Defense Next Year 2021-22

[GASabresIUFAN]

The expansion discussion on whether or not to protect Borgen raised the issue for me of what is the vision for the D  next season and long-term.

KA is fortunate that from a player standpoint he doesn't really need to do much to put together a reasonable D group for next season.

Risto, Miller and Bryson are under contract. Dahlin, Jokiharju and Borgen are RFAs.  Assuming for a second that McCabe wants to walk and we don't lose Borgen to expansion, then all KA has to do to bring back a reasonable group is re-sign his RFAs.  Only Dahlin will command "Big $".  I'm thinking 5 for 5.4 like Risto received.

My ideal situation would be to get Seattle to take Miller in expansion; re-sign McCabe (4 for 4) and go from there.  

McCabe Risto

Dahlin Jokiharju

Bryson Borgen

It would be balanced L to R and pretty balanced as well with style of play.  You'd have young vet leadership in Risto and McCabe with a bunch of very talented kids behind them.

 

 

 

Edited April 15, 2021 by GASabresIUFAN

[LGR4GM]

4 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

It would be balanced L to R and pretty balanced as well with style of play.  You'd have young vet leadership in Risto and McCabe with a bunch of very talented kids behind them.

Sorry I am nitpicking but McCabe will be 28 and Risto will be 27 when the season starts or very shortly thereafter. They are not young anymore. 

5 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

The expansion discussion on whether or not to protect Borgen raised the issue for me of what is the vision for the D  next season and long-term.

KA is fortunate that from a player standpoint he doesn't really need to do much to put together a reasonable D group for next season.

Risto, Miller and Bryson are under contract. Dahlin, Jokiharju and Borgen are RFAs.  Assuming for a second that McCabe wants to walk and we don't lose Borgen to expansion, then all KA has to do to bring back a reasonable group is re-sign his RFAs.  Only Dahlin will command "Big $".  I'm thinking 5 for 5.4 like Risto received.

My ideal situation would be to get Seattle to take Miller in expansion; re-sign McCabe (4 for 4) and go from there.  

McCabe Risto

Dahlin Jokiharju

Bryson Borgen

I don't care for a McCabe-Risto pairing. I would prefer McCabe get paired with Jokiharju and Borgen get paired with Dahlin. 

[bob_sauve28]

I'm guessing that Samuelsson gets a look next year on the big squad 

[dudacek]

3 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

Sorry I am nitpicking but McCabe will be 28 and Risto will be 27 when the season starts or very shortly thereafter. They are not young anymore. 

I don't care for a McCabe-Risto pairing. I would prefer McCabe get paired with Jokiharju and Borgen get paired with Dahlin. 

As much as I like this concept, the Dahlin/Jokiharju pairing is really looking good.

Why can't they be Keith/Hjalmarsson?

[tom webster]

2 hours ago, bob_sauve28 said:

I'm guessing that Samuelsson gets a look next year on the big squad 

All reports say he is more then ready

[Marvin]

16 minutes ago, tom webster said:

All reports say he is more then ready

If we lose Ristolainen and McCabe, what does our defencive depth chart look like?

[GASabresIUFAN]

2 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

Sorry I am nitpicking but McCabe will be 28 and Risto will be 27 when the season starts or very shortly thereafter. They are not young anymore. 

I don't care for a McCabe-Risto pairing. I would prefer McCabe get paired with Jokiharju and Borgen get paired with Dahlin. 

That's strange considering that was our best defensive pairing the last season plus until McCabe got hurt.

[LGR4GM]

4 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

That's strange considering that was our best defensive pairing the last season plus until McCabe got hurt.

No it wasn't. It was good for a 10 game stretch this season because the Sabres played a boring shutdown style that limited Risto's need to move the puck out and McCabe could cover for Risto's mistakes. 

[tom webster]

11 minutes ago, Marvin, Sabres Fan said:

If we lose Ristolainen and McCabe, what does our defencive depth chart look like?

If we lose both, they will surely bring in one veteran.

[Taro T]

2 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

Sorry I am nitpicking but McCabe will be 28 and Risto will be 27 when the season starts or very shortly thereafter. They are not young anymore. 

I don't care for a McCabe-Risto pairing. I would prefer McCabe get paired with Jokiharju and Borgen get paired with Dahlin. 

Like the idea of Dahlin - Borgen (that's actually what my preference for next year & a year or 2 after that is), but that doesn't necessitate breaking up McCabe - Ristolainen.

Run those 2 pairings, and then the 3rd becomes (preferably) Samuelsson-Jokiharju or Bryson-Joker.

[tom webster]

11 minutes ago, Taro T said:

Like the idea of Dahlin - Borgen (that's actually what my preference for next year & a year or 2 after that is), but that doesn't necessitate breaking up McCabe - Ristolainen.

