The top 6 Defenders, Camp Battle

[LGR4GM]

1. Ristolainen,
2. Scandella,
3. Bogosian,
4. Dahlin,
5. Beaulieu,
6. Hunwick,
7. McCabe,
8. Nelson, 
9. Pilut
10. Guhle
11. Hickey

This isn't the order, just the number we have who can compete for an NHL roster spot. Hickey to me is the only one on the list that's a little bit of a stretch. We will carry 7 defenders maybe 8. To make it hard, pick the 6 defenders who are on the opening night roster after the camp battle ends. You can add 2 more defenders you think will be part of the 23 man roster. 

[Amerks8796]

I believe Botterill carried 8D most, if not all, last season. If everyone is healthy, Guhle, Pilut and Hickey will be sent down to start the year. 

[dudacek]

Scandella Ristolainen

Dahlin Bogosian

McCabe Nelson

To me, that’s almost a given opening night, pending a roster move.

Guhle will force himself into the lineup at some point this season, but waivers mean he’s on the farm until injury, trade or awful play opens a spot for him.

Hunwick and Beaulieu are fighting for the seventh spot. 

Edited August 29, 2018 by dudacek

[Eleven]

46 minutes ago, dudacek said:

Scandella Ristolainen

Dahlin Bogosian

McCabe Nelson

To me, that’s almost a given opening night, pending a roster move.

Guhle will force himself into the lineup at some point this season, but waivers mean he’s on the farm until injury, trade or awful play opens a spot for him.

Hunwick and Beaulieu are fighting for the seventh spot. 

This seems right.

[sabills]

47 minutes ago, dudacek said:

Scandella Ristolainen

Dahlin Bogosian

McCabe Nelson

To me, that’s almost a given opening night, pending a roster move.

Guhle will force himself into the lineup at some point this season, but waivers mean he’s on the farm until injury, trade or awful play opens a spot for him.

Hunwick and Beaulieu are fighting for the seventh spot. 

Top-6 seem pretty set. I'd like to say that Ghule makes it, but even thought he's probably better than Hunwick or Beaulieu I don't think he cracks the every day lineup, so he might as well actually play in Rochester.

[WildCard]

Pilut is making this team, bet on it

[woods-racer]

All I know is this is the best group fighting for 6 spots we have had in it seems like forever.

[Amerks8796]

12 minutes ago, WildCard said:

Pilut is making this team, bet on it

Sexton literally said he’ll start in Rochester to get adjusted. There would need to be like 3 injuries on defense or he’ll have to have an all time great camp to make the team. 

[Drunkard]

1 hour ago, dudacek said:

Scandella Ristolainen

Dahlin Bogosian

McCabe Nelson

To me, that’s almost a given opening night, pending a roster move.

Guhle will force himself into the lineup at some point this season, but waivers mean he’s on the farm until injury, trade or awful play opens a spot for him.

Hunwick and Beaulieu are fighting for the seventh spot. 

This

15 minutes ago, sabills said:

Top-6 seem pretty set. I'd like to say that Ghule makes it, but even thought he's probably better than Hunwick or Beaulieu I don't think he cracks the every day lineup, so he might as well actually play in Rochester.

And this. Guhle is probably good enough to make the team (top 8) but he's better off playing top minutes in Rochester rather than playing spot duty or bottom pairing with the big club and since he's waiver eligible they should probably send him down until his play forces them to keep him up and feed him minutes.

[WildCard]

Just now, Amerks8796 said:

Sexton literally said he’ll start in Rochester to get adjusted. There would need to be like 3 injuries on defense or he’ll have to have an all time great camp to make the team. 

Alright so maybe don't bet on it then

Edited August 29, 2018 by WildCard

[nfreeman]

I agree with duda's lineup except that I think Hunwick will start over Nelson, and Nelson and Beaulieu will be the 2 extras.

[LGR4GM]

I think at least 1 of the players is traded prior to the season starting. 

[GASabresIUFAN]

2 hours ago, dudacek said:

Scandella Ristolainen

Dahlin Bogosian

McCabe Nelson

To me, that’s almost a given opening night, pending a roster move.

Guhle will force himself into the lineup at some point this season, but waivers mean he’s on the farm until injury, trade or awful play opens a spot for him.

Hunwick and Beaulieu are fighting for the seventh spot. 

Now you see why I want to trade for Faulk.  Bogo is no longer a top 4 D and although we are stuck with him for two more seasons, I think his best fit now is as the physical 3 pair.  Hunwick and Baloo are LHDs as are Guhle and Pilut. I’d like to have Nelson as the 4th RHD then playing ever night. 

[Drunkard]

23 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Now you see why I want to trade for Faulk.  Bogo is no longer a top 4 D and although we are stuck with him for two more seasons, I think his best fit now is as the physical 3 pair.  Hunwick and Baloo are LHDs as are Guhle and Pilut. I’d like to have Nelson as the 4th RHD then playing ever night. 

Can you imagine how much worse it would look if we traded Ristolainen just to shake up the core? People wanted to ship him out for Klefbom (another LHD) and a draft pick. It just boggles the mind.

[sabills]

7 minutes ago, Alkoholist said:

Can you imagine how much worse it would look if we traded Ristolainen just to shake up the core? People wanted to ship him out for Klefbom (another LHD) and a draft pick. It just boggles the mind.

