Is Kale Clague Good?

[PerreaultForever]

36 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

He's better than Pilut apparently.

Yes, he definitely is. 

[Taro T]

27 minutes ago, Amerks8796 said:

Right, but Pilut is still on the roster until tomorrow. Just placing someone on waivers doesn’t remove them from the roster until 24 hours is up. Unless I’m mistaken on the rules. 

He's been waived, he's off the Sabres roster.  There are 23 healthy players on the roster.  Fitzgerald appears to bethe spare healthy D & Hinostroza and Asplund appear to be the spare healthy Fs. 

Comrie & Jokiharju are still on IR.

Pilut has to clear waivers to play in Ra-cha-cha.  Whether he does or doesn't will be known at noon.

[Amerks8796]

1 minute ago, Taro T said:

He's been waived, he's off the Sabres roster.  There are 23 healthy players on the roster.  Fitzgerald appears to bethe spare healthy D & Hinostroza and Asplund appear to be the spare healthy Fs. 

Comrie & Jokiharju are still on IR.

Pilut has to clear waivers to play in Ra-cha-cha.  Whether he does or doesn't will be known at noon.

He’s not off the roster until he clears and is assigned. Players clear waivers all the time but remain with the team. Capfriendly still has him on the roster. 

[Taro T]

Just now, Amerks8796 said:

He’s not off the roster until he clears and is assigned. Players clear waivers all the time but remain with the team. Capfriendly still has him on the roster. 

The SABRES have him off the roster.

Will trust THEM knowing their roster more than a 3rd party website.

His CAP HIT for the day remains, but HE is gone.  He does not count against the 23 man limit.

[Taro T]

And he counts against the cap because he practiced w/ the team.

[Amerks8796]

30 minutes ago, Taro T said:

The SABRES have him off the roster.

Will trust THEM knowing their roster more than a 3rd party website.

His CAP HIT for the day remains, but HE is gone.  He does not count against the 23 man limit.

He’s listed as a scratch tonight. I’ve always been under the impression that waivers doesn’t remove you from the roster immediately. Unless there’s a loophole or something I’m unaware of. 

[Amerks8796]

5 minutes ago, Amerks8796 said:

He’s listed as a scratch tonight. I’ve always been under the impression that waivers doesn’t remove you from the roster immediately. Unless there’s a loophole or something I’m unaware of. 

Sounds like there may be something called “Waivers Non-roster”. Never heard of it before, but would be applicable here. 

[SwampD]

2 hours ago, PromoTheRobot said:

He's better than Pilut apparently.

It's very apparent.

Edited December 30, 2022 by SwampD

[Marvin]

If this keeps up, then maybe the Sabres can be more choosy about what deals to make to improve the D.  This might be satisfactory for the short term:

Samuelsson-Dahlin 

Power-Jokiharu

Clague-Lyubushkin

Bryson-Fitzgerald

[Taro T]

10 minutes ago, Marvin said:

If this keeps up, then maybe the Sabres can be more choosy about what deals to make to improve the D.  This might be satisfactory for the short term:

Samuelsson-Dahlin 

Power-Jokiharu

Clague-Lyubushkin

Bryson-Fitzgerald

Doubt Bryson would be bumped before Clague, but who knows?

[CTJoe]

57 minutes ago, Taro T said:

Doubt Bryson would be bumped before Clague, but who knows?

I think Clague is better than Bryson at this point.  Bryson has been hideous this year

[Eleven]

I still don't know who he is.

[Taro T]

Just now, CTJoe said:

I think Clague is better than Bryson at this point.  Bryson has been hideous this year

He very well could be better than him.

But the coaches & Adams seem to see something in Bryson that the rest of us don't see.  And doubt he'll be out of the lineup ahead of Clague because of that.

[Doohicksie]

1 hour ago, Eleven said:

I still don't know who he is.

You know... this guy!

[Weave]

7 hours ago, Doohickie said:

You know... this guy!

The least sold costume at the halloween store.

[bob_sauve28]

Very good skater, but his passing has been terrible. Hopefully that was just a "passing" thing though 

[Claude Balls]

Kale??? Tastes like 💩 if you ask me. 

[Sabres Fan in NS]

24 minutes ago, Claude Balls said:

Kale??? Tastes like 💩 if you ask me. 

I often wondered when people say this ... 

 

[Weave]

30 minutes ago, Sabres Fan in NS said:

I often wondered when people say this ... 

 

Everyone has their kink.  🤷‍♂️

[Ross Rhea]

Every time I here Clague name I can't help but think of Game of Thrones Mountain and Hound, the Clegane brothers. Maybe he's the shorter third bro.

