2018 - 2019 Lineup

[Randall Flagg]

I remember proposing Aho & Slavin for Risto & Reinhart a year and a half ago and this board murdered me 

[LGR4GM]

1 minute ago, Randall Flagg said:

There really is no reason to have Risto at 26 (and 2 more ES minutes than his own partner) with Dahlin at 16. Giving Dahlin 19 is still "sheltering," and Risto at 23 is better for him and the team.

I agree. Dahlin could use some more hard minutes at this point

[SwampD]

Just now, Randall Flagg said:

I remember proposing Aho & Slavin for Risto & Reinhart a year and a half ago and this board murdered me 

We've all been murdered for being right before. Get used to it.

[erickompositör72]

1 hour ago, LTS said:

He really needs to work on his skating.  It's bad.  He's 6'5?  His stride length is terribly short and he's not getting his legs close enough to center to generate power on each stride.  I don't know if he's regressed in skating but it's something I've noticed about him over the past few years.

When he tries to skate fast he looks like he's 5'10 but also not getting any power.

Not for nothing- but he doesn't seem like the kind of guy who's going to take it upon himself to work on/improve something like that.

 

I haven't given up on Risto yet- I have a soft spot for him as one of the only players who seemed worth anything during the tank years... but he just seems stubborn and difficult to coach

[Cheektorado]

1 hour ago, Randall Flagg said:

There really is no reason to have Risto at 26 (and 2 more ES minutes than his own partner) with Dahlin at 16. Giving Dahlin 19 is still "sheltering," and Risto at 23 is better for him and the team.

 

11 minutes ago, erickompositör72 said:

Not for nothing- but he doesn't seem like the kind of guy who's going to take it upon himself to work on/improve something like that.

 

I haven't given up on Risto yet- I have a soft spot for him as one of the only players who seemed worth anything during the tank years... but he just seems stubborn and difficult to coach

Risto has been leading the D in ES/PP/PK TOI for years now.  I know they had to do it because of lack of talent and him "seemingly" able to eat the minutes.

Earlier this year I wondered if HCPH should cut back evenly to get him around 23.  I'm now rethinking that.

Does todays (and tomorrows) Sabres need Risto leading the D in all 3 phases?

Does anyone think that the team would benefit and his game would improve if he specialized more at either PK or PP?

 

Of course I agree with Flagg about his ES being pared a little.

[WildCard]

 

[GASabresIUFAN]

Risto averages minutes the last 3 seasons 25, 26, 26 and 25 this season.  Why?  He is a minus 12.  No other Sabres F or D is even close.  He also is still getting the most minutes by 6 minutes a night.  McCabe, Bogo and Scandella play 19. Dahlin 18, Nelson 15 and Baloo 14.  

It’s time to shrink his minutes. He is playing nearly 7 minutes a night on special teams; 4 on the pp and 3 SH. Zach and Marco play similar pk time, but only Dahlin at 2;40 on pp is even in the ballpark. 

Risto also has our worst Corsi.

We need to drop his PT by 3 minutes a night.  I’d start w 2 minutes on the pk and one minute 5 on 5.

[Doohicksie]

Any word on the Scandella injury?  Will he miss any time?

[Doohicksie]

...and while I was on Sabres Twitter looking for an answer, I tripped across this:

 

[Robviously]

7 minutes ago, Doohickie said:

Any word on the Scandella injury?  Will he miss any time?

Game time decision for tomorrow. Not a serious injury and no broken bone in his foot. 

[Doohicksie]

Thanks.   Good news.

If I had to guess, we'll see Beaulieu and Nelson both play tomorrow.  That could be.... interesting.

One would play with Dahlin and one one Bogo would be my guess; I don't imagine McCabe/Risto gets broken up.

[GASabresIUFAN]

How about bringing Pilut up for a game?

Edited November 20, 2018 by GASabresIUFAN

[Doohicksie]

I think that would be awesome but I'm not sure JBot agrees.  He seems to be stingy with respect to callups this year.

[GASabresIUFAN]

Is it stingy or just good health for a change?

Edited November 20, 2018 by GASabresIUFAN

[Doohicksie]

Yeah, much better than recent years.  I thought of that after my post.  With Bowl-You riding the pine I don't think there's a necessity to bring someone up if Scandella is day-to-day, but I think it would be good to give Pilut a game in the NHL.

[dudacek]

As I said on another thread, neither Beaulieu, nor Nelson has been a tire fire this year. They will play until they are.

I also suspect Tennyson will be called up to sit in the press box if an extra body is needed for an emergency.

[Hoss]

3 minutes ago, dudacek said:

As I said on another thread, neither Beaulieu, nor Nelson has been a tire fire this year. They will play until they are.

I also suspect Tennyson will be called up to sit in the press box if an extra body is needed for an emergency.

This is probably right. I could see them calling up Pilut if it’s a situation where they know someone will need to play one or two games, though. Wouldn’t kill Rochester’s groove if they know he’s only here for a very short time.

