Around The NHL 2022-23 Regular Season

[dudacek]

16 minutes ago, Thorny said:

Well, Lundell in his rookie season (and in 65 games, no less) has already safely arrived at the ~45 point landing spot.

Sorry, the Lundell talk on the Marek pod we listened to stirred this up lol

- - - 

I had Rossi 1 and Lundell 2, to be fair, so I can't completely pump my own tires here 

I've got no problem admitting I was wrong there.

From what I've seen since the draft (I watched a fair amount of Holtz in Utica last year), there is no competition.

Still not sure if we're going to see the type of growth out of Lundell as we will see with others in that draft, but he's clearly better than Holtz and I suspect always will be.

[Thorny]

12 minutes ago, dudacek said:

I've got no problem admitting I was wrong there.

From what I've seen since the draft (I watched a fair amount of Holtz in Utica last year), there is no competition.

Still not sure if we're going to see the type of growth out of Lundell as we will see with others in that draft, but he's clearly better than Holtz and I suspect always will be.

I could see Holtz ending up better still. 

I've just always thought Lundell was safe as safe can be 

You had the "Quinn is not off-board" thing, which I believe now is more accurate than the statements I was making about him being so, even though I was saying I thought he'd be good. So I was wrong there

Edited October 21, 2022 by Thorny

[Thorny]

On 12/27/2020 at 7:21 PM, Thorny said:

I know we can't know how the depth chart is going to look to a certainty a couple years down the line, but especially considering C is considered the more difficult position, I think we'd definitely be better off if Cozens ended up a centre for us - the Quinn pick could be a bit more difficult to stomach considering the Lundell's of the world on the board if we are still looking for our 2C once Staal is done. 

Narrator: It was not difficult to stomach. 

[Curt]

3 hours ago, Flashsabre said:

You are right. I think it has just become my pet peeve following the draft closely for so long that all they ever focus on with every dman is “puck moving” like it is the only tool they need for the position. Lazy analysis more then anything.

I get where you are coming from too.  Plenty of defensively strong defenseman are drafted and drafted high too though.

I think it’s mostly an issue of things talking heads say.  “Puck moving defenseman” has become an over used buzzterm.  It does mean anything anymore.  Lots of guys who become mostly defense focused players at the NHL level are described as puck moving defenseman around draft time just because they are able to put up a decent number of points at the junior levels.

[Thorny]

lmao Gallagher trying to convince Slavkovsky to take a baseball style curtain call on the bench was freaking hilarious 

[Thorny]

Even Tim on Tim and Friends up here giving the Sabres a shout out!

People are noticing 

[Sabres Fan in NS]

33 minutes ago, Thorny said:

Even Tim on Tim and Friends up here giving the Sabres a shout out!

People are noticing 

That guy sounds like a little dweeb on the radio, but he knows stuff.

[Flashsabre]

1 hour ago, Thorny said:

Even Tim on Tim and Friends up here giving the Sabres a shout out!

People are noticing 

The Drive Thru crew on TSN today were all praising the Sabres today. 

Talking about Dahlin and the young dmen and how Tage and Tuch are monsters and all the young talent they have.

The main reason they need to keep Tage and Tuch together is because they are such a matchup mismatch. Like Lindros and Leclair. Their size, speed, skill combination causes nightmares for teams.

Then you come back with the pure speed and skill of Hinny Cozens JJ and you cause headaches for other teams to defend against.

[HumanSlinky39]

1 hour ago, Flashsabre said:

The Drive Thru crew on TSN today were all praising the Sabres today. 

Talking about Dahlin and the young dmen and how Tage and Tuch are monsters and all the young talent they have.

The main reason they need to keep Tage and Tuch together is because they are such a matchup mismatch. Like Lindros and Leclair. Their size, speed, skill combination causes nightmares for teams.

Then you come back with the pure speed and skill of Hinny Cozens JJ and you cause headaches for other teams to defend against.

It's been funny watching so many fans, particularly on social media, lambaste KA for not going out and throwing money around in free agency or trying to trade for guys like DeBrincat, Tkachuk, or DeAngelo. Kevyn Adams, aside from the early Taylor Hall miss step has had a plan in place and has been doggedly sticking to it. Identify core pieces, build through the prospect pool and draft and let this team grow together and take their lumps. It started paying off the last six weeks last season and we're continuing to see it blossom this year.

