams is following and the values he professes, the group of young players he has assembled, or the way Donnie is coaching them. Right or wrong, good or bad, in these early stages these are people I am finding it easy to root for. And for a fan, particularly a battered fan, that is such a huge part of the battle.

Reason to believe is another story. That’s going to take a heckuva lot more than Devon Levi proving the experts wrong in college and Alex Tuch loving the Sabres as much as I do.

The franchise has done a hell of a job beating the faith out of us all.

Edited January 11, 2022 by dudacek

[Weave]

1 hour ago, Weave said:

A whole bunch of us are old enough to  have seen Scotty Bowman collect an obscene number of good draft picks and have it fail.  
 

Am I hopeful for these kids?  Sure.  That’s about the extent of the emotion though.

Now that the workday is over, expanding on my thought here.

Scotty, an HOF'er, had the following in his drafts.

1979 #11 OAL Mike Ramsey, a legend in Buffalo.

1980 #20 OAL(Steve Patrick) and several mid to late draft hits

1981 #17 OAL and a poor draft.  Hannu Virta was a success, but went back to Europe after 5 seasons.

1982 three 1st rd picks including #6 OAL, and two 2nd rd picks.  Housley, Cyr, Andrechuck, and the infamous Timo Jutila came from this draft.  An embarrassment of riches. Two HOF'ers FFS

1983 three 1sts and two 2nds again, including #5 and #10 OAL.  Barrasso, Lacombe, Creighton, Tucker, Puppa, Ruutu, and Krupp.  Holy *****.  That's alot of good NHLers.

1984 had a "normal" selection of 1 in each round.  Andersson, Sheppard, Halkydis all had respectable careers, albeit as role players.

1985 another "normal" draft.  By now the drafts of 82 and 83 are having an effect on the NHL roster.  Added Johansson, Hogue, Reekie.  More respectable NHL'ers.

1986 was Scotty's last Sabres draft, and the start of a string of poor drafts in general by the Sabres.  But an absolute haul from the last 4 drafts couldn't get out of the first round of the playoffs in an era where 4 out of 5 teams in each division qualified for the playoffs.

I am absolutely in "show me" mode.  This song has been played before.  Obviously, a good prospect pool is better than a poor prospect pool.  But I'm well past hopium.

 

[Dreams Burn Down]

12 minutes ago, Weave said:

But an absolute haul from the last 4 drafts couldn't get out of the first round of the playoffs in an era where 4 out of 5 teams in each division qualified for the playoffs.

I remember when not getting out of the first round was such a disappointment; an embarrassment, really.  If I only knew what was coming just over twenty years later, I would have complained less and enjoyed those teams much more.

[Weave]

Just now, Dreams Burn Down said:

I remember when not getting out of the first round was such a disappointment; an embarrassment, really.  If I only knew what was coming just over twenty years later, I would have complained less and enjoyed those teams much more.

Fortunately I wasn't jaded yet and was rabid for those teams.  You learn....

[Taro T]

27 minutes ago, Weave said:

Now that the workday is over, expanding on my thought here.

Scotty, an HOF'er, had the following in his drafts.

1979 #11 OAL Mike Ramsey, a legend in Buffalo.

1980 #20 OAL(Steve Patrick) and several mid to late draft hits

1981 #17 OAL and a poor draft.  Hannu Virta was a success, but went back to Europe after 5 seasons.

1982 three 1st rd picks including #6 OAL, and two 2nd rd picks.  Housley, Cyr, Andrechuck, and the infamous Timo Jutila came from this draft.  An embarrassment of riches. Two HOF'ers FFS

1983 three 1sts and two 2nds again, including #5 and #10 OAL.  Barrasso, Lacombe, Creighton, Tucker, Puppa, Ruutu, and Krupp.  Holy *****.  That's alot of good NHLers.

1984 had a "normal" selection of 1 in each round.  Andersson, Sheppard, Halkydis all had respectable careers, albeit as role players.

1985 another "normal" draft.  By now the drafts of 82 and 83 are having an effect on the NHL roster.  Added Johansson, Hogue, Reekie.  More respectable NHL'ers.

1986 was Scotty's last Sabres draft, and the start of a string of poor drafts in general by the Sabres.  But an absolute haul from the last 4 drafts couldn't get out of the first round of the playoffs in an era where 4 out of 5 teams in each division qualified for the playoffs.

I am absolutely in "show me" mode.  This song has been played before.  Obviously, a good prospect pool is better than a poor prospect pool.  But I'm well past hopium.

 

Hannu Virta doesn't make up for the sheer chutzpah of selecting Dudacek in the 1st round.  The dumbest draft pick EVER.

[Digger]

13 minutes ago, Dreams Burn Down said:

I remember when not getting out of the first round was such a disappointment; an embarrassment, really.  If I only knew what was coming just over twenty years later, I would have complained less and enjoyed those teams much more.

Those were still hard years when we kept losing in the first round even when we were considered to be the better team.  It's one of the reasons that the MayDay goal was so big at the time (besides being a great goal and a great call by RJ).  Finally out of the 1st round only to be swept in round 2.

But yes I agree it's nicer to at least have some hope making the playoffs instead of looking towards the next draft every year (by January or earlier).

[Dreams Burn Down]

3 minutes ago, Taro T said:

Hannu Virta doesn't make up for the sheer chutzpah of selecting Dudacek in the 1st round.  The dumbest draft pick EVER.

He's still going to defect to play here, right?

[Scottysabres]

22 hours ago, dudacek said:

“Everyone here is very excited for what we’ve got going and the pieces we have, and we know that we’re going to be a real great team in this league one day and we know that we are going to be a team that can compete for a Cup.” - Dylan Cozens, responding to a question about the recent Rochester call-ups.

When Cozens says this, he sounds like he believes it.

He looks at Krebs and Quinn and Levi and has seen firsthand what they can do against the best players their age in the world. He knows what Johnson and Peterka and Power and Dahlin have done on the WJC stage, and probably Samuelsson and Jokiharju, and UPL and Mittelstadt as well. We saw Krebs responding in a similar way last week, when he spoke about a group coming together for the next decade or more.

The Sabres have assembled 10 top prospects (Power, Quinn, Peterka, Cozens, Johnson, Levi, Krebs, Portillo, Dahlin and Samuelsson) all born within a 30-month span. There has to be a certain amount of swagger that comes from seeing that many top athletes gathered on one team at the cusp of adulthood, the type of young alpha confidence that must permeate places like the Alabama football program.

We talk a lot about culture change. And I think we recognize that Cozens represents the type of culture we want our team to have.

I guess my question is, do the other members of the Blinding Light Brigade feel the same way and are they approaching this opportunity the same way?

Have we collected the right pieces at the right time with the right support system for critical mass to be achieved? Can they survive the growing pains and achieve their potential together?

Or is Dylan just in the same naive headspace Jack Eichel was five years ago?

https://www.nhl.com/sabres/video/dylan-cozens-11022/t-277437090/c-10166546

Hi Dylan, have you met the Tampa Bay Lightning? Here, let them introduce themselves.......