Sabres Grades: Mittelstadt Excels; Power, Levi Struggle

It’s pretty clear how Buffalo Sabres fans would rate the team’s overall effort Tuesday night. As far as each player involved, it’s time we get into some Sabres grades.

Buffalo struggled to find the extra burst required to overcome the efficient Seattle Kraken. The shot volume, shot quality, quick start, and other early signs were there for this game to trend in Buffalo’s direction. Instead, the hometown crowd treated them to boos as they exited the ice.

Must read: Daccord Outplays Levi as Kraken Defeat Sabres at Home

Now that we’re halfway through the season, it’s time we monitor the individual play of the Sabres a little more closely. I’m implementing a grading system that gives letter grades to each player based on their game performance. We’ll go with “A+” through “F”, to mirror the traditional American school system, using statistical computation to dictate our grades.

In order to properly assess play, we’ll factor in a player’s production (goals, assists, shots, blocks), quality of offense, volume of offense, quality of defense, volume of defense, powerplay success, penalty kill success, penalty differential, role, and minutes.

Goalies will be judged on shot quality faced, shot volume faced, and goals surrendered in a similar scoring system.

We’ll come up with a percentile of play given all of the factors, and assign the appropriate letter grades to each Sabres player according to the chart below. Keep in mind the percentiles are rounded for easier reading.

Studs

Casey Mittelstadt

Grade: A-

Production: C-

Offense: B+

Defense: B+

Special Teams: D-

Mittelstadt was almost immediately promoted to Buffalo’s top line Tuesday, responding with two assists. He centered a line that controlled play about 80% of the time they were on the ice.

Alex Tuch

Grade: B+

Production: A

Offense: C+

Defense: A

Special Teams: C

Tuch registered a goal and an assist, but also peppered six shots on net for top notch production. He was able to outproduce the quality generated offensively, and padded that with a very strong defensive showing. He even had a quality chance on a shorthanded break.

JJ Peterka

Grade: B+

Production: D-

Offense: A

Defense: B+

Special Teams: B-

The JJ Peterka – Dylan Cozens – Jack Quinn line was outstanding the entire night in generating high-danger chances and limiting quality chances against in the process. Peterka had about as good of scoring opportunities as you can expect without cashing in on one.

Duds

Devon Levi

Grade: F

Levi started off hot Tuesday night, and for a while it looked as if we’d have a goaltending showdown between he and Kraken netminder Joey Daccord. The second period was not a kind one to Levi though, as he surrendered three goals on five shots from some questionable areas. The hole he put the team in was too large to overcome, and the Sabres will need more consistency in net going forward.

Owen Power

Grade: D-

Production: F

Offense: D-

Defense: D

Special Teams: C-

Power’s been one of Buffalo’s better players all season, but it was very clear he was not up to par on Tuesday night. Despite playing the third-most even-strength minutes for the Sabres, Power was unable to push play up the ice for the majority of the game.

Peyton Krebs

Grade: D

Production: F

Offense: D-

Defense: C-

Special Teams: N/A

The Kraken have four well-balanced forward lines, and that proved to be too much for Krebs and his linemates. He’s not expected to create a ton of offense in his role, but the defense wasn’t there as well. In order for Krebs to be effective, he has to be more physically engaged and tough on his matchup.

Sabres Grades