When you watch the stuff the Sabres put out on social media, the camaraderie this group has looks special and they're growing together. Nothing is guaranteed, so I'm not making any kind of grand proclamations, but for the first time since this seemingly endless rebuild started, we seem to have real reason to be optimistic. It's good to have a GM that is willing to put in the work and not just take shortcuts to try to find the quick fix.

[LGR4GM]

36 minutes ago, HumanSlinky39 said:

It's been funny watching so many fans, particularly on social media, lambaste KA for not going out and throwing money around in free agency or trying to trade for guys like DeBrincat, Tkachuk, or DeAngelo. Kevyn Adams, aside from the early Taylor Hall miss step has had a plan in place and has been doggedly sticking to it. Identify core pieces, build through the prospect pool and draft and let this team grow together and take their lumps. It started paying off the last six weeks last season and we're continuing to see it blossom this year.

When you watch the stuff the Sabres put out on social media, the camaraderie this group has looks special and they're growing together. Nothing is guaranteed, so I'm not making any kind of grand proclamations, but for the first time since this seemingly endless rebuild started, we seem to have real reason to be optimistic. It's good to have a GM that is willing to put in the work and not just take shortcuts to try to find the quick fix.

I tried to argue this summer that spending money doesn't mean winning. 

I think Adams didn't want to do the Hall deal but felt obligated to try once more with Jack. I also think Krueger had a lot more power and pushed that along. 

 

[dudacek]

3 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

I tried to argue this summer that spending money doesn't mean winning. 

I think Adams didn't want to do the Hall deal but felt obligated to try once more with Jack. I also think Krueger had a lot more power and pushed that along. 

 

Isn’t it pretty much common knowledge by now that Jack requested a trade because he wasn’t going to put up with any more sucking, Krueger told him and Terry that the team wasn’t that far away, and Kevyn’s marching orders from the owner was to do what he could to get Jack and Ralph what they wanted for one last kick at making things work?

I have no idea how much of the actual strategy and tactics of what he executed that summer actually came from Kevyn, but the overall vision was something handed to him to execute, rather than what he walked into the job preaching.

What we are seeing now is his actual vision - shaped in part by his view of the failures of the Eichel era - which he pitched that spring to Pegula, and was accepted. 

Edited October 22, 2022 by dudacek

[Thorny]

12 minutes ago, dudacek said:

Isn’t it pretty much common knowledge by now that Jack requested a trade because he wasn’t going to put up with any more sucking, Krueger told him and Terry that the team wasn’t that far away, and Kevyn’s marching orders from the owner was to do what he could to get Jack and Terry what they wanted for one last kick at making things work?

I have no idea how much of the actual strategy and tactics of what he executed that summer actually came from Kevyn, but the overall vision was something handed to him to execute, rather than what he walked into the job preaching.

What we are seeing now is his actual vision - shaped in part by his view of the failures of the Eichel era - which he pitched that spring to Pegula, and was accepted. 

Ya, I don’t think Jack made an official request (or close to it) until the following summer, technically - If I am not mistaken the word was that, when KA first came on, he got wind of the direction KA wanted to take and voiced his displeasure/said he didn’t want to be a part of another “rebuild”. 

Perhaps that’s semantics, but the distinction I make there is that it was never said Jack just assumed more sucking was to come so he requested a trade. He said he didn’t want to be a part of it *after* being informed of the strategy KA had, was what I believe we were told. 

Either way, comes to the same thing: he wasn’t on board with KA’s PREFERRED plan of action and once that became the Word, Jack was done and it was official 

Edited October 22, 2022 by Thorny

[Doohickie]

28 minutes ago, Thorny said:

If I am not mistaken the word was that, when KA first came on, he got wind of the direction KA wanted to take and voiced his displeasure/said he didn’t want to be a part of another “rebuild”. 

The irony is that Jack thought getting out of Buffalo would get him to the playoffs sooner because the rebuild would delay things so much, but once Kevyn was given the green light he turned things around pretty quickly.  Maybe not playoffs this year, but soon.  If anything, trying to feed Jack by bringing in Hall, Staal, etc., actually delayed the team's rebuild.  If he had enthusiastically supported it, he could have been part of it and we might be closer to completing the build.

