Should we be worried about next year?

[French Collection]

TNT may hit a plateau.

Dahlin, Cozens and Mitts are not even at their primes.

Skinner and Tuch could drop a bit.

VO is the wid card, he could have a reduced role.

Quinn, Krebs, JJP and Power have nothing but upside. Even Jost could get a bump.

I see injuries as the only thing to make their numbers worse. 

[dudacek]

1 hour ago, tom webster said:

I’m sorry, dudachek is one of my favorite posters on here but this thread is so Buffalo.

 

35 minutes ago, Cascade Youth said:

Felix Unger: “They say it may rain on Friday.”

Guys, it’s a question worth discussing, not a statement of inevitability.

 

38 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

Age

One word post that answers it very well, IMO.

With the exception of Skinner, I think we are seeing arrivals, more so than outliers; this first group may not produce quite as much, but generally, it is what this group is.

And there is so much room for growth in the younger group (Krebs, Peterka, Quinn, Power, Samuelsson, UPL,  guys who aren’t here yet), I think the team will be fine.

Edited March 8, 2023 by dudacek

[Thorny]

42 minutes ago, DarthEbriate said:

We need to be worrying about this year.

Never our minds on where we were. Hmm? What we were doing! Hmm!

‘OUCH!’

[...]

Such a Buffalo thread.

Still, let's say Tage regresses from 50 goals to 40. Oh darn.

[Thorny]

25 minutes ago, dudacek said:

 

Guys, it’s a question worth discussing, not a statement of inevitability.

Always a tough road of hoe 

[PASabreFan]

Just now, Thorny said:

Always a tough road of hoe 

I miss the wtf emojicon.

[Thorny]

Just now, PASabreFan said:

I miss the wtf emojicon.

The board often reacts poorly to even the contemplation of questions like the OP proposed 

[PASabreFan]

2 minutes ago, Thorny said:

The board often reacts poorly to even the contemplation of questions like the OP proposed 

Sure. I think it's row to hoe though.

[Thorny]

3 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

Sure. I think it's row to hoe though.

It is. I noticed that but didn’t think it substantially changed my statement. Maybe I faux pas -d

Edit just realized I typed road lol

Oh well, thought it was just the “to” “of” thing 😆

Im leaving it up

Edited March 8, 2023 by Thorny

[PASabreFan]

Well that deescalated quickly.

[Marvin]

"Forecasting is vert difficult, especially if it is about the future."

--- allegedly from Paul Volker.

[Thorny]

Just now, PASabreFan said:

Well that deescalated quickly.

No it’s pretty funny. Face is red etc etc

Just now, Marvin said:

"Forecasting is vert difficult, especially if it is about the future."

--- allegedly from Paul Volker.

Less known quote from Volker

”spelling is very difficult, especially if you are trying to spell words”

[K-9]

1 hour ago, French Collection said:

TNT may hit a plateau.

Dahlin, Cozens and Mitts are not even at their primes.

Skinner and Tuch could drop a bit.

VO is the wid card, he could have a reduced role.

Quinn, Krebs, JJP and Power have nothing but upside. Even Jost could get a bump.

I see injuries as the only thing to make their numbers worse. 

I sure hope VO has a reduced role…

… with another team.

[Pimlach]

2 hours ago, dudacek said:

One truism in hockey is that a career year is often followed with some backsliding.

This year is just another case where Tage Thompson is the exception that proves the rule.

Our best players — Thompson, Dahlin, Skinner, Tuch, Cozens and Mittelstadt — are all having career years, and by a significant margin.

Tell me why we shouldn't we be worried about some serious regression.

Some players could regress statistically and others are likely to improve. 

[JKB1646]

5 hours ago, Curt said:

You shouldn’t be worried because even if they do regress a tad, Quinn, Peterka, Krebs, Greenway, Power, Jokiharju, Comrie, and UPL are all going to take their turn at breakout seasons.

Add Savio, Kulich, Rosen and Levi and we are set for years! 

[Marvin]

I hope with a more structured defencive system, some added clutch-and-grab, erm, grit and active defence, and improved goaltending that any offencive backsliding will be compensated for.

