Kalinin out

[outlaw16511]

As per WGR 550, Kalinin will not be offered another contract by Darcy Reiger.

[Two or less]

As per WGR 550, Kalinin will not be offered another contract by Darcy Reiger.

 

I thought he was very good for us when he was paired up with Alexei Zhitnik, however, since Zhitnik left, he's been garbage and a bust. He has talent, he just never used it right here. But with Sekera and Weber ready for full-time action and hopefully bidding on either Brooks Oprik or JM Liles, there is no room for a guy like Kalinin.

[Goodfella25]

One down. Hopefully Lydman is next. Let's get some actual calm and poised defensemen, not "panic and clear it up the middle right in front of my own net" types.

[SabresFan526]

I'm already excited about this offseason for the Sabres. They have signed most of their prospects, especially their key prospects. They will not be offering Kalinin a new contract. Now, if they can ship Max, have a good draft, and acquire a second line center, Orpik and Liles, and sign Miller and Pominville to long term extensions I will be downright ecstatic about this offseason. I'm very happy about Kalinin being kicked out. I'm quite certain he will sign in Russia as I find it highly unlikely any NHL team will sign him. He's the classic underachiever who has been a waste of money for the last 2 seasons. Well, there's $2 million that can hopefully be spent on a guy who will help this team this year.

[Two or less]

One down. Hopefully Lydman is next. Let's get some actual calm and poised defensemen, not "panic and clear it up the middle right in front of my own net" types.

 

I don't think Lydman is going anywhere. He's not a top pairing guy, but he's a very good #3. If we fix up the top pairing, we'll be all set IMO.

[Rayzor32]

As per WGR 550, Kalinin will not be offered another contract by Darcy Reiger.

 

 

I hope to God he doesn't resurrect his career and haunt us in the playoffs next year..hopefully he'll play in Russia and fade away..

[SabresFan526]

I hope to God he doesn't resurrect his career and haunt us in the playoffs next year..hopefully he'll play in Russia and fade away..

To be honest, that's a chance I'm willing to take. I find Kalinin resurrecting his career and haunting the Sabres as likely as Jiri Novotny all of a sudden becoming the second coming of Wayne Gretzky and haunting the Sabres for trading him for the Zubrus rental.

[Goodfella25]

To be honest, that's a chance I'm willing to take. I find Kalinin resurrecting his career and haunting the Sabres as likely as Jiri Novotny all of a sudden becoming the second coming of Wayne Gretzky and haunting the Sabres for trading him for the Zubrus rental.

 

Add Mike Zigomanis to that list. I really thought that one would come back to haunt us, especially with the way that went down. I'm not worried about Kalinin--he's probably done as an NHLer IMO. I just think he's goin back to Europe.

[outlaw16511]

If we could lure Danny Markov back to the NHL to suit up for the Sabres and then sign Streit, I'd be freakin ecstatic.

[Bmwolf21]

To be honest, that's a chance I'm willing to take. I find Kalinin resurrecting his career and haunting the Sabres as likely as Jiri Novotny all of a sudden becoming the second coming of Wayne Gretzky and haunting the Sabres for trading him for the Zubrus rental.

Same here. Another team is going to have to find a veteran like Teppo to pair with Kalinin and act as a full-time on-ice babysitter, because while Dmitri has all the physical tools to be a top-4 defenseman, he gets into his own head too much and struggles with his confidence. He makes one mistake and it's all downhill from there.

 

Add Mike Zigomanis to that list. I really thought that one would come back to haunt us, especially with the way that went down. I'm not worried about Kalinin--he's probably done as an NHLer IMO. I just think he's goin back to Europe.

IIRC there was talk of him going back to Russia right before the contract he signed coming out of the lockout. I wouldn't be surprised to see him go this time.

[nfreeman]

Here's my 2 cents:

 

1. Kalinin will be in the NHL next year, almost certainly in someone's top 4.

 

2. There is no way we are going to sign Orpik. He's going to cost at least $4 million per year, and probably more. The Sabres don't make splashy UFA signings. They also need to save their cash for Miller, Pommer, and their gaggle of RFAs. I like Orpik and would love to see him in a Sabres uniform, but it ain't happening.

 

3. I do think we are going to add 2 defensemen. One will be Teppo and the other will be whoever we get in trade for one or more of our forwards.

 

4. Finally: Detroit's defense is what the Sabres' D aspired to be in 05-06 -- mobile, smart, positional, crisp-passing, and not big-hitting except for one guy (Kronwall for Detroit and McKee for the Sabres). Obviously, Detroit's D is pretty close to the pinnacle of this type of defense approach, and we had no one in Lidstrom's league, but as a group our D was in the ballpark that year.

[thesportsbuff]

Here's my 2 cents:

 

1. Kalinin will be in the NHL next year, almost certainly in someone's top 4.

 

very bold prediction.

[spndnchz]

IMHO he's not even worth his own thread, buh-bye. The next month is gonna be busy... and fun! Not for Darcy, but us.

[awill29]

Every coach in the NHL thinks that he can turn a player around. Kalinin has above average potential, but he was either not movitated or he just didn't fit in to our system (or both). I don't think he'll be playing top 4, but he'll be a depth guy @ the 5/6 spot somewhere next year.

[X. Benedict]

I think Kalinin would be fine in a very simple system where he only has two options.

Pass to his pair, or dump it to neutral.

[SabreNod]

I was hoping this would happen. It's time. The guy has talent but he's like the bud that refuses to flower. He's an eternal almost. An if only. A yea but.

