2018 - 2019 Lineup

[Randall Flagg]

Fair.

Botterill disagreed, largely because he made a determination that you and Flagg are stubbornly resisting: that O’Reilly -as a Sabre - was lost.

ROR isn't lost with baseline organizational competence. I can't even imagine the dead look in Jack's eyes if he played that role on this team as a 9 year vet that's seen the playoffs once. 

 

I'm just a fan with a hobby and this team has taken away from the quality of my life.

Edited July 2, 2018 by Randall Flagg

[nfreeman]

I'd like to see:

 

Sheary - Eichel - Thompson

ERod - Casey - Reino

Sobotka - Berglund - KO

CJ Smith - Zemgus - Baptiste

 

(Probably a bit ambitious for Thompson though.  Ideally KO would return to peak form and earn that #1 RW spot.)

[TrueBlueGED]

I think there is some truth to this. The bottom six last year were terrible before the season started, we really had no goaltending, we lacked enough good wingers and had only half a D group.

 

Despite the hysteria in the ROR trade thread, the organization is so much deeper then a year ago. I mentioned this in the Thompson thread and should have put it here; go compare the bottom 6 last season to start the year (Pouliot, Larsson, Nolan, Josefson, Griffith and Moulson), and compare it to the projected one this year. This one is light years better.

 

Now compare D depth this year vs last. Last season we had guys like Falk, Gorges, Tennyson, Baloo and Antipin playing significant minutes on our D. This season all but Baloo is gone and talented players like Pilut may not even make the team.

 

Looking at last year's team, it's pretty hard to say they should have been considerably better. They iced 3 top-6 forwards (one of whom, Reinhart, only played that way for half the season), had two second pairing defensemen playing top pair minutes, had 3rd pairing playing 2nd pairing, and AHLers playing on the 3rd pair, had bottom-5 goaltending in the league, and a collection of wingers so bad we were actually impressed by Wilson. But somehow, they should have been notably better. And since they weren't notably better, it's obviously a chemistry problem. 

 

This whole things still just makes me insane.

[Drunkard]

I'd like to see:

 

Sheary - Eichel - Thompson

ERod - Casey - Reino

Sobotka - Berglund - KO

CJ Smith - Zemgus - Baptiste

 

(Probably a bit ambitious for Thompson though.  Ideally KO would return to peak form and earn that #1 RW spot.)

 

I like this projected lineup better than the others I've seen, mostly because it remove Pominville and Larsson and bumps Okposo down to the 3rd line. Sign me up.

Edited July 2, 2018 by Alkoholist

[Randall Flagg]

Sheary - Eichel - Reinhart 

Mitts - E-Rod - Okposo until they stop showing the downright good hockey they showed down the stretch 

Girgensons - Berglund - Sobotka will give you limited offense but better than what we've seen from a bottom six probably, and they ALL dull all events considerably, so chase every top line you possibly can with these guys 

And you have to go youth here. going vet trash:
Wilson - Larsson - Pominville

Will ensure 50-60 points AGAIN. We'd better hope that Asplund/Olofsson/Baptiste/Nylander/whoever are ready to do some things with heavy sheltering. 

I don't think I'd put these lines together any other way, at least to start.

It's a pretty fugly group..

[dudacek]

The idea of running a spine of Jack Sam and Casey intrigues me.

Who gets what roles?

Sheary - Eichel - Reinhart 

Mitts - E-Rod - Okposo until they stop showing the downright good hockey they showed down the stretch 

Girgensons - Berglund - Sobotka will give you limited offense but better than what we've seen from a bottom six probably, and they ALL dull all events considerably, so chase every top line you possibly can with these guys 

And you have to go youth here. going vet trash:

Wilson - Larsson - Pominville

Will ensure 50-60 points AGAIN. We'd better hope that Asplund/Olofsson/Baptiste/Nylander/whoever are ready to do some things with heavy sheltering. 

I don't think I'd put these lines together any other way, at least to start.

It's a pretty fugly group..

I’ve been talking a lot about off-ice chemistry being improved, but it is hard to see the on-i e chemistry in that clump.

Remember the stated goals are more even strength scoring, more speed, and more production from the bottom of the lineup.

[Drunkard]

The idea of running a spine of Jack Sam and Casey intrigues me.

Who gets what roles?

 

I’ve been talking a lot about off-ice chemistry being improved, but it is hard to see the on-i e chemistry in that clump.

Remember the stated goals are more even strength scoring, more speed, and more production from the bottom of the lineup.

