2018 - 2019 Lineup

[Weave]

I could see Dahlin on the 3rd pair for at least half the season.

And it might be the best thing for him.

[Derrico]

Did Phil Housley play third pairing minutes the first half of his rookie year?  Being serious, this was before my time.

[Weave]

2 minutes ago, Derrico said:

Did Phil Housley play third pairing minutes the first half of his rookie year?  Being serious, this was before my time.

 

I honestly don't remember.  I'm relatively sure he saw a fair amount of time at center his 1st year.

 

[Derrico]

Really??  I guess Wendall Clark was drafted as a d and moved up to forward.  

[Hoss]

3 hours ago, Randall Flagg said:

It's the same but with Dahlin. 

Pilut the wildcard I have high hopes for. 

I know you're being pouty (it's okay, I still love you) but it's not. The top six by games played last year was:

Scandella - Risto

Beaulieau - McCabe

Antipin - Falk

That's just ordered by minutes, not actual pairings.

It's now more like:

Scandella - Risto

Dahlin - Bogosian

Guhle - McCabe

Four of six are new guys. You hope they'll all play 75+ games. Not only would that be a pretty good talent upgrade it'd also be a significant upgrade to have a group of 6/7 guys who actually play a lot of games instead of guys moving in and out of the lineup/getting injured.

Edited July 20, 2018 by Hoss

[dudacek]

55 minutes ago, Randall Flagg said:

It's the same but with Dahlin. 

Pilut the wildcard I have high hopes for. 

Beaulieu was our 3 last year. We've replaced him with Dahlin. Falk has been turned into Bogosian and Antipin into Guhle. That's a notable upgrade in what was our top six last year.

A healthy McCabe should also be an upgrade, at least for the 30 games he missed, while Hunwick and Pilut are more suited to the system than Gorges and Tennyson as the callups.

Dahlin is certainly the biggest part, but I don't know how you could say the rest is the same.

 

Edit: I got called away and didn't hit send until I got back, but I see Hoss has already made the point.

[Randall Flagg]

We'll have to see how Guhle plays after a summer of development, but based on the  sample size we got, he isn't an upgrade on anything until he actually does it. Aborted stat project mentioned earlier confirmed he was still barely treading water, even compared to our icky guys.  

But you know Beaulieu's playing 18 minutes opening night. 

Also, picture how you think of Justin Falk, or Nathan Beaulieu, or kinda a mix of the two. That's how I feel about Bogosian, so his presence that we're for some reason assuming will be there ( ? ) doesn't do much for me.

The names are all the same only this year we don't know who gets hurt, when, and for how long, unlike having that information about last year. Ignore that about last year, and THAT'S the thing I was hoping Jason would build on a little this offseason. Shuffling out cap dump Josh for cap dump Matt doesn't do all that much for me either. 

Also

2 hours ago, Hoss said:

I know you're being pouty (it's okay, I still love you) but it's not. The top six by games played last year was:

 

???

Edited July 20, 2018 by Randall Flagg

[nfreeman]

I’m not gonna pretend I wasn’t hoping for de Haan or someone like that as a proven addition to the top 4.  But I think they think they got what they needed in Dahlin, his ripple effect on the rotation, improved health from McCabe and perhaps Bogo, Pilut, and development from Guhle, Nelson and perhaps Beaulieu. 

[Randall Flagg]

I think Pilut might have me more interested than any non-Dahlin addition we've made. He comes from the same league, scored way more points than Dahlin, and was defenseman of the year. And he looked silky as hell in the prospect camp. 

[Derrico]

6 hours ago, Randall Flagg said:

I think Pilut might have me more interested than any non-Dahlin addition we've made. He comes from the same league, scored way more points than Dahlin, and was defenseman of the year. And he looked silky as hell in the prospect camp. 

This.  I really think he's going to be a good one.  It's a matter of will it be straight out of training camp or January.  SHL is probably the third best league in the world and he was named the best defender in the entire league as  21/22 year old.  

[jsb]

The D&D brothers, Dudacek and Derrico, keep up the good fight dudes. Just remember what Neil said

Don't let it bring you down, It's only Blue and Flagg churning, Find out when the Sabres are turning, And they will come around

Neil, I love that dude, I love this song......

 

[LTS]

I think the problem Botterill faces with trying to strengthen the D is that he will be forced to sign a mediocre player to a contract term that will have us complaining about it 3 years in because it's keeping other players who have developed out of the lineup.

Any D who you sign for 1 year is not going to solve the problem.

So that's the real question.  Freeman suggested de Haan.  In some way I was hoping it too.  But, would you accept the Sabres signing him to the contract he signed?  I think it would have hurt them in 2 years.

 

[bob_sauve28]

11 hours ago, Randall Flagg said:

We'll have to see how Guhle plays after a summer of development, but based on the  sample size we got, he isn't an upgrade on anything until he actually does it. Aborted stat project mentioned earlier confirmed he was still barely treading water, even compared to our icky guys.  

But you know Beaulieu's playing 18 minutes opening night. 

Also, picture how you think of Justin Falk, or Nathan Beaulieu, or kinda a mix of the two. That's how I feel about Bogosian, so his presence that we're for some reason assuming will be there ( ? ) doesn't do much for me.

The names are all the same only this year we don't know who gets hurt, when, and for how long, unlike having that information about last year. Ignore that about last year, and THAT'S the thing I was hoping Jason would build on a little this offseason. Shuffling out cap dump Josh for cap dump Matt doesn't do all that much for me either. 

