Expectations for 2022/23: where you stand on this roster heading in to the season

[Buffalonill]

11 minutes ago, GoPuckYourself said:

I'm trying to be realistic, I see around the same record as last year. I don't think Goaltending is strong enough yet, if we have any key injuries on defense then we'll be in trouble as we're pretty thin imo as far as depth. Plus a bunch of unknowns like Jeff Skinner (can he sustain what he did last season?), Tage Thompson (Had a career year by a mile), Kyle Okposo (Had his best year in a very long time, does he have anything left?). Of course I hope I'm wrong and we make the playoffs and I think we're definitely headed in the right direction but there are too many question marks this season.

Looks like im not the only one 

[Curt]

23 minutes ago, Buffalonill said:

Looks like im not the only one 

Neither of you are willing to mark it down in the poll though?

[Thorny]

48 minutes ago, Buffalonill said:

-Kyle Okposo great guy have nothing against him but he had a very  Flukey year his best since his NYI days he will regress back to his 10g -15g 30 points days 

- tage Thompson his high  Shooting percent Should put some concern in people's eyes I've see this story before aka .. William Karlsson etc

Jeff skinner ( huge fan) every good year he has the next is a down year it happens every time.

- power people believe hes already a number 2 and going to be in the calder race . I see a guy that will be very rocky the whole year 

 

 

All reasonable takes.

Can’t say I agree w/ all of them (or even a majority), but I agree that what happens next w/ these players is not necessarily predictable 

[Buffalonill]

10 minutes ago, Thorny said:

All reasonable takes.

Can’t say I agree w/ all of them (or even a majority), but I agree that what happens next w/ these players is not necessarily predictable 

My hope is adams doesn’t get  Impatient and  Pressured by the fans , media and just  Let it ride and doesn’t do anything stupid like a big trade.

[Thorny]

4 minutes ago, Buffalonill said:

My hope is adams doesn’t get  Impatient and  Pressured by the fans , media and just  Let it ride and doesn’t do anything stupid like a big trade.

He won’t. 

[dudacek]

1 hour ago, Buffalonill said:

-Kyle Okposo great guy have nothing against him but he had a very  Flukey year his best since his NYI days he will regress back to his 10g -15g 30 points days 

- tage Thompson his high  Shooting percent Should put some concern in people's eyes I've see this story before aka .. William Karlsson etc

Jeff skinner ( huge fan) every good year he has the next is a down year it happens every time.

- power people believe hes already a number 2 and going to be in the calder race . I see a guy that will be very rocky the whole year 

 

 

Power can't regress, unless you define that as he's going to give us less than Butcher or Pysyk or whoever it is he's replacing. not sure what you've seen that sours you on him, so that's an odd one.

I expect Skinner to likely regress as well to 50ish points — the track record is there — and I'd be surprised if Okposo doesn't.

Thompson is a different story for me, but entirely fair.

But you are predicting team-wide regression: you don't think the team is improved elsewhere in the lineup to compensate, even if you;re right about the 3 above?

 

Edited October 12, 2022 by dudacek

[Buffalonill]

9 minutes ago, dudacek said:

Power can't regress, unless you define that as he's going to give us less than Butcher or Pysyk or whoever it is he's replacing. not sure what you've seen that sours you on him, so that's an odd one.

I expect Skinner to likely regress as well to 50ish points — the track record is there — and I'd be surprised if Okposo doesn't.

Thompson is a different story for me, but entirely fair.

But you are predicting team-wide regression: you don't think the team is improved elsewhere in the lineup?

 

I see jack quinn winning rookie of the year 

 

 

[PerreaultForever]

1 hour ago, dudacek said:

Power can't regress, unless you define that as he's going to give us less than Butcher or Pysyk or whoever it is he's replacing. not sure what you've seen that sours you on him, so that's an odd one.

I would wonder if Power will crack under pressure being a young player with too much put on him too quickly. I think back to McAvoy with Boston and he got benched first year and then slowly brought back in and then paired with Chara to learn and nothing happened instantly. Power doesn't have that veteran rock to pair with and we aren't deep enough to sit him so there's a lot on the kid's shoulders early. We've ruined them before, I hope we do better this time. 

[Eleven]

There are three threads that, however denominated, are on the same topic.  One is called "your 2022-2023 Sabres" or something like that, one is called "22-23 expectations," or something like that, and then there is this one, with the most specific title of the three (not that the others were bad).  They all seek the same commentary, though.  So I'm going to self-report this post in the hope that the mods can clean it up--and maybe they can't.  

