Rochester Americans and Jacksonville Icemen 2023-24 Season Thread

[Chainshot]

Karmanos needs to do a better job putting the team together. He has a bunch who has a hard time winning puck battles against a bigger team.

They're going to continue to be leaning into small next year too with Savoie graduating into this... this.

 

[Beerz]

Going back to who they benched at the outset of the series: Ostlund and Neuchev. They were doing things that looked like playoff hockey: get the puck in deep, cycle hard, finish their checks and support each other along the wall. No one else was doing that and those were the guys Appert pulled out of the lineup. That his supposed "young vet" line couldn't do that because Biro and Weissbach were too busy getting out of the way or standing stock still for all but one period in the whole series. Or the "big" line with Mersch and Murray on the wings with Jobst didn't do that. Or that Kulich at center is not it and his line was one-and-done all series.

I felt having Kulich at Center was a good idea for his development and Sabres. Which is fine in regular season. He isn't going to play center in NHL and you would probably free him up to play his game on wing.

 

[5 Minute Major]

Disappointed. No push in the third. Thunderbirds lost too so Binghamton wins the Commissioner's Cup (which looks like a little Stanley Cup). View attachment 868675

i live in Binghamton (Vestal). I was at the Wegman’s in Johnson City around lunch time and the Carolina team came in and all went to the sub line. Made me realize what a low level league it is. LOL It was guge back when the Senators won the Calder Cup out here. Made me exited when we traded for Lehner.

I’ve told this story before. Tom Mitchell owned the B-Sens and was very approachable. I saw him a few days after the Sabres hired Tim Murray and asked him what he thought about Murrya. He looked at me, laughed, and said, “good luck”.

 

[Gabrielor]

The complete lack of adjustments. The change that saw two of the very few players who actually played playoff hockey in Game 1 coming out of the lineup yet the continued deployment of whatever the f*** the Biro line was. Kulich at center for months. The 5-forward powerplay. There are so many.

I thought Prow was cooked at the end of last season's playoffs. He looks like he's over cooked now.

These opinions are playoffs-only, no relation to the regular season:


Rousek - probably their best forward, but low bar; still, he was working though
Biro - pretty bad, but he was the reason the series got to 5.
Weissbach - disengaged, couldn't make any plays, take any shots, win any battles. brutal series
Murray - typical Murray series. solid. wish he played all 5.
Kulich - awful. some pp effect, but actively terrible at 5v5. -8!!
Rosén - right behind Kulich at -6, but slightly less bad. still bad.
Wahlberg - looked like a rookie. understandable.
Jobst - on and off. didn't recapture the magic from last night's run. the carriage is a pumpkin again
Mersch - good playoff showing from the captain.
Richards - won some key faceoffs; minimal impact, didnt ruin them either though
Kozak - battled, but way short of the impact he had last run. Another disappointing showing.
Slaggert - a nothing burger.
Östlund/Neuchev - looked like a rookie, had moments. Should've been in over Slaggert.

Davies - really bad. terrible in transition - this statement applies to every defender.
Cecconi - the best offensive dman for them. sucked in his own zone.
Johnson - the best all around of the d, but no offensive impact at all.
Prow - terrible, crushed, hurt them.
Novikov - played like a youngster. no puck confidence. bad in own zone.
Metsa - the opposite of last year's run, and if not for Prow, he'd be my pick as the worst dman. Very disappointing for a guy I cheer on.

Levi - magical on the whole, but a rough game 5. I know, no help, but it is what it is. His SV% dropped from .938 to .919 on that game.

Appert: F
Zero adjustments to the Crunch forecheck through 5 games. Same mistakes limited them all series.


Off Season:

I'm interested in them bringing back Cecconi and Murray, and shipping off the rest of the UFAs. I'm under the impression Mersch and Metsa had a year left each, so not counting them as UFAs.

Strictly speaking on the Amerks, they should expect to add Savoie and Komarov, and bring back every Sabres prospect expect maybe Johnson and Levi. With that said, Kormanos' AHL shopping list MUST include a veteran d who isn't washed, a center upgrade on Jobst/Biro, and some size/pushback, which they lack org-wide.

Good season on the whole, tough finish watching them get owned in that series, despite it going to 5.

 

[Dingo44]

i live in Binghamton (Vestal). I was at the Wegman’s in Johnson City around lunch time and the Carolina team came in and all went to the sub line. Made me realize what a low level league it is. LOL It was guge back when the Senators won the Calder Cup out here. Made me exited when we traded for Lehner.

I’ve told this story before. Tom Mitchell owned the B-Sens and was very approachable. I saw him a few days after the Sabres hired Tim Murray and asked him what he thought about Murrya. He looked at me, laughed, and said, “good luck”.