Also

???

Yes!! ?

 

 

 

 

Lol

[LGR4GM]

Beaulieu may play opening night but he's gonna be on the 3rd pair and by Christmas he will be replaced by Guhle and Pilut. 

[dudacek]

I wonder what we are going to see from Beaulieu this fall.

As Randall, predicted he became one of my least-favourite Sabres very quickly. Talented and dumb tries my patience.

They brought him in to be a top-four, gave him a more than fair shot and he completely blew the opportunity. I think there are off-ice issues there that need to be cleaned up. If they aren’t, he will be waived in training camp.

It’s a shame, because he is an NHL talent, who could help if he pulls himself together.

Edited July 20, 2018 by dudacek

[LGR4GM]

Congrats on your 13,000 post. 

[Derrico]

I looked up the previous winners of the SHL Defenseman of the year (Salming Trophy) and it goes back 10 years.  There have been 2 other players who won it at a similar or younger age:

David Runblad was 20/21 when he won it in 2010/2011.  He's been an AHL/NHL Tweener bouncing around the league a bit.

Mittias Ekholm was 21 when he won it in 2011/2012.  He's been an excellent NHLer.

I'm certainly not expecting an Ekholm type career here but there is some potential here.  I remember at the time of signing there were rumors of several other teams looking to sign him.  Reports from Paul Hamilton back in June are that he will start the year in the AHL but I could see a situation where he is called up around thanksgiving and takes a permanent spot. 

Let's just hope Beaulieu doesn't kill this team in the standings before then....

 

[Doohicksie]

38 minutes ago, dudacek said:

I wonder what we are going to see from Beaulieu this fall.

As Randall, predicted he became one of my least-favourite Sabres very quickly. Talented and dumb tries my patience.

They brought him in to be a top-four, gave him a more than fair shot and he completely blew the opportunity. I think there are off-ice issues there that need to be cleaned up. If they aren’t, he will be waived in training camp.

It’s a shame, because he is an NHL talent, who could help if he pulls himself together.

What off-ice issues?

[dudacek]

20 minutes ago, Doohickie said:

What off-ice issues?

A reason he was allegedly traded from the Habs was that was a hard-partier who was leading others (specifically Galchenyuk) astray. 

 

[Doohicksie]

...and he wasn't part of the Kane trade?  Sheesh...

[Randall Flagg]

4 hours ago, LTS said:

I think the problem Botterill faces with trying to strengthen the D is that he will be forced to sign a mediocre player to a contract term that will have us complaining about it 3 years in because it's keeping other players who have developed out of the lineup.

Any D who you sign for 1 year is not going to solve the problem.

So that's the real question.  Freeman suggested de Haan.  In some way I was hoping it too.  But, would you accept the Sabres signing him to the contract he signed?  I think it would have hurt them in 2 years.

 

I understand this to an extent, but no moves were made outside of Pilut and a draft pick. It so often gets said that the alternative to a team doing X is that there's literally nothing else that could have been done. 

They found Scandella last year. Good teams make moves and make their teams better in the offseason, otherwise no team would get better outside of several years of draft hauls all finally getting good together, but that isn't how the league works. Just because nothing has happened doesn't mean there was literally no way to make a move that would make us better and not hurt us in the future.

[LGR4GM]

How many left handed defenders have we added in the last 6 months? 4 or something? 

We added Connor Sheary for nothing. Not a defender but a piece we needed. 

[Derrico]

19 minutes ago, Randall Flagg said:

I understand this to an extent, but no moves were made outside of Pilut and a draft pick. It so often gets said that the alternative to a team doing X is that there's literally nothing else that could have been done. 

They found Scandella last year. Good teams make moves and make their teams better in the offseason, otherwise no team would get better outside of several years of draft hauls all finally getting good together, but that isn't how the league works. Just because nothing has happened doesn't mean there was literally no way to make a move that would make us better and not hurt us in the future.

Well sure.  But it's not like teams are lining up to give away defense.  Scandella has some flaws but it was a phenomenal trade last year.  To expect that two years in a row in unrealistic IMO.  What deals have been made (trade or signing) do you wish we would have done? 

[LTS]

20 minutes ago, Randall Flagg said:

I understand this to an extent, but no moves were made outside of Pilut and a draft pick. It so often gets said that the alternative to a team doing X is that there's literally nothing else that could have been done. 

They found Scandella last year. Good teams make moves and make their teams better in the offseason, otherwise no team would get better outside of several years of draft hauls all finally getting good together, but that isn't how the league works. Just because nothing has happened doesn't mean there was literally no way to make a move that would make us better and not hurt us in the future.

I agree.  But I am looking at what was rumored or what has transpired and I am not sure there's as much out there as there might have been last year.  Making a trade means you have to find a defenseman who will still fit into your longer term plan.

Scandella fit the plan.  I'm not sure who else does that is available at the right price.  I think if we want to critique him for a lack of moves we have to look at what is rumored to be available or what has transpired to see if the Sabres could have made a play.  If there is no reasonable offer out there, it seems misplaced to lay blame at his feet.

I looked at the trades and signings.. there are a few potential signings that might have been possible and perhaps a trade.  I'm not sure those players are what they would be looking for though.
 

Edited July 20, 2018 by LTS

[pi2000]

31 minutes ago, Thorny said:

TIme for a righty, it seems. 

"Beggars can't be choosers"