Brad Brown a Leaf

[Taro T]

Not that he would have fit into the Sabres plans, but Brad Brown signed with Toronto this weekend. I guess that leaves the Sabres with only 9 3rd-8th defensemen vs. the 10 they would have had by bringing Brown back.

 

Dave.

[Saber61]

i suppose this is a good thing... i mean he wasn't that great. he was pretty tough but i don't really see him craking the leaf line up unless someone over there gets injured for a long period of time. He was a good filler on our team and like i said solid in terms of strengh and toughness.

 

Im kinda glad he's gone... lets face it... Lydman is better then brown. so if we lose brown and put lydman in his place or move lydman up and put someone else lower then thats alright by me... and of course numminen is supposed to replace zhitnik HA!...........

[inkman]

I don't necessarily think they needed to keep BB but I sure hope they have some plan for their D's toughness. It's pretty hard to compare Brown to Lydman. That would be like comparing Peters to Afinagenov. Yeah, Max is better but he can't do the same things Peters does. (although I do like max's mean streak) I just hope Janek makes the team because I'm not sure if Jillson and Mckee are really crease clearing defenseman. :(

[Taro T]

I don't necessarily think they needed to keep BB but I sure hope they have some plan for their D's toughness.  It's pretty hard to compare Brown to Lydman.  That would be like comparing Peters to Afinagenov.  Yeah, Max is better but he can't do the same things Peters does.  (although I do like max's mean streak)  I just hope Janek makes the team because I'm not sure if Jillson and Mckee are really crease clearing defenseman.  :(

Jillson is not and never will be a crease clearing defenseman. McKee used to be good at it before his concussion. It'll be interesting to see if he steps back into that role this year now that he's had a full season to heal up and should hopefully be over his concussion from a few years back. One thing that might prevent him from being a "crease clearing defensemen" is the new rules give you a very limited set of tools to "clear" the crease. You can't cross check the guy or hook your stick into him and you can't take your hand off your stick and grab him (which all is the way the rulebook is written, by the way). With those former tools removed, you have to maintain position on the man and react as soon as he gets it or react to the puck as soon as the goalie gives up a rebound.

 

Dave.