Predict the opening night Roster.

[Crusader1969]

Divide the 23 man roster any way you want. 

Since we know  these forwards are guaranteed a spot, let’s exclude them 

Tage, Cozens, Skinner, Tuch, Okposo and Girgensons.

And we know 5 dmen who are 100% here. dahlin, Power, Samuelson, Johnson and Clifton

therefore you have 6F and 5D written in Stone. Who are the remaining 12?

Here is my Guess

JJP, Kulich, Mitts, Krebs, Greenway, Savoie fill out the 5 remaining opening night starting roster 

Rousek and Jost are in the press box 

Hanifan is the 6th dman and Lybushkin is the 7th

Goalies are Markstrom and Levi is the goalie tandem 

Joker, Olofsson, UPL are 3 parts of the trade with Calgary that will also include  the Sabres sending the flames a prospect and draft picks 

Edited August 11, 2023 by Crusader1969

[Flashsabre]

14 minutes ago, Crusader1969 said:

Divide the 23 man roster any way you want. 

Since we know  these forwards are guaranteed a spot, let’s exclude them 

Tage, Cozens, Skinner, Tuch, Okposo and Girgensons.

And we know 5 dmen who are 100% here. dahlin, Power, Samuelson, Johnson and Clifton

therefore you have 6F and 5D written in Stone. Who are the remaining 12?

Here is my Guess

JJP, Kulich, Mitts, Krebs, Greenway, Savoie fill out the 5 remaining opening night starting roster 

Rousek and Jost are in the press box 

Hanifan is the 6th dman and Lybushkin is the 7th

Goalies are Markstrom and Levi is the goalie tandem 

Joker, Olofsson, UPL are 3 parts of the trade with Calgary that will also include  the Sabres sending the flames a prospect and draft picks 

When is this trade happening and what happened to the salary cap?

[Crusader1969]

markstrom and Hanifan are a combined $11 million and olofsson and Jokiharju  $7.25million 

trade works fine 

If you are concerned Calgary retains $1 million of the Markstrom contract 

 

[PerreaultForever]

You know, Markstrom to Buffalo is an intriguing idea. Would he come here though? Does he have a NTC? Calgary would definitely like to move him out and moving him out might also make a Lindholm to Boston (for Ullmark) deal possible which is also something both of them might want. Hence I think they might let Markstrom go for next to nothing. Not that I think Markstrom's all that, but it would make me happy to get that veteran goalie on the roster. Hanifan also even better. Lindholm as well even better than that.

Lindholm, Hanifan and Markstrom for picks/prospects and Jokiharju/Lybushkin or some other whatevers would rock the hockey world and turn us into this year's New Jersey. 

[nfreeman]

I'm pretty intrigued by Markstrom plus Hanifan. 

Markstrom has this coming season plus 2 more at a $6MM annual cap hit, which is kind of a lot.

Hanifan has just this coming season at $4.95MM and then is UFA.

Not sure how much I want to give up for those 2 contracts but it's interesting.

[dudacek]

Skinner Thompson Tuch

Peterka Cozens Mittelstadt

Greenway Krebs Olofsson

Girgensons Jost Okposo

Rousek

 

Dahlin Johnson

Power Clifton

Samuelsson Jokiharju

Stillman Lyubushkin

 

Levi

Luukkonnen

[Pimlach]

21 hours ago, Crusader1969 said:

Divide the 23 man roster any way you want. 

Since we know  these forwards are guaranteed a spot, let’s exclude them 

Tage, Cozens, Skinner, Tuch, Okposo and Girgensons.

And we know 5 dmen who are 100% here. dahlin, Power, Samuelson, Johnson and Clifton

therefore you have 6F and 5D written in Stone. Who are the remaining 12?

Here is my Guess

JJP, Kulich, Mitts, Krebs, Greenway, Savoie fill out the 5 remaining opening night starting roster 

Rousek and Jost are in the press box 

Hanifan is the 6th dman and Lybushkin is the 7th

Goalies are Markstrom and Levi is the goalie tandem 

Joker, Olofsson, UPL are 3 parts of the trade with Calgary that will also include  the Sabres sending the flames a prospect and draft picks 

 

[JohnC]

1 hour ago, dudacek said:

Skinner Thompson Tuch

Peterka Cozens Mittelstadt

Greenway Krebs Olofsson

Girgensons Jost Okposo

Rousek

 

Dahlin Johnson

Power Clifton

Samuelsson Jokiharju

Stillman Lyubushkin

 

Levi

Luukkonnen

The roster you envision is very plausible. However, the one pairing that you list that I don't think will materialize is the Dahlin/Johnson pairing. Dahlin is obviously a heavy-duty minute player and will continue to be. Erik Johnson is a 35 year-old player who will also probably be on the PK. At this stage of his career I don't expect him to accumulate a lot of minutes per game. And that is what will happen if paired with Dahlin. My guess is that Dahlin will continue to be paired with Samuelsson and Johnson paired with Joki if he is bumped down a pairing. 

