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More roster discussion with the penultimate free agent in the organization: #59 Tim Schaller C (24-year-old RFA) Rochester 65/15/28/43/3/116 Buffalo 18/1/1/1/-5/2 If there was an award for the most under-the-radar prospect for the Sabres going in to last year, it would probably have gone to Tim Schaller. By the end of the year, if there was another award for most improved prospect, he would have been in the running for that as well. A New Hampshire-born undrafted college free agent, Schaller parlayed decent size and a reputation for responsible play into a professional contract, but his lack of skill made him an apparent longshot for an NHL career. Two years later, he’s certainly grown in stature. The rookie’s strong final month in Rochester caught the organization’s attention and he followed that up with a good camp last fall. Adding some surprising offensive numbers in his second AHL season to go with his continued attention to detail, he ended up being one the primary Rochester call-ups. While he certainly didn’t stand out in the NHL, he didn’t look out of place on the fourth line either. As an older prospect seeking a new contract, he is at a crossroads. He’s well down the team’s list of centre ice prospects, but even the most loaded teams need serviceable fourth liners. It’s not yet clear if he is just another warm body, or whether he can provide good service as an 11th-13th forward in the manner of a Cody McCormick. Links to the rest of the series: Anders Lindback: http://forums.sabres...nders-lindback/ Pat Kaleta: http://forums.sabres...patrick-kaleta/ Johan Larsson: http://forums.sabres...-johan-larsson/ Matt Hackett: http://forums.sabres...1-matt-hackett/ Andrej Meszaros: http://forums.sabres...ndrej-meszaros/ Phil Varone, Zac Dalpe, Jerry D'Amigo: http://forums.sabres...e-dalpe-damigo/ Mikhail Grigorenko: http://forums.sabres...ail-grigorenko/ Tyson Strachan, Andre Benoit: http://forums.sabres...han-and-benoit/ Mark Pysyk: http://forums.sabrespace.com/topic/23414-roster-review-3-mark-pysyk/

Let's just do this. Everything to do with Ryan freaking O'Reilly. His likes, his dislikes, favorite colors, boxers or briefs, ALL THESE QUESTIONS AND MORE RIGHT HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The only year ROR has broken the 20g plateau was last year. Last year his shot% was .37 above where it normally sits meaning that statistically he isn't a 20+ goal scorer. While his defensive skills are as far as takeaways are impressive, he is averaging 88 a year. So just a touch over 1 per game. His giveaways sit at 30 on average which means he is very sound defensively but at what point do these extra defensive skills become superfluous? How often is 1 takeaway a game making the difference? Judging by the way hockey works probably not as much as we would like. If we look at other stats I can see that he starts just over 50% of the time in the defensive zone and for the last 2 years has faced above average competition. Now looking at his Corsi and Fenqick we can see that mathematically ROR on the ice his team has the puck only 50% of the time so again we are in the middle. Now I can tell you that ROR is contributing positively to the possession numbers. So far we can all agree Defensively ROR is a very good player. Now looking once again at the offense his usage suggests he spends almost no time on the PP. His pp shots and such are very low, 49 total attempted PP for the entire season. Why? Well for one if you watch Ryan O'Reilly his shot is average. He does get the shot through about 62% of the time which is decent. Just to show what I mean and so you have a bench mark for that, Zemgus is at about 61% of shots getting through. So ROR is again doing okay but not great. If we look at his PK stuff, the outlier year for Sh% is also the outlier year for his good PK stuff. This past year his TOI for pk ice time was only 156.9minutes so this again isn't what he was getting used most. Most of his time is 5v5 which is fine. He seems to handle his minutes well and again is right in the middle. Now if you want we could talk about now stats stuff like his on ice vision, stickhandling, hockey IQ. Sadly it must be mentioned somewhat. His on ice vision is above NHL average and he has a decent pass. His stickhandling IMPO is just okay. He is a direct kind of guy. One thing you will notice is ROR makes safe plays. He in some ways is like Samson in that regard although I think in the end Sammy is smarter. His skating stride is good but he is a direct skater and you don't see the array of cuts and slashes you might want for a top 3 forward. That said he is very strong on his skates. He is good down low at digging the puck out. He tends to pass first but I feel like there is a lack of creativity there. I feel like that's enough. It won't prove my point to you and that's fine because we both have decided, but when I look at O'Reilly whether that is during the game or his advanced stats his defensive play if very sound. It is quite good. His offensive play is very lackluster. In truth ROR is like a better defensive version of Pommers but with less offense. If I am going to tie up 8mil, which in todays lack of scoring NHL for a defensive player is questionble, then I have committed that money to someone who at heart is really a nice 2nd line defensive player that will give you 15-20goals a season and around 35a. Toews, Kane, Ovechkin, Malkin, Subban, Crosby, Perry, Lundqvist, Giroux, Staal, Getzlaf, Kessel, }{ Weber, Nash, Suter, Parise, Datsyuk, Spezza, Stamkos. There is your list of players making 7.5mil or more. Kessel and up make 8mil or more. Ryan O'Reilly IMPO doesn't belong in that group because he doesn't bring enough to the table on the offensive side to warrant it. Now you have your answer, well basically, this was superfluous because I am not going to convince you Tank and you aren't going to convince me. I don't think ROR should make more then 7mil and truthfully I would give him 6.5 and not a penny more. Of course I think you are accurate with how much he will ask for and some team will pay it, but that team will be a big market because I honestly believe that is where he wants to go.