Kraken: Sabres West

[Digger]

49 minutes ago, Taro T said:

Would not have minded having him back.  Good 13th F to have as, on most rosters, he can slot anywhere in the bottom 6 to fill in, & on this roster he can slot in anywhere in the bottom 9 if necessary.

Yes I agree.  I liked Sheahan and I kind of wanted him back too.  I thought he was pretty useful last season but I believe they only signed him after Girgensons got hurt so maybe that's the thought..................and perhaps there still may be a cap dump in an Eichel trade if that ever happens and they are keeping things flexible on the roster.

[PromoTheRobot]

2 hours ago, Thorny said:

I could see the Sabres finishing ahead too, I think the Kraken will be much closer to the standard expansion team than the Knights. 

Gord Miller on TSN Overdrive yesterday said he didn't think the Sabres would get to 50 points, and that their target was firmly set on Wright 

He said he "felt utterly sick" for the people of Buffalo lol

That's the easy take to have. Look at the past and assume it continues into the future. (Look at any preseason predictions and they look remarkably like last year's standings.) Goaltending is the big question, obviously. But I don't think Granato and the Sabres will be hanging their heads and running for the bus.

Edited September 1, 2021 by PromoTheRobot

[DarthEbriate]

1 hour ago, Digger said:

Yes I agree.  I liked Sheahan and I kind of wanted him back too.  I thought he was pretty useful last season but I believe they only signed him after Girgensons got hurt so maybe that's the thought..................and perhaps there still may be a cap dump in an Eichel trade if that ever happens and they are keeping things flexible on the roster.

I thought it was a Sheahen-Girgensons collision in the scrimmage that cause Girgs to miss the season and got Sheahen a spot in the lineup. But it was a long time ago and I very likely am mistaken. 

I too thought Sheahen would be a good returnee for our roster this season.

As to Sabres West... at least Seattle has potentially above average goaltending. We do not.

[Digger]

2 hours ago, DarthEbriate said:

I thought it was a Sheahen-Girgensons collision in the scrimmage that cause Girgs to miss the season and got Sheahen a spot in the lineup. But it was a long time ago and I very likely am mistaken. 

I too thought Sheahen would be a good returnee for our roster this season.

As to Sabres West... at least Seattle has potentially above average goaltending. We do not.

No Girgensons was hurt Jan 4th trying to get around Eakin I believe.  Sheahan was signed Jan 8th after the injury.

Yes I agree goaltending and defense looks better than the Sabres on paper at least.

[PerreaultForever]

Sheahan is looking like the probable 4th line center for the Kraken.

Will Borgen, on the other hand, has not impressed, currently sits about 8 or 9 on their D depth chart and will likely be waived/sent to the minors.

[Huckleberry]

4 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

Sheahan is looking like the probable 4th line center for the Kraken.

Will Borgen, on the other hand, has not impressed, currently sits about 8 or 9 on their D depth chart and will likely be waived/sent to the minors.

Borgen I read was fine 5vs5 and on PK last night, never got scored upon.   I hope he gets waived and we can claim him again.  

[DarthEbriate]

Listening to Kraken hockey for the first time. I like the radio announcer Fitzhugh. He's got an inflection that might take a little getting used to -- he accents the last syllable often "VancouVER". Like always building to a crescendo. But he does a good job describing the game thus far. I also like that he had to explain the double minor penalty to the hockey newbies.

Fitzhugh was technically in our system as the voice of the ECHL Cincinnati Cyclones...  could've recognized the talent and had him groomed to be a Sabres guy.

 

[Pimlach]

On 9/30/2021 at 5:27 AM, Huckleberry said:

Borgen I read was fine 5vs5 and on PK last night, never got scored upon.   I hope he gets waived and we can claim him again.  

I like Borgen but all this really tells us is that Seattle probably has a better defense than we do.  

[Norcal]

Seattle doesn't look too bad. Preseason and all but there's alot of NHLers playing for Vancouver tonight and they are just cruising along 3-0 so far after two. 

[PerreaultForever]

1 hour ago, Norcal said:

Seattle doesn't look too bad. Preseason and all but there's alot of NHLers playing for Vancouver tonight and they are just cruising along 3-0 so far after two. 

