Sabres Prospect Challenge September 15-19.

[North Buffalo]

18 minutes ago, JustOneParade said:

The JAG days will soon be a distant memory.

Cant come soon enough.

[pi2000]

If the goal is to build a perennial playoff team, then they're on the right path.  

Is that good enough?

[Flashsabre]

And the best part is that none of our best young players/prospects are unlikable pricks😁

They have really assembled a group of young talented high character prospects. Just as important is that there seems to be a real synergy throughout the organization from Adams and the FO to Granato down to Appert, Peca and crew. The next few years should be really exciting watching these kids grow.

[nfreeman]

9 hours ago, LTS said:

Buffalo fans endured the Bills being absolutely horrible for 20 years.. Buffalo fans bounce back. I suspect like all fans.  I can't speak for those fans, but I know I looked at Amerks season tickets today... soooooo

This occurred to me too as I was watching some of the prospects games -- that building was sold out with enthusiastic fans who are pretty psyched about this team -- after no playoffs for 11 years and one bozo after another at GM and coach!

If they get off to a good start this year, the arena will come to life. 

[dudacek]

33 minutes ago, nfreeman said:

This occurred to me too as I was watching some of the prospects games -- that building was sold out with enthusiastic fans who are pretty psyched about this team -- after no playoffs for 11 years and one bozo after another at GM and coach!

If they get off to a good start this year, the arena will come to life. 

And if they don’t, the disappointment will be crushing.

I hope the fans truly are truly fine with “competitive” and “entertaining” as opposed to “good”.

Because if they aren’t, all this “likable” stuff is not going to last

Edited September 19, 2022 by dudacek

[bob_sauve28]

1 hour ago, JustOneParade said:

The JAG days will soon be a distant memory.

Full lineup of all legit NHL players? Nice! 

[LGR4GM]

13 hours ago, RochesterExpat said:

No one expects Buffalo to make the playoffs, but we expect the team to be fun to watch and that’s enough for most of us. For a lot of the past decade the team wasn’t fun to watch.

 

I expect Buffalo to make the playoffs. Not joking, I think they have what it takes and that JJP, Power, and Quinn push them over the edge because they will be better than Eakin, Hayden, and Hagg. I also think we can expect better from Krebs and Cozens to add to the list. Comrie will be better than whatever lasts year mess was.  

[bob_sauve28]

3 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

I expect Buffalo to make the playoffs. Not joking, I think they have what it takes and that JJP, Power, and Quinn push them over the edge because they will be better than Eakin, Hayden, and Hagg. I also think we can expect better from Krebs and Cozens to add to the list. Comrie will be better than whatever lasts year mess was.  

The depth at defense should be way better, too. No  Will Butcher! 

[LGR4GM]

12 minutes ago, bob_sauve28 said:

The depth at defense should be way better, too. No  Will Butcher! 

Butcher and Hagg have been replaced by Boosh (idk enough about him) and Power. 

[LGR4GM]

Spencer Sova will be back in the draft and I hope Buffalo takes a shot at him. He is pretty solid on the backend and why not get that? 

Here is his scouting report from EP Rinkside (which again, if you love hockey I highly recommend them)

Quote

 

Sova has work to do this year but I think at the very least he is good enough to continue to work with him as a prospect. 

[Brawndo]

4 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

Spencer Sova will be back in the draft and I hope Buffalo takes a shot at him. He is pretty solid on the backend and why not get that? 

Here is his scouting report from EP Rinkside (which again, if you love hockey I highly recommend them)

 

Sova has work to do this year but I think at the very least he is good enough to continue to work with him as a prospect. 

He’s actually eligible to be signed to an ELC before the OHL Season Starts, similar to Suchanek. They should sign both. 

[LGR4GM]

12 minutes ago, Brawndo said:

He’s actually eligible to be signed to an ELC before the OHL Season Starts, similar to Suchanek. They should sign both. 

Oh, I thought he had to go back into the draft. So we can sign him and send him back to the OHL which would be good for his dev. He's got 2 more OHL eligible years. 