 

[nfreeman]

On 12/22/2022 at 1:12 PM, DarthEbriate said:

Clague is 24 with fewer than 82 NHL games played. The NHL game is still slowing down for him. He can be a #6 guy with the right #5 partner, but is best served as the #7-8. He's also a 1st round pick so the skill level is likely there.

Actually Clague was a 2nd-rounder -- #51 overall, chosen by LA in the 2016 draft.

He was drafted by LA out of the WHL, spent 2 more years in juniors after being drafted, then 1 full year in the AHL, then most of the following year (2019-20) in the AHL until that season was truncated due to Covid, then 18 games in LA and 23 games in the AHL in 2020-21, then he played 5 games in the AHL and 11 in LA in the fall of 2021.  LA waived him in December of 2021 and the Habs claimed him.  He was a frequent healthy scratch in Montreal but played 25 games there in the 2nd half of 2021-2022.  After the end of that season, the Habs decided not to qualify him, and KA signed him.  He's played 14 games in Rochester so far this year and 13 in Buffalo.

In his first 3 professional seasons, the Kings were lousy, and in the 2nd and 3rd of those seasons, when he was at the point of competing for callups to LA, everything was upended by Covid.  Then, in his 4th pro season, the Kings waived him because they had 9 healthy defensemen and were in a roster crunch.  He then went to the Habs, who were terrible last year.  So it's not like he's had the opportunity to develop under normal, stable circumstances with a good team.  He could be the kind of guy that really needs a positive environment in order to develop.

He won't turn 25 until next June, so he's still pretty young for a defenseman.  And he's already better than Fitzie and Pilut, and maybe Bryson too.

He could be another Beaulieu or Fedun and never develop an NHL game.  But he might just be a real find and develop into a decent 3rd-pair NHL defenseman.

We'll see.

[Pimlach]

I thought he was serviceable last night against the Wings.

He made several errors with the puck and his passing is not very good.  He did help support defending a breakaway with a nice defensive move - but he also let the guy get behind hm to begin with. 

He is a 7/8 guy to me.  

[Taro T]

29 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

I thought he was serviceable last night against the Wings.

He made several errors with the puck and his passing is not very good.  He did help support defending a breakaway with a nice defensive move - but he also let the guy get behind hm to begin with. 

He is a 7/8 guy to me.  

Agree on the 7/8 designation.

In his last game as an Amerk, similarly he made a very nice play stealing the puck from a guy who was open back door to prevent the tap in.

So, he does not give up on plays, but he does create more high danger chances that he should.

Still expect he's probably getting the benefit of the doubt that comes from being the new guy, but Granato talks very highly of him & he's giving him the opportunity that comes w/ playing 2nd pairing.  Will be interesting to see if he comes out when Jokiharju is healthy or if Bryson gets yanked.  Still expecting it to be Cale.

Wondering if/ suspecting his getting to play 2nd pairing is a function of Granato wants Henri on the 2nd pairing when he returns so Bryson/Lyubushkin is the preferred 3rd pairing and he wants to get those 2 experience together and he realized in the losing streak that pairing bad D together leads to really bad things so Buusch doesn't get to bump up to 2nd pairing until the bench is shortened to keep Bryson & Clague separated.

[Pimlach]

3 hours ago, Taro T said:

Agree on the 7/8 designation.

In his last game as an Amerk, similarly he made a very nice play stealing the puck from a guy who was open back door to prevent the tap in.

So, he does not give up on plays, but he does create more high danger chances that he should.

Still expect he's probably getting the benefit of the doubt that comes from being the new guy, but Granato talks very highly of him & he's giving him the opportunity that comes w/ playing 2nd pairing.  Will be interesting to see if he comes out when Jokiharju is healthy or if Bryson gets yanked.  Still expecting it to be Cale.

Wondering if/ suspecting his getting to play 2nd pairing is a function of Granato wants Henri on the 2nd pairing when he returns so Bryson/Lyubushkin is the preferred 3rd pairing and he wants to get those 2 experience together and he realized in the losing streak that pairing bad D together leads to really bad things so Buusch doesn't get to bump up to 2nd pairing until the bench is shortened to keep Bryson & Clague separated.

He is getting " a fair shot and a good look".  Which is probably what Adams says to every player he signs.  

Adams will fix the impression of this team around the league one player at a time.  

I wish Clague would put more zip on his passes and get more comfortable with the puck, do that to move him to a 6/7 rating.  

 

Edited December 30, 2022 by Pimlach

[DarthEbriate]

4 hours ago, nfreeman said:

Actually Clague was a 2nd-rounder -- #51 overall, chosen by LA in the 2016 draft.

Somewhere along the way I thought he was a super-late 1st like a 28th or something. Thanks for the catch!