2014-2015 Roster

[inkman]

If things keep going the way they have, Inky is going to have to change his name to Lastweberfan.

Probably but how unceremonious was the Benoit signing? Did they even announce it?

[LTS]

I think y'all are nuts not putting Weber in the top 6. Benoit over him? I don't think so.

 

Truthfully I think he'll be rotated around based on performance. I didn't put him in the top 6 mostly because I was going down the list and came to him 7th. :)

 

Weber has had problems with his coverage and performance and has been scratched before. No reason to not expect it again.

[inkman]

He's a 26 year old rough and tumble stay at home D that has averaged 55 games a year in his career. He's proven when pushed past 16 minutes a night he fails. Last season he played with the worst group of forwards the NHL has seen in decades. He's a one pass defenseman. The jokers last season couldn't figure how to avail themselves to our D let alone do something with the puck once they had it. Mike Weber is what he is. A middle of the road stay at home D that should never be asked to be more than that.

 

Also, every team in the NHL had at least one if not 3 defenseman just like Mike Weber. Pair him with a puck moving or swift skating D and he will manage just fine.

[dudacek]

He's a 26 year old rough and tumble stay at home D that has averaged 55 games a year in his career. He's proven when pushed past 16 minutes a night he fails. Last season he played with the worst group of forwards the NHL has seen in decades. He's a one pass defenseman. The jokers last season couldn't figure how to avail themselves to our D let alone do something with the puck once they had it. Mike Weber is what he is. A middle of the road stay at home D that should never be asked to be more than that.

 

Also, every team in the NHL had at least one if not 3 defenseman just like Mike Weber. Pair him with a puck moving or swift skating D and he will manage just fine.

 

I've seen him be that guy and, for the record, I want to see him be that guy again.

Also for the record, he is not that guy right now,

[drnkirishone]

He's a 26 year old rough and tumble stay at home D that has averaged 55 games a year in his career. He's proven when pushed past 16 minutes a night he fails. Last season he played with the worst group of forwards the NHL has seen in decades. He's a one pass defenseman. The jokers last season couldn't figure how to avail themselves to our D let alone do something with the puck once they had it. Mike Weber is what he is. A middle of the road stay at home D that should never be asked to be more than that.

 

Also, every team in the NHL had at least one if not 3 defenseman just like Mike Weber. Pair him with a puck moving or swift skating D and he will manage just fine.

Me and you don't see the same Weber. the last few seasons he has been given puck moving partners and his play had neutralized their game. He is a stay at home type that has trouble in coverage and positioning. That is a horrible combination. if he was blowing up forwards on the walls every game it would be one thing but the worse he plays the more passive he plays and the less useful he becomes.

[dudacek]

Not to pile on Weber, but I think there is a decent chance the Sabres may attempt to move him before the start of the season.

Myers and Gorges are the clear number one pair. Meszaros and Benoit are the veteran depth, and pretty much everyone agrees Risto is ready.

That's your starting five.

 

Pysyk has paid his dues and belongs in the NHL. If it's me, he gets the last spot.

McCabe gets first-pair ice in Rochester, then moves up when a spot opens and someone gets traded at the deadline.

Which should leave Mike in the number seven spot to start the season.

 

But Strachan can also play the role of the stay-at-home placeholder and the team may decide to trade Mike now just to create some space.

[WildCard]

balls

read it in his voice :clapping:

[SabresBillsFan]

Me and you don't see the same Weber. the last few seasons he has been given puck moving partners and his play had neutralized their game. He is a stay at home type that has trouble in coverage and positioning. That is a horrible combination. if he was blowing up forwards on the walls every game it would be one thing but the worse he plays the more passive he plays and the less useful he becomes.

 

I agree with this. I didn't mind Weber for some time but I just think their are better defenseman in the system that can bring a better all around game that Weber has.

 

Not to pile on Weber, but I think there is a decent chance the Sabres may attempt to move him before the start of the season.