[Flashsabre]

34 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

Oh, I thought he had to go back into the draft. So we can sign him and send him back to the OHL which would be good for his dev. He's got 2 more OHL eligible years. 

I asked this somewhere else. If he can be signed before the season then they should do it. He has looked good at rookie camp and has played well for 2 games here. For a team that is lacking in D pipeline depth Sova would be a nice add.

[JustOneParade]

1 hour ago, pi2000 said:

If the goal is to build a perennial playoff team, then they're on the right path.  

Is that good enough?

As an interim goal its good enough. But as encouraging as the prospects/young vets look, reaching the ultimate goal will likely include one or two players that are not presently in the Sabres' system. (Apologies if I misunderstood your question).

[Brawndo]

49 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

Oh, I thought he had to go back into the draft. So we can sign him and send him back to the OHL which would be good for his dev. He's got 2 more OHL eligible years. 

I was surprised as well, I asked someone who confirmed this is the case 

[PromoTheRobot]

Gotta love Jet Blue. Delayed my flight to Buffalo. Every single flight I've been on with them this year has been delayed. So much for seeing the Sabres. I should be grateful if I get there in time for the Bills game. 🤬

[RochesterExpat]

1 hour ago, LGR4GM said:

I expect Buffalo to make the playoffs. Not joking, I think they have what it takes and that JJP, Power, and Quinn push them over the edge because they will be better than Eakin, Hayden, and Hagg. I also think we can expect better from Krebs and Cozens to add to the list. Comrie will be better than whatever lasts year mess was.  

I respect that. I certainly think they'll be more competitive than any of the pre-season rankings have them. I'm not sold that they'll make the playoffs because there are a lot of unknowns going into this season and I generally err on the side of caution. I do have faith in Adams/Granato though.

I should have phrased it with "people won't be rioting in the streets if Buffalo doesn't make the playoffs this season" as opposed to saying no one believes they won't. I don't expect Buffalo to be mathematically eliminated from contention with 11 games still remaining on the schedule like last year. I think if that happens again people will be justifiably upset, but I can't imagine even those among us who believe Buffalo will make the playoffs are going to be burning jerseys if the Sabres are still playing meaningful games at the start of April. I think most of us have a pretty healthy perspective on where the team is at.

[Doohickie]

11 hours ago, Two or less said:

I'm excited about what the data-driven hockey "nerds" will be able to come up with this year. The Sabres seem to have drafted well and things seem to be coming along nicely, but Adams has build a very impressive hockey department with Karmanos, Ventura, Galamini, and Barlowe. People around the hockey who follow this type of stuff closely say it's a incredible talented staff the Sabres have assembled.

I still think they have a secret "personality type" metric that puts priority on having highly motivated, self-driven, leadership qualities as one of the pillars of what they are selecting for.  They might not always select the most talented player if it appears that their personality type won't fit in with the culture Kevyn is trying to build.

4 hours ago, JustOneParade said:

The JAG days will soon be a distant memory.

Not until Hinostroza moves on, but yeah, the team has real players and only one or two placeholders.

[Weave]

1 hour ago, PromoTheRobot said:

Gotta love Jet Blue. Delayed my flight to Buffalo. Every single flight I've been on with them this year has been delayed. So much for seeing the Sabres. I should be grateful if I get there in time for the Bills game. 🤬

Hell of a line of thunderstorms roaring through Buffalo this morning.  It wouldn’t matter what airline you were on.  I’m sure they are all delayed.

Edited September 19, 2022 by Weave

[Taro T]

2 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

I expect Buffalo to make the playoffs. Not joking, I think they have what it takes and that JJP, Power, and Quinn push them over the edge because they will be better than Eakin, Hayden, and Hagg. I also think we can expect better from Krebs and Cozens to add to the list. Comrie will be better than whatever lasts year mess was.  

It's possible.  Not likely, but definitely possible.

