Sabres acquire Forward Beck Malenstvn for 43rd Overall

[LGR4GM]

1 hour ago, Mr. Allen said:

It might’ve been already discussed, but with this guy being an RFA, why didn’t we just offer sheet him?  With such a low salary I’m sure the compensation would’ve been lower than an early-ish 2nd. 

Cuz Washington could have just matched and then you'd just have nothing but a 2nd round pick who will be here in 3-5 years

[shrader]

1 hour ago, Mr. Allen said:

It might’ve been already discussed, but with this guy being an RFA, why didn’t we just offer sheet him?  With such a low salary I’m sure the compensation would’ve been lower than an early-ish 2nd. 

There’s no guarantee that works. It also uses next year’s pick instead of this year’s. 

[Slack_in_MA]

1 hour ago, Weave said:

My suspicion is he becomes notably less gritty on a team without backup.  Shades of Connor Clifton.

I think Clifton’s drop off was due to Meatballs’ philosophy. I think we see Clifton return to form under Ruff.

[Pimlach]

Lets stop worrying about an overpay when we had 2 second rounders and we have more prospects than we can ever use.   

I get that overpaying for a 4th liner is not ideal but other GMs know what we have and Malenstyn is also just scratching the surface as a player.  And there is backlog of more good prospects just from the recent two drafts.   

There is much more work to do and Adams needs move on from certain players and bring in some better players.  You cannot change the culture by leaving everything the same.  Get a few guys that have won and are not old and burned out.  

The Country Club of "guys that want to be here" must end.  The saying "guys that want to be here" must end along with the ridiculous term "blockers".  

[Stoner]

Lindy. No Skinny. Big hitter from Warshington.

Save us, Guelli!

#sug

[That Aud Smell]

1 hour ago, nfreeman said:

The Coen brothers did an excellent remake of this movie about 10 years ago starring Jeff Bridges and … Josh Allen’s GF!

Man, one of the first things i’m gonna do in retirement is get an air bnb in some eastern mountain range and watch every Coen Brothers movie over the course of a week.

Edited June 30 by That Aud Smell

[nfreeman]

10 minutes ago, That Aud Smell said:

Man, one of the first things i’m gonna do in retirement is get an air bnb in some eastern mountain range and watch every Coen Brothers movie over the course of a week.

I think there's been plenty of up-and-down in their oeuvre (and there's today's Sabrespace word of the day!), but the highs are very, very high.

[Pimlach]

20 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

Lindy. No Skinny. Big hitter from Warshington.

Save us, Guelli!

#sug

Why do you think Guelli is involved in any of this? 

His big job is to fix the roof and get the scoreboard in on time and working to spec (with no accidents). 

[That Aud Smell]

14 minutes ago, nfreeman said:

I think there's been plenty of up-and-down in their oeuvre (and there's today's Sabrespace word of the day!), but the highs are very, very high.

Hear, hear. I also think the lows could be mitigated by watching them in the context of the highs.

[Stoner]

25 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

Why do you think Guelli is involved in any of this? 

His big job is to fix the roof and get the scoreboard in on time and working to spec (with no accidents). 

Just a hunch.

[LTS]

Meh. The Sabres have to overpay a bit, we've established that.

This guy doesn't move the needle much other than swapping around some pieces on the 4th line. He fills a PK role, so that's good.

As far as being afraid to play against him.. well is that a phrase uttered by the 19-20 year old players going up against a 26 year old back in the AHL?

Adams has to make more moves, I think we all agree on that. I'm holding judgment until the team steps on the ice because after 13 years of misery it's too much wasted energy breaking down this team every day.

[shrader]

17 minutes ago, LTS said:

Meh. The Sabres have to overpay a bit, we've established that.

This guy doesn't move the needle much other than swapping around some pieces on the 4th line. He fills a PK role, so that's good.

As far as being afraid to play against him.. well is that a phrase uttered by the 19-20 year old players going up against a 26 year old back in the AHL?

Adams has to make more moves, I think we all agree on that. I'm holding judgment until the team steps on the ice because after 13 years of misery it's too much wasted energy breaking down this team every day.

That hard to play against thing would date back a year or two. So I’d more say you might be dealing with 20-21 year olds against a 24-25 year old. I’m not really sure if there are more than a handful that young in Rochester. I don’t think there’s too much in that thought about the age gap. 