Myers and Gorges are the clear number one pair. Meszaros and Benoit are the veteran depth, and pretty much everyone agrees Risto is ready.

That's your starting five.

 

Pysyk has paid his dues and belongs in the NHL. If it's me, he gets the last spot.

McCabe gets first-pair ice in Rochester, then moves up when a spot opens and someone gets traded at the deadline.

Which should leave Mike in the number seven spot to start the season.

 

But Strachan can also play the role of the stay-at-home placeholder and the team may decide to trade Mike now just to create some space.

 

Sounds good to me if they move Weber just don't think you will get much back in any trade though.

[Huckleberry]

http://www.diebytheblade.com/2014/10/2/6888499/nhl-15-buffalo-sabres-season-sim-oh-god-please-no

 

77 points according to EA sports sim. Worst thing is i can see this happening to. :unsure:

[TrueBlueGED]

http://www.diebytheblade.com/2014/10/2/6888499/nhl-15-buffalo-sabres-season-sim-oh-god-please-no

 

77 points according to EA sports sim. Worst thing is i can see this happening to. :unsure:

 

Could be, there's tank competition for sure. But 25 points better? We'd have to score an extra 65 goals or so for that to happen. I just do not see it.

[Crusader1969]

Not sure if this will change anything with Zadorov but London already has 2 imports on their roster this year. We hear all the time how another year with Hunter in London would be good for him but would the sabres want to send him to a team not known for their prospect development ??

[nfreeman]

Could be, there's tank competition for sure. But 25 points better? We'd have to score an extra 65 goals or so for that to happen. I just do not see it.

 

This is reasonable, but I think to get a sense of how substantial the scoring improvement really needs to be relative to last season, we should probably ignore the Rolston period at the beginning of the season and the post-trading-deadline fall-off-the-cliff period. I haven't run the numbers yet but I suspect it's a smaller gap with those adjustments.

[LastPommerFan]

This is reasonable, but I think to get a sense of how substantial the scoring improvement really needs to be relative to last season, we should probably ignore the Rolston period at the beginning of the season and the post-trading-deadline fall-off-the-cliff period. I haven't run the numbers yet but I suspect it's a smaller gap with those adjustments.

 

Extrapolating December through February, we paced at 182 goals for the season as compared with the 157 we actually scored.

 

Still DFL, but that's 25 additional goals without improving that roster.

 

If you look at just Feburary, when the Sabres had a couple months under Nolan and hadn't dismantled the roster yet, they we're 13th in the NHL in GF/G.

 

seeing these numbers, I think you're right, it's important to remember that the March 6th Roster was significantly worse than it is now, but still affected last year's aggregate numbers. This team could easily score between 200 and 210 goals this year. Still not nearly good enough for the playoffs, especially with questions in goal.

[Trettioåtta]

Nolan has chosen his captain.

[ubkev]

Nolan has chosen his captain.

 

And?

[Trettioåtta]

And?

 

He hasn't told the players. Waiting till end of preseason I think

[inkman]

 

 

And?

Nothing has ever mattered less

[TrueBlueGED]

Extrapolating December through February, we paced at 182 goals for the season as compared with the 157 we actually scored.

 

Still DFL, but that's 25 additional goals without improving that roster.

 

If you look at just Feburary, when the Sabres had a couple months under Nolan and hadn't dismantled the roster yet, they we're 13th in the NHL in GF/G.

 

seeing these numbers, I think you're right, it's important to remember that the March 6th Roster was significantly worse than it is now, but still affected last year's aggregate numbers. This team could easily score between 200 and 210 goals this year. Still not nearly good enough for the playoffs, especially with questions in goal.

 

Any particular reason you excluded the 9 games in November that Nolan was a coach for? Including those and discounting the shootout winning goals, I put the pace at 164 real goals on the season. Even if you insist on counting the shootout winners during that time frame, the pace is still only 170 on the year. Much less rosy.