The "low level league" of it is a huge part of its charm. These guys aren't playing for much other than the love of the game. And the games are cheap as well as the concessions and the hockey is pretty good. They've almost sold out every game in Winston-Salem since they came here in like 2017. And the fans travel - there were a bunch of Binghamton fans at the game in Winston-Salem and I saw a ton of Birds fans in the stands in Binghamton.

I've also read even AHL teams will stop at stores and gas stations on the road for food. An article in the Athletic about the Canucks team plane said as much.

 

[Chainshot]

That team had one Sabre prospect with actual sand in his game in Kozak and he was the Sean Malone Memorial Husk version of himself all year. One.

 

[sabremike]

That team had one Sabre prospect with actual sand in his game in Kozak and he was the Sean Malone Memorial Husk version of himself all year. One.

I honestly think nobody in the entire organization has a clue about how to construct a roster. Do they really think a roster of soft undersized one way forwards will amount to anything at the NHL level? What exactly are they thinking? I've seen multiple comments in recent weeks on the main board from people baffled at whatever our attempt at roster construction is and laughing at how stupid it is and they are 100% right.

 

[buffalowing88]

I honestly think nobody in the entire organization has a clue about how to construct a roster. Do they really think a roster of soft undersized one way forwards will amount to anything at the NHL level? What exactly are they thinking? I've seen multiple comments in recent weeks on the main board from people baffled at whatever our attempt at roster construction is and laughing at how stupid it is and they are 100% right.

What would you like management to do? They have a philosophy and are sticking to it and letting guys take their time for the most part.

 

[5 Minute Major]

The "low level league" of it is a huge part of its charm. These guys aren't playing for much other than the love of the game. And the games are cheap as well as the concessions and the hockey is pretty good. They've almost sold out every game in Winston-Salem since they came here in like 2017. And the fans travel - there were a bunch of Binghamton fans at the game in Winston-Salem and I saw a ton of Birds fans in the stands in Binghamton.

I've also read even AHL teams will stop at stores and gas stations on the road for food. An article in the Athletic about the Canucks team plane said as much.

Yeah, I didn’t mean it in a bad way. I was thinking these kids probably just had 10 hour bus ride or more and had to settle for a Danny’s favorite. The team bus was sitting in the parking lot. That has to be tough playing 7 hours later.

 

[Jacob582]

I honestly think nobody in the entire organization has a clue about how to construct a roster. Do they really think a roster of soft undersized one way forwards will amount to anything at the NHL level? What exactly are they thinking? I've seen multiple comments in recent weeks on the main board from people baffled at whatever our attempt at roster construction is and laughing at how stupid it is and they are 100% right.

Not just forwards. Defense too. Look at the dmen they've signed the last two years.

Priskie, Pilut, Davies, Metsa, Clague, Prow. All decent AHL players. But also all very similar type of players.

At least they traded Oskari for Cecconi.

 

[Chainshot]

Not just forwards. Defense too. Look at the dmen they've signed the last two years.

Priskie, Pilut, Davies, Metsa, Clague, Prow. All decent AHL players. But also all very similar type of players.

At least they traded Oskari for Cecconi.

Stillman being out for the year hurt the Amerks in terms of their mix on the back end.

Prow looks so cooked.

It's funny that with the PMD sorts they had, none of them were used on their late season and playoff PP1.

 

[Dingo44]

Brett Murray wants to stay with the Sabres / Amerks.

Brett Murray developing in Rochester, sees future in Sabres organization - Buffalo Hockey Beat

Rochester Americans winger Brett Murray said he “absolutely” sees a future in the Buffalo Sabres organization.

www.buffalohockeybeat.com

 

[Chainshot]

Brett Murray wants to stay with the Sabres / Amerks.

https://www.buffalohockeybeat.com/b...rochester-sees-future-in-sabres-organization/

I like Mur a lot at that level. I wish he had more bite to his game to make the jump to a mini-Maroon sort but he's not shown that as of yet. This was when, age-wise, Maroon started to get more regular time in the NHL.

 

[Gabrielor]

Brett Murray wants to stay with the Sabres / Amerks.

Brett Murray developing in Rochester, sees future in Sabres organization - Buffalo Hockey Beat

Rochester Americans winger Brett Murray said he “absolutely” sees a future in the Buffalo Sabres organization.

www.buffalohockeybeat.com

Good, I want him to stay. Arguably the most key vet.

 

[Jersey Fan 12]

Created more in that period than any of the game 3 periods. Now they have to solve Halverson. 105 minutes or so since they've scored during the run of play.

Halverson played just 17 games in the German second league last year and has mostly been in the ECHL since his ELC with the Rangers ended in 2018-19.

Was this due to injury or other factors?

 

[Jacob582]

Halverson played just 17 games in the German second league last year and has mostly been in the ECHL since his ELC with the Rangers ended in 2018-19.

Was this due to injury or other factors?

G Matt Tomkins was on emergency recall to NHL Tampa Bay until April 30.

 

[Chainshot]

Closing this one up and moving on to the off-season thread.