That idea would probably have carried more weight if they hadn't gotten Dahlin

[Tondas]

There are really only 4 D-men that pose a waiver problem:

1.  Ristolainen

2.  Scandella

3.  McCabe

4.  Nelson

All else are exempt or "effectively exempt" (if the Sabres waived Bogosian and/or Hunwick, the choosing team would be doing the Sabres a favor).  So the decision to keep Bogo or Hunwick should be solely performance based because there is no risk of losing them.  Now I don't know what that would do to the Vet/ELC proportion for the Amerks, but I'll leave that to JBOT and Sexton.

[GASabresIUFAN]

11 minutes ago, Tondas said:

There are really only 4 D-men that pose a waiver problem:

1.  Ristolainen

2.  Scandella

3.  McCabe

4.  Nelson

All else are exempt or "effectively exempt" (if the Sabres waived Bogosian and/or Hunwick, the choosing team would be doing the Sabres a favor).  So the decision to keep Bogo or Hunwick should be solely performance based because there is no risk of losing them.  Now I don't know what that would do to the Vet/ELC proportion for the Amerks, but I'll leave that to JBOT and Sexton.

I don’t think Jbot is worried or even cares whether or not someone like Bogo or Hunwick get claimed.  His biggest concern is dead cap money.  We have 3.9 this season because of Moulson.  We’ll have only 1.5 mill in cap after Reinhart signs.  We also have a potential liability of $6 mill if Dahlin and Mittelstadt earn all their bonuses.  If we don't have enough cap to pay those bonuses this season, it comes off the top next year.

[LGR4GM]

I am even less worried about the cap next year when 14.975mil will come off the cap in the forms of Zegmus, Larsson, Moulson, Pommers, and Bealueiue

 

although... we do have Skinner to re-sign... even still, I think the cap is manageable next season. It will go up another 2 mil so that helps too. 

Edited August 29, 2018 by LGR4GM

[WildCard]

8 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

I am even less worried about the cap next year when 14.975mil will come off the cap in the forms of Zegmus, Larsson, Moulson, Pommers, and Bealueiue

 

although... we do have Skinner to re-sign... even still, I think the cap is manageable next season. It will go up another 2 mil so that helps too. 

Sounds like we have about $8M to play with next year in this scenario

[Taro T]

9 hours ago, dudacek said:

Scandella Ristolainen

Dahlin Bogosian

McCabe Nelson

To me, that’s almost a given opening night, pending a roster move.

Guhle will force himself into the lineup at some point this season, but waivers mean he’s on the farm until injury, trade or awful play opens a spot for him.

Hunwick and Beaulieu are fighting for the seventh spot. 

With the outside possibility that Hunwick beats out Nelson, that's my expectation.

IF the Sabres are out of contention in the '19 portion of the season would like to see Guhle & Pilut bumping into the 6.  Will probably see at least 1 of them & Dahlin slid to the right side when Bogosian inevitably breaks anyhow.

Edited August 29, 2018 by Taro T

[dudacek]

Interesting quote from Davis Payne that echoes what we’ve seen from Housley and Botterill:

“Our message all along has been backend out and we're adding some real good pieces, we're bringing some guys back in our lineup that missed significant time last year," Payne said. "I think that's just going to allow us to get the puck quicker, transition quicker, and play the fast game that we want to play."

Dahlin, of course, but they are clearly counting on Bogo and McCabe to boost the back line.

You wonder what that means for Pilut, Nelson and Guhle.

[GASabresIUFAN]

3 hours ago, dudacek said:

Interesting quote from Davis Payne that echoes what we’ve seen from Housley and Botterill:

“Our message all along has been backend out and we're adding some real good pieces, we're bringing some guys back in our lineup that missed significant time last year," Payne said. "I think that's just going to allow us to get the puck quicker, transition quicker, and play the fast game that we want to play."

Dahlin, of course, but they are clearly counting on Bogo and McCabe to boost the back line.

You wonder what that means for Pilut, Nelson and Guhle.

It means work hard, play well and bide your time because everyone on the depth chart in front of you except Dahlin and Risto are on two years or less deals.   Their oppotunity to shine is coming and soon.

Baloo and McCabe are RFAs after this season.  Hunwick, Nelson, Bogo and Scandella have two years left and it’s likely that only Scandella is re-signed and even that is a serious maybe because of his age then.  

[Hawerchuk]

I really hope we don't have to see Beaulieu on the ice for the Sabres ever again! I haven't even seen Hunwick skate and I'd rather start him over Beaulieu any day of the week.

[LGR4GM]

As Vogl put it in the Athletic... 

Quote

The fight for a spot on the third pair should be a knockdown, drag-out affair. Jake McCabe has the inside track after recovering from shoulder surgery, but he’ll battle with NHL veterans Matt Hunwick and Nathan Beaulieu, second-year pro Brendan Guhle, and Swedish defenseman of the year Lawrence Pilut.

He has Scandella and Dahlin as the top 2 LW Defenders. 

[GASabresIUFAN]

34 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

As Vogl put it in the Athletic... 

He has Scandella and Dahlin as the top 2 LW Defenders. 

So does everyone. Jbot said Dahlin is going to be on the left side, despite playing right in Sweden.