News Article: ESPN's State of the Rebuild: Buffalo Sabres

[Zip15]

Putting this here so that it doesn't get swallowed up by the tidal waves in the Roster Speculation and/or Around the NHL threads - the latter of which will probably start heating up over the next few weeks. Pronman is profiling the state of the rebuilds for several teams, and Buffalo is his final article in the series.

Here's Pronman's article (Insider) and some excerpts:

http://insider.espn.go.com/nhl/insider/story/_/id/15881921/state-rebuild-buffalo-sabres-nhl

Strengths

Buffalo's clear strength is the amount of young talent on their roster. Jack Eichel (No. 2 overall pick in 2015) gets most of the acclaim, and rightly so, as he was one of the more impressive teenagers we've seen in the era following the 2005 lockout. However, their No. 2 pick the previous year, Sam Reinhart, was as impressive as Jack (if not more impressive) on some nights last season, showing his elite hockey sense. Rasmus Ristolainen was one of the best young defensemen in the league last season as well...

The Sabres also bolstered their roster with Ryan O'Reilly and Evander Kane before last season, both of whom are more veteran than the youngsters, but still relatively young themselves.

Re: out under-25 group

The table at right shows where the Sabres ranked this past season in total points among players who are 25 years old or younger (ZIP: 3rd, behind Tampa and Florida, with 364 pts).

Comparing Buffalo to the two Florida teams, both of which made the playoffs, their young players are performing at near equal levels, but Buffalo does not have the free agents and quality veterans on its roster to surround the young talent. The Sabres were second-to-last in the league in scoring by players over age 25.

On the farm system:

WEAKNESSES

While the current Sabres roster has a very impressive core of young players, the team's farm system has undergone a complete 180 from where it was a year ago. The graduation of Eichel and Reinhart, as well as the movement of several top prospects took one of the league's deepest and most impressive farm systems and made it mediocre -- if not below average.

That's not a problem if you're winning, but the Sabres aren't yet, so it's at least somewhat concerning that there aren't a lot of high-end prospects left in the system.

Pronman seeing Murray on the road scouting:

I ran into Buffalo GM Tim Murray during his weeks-long scouting trip through the amateur ranks. I jokingly asked if he was the team's GM or head amateur scout, and he replied, "Until we get better players, I'm the head scout."

They have a lot of great players, but as Murray acknowledges, they need more. While the championship rosters in Chicago, L.A. and Pittsburgh were built primarily from their top picks, they also found very good players in the later rounds.

Click to read more...

 

[Zman5778]

Very good article from Pronman.

The point totals on over/under 25 players shocked me. I had no idea we were 3rd in the NHL in "points from players under 25".

 

[My Cozen Dylan]

Very good article from Pronman.

The point totals on over/under 25 players shocked me. I had no idea we were 3rd in the NHL in "points from players under 25".

It's a great sign for the future, that's for sure.

 

[N.Y. Orangeman]

It is a great article, but I found it fascinating that he really didn't include ROR in the definition of core, instead focusing on Eichel/Reinhart/Risto.

 

[Sabre the Win]

He's right our prospect pool is a whole lot of poop, we really have no one exciting coming up and I feel whatever trades that are coming are going to deplete the pool more. I love that we got O'Reilly but I'm still on the fence about Kane and Bogosian. I mean Myers could do what Bogosian does minus the mean streak and I feel Stafford would be more servicible than Kane with Reinhart, Eichel or O'Reilly as a center. I think Staffords struggles were because he didn't have a defined role and the team was so bad the last two years. He's the type if player who's good with a good center.

 

[Sabre Dance]

He's right our prospect pool is a whole lot of poop, we really have no one exciting coming up and I feel whatever trades that are coming are going to deplete the pool more.

That's why it's so important that Kane, Bogosian, and Lehner work out.

 

[signalIInoise]

I think Staffords struggles were because he didn't have a defined role and the team was so bad the last two years. He's the type if player who's good with a good center.

Stafford was always kinda bleh, struggles or not.

 

[Montag DP]

Very good article from Pronman.

The point totals on over/under 25 players shocked me. I had no idea we were 3rd in the NHL in "points from players under 25".

Probably because most of our roster is in that category.

 

[Zip15]

Probably because most of our roster is in that category.

Yeah, I would've liked to have seen a pts/60 table to put it on an even playing field. Would've been a better stat.

 

[Ace]

Our prospect pool is woefully underrated. There are no more first round picks in there so I understand. But there are some good forward (Bailey, Fasching, Rodriguez, Baptiste, Carrier, Cornel, Estephan) and a couple good d (Guhle, Nelson, Borgen, Martin) and goalie prospects in there. No centers really...but we have like half a dozen 25 and under Cs already here. Considering our higher picks from the last 3 years don't count because they are Jack, Reinhart and Ristolanen...I'm pretty comfortable with the entire enterprise.

