GASabresIUFAN Posted February 12, 2022 Report Share Posted February 12, 2022 (edited) What are your team and individual awards (positive and negative) Most Improved Player? Most Valuable player? Rookie of the Year? Is there one? Unsung Hero? Comeback player of the year? Biggest Positive Surprise - Player? Biggest Disappointment (Player and Team) Biggest Team Accomplishment? Best KA Acquisition? Worst KA Acquisition? Edited February 12, 2022 by GASabresIUFAN Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LGR4GM Posted February 12, 2022 Report Share Posted February 12, 2022 (edited) 4 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said: What are your team and individual awards (positive and negative) Most Improved Player? Tage Most Valuable player? Tuch Rookie of the Year? Is there one? Quinn Unsung Hero? Okposo Biggest Positive Surprise - Player? Dahlin Biggest Disappointment (Player and Team) olofsson Biggest Team Accomplishment? Teamm attitude Best KA Acquisition? Tuch Worst KA Acquisition? Eakin Most Improved Player? Tage Most Valuable player? Tuch Rookie of the Year? Is there one? Quinn Unsung Hero? Okposo Biggest Positive Surprise - Player? Dahlin Biggest Disappointment (Player and Team) olofsson Biggest Team Accomplishment? Team attitude Best KA Acquisition? Tuch Worst KA Acquisition? Eakin Edited February 12, 2022 by LGR4GM 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dudacek Posted February 12, 2022 Report Share Posted February 12, 2022 22 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said: What are your team and individual awards (positive and negative) Most Improved Player? Thompson, no question. Roster question mark wing to legit top 6 centre.l Most Valuable player? Dahlin. Craig Anderson has made the most difference between winning and losing, but you can’t get this with just 8 games. I shudder to think what our offence and transition game would look like without Dahlin back there. Rookie of the Year? Is there one? No one has played enough yet. Based on a small sample size, I’m going with Samuelsson. He might be our best own-zone and rush defender already. Unsung Hero? Okposo. He’s set the tone and been a leader while also putting up solid middle-six numbers playing in all situations. Biggest Positive Surprise - Player? Im going off the board a bit here, but for me it’s Tuch. I expected a good middle-six winger with positive intangibles. It’s only 14 games, but he’s played like a 1st-line power forward. If he is even close to this long-term that will make the Eichel trade a lot easier to swallow. Biggest Disappointment (Player and Team) My biggest disappointment is not getting to see what a healthy Casey Mittelstadt can do. It was one of the most important development projects of this season and it hasn’t materialized. Player performance, Olofsson. He looked so good the first 10 games and has been a passenger ever since. Biggest Team Accomplishment? Ugh. Being marginally better than last year’s team despite losing their entire first line, first pair and starting goalie? Projecting that they care and want to be here? Not a lot of choices. Best KA Acquisition? Tuch. Worst KA Acquisition? I guess Butcher? His worst move is letting Ullmark walk for nothing and failing to adequately replace him. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huckleberry Posted February 12, 2022 Report Share Posted February 12, 2022 (edited) 1 hour ago, GASabresIUFAN said: What are your team and individual awards (positive and negative) Most Improved Player? Thompson ( Dahlin end of season ? ) Most Valuable player? Tuch/Dahlin Rookie of the Year? Is there one? Cozens if he still counts 🙂 Unsung Hero? Okposo/Zemgus for taking over the leadership of the room. Biggest Positive Surprise - Player? Okposo Biggest Disappointment (Player and Team) Casey for being injured / Olofsson really slowed down , would not surprise me if he is injured as well. Biggest Team Accomplishment? Hard to come up with one, playing like a team again ? Best KA Acquisition? Tuch / Hinostroza isn't bad as bottom 6 I suppose. Worst KA Acquisition? Butcher Edited February 12, 2022 by Huckleberry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeSchmoe Posted February 12, 2022 Report Share Posted February 12, 2022 (edited) 1 hour ago, GASabresIUFAN said: What are your team and individual awards (positive and negative) Most Improved Player? Skinner. Honourable mention- Dahlin, Tage Most Valuable player? In absence of any clear cut candidates Okposo- for his leadership Rookie of the