If the sabres were to make a move for Filip Gustavsson from the Wild instead of (or simply because they can't get) Hellebuyck; how would we feel about that? I think even though the criticism of UPL has been largely unfair, he is done in Buffalo with or without Hellebuyck coming here.
I remember hearing a little speculation about a trade for him some time ago, but nothing recent. His Hip injury makes me a little concerned as well.
The Sabres are still a good team, but their loss to the Flyers exposed glaring issues on special teams and in goal. With Connor Hellebuyck chatter continuing in Buffalo, is goaltending the biggest problem, or is there more to clean up? Read for free.
I love watching the Sabres but also the first to admit I'm not the sharpest "X's and O's" guy when it comes to hockey. From the eye test it looks like we are playing much tighter than we did last year. It kinda reminds me of when Granato had his breakout(might be a stretch) season with the Sabres and we were scoring alot of goals and then the next year he tried to clamp things down defensively and we never looked the same after that.
Are the Sabres struggling to score goals because Lindy is forcing them to play more a more disciplined and balanced style of hockey this year or is losing Tuch and Byram having that big of an impact?
Before the Sabres played the Leafs, Power called his wife as he does every day. She was in Mayich’s hospital room, and she held the phone up so Power could speak to him. Power told him he would score a goal for him.
A few hours later, Power made that a reality. After some savvy passing to get the play started, Power got open for a pass from Jack Quinn and put a wrist shot by Sergei Bobrovsky. He lifted his arms in the air and celebrated with his teammates. But he was thinking of his friend.
“There’s no doubt,” Power said. “I think also just going through this has kind of given me a different view on how fortunate I am every time I go out and play, really. Before games, he pops into my mind, and when you score goals like that it’s the same thing.”
Long post incoming. Reposted bc the first time, my photos didn't upload oops.
Here's a closer look at the Sabres' player ratings and game score through the first 10 games. Percentile is weighted across the league.
Note: game score is for individual games, how well a skater performed for that specific game (or an average across multiple games, in this case the first 10 of the season). Rating takes game score and adjusts across seasons, player age, etc. to provide a general evaluation of the player as whole.
Forwards:
Top 3 average game score, min 3gp:
Jack Quinn (+1.41)
Zach Benson (+1.34)
Noah Östlund (+1.15)
Bottom 3 average game score, min 3gp:
Ryan McLeod (-0.29)
Konsta Helenius (-0.20)
Justin Danforth (-0.06)
Defense:
Top 3 average game score, min 3gp:
Owen Power (+0.99)
Olen Zellweger (+0.84)
Rasmus Dahlin (+0.56)
Bottom 3 average game score, min 3gp:
Louis Crevier (-0.41)
Zach Metsa (-0.31)
Mattias Samuelsson (+0.39)
Goalies (not a lot of optimism here sorry):
UPL and Colten Ellis are both in bottom 20 across the league for average game score min 3gp (UPL at 14th worst, Ellis at 19th worst)
UPL is 6th worst for net rating, Ellis is 20th
3 consecutively worse than UPL are Ersson, Dobes, and Binnington. 3 better than him are Allen, Kuemper, and Schmid
3 consecutively worse than Ellis are Cooley, Vejmelka, and Forsberg. 3 better are Talbot, Greaves, and Stevenson
Addendum on game score:
Knowing that game rating produces 3 specific stats (offense, defense, net) while game score gives multiple stats (individual production, 5v5 play driving, special teams, usage) I ran all the numbers through a pivot table since HSC doesn't calculate that. Here's a look at the Sabres' game score averages specifically. (Chart link if you want to click around)
Notes:
Quinn - Östlund - Benson undisputed best line
As of 10 games, Power is the only player with significant offensive play driving (medium blue); kid line averages about 30% of him
Tage's bad defensive games are exaggerated by being concentrated in specific games, as opposed to a lot of the forward groups' constant defensive struggles
The mushy middle 3rd line is struggling to shoot or block enough to compensate for their lack of 5v5 play driving. The fact that this line keeps cycling players across games probably doesn't help, but regardless, they're the most consistently bad/mid
Tage's high offensive production (dark blue) has a lot to do with his high SOG per game. Kulich, Norris, and Doan all do not shoot at the same amount, even playing on the same line
Zellweger's 5v5 defense (orange) is vastly underrated
Last year, the 4th line and 3rd pair was much more rounded. when Timmins comes back, he should help a LOT. Metsa and Crevier are struggling (though they punch above their weight in individual defense, maroon)
Zucker has played 1 game, so noting him as the only positive PP (light blue) player is a very narrow view, but he is currently the only positive PP score