[Randall Flagg]

Reasons for concern: 

• The Sabres' important players were healthy for the vast majority of the season, this is almost certain to not be replicated any given year
• Tuch and Skinner significantly out-produced their career highs - age, bounces, and film study will almost certainly cut into their scoring totals next year
• Tage and Dahlin are having historic seasons which are never a given (Matthews last year compared to this year), and are on their way to being wasted
• Donny's coaching needs to grow, and I have no bearing for how likely this is (in a tied game against the Oilers yesterday, coming out of a commercial break, the Sabres received their second and final power play of the game, during which Tage and Dahlin saw 9 seconds of ice time total)
• The front offense does not seem keen on adding another core piece, when the team could use one both up front and on the back end (they want this piece but they want it to emerge organically from Krebs/JJP/2022 firsts, which may or may not happen next year or any time after)
• They are comfortable with that sort of uncertainty not only in the skating ranks, but crucially, in goal, and Kevyn has continued the franchise streak of ensuring that his team will get wildly consistent goaltending as its absolute ceiling
  • Seriously, the best thing you could possibly do for a young team is let them learn knowing that someone has their backs behind them if they screw up, and the quickest way to hamper them is to give them the opposite, and that's all we ever do

Reasons for optimism:

• They have probably passed a critical mass of talent which will hide most of the issues above
• There is a lot of untapped offensive potential available with a coaching staff that has a stellar track record of tapping into this sort of thing (Tage's first ~150 NHL games came with a shooting percentage comparable to Johan Larsson) 
• Cozens is the kind of guy who will remain pissed off about the kick-goal and other things, storm into Kevyn's office in April, and make sure the team is ready to tear it up in the fall - nights like tonight don't decide your season when you win 50 games 

[Marvin]

1 minute ago, Randall Flagg said:

Reasons for concern: 

• The Sabres' important players were healthy for the vast majority of the season, this is almost certain to not be replicated any given year
• Tuch and Skinner significantly out-produced their career highs - age, bounces, and film study will almost certainly cut into their scoring totals next year
• Tage and Dahlin are having historic seasons which are never a given (Matthews last year compared to this year), and are on their way to being wasted
• Donny's coaching needs to grow, and I have no bearing for how likely this is (in a tied game against the Oilers yesterday, coming out of a commercial break, the Sabres received their second and final power play of the game, during which Tage and Dahlin saw 9 seconds of ice time total)
• The front offense does not seem keen on adding another core piece, when the team could use one both up front and on the back end (they want this piece but they want it to emerge organically from Krebs/JJP/2022 firsts, which may or may not happen next year or any time after)
• They are comfortable with that sort of uncertainty not only in the skating ranks, but crucially, in goal, and Kevyn has continued the franchise streak of ensuring that his team will get wildly consistent goaltending as its absolute ceiling
  • Seriously, the best thing you could possibly do for a young team is let them learn knowing that someone has their backs behind them if they screw up, and the quickest way to hamper them is to give them the opposite, and that's all we ever do

Reasons for optimism:

• They have probably passed a critical mass of talent which will hide most of the issues above
• There is a lot of untapped offensive potential available with a coaching staff that has a stellar track record of tapping into this sort of thing (Tage's first ~150 NHL games came with a shooting percentage comparable to Johan Larsson) 
• Cozens is the kind of guy who will remain pissed off about the kick-goal and other things, storm into Kevyn's office in April, and make sure the team is ready to tear it up in the fall - nights like tonight don't decide your season when you win 50 games 

Welcome back!  And great post.

[Gatorman0519]

Nothing I can see says "definitely without a doubt next year we are on the rise".  Lots of big holes yet.

[Thorny]

2 hours ago, Randall Flagg said:

Reasons for concern: 

• The Sabres' important players were healthy for the vast majority of the season, this is almost certain to not be replicated any given year
• Tuch and Skinner significantly out-produced their career highs - age, bounces, and film study will almost certainly cut into their scoring totals next year
• Tage and Dahlin are having historic seasons which are never a given (Matthews last year compared to this year), and are on their way to being wasted
• Donny's coaching needs to grow, and I have no bearing for how likely this is (in a tied game against the Oilers yesterday, coming out of a commercial break, the Sabres received their second and final power play of the game, during which Tage and Dahlin saw 9 seconds of ice time total)
• The front offense does not seem keen on adding another core piece, when the team could use one both up front and on the back end (they want this piece but they want it to emerge organically from Krebs/JJP/2022 firsts, which may or may not happen next year or any time after)
• They are comfortable with that sort of uncertainty not only in the skating ranks, but crucially, in goal, and Kevyn has continued the franchise streak of ensuring that his team will get wildly consistent goaltending as its absolute ceiling
  • Seriously, the best thing you could possibly do for a young team is let them learn knowing that someone has their backs behind them if they screw up, and the quickest way to hamper them is to give them the opposite, and that's all we ever do

