Rochester Americans 2022-2023

[GASabresIUFAN]

So who will be back or new next season?

Forwards Returnees - Biro, Rousek, Weissbach, and Pekar are under contract. Murray and R2 are RFAs, although R2 might end up with the Sabres.  In theory Quinn and JJP could return, but I doubt it.  Mersch also has an AHL contract for next season.

Forwards New - Kisakov and Rosen.  There is a chance one or both return to Europe next year, but I suspect they’ll be force feed minutes in Rochester to get them acclaimed to NA hockey. 

Defense Returnees - Laaksonen is the only prospect under contract and there aren’t any in the pipeline to sign.  Talk about a clean slate to work with.  Upgrades really needed here.  I can see some college RFAs added to the mix.  Could Pilut return given the recent news story.  

There are no goalies under contract.  UPL is an RFA and it remains unclear where he’ll play next year.  I think returning to Rochester behind a better D group would help him.  Subban is a UFA, but management and the players seem to like him and he seemed happy here.  

Some of our Amerks guys might know if anyone besides Mersch is under AHL contract for next season.

Prospect signings to watch.  Kozak is eligible to play in Rochester if signed.  I would also think guys like Cederqvist and WVB could be on the radar depending on their contract status.  I can also see WVB moving to the CHL for an overage year in NA.  

 

[pastajoe]

I think they’d resign Jankowski if he’s willing. Also Tokarski if he doesn’t find a NHL backup job. Or they might feel that Dell earned a contract based on his playoff performances.

[Amerks8796]

Amerks need a lot, mostly at D and goaltending. I’d be fine with Houser as the backup and someone like Subban or Tokarski as the starter. 
 

On defense, I’d re-sign Tischke and Alt. In addition in free agency, I’d go find a couple top pairing vets to replace Samuelsson and Fitzgerald. 
 

At forward, you’re going to need to replace Quinn and Peterka’s production. Some of that will be from increased production from Weissbach and Rousek, but I would really target Andrew Poturalski if possible. Big time AHL player and he’s from Buffalo. I’d bring back Malone and Jankowski if they’re interested. 
 

It’ll be a transition year with more veterans. 

Edited June 2, 2022 by Amerks8796

[DarthEbriate]

Fitz is signed next season. He has to make it through waivers, but that's pretty likely as every team has a tweener or two and GMs rarely pluck each other's tweener except in COVID/injury bugs (as we did to get Wolanin, and then he immediately went back to his old team). He'd be the top-pair RHD.

Ryan Johnson's camp should be clamoring for him to sign. No NHL franchise is just going to hand him NHL minutes, but here in Buffalo the only person he has to currently beat out to get to the NHL is Bryson. In the AHL he'd be able to start out battling for top pair minutes. 

[dudacek]

1 hour ago, pastajoe said:

I think they’d resign Jankowski if he’s willing. Also Tokarski if he doesn’t find a NHL backup job. Or they might feel that Dell earned a contract based on his playoff performances.

God, I hope an .883 save percentage isn't the bar these days.

[GASabresIUFAN]

Please don't forget that 13 skaters must be developmental players.

[Curt]

2 hours ago, pastajoe said:

I think they’d resign Jankowski if he’s willing. Also Tokarski if he doesn’t find a NHL backup job. Or they might feel that Dell earned a contract based on his playoff performances.

I don’t think Dell will be back under any circumstances.  They were hoping he could be an NHL backup, and I think they feel he came into camp out of shape.  I believe that they were very disappointed in him.    Then he did that really stupid thing that got him suspended.  He still has outstanding NHL suspension that he needs to serve before he can play in an NHL game.

Edited June 2, 2022 by Curt

[thewookie1]

8 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Please don't forget that 13 skaters must be developmental players.

So out of the 6 D and 12 Fs, 13 need to be under a certain level of experience correct?

How does that interact with the pair of goalies?

Who counts next year as developmental players still besides Rousek, Rosen and Bloom?

 

[sabresparaavida]

16 minutes ago, thewookie1 said:

So out of the 6 D and 12 Fs, 13 need to be under a certain level of experience correct?

How does that interact with the pair of goalies?

Who counts next year as developmental players still besides Rousek, Rosen and Bloom?

 

I believe it is whoever has not played 240 (not sure if that number is right) professional games by the start of the season. 

