Speculation: A Mid Season Prospect Primer

[Push Dr Tracksuit]

I couldn't remember if/when we do our mid season polling, but there were some topics I wanted to open for discussion prior to any voting happening. Given a week off of us bashing each other over who is the worst player, and who is the biggest culprit, lets instead ask who is better and who is more promising. So in no particular order;

1) If we ignore who plays the more important position, who is the better AHL prospect; Grigorenko or Armia?

2) If we ignore who plays the more important position, who is the better NCAA prospect; Compher or Fasching?

3) Now that Lemieux has become the second Sabre prospect to top 30 goals, what is your view of him as a prospect? Has your view of his; a) complete game changed b) ceiling as a player changed c) future changed?

4) Given the struggles of last season's 2 best performing goalies (Lieuwen and Ullmark) who do you view as the current front runner for 'future Sabres' starter' and who is our best goal tending prospect?

5) Who has the higher ceiling; McCabe or Pysyk? Which is more likely to be the better player?

Wild Card) Who is more likely to be Sabre in 5 years; Tyson Strachan, Phil Varone, Tim Schaller?

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[start winnin]

1) armia

2) Fasching but it's close

3) Nothing has changed for me, I still view him the same as before the draft but his goal scoring is very encouraging.

4) Ullmark still, goaltending is the least of my concerns we can get one via UFA or trade for one if we ever need one.

5) They both have been disappointing

Wild Card) Schaller AINEC, he could be a great bottom 6'er.

 

[BakedBuffalo]

1) Armia

2) Fasching

3) My view of Lemieux hasn't changed. Solid pick, and I'm glad he's doing well.

4) Probably Ullmark, but no one has been all that noticeable, and I haven't had the opportunity to watch any of them in great detail.

5) Pysyk. He's a very poised player. His reliable two-way game should lead to success in the NHL. I like McCabe, though.

Wild Card: Tim Schaller. Bottom six guy.

 

[Paxon]

1) If we ignore who plays the more important position, who is the better AHL prospect; Grigorenko or Armia?
Armia, I suppose.

2) If we ignore who plays the more important position, who is the better NCAA prospect; Compher or Fasching?
Fasching

3) Now that Lemieux has become the second Sabre prospect to top 30 goals, what is your view of him as a prospect? Has your view of his; a) complete game changed b) ceiling as a player changed c) future changed?
Not really. From what I've seen I don't think his game has expanded greatly. Showing a consistent ability to score goals this season doesn't change his ceiling but it does make it seem more likely he can reach it. Definitely still would have rather had Barbashev.

4) Given the struggles of last season's 2 best performing goalies (Lieuwen and Ullmark) who do you view as the current front runner for 'future Sabres' starter' and who is our best goal tending prospect?
Ullmark, followed closely by Makarov.

5) Who has the higher ceiling; McCabe or Pysyk? Which is more likely to be the better player?
Tie for ceiling, Pysyk as more likely to be the better player

Wild Card) Who is more likely to be Sabre in 5 years; Tyson Strachan, Phil Varone, Tim Schaller?
Schaller. The chances of Strachan being here in 5 years are -500%. Varone might have the tiniest of chances, but it's easily Schaller.

 

[Gabrielor]

1) If we ignore who plays the more important position, who is the better AHL prospect; Grigorenko or Armia?
Grigorenko
2) If we ignore who plays the more important position, who is the better NCAA prospect; Compher or Fasching?
Fasching
3) Now that Lemieux has become the second Sabre prospect to top 30 goals, what is your view of him as a prospect? Has your view of his; a) complete game changed b) ceiling as a player changed c) future changed?
Same opinion. Very happy we got him (I had him 1st round graded). That said, I still believe Barbashyov was the pick at 31.
4) Given the struggles of last season's 2 best performing goalies (Lieuwen and Ullmark) who do you view as the current front runner for 'future Sabres' starter' and who is our best goal tending prospect?
Ullmark's the best, but no one currently looks like the guy going forward.
5) Who has the higher ceiling; McCabe or Pysyk? Which is more likely to be the better player?
Very close, both have a top-4 ceiling. Personal preference is Pysyk.

Wild Card) Who is more likely to be Sabre in 5 years; Tyson Strachan, Phil Varone, Tim Schaller?
Schaller's the only choice here.

 

[Beerz]

1) Grigorenko

2) Fasching

3) Still love the pick ... was something we needed in the organization.

4) Ullmark followed by Makarov

5)Schaller ..all the way. Probably should of had Kea in there instead of Strachan

 

[sabrebuild]

1) I think at this point, Armia has shown that he will be a respectable middle 6 forward at the NHL. Grigo still has some bust factor, but I think he still has more potential.

2)Fasching. And it's by a wide margin to me. I'm beginning to think Compher is topping out at a third line wing, awesome 4th line center. Fasching is a stud.

3)I hope he has a successful career. His lack of assists is concerning.

4)Maybe Peterson? Idk, I honestly think its the least important team issue the Sabres have.

5)McCabe has the better upside, better hitter and offensive player. Pysser definitely has the better chance to be a long term good NHLer, too smooth and good of a skater to not stick for a long time.

 

[tsujimoto74]

1) Grigorenko, but it's close. Armia's had an impressive turn-around from last season to this one, but full credit to Grigs for leading the team in scoring, and also starting to round out some of the deficiencies in his game, while being a year younger.

2) Fasching. He's continued to impress me; Compher has fallen shy of what I expected him to be doing this season.

3) No. I still have him pegged as a most likely (assuming he's not a total bust) 3rd but possibly 2nd liner who will make his living standing in front of the net on the PP.

4) Still Ullmark for me, rough start or no.

5) I'd say higher ceiling goes to McCabe and most likely to be the better player goes to Pysyk. I think McCabe has a more complete toolset, but he's got a ways to go to put it all together still.