[dudacek]

19 minutes ago, JohnC said:

The roster you envision is very plausible. However, the one pairing that you list that I don't think will materialize is the Dahlin/Johnson pairing. Dahlin is obviously a heavy-duty minute player and will continue to be. Erik Johnson is a 35 year-old player who will also probably be on the PK. At this stage of his career I don't expect him to accumulate a lot of minutes per game. And that is what will happen if paired with Dahlin. My guess is that Dahlin will continue to be paired with Samuelsson and Johnson paired with Joki if he is bumped down a pairing. 

i agree with the bold. I also think the rigid grid of a pre-game lineup doesn't really reflect the reality of an NHL game or an NHL season to the extent we think it does.

I explained my rationale in post elsewhere on the site a few days ago:

I think we going to see Dahlin and Samuelsson split up more than most expect. I get the sense Clifton and Johnson will result in a more even ES rotation and more R/L emphasis. it least that's my reading of what Donnie said post-FA

Something like this maybe, as a base in an average game?

Dahlin Johnson 10 minutes ES

Power Clifton 12 ES

Mule Jokiharju 12 ES

Power Dahlin 4 Looking for extra offence ES

Samuelsson Dahlin 4 Looking for extra defence ES

PP: Dahlin 5, Power 3

SH: Mule/Clifton 3 Johnson 2 Other guys 1-2

With the rest being the random pairings that injuries and game situations spit out. That layout turns the minefield that was the 3rd pairing last year into something that can survive hard opponents when they have to, and should do well against their preferred matchups. The 2nd pairing is improved as well, and Dahlin is so strong he and Johnson should be fine if they aren't ridden hard like a top shutdown pair. Could be a way to some reasonable improvement in our goals against if the forwards and goalies co-operate.

So that base in practice looks something like this on average per game:

• Dahlin 25
• Power 23
• Mule 21
• Clifton 19
• Jokiharju 18
• Johnson 14

Edited August 12, 2023 by dudacek

[Weave]

1 hour ago, dudacek said:

Skinner Thompson Tuch

Peterka Cozens Mittelstadt

Greenway Krebs Olofsson

Girgensons Jost Okposo

Rousek

 

Dahlin Johnson

Power Clifton

Samuelsson Jokiharju

Stillman Lyubushkin

 

Levi

Luukkonnen

I could see opening night starting with Dahlin Johnson but my guess is Clifton spends more time with Dahlin than Johnson does fairly early in the season.

Id be curious what the middle six looks like with Greenway and Mitts swapped.

[Buffalonill]

I will be very disappointed if the opening roster is what buffalo Currently has now..

 

[JohnC]

7 minutes ago, dudacek said:

i agree with the bold. I also think the rigid grid of a pre-game lineup doesn't really reflect the reality of an NHL game or an NHL season to the extent we think it does.

I explained my rationale in post elsewhere on the site a few days ago:

I think we going to see Dahlin and Samuelsson split up more than most expect. I get the sense Clifton and Johnson will result in a more even ES rotation and more R/L emphasis. it least that's my reading of what Donnie said post-FA

Something like this maybe, as a base in an average game?

Dahlin Johnson 10 minutes ES

Power Clifton 12 ES

Mule Jokiharju 12 ES

Power Dahlin 4 Looking for extra offence ES

Samuelsson Dahlin 4 Looking for extra defence ES

PP: Dahlin 5, Power 3

SH: Mule/Clifton 3 Johnson 2 Other guys 1-2

With the rest being the random pairings that injuries and game situations spit out. That layout turns the minefield that was the 3rd pairing last year into something that can survive hard opponents when they have to, and should do well against their preferred matchups. The 2nd pairing is improved as well, and Dahlin is so strong he and Johnson should be fine if they aren't ridden hard like a top shutdown pair. Could be a way to some reasonable improvement in our goals against if the forwards and goalies co-operate.

So that base in practice looks something like this on average per game:

• Dahlin 25
• Power 23
• Mule 21
• Clifton 19
• Jokiharju 18
• Johnson 14

Interesting. I just think that the coach will go more with a Samuelsson/Dahlin pairing. I see Johnson's major value will be on the PK and end of game critical minutes. We'll see. What's apparent is that there will be a lot of flexibility in the lineup and in-game adjustments. 

[Crusader1969]

2 hours ago, Buffalonill said:

I will be very disappointed if the opening roster is what buffalo Currently has now..

 

We know 

[Zamboni]

 

 

[steveoath]

Skinner Thompson Tuch

Peterka Cozens Savoie

Mittelstadt krebs greenway

Girgensons Jost Okposo

 

Mule Dahlin

Power Clifton

Stillman Johnson 

Levi

 

[thewookie1]

On 8/11/2023 at 1:15 PM, Crusader1969 said:

Divide the 23 man roster any way you want. 