[LastPommerFan]

 

 

Any particular reason you excluded the 9 games in November that Nolan was a coach for? Including those and discounting the shootout winning goals, I put the pace at 164 real goals on the season. Even if you insist on counting the shootout winners during that time frame, the pace is still only 170 on the year. Much less rosy.

 

I didn't include November because the splits I was looking at were by month so I could parse it. But I think there is a legitimate argument that January and February is more likely the real reflection of that roster with Nolan than Nov/dec.

[nfreeman]

Extrapolating December through February, we paced at 182 goals for the season as compared with the 157 we actually scored.

 

Still DFL, but that's 25 additional goals without improving that roster.

 

If you look at just Feburary, when the Sabres had a couple months under Nolan and hadn't dismantled the roster yet, they we're 13th in the NHL in GF/G.

 

seeing these numbers, I think you're right, it's important to remember that the March 6th Roster was significantly worse than it is now, but still affected last year's aggregate numbers. This team could easily score between 200 and 210 goals this year. Still not nearly good enough for the playoffs, especially with questions in goal.

 

Much obliged. Take that, TBPhD!

 

Any particular reason you excluded the 9 games in November that Nolan was a coach for? Including those and discounting the shootout winning goals, I put the pace at 164 real goals on the season. Even if you insist on counting the shootout winners during that time frame, the pace is still only 170 on the year. Much less rosy.

 

I think it's reasonable to assume that they needed a few games to wash that Rolston right outta their hair.

 

 

Bottom line is that Dec-Feb is a pretty reasonable sample size. They still need to improve their scoring substantially, and not suffer too much of an increase in goals against, but it's not impossible.

 

If they get respectable goaltending, I think there is too much determination and heart, to go with a modicum of skill, for them to finish DFL again -- especially because I think there are a number of teams targeting that spot.

[TrueBlueGED]

I didn't include November because the splits I was looking at were by month so I could parse it. But I think there is a legitimate argument that January and February is more likely the real reflection of that roster with Nolan than Nov/dec.

 

Maybe you could make a legit argument Dec-Jan is more representative (I wouldn't, and I disagree with relatively easily disposing of valuable data), but I could also point out the hilariously easy strength of schedule during that time. For example, out of the 12 games in December, only 4 were against real teams (Boston twice, Habs, Rags) and we went 1-3 against them and scored only 8 goals. Real teams in January? 5/14, Jackets twice, Philly, Pitt, Minnesota. Went 1-4 and scored 12 goals counting a shootout winner.

 

@Freeman: coaching changes normally produce an artificial bump in performance, not a drag. Case in point: Sabres won the first two games following the change, one of which was in LA, and look at what happened when Ruff was canned.

 

Bottom line is if we're trying to project a full season from a truncated sample, we want to have that sample be as large as possible unless there's a *really* good reason. I think cutting the post-deadline record qualifies, but trying to justify discarding November because of a nebulous coaching change effect we can't really be sure of falls well short of qualifying.

[X. Benedict]

Nothing has ever mattered less

 

It matters, but by :) not much more than you are suggesting.

[TrueBlueGED]

I forgot to add, I think we have to acknowledge that some portion of the offensive futility under Rolston was maybe just really bad luck over a small sample, which happens even to good teams, and Nolan benefitted from a little bounce back in that regard. Again, should only discard data if we have a really good reason to do so and are wholly confident it's the right thing to do.

Edited October 2, 2014 by TrueBluePhD

[inkman]

It matters, but by :) not much more than you are suggesting.

I think wearing the C in hockey is important to the individual. Much less important to the team. Leaders are going to be vocal no matter what they have on their jersey. Having the faith and confindence of your coach and boys, the stuff legends are made of.

[dudacek]

It's not unreasonable to think Ennis, Stafford, Hodgson, Stewart and Moulson will average 20 goals. There's 100 right there.

Can Myers, Gionta, Foligno, Girgensons, and the winner of the Reinhart/Girgensons battle average 10 goals each? That's not unreasonable.

Can the rest of the roster combine for 50 goals. Maybe.

200 goals is not out of reach.