[DarthEbriate]

None of these are developmental:

I'd definitely look at re-signing Jankowski and Malone. Heck, see the Amerks would offer a rich AHL contract to Malone.

Don't forget Bjork after he passes through waivers if either JJP or Quinn make the Sabres out of camp or soon after.

[Taro T]

4 minutes ago, sabresparaavida said:

I believe it is whoever has not played 240 (not sure if that number is right) professional games by the start of the season. 

12 skaters need 260 or fewer regular season professional games prior to the start of the current season and a 13th needs 320 or fewer regular season professional games in leagues that are considered AHL comparable or higher.

And teams can have more than 5 veteran skaters, they just can't dress more than that in any particular game.

It's not really a huge hurdle to overcome.

[sabresparaavida]

16 minutes ago, Taro T said:

12 skaters need 260 or fewer regular season professional games prior to the start of the current season and a 13th needs 320 or fewer regular season professional games in leagues that are considered AHL comparable or higher.

And teams can have more than 5 veteran skaters, they just can't dress more than that in any particular game.

It's not really a huge hurdle to overcome.

Thanks, couldn’t remember the exact number and was too lazy to look it up.

[Taro T]

3 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

So who will be back or new next season?

Forwards Returnees - Biro, Rousek , Weissbach, and Pekar are under contract. Murray and R2 are RFAs, although R2 might end up with the Sabres.  In theory Quinn and JJP could return, but I doubt it.  Mersch also has an AHL contract for next season.

Forwards New - Kisakov and Rosen.  There is a chance one or both return to Europe next year, but I suspect they’ll be force feed minutes in Rochester to get them acclaimed to NA hockey. 

Defense Returnees - Laaksonen is the only prospect under contract and there aren’t any in the pipeline to sign.  Talk about a clean slate to work with.  Upgrades really needed here.  I can see some college RFAs added to the mix.  Could Pilut return given the recent news story.  

There are no goalies under contract.  UPL is an RFA and it remains unclear where he’ll play next year.  I think returning to Rochester behind a better D group would help him.  Subban is a UFA, but management and the players seem to like him and he seemed happy here.  

Some of our Amerks guys might know if anyone besides Mersch is under AHL contract for next season.

Prospect signings to watch.  Kozak is eligible to play in Rochester if signed.  I would also think guys like Cederqvist and WVB could be on the radar depending on their contract status.  I can also see WVB moving to the CHL for an overage year in NA.  

 

Of the players mentioned above, only Mersch & Pilut count as AHL veterans.

There's 8 guys that will fit under the development umbrella (Biro, Weissbach, Pekar, Murray, R2 Rou2, Laaksonnen, Kisakov, & Rosen; plus Quinn & Peterka that won't be Amerks for long if at all.

Fitzgerald also qualifies as a development guy.

None of that includes any of the other young guys that will likely sign this summer or have already signed.

Really don't see a cause for worry that they won't be able to ice 18 skaters every night.

[GASabresIUFAN]

53 minutes ago, thewookie1 said:

So out of the 6 D and 12 Fs, 13 need to be under a certain level of experience correct?

How does that interact with the pair of goalies?

Who counts next year as developmental players still besides Rousek, Rosen and Bloom?

 

260 games of pro experience or less is considered a developmental player.  That includes NHL, AHL, and most top Euro leagues.

I don’t think R2 qualifies as a developmental player any longer

Edited June 2, 2022 by GASabresIUFAN

[Taro T]

Just now, GASabresIUFAN said:

260 games of pro experience or less is considered a developmental player.  That includes NHL, AHL, and most top Euro leagues 

Only 12 skaters need to be at/ below that.  A 13th can have nearly an entire additional year of experience at 320 or fewer pro games.

And only regular season games count against that total.  Playoffs don't & presumably international play doesn't count against them either.

[Curt]

1 hour ago, thewookie1 said:

So out of the 6 D and 12 Fs, 13 need to be under a certain level of experience correct?

How does that interact with the pair of goalies?

Who counts next year as developmental players still besides Rousek, Rosen and Bloom?

 

Bloom can not be in the AHL next season.  He isn’t old enough.

[pastajoe]

4 hours ago, dudacek said:

God, I hope an .883 save percentage isn't the bar these days.

