Roster Off-Season Gameplan

[PerreaultForever]

6 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

I’ve seen a variety of projections listing him as the target for Seattle, because they need some contracts, he can run their PP initially, is only on a one year deal and would bring assets back at the trade deadline.  They might even be able to convince KA to give them something to take the contract.  

Well if I was Seattle I wouldn't but maybe some people you're reading know better. Contracts (presumably you mean spending to the minimum cap level) are pretty easy to get in a variety of ways. Lots of teams always looking to dump people and they can also nab any number of FAs themselves so I don't see the logic in that. 

Unless we protect Bjork I see him as the man they'd want as he fills a variety of possible roles, is young enough to still improve a little and he was a Bruin longer than a Sabre (part of a winning culture). But you never know. 

[Doohicksie]

Bjork = Jamie McGinn in my mind.  I like him but won't miss him much.

[Gabrielor]

Paul Hamilton on WGR 5/7/2021 8:30am-ish:

(paraphrasing):

"I think ownership would want to protect Thompson over Asplund...They want that trade to work out in the worst way..."

The implication that the Pegulas still have that much of a say in personnel decisions, despite Adams' insistence that he's calling the shots...I'm not surprised, but nonetheless disappointed.

Edited May 7, 2021 by Gabrielor

[inkman]

23 minutes ago, Gabrielor said:

Paul Hamilton on WGR 5/7/2021 8:30am-ish:

(paraphrasing):

"I think ownership would want to protect Thompson over Asplund...They want that trade to work out in the worst way..."

The implication that the Pegulas still have that much of a say in personnel decisions, despite Adams' insistence that he's calling the shots...I'm not surprised, but nonetheless disappointed.

Let’s not pretend Paul has some sort of insight here.  He’s never broken any Sabres news of worth.  Just a blow hard windbag who doesn’t like naughty words. 

[Zamboni]

31 minutes ago, Gabrielor said:

Paul Hamilton on WGR 5/7/2021 8:30am-ish:

(paraphrasing):

"I think ownership would want to protect Thompson over Asplund...They want that trade to work out in the worst way..."

The implication that the Pegulas still have that much of a say in personnel decisions, despite Adams' insistence that he's calling the shots...I'm not surprised, but nonetheless disappointed.

It’s .... Paul Hamilton .... and he’s .... speculating and giving ... his opinion.

Right?

[JohnC]

I listened to the clip from WGR. Paul Hamilton was simply giving his opinion/speculating as to which one of the two players the organization would protect with the ownership factoring in on the decision. I'm not sure that it is a factor at all. The discussion between protecting Asplund over Thompson is an interesting discussion. In my view Asplund is more of a well rounded player while Thompson has more goal scoring upside. If I had a say I would prefer to expose Girgs and Bjork and hope to keep Asplund and Thompson protected. If I had to protect either Asplund or Thompson I would protect Thompson and lament the loses of Asplund if that materialized. I would not criticize anyone protecting the other player. It's a tough call.  

[Weave]

Marginal differences.  Marginal effects if one of them is lost.  We’ll never notice it on the ice.

*yawn

And man do some of you have serious hate boners for a guy who is paid to give an opinion.  His opinions aren’t even that controversial.

[Gabrielor]

20 minutes ago, JohnC said:

I listened to the clip from WGR. Paul Hamilton was simply giving his opinion/speculating as to which one of the two players the organization would protect with the ownership factoring in on the decision. I'm not sure that it is a factor at all. The discussion between protecting Asplund over Thompson is an interesting discussion. In my view Asplund is more of a well rounded player while Thompson has more goal scoring upside. If I had a say I would prefer to expose Girgs and Bjork and hope to keep Asplund and Thompson protected. If I had to protect either Asplund or Thompson I would protect Thompson and lament the loses of Asplund if that materialized. I would not criticize anyone protecting the other player. It's a tough call.  

Yeah, he clearly got me. It was too early for my brain to process, and came off as factual.

[Taro T]

12 minutes ago, JohnC said:

I listened to the clip from WGR. Paul Hamilton was simply giving his opinion/speculating as to which one of the two players the organization would protect with the ownership factoring in on the decision. I'm not sure that it is a factor at all. The discussion between protecting Asplund over Thompson is an interesting discussion. In my view Asplund is more of a well rounded player while Thompson has more goal scoring upside. If I had a say I would prefer to expose Girgs and Bjork and hope to keep Asplund and Thompson protected. If I had to protect either Asplund or Thompson I would protect Thompson and lament the loses of Asplund if that materialized. I would not criticize anyone protecting the other player. It's a tough call.  