Since we know  these forwards are guaranteed a spot, let’s exclude them 

Tage, Cozens, Skinner, Tuch, Okposo and Girgensons.

And we know 5 dmen who are 100% here. dahlin, Power, Samuelson, Johnson and Clifton

therefore you have 6F and 5D written in Stone. Who are the remaining 12?

Here is my Guess

JJP, Kulich, Mitts, Krebs, Greenway, Savoie fill out the 5 remaining opening night starting roster 

Rousek and Jost are in the press box 

Hanifan is the 6th dman and Lybushkin is the 7th

Goalies are Markstrom and Levi is the goalie tandem 

Joker, Olofsson, UPL are 3 parts of the trade with Calgary that will also include  the Sabres sending the flames a prospect and draft picks 

Only issue is Calgary has zero interest in Joker or UPL and little interest in Olofsson which effectively kills the idea.

 

 

I'll stick with more or less what we have now

Skinner - Thompson - Tuch

Mitts - Cozens - Peterka

Greenway - Krebs - Savoie/Kulich/Tatar(PTO>Contract)

Olofsson - Girgensons - Okposo

Muel - Dahlin

Power - Clifton

Joker/Stillman - Johnson  

Levi 

UPL

Extras:

Stillman

Jost

Bush

 

Comrie and Bryson are waived

[JohnC]

One of the most intriguing roster issues entering camp is whether either Kulich or Savoie, or both, make the roster. If both shine in camp, then what do you do? 

[#freejame]

19 minutes ago, JohnC said:

One of the most intriguing roster issues entering camp is whether either Kulich or Savoie, or both, make the roster. If both shine in camp, then what do you do? 

If both shine in camp you send Kulich down to roll his contract and because he can move back and forth freely between AHL and NHL. 

[GASabresIUFAN]

The opening night roster is already signed and here unless an injury occurs in camp.

Skinner TnT Tuch

JJP Cozens Mitts

VO Krebs Greenway

Z Jost KO

Dahlin Mule

Power Clifton

Johnson Jokiharju

(Stillman Lyubushkin)

Levi UPL

waived - Bryson, Clague and Comrie.

first callups - Rousek, Biro and Kulich

Lyubushkin becomes a starter if there is a camp injury on D, Rousek if a forward goes down and Comrie if a goalie gets hurt.

Benson and Savoie return to Jrs to get stronger.  R. Johnson and Kulich have great camps and are the last cuts.  

Edited August 13, 2023 by GASabresIUFAN

[Zamboni]

5 hours ago, JohnC said:

One of the most intriguing roster issues entering camp is whether either Kulich or Savoie, or both, make the roster. If both shine in camp, then what do you do? 

I don’t care how much either one of them shine… I send them for more developing outside the NHL.

[JohnC]

2 hours ago, Zamboni said:

I don’t care how much either one of them shine… I send them for more developing outside the NHL.

Not necessarily so. I agree with you that ideally it would be better to work on their games in the lower levels. But because of the Quinn injury opening up a spot, if either one of them demonstrates in camp and in preseason games that they are capable of playing at the next level, then I wouldn't hold either one of them back. It's not unusual to have surprise players who stick out in camp. If a player merits a look, then I would reward the player and give him an opportunity to play. 

[JohnC]

3 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

The opening night roster is already signed and here unless an injury occurs in camp.

Skinner TnT Tuch

JJP Cozens Mitts

VO Krebs Greenway

Z Jost KO

Dahlin Mule

Power Clifton

Johnson Jokiharju

(Stillman Lyubushkin)

Levi UPL

waived - Bryson, Clague and Comrie.

first callups - Rousek, Biro and Kulich

Lyubushkin becomes a starter if there is a camp injury on D, Rousek if a forward goes down and Comrie if a goalie gets hurt.

Benson and Savoie return to Jrs to get stronger.  R. Johnson and Kulich have great camps and are the last cuts.  

Would you be reluctant to keep Kulich up with the big club if he shines in camp? I wouldn't be reluctant to reward outstanding play. 

[Crusader1969]

Am I the only one who still thinks a trade is coming ? 

[Hank]

3 minutes ago, Crusader1969 said:

Am I the only one who still thinks a trade is coming ? 

Yes. 

[GASabresIUFAN]

2 hours ago, JohnC said:

Would you be reluctant to keep Kulich up with the big club if he shines in camp? I wouldn't be reluctant to reward outstanding play. 

Yes.  I think the top 6 in Buffalo is set and I'd rather Kulich play big minutes in all situations than in a depth role in Buffalo.

22 minutes ago, Crusader1969 said:

Am I the only one who still thinks a trade is coming ? 

Not the only one, but it's a shrinking minority.