Defense Next Year 2021-22

[GASabresIUFAN]

2 hours ago, Thorny said:

BOW AT THE ALTER OF BOTTERILL!

Jbot made a lot of mistake, but his drafts were pretty solid. 

.... and now back on topic.

Lets assume a worse case scenario for the start of this off-season

1.  McCabe walks

2. We lose Borgen to expansion

This leaves us with Bryson, Joki, Dahlin, Risto and Miller.

IMHO that puts us in the market for 2 defensive D.  One partner for Risto and one depth player upgrade over Irwin.

For depth, I wonder about Luke Schenn. Honestly replacements for McCabe look pretty thin in the UFA market.  I wouldn't mind trying to get Pelech (RFA) from the NYI.  Maybe giant Oleksiak if Dallas doesn't re-sign him?

 

Edited April 17, 2021 by GASabresIUFAN

[PerreaultForever]

6 hours ago, Thorny said:

Can’t take a dman first overall twice. You just can’t. I’d rather eat Arby’s 

Of course you can. It's called trade capital. Any team with too many good young D men will have teams lining up with offers. 

4 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

I'm wrong about the draft shockingly less than I should be. Especially compared to the Sabres although their 2017 draft minus 1 pick is great. 

guess you should send them your resume. 

[GASabresIUFAN]

5 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

I'm wrong about the draft shockingly less than I should be. Especially compared to the Sabres although their 2017 draft minus 1 pick is great. 

Why? Because 2017 has already yielded 2 NHL players with 3 more tracking toward the NHL?

[Thorner]

1 hour ago, PerreaultForever said:

Of course you can. It's called trade capital. Any team with too many good young D men will have teams lining up with offers. 

guess you should send them your resume. 

You're right. I can't wait to get our very own Ryan Johansen

[PerreaultForever]

2 hours ago, Thorny said:

You're right. I can't wait to get our very own Ryan Johansen

lol. At least you didn't run down the Mike Milbury trades to really drive up the sarcasm 😉

 

[LGR4GM]

4 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Why? Because 2017 has already yielded 2 NHL players with 3 more tracking toward the NHL?

2 more, would be 4 but

[GASabresIUFAN]

56 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

2 more, would be 4 but

Weisbach also has a legit shot

[nfreeman]

10 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Jbot made a lot of mistake, but his drafts were pretty solid. 

.... and now back on topic.

Lets assume a worse case scenario for the start of this off-season

1.  McCabe walks

2. We lose Borgen to expansion

This leaves us with Bryson, Joki, Dahlin, Risto and Miller.

IMHO that puts us in the market for 2 defensive D.  One partner for Risto and one depth player upgrade over Irwin.

For depth, I wonder about Luke Schenn. Honestly replacements for McCabe look pretty thin in the UFA market.  I wouldn't mind trying to get Pelech (RFA) from the NYI.  Maybe giant Oleksiak if Dallas doesn't re-sign him?

 

The Islanders are not trading Pelech under any circumstances.  

[dudacek]

Rasmus Ristolainen to start the season:

10 GP 2/4/6/+2

Rasmus Ristolainen recovering from Covid:

17 GP 1/1/2/-12

Rasmus Ristolainen since:

10 GP 1/5/6/+9

Sabres record when Risto was recovering from Covid:

0/15/2

Sabres record in the 20 games bracketing Covid:

9/7/4

 

Correlation/causation? I don’t have a clue.

But damned interesting nonetheless.

Edited April 18, 2021 by dudacek

[Crusader1969]

If Samuelsson plays well, is that the end of the McCabe as a Sabre ? 
 

or sign him and let Dahlin, Bryson, Samsuelsson and McCabe fight it out for playing time ?  

[Flashsabre]

There wasn’t a need for Samuelsson to play today.  This is a trial to see if he is ready next season.  If he passes with flying colours then I think Jake is gone.  McCabe is injury prone and is up and down.  He was playing well before the injury though.  Matthias would be a bigger, steadier, much cheaper option. That money could be used on Reino, Ullmark, Dahlin Joki etc.

[LGR4GM]

1 hour ago, Crusader1969 said:

If Samuelsson plays well, is that the end of the McCabe as a Sabre ? 
 

or sign him and let Dahlin, Bryson, Samsuelsson and McCabe fight it out for playing time ?  

Hope not. McCabe needs to be retained

[Carmel Corn]

13 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

Hope not. McCabe needs to be retained

We are thin on the LHD side...McCabe provides some intangibles plus what happens if Dahlin, Bryson or even Samuelsson gets hurt?   I really don't want to see Irwin on the future roster.

[Weave]

19 minutes ago, Flashsabre said:

There wasn’t a need for Samuelsson to play today.  This is a trial to see if he is ready next season.  If he passes with flying colours then I think Jake is gone.  McCabe is injury prone and is up and down.  He was playing well before the injury though.  Matthias would be a bigger, steadier, much cheaper option. That money could be used on Reino, Ullmark, Dahlin Joki etc.

Or it is a trial to see how badly we need Borgen.  It might not be McCabe that gets moved on from.  It might be Borgen.  Similar games.

[Curt]

3 minutes ago, Weave said:

Or it is a trial to see how badly we need Borgen.  It might not be McCabe that gets moved on from.  It might be Borgen.  Similar games.

