The Sabres Should Be Drafting A Defenseman! (Defensemen)

[stinky finger]

1 hour ago, Dr. Who said:

I kind of think it would be shabby of Reinhart and Montour, but I suppose that is possible. The regime under KA is clearly better and I surmise that gets whispered about, too. I guess we'll see. I will be surprised if they are as limited as you believe, but if they don't sign any higher level free agents I'll begin to wonder if it is process related or the continuing stigma you suggest.

Even if they bad -mouthed Buffalo, does anyone really think the vetting begins and ends there? Not me. I think these guys know a good opportunity when they see one. Their agents do too. I believe these players are more savvy and have a real time awareness.

Now, I'm not saying they're lining up to come here, but I do think we'll land good quality players this summer and moving forward.

 

[stinky finger]

47 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Mule is offensively mediocre, but he has a good shot, and like Mike Ramsey, he'll add more O over time.  Don't forget he has only 109 NHL games under his belt.

However, Novikov, playing in the 2nd best league in the world, the KHL, has a total of 9 pts in 94 games.  Yes, he's only 19, but he really is a pure defensive player.  

Sign me up for for a pure defensive player. We have room at the inn....

[LabattBlue]

I am all about BPA in the first round, but really hoping for a couple of blueliners(preferably RH) in the 2nd round, and another goalie somewhere in rounds 3-5. 
 

The blueline prospect pool is very very thin. 

[French Collection]

2 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Mule is offensively mediocre, but he has a good shot, and like Mike Ramsey, he'll add more O over time.  Don't forget he has only 109 NHL games under his belt.

However, Novikov, playing in the 2nd best league in the world, the KHL, has a total of 9 pts in 94 games.  Yes, he's only 19, but he really is a pure defensive player.  

I love Mule, he is one of my favourite players and his value was obviously missed when he was out. As a 18-19 year old in the KHL I would think Novikov is limited to 3rd pairing and maybe some PK.

The top scoring Dman on his team only had 32 points in 65 games. 
I doubt Mule gets more than 20 points per season. Half of those will be secondary assists from giving it to Dahlin.

[JohnC]

On 5/11/2023 at 4:58 PM, Taro T said:

And Marco Scandella arguably made Henri Jokiharju look like the best D-man on the entire roster.  Chemistry is sooooo important at D and would love to see Power get a Scandella.

Of all the players that have left due to the shuffling of players after KA took over, the one player I wished that we could have kept is Montour. I've watched him in a few games during the season and a few games in the playoffs. My takeaway is that he was one of the better players on the ice. I'm not sure if he would be better paired with Power or Dahlin but definitely he would be playing on one of our top two pairings. 

[French Collection]

On 5/11/2023 at 4:58 PM, Taro T said:

And Marco Scandella arguably made Henri Jokiharju look like the best D-man on the entire roster.  Chemistry is sooooo important at D and would love to see Power get a Scandella.

 

 

Scandella in his prime is one of the 4/5D we are looking for.

[Weave]

3 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Mule is offensively mediocre, but he has a good shot, and like Mike Ramsey, he'll add more O over time.  Don't forget he has only 109 NHL games under his belt.

 

Weird comparison. Ramsey was drafted as an offensive defenseman and Scotty turned him into a defensive defenseman.  Mule was drafted as a defensive defenseman.  He’ll be lucky to see 30pts in a season.  

 

 

 

[Brawndo]

4 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

We need to see if Novikov skates well enough to even be an NHLer. If he does skate well he could very well develop into a shutdown defenseman.  However he completely lacks an offensive tool kit.

Quite a few people I trust to make the determination have complemented his skating, including Baker, Yerdon and Lysowski. 
 

If he turns out to be shutdown defenseman with limited offensive ability, that’s Ok.

Luke Schenn, who quite a bit of the board was clamoring for at the TDL has a regular season career high of 22 points.  
 

If Novikov allows Power to active offensively without having to worry about covering for His D Partner, that’s a win for the D Corps.

 

[steveoath]

I hope he comes over this off season.