The Crease on Opening Night

[dudacek]

1 minute ago, Porous Five Hole said:

As bad as UPL was last year, these other guys are stiffs. 
 

Georgiev hasn’t had a save percentage above .900 or a GAA of lower than 3 in the last three seasons.  He’s cooked. I guess he was signed so Levi can go to ROC?

Alex Lyon at age 32 has started less NHL games than 26 year old UPL in their careers.  Their career stats are on par with each other. They’re the same guy except UPL has handled a starter’s workload before and can still improve with experience.  
 

It’s a bad situation and Zucker’s hope is a ***** strategy applies here. 

Not arguing your point, but Georgiev posted an excellent 2.51 and .919 3 seasons ago, and a "better than the others" 3.02 and .898 2 seasons ago. 

He was god-awful last year.

[JohnC]

Just now, dudacek said:

Not arguing your point, but Georgiev posted an excellent 2.51 and .919 3 seasons ago, and a "better than the others" 3.02 and .898 2 seasons ago. 

He was god-awful last year.

As you are indicating, other than the few top tier goalies, it is such a tough position to judge players. One year a goalie will seem to emerge only to plummet the next year. It’s a crazy psychological position to gage. A good way to work around that unpredictability is to have a good defense and two-way and responsible play from the rest of roster. 

[French Collection]

Maybe having 4 goalies that are capable of playing NHL hockey adds a layer of accountability. If you aren’t cutting it, you get cut. Training camp and the pre season are not enough to hitch your wagon to one guy but a short leash with possible “good” alternatives helps the team. Negotiating a 4 headed monster with waivers will be a challenge, with Levi being the only exempt guy.

The problem with these 4 is there is no history of them being the guy for more than just short stretches. Georgiev had one good year while UPL has had one mostly good year. Lyon has been a career backup with some good runs while Levi has been the man at the lower levels.

[ponokasabre]

3 minutes ago, French Collection said:

Maybe having 4 goalies that are capable of playing NHL hockey adds a layer of accountability. If you aren’t cutting it, you get cut. Training camp and the pre season are not enough to hitch your wagon to one guy but a short leash with possible “good” alternatives helps the team. Negotiating a 4 headed monster with waivers will be a challenge, with Levi being the only exempt guy.

The problem with these 4 is there is no history of them being the guy for more than just short stretches. Georgiev had one good year while UPL has had one mostly good year. Lyon has been a career backup with some good runs while Levi has been the man at the lower levels.

With UPL not even skating yet (i haven't seen he has anywhere, maybe I'm wrong?) you have to think it will be Georgiev getting the starts and Lyon backing up. Levi goes to Roch to play his ass off and work to steal a job.

 

Then when UPL comes back id assume whoever is playing the best between Georgiev and Lyon stays

[French Collection]

Just now, ponokasabre said:

With UPL not even skating yet (i haven't seen he has anywhere, maybe I'm wrong?) you have to think it will be Georgiev getting the starts and Lyon backing up. Levi goes to Roch to play his ass off and work to steal a job.

 

Then when UPL comes back id assume whoever is playing the best between Georgiev and Lyon stays

I am not sure when he comes back but thought that he wasn’t too far off.

[matter2003]

1 hour ago, Porous Five Hole said:

As bad as UPL was last year, these other guys are stiffs. 
 

Georgiev hasn’t had a save percentage above .900 or a GAA of lower than 3 in the last three seasons.  He’s cooked. I guess he was signed so Levi can go to ROC?

Alex Lyon at age 32 has started less NHL games than 26 year old UPL in their careers.  Their career stats are on par with each other. They’re the same guy except UPL has handled a starter’s workload before and can still improve with experience.  
 

It’s a bad situation and Zucker’s hope is a ***** strategy applies here. 

I don't care about what happened in other seasons.  I only care about what happens THIS SEASON, in games they play here, moving forward.  If one of the goalies starts off playing well, you play them until they stop playing well.  UPL needs to first show that is even an option here, he is the one who we know the most about and he was abysmal. Everyone else gets a bigger benefit of the doubt with a new team and new situation until they, like UPL, proves they don't deserve it.

