2018 - 2019 Lineup

[dudacek]

10 minutes ago, WildCard said:

God get rid of Larsson somehow. Considering Botterill moved RoR for attitude issues how in the hell is bottom feeding Larsson still around after his comments at the end of last season?

 

Are you referring to that Swedish article that was later discredited as a bad translation?

Or did I miss something.

[IKnowPhysics]

Vogl's pairings:

Scandella-Ristolainen
Dahlin-Bogosian
McCabe-Nelson

[Drunkard]

20 minutes ago, IKnowPhysics said:

Likely early forward lines with the current roster, according to Vogl:

Sheary-Eichel-Thompson
ERod-Mittelstadt-Reinhart
Sobotka-Berglund-Okposo
Girgensons-Larsson-Pominville

 

Notes that lots of lines will be tried and that there is definitely room for a trade to improve LW.

Also notes that Olofsson is almost a lock to start in Rochester.

Sweet. That's what I was hoping for with the first 3 lines, although I'd prefer to replace the 4th line with kids who are no longer waiver exempt (Bailey, Baptiste, etc.) while letting guys like Pominville ride the bench.

[GoPuckYourself]

If roster stays the same:

 

Line 1

LW Connor Sheary- C Jack Eichel- RW Sam Reinhart

Rasmus Dahlin- Rasmus Ristolainen

Line2

LW Casey Middlestadt-C Patrick Berglund- RW Kyle Okposo

Marco Scandella- Zach Bogosian

Line3

LW Vladimir Sobotka-C Zemgus Girgensons- RW Tage Thompson

Jake McCabe-Brendan Guhle

 

[Sabres Fan in NS]

1 hour ago, sweetlou said:

He's from Sweden!!

Seems like there is only one Swede that JBOT didn't want.

[Weave]

2 hours ago, WildCard said:

God get rid of Larsson somehow. Considering Botterill moved RoR for attitude issues how in the hell is bottom feeding Larsson still around after his comments at the end of last season?

Refresh my memory here.

[WildCard]

2 hours ago, dudacek said:

 

Are you referring to that Swedish article that was later discredited as a bad translation?

Or did I miss something.

 

7 minutes ago, Weave said:

Refresh my memory here.

He basically just says he's very tired of the situation in Buffalo when discussing his upcoming contract with the Sabres

http://www.hockeysverige.se/2018/04/10/johan-larsson-oppnar-for-flytt/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

[Randall Flagg]

24 minutes ago, WildCard said:

 

He basically just says he's very tired of the situation in Buffalo when discussing his upcoming contract with the Sabres

http://www.hockeysverige.se/2018/04/10/johan-larsson-oppnar-for-flytt/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

I thought I read that this was a bad translation situation and that he actually didn't say anything controversial, but that might be wrong.

[WildCard]

Just now, Randall Flagg said:

I thought I read that this was a bad translation situation and that he actually didn't say anything controversial, but that might be wrong.

You could be right. I just remember when I originally posted about this the other day, the comments seemed a lot worse in my memory. Probably because I was hoping they were because Johan Larsson plays hockey like a blind kid in an easter egg hunt

[Thorner]

8 hours ago, IKnowPhysics said:

Vogl's pairings:

Scandella-Ristolainen
Dahlin-Bogosian
McCabe-Nelson

Our right side will be a complete joke if this is our outlook come game 1. 

[dudacek]

59 minutes ago, Thorny said:

Our right side will be a complete joke if this is our outlook come game 1. 

Because Risto is a 2nd pairing guy, Nelson a spare part and Bogosian not even that?

[Derrico]

I'm telling you guys, Baptist will be in the starting lineup. 

[SwampD]

8 minutes ago, dudacek said:

Because Risto is a 2nd pairing guy, Nelson a spare part and Bogosian not even that?

Bogosian is my Huge Step Forward pick for next year.

[Thorner]

23 minutes ago, SwampD said:

Bogosian is my Huge Step Forward pick for next year.

It's a great pick because a huge step forward in this case would be 30 games and 2 assists. 

Edited July 12, 2018 by Thorny

[dudacek]

4 hours ago, Derrico said:

I'm telling you guys, Baptist will be in the starting lineup. 

Five (bad) things that could easily happen this year that few on here expect will.

