GDT: Sabres at Boston 12-21-2014 7PM

[Doohicksie]

Of the players that he named that are likely gone I only see a chance of Kaleta, Stachan and Mitchell returning.

 

Don't underestimate the Staff Infection. Those can be really hard to get rid of.

[Doohicksie]

Tonight is what I thought this year's tank would look like.

 

I'll also say that seeing the team lose 4-3 in overtime is so much better than losing 1-0.

[Huckleberry]

hope Armia is healthy, because we'll need more help it seems.

[Huckleberry]

From what i see the kids don't look completely out of place, really have me hopefull for next year.

[...]

 

 

Most of the other kids have been with the big club much longer. It took a month and a half for the rest of the team to come together and you're writing off Grigo after three games? You could argue Larsson is doing better, but he's also looked lost at times. I think those two are spinning up to NHL speed. I hope they stay up for a while and get up to full speed so we can really see what they can do.

 

This is the correct response, except that this is only Grigorenko's second game up. He had some disappointing moments, and some flashes of great talent.

 

Overall, I think he has a better defensive game than Hodgson, and looks like he needs some Nolan-time. I thought he should have rushed the net once with Stewart and he sometimes circles too far away from the crease.

 

He's not afraid to hit or dig in the corners and he looks eager to get into the game.

 

I want to see what he's like after a month with the Sabres coaching staff.

[SABRES 0311]

Really wanted to win after Boston's D-bag announcer opened with a rant about how awful the Sabres are. A bad team is one with talent that plays bush league hockey (Boston). The Sabres have little talent and have shown they can work together and be competitive.

[X. Benedict]

My official comment on hockey last night is ugh.

 

The Bruins not much interesting to watch. The Sabres with a game effort.

Feeling grumpy about Hit on Gionta.

 

It is also sad that that Rolfe kid with the sweet voice was really a nazi.

[wjag]

bahahahahahaha

 

that is all

[sicknfla]

 

 

When I say "likely gone" I mean each is a UFA at season's end.

Anyone of trade value will be traded. The others will likely get bumped by kids or better veteran free agents.

I would be surprised if any of them are back. They just aren't in the team's long-term plans.

 

Agree with all this. Plus Murray is going to be using a lot of these prospects as trade material over the next year or two. As we all know there is no way we can keep all these guys. Especially if we add the 5 first and seconds this summer.

[DHawerchuk10]

Really wanted to win after Boston's D-bag announcer opened with a rant about how awful the Sabres are. A bad team is one with talent that plays bush league hockey (Boston). The Sabres have little talent and have shown they can work together and be competitive.

I don't mind Edwards' "homerism" as much as his lack of hockey knowledge. He reminds me of a fan who wants to come off as smart, so he just parrots what he hears from other media outlets without doing any thinking or observing on his own. Edwards is directly responsible for having me go from Center Ice to Game Center. Every time the Sabres played the Bruins on Center Ice, they would always carry the NESN feed. Enough was enough, so I purchased an Apple TV with Game Center to pick my feed.

[Doohicksie]

This is the correct response, except that this is only Grigorenko's second game up.

 

No, it was his third. The first was Winnipeg, then back to Rochester for a couple games since the Sabres didn't play from Wed to Fri, Then Colorado & Boston. Check the boxscores.

[Robviously]

I only remember fans clamoring to anoint him to greatness, everyone else said he had huge ???.

The fans aren't the ones who shoved him into the starting line-up and kept him in the NHL long enough to burn the first year of his entry-level deal. They aren't the ones who made him the face of the franchise in Summer 2012. And they aren't the ones who started selling Grigorenko jerseys by Day 2 of the 2012 draft.

 

Darcy and Black wanted to make a statement about how they were building from the center and how they had a plan. Grigorenko hype didn't start with the fans; most fans were down on him by the time the 2012 draft happened.

 

When the heck have fans ever been right about anything?

In Buffalo??? The fans are right more often than the teams are right. I'm just remembering the response to most of the Bills' last few 1st round picks. We'd have a better team if we crowd-sourced our picks, or just drafted stragith from Mel Kiper's board. Plenty of Sabres examples as well (Stafford, Connolly).

Edited December 22, 2014 by Robviously

[...]

 

 

No, it was his third. The first was Winnipeg, then back to Rochester for a couple games since the Sabres didn't play from Wed to Fri, Then Colorado & Boston. Check the boxscores.