 

And my wife had grown tired of hearing the phase "Fu*cking Kalinin again"

 

The guy just seemed to have a knack for knocking pucks past Miller inadvertently. It's as if they could reliably aim for Kalinin, knowing they'd get a nice deflection. And his confidence was too easily swayed. Lindy had to go to work on that guy, and it really never seemed to pay off.

 

If only.

 

I read a comment about Lydman and I disagree - I think he's a really solid #3/4 defenseman that any team would be happy to have.

[BuffaloBorn1960]

good now we have more money to sign cambell :thumbsup:

[Bmwolf21]

good now we have more money to sign cambell :thumbsup:

I don't know if this was in jest, but I'd take Campbell at $6M than Kalinin at $3M. And I was ready to ship Campbell out when his price tag hit $5M.

[LabattBlue]

Kalinin has size(could be a physical player if he wanted to), good speed, decent skills in terms of offense, but it doesn't mean #%^$#! because he had a 10 cent brain. Clearly a guy who was given all the chances in the world to succeed as a Sabre and for whatever reason never put it together except for a short period here or there.

[SabresFanInRochester]

I'm already excited about this offseason for the Sabres. They have signed most of their prospects, especially their key prospects. They will not be offering Kalinin a new contract. Now, if they can ship Max, have a good draft, and acquire a second line center, Orpik and Liles, and sign Miller and Pominville to long term extensions I will be downright ecstatic about this offseason. I'm very happy about Kalinin being kicked out. I'm quite certain he will sign in Russia as I find it highly unlikely any NHL team will sign him. He's the classic underachiever who has been a waste of money for the last 2 seasons. Well, there's $2 million that can hopefully be spent on a guy who will help this team this year.

 

Does all that really have to happen for it to be a good off-season? I think cutting bait with Kalinin was a nice move because it is time for the young guys (especially Sekera) to get work. But if you bring in Orpik and Liles, then who sits? Some are calling for Lydman's head, but I think he is too valuable; perhaps not on the top line, but he is pretty good. And getting a center would certainly involve shipping off a bunch of your forwards. You cannot add forwards without subtracting some. So besides Max, who else do you get rid of?

 

I am not trying to be overly critical of your post. But, you are asking for a lot. I would rather see one "key" d-man than have a bunch of players of mediocre/average talent come to Buffalo. (And I am not saying that Orpik or Liles are average, but are they that much better than what we have.)

[Eleven]

I thought he was very good for us when he was paired up with Alexei Zhitnik, however, since Zhitnik left, he's been garbage and a bust. He has talent, he just never used it right here. But with Sekera and Weber ready for full-time action and hopefully bidding on either Brooks Oprik or JM Liles, there is no room for a guy like Kalinin.

 

 

Wow, we differ here. IMO, Kalinin's biggest drawback is that he was trained by Zhitnik. But I've no problem with Orpik or Liles; a do-nothing D-man who can hit is better than a do-nothing D-man who can't.

[shrader]

Every coach in the NHL thinks that he can turn a player around. Kalinin has above average potential, but he was either not movitated or he just didn't fit in to our system (or both). I don't think he'll be playing top 4, but he'll be a depth guy @ the 5/6 spot somewhere next year.

 

Just take a look at some of the defensemen playing around this league. People can say what they want about Kalinin, but he's a better player than many other defensemen on rosters around this league. He'll easily find a team if he wants to stay in the US.

[nfreeman]

Here's another thought on Kalinin: should we have dumped him at the deadline? If Pittsburgh gave up a 2nd and a 5th for Hal Gill, I could easily see equal-to-better compensation coming to the Sabres from a playoff team looking to pick up an experienced defenseman for the playoff drive.

 

Darcy must have known this was going to be the decision, so why not get a pick or two out of it? I suppose the answer is that he knew that we were probably going to lose Campbell, and dumping Kalinin at that point would have left us with a top 6 of Tallinder, Lydman, Spacek, Pratt, Sekera and Weber (although I think Spacek was injured at the time, so Paetsch would have been in for him). I know most here think losing Kalinin at that point would've been no great loss, but that probably would have felt like we were throwing in the towel on the season -- and we were still very much in the race for a playoff spot.

[ROC Sabres]

I can see Liles coming in for a lower price tag than he may expect with his ties to miller. Still might have to pay him close to 3 a year. I wouldn't mind that price for him over Kalinin. As for Orpik, same as everyone else, would love to see it, but the price tag is probably gonna be too steep.

 

What I'm really worried about is the RFA's and UFA's that we may be losing come july 1st. I hate to be negative about all the good stuff thats happened but we are gonna lose some good minor leaguers and maybe current players to get this number 2 center that everyone is hoping for. Just hope we don't give up to much. I personally would like to get a center that is better than Roy and have him be the number 1 and put Roy on a line with Pommers and Kotalik. That would be a killer skills line.

[Bmwolf21]

Just take a look at some of the defensemen playing around this league. People can say what they want about Kalinin, but he's a better player than many other defensemen on rosters around this league. He'll easily find a team if he wants to stay in the US.

On physical tools alone, for sure. I think a lot of us realize that his problem isn't physical, it's mental. Therein lies the rub - could his play be turned around by something as simple as a change of scenery, a different voice/perspective from a more patient coach, a different d-partner? I agree that if he wants to stay in the US he will find a team willing to bring him in (and he'll probably be paid pretty well.)

 

Was a standard PR reason given by WGR/Regier as to why they aren't going to offer him a contract? You know, one of those "we don't think we'll be able to keep him under the cap, or we want to make room for Weber/Sekera" type answers, or is the team being vague about it and making the league wonder why they are announcing that they are letting him walk?