He wasn’t the reason they got beat by Laval, the players in front of him got out skated.

[dudacek]

39 minutes ago, pastajoe said:

He wasn’t the reason they got beat by Laval, the players in front of him got out skated.

He was a reason.

And the team won in the first two rounds in spite of him.

[pastajoe]

35 minutes ago, dudacek said:

He was a reason.

And the team won in the first two rounds in spite of him.

He faced many high quality shots, and he kept them in games against Utica when the the team was reeling.

[dudacek]

4 minutes ago, pastajoe said:

He faced many high quality shots, and he kept them in games against Utica when the the team was reeling.

I think his numbers reflect his quality of play. Let’s just say we look at goalies differently and leave it at that. 🍺

[Amerks8796]

23 minutes ago, pastajoe said:

He faced many high quality shots, and he kept them in games against Utica when the the team was reeling.

He also stood on his head in OT in game 1 against Belleville. Amerks may not have even made it out of round one with UPL. Dell was an asset in the playoffs. Big saves at big times. 

[Taro T]

14 hours ago, Amerks8796 said:

He also stood on his head in OT in game 1 against Belleville. Amerks may not have even made it out of round one with UPL. Dell was an asset in the playoffs. Big saves at big times. 

He also got bailed out big time in that Belleville OT game as one of the D-men made a tremendous block on a shot that was headed for a wide open net.

Dell typically was an asset in the 3rd & 4th periods.  He was a massive liability in the 1st period of most games giving up a goal on one of the 1st 3 shots almost every game even though the Amerks would have the better of the play early in almost every game.  Swap Primeau and Dell & the Amerks are still playing.

No idea on whether they'd've fared better w/ UPL backstopping him.  His weaknesses are significantly different than Dell's and they might very well have generated insurmountable leads or he might have killed them w/ the late goal.

[Amerks8796]

1 hour ago, Taro T said:

He also got bailed out big time in that Belleville OT game as one of the D-men made a tremendous block on a shot that was headed for a wide open net.

Dell typically was an asset in the 3rd & 4th periods.  He was a massive liability in the 1st period of most games giving up a goal on one of the 1st 3 shots almost every game even though the Amerks would have the better of the play early in almost every game.  Swap Primeau and Dell & the Amerks are still playing.

No idea on whether they'd've fared better w/ UPL backstopping him.  His weaknesses are significantly different than Dell's and they might very well have generated insurmountable leads or he might have killed them w/ the late goal.

In my opinion, Dell played pretty well. Yes, a defenseman saved that shot, but the other 17 minutes of OT he kept them in it. 
 
People have had it out for Dell ever since he stunk in Buffalo and had that hit on Batherson, but as Appert said over and over, he was great all year in Rochester. The Amerks simply don’t even make the playoffs without him. UPL had a bad year in the AHL, and Dell’s steady play kept them in it. 
 

I’ll pass on Dell next year, but I’m certainly glad the Amerks had him this year. 

[Taro T]

17 minutes ago, Amerks8796 said:

In my opinion, Dell played pretty well. Yes, a defenseman saved that shot, but the other 17 minutes of OT he kept them in it. 
 
People have had it out for Dell ever since he stunk in Buffalo and had that hit on Batherson, but as Appert said over and over, he was great all year in Rochester. The Amerks simply don’t even make the playoffs without him. UPL had a bad year in the AHL, and Dell’s steady play kept them in it. 
 

I’ll pass on Dell next year, but I’m certainly glad the Amerks had him this year. 

When he was on waivers a year ago wanted the Sabres to put a claim in on him.  But was glad soon after that they didn't because he was horrible in Joisey.

Find it hard to be believe there wasn't a better plan C option out there when Adams did sign him.  Would've been much better off if they had a goalie to make Tokarski the 3rd best option rather than the 2nd best.

[sabresparaavida]

17 hours ago, Taro T said:

When he was on waivers a year ago wanted the Sabres to put a claim in on him.  But was glad soon after that they didn't because he was horrible in Joisey.

Find it hard to be believe there wasn't a better plan C option out there when Adams did sign him.  Would've been much better off if they had a goalie to make Tokarski the 3rd best option rather than the 2nd best.

I truly think KA was either thinking or hoping UPL would win the backup job out of camp, and Tokarski/Dell were his Hope/plan for Rochester.