Anyway, on to the substance:

If Anderson and Comrie can hold the net, this team can challenge for 7 or 8.  But I don't think they can.  As happy as I was that Adams took a chance on Comrie, it isn't looking good.  And Anderson is a known quantity.  Unless the Sabres realize that UPL is a better goalie in Buffalo than in Rochester, or sign Levi on a prayer (I have given up on Portillo--he doesn't want to be here), it goes nowhere.  The D is too shaky and the scorers are too young.

Without changes in net, we are looking at 6-7th in the division and a complementary placement in the East.

Edited October 12, 2022 by Eleven

[ubkev]

Hammer the Over on the Sabres 77.5 points this season.

[Eleven]

3 minutes ago, ubkev said:

Hammer the Over on the Sabres 77.5 points this season.

If only I gambled...or presently had access to gambling...this seems like a good place to put an investment that doesn't require selling the house.

Edited October 12, 2022 by Eleven

[ubkev]

2 hours ago, Eleven said:

If only I gambled...or presently had access to gambling...this seems like a good place to put an investment that doesn't require selling the house.

I haven't placed a bet since I was 21. But I've got a hundred on this with a buddy of mine who's a ***** talking Islanders fan. He was even nice enough to give me even money odds. (Over is currently -135)

[Curt]

5 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

I would wonder if Power will crack under pressure being a young player with too much put on him too quickly. I think back to McAvoy with Boston and he got benched first year and then slowly brought back in and then paired with Chara to learn and nothing happened instantly. Power doesn't have that veteran rock to pair with and we aren't deep enough to sit him so there's a lot on the kid's shoulders early. We've ruined them before, I hope we do better this time. 

In McAvoy’s rookie season he led the Bruins in ES ice time, played some on both special teams, and skated over 22 min/game overall.

I understand what you are saying about having that veteran presence, but I definitely wouldn’t characterize what the Bruins did with McAvoy as easing him in.

[LGR4GM]

7 hours ago, Eleven said:

There are three threads that, however denominated, are on the same topic.  One is called "your 2022-2023 Sabres" or something like that, one is called "22-23 expectations," or something like that, and then there is this one, with the most specific title of the three (not that the others were bad).  They all seek the same commentary, though.  So I'm going to self-report this post in the hope that the mods can clean it up--and maybe they can't.  

Anyway, on to the substance:

If Anderson and Comrie can hold the net, this team can challenge for 7 or 8.  But I don't think they can.  As happy as I was that Adams took a chance on Comrie, it isn't looking good.  And Anderson is a known quantity.  Unless the Sabres realize that UPL is a better goalie in Buffalo than in Rochester, or sign Levi on a prayer (I have given up on Portillo--he doesn't want to be here), it goes nowhere.  The D is too shaky and the scorers are too young.

Without changes in net, we are looking at 6-7th in the division and a complementary placement in the East.

What? Comrie hasn't played a game yet. 

[Eleven]

2 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

What? Comrie hasn't played a game yet. 

He didn't look good in preseason.  I haven't given up on him, I just said that it isn't looking good.

7 hours ago, ubkev said:

a ***** talking Islanders fan

Is there any other kind?

[PerreaultForever]

9 hours ago, Curt said:

In McAvoy’s rookie season he led the Bruins in ES ice time, played some on both special teams, and skated over 22 min/game overall.

I understand what you are saying about having that veteran presence, but I definitely wouldn’t characterize what the Bruins did with McAvoy as easing him in.

I didn't say he was "eased in" I said he got benched and sat in the stands for a bit. Mostly he was paired with Chara who mentored him every shift and covered up for many of his rookie mistakes.  Power doesn't have that sort of veteran partner to settle him down or keep him from cracking under pressure. He will have to carry a heavier load. Hopefully the coaching staff will be right there for him when needed. 

[Curt]

1 minute ago, PerreaultForever said:

I didn't say he was "eased in" I said he got benched and sat in the stands for a bit. Mostly he was paired with Chara who mentored him every shift and covered up for many of his rookie mistakes.  Power doesn't have that sort of veteran partner to settle him down or keep him from cracking under pressure. He will have to carry a heavier load. Hopefully the coaching staff will be right there for him when needed. 

True, you said that they slowly brought him back in.  He led the team in ES ice time, so it couldn’t have been too slow.

Also, I can’t find any record of him being benched his rookie year.  Looks like he missed some time with an irregular heartbeat and then a knee injury.

Not many teams have a Chara to pair with their stud rookie.  Power is not going to be carrying the heavy load.  That will be Samuelsson-Dahlin.  Power will be fine.

