Is Bryson in the Top 6? Is the D set?

[JoeSchmoe]

Jacob Bryson is playing really good hockey. In my books he's in our top 6. Last I heard, our record with him in the lineup is well into the plus side. Advanced stats have him up there. Here's are my D pairings for next year, emphasizing competition to stay in the lineup.

Byram-Dahlin

Samuelson-Power

Bryson-Joki

Johnson-Clifton

The 5 to 8 D should be a competition all year. If you're good, you play, if not you don't. But right now, Bryson plays.

Edit: inserted 5 on 5 relative ExGf%

Edited March 10 by JoeSchmoe

[Doohicksie]

1 hour ago, JoeSchmoe said:

Jacob Bryson is playing really good hockey. In my books he's in our top 6. Last I heard, our record with him in the lineup is well into the plus side. Advanced stats have him up there. Here's are my D pairings for next year, emphasizing competition to stay in the lineup.

Byram-Dahlin

Samuelson-Power

Bryson-Joki

Johnson-Clifton

The 5 to 8 D should be a competition all year. If you're good, you play, if not you don't. But right now, Bryson plays.

Edit: inserted 5 on 5 relative ExGl%

Coming out of camp Bryson was lauded as having improved significantly in the off-season with a more mature, and more physical game.  He's not a bruiser by any means but he's clearly more stable on his skates than in the past.  In his own zone he's a pretty good defensive Dman, efficiently moving the puck out of the zone.  At this point I think he's more effective at clearing the zone than Dahlin, who delays too much and gets fancy.

I think he could hang in the top 6, but he may be our steady 7D going forward, can fill in when someone gets banged up for a game or two, or, as in the case currently, for a longer term injury.

Going forward I think when everyone is healthy we'll see Clifton, Ryan Johnson and Bryson as the 6-8 D without a clear preference.  Each one brings a good skillset and maybe you pick the one that matches the opponent best.  Bryson was fine tonight against the speedy Oilers, but for a more physical opponent maybe you go with Clifton.  I could also see where one of those three guys gets packaged as part of a trade.  Personally if I had to lose one I think it should be Clifton.

[thewookie1]

Bryson is a true 7D

As @Doohickie said, he fills a specific playstyle that works against some teams and doesn't at all against others.

[GoPuckYourself]

I'm pretty sure the D is set but I don't think Samuelsson is a 2nd liner, I think Ryan Johnson as of now should be in that role, to me he's much more both offensively and defensively but for some reason Granato doesn't feel the same way.

[Second Line Center]

The depth at D now vs where we were in 2022 is significantly better.  

With a top 4 that could be elite - one of the best groups in the NHL.

I said it a month or so ago.  If and when Power reaches his potential this team will become a Cup contender. 
 

And I feel like he’s getting close…turning a corner it took Dahlin time to find to. 

[sabrefanday1]

Have to admit Bryson has looked really good this year...and other teams have smallish de-men so size really isn't that big a deal with him. I also must admit that while I was kinda on the fence at first about the Byram trade, and lamented losing Mitts, he has already made me a believer. Really good player and without doubt top-2 which is rare to get in a trade 

Edited March 10 by sabrefanday1

[Sabres Fan in NS]

I think Joker will be traded in a package for a top 6 forward.

So ...

Dahlin - Byram

Power - Samusie / Johnson

Clifton -  Johnson / Samusie

Bryson (who will play about 40 - 45 games with Clifton and Johnson sitting 40(ish) between them)

I do not ever want to see 7D dressed unless due to warmup injury or sickness or some such.

 

[mjd1001]

Bryson, I think looked bad (like the rest of the D) when the Forward were a mess in their own end.  

I've noticed that its not just the Sabres stats defensively being better since Jan 1 of this year, but something happened with the forwards. You can SEE it watching the games, and the stats back it up, they are not perfect, but they are making a LOT less mistakes in their own zone.

In the past I commented that all the D-men on this team look worse than they are because of the bad play of the forwards in their own zone. When I would watch the games, or the replays of goals allowed, the D-men would initially often be where they should be, but the forwards? Floating around the blueline, sometimes picking up a man in the zone and then for no reason just leaving the zone, or my favorite, 2 forwards playing 'their' side of the ice, but the 3rd one just randomly chasing a puck he has no chance of getting to, only to leave a HUGE, GAPING hole for an opposing player to jump into, get the puck and have a clear shot at the net.

When all that happened, it made it hard for the D-men on this team and it made them look bad. You can see it on the replays, they had to make a choice, stay in the zone down low, cover a C or Winger hanging around the net, or jump up high to take a winger or D-men at the top of the faceoff circle where the Sabres forward SHOULD be but just decided not to be. The D-men had a 50-50 chance of guessing wrong (and if they DID guess wrong it would look like THEY were out of position), or worse yet, they would often try to cover both guys, going between both defenders (the way they might defend a 2-on-1) and when that went badly it would look like they had NO idea what they were doing and on the 5 seconds of the replay they showed on TV, MOST fans would say..."Look! That D-man is clueless!" When in fact it was the forward who was clueless and the D-man was trying his best to do the job of 2 people.