Year? Is there one? No one qualifies Unsung Hero? Pysyk... Somehow he's a 0 +/- on 46 games. Biggest Positive Surprise - Player? Hinostroza... I thought he'd be another JAG signing but he's been effective. Biggest Disappointment (Player and Team) Bjork. Had shown signs of going in the right direction last year, but regressed hard. Biggest Team Accomplishment? Not being the worst team in the league despite the goaltending, and losing who were supposed to be their top 2 F's and 1st pairing D. Best KA Acquisition? Jack Quinn, Devon Levi. HM- JJP Worst KA Acquisition? Isak Rosen HM- Bjork, Butcher, Hayden, Eakin Edited February 12, 2022 by JoeSchmoe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taro T Posted February 12, 2022 Report Share Posted February 12, 2022 (edited) 5 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said: What are your team and individual awards (positive and negative) Most Improved Player? Clearly Thompson. There's no one else that's even close. Dahlin had shown teases of this year's play. Tage's season is completely out of the blue. Most Valuable player? Anderson. The team is night & day with/without him. Shows how big a whiff not having a competent goalie drafted into the league post-9/11 was. Rookie of the Year? Is there one? Too small a sample size at present. Expecting Samuelsson to continue his current level of play & come away w/ it. Unsung Hero? Okposo. If a captain can't be unsung, would go off the board w/ Tokarski. He battled his arse off prior to his long COVID absense & nearly gave the team as much of a chance to win as his elder batterymate gave them. Biggest Positive Surprise - Player? Thompson. Did. Not. See. That. Coming. Biggest Disappointment (Player and Team) IMHO, realizing this isn't going to be a popular take, that the team couldn't make things work w/ the "tank fruit core." Really liked watching Eichel, Reinhart, McCabe, & Ullmark play & realize they now have enough supporting youthful pieces that this season could've been entertaining w/ them & would've been more productive than what we've watched this season. Watching Eichel when healthy was worth the price of admission. Honorable mention to Mittelstadt's lingering injury happening in the 2nd period of the 1st game of the season. Guess he's the early forerunner for the new Eichel. Biggest Team Accomplishment? Assembling a collection of kids that likely won't be shipped out before they'll have a chance to come of age about 2 years from now. Best KA Acquisition? At present, Tuch. With time it'll be either Power or Levi. Might go off the board w/ saying the FO staff he assembled. Too early to tell if they'll live up to the advance billing, so will stick w/ Tuch. Worst KA Acquisition? Dell. Refuse to believe he wasn't brought in expecting to be 1 of the 2 goalies starting the year in Buffalo. (You don't get those really cool leg pads to play in Ra-cha-cha.) Adams knew he had nothing left in the tank a year ago when he didn't grab him for free, would really like to know WHY that opinion changed (or more accurately IF that opinion had changed but he was signed anyway). Comeback player? Since 8 games is too small a sample size to give it to Anderson, will give it to the no brainer - Skinner. Hoping next year's "winner" is Mittelstadt as he stays healthy the entire year. Edited February 12, 2022 by Taro T Added extra category. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GASabresIUFAN Posted February 12, 2022 Author Report Share Posted February 12, 2022 (edited) 3 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said: What are your team and individual awards (positive and negative) Most Improved Player? Thompson - obviously. Dahlin has also improved significantly. Most Valuable player? Dahlin - He is by far the most dynamic player on this roster. He has improved at both ends of the ice and the offense runs through him. Rookie of the Year? Is there one? - Samuelsson by year's end if he gets recalled. Between him, Krebs, Quinn and to a lesser extent JJP, it makes one excited for next season Unsung Hero? - Okposo - He is this clubs leader and is rewriting the script on his later career. I've always really liked this guy and was worried the concussion destroyed his career. I'm thrilled he has proven us all wrong. Comeback player of the year? - Skinner - back on 30 goal pace without a even good playmaker to play with. I'm proud of Jeff. Biggest Positive Surprise - Player? - Thompson, followed by Pysyk, Okposo and Skinner Biggest Disappointment (Player and Team) 