1) Connor Sheary minus the Penguins looks kinda like Scott Wilson and barely scores 10 goals.

2) This year’s Ullmark/Hutton tandem looks remarkably like last year’s Lehner/Johnson tandem.

3) Hunwick, Beaulieu and Nelson are regulars in our starting six

4) Casey Mittelstadt struggles against NHLers, averages a dozen minutes a game and gets about 25 points.

5) Jack Eichel puts up another 60-plus point season.

 

And five good ones

1) Bailey and Baptiste are regularly in the lineup all year long, supplying good speed on the forechecking and combining for 25 goals and 50 points.

2) A remarkably steady Hutton gives the Sabres a chance to win every game.

3) Zach Bogosian and Kyle Okposo produce like their 2016 versions.

4) Vladimir Sobotka gives the Sabres a genuine 3rd line centre

5) Sam Reinhart plays all 82 games the way he played the last 40 last year.

 

And a bonus: Alex Nylander lights it up in Rochester and get called up after Christmas.

Edited July 12, 2018 by dudacek

[Scottysabres]

C.J. Smith, Bailey and Reinhart are the last RFA's to be signed.

Does anyone see C.J. Smith making the Sabres this year?

[TrueBlueGED]

2 hours ago, Scottysabres said:

C.J. Smith, Bailey and Reinhart are the last RFA's to be signed.

Does anyone see C.J. Smith making the Sabres this year?

I'm not sure if he starts with the team or not, but I think he carves out a role by the end of the season. That role might just be the 4th line, so it's not like I have delusions of grandeur for him, but I do think he has the skill set of a modern depth player in the NHL.

[dudacek]

3 hours ago, Scottysabres said:

C.J. Smith, Bailey and Reinhart are the last RFA's to be signed.

Does anyone see C.J. Smith making the Sabres this year?

Waiver status means it is highly unlikely, but he has an outside shot.

Pending unexpected camps, Bailey and Baptiste have the leg up, but they will have to perform to confirm those jobs, as will Larsson, Zemgus, Wilson, Pominville, Sobotka, and even Mittelstadt.

Smith, Thompson, Nylander, O’Regan, Olofsson, Asplund, Oglevie and Malone should be battling it out with each other for maybe one slot and for the first shot at replacing the non-performers.

Botterill’s conscious decision to develop players in Rochester last year has resulted in a nice critical mass.

Edited July 15, 2018 by dudacek

[Hoss]

Teams like the Penguins, Lightning and a few others constantly have unheralded prospects coming up that turn into useful NHL players. CJ Smith has the feel of a guy that could be exactly that for us.

[Thorner]

1 hour ago, Hoss said:

Teams like the Penguins, Lightning and a few others constantly have unheralded prospects coming up that turn into useful NHL players. CJ Smith has the feel of a guy that could be exactly that for us.

Especially as a LW, the world is his oyster, here. 

[dudacek]

Read an Athletic article about the Canucks and was struck with how you could substitute a lot of what the Canucks are thinking and doing with what Botterill is attempting with the Sabres this year. Take that for what it’s worth

Of Vancouver’s five leading scorers from last season, three of them — Henrik Sedin, Daniel Sedin and Thomas Vanek (Kane, O’Reilly) — won’t be back for 2018-19.

The Canucks didn’t even attempt to replace the lost scoring. Instead, they signed Jay Beagle, Antoine Roussel and Tim Schaller (Berglund, Wilson, Sobotka) veteran, checking forwards.

Yes, Cotton, it’s a bold strategy.

But Jim Benning is still hoping it pays off.

According to the Canucks’ general manager, it’ll be up to the youngsters to do most of the scoring next season. That means not only Brock Boeser and Bo Horvat (Jack Eichel and Sam Reinhart), but also Elias Pettersson, Sven Baertschi, Nikolay Goldobin, Brendan Leipsic and Jake Virtanen (Casey Mittelstadt, Evan Rodrigues, Tage Thompson, Nick Baptiste and Justin Bailey)

“They’re skill guys,” Benning told The Athletic earlier this week. “They’ve got to be put in skill positions. We wanted to make sure the rest of our lineup was stable, that they had the support from a penalty-killing standpoint, from a matchup standpoint where [head coach Travis Green] could play these players in roles that they can be successful in.