 

[Chainshot]

Stafford was always kinda bleh, struggles or not.

When he stopped going into dangerous areas to shoot, it also didn't do him any favors either.

 

[AustonsNostrils]

He's right our prospect pool is a whole lot of poop, we really have no one exciting coming up and I feel whatever trades that are coming are going to deplete the pool more.

Nonsense.

Justin Bailey from Christmas on was one of the best rookies in the AHL, over a PPG in the finishing months. He got called up and in his 1st game had 6 or 7 shots on goal. He was snakebit or he'd have had a couple goals during his callup. He's a top prospect and I'm guessing every team Murray talks trade to is looking for Bailey as part of a deal.

Rodrigues looked great in pre-season games last fall. Got better as the season progressed in Rochester and played a couple of games for the Sabres at the end of the season, Tim Murray referencing him at his end of season presser said 'wow'.

Hudson Fasching is just 20, had a great year in the NCAA, made his NHL debut and was selected to play for the USA World Championship team.

Nick Baptiste in his rookie pro year scored 13 goals for Rochester - that's a good year for a rookie down there.

Brendan Guhle was the surprise of last year's training camp, it looked like Murray was going to keep him around to get him into a regular season game or two but he got hurt. After his junior season he went to Rochester and in 6 games had 4 points and looked smooth as can be doing it.

Will Borgen wasn't even on USA Hockey's radar in his draft year but was so impressive he made the USA WJC team, played very well paired with McAvoy who is ranked in the top 15 for this year's draft. Borgen looked as good as McAvoy in that tournament.

There's also Casey Nelson, William Carrier, Jean Dupuy and Giorgio Estaphan.

We will add another top prospect with the 8th OA pick.

Far from 'poop'.

 

[SamuraiArt]

Our prospect pool is woefully underrated. There are no more first round picks in there so I understand. But there are some good forward (Bailey, Fasching, Rodriguez, Baptiste, Carrier, Cornel, Estephan) and a couple good d (Guhle, Nelson, Borgen, Martin) and goalie prospects in there. No centers really...but we have like half a dozen 25 and under Cs already here. Considering our higher picks from the last 3 years don't count because they are Jack, Reinhart and Ristolanen...I'm pretty comfortable with the entire enterprise.

Just the point I wanted to make. I'd also add Ullmark, Petersen and Kasdorf to that list. I think part of the underrated factor comes from the Amerks having a couple poor seasons back to back. The truth is we haven't slow cooked a highly touted prospect in quite a few years. That's gonna have a major effect on how Roch performs and by extension, how our overall prospect depth is perceived. But like the article mentions, the Murray trades haven't exactly helped that depth. (Not looking to start an argument on the pros and cons of the trades, just pointing out the fact)

 

[EichHart]

Nonsense.

Justin Bailey from Christmas on was one of the best rookies in the AHL, over a PPG in the finishing months. He got called up and in his 1st game had 6 or 7 shots on goal. He was snakebit or he'd have had a couple goals during his callup. He's a top prospect and I'm guessing every team Murray talks trade to is looking for Bailey as part of a deal.

Rodrigues looked great in pre-season games last fall. Got better as the season progressed in Rochester and played a couple of games for the Sabres at the end of the season, Tim Murray referencing him at his end of season presser said 'wow'.

Hudson Fasching is just 20, had a great year in the NCAA, made his NHL debut and was selected to play for the USA World Championship team.

Nick Baptiste in his rookie pro year scored 13 goals for Rochester - that's a good year for a rookie down there.

Brendan Guhle was the surprise of last year's training camp, it looked like Murray was going to keep him around to get him into a regular season game or two but he got hurt. After his junior season he went to Rochester and in 6 games had 4 points and looked smooth as can be doing it.

Will Borgen wasn't even on USA Hockey's radar in his draft year but was so impressive he made the USA WJC team, played very well paired with McAvoy who is ranked in the top 15 for this year's draft. Borgen looked as good as McAvoy in that tournament.

There's also Casey Nelson, William Carrier, Jean Dupuy and Giorgio Estaphan.

We will add another top prospect with the 8th OA pick.

Far from 'poop'.

We don't have any A level prospects anymore. We would of had one if we didn't trade a 1st for Lehner last year though. Any of our guys could become a high level prospect in the near future, but they definitely are not up there with the top guys.

 

[DJN21]

We don't have any A level prospects anymore. We would of had one if we didn't trade a 1st for Lehner last year though. Any of our guys could become a high level prospect in the near future, but they definitely are not up there with the top guys.

easy your not so hidden opinions on the Lehner trade are showing...

 

[EichHart]

easy your not so hidden opinions on the Lehner trade are showing...