5) - PP and OT - Our lack of dynamic players outside of Dahlin has really shown itself on the PP and OT. This is where we miss Jack and Sam the most. 4) - Players - Asplund and R2. I was hoping they would build on late last year's success and carve out a future here. No so much so far. 3) - Injury Players - VO and Mitts - Injuries have robbed this team of so much, but losing these two key offensive players has been almost heartbreaking. The good news is Mitts is returning soon and my guess is he'll be really motivated for the remainder of the year 2) injuries Team - it seems like 1 step forward 2 steps back. Management and the players need to examine why this has occured for the the 2nd straight year. 1) Goaltending - KA set up the goaltending to fail and it has for the 2nd straight season. Congrats you @#$%@. KA you robbed this team of any chance of success. Biggest Team Accomplishment? Despite the injuries and terrible goaltending, the team has played hard nearly every night and is more competitive. Tuch, KO, Z and Granato deserve a significant amount of credit for this. So do all the kids for buying in and keeping their heads up Best KA Acquisition? Tuch and Krebs. Tuch's play has been nothing less then wonderful since joining the team. He has added a dimension to this roster missing for decades. Dare I say we could actually come out pretty well from the Eichel trade? Of the bargain signings we have certainly received out money's worth from Pysyk and Hinostroza. Worst KA Acquisition? Eakin doesn't count because he was last year's failure (with Bjork a close 2nd). Butcher is by far the worst of this year's dumpster fires of Hayden, Caggiula, Hagg, and Butcher. I added a comeback player of the year award. Edited February 12, 2022 by GASabresIUFAN Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Broken Ankles Posted February 12, 2022 Report Share Posted February 12, 2022 1 hour ago, Taro T said: Brilliance….except your take on the biggest disappointment. Sounds so Tammy Wynette “Stand by your Man”. Be Destiny’s Child “Independent Women”. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steveoath Posted February 12, 2022 Report Share Posted February 12, 2022 3 hours ago, LGR4GM said: Wot he said. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
French Collection Posted February 12, 2022 Report Share Posted February 12, 2022 4 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said: What are your team and individual awards (positive and negative) Most Improved Player? Tage is head and shoulders above the rest. Most Valuable player? Dahlin has got better and is starting to assert himself physically. Rookie of the Year? Is there one? UPL for ROY. Unsung Hero? Pysyk has been good value and provides leadership. Comeback player of the year? Skinnamarink a dinkie do. Biggest Positive Surprise - Player? Okposo, his best days are behind him but he takes on any role with a smile. Biggest Disappointment (Player and Team) sick Mitts, not getting to see them. Goaltending, lack of skill and depth. Biggest Team Accomplishment? Everyone seems to be buying in and happy to improve as a team. Best KA Acquisition? Tuch, Krebs, 1st. He held out for a decent return and did well for Jack holding a gun to his head. Worst KA Acquisition? Butcher, performance wise, but the 5th rounder may end up as a player. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pimlach Posted February 12, 2022 Report Share Posted February 12, 2022 (edited) Most Improved Player? Tage Most Valuable player? Dahlin Rookie of the Year? Is there one? None yet Unsung Hero? Okposo Biggest Positive Surprise - Player? Anderson and Skinner Biggest Disappointment (Player and Team) Olofsson (player) goaltending (team) Asplund Biggest Team Accomplishment? None yet Best KA Acquisition? Too early to evaluate Eichel and Rinehart trades but Tuch is impressing Worst KA Acquisition? Dell Edited February 12, 2022 by Pimlach Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Digger Posted February 13, 2022 Report Share Posted February 13, 2022 Most Improved Player? Tage Thompson (I remember the discussion in the off-season, no one thought he was ready to progress beyond a 3rd line winger (maybe injury prone) and no one was saying he should be moved to center). Most Valuable player? Rasmus Dahlin (nice to see the progression this year-let’s give him some supporting cast). Rookie of the Year? Is there one? Jack Quinn (not enough games but he’s served notice that he is coming to the Sabres soon and will be a player). Unsung