 

My bad, I forgot the Jets game.

[Samson's Flow]

My bad, I forgot the Jets game.

Don't worry, the Sabres forgot there was a game that day too...

[Doohicksie]

When I say "likely gone" I mean each is a UFA at season's end.

Anyone of trade value will be traded. The others will likely get bumped by kids or better veteran free agents.

I would be surprised if any of them are back. They just aren't in the team's long-term plans.

 

I'd be surprised if none of them were back. In the case of Benoit and Messy, they're relatively cheap insurance against putting the whole D load on the younger guys. They have two this year, maybe one of them returns. I see Mitchell, Stewart and Stafford are the same insurance for wingers. If they find a spot on another team, no one's going to cry for their loss, but if they don't, I see Murray offering one or two of them a pre-determined (i.e., take it or leave it) 1 year deal for an amount that supports Murray's strategy for team salary. The value in keeping these guys is that they know the other players, they know Nolan. Look how dysfunctional the team was early in the year when we had a bunch of new vets. There's no sense in bringing in even more new vets unless they are clear upgrades and not simple placeholders. And frankly the vets GMTM decides to bring back will probably get a better payday from him than they will on the open market if he's still worried about slipping below the salary floor.

[dudacek]

I'd be surprised if none of them were back. In the case of Benoit and Messy, they're relatively cheap insurance against putting the whole D load on the younger guys. They have two this year, maybe one of them returns. I see Mitchell, Stewart and Stafford are the same insurance for wingers. If they find a spot on another team, no one's going to cry for their loss, but if they don't, I see Murray offering one or two of them a pre-determined (i.e., take it or leave it) 1 year deal for an amount that supports Murray's strategy for team salary. The value in keeping these guys is that they know the other players, they know Nolan. Look how dysfunctional the team was early in the year when we had a bunch of new vets. There's no sense in bringing in even more new vets unless they are clear upgrades and not simple placeholders. And frankly the vets GMTM decides to bring back will probably get a better payday from him than they will on the open market if he's still worried about slipping below the salary floor.

 

Unless the idea is to get better.

 

Remember, Grigo, Larsson and Pysyk have to play in Buffalo next year or risk waivers.

• Let's say Larsson takes the spot of Kaleta
  
• Pysyk for Benoit
  
• And Grigo slides in for Stafford (Hodgson goes to the wing to make room)
  

You are going to have Armia, Reinhart and hopefully McEichel knocking on the door up front too.

Let's say one of them makes the squad. That most likely squeezes out Stewart.

 

Then there is the salary cap situation. Stewart/Stafford/Meszaros coming off the books frees an additional $12 million on top of the $20 million we already have. Part of that will get chewed up by a goalie, but there is a ridiculous amount of money left over that pretty much has to be spent on a free agent or big trade acquisition.

 

That isn't going to get spent on re-signing Meszaros. It will get spent on a significant upgrade. The Sabres are in a position to — and hopefully will — target a top-four defenceman and a top-six forward.

 

Mitchell and Strach might get signed again as depth guys — given what they've done this year — but that's probably not going to get you to the floor.

 

I don't see many, if any of our UFAs coming back.

 

2014/15

Ennis/Girgensons/Moulson

Gionta/Mitchell/Flynn

Stafford/Hodgson/Foligno

Deslauriers/McCormick/Kaleta/Stewart

Myers/Gorges

Ristolainen/Zadorov

Strachan/Weber

Meszaros/Benoit

 

2015/16

Ennis/Girgensons/Moulson

Gionta/Reinhart, or../Flynn

Hodgson/Grigorenko/FreeAgent or...

Deslauriers/McCormick/Larsson/Foligno

Myers/Gorges

Ristolainen/FreeAgent or...

Zadorov/Pysk

Strachan??/Weber

Edited December 22, 2014 by dudacek

[Iron Crotch]

This is the correct response, except that this is only Grigorenko's second game up. He had some disappointing moments, and some flashes of great talent.

 

Overall, I think he has a better defensive game than Hodgson, and looks like he needs some Nolan-time. I thought he should have rushed the net once with Stewart and he sometimes circles too far away from the crease.

 

He's not afraid to hit or dig in the corners and he looks eager to get into the game.

 

I want to see what he's like after a month with the Sabres coaching staff.