Reasons for optimism:

• They have probably passed a critical mass of talent which will hide most of the issues above
• There is a lot of untapped offensive potential available with a coaching staff that has a stellar track record of tapping into this sort of thing (Tage's first ~150 NHL games came with a shooting percentage comparable to Johan Larsson) 
• Cozens is the kind of guy who will remain pissed off about the kick-goal and other things, storm into Kevyn's office in April, and make sure the team is ready to tear it up in the fall - nights like tonight don't decide your season when you win 50 games 

 

I like this post a lot, at least, I enjoyed my reading of it. To me it was kinda foreboding through the start and  really all the middle, with the very real potential pitfalls laid out, that our guys will need to contend with along the way. 

But it ends on such an invigorating note, after a lot of it made it seem like it might go the other way*. Like a good yarn. Made so exciting b/c it’s so definitively true: the critical mass talent. Through one way or another, one inept GM to the next, the last and current GM has somehow cobbled together/found himself in a situation with (much to his credit too, of course) a roster with a bunch of REALLY good players. Like no bones about it guys like Dahlin and Cozens and TT. 

I feel like the main sentiment (correct me if I’m wrong) is that the ceiling of what we amount to is still very much in question: so many things we (see: KA) need to contend with, some of which have already been issues that have gone unaddressed (GOALIE) - (almost made more absurd b/c of how GOOD much of the rest is - it’s like a painful amount of value loss) - will show how good it ultimately gets. Or if there’s already been opportunity wasted. But, the key thing, it’s what you said: “Hide most of the issues above.” the *floor* being established is legitimately exciting. It’s a good spot to be, regardless of any mistakes we may have made. Maybe we don’t talk about that enough.

*maybe it read more like a wrestling match 

 

Edited March 8, 2023 by Thorny

[Zamboni]

Well considering I don’t really “worry” about sport teams having a good season or not, I’ll vote for … I’m not gonna worry about it. 
 

Side note: I just put a down payment for my 19th season as a STH for the 23-24 season. 

[SABRES 0311]

8 hours ago, dudacek said:

One truism in hockey is that a career year is often followed with some backsliding.

This year is just another case where Tage Thompson is the exception that proves the rule.

Our best players — Thompson, Dahlin, Skinner, Tuch, Cozens and Mittelstadt — are all having career years, and by a significant margin.

Tell me why we shouldn't we be worried about some serious regression.

Because it hasn’t happened yet.

[Sidc3000]

13 hours ago, Crusader1969 said:

I cringed when the commentator last night, Debrusk (who is actually great as an analyst) said that Cozens is having a “career” year.  Is he even 21 ???  
a career year is a 27 year old has a season that’s way above anything he has done before, not a kid 3rd year in the league!!!

A 21 year old can overachieve if they’re playing over and beyond what experts predicted his level to be at. I don’t think he’s overachieving this season, i think he’s about at the level of play he will get too, A little earlier than expected 
 

i feel the whole team is overachieving offensively. There is no way this team continues the offense they have this year. If they don’t score more than three goals, there is a great chance of losing. The last two games are perfect examples. On top of that, teams have learned that if you stifle the Sabres high octane offense, you will win. 
 

next year they have to focus on defense or they will start to spin their wheels. Obviously if they focus on defense, their offense and goals will suffer but that is to be expected. 
 

 

[SabresVet]

1st world problems - worrying about next season before this one is even over.

Getting outside, walking, and more Vitamin D help with anxiety.  

😉

Edited March 8, 2023 by SabresVet

[Xzy89c]

I am excited for next year. We will get even younger moving on from okposo and girgensons. As much as I like them personally, we need to toughen and speed up those positions at bottom of forward group. 

Sure looks like Kurlich is ready which is amazing given his age. 

A darn shame Savoie cannot go to Rochester. What are rules regarding assigning him there? His birthday is too late to start year there. Once he hits right age can we pull him out of juniors and send to Rochester?

I expect a trade for a dman at some point. we have tons of capital to use. both salary cap and prospects. There will be opportunities especially if we use salary cap as part of trade. 

Goalie still makes me nervous. 

If we did not have that 8 game losing streak where we did not have a point we would be in playoffs right now. if we pulled 4 points out of 16 available.