 

I think with O'Reilly gone Eichel will now get the tough matchups because he has to. Reinhart hasn't even shown he can play center in the NHL at a productive level and Mittelstadt is a rookie so Eichel will get the tough matchups by default.

 

I also predict it will make his offense suffer and everyone who thought O'Reilly was overpaid at $7.5 million for 55-60 points is going to lose their ###### when Eichel ends up scoring 60 points for $10 million because he'll now be forced to carry the load defensively.

Edited July 2, 2018 by Alkoholist

[dudacek]

Changes from opening night last year:

 

Back:

Ristolainen, McCabe, Eichel, Girgensons, Scandella, Reinhart, Okposo

 

Gone:

Kane, Josefson, Lehner, Nolan, Johnson, Antipin, Pouliot, O’Reilly,

 

On the bubble:

Pominville, Beaulieu, Larsson, Griffith, Tennyson,

 

In:

Sheary, Sobotka, Berglund, Hutton, Dahlin, Rodrigues, Wilson, Mittelstadt, Ullmark

 

On the bubble additions (guys we acquired, or may have graduated from the Amerks)

Pilut, Thompson, O’Regan, Nelson, Guhle, Baptiste

Edited July 2, 2018 by dudacek

[Ho-Chi-Sock]

I'd like to see:

 

Sheary - Eichel - Thompson

ERod - Casey - Reino

Sobotka - Berglund - KO

CJ Smith - Zemgus - Baptiste

 

(Probably a bit ambitious for Thompson though.  Ideally KO would return to peak form and earn that #1 RW spot.)

 

Pretty good. My changes in bold:

 

Sheary - Eichel - Reinhart

ERod - Casey - KO/ideally a quality FA or Trade acquisition

Sobotka - Berglund - KO (if not on 2nd line)/Thompson/Baptiste in an emergency

CJ Smith - Zemgus - Baptiste/Pominville in a Plan Z scenario.

[Gatorman0519]

This is an upgraded “patch a raft” lineup that’s temporary. There is a slew of kids in the system that much more fit JBots vision. If half of them turn out in Rochester expect another turn over like this next year, another trade and we might start seeing JBots true vision coming together. Unfortunately that means 2 more years until we think playoffs. If this is our roster 80-85 points max in my opinion but Improvment and development.

[Weave]

This is whipping boy PHam's lines.  these look to be about what I expect right now.

 

Sheary  Eichel  Reinhart

Thompson  Mittelstadt  Okposo

Rodrigues  Berglund  Pominville

Wilson  Girgensons(Larsson)  Sobotka

 

Scandella  Ristolainen

Dahlin  Bogosian

Guhle  Nelson

McCabe  Hunwick

Beaulieu

[WildCard]

I still say flip Reinhart, Okposo, and Mittelstadt.

[CallawaySabres]

I still can't believe we will have the New England Maple Leafs for the next 10 years.

[Weave]

I still say flip Reinhart, Okposo, and Mittelstadt.

 

I have no interest in continuing the Reinhart at center experiment.

[WildCard]

I have no interest in continuing the Reinhart at center experiment.

We barely saw it though

 

I have little interest in seeing a 19 year old Mittelstadt center our 2nd line

Edited July 3, 2018 by WildCard

[inkman]

Brian Duff just posted this depth chart on the Sabres website. It’s a mess but this is what the team-paid “journalist” thinks...

 

Buffalo

 

Forwards:

 

Conor Sheary - Jack Eichel - Sam Reinhart

Victor Olofsson / C.J. Smith / Evan Rodrigues / FA/Trade? - Casey Mittelstadt - Kyle Okposo

Vladimir Sobotka - Patrik Berglund - Tage Thompson / Justin Bailey / Nick Baptiste

Scott Wilson / Zemgus Girgensons - Rasmus Asplund / Johan Larsson / Sean Malone / Andrew Oglevie - Jason Pominville

 

Defense:

 

Rasmus Dahlin - Rasmus Ristolainen

Marco Scandella - Zach Bogosian

Brendan Guhle - Jake McCabe

Matt Hunwick - Casey Nelson

Nathan Beaulieu

 

Goalies:

 

Carter Hutton

Linus Ullmark

 

Rochester

 

Forwards:

 

C.J. Smith - Rasmus Asplund - Justin Bailey

Danny O'Regan - Sean Malone - Nick Baptiste

Alex Nylander - Kyle Criscuolo - Cliff Pu

Kevin Porter - Andrew Oglevie - Eric Cornel

Pascal Aquin / Vaclav Karabacek

 

Defense:

 

Lawrence Pilut - Zach Redmond

Brandon Hickey - Will Borgen

Matt Tennyson - Taylor Fedun

Nathan Paetsch - Andrew McWilliam

Devante Stephens - Arvin Atwal

Brycen Martin - Tobie Paquette-Bisson

 

Goalies:

 

Scott Wedgewood

Adam Wilcox

Jonas Johansson

Well the Amerks look good on paper

[Weave]

We barely saw it though

 

I have little interest in seeing a 19 year old Mittelstadt center our 2nd line

 

I think we saw enough.   He showed absolutely nothing whenever he centered in every pro season he's had.