Wild Card: Schaller.

 

[SamuraiArt]

Preface: I don't watch enough prospect games to talk with authority on any of these guys. That said, here's my gut reactions.

1) Tough to call. Grigorenko has the better scoring pace (about 0.85 points per game compared to Armia's 0.8). Of course Armia's injury probably affected his scoring so I'll call it a bit of a wash. Choosing one for our future team, I'd take Grigorenko over Armia because of Mikhail's ability to switch between center and wing and his talent level.

2) I'm not sure who has the better game (although this year's stats lean towards Compher if I remember correctly). Without any particular insight in either of them, I'm more excited about Fasching as a prospect.

3) I was a little disappointed when we took Lemieux over Barbashev. I saw Lemieux as an improved Kaleta - good but still a 4th liner. His season so far has made me a little more hopeful that he could be a good 3rd liner or a very good 4th liner.

4) I don't think our future starting goalie is with the organization yet. However, my favorite Sabres goalie is still Ullmark. Have to give some props to Makarov though, my opinion of him has improved immeasurably from last season when he was working in the ECHL.

5) I think McCabe has the higher ceiling but Pysyk is the "safe" choice. Pysyk has proven himself at the NHL level. I'd feel comfortable sliding him into our defense as is. I think McCabe could use another season or two in Roch to find the game he had in the NCAA.

WC) I think Schaller is the only real choice here.

Another question to ask is where do you see Larsson in a year or two? Is he a Sabre (and if so what is his role)? Is he another Adam who seems to pass the smell test at the AHL level but can't put it together in the big league? Or is he traded as part of a package for a bigger name player?

 

[krt88]

I couldn't remember if/when we do our mid season polling, but there were some topics I wanted to open for discussion prior to any voting happening. Given a week off of us bashing each other over who is the worst player, and who is the biggest culprit, lets instead ask who is better and who is more promising. So in no particular order;

1) If we ignore who plays the more important position, who is the better AHL prospect; Grigorenko or Armia?

2) If we ignore who plays the more important position, who is the better NCAA prospect; Compher or Fasching?

3) Now that Lemieux has become the second Sabre prospect to top 30 goals, what is your view of him as a prospect? Has your view of his; a) complete game changed b) ceiling as a player changed c) future changed?

4) Given the struggles of last season's 2 best performing goalies (Lieuwen and Ullmark) who do you view as the current front runner for 'future Sabres' starter' and who is our best goal tending prospect?

5) Who has the higher ceiling; McCabe or Pysyk? Which is more likely to be the better player?

Wild Card) Who is more likely to be Sabre in 5 years; Tyson Strachan, Phil Varone, Tim Schaller?

1. Grigirenko
2. Fasching
3. I see him same as I did before
4. Ullmark still had higher ceiling
5. McCabe has higher ceiling, Pysyk is more steady.
WC. Varone

 

[MackAttack26]

1. Really close. I lean Armia but Grigorenko has well surpassed expectations this year as well. The difference to me is that Armia has shown the ability to often take ove a game in the AHL.
He has been completely dominant at times this year.

2. Fasching. So great to have an amazing power forward prospect that can actually provide quite a bit of offense as well. I like Compher as well but he hasn't produced as much as I expected this year. That being said I still think he will make a very versatile and solid pro.

3. Lemieux has played exactly like I expected him to this year (except with about 10 more goals than expected at this point). Still see him as a unique player in our bottom-six in a few years.

4. Ullmark had a rough start to the year (partially due to being on an awful team) but he has performed a lot better of late. He still is my predicted starter of the future. Makarov has tons of potential as well and is probably the second best chance of a starting goalie in our system.

5. Pysyk. McCabe IMO has a higher offensive upside and will probably produce more points at the NHL level but Pysyk has the overall higher upside and is the better prospect.

WC: Schaller. Before this year I always viewed Kea as our future 4C but Schaller took huge leaps over the past year and I see him being an ideal 4C down the road. Varone I still see as an AHL'er and Strachan might be back for 1 more year max (as an AHL'er / NHL depth guy)

 

[FearTheBeard]

1. Grigs - I really like the strides he's made away from the puck. He really showed that up here and is much more responsible defensively. As for the offensive side, he's been lighting it up lately down in the A

2. Fasching - This one by a wider margin. Really excited for this kid

3. I like this pick a lot more now. Barbashev would have been ideal but it's nice to see Lemieux really performing down there. Seems to be a kid that works really hard and we need that

4 Ullmark for sure but he's still a question mark. I see us trading for someone like Cam Talbot or Martin Jones

5. Pysyk but its really close. I love them both and think both will play a role on this team in the future

WC. Schaller AINEC

 

[CaseyMitts37]

1. Grigorenko - I think he's such an exciting propsect with tons of offensive potential
2. Fasching - he's going to be an absolute beast in the NHL, I really like Compher too though
3. My view of Lemieux has changed for the better, the guy is annoying to play against and can put pucks in the net, what's not to like?
4. I think Ullmark is the Sabres goalie of the future, can't wait to see him in North America
5. McCabe has the higher ceiling, but Pysyk is a safer bet to be a reliable NHL defenseman
WC. Schaller

 

[kenfury]

1) Grigorenko as I still am not sold on Armia.

2) Fasching still has shiny new toy on him.

3) I thought that Lemieux was going to turn into a 15 goal goal guy playing 3rd line, I dont see that changing. Lets see what a season in the AHL does.

4) Outside help would be nice.

5) You Say 'Tomato', I say 'Tomato'... I think they are both going to be good 3/4/5 general purpose but unspectacular players. See Jordon Leopold, Garry Galley, Doug Bodger, etc...

Wildcard) Kea?