November & December will be key.  They'll get off to a fast start in October.  The question is can they finally not give up all the momentum they build up early when other teams are back into having the rust worked off & used to playing 3 games a week and when they're having a key injury or 2 to overcome.  They haven't been able to do that the past 4 or 5 years that they started off well.  IF they can, then they'll have enough of a base to overcome the inevitable 3-4  game slide that always comes at some point without letting it grow into an 8+ game skid.

If Comrie is a legit starter & can stay healthy, it's possible.  Wouldn't put any money on it but that 77.5 Over is extremely tempting.

[Doohickie]

3 hours ago, pi2000 said:

If the goal is to build a perennial playoff team, then they're on the right path.  

Is that good enough?

Obviously not:  Perennial contender is the goal.  However I look at the prospects challenge and think there are more NHL players in the system than there will be available roster spots on the Sabres team and realize that some of these prospects will eventually be moved for players that will help the Sabres become contenders.  Some of these kids will be used as trade capital to fill in the missing pieces.

[Norcal]

2 hours ago, PromoTheRobot said:

Gotta love Jet Blue. Delayed my flight to Buffalo. Every single flight I've been on with them this year has been delayed. So much for seeing the Sabres. I should be grateful if I get there in time for the Bills game. 🤬

That sucks, hopefully you have better luck the rest of the trip.

[Marvin]

5 hours ago, pi2000 said:

If the goal is to build a perennial playoff team, then they're on the right path.  

Is that good enough?

Gotta start somewhere.  A roster full of actual NHL-quality players is the precursor.

[PerreaultForever]

10 hours ago, dudacek said:

Kinda more like the cream of JBot's draft picks more than his team, no?

I mean only Dahlin Skinner, Mitts and Jokiharju actually were acquired by Botts and played a full season for him. When I think of Botterill's team, I think of guys like Hutton, Montour, Miller, Sheahy, Johansson, Berglund, Sobotka, Frolik, Vesey, Kahun, Pouliot, Josefson, Jordan Nolan, Zach Redmond — space filler after space filler.

I count 12 Adams acquisitions 10 Botterill (Samuelsson, Asplund, Thompson, Cozens, Bryson, UPL were the others) 3 Murray (Okposo, Olofsson, Fitzgerald) and 1 Darcy (Girgensons) among the guys expected to play this year.

I don't disagree with this but there's a few points that are in the gray area. "JBot's draft picks" yes, definitely. But that was kind of the point right? The original sentence was finally a GM with a team built through the draft. The reply from me was "not yet". 

So to the 12 Adams 10 Botterill, that may be true but the main core of this team at the moment is Botterill. 

the top line is 2/3 Botterill 1/3 Adams. 

I'm not sure what the lines will be and which rookies might play so for the moment your next group of forwards (Cozens, Mitts, Asplund, Olofsson) is 3 JBot 1 Murray.

Then come your Adams kids (Quinn, Peterka, Krebs) but not sure if any are impact players (yet) or not. 

After that it's Murray leftovers and who cares dregs like Bjork. I'm not counting the bottom of the line up for anybody cause they are all irrelevant.

The D is 1/3 Adams because he drafted Power. The rest of it however is all JBot.

Goaltending. Well it's Adams, but is that really a good thing??? imo it's been progressively downgraded since the Miler trade. Now if Lehner hadn't been a drug fueled head case maybe we'd have solid top 10 goaltending stability but that's not the way it worked and the current goalies are nothing to rave about. If UPL steps up it's still Botterill to the rescue. 

Now to be clear, I'm not saying Botterill was better or any good at all. He certainly chose poorly in coaches and his defensive shuffling was mind bogglingly odd. Bogo and Lehner were mishandled. The Foligno trade was just dumb. Lots of errors, but FOR THE MOMENT, this is still primarily a JBot roster. I am hoping in a year or two I won't be able to say that. 

Edited September 19, 2022 by PerreaultForever

[RochesterExpat]

2 hours ago, Doohickie said:

Not until Hinostroza moves on, but yeah, the team has real players and only one or two placeholders.

😅