>I wanted to include Clifton because Rasmus Dahlin’s projection (mid-70s) seemed fine, and Owen Power’s was discussed on Tuesday. It is basically in line with what Clifton did last year in Boston (23 points in 78 games), so it’s not bad, but I thought it might be higher.
>It turns out that the way Buffalo runs their defence is the problem. Last year, when they had the healthy players to do it, the Sabres basically ran a heavily-used top-4 of Dahlin/Power/Samulesson/Jokiharju and then minimal ice time for the bottom pair. All four of those guys are back, so the projections are assuming Clifton is on the bottom pair, and that means 14-15 minutes a game at even strength. He will be shut out of the power play unless their second unit is 3F/2D, or one of Dahlin/Power is hurt for an extended period. He will pick up some more minutes on the penalty kill, but it’s not as if those minutes are conducive to point production. If he’s skating 18:00 a night with almost no PP time, well, not projecting for 30-plus points makes sense.
>Clifton has monster peripherals, so he’ll always have worth in multi-cat formats. However, if he can get to 32 points rather than 24 points, it’d be a huge boost to his value in those leagues. Perhaps Buffalo changes the way they run the blue line and he can get to 19-20 minutes a game, but I’ll have to see it to believe it.
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>Connor Clifton [24.10 points]
>I wanted to include Clifton because Rasmus Dahlin’s projection (mid-70s) seemed fine, and Owen Power’s was discussed on Tuesday. It is basically in line with what Clifton did last year in Boston (23 points in 78 games), so it’s not bad, but I thought it might be higher.
>It turns out that the way Buffalo runs their defence is the problem. Last year, when they had the healthy players to do it, the Sabres basically ran a heavily-used top-4 of Dahlin/Power/Samulesson/Jokiharju and then minimal ice time for the bottom pair. All four of those guys are back, so the projections are assuming Clifton is on the bottom pair, and that means 14-15 minutes a game at even strength. He will be shut out of the power play unless their second unit is 3F/2D, or one of Dahlin/Power is hurt for an extended period. He will pick up some more minutes on the penalty kill, but it’s not as if those minutes are conducive to point production. If he’s skating 18:00 a night with almost no PP time, well, not projecting for 30-plus points makes sense.
>Clifton has monster peripherals, so he’ll always have worth in multi-cat formats. However, if he can get to 32 points rather than 24 points, it’d be a huge boost to his value in those leagues. Perhaps Buffalo changes the way they run the blue line and he can get to 19-20 minutes a game, but I’ll have to see it to believe it.