[SDS]

2 hours ago, Archie Lee said:

This is likely where the concern about you misrepresenting Adams's comments comes from.  Your earlier post implied that Adams said the acquisition of Malenstyn alone addressed the issue of team toughness.  Maybe that isn't what you meant. Adams didn't say he is done addressing this issue, only that this player checked the boxes of what they are looking for. 

So, yes, if this is all they do to address team toughness it is woefully inadequate.  But, Adams did not say this is all they need to do or that it is all that they plan to do. 

He’s a Boston fan trolling a Sabres board. Just ignore him. He chooses a screen name of a player whose style he absolutely detests and then manipulates every situation to criticize the Sabres. 

[Thorner]

9 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

That was in that interview I posted above. He certainly does not have that reputation in the NHL but I guess he hits people. Not sure it's much different to what we were told about Robinson though. I think I'd rather have this guy on the bottom 6 than Olofsson, but if this is all they do to address team toughness it's woefully inadequate. 

The point of it is his calling card is “in the AHL” 

[Thorner]

2 hours ago, Pimlach said:

Lets stop worrying about an overpay when we had 2 second rounders and we have more prospects than we can ever use.   

I get that overpaying for a 4th liner is not ideal but other GMs know what we have and Malenstyn is also just scratching the surface as a player.  And there is backlog of more good prospects just from the recent two drafts.   

There is much more work to do and Adams needs move on from certain players and bring in some better players.  You cannot change the culture by leaving everything the same.  Get a few guys that have won and are not old and burned out.  

The Country Club of "guys that want to be here" must end.  The saying "guys that want to be here" must end along with the ridiculous term "blockers".  

There’s not just more work to do there’s more work to do than BEFORE the draft 

Beck is not as good as Skinner, obviously 

“Just scratching the surface” is a dicey proposition and im not sure at his age I agree with that either

it’s a reasonable depth piece. Spade a spade 

Edited June 30 by Thorny

[That Aud Smell]

18 minutes ago, Thorny said:

Beck is not as good as Skinner, obviously 

They’re irrelevant to each other, yeah? 

The Sabres as a vehicle fleet: They ate a bunch of money in order to move on from an unreliable Maserati (sp?) and elsewhere acquired a pickup that appears totally unremarkable (at best) but will reportedly perform better if used and maintained properly.

[Thorner]

1 hour ago, That Aud Smell said:

They’re irrelevant to each other, yeah? 

The Sabres as a vehicle fleet: They ate a bunch of money in order to move on from an unreliable Maserati (sp?) and elsewhere acquired a pickup that appears totally unremarkable (at best) but will reportedly perform better if used and maintained properly.

Sure, but I think the team as a whole is weaker. We can say “there’s more to these moves to come” until the cows come home, and that very well may be true. 

But, counting chickens, and all that jazz

[Weave]

1 hour ago, That Aud Smell said:

They’re irrelevant to each other, yeah? 

The Sabres as a vehicle fleet: They ate a bunch of money in order to move on from an unreliable Maserati (sp?) and elsewhere acquired a pickup that appears totally unremarkable (at best) but will reportedly perform better if used and maintained properly.

Relative to the rest of the race field, the reliable truck is still in the back half.

[dudacek]

3 hours ago, Buffalonill said:

It is a big deal Mangiapane was traded for a 2nd .

Buffalo got a press box player for a 2nd 

 

 

 

Like (I'm assuming), a lot of you, I had to look up Malenstyn when the trade was revealed.

I have no ***** idea if he's any good or not.

And I do think he is unlikely to have a better career than Hank Tallinder, Jason Pominville, Jhonas Enroth and Jake McCabe.

But I know he's already had an as-good or better NHL career than Mark Dutiaume, Daren van Oene, Norm Milley, Jaro Kristek, Milan Bartovic, Doug Janik, Gerard diCaire, Mike Funk, Philip Gogulla, Luke Adam, Connor Hurley, Justin Bailey, Eric Cornel, Vaclav Karabacek, Brendan Guhle and Marcus Davidson.

I know I wanted them to invest prospect capital into players that can help now.

I know I wanted them to add speedy, punishing forecheckers.

I know I wanted them to add defensive chops and character

He played 14 minutes a night with some of the toughest defensive deployment in history. He was the Capitals fastest skater. He finished 12th in the entire NHL in hits. He kills penalties and blocks shots. He's a western Canadian farmboy who toiled for 4 years in the minors before finally making the show. Caps fans seem to respect him.