I'm pretty sure the majority on the forums didn't like the Lehner trade. I wanted Travis Konecny and made it clear all year leading up to the draft. He put up 112 pts in 60 games this year. I think he becomes a top 6 guy on the Flyers.

 

[DJN21]

I'm pretty sure the majority on the forums didn't like the Lehner trade. I wanted Travis Konecny and made it clear all year leading up to the draft. He put up 112 pts in 60 games this year. I think he becomes a top 6 guy on the Flyers.

Cant honestly say I disagree...

 

[WeDislikeEich]

Our prospect pool is woefully underrated. There are no more first round picks in there so I understand. But there are some good forward (Bailey, Fasching, Rodriguez, Baptiste, Carrier, Cornel, Estephan) and a couple good d (Guhle, Nelson, Borgen, Martin) and goalie prospects in there. No centers really...but we have like half a dozen 25 and under Cs already here. Considering our higher picks from the last 3 years don't count because they are Jack, Reinhart and Ristolanen...I'm pretty comfortable with the entire enterprise.

I agree. I just said something similar over on the main board. Our prospect pool keeps getting called "depleted" or "bare", but I don't see it that way. We have some intriguing F prospects with top 6 potential and not quite as many D prospects with top 4 potential, but we still have a few and I expect that to be addressed again this draft. Our prospect pool is not nearly as bad as some seem to think and our team's core is very young...

We should be set at center for the next decade or so. That's huge. It looks like we have our #1 and #2 centers and (hopefully) our #1 defenseman. Those are 3 major, major pieces. Plus either ROR or Reinhart make one heck of a top 3 (or top6) winger, so that's another big piece. Hopefully we have our #1 goalie too, between Lehner, Ullmark and Peterson.
If we can get another core piece with the #8 pick this year (through the draft or trade), I think we be in good shape for the future.

I don't see the prospects traded away as depleting out prospect pool as much as I see it just weeding the herd (keeping the Tim Murray type players that fit the mould of the team he's building) and getting some very nice NHL ready players in return to help properly insulate the young kids and install the right type of culture to hopefully make this rebuild successful.

 

[AustonsNostrils]

We don't have any A level prospects anymore. We would of had one if we didn't trade a 1st for Lehner last year though. Any of our guys could become a high level prospect in the near future, but they definitely are not up there with the top guys.

Well name me a current 'A prospect' that wasn't drafted in the 1st round. Girgensons, Ristolainen, Reinhart, Eichel are in the NHL. So if 'A prospects' are 1st rounders then yeah we don't have any of those. We traded two 1st round picks away, they turned into Jack Roslovic and Colin White.

I don't consider JT Compher and Brendan Lemieux to be A prospects - I would not trade Bailey for either of them.

 

[Sabre Dance]

We don't have any A level prospects anymore. We would of had one if we didn't trade a 1st for Lehner last year though. Any of our guys could become a high level prospect in the near future, but they definitely are not up there with the top guys.

Not really worried about top level prospects. They are already on the Sabres. Its not like we lack top young talent and or our top talent is pushing 30. Its a very young core.

 

[OkimLom]

Well name me a current 'A prospect' that wasn't drafted in the 1st round. Girgensons, Ristolainen, Reinhart, Eichel are in the NHL. So if 'A prospects' are 1st rounders then yeah we don't have any of those. We traded two 1st round picks away, they turned into Jack Roslovic and Colin White.

I don't consider JT Compher and Brendan Lemieux to be A prospects - I would not trade Bailey for either of them.

Compher is a very very good prospect. I would be very cautious about hanging up on a Bailey for Compher deal.

 

[EichHart]

Well name me a current 'A prospect' that wasn't drafted in the 1st round. Girgensons, Ristolainen, Reinhart, Eichel are in the NHL. So if 'A prospects' are 1st rounders then yeah we don't have any of those. We traded two 1st round picks away, they turned into Jack Roslovic and Colin White.

I don't consider JT Compher and Brendan Lemieux to be A prospects - I would not trade Bailey for either of them.

Good point. But Compher and White I would take above Bailey, but it is close.

 

[SamuraiArt]

I'd take Compher over Bailey. But the only metric I'm basing that on is gut instinct. Compher seems more like one of the gritty glue guys that every playoff contender needs. Bailey seems more like a up and coming Drew Stafford - good when he's playing with good line mates, bad when he's forced to lift the load himself. (*Amateur, unsubstantiated analysis to be taken with a grain of salt and diluted by more informed analysis - doctor's orders)

 

[Aladyyn]

Meh, when Bailey was called up his quality of play didn't change much with different linemates imo.

 

[Push Dr Tracksuit]

Not really worried about top level prospects. They are already on the Sabres. Its not like we lack top young talent and or our top talent is pushing 30. Its a very young core.

but it does contribute to people saying the prospect pool isn't good, which is where this started

not worried sure, but the prospect pool is pretty poop