Shutdown Pair

Tag: draft

  • The 2016 Draft

    The NHL draft is less than a week away, and the Buffalo Sabres have a number of picks, including the 8th overall.  It’s no #2 like last year but it’s still a nice place to be.  Now, I haven’t been watching Junior Hockey, so instead of waxing on at length about stride length or showing you the same video you’ve probably seen everywhere else, I’m going to judge these guys on the next most important thing – their answers to the dumb questions you get asked at pre-draft.

    1. Auston Matthews – Presumptive number one overall pick Auston had some solid answers, but negative 1000 points for “I dream of:  winning the Stanley Cup”.  Contrast that with…
    2. Patrick Laine – …who said he wants to be the best player in the world.  He loves Ovechkin and is ‘afraid of nothing’.  Can’t think of any alarm bells here!
    3. Jesse Puljujarvi – Puljujarvi is top 5 for 2016 draftees whose names will be misspelled on jerseys.
    4. Matthew Tkachuk – One of the possible targets for the Sabres, the son of Keith Tkachuk, Matt nevertheless gets negative one million points for having Tom Brady as his most admired athlete.  It’s a good thing nobody can navigate the shitty NHL website and find this.
    5. Alexander Nylander – Another player following in his father’s footsteps, at the buffet, Alex goes for…sushi?  If I saw a buffet that had sushi, I’m turning around and getting out of there.  Regular buffet food is bad enough.
    6. Jakob Chychrun – Another legacy player, with a dad and uncle who made the show, Jakob at least showed some effort on his answers.  His karaoke song is “Call me maybe”, I’m proud of him for admitting that.
    7. Charles McAvoy – The coolest person he’s ever met is…Auston Matthews?  Boston U can’t find a celebrity to hit the locker room?  Also, Charles McAvoy is definitely the name of a kid in witness protection who really loves the X-Men movies.

    In general, I question kids today and their judgement of comedy.  Too many list Adam Sandler as the celebrity that always makes them laugh.  Sandler hasn’t been funny since most of these prospect were five years old.

  • The Sabres in 2016

    Tanking is done.  Suffering is out the window.  Your Buffalo Sabres are now at peak ‘put up or shut up’.  Eichel is here and seems to be exactly as advertised.  While there are guys yet to sign, there is room to maneuver, with a GM willing to do it.  The draft is approaching, and that’s the perfect time to stop coasting on the goodwill generated by drafting a possible generational talent, and to make the moves that will put this team back in the playoffs where they belong.

    Am I back blogging the Sabres for good?  That remains to be seen, but I want be able to be excited again this year.

  • Draft History

    It’s useless to look at today’s (yesterday’s now, at least in my time zone) now and declare it good or bad.  No, Buffalo did not trade up for Seth Jones or whoever your top pick would be.  They kept drafting D when forwards were supposed to be the way to go.  You know what?  If these guys pan out, no one will complain about that 5 years from now.  What I’d like to illustrate is just what a draft pick should be expected to do, and why complaining or praising the picks now is fairly useless.

    From 2000-2004, Buffalo made 44 picks.  Of those, only 20 have ever played even a minute in the NHL (and some of those could rightly be counted in the minutes).  Of those, 9 were first or second round picks.  By the way, do you know how many of this first and second rounders are still with the Sabres?  Two, Vanek and Stafford.  Artem Kryukov, Gerard Dicaire, Branislav Fabry, Mike Funk, remember those guys?  How about Jiri Novotny or Chris Thorburn?  Those two, maybe you have a dim recollection.  Move forward a few years, and it’s no better (Marek Zagrapan?  Dennis Persson?  There’s a reason the reduced scouting of the time swore off Euro players and it wasn’t just because international flights were expensive).

    The best thing for you to do right now is read the good stuff about the players, starting with the Sabres.com article on the draft…

    One little-known fact about Compher is that he modeled as a toddler.

    Hmm, maybe just look for some content from SabresProspects and Die By The Blade.  Although maybe the NHL is missing out on Toddlers and Tiaras crossover publicity.

  • Sabres Draft Day Results

    The Sabres 2010 draft class is complete, which if you need to refer to it, can be found here.  Speaking as someone who is just reading up on these guys now, after the fact, I like it.  It sounded like the Sabres missed out on who they really wanted at 23 (Riley Sheahan who went to the Wings at 21), but got a very solid defensive D-man in Mark Pysyk.  The rest of the class shows the Sabres’ plan – get bigger (as noted below), and go North American.

    The other (more exciting) side of the coin is trades, of which there were few.  The ‘core’ is still here, it’s true, but there’s still plenty of time to make changes.  Trades and free agent signings can still happen, so judgement is reserved on that front.

    By the way, if you played along with my previous post, here are your answers:

    1. Under.  Zero Tylers (the big pick named Tyler came off the board right away, anyway).
    2. Under.  Zero Euros.  Not surprising considering the past two years, but I’m shocked there wasn’t even one that was tempting enough to go for.
    3. Under.  The Ballard deal is the only one worth noting.
    4. Over.  Calling this over, two 6’2″ guys, one 6’4″ and one 6’5″.
    5. Didn’t get to watch the whole thing, unfortunately, but I’m assuming over.  I know from Twitter he was shown at least once.

  • Sabres at the Draft

    Rather than try and and do a mock draft or analyze the prospects available at the spots where Buffalo picks (though the Tinordi kid would look nice next to Myers!), let’s have some fun.  I’m going to list some over/unders, reply to this post with what you think makes sense for them.

    1. +/- .5 – How many Tylers the Sabres draft.
    2. +/- 1.5 – How many European players the Sabres draft.
    3. +/- 1.5 – How many trades happen in the first round (during the broadcast).
    4. +/- 3.5 – Number of players Buffalo drafts taller than 6’2″.
    5. +/- 2.5 – Number of times Brian Burke is shown on TV considering he doesn’t have a pick.

    If you have any other suggestions for things to keep track of, let me know.