He seems to tick the requisite boxes.

So even though it looks like an overpay, I kinda shrug.

Maybe the fact I didn't know the player says more about me than it does the Sabres?

He seems like the type of player we need. We'll find out soon enough if he is.

[LTS]

9 minutes ago, Thorny said:

Sure, but I think the team as a whole is weaker. We can say “there’s more to these moves to come” until the cows come home, and that very well may be true. 

But, counting chickens, and all that jazz

When you remodel a house it always looks uglier at the beginning then at the end.  The real key here is what does the end look like. Because I've seen plenty of houses wrapped in Tyvek for years...

[dudacek]

8 minutes ago, Weave said:

Relative to the rest of the race field, the reliable truck is still in the back half.

Probably too early to discuss this, no? If you're talking about comparing off-seasons?

Tampa got appreciably worse. Boston too.

Ottawa and New Jersey filled their biggest hole.

Don't know if anyone else has made significant moves.

And still plenty of shoes to drop.

Besides, I find that this team of year people seem to pay far more attention to additions than departures.

[mjd1001]

Just a thought, maybe he was acquired to 'kinda' take the spot on the roster of Jordan Greenway?

I THINK Greenway had ties to Granato from the team USA days.  With Granato not here anymore, I'm not saying they DON'T want Greenway, but I think its reasonable for one to think one of his bigger cheerleaders is gone.

-They are both Big guys. Greenway a little bigger, but then again Greenway is not as much of a hitter.

-Both were used big time on the PK.

-Malenstyn has a TON more speed, so I would think he would be more useful to Ruff on the forecheck.  A fast guy who can chase the puck into the offensive zone, hit someone on the board to cause a loose puck and then try to get it to the front of the net for the more 'skilled' scorer.

-As far as production goes, he's not that far behind greenway either. 6g and 21p for Malenstyn, 10g 28pts for Greenway. Now Greenway missed some games, but Greenway also got about 20% more ice time per game AND a lot more time in the offensive zone for more potential oportunites.

I mean, Ruff I'm sure is having input into at least the TYPE of player he wants here...and I just have the impression Ruff likes really fast wingers, and not so much the big, plodding guys that don't hit but MAYBE their strength is to win some battles on the boards and thats all.  I just think there is a chance Ruff thinks of his 3rd line and would rather have a 6-foot-3 guy who can absolutely fly down the ice and has a chance to net you 15 goals a year with 3rd line minutes...than a 6-foot-5 guy who is one of the slowest on the team who is primarily here because the last coach had a history with him.

I looked at some of the top teams in the league and wanted to see how 'product' their '3rd' lines are.  I took Boston, Carolina, Colorado, Dallas, Edmonton, Florida, NY Rangers, and Toronto. I sorted their forwards, looked at the their 7th, 8th, and 9th highest scoring forwards, and the 'average' goals for all of them was 12.87.  So my thinking is....Can Malenstyn get you close to that with 3rd line minutes, WHILE giving you hitting, good defensive play, super fast skating, and one of the better penalty killers? If you think he can get you close to 15 goals, you may have your 3rd line winger.

I know I'm repeating myself here, but I'm typing and thinking 'out loud' here...I'm not saying they made the trade to replace Greenway. But get Malenstyn in camp. If he shows that with better deployment than in Washington and a little more ice time they think he could put in 15 goals and 30-40 points (which doesn't seem unreasonable based on last years production with how he was used by Washington), Add to that his speed advantage over Greenway..and I think there is a possibility he may be a 3rd liner in place of Greenway.  If he doesn't show them that he can come close to Greenway's production in a similar role, you still slot him on the 4th line.

Just thinking out loud here, I would not be surprised if he takes a wing role on the 3rd line and Greenway (along with his $3m per year) is shown the way out to another team by the time the regular season starts.

Edited June 30 by mjd1001

[bob_sauve28]

19 minutes ago, mjd1001 said:

Just a thought, maybe he was acquired to 'kinda' take the spot on the roster of Jordan Greenway?

I THINK Greenway had ties to Granato from the team USA days.  With Granato not here anymore, I'm not saying they DON'T want Greenway, but I think its reasonable for one to think one of his bigger cheerleaders is gone.

-They are both Big guys. Greenway a little bigger, but then again Greenway is not as much of a hitter.