Similar games, but different positions.

[Weave]

2 minutes ago, Curt said:

Similar games, but different positions.

At the end of the day we are only going to have so many stay at home types.  Borgen, McCabe, Samualsson seem to be the candidates.  It might come down to how many pairs do they want a stay at home guy on and side may not be a factor.

[Curt]

10 minutes ago, Weave said:

At the end of the day we are only going to have so many stay at home types.  Borgen, McCabe, Samualsson seem to be the candidates.  It might come down to how many pairs do they want a stay at home guy on and side may not be a factor.

True.  I think it depends how they want to use the D pairs too.  Do they want 3 balanced pairs?  Do they want to create an offensive pair and a defensive shutdown pair?

Whether it’s McCabe or someone new, I think they need to have a veteran LD for next season.  I would not want to be depending on Bryson and Samuelsson behind Dahlin.

Dahlin-Jokiharju 

(Vet D X)-Risto

Bryson/Samuelsson-Borgen

Then have a cheap vet 7th D, with Bryson or Samuelsson playing in the AHL when not in the top 6.  That’s if Risto and Borgen both survive the expansion draft.

[LGR4GM]

2 minutes ago, Curt said:

True.  I think it depends how they want to use the D pairs too.  Do they want 3 balanced pairs?  Do they want to create an offensive pair and a defensive shutdown pair?

Whether it’s McCabe or someone new, I think they need to have a veteran LD for next season.  I would not want to be depending on Bryson and Samuelsson behind Dahlin.

Dahlin-Jokiharju 

(Vet D X)-Risto

Bryson/Samuelsson-Borgen

Then have a cheap vet 7th D, with Bryson or Samuelsson playing in the AHL when not in the top 6.  That’s if Risto and Borgen both survive the expansion draft.

I wouldn't sign a cheap vet d, I'd sign McCabe and let Bryson and Sammy fight it out. 

[Curt]

4 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

I wouldn't sign a cheap vet d, I'd sign McCabe and let Bryson and Sammy fight it out. 

Yeah, that’s what I said.  A vet LD (McCabe or someone else), then one of Bryson/Samuelsson in the NHL, the other in the AHL.  Then have a cheap experienced 7th D who hardly plays.  When you need another LD, don’t play the 7th D, call up Bryson/Samuelsson.

[LGR4GM]

Just now, Curt said:

Yeah, that’s what I said.  A vet LD (McCabe or someone else), then one of Bryson/Samuelsson in the NHL, the other in the AHL.  Then have a cheap experienced 7th D who hardly plays.  When you need another LD, don’t play the 7th D, call up Bryson/Samuelsson.

What I'm saying is no to the cheap 7th guy. That's how we got Irwin, Bryson and Samuelsson should earn a spot. 

[Taro T]

2 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

What I'm saying is no to the cheap 7th guy. That's how we got Irwin, Bryson and Samuelsson should earn a spot. 

Bryson has earned the spot, and based on this afternoon's game, it looks like Samuelsson probably has as well.

Irwin should only have gotten into a couple of games.  That he played more than he should've doesn't mean it is a bad idea to have the official 7th & 8th D-men be guys that riding in the pressbox won't harm their development while the real 7th & 8th get a ton of minutes in Ra-cha-cha.

[Curt]

13 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

What I'm saying is no to the cheap 7th guy. That's how we got Irwin, Bryson and Samuelsson should earn a spot. 

You want one of Bryson/Samuelsson sitting as the 7th D and not playing?  Wouldn’t it be better for them to play everyday in Rochester?

Then if there is an injury you can call them up, and leave that cheap 7th guy sitting.

Edited April 19, 2021 by Curt

[LGR4GM]

Just now, Curt said:

You want one of Bryson/Samuelsson sitting as the 7th D and not playing?  Wouldn’t it be better for them to play everyday in Rochester?

Yes because you can rotate guys in. Also will push them to be better and if you want to send them down you can. 

[Curt]

14 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

Yes because you can rotate guys in. Also will push them to be better and if you want to send them down you can. 

If you send them down, who is going to be the 7th D?  Some cheap vet guy?  Lol

I just think it’s better for them to play every day in the AHL than sit half the time.

EDIT-  I’ll add that I generally like to keep consistent pairs when possible, instead of moving guys around every couple games, and Bryson/Samuelsson are quite different players so I think switching them with the same partner may be awkward and hinder chemistry.

Edited April 19, 2021 by Curt

[Crusader1969]

27 minutes ago, Curt said:

True.  I think it depends how they want to use the D pairs too.  Do they want 3 balanced pairs?  Do they want to create an offensive pair and a defensive shutdown pair?

Whether it’s McCabe or someone new, I think they need to have a veteran LD for next season.  I would not want to be depending on Bryson and Samuelsson behind Dahlin.

Dahlin-Jokiharju 

(Vet D X)-Risto

Bryson/Samuelsson-Borgen

Then have a cheap vet 7th D, with Bryson or Samuelsson playing in the AHL when not in the top 6.  That’s if Risto and Borgen both survive the expansion draft.

I think I’ve seen enough of veterans.  I have absolutely no issue going with youth.  
though brining back McCabe and having Samuelsson play 25 mins a game in Rochester isn’t the worst plan in the world