So back to Bryson. Hes OK. He can be/should be a very good #7 guy and could be a decent 3rd pair guy, but he absolutely needs the support of the forwards in front of him to look good. When he does get it, he looks pretty good.

[JustOneParade]

6 minutes ago, mjd1001 said:

Bryson, I think looked bad (like the rest of the D) when the Forward were a mess in their own end.  

I've noticed that its not just the Sabres stats defensively being better since Jan 1 of this year, but something happened with the forwards. You can SEE it watching the games, and the stats back it up, they are not perfect, but they are making a LOT less mistakes in their own zone.

In the past I commented that all the D-men on this team look worse than they are because of the bad play of the forwards in their own zone. When I would watch the games, or the replays of goals allowed, the D-men would initially often be where they should be, but the forwards? Floating around the blueline, sometimes picking up a man in the zone and then for no reason just leaving the zone, or my favorite, 2 forwards playing 'their' side of the ice, but the 3rd one just randomly chasing a puck he has no chance of getting to, only to leave a HUGE, GAPING hole for an opposing player to jump into, get the puck and have a clear shot at the net.

When all that happened, it made it hard for the D-men on this team and it made them look bad. You can see it on the replays, they had to make a choice, stay in the zone down low, cover a C or Winger hanging around the net, or jump up high to take a winger or D-men at the top of the faceoff circle where the Sabres forward SHOULD be but just decided not to be. The D-men had a 50-50 chance of guessing wrong (and if they DID guess wrong it would look like THEY were out of position), or worse yet, they would often try to cover both guys, going between both defenders (the way they might defend a 2-on-1) and when that went badly it would look like they had NO idea what they were doing and on the 5 seconds of the replay they showed on TV, MOST fans would say..."Look! That D-man is clueless!" When in fact it was the forward who was clueless and the D-man was trying his best to do the job of 2 people.

So back to Bryson. Hes OK. He can be/should be a very good #7 guy and could be a decent 3rd pair guy, but he absolutely needs the support of the forwards in front of him to look good. When he does get it, he looks pretty good.

Thanks for that. It was very instructive. I would see the results of defensive breakdowns but don’t know hockey well enough to understand exactly why they were happening. Also seeing UPL getting hung out dry far less often (which I suppose is the idea).

[French Collection]

I hate to admit it because he was my whipping boy, but he has been good.

He can stay as a 7.

[Thorner]

It may be set. No I think he’s a 7

[K-9]

3 hours ago, Thorny said:

It may be set. No I think he’s a 7

At best.

[inkman]

Bryson is fine. The problem of including him in the top 6 is that the entire defense core doesn’t touch anyone.  Byrum might but Power, Joker, Ryan Johnson don’t at all. Dahlin will but he’s not exactly Scott Stevens when it comes to physical play.  So we have an entire defense that won’t touch anyone.  Maybe that work? 🙄 Are there Stanley Cup winners we can point to that built their D this way?  
 

Forgot Clifton.  He hits and scraps but he’s 5’11”.  Not exactly an intimidating presence. 

[pi2000]

Bryson is not in the top 8... on a playoff team he's not even top 10. 

He's easily knocked off pucks isn't physical enough to clear the net front, win battles etc. etc...  If he's not offsetting that by generating offense then he's a net liability.  

Teams target him, they dump pucks in his corner for easy retrievals, setup 1 on 1's at the net front, and take his lunch money.     He'd be fun to play against... you can dominate him physically and don't need to worry about defending him.

Simply put, he's not an NHL caliber defenseman.  

DO BETTER

[Night Train]

He played far better than Power and Samuelsson many games.  Keep him around as #6 or #7.  Need the depth. Then focus on forwards that don't float and score half their expected total. 

[JoeSchmoe]

5 hours ago, pi2000 said:

Bryson is not in the top 8... on a playoff team he's not even top 10. 

He's easily knocked off pucks isn't physical enough to clear the net front, win battles etc. etc...  If he's not offsetting that by generating offense then he's a net liability.  

Teams target him, they dump pucks in his corner for easy retrievals, setup 1 on 1's at the net front, and take his lunch money.     He'd be fun to play against... you can dominate him physically and don't need to worry about defending him.

Simply put, he's not an NHL caliber defenseman.  

DO BETTER

All year he's generated more scoring chances than he's given up. He's on my team.

[JoeSchmoe]

8 hours ago, inkman said:

Bryson is fine. The problem of including him in the top 6 is that the entire defense core doesn’t touch anyone.  Byrum might but Power, Joker, Ryan Johnson don’t at all. Dahlin will but he’s not exactly Scott Stevens when it comes to physical play.  So we have an entire defense that won’t touch anyone.  Maybe that work? 🙄 Are there Stanley Cup winners we can point to that built their D this way?  
 

Forgot Clifton.  He hits and scraps but he’s 5’11”.  Not exactly an intimidating presence. 

I'm too lazy to look or think too hard about it, but who are these guys on Colorado? Florida? Vancouver? 

I think Samuelson is supposed to be that guy on our team, though he does punch way below his weight class. Dahlin's that guy too. I don't know enough about Byram. Power "should" be that guy but never will be.