-Both were used big time on the PK.

-Malenstyn has a TON more speed, so I would think he would be more useful to Ruff on the forecheck.  A fast guy who can chase the puck into the offensive zone, hit someone on the board to cause a loose puck and then try to get it to the front of the net for the more 'skilled' scorer.

-As far as production goes, he's not that far behind greenway either. 6g and 21p for Malenstyn, 10g 28pts for Greenway. Now Greenway missed some games, but Greenway also got about 20% more ice time per game AND a lot more time in the offensive zone for more potential oportunites.

I mean, Ruff I'm sure is having input into at least the TYPE of player he wants here...and I just have the impression Ruff likes really fast wingers, and not so much the big, plodding guys that don't hit but MAYBE their strength is to win some battles on the boards and thats all.  I just think there is a chance Ruff thinks of his 3rd line and would rather have a 6-foot-3 guy who can absolutely fly down the ice and has a chance to net you 15 goals a year with 3rd line minutes...than a 6-foot-5 guy who is one of the slowest on the team who is primarily here because the last coach had a history with him.

I looked at some of the top teams in the league and wanted to see how 'product' their '3rd' lines are.  I took Boston, Carolina, Colorado, Dallas, Edmonton, Florida, NY Rangers, and Toronto. I sorted their forwards, looked at the their 7th, 8th, and 9th highest scoring forwards, and the 'average' goals for all of them was 12.87.  So my thinking is....Can Malenstyn get you close to that with 3rd line minutes, WHILE giving you hitting, good defensive play, super fast skating, and one of the better penalty killers? If you think he can get you close to 15 goals, you may have your 3rd line winger.

I know I'm repeating myself here, but I'm typing and thinking 'out loud' here...I'm not saying they made the trade to replace Greenway. But get Malenstyn in camp. If he shows that with better deployment than in Washington and a little more ice time they think he could put in 15 goals and 30-40 points (which doesn't seem unreasonable based on last years production with how he was used by Washington), Add to that his speed advantage over Greenway..and I think there is a possibility he may be a 3rd liner in place of Greenway.  If he doesn't show them that he can come close to Greenway's production in a similar role, you still slot him on the 4th line.

Just thinking out loud here, I would not be surprised if he takes a wing role on the 3rd line and Greenway (along with his $3m per year) is shown the way out to another team by the time the regular season starts.

Why can't he be a compliment to Greenway.

 

No way we get rid of Greenway!

[mjd1001]

4 minutes ago, bob_sauve28 said:

Why can't he be a compliment to Greenway.

 

No way we get rid of Greenway!

He could.  I just fall back to the fact that when I hear Ruff talk, I really really think he likes his wingers to be guys that are fast, fly down the ice. That is NOT Greenway, and a lot of the reason Greenway as brought in was because of Granato and their prior relationship when he was  younger.  

I just think they are likely to battle it out in camp. If Malenstyn outperforms or even equals Greenway's play in camp, with his speed I think he gets a spot higher in the lineup than Greenway, and that might mean the end of Greenway's time in Buffalo.  I guess they could both be 3rd line wingers, but ideally I'd only one one guy on my third line with '15 goal potential' and the other winger I'd want with a bit more stick skill.

I agree with your point that its likely they both make this team and they can compliment each other. Its just I have this 'feeling', nothing more than just a 'feeling' i'm trying to explain that, giving up a 2nd round pick, they see more in him than a PK'er and a 12 minute per game 4th liner. To me that means potential 3rd liner and that means its a shot Greenway won't have his spot.

Edited June 30 by mjd1001

[PerreaultForever]

6 hours ago, Archie Lee said:

This is likely where the concern about you misrepresenting Adams's comments comes from.  Your earlier post implied that Adams said the acquisition of Malenstyn alone addressed the issue of team toughness.  Maybe that isn't what you meant. Adams didn't say he is done addressing this issue, only that this player checked the boxes of what they are looking for. 

So, yes, if this is all they do to address team toughness it is woefully inadequate.  But, Adams did not say this is all they need to do or that it is all that they plan to do. 

This sort of dissection is what makes the internet a pile of garbage. There's no "concern" over my comment. It's a comment on a sports chat website. It ain't a presidential debate. YOU seem overly concerned with semantics and exact wording and frankly I couldn't give a toss. 

The team is still soft, unless they add more. That's ALL that matters to me.