Edited September 24 by matter2003

[PerreaultForever]

1 hour ago, matter2003 said:

I don't care about what happened in other seasons.  I only care about what happens THIS SEASON, in games they play here, moving forward.  If one of the goalies starts off playing well, you play them until they stop playing well.  UPL needs to first show that is even an option here, he is the one who we know the most about and he was abysmal. Everyone else gets a bigger benefit of the doubt with a new team and new situation until they, like UPL, proves they don't deserve it.

They might keep 3 goalies up but if both Lyon and Georgiev are playing well you try to trade UPL (unlikely with his salary) and if there's no trade you waive him and send UPL down. Nobody is picking up that salary unless they are goalie desperate at the moment. If there is someone goalie desperate there's your trade. 

 

Otherwise, obviously if Georgiev or Lyon are not playing well then you just waive one of them. No big deal. 

[Taro T]

If all 3 of the healthy guys continue to play well over the next 2-44 games, a BIG if, wonder if they'd hold off on getting UPL any game action in the preseason to be able to send him down to Ra-cha-cha on a conditioning assignment buying themselves a bit more time to make a move with one of the 3 guys that would have to be waived to play for the Amerks.

Of course, with Reimer getting claimed last year trying to send him down late, they might decide its best to waive goalie 4 (Levi is 3 unless he earns 1) at the roster cut down day to try to sneak him through when there are literally 100's of names on the waiver wire.

Will be interesting to watch either way.

[Sabres Fan in NS]

FUCALE!!

😎

 

[Flashsabre]

UPL hasn’t even started any camp activities so he won’t be ready for start of season.

It will be Georgiev-Lyon to start and they will build UPL back up.

I definitely see a situation where they keep 3 goalies on the roster until they figure out where everything stands. 
 

Tough break for UPL as he really needed to come in with a strong camp and rebound from last season.

Real opportunity for Georgiev or Lyon to take the reins early if they can find their games.

[bob_sauve28]

 

[CallawaySabres]

Total seriousness here, who the hell is going to be their goaltender this year and how can this be such a gigantic question mark 14 years into the drought?

The only thing that could possibly save this team is elite goaltending, so how the hell are they going to get above 80 points this year?

[DarthEbriate]

15 minutes ago, CallawaySabres said:

Total seriousness here, who the hell is going to be their goaltender this year and how can this be such a gigantic question mark 14 years into the drought?

The only thing that could possibly save this team is elite goaltending, so how the hell are they going to get above 80 points this year?

(and maybe he's only a Rochester call away.)

[CallawaySabres]

7 minutes ago, DarthEbriate said:

(and maybe he's only a Rochester call away.)

I think Levi has to be the only hope. At this point, I don’t even care if they ruin him by bringing him up starting game one.

i have no interest in another wasted season…

[rickshaw]

Re: Levi. I know a guy who was a Florida scout and he has since moved on to Washington. We were having a beer in Kelowna and I mentioned Levi. He told me, don’t get your hopes up on him. 

[That Aud Smell]

10 minutes ago, rickshaw said:

Re: Levi. I know a guy who was a Florida scout and he has since moved on to Washington. We were having a beer in Kelowna and I mentioned Levi. He told me, don’t get your hopes up on him. 

On the one hand: This is one scout's opinion. There were likely other scouts in that organization (or any organization) who would go to bat for Levi.

On the other hand: The Sabres dealt with the Panthers in acquiring Levi. One of the worst-run franchises in the league dealing with one of the best-run franchises in the league. The Panthers had whoever the f**k they had on their side of the deal -- seasoned, competent people working with a cohesive vision of the team they wanted to create. The Sabres had Kevyn Adams and f**king Jerry Forton as their chief scout of amateur players. Karmanos would have been there in the mix but I can't imagine him having much of a voice in that deal.

I can't adequately explain how much I dislike the JerryFortonication of Sabres hockey. That dude is straight up cosplaying as an NHL executive. Michael Scott from The Office type sh1t.