 

I don't want Casey centering our #2 line either.  I think he'll get sheltered minutes.

Edited July 3, 2018 by We've

[dudacek]

I think with this mix, you build a legitimate first line around Jack, a sheltered second line around Casey and a old-fashioned checking line. So:

 

Xxx Eichel Reinhart

Yyy Mittelstadt Okposo

Girgensons Sobotka Berglund

 

Right now, Sheary is Xxx and Rodrigues is Yyy.

But I’d rather Rodrigues centre the fourth line and move up as needed and Sheary to play with Kyle and Casey

 

Ideally Xxx is Smith, Thompson, Olafsson or Nylander

Baptiste and Bailey could also be in the mix for Xxx, but ideally I see them flanking Erod on a fast fourth line that may actually be able to pop a few.

 

Wilson and Larsson are the spares.

 

That is easily the deepest forward group we’ve iced in years.

[Hoss]

I still say flip Reinhart, Okposo, and Mittelstadt.

Where is Mittelstadt going here? To the wing? I’ve got zero interest in forcing him to the wing for the sake of mythically protecting him. He’s a Center. Keep him there and focus solely on that.

[WildCard]

Where is Mittelstadt going here? To the wing? I’ve got zero interest in forcing him to the wing for the sake of mythically protecting him. He’s a Center. Keep him there and focus solely on that.

Well he's fast too. Didn't we do the same thing with Reinhart? To protect him?

[WildCard]

@SabresStats

Even Strength goals over the last two seasons:

 

Ryan O’Reilly - 20

Patrik Berglund - 32

 

@SabresStats

And if you’re wondering, Conor Sheary had 37 ESGs over that timeframe.

 

So, let's see what we have here, as a net gain based on last year

 

Out:

Evander Kane: 14-14-28

Benoit Pouliot: 10-6-16

Ryan O'Reilly: 9-25-34

Jordan Nolan: 4-4-8

Total: 86pts

 

Those are the official ones so far. 

 

In:

Patrik Berglund: 13-6-19

Vladimor Sobotka: 10-17-27

Connor Sheary: 16-11-27

Thompson: 3-5-8

Total: 81pts

 

Looking at those per game, we have:

Out:

61 + 74 + 81 + 69 = 285 gp. So .302 EV pts/game

 

Out:

57 + 81 + 79 + 41 = 258 gp, So .314 EV pts/game

 

Well, that turned out pretty negligible. So let's see what else we have

 

CF% 

 

Out:

Evander Kane: 50.9

Benoit Pouliot: 46.2

Ryan O'Reilly: 50.8

Jordan Nolan: 42.8

Avg: 47.66

 

In:

Patrik Berglund: 52.8

Vladimor Sobotka: 49.4

Connor Sheary: 52.1

Thompson: 49.6

Avg: 50.98

Edited July 3, 2018 by WildCard

[GASabresIUFAN]

Wild, are you saying losing ROR wasn’t the end of the world after all?

[WildCard]

Wild, are you saying losing ROR wasn’t the end of the world after all?

Losing him never was. Getting what we back however is a different story

[GASabresIUFAN]

Losing him never was. Getting what we back however is a different story

The stats seems to indicate our lineup without should be faster, better in the faceoff circle (now with more then one option to take a big faceoff), better on the PK, similar on the PP and better goal scorers at even strength. Sounds like a faster deeper team.

[WildCard]

The stats seems to indicate our lineup without should be faster, better in the faceoff circle (now with more then one option to take a big faceoff), better on the PK, similar on the PP and better goal scorers at even strength. Sounds like a faster deeper team.

Well I don't know about speed, and certainly not about special teams. Those aren't the most comprehensive stats ever posted, but a brief glance would indicate that yes, we seem to get better at even strength

 

It should be noted though that really most of that is just losing Nolan and Pouliot, which we could have done anyways

Edited July 3, 2018 by WildCard