[GASabresIUFAN]

Happy thought for the day.  We have 30 pts by Thanksgiving and our on a 7 game winning streak, yet our three prized rookies (Raz, Casey and TT) have only 6 goals total. While an 8 goal pace for a 18 year old D is very good, we want and need more from Casey and Tage. The good news is both players look better and better with each passing game.  Tage has 2 goals in his last 2 games.  Casey has also added 2 goals in November plus the amazing shoot out goal.  You get the feeling that these two are going to break out soon.

[Weave]

19 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Happy thought for the day.  We have 30 pts by Thanksgiving and our on a 7 game winning streak, yet our three prized rookies (Raz, Casey and TT) have only 6 goals total. While an 8 goal pace for a 18 year old D is very good, we want and need more from Casey and Tage. The good news is both players look better and better with each passing game.  Tage has 2 goals in his last 2 games.  Casey has also added 2 goals in November plus the amazing shoot out goal.  You get the feeling that these two are going to break out soon.

I don't know that those are signs of a breakout any time soon, but I do know that the big difference between rookie Casey and rookie Sam at center is that Casey is showing snippets of dynamic play most games that Sam was never quite able to show.  And that is a huge positive.  He may not be poised for a break out soon, but I think he's shown enough to expect a continued upward trajectory this season.

[Doohicksie]

Oh I think Casey has the possibility of eventually being just about as good for us as ROR, and by the time he gets there ROR will be a shadow of his prime.  Playing him with Okposo has been tremendous for both of them.

[dudacek]

31 minutes ago, Weave said:

I don't know that those are signs of a breakout any time soon, but I do know that the big difference between rookie Casey and rookie Sam at center is that Casey is showing snippets of dynamic play most games that Sam was never quite able to show.  And that is a huge positive.  He may not be poised for a break out soon, but I think he's shown enough to expect a continued upward trajectory this season.

The difference is that Casey was always a dynamic player in junior, while Sam was not.

What has impressed me about Casey is his effort and diligence at both ends of the ice. The points will come, but the gaffes have been few and far between.

[Taro T]

59 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Happy thought for the day.  We have 30 pts by Thanksgiving and our on a 7 game winning streak, yet our three prized rookies (Raz, Casey and TT) have only 6 goals total. While an 8 goal pace for a 18 year old D is very good, we want and need more from Casey and Tage. The good news is both players look better and better with each passing game.  Tage has 2 goals in his last 2 games.  Casey has also added 2 goals in November plus the amazing shoot out goal.  You get the feeling that these two are going to break out soon.

Disagree that Thompson is on the verge of breaking out.  But, though he still is clearly raw, he actually looks like an NHLer these past few.  Which, could be viewed as breaking out on a certain level. ?

[GASabresIUFAN]

3 minutes ago, dudacek said:

The difference is that Casey was always a dynamic player in junior, while Sam was not.

Duda, you get a lot right, but this is simply not correct.  

Samson captained the Canadian’s to a gold in the World Jrs. He was rookie of the year in the WHL. At 18 he had 105 pts in the WHL and then had 23 pts in 13 games in the playoffs.  No one is he top rated forward in their draft year without being a dynamic player in Juniors.  

7 minutes ago, Taro T said:

Disagree that Thompson is on the verge of breaking out.  But, though he still is clearly raw, he actually looks like an NHLer these past few.  Which, could be viewed as breaking out on a certain level. ?

So he is not on the verge of breaking out because he is breaking out?

[Taro T]

7 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Duda, you get a lot right, but this is simply not correct.  

Samson captained the Canadian’s to a gold in the World Jrs. He was rookie of the year in the WHL. At 18 he had 105 pts in the WHL and then had 23 pts in 13 games in the playoffs.  No one is he top rated forward in their draft year without being a dynamic player in Juniors.  

So he is not on the verge of breaking out because he is breaking out?

I guess it could be taken that way.  Was more going for believing that we won't see as much improvement from him in the near future that would be considered "breaking out.". And I don't really consider looking like a bottom 6 10 minute per game player as " breaking out.".  YMMV.

Could see him better than that in the future, but don't see him putting on in season the muscle he needs to lower his center of gravity to the point of not being awkward out there.

Though he does seem to be getting positioning down better.

And would absolutely love to see him "break out.". Just not expecting it soon.

[dudacek]

1 hour ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Duda, you get a lot right, but this is simply not correct.  

Samson captained the Canadian’s to a gold in the World Jrs. He was rookie of the year in the WHL. At 18 he had 105 pts in the WHL and then had 23 pts in 13 games in the playoffs.  No one is he top rated forward in their draft year without being a dynamic player in Juniors.  

 

I think we are defining “dynamic” differently.

Sam was a dominant player in junior, but he was not a dynamic player in the sense of Casey or Jack or Rasmus.

I watched Sam as a junior. He didn’t carry the puck on a string, or blow by defenders in a dazzling fashion, or knock people over, or fire cannons through goalies.

He played the same sort of cerebral game there as he does here, the kind of game that some people will always minimize. The major difference was as a centre, he had the puck more then. But he has never been flashy.

I still think the Sabres botched his development by putting him on the wing, but that ship has sailed.

Edited November 22, 2018 by dudacek