Or maybe Adams is Michael Scott and Jerry Forton is Dwight Schrute? Idk.

[DarthEbriate]

13 minutes ago, rickshaw said:

Re: Levi. I know a guy who was a Florida scout and he has since moved on to Washington. We were having a beer in Kelowna and I mentioned Levi. He told me, don’t get your hopes up on him. 

Don't let Adams hear that.

I still thought for sure that the Rosén pick was going to be Wallstedt (and Cossa available, too), so as to land high pick to pair with Levi's recent Canada junior heroics.

But general consensus is he's still a legitimate goalie prospect, just maybe not as good as Wolf.

[shrader]

31 minutes ago, That Aud Smell said:

On the one hand: This is one scout's opinion. There were likely other scouts in that organization (or any organization) who would go to bat for Levi.

On the other hand: The Sabres dealt with the Panthers in acquiring Levi. One of the worst-run franchises in the league dealing with one of the best-run franchises in the league. The Panthers had whoever the f**k they had on their side of the deal -- seasoned, competent people working with a cohesive vision of the team they wanted to create. The Sabres had Kevyn Adams and f**king Jerry Forton as their chief scout of amateur players. Karmanos would have been there in the mix but I can't imagine him having much of a voice in that deal.

I can't adequately explain how much I dislike the JerryFortonication of Sabres hockey. That dude is straight up cosplaying as an NHL executive. Michael Scott from The Office type sh1t.

Or maybe Adams is Michael Scott and Jerry Forton is Dwight Schrute? Idk.

It's funny that you mention the well run organization piece because look who that scout doesn't work for anymore. (I want to include a laughing emoji here, but the choices suck).

[That Aud Smell]

47 minutes ago, shrader said:

It's funny that you mention the well run organization piece because look who that scout doesn't work for anymore. (I want to include a laughing emoji here, but the choices suck).

Eh. Those career scout guys tend to churn through several organizations in the course of a career. His perspective on Levi may well have been a consensus among the Florida's amateur scouting department.

This is mostly a way of me re-remembering how much I fooking hate the return that the Sabres got for an NHL stud like Reinhart.

[Eleven]

3 hours ago, DarthEbriate said:

(and maybe he's only a Rochester call away.)

"Hope is a dangerous thing.  Hope can drive a man insane."

 

/s

[K-9]

3 hours ago, DarthEbriate said:

(and maybe he's only a Rochester call away.)

[DarthEbriate]

6 minutes ago, K-9 said:

It never dies but lies a dormant volcano... for at minimum 14 years.

[Drag0nDan]

17 minutes ago, That Aud Smell said:

On the one hand: This is one scout's opinion. There were likely other scouts in that organization (or any organization) who would go to bat for Levi.

On the other hand: The Sabres dealt with the Panthers in acquiring Levi. One of the worst-run franchises in the league dealing with one of the best-run franchises in the league. The Panthers had whoever the f**k they had on their side of the deal -- seasoned, competent people working with a cohesive vision of the team they wanted to create. The Sabres had Kevyn Adams and f**king Jerry Forton as their chief scout of amateur players. Karmanos would have been there in the mix but I can't imagine him having much of a voice in that deal.

I can't adequately explain how much I dislike the JerryFortonication of Sabres hockey. That dude is straight up cosplaying as an NHL executive. Michael Scott from The Office type sh1t.

Or maybe Adams is Michael Scott and Jerry Forton is Dwight Schrute? Idk.

It's hard to put much faith in our scouting crew.  Levi has had a slower development than i think was expected with him starting 7 games at age 21 right after a season in college.  At the same token - he was traded in 2021 after a stellar juniors tournament, but prior to him playing at northeastern.  I feel like since that tournament, he's played pretty well at every level other than at the NHL level last season.  

I think the goal is usually about 100 professional games prior to playing in the NHL, and he went straight there.  Now after 2 full seasons in the AHL where he's looked at the very least - good for AHL which projects to at least "fine" in the NHL, he's just about at that number.