On the other hand, Jack was just sick of the team's failure to build (understandable) and I think by the time Kevyn took over he already knew Jack wasn't part of his future build.

[Thorny]

10 minutes ago, Doohickie said:

The irony is that Jack thought getting out of Buffalo would get him to the playoffs sooner because the rebuild would delay things so much, but once Kevyn was given the green light he turned things around pretty quickly.  Maybe not playoffs this year, but soon.  If anything, trying to feed Jack by bringing in Hall, Staal, etc., actually delayed the team's rebuild.  If he had enthusiastically supported it, he could have been part of it and we might be closer to completing the build.

On the other hand, Jack was just sick of the team's failure to build (understandable) and I think by the time Kevyn took over he already knew Jack wasn't part of his future build.

There are myriad possibilities for how it COULD have went down. We’ll never know. We shouldn’t forget that covid and injuries ripped apart that sham of a season with Hall. Short season, too. That season to me never represented a fair, honest college try for making a “now” team work. It may have been doomed anyways, but there was definitely some hard luck there

oh well all’s well that ends well 

[Doohickie]

Yeah, good point about the Covid impact.  I think going into the season it was, in fact, "a fair honest college try" to get enough skilled players on the team to push for the playoffs but Covid, and Jack's injuries that year, and the 6 different goalies due to injuries, all doomed the Sabres season and opened the door for Kevyn's rebuild.  After that disaster I don't blame Jack for wanting out, but keep in mind his injury history that year was a major factor in the team's suckitude.

[Huckleberry]

 

[LGR4GM]

7 hours ago, dudacek said:

Isn’t it pretty much common knowledge by now that Jack requested a trade because he wasn’t going to put up with any more sucking, Krueger told him and Terry that the team wasn’t that far away, and Kevyn’s marching orders from the owner was to do what he could to get Jack and Ralph what they wanted for one last kick at making things work?

I have no idea how much of the actual strategy and tactics of what he executed that summer actually came from Kevyn, but the overall vision was something handed to him to execute, rather than what he walked into the job preaching.

What we are seeing now is his actual vision - shaped in part by his view of the failures of the Eichel era - which he pitched that spring to Pegula, and was accepted. 

It's weird that the best thing that happened to this franchise was a 18 game losing streak. It proved Adams correct, gave hc granato, got us Power and completely shifted the franchise trajectory. 

[Digger]

I see that Seattle was able to beat Colorado last night.  They look like a pretty hard working team right now.  Heads up for next Tuesday's game with them.

[Doohickie]

1 hour ago, Digger said:

I see that Seattle was able to beat Colorado last night.  They look like a pretty hard working team right now.  Heads up for next Tuesday's game with them.

There are a whole lotta "up and coming" teams that play fast and hard and are winning more than expected.  I think the league is changing and teams built on the old model will be eclipsed by the new one which I think may be "every player is fast, most are skilled, non are JAGs, and they will wear you out."  There are several in that category including BUF, OTT, DET and possibly even MTL in our division alone.

Yes, even the Habs.... maybe.

 

Edited October 22, 2022 by Doohickie

[Doohickie]

You can't "buy" a team in this new model; you have to build it through the draft.  There's no way to acquire enough high-end players through free agency without bankrupting your cap, or through trades without bankrupting your pipeline.

Kevyn has maneuvered the Sabres to the forefront of the movement.

[LGR4GM]

 

[GASabresIUFAN]

Pavelski with a hat trick tonight at 38 years old.  Guy had 81 pts in 82 games last season at 37.  What an amazing player.

[Wyldnwoody44]

Pens and Bruins are just lighting it up. The East appears to be quite tough, Ottawa, Montreal and Florida all playing well. Glad to see the start we got as it will be needed if we are thinking of sniffing playoffs. 

[LGR4GM]

7 hours ago, Wyldnwoody44 said:

Pens and Bruins are just lighting it up. The East appears to be quite tough, Ottawa, Montreal and Florida all playing well. Glad to see the start we got as it will be needed if we are thinking of sniffing playoffs. 

Nah, Montreal is garbage. They are just slightly better than what ppl thought. That's a team we need to beat like a sad drum when we play. 

[SDS]

It looks like the western conference is complete trash right now. Look at the records and all four divisions. Clearly the east is dominating the west because the west hardly have any wins.