Kraken have already managed to structure a team and that line up is pretty much it (plus Gourde). Good goaltending, solid team play. A little offensively challenged but they are capable of winning close low scoring games. As it stands right now I think they are quite a bit better than the Sabres are. 

[Norcal]

1 hour ago, PerreaultForever said:

Kraken have already managed to structure a team and that line up is pretty much it (plus Gourde). Good goaltending, solid team play. A little offensively challenged but they are capable of winning close low scoring games. As it stands right now I think they are quite a bit better than the Sabres are. 

I don't think you're wrong unfortunately. 

[DarthEbriate]

Seattle built a high-effort, high-energy roster (which makes sense because you're not getting too many top-line guys in an expansion draft). And the goaltending was garbage to start the season (sound familiar?).

But since Gourde and Blackwell got back from their injuries (and yes, Borgen has played a few games now, though he's still #7)...  they've started to resemble the type of team that GM Sheevyn/HC Meatballs want us to resemble. The difference is that Seattle has a bunch of middle-six high-effort guys with NHL-level goalies and we're icing several bottom-six high-effort guys with our AHL-level goalies.

TL;DR: In the last couple weeks Seattle has done really well against a solid schedule:  Caps (W), Canes (W), Lightning (L), Panthers (W), Sabres --- one of these is not like the others (W), Red Wings (SOL), Oilers (W).

[mjd1001]

10 minutes ago, DarthEbriate said:

Seattle built a high-effort, high-energy roster (which makes sense because you're not getting too many top-line guys in an expansion draft). And the goaltending was garbage to start the season (sound familiar?).

But since Gourde and Blackwell got back from their injuries (and yes, Borgen has played a few games now, though he's still #7)...  they've started to resemble the type of team that GM Sheevyn/HC Meatballs want us to resemble. The difference is that Seattle has a bunch of middle-six high-effort guys with NHL-level goalies and we're icing several bottom-six high-effort guys with our AHL-level goalies.

TL;DR: In the last couple weeks Seattle has done really well against a solid schedule:  Caps (W), Canes (W), Lightning (L), Panthers (W), Sabres --- one of these is not like the others (W), Red Wings (SOL), Oilers (W).

The past 2 weeks they have gone from looking like one of the bottom 2-3 teams in the league to an actual good team.

Here is the question, would you trade franchises with them right now (Coaches, roster, prospects, draft picks....pretty much everything but the city and owners?)

[nucci]

1 hour ago, mjd1001 said:

The past 2 weeks they have gone from looking like one of the bottom 2-3 teams in the league to an actual good team.

Here is the question, would you trade franchises with them right now (Coaches, roster, prospects, draft picks....pretty much everything but the city and owners?)

why not the owners?

[mjd1001]

49 minutes ago, nucci said:

why not the owners?

Because while none of this will happen for sure, the theoretical has to do with building the team. The owners and the cities are constants.....I'm talking about everything else that is in the day-to-day aspect of the team.  Buffalo and Seattle will exist as cities...The ownership group would not change....but if you could, would you swap every other aspect of the team?

If you want to get rid of Kim and Terry, that can be a separate conversation (that has indeed been had a few times on this very forum)

[DarthEbriate]

17 hours ago, mjd1001 said:

The past 2 weeks they have gone from looking like one of the bottom 2-3 teams in the league to an actual good team.

Here is the question, would you trade franchises with them right now (Coaches, roster, prospects, draft picks....pretty much everything but the city and owners?)

Me, personally? No. I'm a Sabre. I like looking to the future and to the past and I like a lot of the Sabres prospects. And when it comes to sports, I'm pretty patient because it's simply recreation.

But the downside of that choice: the Kraken likely make the playoffs this year because their division is weaker... and they have goaltending in the near and foreseeable future. They will definitely be able to draw UFAs despite the sky high cost of living because there's no sales tax. They'll likely have to sell off some rentals early on to bolster their draft stockpiles because they have no pipeline -- the result being that they likely have an initial good run in years 1-3 years and then maybe are a middling franchise in years 3-6. Beyond that is dependent on their drafting.