Hero? Kyle Okposo (he’s earned respect. He will be remembered well as a Sabre in my opinion). Comeback player of the year? Jeff Skinner (still a bad contract but at least some goals are going in this season). Biggest Positive Surprise - Player? Tage Thompson (I’m going with him again as my first choice but I think Dylan Cozens has taken some steps this season and would not be surprised to see him put it all together next season (assuming he gets some decent wingers to play with - note that Rochester has options on the way). Biggest Disappointment (Player and Team)? Victor Olofsson (injuries most likely have played a role but no doubt he has been a disappointment with not scoring for so long – might have caught Skinner-itis). Team dropping out of playoff contention early again (didn’t expect playoffs but it sucks talking about our expected top draft picks in November every season). Biggest Team Accomplishment? Players staying positive, supporting each other, many of them going out together (when away from the ice). Best KA Acquisition? Alex Tuch, Peyton Krebs. (Tuch has been great. Both players looking good so far). Worst KA Acquisition? Aaron Dell. (No doubt Adams planned for Dell to be the backup to start the season behind Anderson and then eventually give way for UPL to play some games. Thank goodness that we had Tokarski to help out at the start of the season). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pastajoe Posted February 13, 2022 Report Share Posted February 13, 2022 Most Improved Player? Thompson Most Valuable player? Tuch Rookie of the Year? Is there one? Krebs Unsung Hero? Fans still going to games Comeback player of the year? Okposo Biggest Positive Surprise - Player? Hagg Biggest Disappointment? Dahlin; still not playing up to promise and inconsistent defensively Biggest Team Accomplishment? Making me think in the first month that they might make the playoffs Best KA Acquisition? Tuch Worst KA Acquisition? Butcher Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GASabresIUFAN Posted February 13, 2022 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2022 5 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said: Worst KA Acquisition? Eakin doesn't count because he was last year's failure (with Bjork a close 2nd). Butcher is by far the worst of this year's dumpster fires of Hayden, Caggiula, Hagg, and Butcher. 2 hours ago, Digger said: Worst KA Acquisition? Aaron Dell. (No doubt Adams planned for Dell to be the backup to start the season behind Anderson and then eventually give way for UPL to play some games. Thank goodness that we had Tokarski to help out at the start of the season). How could I possibly forget Dell. I still think Butcher was worse because we are paying him 2.8 mill to stink, but Dell is an excellent dumpster fire pick. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LGR4GM Posted February 13, 2022 Report Share Posted February 13, 2022 3 hours ago, pastajoe said: Biggest Disappointment? Dahlin; still not playing up to promise and inconsistent defensively Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pastajoe Posted February 13, 2022 Report Share Posted February 13, 2022 10 hours ago, LGR4GM said: He isn’t the dominant two-way defenseman he was projected to be. Too often he leaves a forward uncovered in the crease area, or gets bumped off the puck. I expected more by now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LGR4GM Posted February 13, 2022 Report Share Posted February 13, 2022 1 hour ago, pastajoe said: He isn’t the dominant two-way defenseman he was projected to be. Too often he leaves a forward uncovered in the crease area, or gets bumped off the puck. I expected more by now. I think in the last 2 months he's very much started to become this. That said, he needs to show it consistently. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dudacek Posted February 13, 2022 Report Share Posted February 13, 2022 If it wasn’t for Thompson, Skinner would be a shoe-in for most surprising. He’s been so bad for so long, I doubted he would ever come back. But he has been an effective top 6 player, who is scoring again, and playing a team game better than he ever has as a Sabre. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GASabresIUFAN Posted February 13, 2022 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2022 8 minutes ago, dudacek said: If it wasn’t for Thompson, Skinner would be a shoe-in for most surprising. He’s been so bad for so long, I doubted he would ever come back. But he has been an effective top 6 player, who is scoring again, and playing a team game better than he ever has as a Sabre. Skinner’s biggest issue was RK. He was hired to be a goal scorer and RK used him as a 4th line plugger. The improvements in Thompson, Cozens, Joki, and Dahlin with the rebounds in KO and Skinner and addition of Tuch have made this season watchable and bode well for next season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorny Posted February 13, 2022 Report Share Posted February 13, 2022 1 hour ago, GASabresIUFAN said: Skinner’s biggest issue was RK. He was hired to be a goal scorer and RK used him as a 4th line plugger. The improvements in Thompson, Cozens, Joki, and Dahlin with the rebounds in KO and Skinner and addition of Tuch have made this season watchable and bode well for next season. Skinner was also, as I noted last year, clearly a case of a player who had their stats drop off after suffering an injury. Skinner wasn’t the same after he rolled his ankle. Sometimes it can take players a long time to get back in a groove, Krueger limiting his playing time would only exacerbate that. There were indicators he was finding his way back, notably the fact he was still drawing penalties at a high rate 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorny Posted February 13, 2022 Report Share Posted February 13, 2022 On 2/12/2022 at 11:33 AM, GASabresIUFAN said: What are your team and individual awards (positive and negative) Most Improved Player? Thompson Most Valuable player? Dahlin, landslide Rookie of the Year? Is there one? Not really, no Unsung Hero? I feel like everyone that deserves it is getting their kudos around here, I’ll go with Dahlin b/c of the Sabres Twitter cronies Comeback player of the year? Skinner, don’t call it a comeback (absolutely call it a comeback) Biggest Positive Surprise - Player? Thompson Biggest Disappointment (Player and Team) The Team. Setting the all time playoff drought mark, and that being assured after a month, is so far from acceptable Biggest Team Accomplishment? Nothing yet, the only possible one left on the table is a strong finish, which I’d love to see Best KA Acquisition? Krebs Worst KA Acquisition? Still Matt Irwin. Yes, he still “got him!??” Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorny Posted February 13, 2022 Report Share Posted February 13, 2022 (edited) Best Forward: Skinner Best Defender: Dahlin My 3 stars on the season 1) Dahlin 2) Skinner 3) Thompson Edited February 13, 2022 by Thorny Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nfreeman Posted February 13, 2022 Report Share Posted February 13, 2022 What are your team and individual awards (positive and negative) Most Improved Player? TT -- no question about it Most Valuable player? Dahlin -- also no question about it Rookie of the Year? Is there one? N/A -- would've loved Quinn to seize this but injuries have so far disqualified him. Krebs is probably the front runner but also hasn't played enough games. Unsung Hero? N/A -- there haven't been enough players who have played well, and the handful that have played well haven't escaped attention. Comeback player of the year? Skinner by a mile Biggest Positive Surprise - Player? Tie -- TT and Skinner Biggest Disappointment (Player and Team) Player -- It's a bit unfair, as he doesn't really have an NHL track record, but I'll go with R2 -- I thought he would seize the opportunity and become a good scoring forward. Team -- overall performance. There have been way too many nights where they've come out comatose and the game has been over by the end of the 1st. Biggest Team Accomplishment? Getting what look to be 2 future mainstays in Krebs and Tuch out of the Eichel debacle. Best KA Acquisition? Tuch Worst KA Acquisition? The rotating cast of losers in net 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorny Posted February 13, 2022 Report Share Posted February 13, 2022 On 2/12/2022 at 1:26 PM, Taro T said: Post 9/11? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taro T Posted February 13, 2022 Report Share Posted February 13, 2022 1 minute ago, Thorny said: Post 9/11? He was drafted in '01, so he qualifies as "drafted this century" which was the delineation that was hoped to be usable. Unfortunately, or fortunately, it wasn't. That other date seemed a reasonable marker to highlight that they have no established NHLers at the position that aren't REALLY old by NHL standards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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