[PerreaultForever]

4 minutes ago, Curt said:

True, you said that they slowly brought him back in.  He led the team in ES ice time, so it couldn’t have been too slow.

Also, I can’t find any record of him being benched his rookie year.  Looks like he missed some time with an irregular heartbeat and then a knee injury.

Not many teams have a Chara to pair with their stud rookie.  Power is not going to be carrying the heavy load.  That will be Samuelsson-Dahlin.  Power will be fine.

I watched a lot of Bruins games that year and he was benched. There was talk of sending him down to Providence but they decided he would learn more from Chara. He was taken off the PK as well.  

Looking at this 7 year extension for Samuelsson it will be interesting to see how many minutes that pair gets and who will be the PK pairing. Will that be Dahlin as well? I'm not sure how this plays out or how much they will throw at Power. We shall see. 

[Taro T]

8 minutes ago, PerreaultForever said:

I watched a lot of Bruins games that year and he was benched. There was talk of sending him down to Providence but they decided he would learn more from Chara. He was taken off the PK as well.  

Looking at this 7 year extension for Samuelsson it will be interesting to see how many minutes that pair gets and who will be the PK pairing. Will that be Dahlin as well? I'm not sure how this plays out or how much they will throw at Power. We shall see. 

Not sure how the pairings go, but the 4 PK D will be Samuelsson, Lyubushkin, Jokiharju, & Dahlin.  Likely paired that way as well.

[GoPuckYourself]

On 10/11/2022 at 8:32 PM, Buffalonill said:

Looks like im not the only one 

I just saw what you had to say on it now, it's all very realistic questions that we'll have answered. I agreed with all but I think Power is going to be unbelievable in a great way. Just watching a small sample size he looked like a player who can be a driving force for us. The only game that i saw him really struggle was against the Blues, Tarasenko put a clinic on him but he does that to even the best players so I wont fault him there.

[LGR4GM]

On 10/11/2022 at 10:48 PM, PerreaultForever said:

I would wonder if Power will crack under pressure being a young player with too much put on him too quickly. I think back to McAvoy with Boston and he got benched first year and then slowly brought back in and then paired with Chara to learn and nothing happened instantly. Power doesn't have that veteran rock to pair with and we aren't deep enough to sit him so there's a lot on the kid's shoulders early. We've ruined them before, I hope we do better this time. 

I wouldn't worry about Owen Power

18 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

I didn't say he was "eased in" I said he got benched and sat in the stands for a bit. Mostly he was paired with Chara who mentored him every shift and covered up for many of his rookie mistakes.  Power doesn't have that sort of veteran partner to settle him down or keep him from cracking under pressure. He will have to carry a heavier load. Hopefully the coaching staff will be right there for him when needed. 

They can put lybushkin with with him at any point. Power isn't going to crack.

[nfreeman]

22 hours ago, Taro T said:

Not sure how the pairings go, but the 4 PK D will be Samuelsson, Lyubushkin, Jokiharju, & Dahlin.  Likely paired that way as well.

I could be misremembering, but I think Bryson played a fair amount of PK last year, although that might've been due to lack of viable options.

I also think DG made a point of playing Dahlin on the PK as he wanted to develop Dahlin's entire game.  I kinda expect him to do the same with Power.

[dudacek]

I’ve said it a few times: Power has the skill set to become an absolutely elite penalty killer; his poise and reads will eventually be elite and his range unmatched.

[Taro T]

31 minutes ago, nfreeman said:

I could be misremembering, but I think Bryson played a fair amount of PK last year, although that might've been due to lack of viable options.

I also think DG made a point of playing Dahlin on the PK as he wanted to develop Dahlin's entire game.  I kinda expect him to do the same with Power.

We'll see.  Could see him stepping up into the regular rotation after Christmas, but expect he'll have enough on his plate leading the 2nd 5v5 pairing & QBing the 2PP without adding PK to it on a regular basis.

And yeah, believe Bryson got some PK time because other options were even scarier.  When Fitzgerald is in the line up he could get an odd shift or 2 on PK as well.

[PerreaultForever]

5 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

I wouldn't worry about Owen Power

They can put lybushkin with with him at any point. Power isn't going to crack.

To clarify, I'm not worried about Power cracking long term. In time he will be a very good D man, the question is only what happens short term if he hits a bump or struggles. Dahlin had his ups and downs as you know, and many people questioned his true value as a #1 overall. imo we did not develop him well and threw too much at him too quickly. He might have it sorted now, but I think it stunted his development a little and he still has some bad habits that I hope he's going to have gotten over this year. The question is who do we go to if Power hits a rough patch.