Gabrielor
"Win with us or watch us win." - Rasmus Dahlin
I wrote this on March 6th, 2019, and aside from tweaking a few small grades slightly, nothing changed. Enjoy.
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[/TBODY]So, where does that leave us?
Eichel, Reinhart, Dahlin are for real.
Skinner, Montour, Pilut are nice complimentary pieces.
Mittelstadt is a great prospect.
The Swedes from Rochester look great.
The rest of the roster ranges from unexciting, but passable (Bogo,McCabe,Larsson), to failure (Risto,Scandella,Girgs,Thompson, goalies), to disaster (Sobotka,Berglund,Elie)
It isn’t nearly enough to be a playoff team, especially in this division, and there’s a lot of work ahead.
Eichel | A | Still needs work on showing intensity and care more consistently. Still, elite level player, beyond ppg, superstar #1 center. Did progress at ES. |
Reinhart | A | Established line driver, and capable scoring threat. |
Olofsson | A | Developed beautifully, looked more than ready when he got here, top 6 potential looks real. |
Skinner | A- | True goal scorer. I think the Skinner-Eichel chemistry is overrated, but he's the first player Jack's played with that's in his prime, and an elite sniper. |
Nylander | B- | Should've been here sooner. Loved the sample size. Needs someone who goes to the net on his line. |
Rodrigues | C | Brought speed and creativity to the middle 6. Would love him on the third/fourth line of a deep team. Needs to produce more. |
Sheary | C | Depth scorer who has okay. Brought speed. Falls a lot. |
Mittelstadt | C+ | Played a role he wasn't ready for. Tools to be a top line scoring threat, but still too young. Needs strength. |
Pominville | C+ | Scored when paired with our best player. His hockey IQ is still top-5 for forwards on this team, his athleticism just can't keep up. I'd take 26 year old pom. |
Larsson | C | Admirable job suppressing shot attempts and pk'ing. Provides little else. Best when he's playing tenacious. |
Smith | C- | Showed scoring touch, but wasn't given much to show his abilities. Lost man on a dead bottom 6. |
Okposo | D+ | Lacks the ability and skill to be a 6 million dollar player. Showed great battle at times, but all that's left is tight circle spins, and short-side right-side snipe on the PP. Trade if possible. |
Girgensons | F | Good shot suppressor, and brings speed, but nothing else. Can't score, bad iq, waste of a spot. |
Wilson | D | A standard 13th forward, but didn't look good at all this year. |
Thompson | F | Big failure keeping him in Buffalo. Showed a 10 game glimpse of decency, but doesn't engage enough. Too individualistic in play, and makes dumb plays when trying to involve others. Wasn't a fan of him before the trade, tried to buy in, see hope in very small samples, but honestly, I'm trying to trade him this summer. He has a small chance to become an Alex Tuch, but I don't like the odds at all. |
Berglund | F | Left us. While I'm happy the contract is gone, he was expected to fill part of a giant hole left in that trade, but was the 13th forward almost right away. |
Elie | F | Never did one positive thing for the Sabres in a game, and got too many games to try to. |
Sobotka | F | Total and complete failure of management and coaching. I don't need to go further. |
ORegan | N/R | Sample too small, but liked the speed, attacking with and without the puck, and the decision making. Needed a longer look. |
Dahlin | A+ | A reason for ultimate hope. Everything I thought he would be. The ultimate ice-tilter. Needs to work on strength, shot, and holding the offensive blue line |
Montour | A- | Small showing, but already the second best decision maker with the puck. Can really skate. |
Pilut | B- | Great initial showing. Tailed off later, but he still plays a game that translates today. Should make a full-timer next year. Very excited. |
Beaulieu | B- | Very effective in the role he played. Beaulieu-Nelson was probably our best pair-3. Didn't want to see him traded, but knew we had to when Montour came. A solid depth dman, who could be 6-7 on a good team, and maybe better. |
Borgen | B- | Great small sample showing. Adds toughness we need |
Nelson | C | In the role of pair 3, right side, he's was a solid choice. Had a lot of rough games after Beaulieu left. Like him as the 7th d. |
Hunwick | D | I originally was slightly positive on him, after a small sample size, and once that sample got bigger, it became apparent that he's bad. |
Bogosian | D | Played well for a while. Carried by Dahlin for a lot of it. Don't want him back. |
McCabe | C | Another typical McCabe season. 12 games good. 40 games bad. 20 games hurt. Basically what's expected. Trade. |
Ristolainen | D | Too many minutes. Has improved none of his weaknesses. He can continue the Ivan Drago workout routine, but lifting 1 ton tires won't fix his decision making and awareness. |
Scandella | D- | Far cry from last year, which was servicable, but not world-beating. Terrible year. |
Hutton | C- | Great first 2 months, then collapsed into a black hole. Came back for air too late. |
Ullmark | C- | Great first 2.5 months, then collapsed into a black hole. Can't buy a key save right now. I've always been skeptical of exactly how good of a prospect he's been. @Zip15 was pretty consistent in showing very average AHL numbers on this guy, despite his All-Star appearances. |
Eichel, Reinhart, Dahlin are for real.
Skinner, Montour, Pilut are nice complimentary pieces.
Mittelstadt is a great prospect.
The Swedes from Rochester look great.
The rest of the roster ranges from unexciting, but passable (Bogo,McCabe,Larsson), to failure (Risto,Scandella,Girgs,Thompson, goalies), to disaster (Sobotka,Berglund,Elie)
It isn’t nearly enough to be a playoff team, especially in this division, and there’s a lot of work ahead.
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