Really don't see why Asplund nor Thompson wouldn't be protected.  Thompson has shown enough brief flashes that he may finally be getting comfortable in that massive frame that it doesn't make sense to let him walk for nothing more than the right to keep Bjork.  They've suffered through the growing pains, now they're actually close to reaping the rewards of that patience.  (It's still not a given that he'll "get it" but it looks like he should be at least a 3RW moving forward & possibly more.)

Asplund has a 200' game, a good motor, & good hand eye coordination.  IMHO he's more valuable now than Bjork & has a greater upside as well.  Bjork is likely Vesey.  A decent piece on the 3rd line but not really anything worth making a fuss over.

Believe Girgensons' injury will keep him off the Seattle radar - good for the Sabres.  Fully expect he'll still be useful in his role & that he's the best PKing F on the roster.  Having him back & NHL caliber goaltending will go a long way towards making the next PK coach look like a genius.

[dudacek]

7 goals in 20 games is nothing to dismiss. Thompson should be protected.

[WildCard]

2 minutes ago, dudacek said:

7 goals in 20 games is nothing to dismiss. Thompson should be protected.

7 in his last 20? Cause I see 8 in 37gp overall.

[dudacek]

2 minutes ago, WildCard said:

7 in his last 20? Cause I see 8 in 37gp overall.

Yep. Some call it the Krueger line.

[JohnC]

17 minutes ago, Taro T said:

Really don't see why Asplund nor Thompson wouldn't be protected.  Thompson has shown enough brief flashes that he may finally be getting comfortable in that massive frame that it doesn't make sense to let him walk for nothing more than the right to keep Bjork.  They've suffered through the growing pains, now they're actually close to reaping the rewards of that patience.  (It's still not a given that he'll "get it" but it looks like he should be at least a 3RW moving forward & possibly more.)

Asplund has a 200' game, a good motor, & good hand eye coordination.  IMHO he's more valuable now than Bjork & has a greater upside as well.  Bjork is likely Vesey.  A decent piece on the 3rd line but not really anything worth making a fuss over.

Believe Girgensons' injury will keep him off the Seattle radar - good for the Sabres.  Fully expect he'll still be useful in his role & that he's the best PKing F on the roster.  Having him back & NHL caliber goaltending will go a long way towards making the next PK coach look like a genius.

Excellent post and analysis. We are both on the same page. 

I don't think there is going to be a dramatic change in the roster. Much is gong to be dependent on the caliber of goaltending. (As you noted. We need Ullmark to play at a #1 level and stay healthy.) And as you noted the hope is thatthrough internal improvement by the youngsters getting even better the team will be more competitive. Add a healthy Jack and continuing on with the guidance of good coaching that knows how to utilize the talents on the roster this franchise should be able to move up the ranks. As I have repeatedly stated I am a strong advocate for Granato. 

We also need some good luck. My hope is that Skinner can get near to what he once was. That in sense would be like adding a major free agent talent. 

 

https://www.nhl.com/video/skinner-trims-deficit-with-ppg/t-324184266/c-8277828

 

[JohnC]

22 minutes ago, dudacek said:

Yep. Some call it the Krueger line.

I don't know one player who played under Krueger who didn't get better under Granato. This would have been a tragically wasted season for the younger players' development if he wasn't replaced by Granato.   

[Thorner]

2 hours ago, Gabrielor said:

Paul Hamilton on WGR 5/7/2021 8:30am-ish:

(paraphrasing):

"I think ownership would want to protect Thompson over Asplund...They want that trade to work out in the worst way..."

The implication that the Pegulas still have that much of a say in personnel decisions, despite Adams' insistence that he's calling the shots...I'm not surprised, but nonetheless disappointed.

Rutherford would be here if not

2 hours ago, inkman said:

Let’s not pretend Paul has some sort of insight here.  He’s never broken any Sabres news of worth.  Just a blow hard windbag who doesn’t like naughty words. 

This is also indisputably true. His words thing is a ridiculous meme. Recently he called someone out for "damn"

[Thorner]

48 minutes ago, JohnC said:

Excellent post and analysis. We are both on the same page. 