From what I can gather, Goldobin and Leipsic (Thompson and Victor Olofsson) could be fighting for a spot on the top line with Horvat and Boeser, (Eichel and Reinhart) while on the other scoring line it could be Pettersson (Mittelstadt) at centre flanked by Baertschi and Loui Eriksson (Rodrigues and Kyle Okposo).

On top of that, I haven’t even mentioned Brendan Gaunce, Reid Boucher, Adam Gaudette or Jonathan Dahlen. (CJ Smith, Danny O’Regan, Rasmus Asplund or Alex Nylander).

“I guess the message is we’re going to have competition from within at camp, for jobs and ice time,” said Benning. “Because we’re going to have young, skilled players in our lineup. We’ve always had the Sedins (O’Reilly and Kane) pencilled in on the first power play (in key situations). With them not coming back, it’s going to open up ice time.”

Mind you, not all the youngsters are going to make the cut. That’s the harsh reality of the situation. The numbers crunch is by design. For the likes of Goldobin, Leipsic and Granlund (Bailey, Baptiste and Girgensons), it’s make-or-break time.

“Some of these young guys that are on the bubble, they need to make a jump,” said Benning. “They need to take the next step or they’re going to fall through the cracks. I think just by the sheer number of players that we’ve got signed and are coming to camp, the players see it. At the end of the year, we had conversations with each guy and we told them, ‘You’ve shown flashes, but now you’re going to have to take the next step.’ If players take that next step, they’ll be part of our group moving forward. If not, we’ll have to figure something else out for them.”

And what might that “something else” be?

“If I can’t move them, we’ll have to waive them and send them down,” said Benning. “I guess that’s the worst-case scenario. Of course I’d try to move them first. And if I could recapture a draft pick or something, I’d look to do that. If I couldn’t, we’d waive them and send them down.”

The same, for that matter, goes for defencemen Ben Hutton and Derrick Pouliot (McCabe and Nelson). They’ve each shown flashes in the NHL, but by no means have they established themselves as consistent, everyday players.

“Hutton (McCabe) the first couple of years was good,” said Benning. “Last year, he kind of took a step back.”

In conclusion, the Canucks (Sabres) are banking on a couple of things for next season.

First, the youngsters need to take a step. Specifically, they need to score. Because if they’re not going to score, nobody’s going to score.

Second, the new veterans need to stabilize the bottom six. The (Sabres) Canucks can’t be so easy to play against, and the penalty killing has to be a lot better.

Like it or not, that’s the plan.

In a few months, we’ll get to see if it works.

 

 

Edited July 16, 2018 by dudacek

[Hoss]

I decided to rewrite the first bit about the Sabres since you made the comparison: 

 

Of Buffalo's eight leading scorers from last season, one of them — Ryan O'Reilly — won’t be back for 2018-19.

The Sabres didn’t even attempt to replace the lost scoring. Instead, they signed a goalie in Carter Hutton, acquired Patrik Berglund, Vladimir Sobotka and Tage Thompson.

Yes, Cotton, it’s a bold strategy.

But Jason Botterill is still hoping it pays off.

 

I don't know, man. I don't think they've deployed even slightly similar strategies. I don't think Brock and Horvat compare to Eichel and Reinhart. Eichel is significantly better than Brock, and Reinhart is on par with Horvat (maybe slightly worse). Mittelstadt and Pettersson are on similar levels, though.

I only did this because I will do whatever it takes to distances the Sabres strategy from what Benning is doing... for my own sanity.

Edited July 16, 2018 by Hoss

[GASabresIUFAN]

Actually 2 of 8 aren't returning (Kane and ROR) and the 7th (Pommers) will surely be demoted to the the 4th line or the pine.  

That said Van forwards may look similar, but they don't have any forwards with the upside of Eichel or Mittetstadt (although I really like Boesser).  They also have zero decent D.  Edler is 31.  Their youngster Hutton and Pouliot would be below McCabe on our depth chart.  They have no one as good as Risto and they don't have a Dahlin coming.  

 

[Hoss]

Kane was gone at the deadline so I didn’t count him. Wasn’t a member of the team to finish the year.

[TrueBlueGED]

Doing the same thing as Jim Benning isn't exactly confidence inspiring.