Run those 2 pairings, and then the 3rd becomes (preferably) Samuelsson-Jokiharju or Bryson-Joker.

Don’t rule out Pilut. 

[Taro T]

Just now, tom webster said:

Don’t rule out Pilut. 

2 things about Pilut.  Have been mentioning him far more than anybody else here has recently.  😉

And, will bring him into the mix when we hear he's buying out the rest of his KHL deal.  Until then, he's just a potential asset for either the Sabres or Seattle.

[LabattBlue]

56 minutes ago, Marvin, Sabres Fan said:

If we lose Ristolainen and McCabe, what does our defencive depth chart look like?

Joker
Dahlin
Bryson
Miller
Borgen

 

Samuelsson
Fitzgerald
Laaksonen

Johnson

Handful of European blueline prospects

[Curt]

5 hours ago, dudacek said:

As much as I like this concept, the Dahlin/Jokiharju pairing is really looking good.

Why can't they be Keith/Hjalmarsson?

I don’t think either is much of a Hjalmarsson.  Dahlin/Borgen looks more like a Keith/Hjalmarsson pair to me.

[Zamboni]

Out of the 6 or 7 “starters”, I bet 2-3 of them won’t be Sabres in October.  Who, I don’t know ... but I tend to find these “6 months before the season starts” threads a touch premature 😂

So my line up looks like this:

[insert name] [insert name]
[Dahlin] [insert name] 
[insert name] [insert name]
[insert name]
 

there ... that about covers it 😂

 

[dudacek]

4 hours ago, Curt said:

I don’t think either is much of a Hjalmarsson.  Dahlin/Borgen looks more like a Keith/Hjalmarsson pair to me.

Joki is smooth like Hjalmar though and good both ways.

[Thorner]

17 hours ago, Marvin, Sabres Fan said:

If we lose Ristolainen and McCabe, what does our defencive depth chart look like?

Probably more consistent day-to-day without McCabe in and out of the lineup all the time with injury 

[Thorner]

In the Sabres system: 

Kukkonen Luukkonen Laaksonen Lyckasen

Sounds like some sort of magical hex incantation 

[bob_sauve28]

Bryson just looked great yesterday. 

[Flashsabre]

I think Samuelsson grabs a spot by the throat next season. He is exactly what they need back there. Big, strong, physical, can skate and headman the puck. A true leader. Him and Borgen could be a McKee-Warrener type pairing for Buffalo.

Bryson I see like McKenzie from the Bills. Electric player but you don’t want him in every play. He would be a great 7th dman that you put in the lineup to change the pace, give a different look. I do like him.

Edited April 16, 2021 by Flashsabre

[LabattBlue]

2 hours ago, Thorny said:

In the Sabres system: 

Kukkonen Luukkonen Laaksonen Lyckasen

Sounds like some sort of magical hex incantation 

Once again, if all those players ended up in the lineup, Ray would have an aneurysm. 😂

Edited April 16, 2021 by LabattBlue

[breese866]

47 minutes ago, Flashsabre said:

Bryson I see like McKenzie from the Bills. Electric player but you don’t want him in every play. He would be a great 7th dman that you put in the lineup to change the pace, give a different look. I do like him.

I disagree with this wholeheartedly.  He doesn't feel pressure ever, often making great little passes to relieve the pressure and start the breakout, just like a former defensemen for the 2006/2007 teams that we all loved.   Plus with his short stature, he is able to get leverage on offensive players when he is defending in our own zone.  I think he is an excellent 4-6 type defenseman.  Good offensive instincts.  

[LabattBlue]

2 hours ago, bob_sauve28 said:

Bryson just looked great yesterday. 

I have no problem with Bryson going forward...as long as the 3 offensive minded dmen(Dahlin, Bryson and Joker) are paired with 3 defensive minded dmen(Borgen, McCabe, and ???).  In this scenario Risto goes bye bye, and so does Miller(unless he becomes a 7th defenseman for his last contract year).

...and hopefully they can do this, pairing a lefty and a righty so no one has to play their off side....unless the blueliner in question is very comfortable playing the off side.  No more trying to fit a square peg into a round hole BS.

Edited April 16, 2021 by LabattBlue

[breese866]

I have no problem with Risto and I hope he stays.  He is big, physical and offensive.  The negative plays he makes have been minimized and he looks like he is matured to me.  To me, he always looks like is is trying and earlier he was the only one who looked like he wanted to win.  Actually think he has significant value.

[Cage]

What about potential #1 overall pick.... Owen Power?

https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nhl/news/nhl-mock-draft-2021-sabres-owen-power-kraken-luke-hughes/o92mfuglsbwv1gqm8qos7d8v5