I don't think there is going to be a dramatic change in the roster. Much is gong to be dependent on the caliber of goaltending. (As you noted. We need Ullmark to play at a #1 level and stay healthy.) And as you noted the hope is thatthrough internal improvement by the youngsters getting even better the team will be more competitive. Add a healthy Jack and continuing on with the guidance of good coaching that knows how to utilize the talents on the roster this franchise should be able to move up the ranks. As I have repeatedly stated I am a strong advocate for Granato. 

We also need some good luck. My hope is that Skinner can get near to what he once was. That in sense would be like adding a major free agent talent. 

 

https://www.nhl.com/video/skinner-trims-deficit-with-ppg/t-324184266/c-8277828

 

What roster additions would you make, if any?

36 minutes ago, JohnC said:

I don't know one player who played under Krueger who didn't get better under Granato. This would have been a tragically wasted season for the younger players' development if he wasn't replaced by Granato.   

Cozens?

[dudacek]

9 minutes ago, Thorny said:

Rutherford would be here if not

Do you think that ship has sailed?

I don't, given suggestions of Rutherford's Pittsburgh contract, and his statements about maybe getting back into things in June.

[LabattBlue]

I’ve watched very little of the Sabres in the last couple of months.  How are the individual defensive metrics look on some of the young guys?   I know the Sabres get outshot badly on a regular basis.  Are the improved offensive numbers(for Mitts, TT, Asplund, Dahlin and others) a direct result of not focusing on play in their own end? 
 

 

[Thorner]

14 minutes ago, dudacek said:

Do you think that ship has sailed?

I don't, given suggestions of Rutherford's Pittsburgh contract, and his statements about maybe getting back into things in June.

I think there'd be more smoke. 

I could be way wrong. 

[Thorner]

21 minutes ago, dudacek said:

Do you think that ship has sailed?

I don't, given suggestions of Rutherford's Pittsburgh contract, and his statements about maybe getting back into things in June.

Didn't Adams also say we were hiring more scouts? When is the draft?

[Crusader1969]

On 5/5/2021 at 4:29 PM, Gabrielor said:

I'm not sure I give him one, unless he's coming back at basically the same number. He's out until December. You can't have a critical top 4 piece missing while you're trying to get a good jump on an important season.

Definitely 1 year at the most. Probably at league minimum.

[Crusader1969]

On 5/5/2021 at 2:29 PM, Thorny said:

I guess it depends on how far back we want the perspective to go. Is Reinhart a one-trick pony? He has less assists than VO

VO leads the team in assists 

would you try flip him to Columbus for one of their goalies? Helps both teams with their expansion protected lists.

 

[Thorner]

3 minutes ago, Crusader1969 said:

would you try flip him to Columbus for one of their goalies? Helps both teams with their expansion protected lists.

 

I would 

[sabremike]

"You tell Kevyn to protect Tage OR ELSE..."

[Marvin]

3 hours ago, Taro T said:

Really don't see why Asplund nor Thompson wouldn't be protected. ...

We would like to protect all of Eichel, Reinhart, Olofsson, Asplund, Mittlestadt, and Thompson; we must protect Skinner.  That leaves Bjork out.  I am trying to figure out who else we would need to protect unless we need to protect Cozens and I don't understand the rules.

1 hour ago, LabattBlue said:

I’ve watched very little of the Sabres in the last couple of months.  How are the individual defensive metrics look on some of the young guys?   I know the Sabres get outshot badly on a regular basis.  Are the improved offensive numbers(for Mitts, TT, Asplund, Dahlin and others) a direct result of not focusing on play in their own end? 0

The system's orientation is different.  It is geared for attacking and forward movement.  But because we are pretty young, especially on the defence, we make a lot of turnovers from the defence.

Moreover, the young guys often lose their checks in their own zone, so there are more chances both on the initial shot and on rebounds.  This is less common now, but the improvement is incremental.

The opposition is far stronger on average now and is more capable in puck possession and puck pursuit.  So the Sabres are having a much harder time breaking up rushes and causing turnovers.  Additionally, they are being pressured more effectively and are turning the puck over more often.  They are slowly improving here overall.

Lastly, when you are rolling out #4, #5, and #6 on your goaltending depth chart, teams are just shooting more, hoping to find an obvious weakness.

IMHO, the team has sacrificed some defence for offence, but the problems are less systemic and more inexperience.  But the play in the opposition half of the ice is so vastly improved that I feel the trade-off is worth it.