Curt

Haha, no. It’s gOlofsson. gOl-ofsson. Goal-ofsson. He’s here for the goals baby!

I think it’s kind of clear that by “overblown”, he sort meant “no longer a serious, current issue” since he was discussing a hit that happened in the playoffs and the lack of ill effects from it. I don’t think he meant that it’s effects over the last 2 years as a whole are overblown.

He hasn’t been to the second round of the playoffs in 8 years. Not that it matters.

Well, some payroll is going to be cut I think. I just can’t see Buffalo entering the season with all these D on NHL contracts on the roster plus Sobotka. There are going to some moves made that will open up a little money.

But you literally said that the hope was that they maybe make a trade with Buffalo involving Risto. If they are going to trade another player to another team in order to afford the offer sheet contract, how does that help Buffalo? The team that makes a trade for Ehlers, for example, is likely going to be able to afford him and probably won’t have to move a piece. Even if they do, what is the likelihood that the piece they end up moving is someone who Buffalo needs or wants? Probably pretty low. To me, that’s a pretty backwards way of trying to use an offer sheet to get a play you would like to have. First of all, when/if the “dominos” fall after a trade is made, the player/s who shake loose are unlikely to be ones you want/need. Second, these offer sheets are contracts that the players are actually signing. I doubt many players want to go through the trouble of signing one when they know they are just a pawn in Buffalo’s ploy to try to shake loose some pieces from other teams.

First, I’m glad you agree that they were the 2nd best line. They accomplished that while starting a higher percent of their shifts in defensive zone than anyone else in the league. Second, is it really true that they matched up primarily against the opponents 4th line? I don’t think that it is.

He should be in the lineup because he is good. Much more proven than Nylander. He led Rochester in scoring as an AHL rookie, coaches loved him, he probably has the best shot in the organization (Roch or Sabres), he looked good in the few games he played in Buffalo. I have a hard time thinking of a reason he shouldn’t be in the Sabres’ lineup to start the season.

I don’t know what you wanted me to scroll down to, but Dzingle has taken 185 faceoffs in 268 career games. That tells me that he hasn’t played C. https://www.hockey-reference.com/players/d/dzingry01.html

gOLOFSSON!!!

Johansson played C his first couple years in the league, but that was something like 5-6 years ago. He has played mostly wing since. I don’t know how Buffalo plans to use him. Dzingle also is a wing. He hasn’t played C at all in the NHL.

He played with Zajac, Zacha, Hischer, Krejci. All C’s. The guy listed in the middle on that site is not necessarily the C.

TT was very bad last season. I would be shocked if he produced at a top-6 level in the NHL next season. Nylander? Who knows? Maybe.

I could be a smart arse and say “yeah, about half of them!” But really there is Skinner, Reino, Johansson now. Olofsson and Vesey both have the chance to produce at that level, though I have more hope for Olofsson. I don’t think the wing depth is far off from where it needs to be to be good.

Who are you thinking of? Oh: probably Okposo

Basically. Though I do disagree with your general pessimistic slant on the situation, haha. If he didn’t have the concussion issues in the past, he probably would have gotten 5.5x5 or something like that. Because he had the issues, he got 4.5x2. So I guess we’ll see, but as I said, he looked recovered and back to his old self towards the end of the season.

You may or may not know, but he dealt with a couple concussions and recovery from those in 2017-18 and 2018-19. He really hit his stride down the stretch and in the playoffs with Boston. I’m inclined to hope that he is close to the guy from 2014-17 as opposed to 18-19.

They can definitely still acquire a good forward. It’s going to be just fine if Girgensons, Larsson, or Okposo starts the season as the 13th forward.

I was looking at ES TOI/per game on hockey reference. Mitts played 8 games more than Sobotka, so that’s why he ended the season with a higher total. Like I said in the other post though, they were so close that it doesn’t really matter.

This is not true. Sobotka had more ES TOI than Mittelstadt. However, the difference in ES ice time between Buffalo’s 2nd/3rd/4th liners last year was so insignificant that it doesn’t really matter. Buffalo had a 1st line, then 3 other lines with the same TOI, but playing different roles.

Skinner-Eichel-Vesey Johansson-Mittelstadt-Reinhart Olofsson-ERod-Sheary Zemgus-Larsson-Okposo Maybe? I still think the lineup needs a true 2C though. That would shift Mittelstadt to 3C, ERod to the 4th and one of Z, Lars, Ok to 13th forward. I could still see a Risto for 2C type of trade happening when the opportunity presents itself. Someone on D needs to be moved, so there will definitely be more trades of some sort. OR if Reino goes to C, Skinner-Eichel-Vesey Johansson-Reinhart-Sheary Olofsson-Mitts-ERod Zemgus-Larsson-Okposo

Yes, he has quite a bit of experience playing RD. He has done it in the SHL and international play.

Risto has played lots of time with McCabe. The results haven’t been great. Mixed to poor I would say.

Other 4th liners around the league. They really did do a good job of suppressing offense against. Listen, I’m just saying that they good at defense. Neither of them are any good at creating scoring opportunities, but at least they can play defense, get the puck out of the Dzone, and cycle it around in the Ozone a bit. What do you want from your 4th line?

Well Buffalo would just have to go sign another player to play a 4th line shutdown role. Girgs and Larsson did a good job of that last season.

The thing is, Girgensons has actually been quite the consistent player. He had one season where he was used as 1C, got PP time, and had an abnormally high shooting %, leading to a career year. That got everyone all excited because it was his 2nd year in the league, we though it was real improvement, and the rest of the team was tank trash. It turned out to be a fluke. Next season will be his 7th in the NHL. I would not expect any improvement.