 

I generally agree. I'll go on record as predicting that Grigorenko will be one of our better players 3 years from now. The kid is only 20 and is still learning the pro game. He has the talent. He just needs some tough love coaching (which Nolan should be able to provide) and some more pro experience.

[Huckleberry]

The fans aren't the ones who shoved him into the starting line-up and kept him in the NHL long enough to burn the first year of his entry-level deal. They aren't the ones who made him the face of the franchise in Summer 2012. And they aren't the ones who started selling Grigorenko jerseys by Day 2 of the 2012 draft.

 

Darcy and Black wanted to make a statement about how they were building from the center and how they had a plan. Grigorenko hype didn't start with the fans; most fans were down on him by the time the 2012 draft happened.

 

 

I always had high hopes for him and was hoping he would slide down but never expected it. Wich made me think what is wrong with him ? but still to good to pass up at #12 of that draft.

[Robviously]

I always had high hopes for him and was hoping he would slide down but never expected it. Wich made me think what is wrong with him ? but still to good to pass up at #12 of that draft.

I had a man-crush on Filip Forsberg that year. We missed him by one spot -- he went 11th to Washington -- and then we missed him again when Washington traded him for just about nothing.

 

So far this year, 31 points in 31 games. But tell me again how the fans are never right about anything and that we should trust the pros running the teams. :rolleyes:

[Drunkard]

 

I had a man-crush on Filip Forsberg that year. We missed him by one spot -- he went 11th to Washington -- and then we missed him again when Washington traded him for just about nothing.

 

So far this year, 31 points in 31 games. But tell me again how the fans are never right about anything and that we should trust the pros running the teams. :rolleyes:

 

Yep, just like the year we drafted Whitner when 90+% of fans were hoping for Haloti Ngata and we passed on him. I think the fans are more clued in than the media would ever give us credit for. At least for the first couple of rounds in the draft.

[Huckleberry]

Well in the offseason we can always go after sekera.

 

Myers - Gorges

Risto - sekera

Pysyk - zadorov

 

Our D is set :D

[Robviously]

Yep, just like the year we drafted Whitner when 90+% of fans were hoping for Haloti Ngata and we passed on him. I think the fans are more clued in than the media would ever give us credit for. At least for the first couple of rounds in the draft.

Or that year we drafted Aaron Maybin when everyone wanted Brian Orakpo.

 

It's sports; it's not rocket science. The Bills could fire all their scouts and just draft whoever Mel Kiper Jr. is high on and they'd have been better these last 14 years. They're literally worse off than if they had no scouts and just used mock drafts. That's the reality.

[Doohicksie]

Well in the offseason we can always go after sekera.

 

Myers - Gorges

Risto - sekera

Pysyk - zadorov

 

Our D is set :D

 

I'd be okay with bringing Sekera back.

 

For those projecting Reinhardt on the big club next year, I think he may need one more year to develop. He can play in the AHL next year? Let him burn it up, then bring him up at the end of the season. I'm okay with waiting patiently for the prospects if it means we're a much better team 2, 3, 4 years from now.

[LastPommerFan]

Or that year we drafted Aaron Maybin when everyone wanted Brian Orakpo.

 

It's sports; it's not rocket science. The Bills could fire all their scouts and just draft whoever Mel Kiper Jr. is high on and they'd have been better these last 14 years. They're literally worse off than if they had no scouts and just used mock drafts. That's the reality.

 

This belongs in the bills thread, but:

 

It's not rocket science, it's accounting.

 

DT, RB, Center, Safety. These are the cheapest positions for top talent in the NFL. It's not a surprise the Bills chose them with 6 of 9 first round picks between Losman and Manuel. The bills were not interested in spending money in order to win until relatively recently.

[Robviously]

I'd be okay with bringing Sekera back.

 

For those projecting Reinhardt on the big club next year, I think he may need one more year to develop. He can play in the AHL next year? Let him burn it up, then bring him up at the end of the season. I'm okay with waiting patiently for the prospects if it means we're a much better team 2, 3, 4 years from now.

I really doubt there'll be anything left for Reinhart to do in the WHL next year but I still think he's too young for the AHL.

 

He's in the NHL next year. And our team might look really weird if we add him, Grigorenko, Armia, Larsson, and Pysyk. I wouldn't be shocked if Schaller challenged for a 4th line role or if McCabe came on strong in training camp too. Bailey and Baptiste will be signed as well but we'd want to have them start their pro careers in the AHL unless they shock us in training camp.