Judging the off-season: turning over the bottom six

[dudacek]

The Sabres flushed long-time leaders Kyle Okposo and Zemgus Girgensons from their NHL roster along with Tyson Jost and Victor Olofsson.

in their stead, they acquired of Beck Malenstyn, Nick Aube-Kubel and Sam Lafferty to round out the bottom half of their forward ranks.

Those moves complemented how they brought in the more defensively oriented Jason Zucker and Ryan McLeod as middle 6 options over Jeff Skinner and Casey Mittelstadt.

What do you think about the Sabres new look bottom six and what kind of impact will it have on the coming season?

Edited August 18 by dudacek

[GoPuckYourself]

100% loved what they did with the bottom 6 and I've been begging for it since I can remember. Now were on par imo with most teams bottom pairing players who make it to the playoffs each season. I even don't have a single problem with the Beck Malenstyn draft day trade for a 2nd, it was exactly what we needed to do and liked all the players they brought in to help this team get tougher, faster and more balanced imo.

[That Aud Smell]

I middled this one.

[Dr. Who]

I wandered over here and saw all these new threads and thought maybe a bot was spamming the boards. But then I saw it was only dudacek. Anyway, I am going for option one. This is the way. 

[TheAud]

"...the new guys are hard and fast..."

[Thorner]

Option 2 was too accurate to turn down. If we are not viewing the b6 is isolation for this question 

[Weave]

I’m stuck between 2 and 3.  2 does fit, but there is an element of 3 to my thoughts on the offseason.

It feels desperate.  It doesn’t feel like enough too.

[GASabresIUFAN]

The make over of the 4th line, like most things KA does, was a year too late.  Lafferty is the biggest upgrade here. Aube-Kubel has never been a full time NHLer and Malenstyn is a gamble with only 1 year of NHL experience at 26. More speed and more physicality is a good thing.  Not sure they bring anything more offensively than last year’s mess.

The 3rd line is a complete unknown at this point.  McLeod is a downgrade from Mitts, but an upgrade over Krebs.  Zucker is a downgrade from Skinner offensively, but an upgrade from Olofsson. Greenway is still Greenway and remains limited offensively.  I’m also not sure the 3rd line will actually give us many more goals than the 4th line. 

The other bottom 6 question is where does Krebs fit into the bottom 6?

 

Edited August 19 by GASabresIUFAN

[dudacek]

I like how Lindy put it: we have more situational tools.

Skinner, Olofsson, Mittelstadt Okposo and Jost were 5 of our slowest players and except for Kyle also some of our softest.

They’ve been replaced by Byram, McLeod, Aube-Kubel, Lafferty and Malenstyn, who will be 5 of our fastest players. The latter 3 will likely be our 3 hardest.

We have lot more players we can trust to kill a penalty or protect a lead.

It’s a dramatic shift which should change our team identity.

Its pretty hard not to like it in a vacuum, but it sure puts a ton of pressure on the top 5 forwards to produce because there’s not a lot of offensive upside.

Edited August 19 by dudacek

[PerreaultForever]

I think they are fringe players. Especially Malentstyn. They will only succeed if Ruff manages to install a proper team system that the whole unit plays. If the system breaks down into the usual chaos we've gotten used to they will flounder. 

[French Collection]

McLeod is a solid 3C and his speed will be factor in elevating team speed during games and practices. He will probably be the go to faceoff guy, which has been a missing element since the departure of Eakin. I know faceoffs are toss up but winning a few key puck drops during the season can add a couple of points to the total.

Lafferty, Aube-Kubel and Malenstyn all have speed and grit which were missing qualities in the past few seasons. I think they can easily match the offensive output of Girgs, KO and Jost.

Zucker is not an offensive replacement for Skinner but his type of play and experience is a better fit for middle six duty. The offense is banking on a lot of bounce back from some core guys and improvement from youngsters.

A lot has to go right for this team to make the playoffs, I would feel better if another good piece was added with the remaining cap space.

[Taro T]

7 hours ago, dudacek said:

I like how Lindy put it: we have more situational tools.

Skinner, Olofsson, Mittelstadt Okposo and Jost were 5 of our slowest players and except for Kyle also some of our softest.

They’ve been replaced by Byram, McLeod, Aube-Kubel, Lafferty and Malenstyn, who will be 5 of our fastest players. The latter 3 will likely be our 3 hardest.

We have lot more players we can trust to kill a penalty or protect a lead.

It’s a dramatic shift which should change our team identity.

Its pretty hard not to like it in a vacuum, but it sure puts a ton of pressure on the top 5 forwards to produce because there’s not a lot of offensive upside.

Plus, now Thompson (Tuch too if they want) can be PKers only when the team is desperate for a goal rather than every game PKers.  Considering they both have missed time due to injuries sustained on the PK how many extra goals will that simple change be worth over the course of a season?

[Carmel Corn]

I like the bottom “3” additions along with McLeod.  The concern I have is who in our bottom 6 can jump up to the top 6 when Quinn or TT gets hurt again?  I know Benson or Zucker are possibilities to play top 6 or flex up, but who else?  

[GoPuckYourself]

37 minutes ago, Carmel Corn said:

I like the bottom “3” additions along with McLeod.  The concern I have is who in our bottom 6 can jump up to the top 6 when Quinn or TT gets hurt again?  I know Benson or Zucker are possibilities to play top 6 or flex up, but who else?  

besides McLeod, Benson and Zucker there is also Greenway who has been in the top 6 when needed before.

[R_Dudley]

I also middled it. Hard to trust how you feel about it after what we have seen for the last 13 years but something had to be done to break the unlucky 13 year curse.

[Jorcus]

23 hours ago, dudacek said:

The Sabres flushed long-time leaders Kyle Okposo and Zemgus Girgensons from their NHL roster along with Tyson Jost and Victor Olofsson.

in their stead, they acquired of Beck Malenstyn, Nick Aube-Kubel and Sam Lafferty to round out the bottom half of their forward ranks.

Those moves complemented how they brought in the more defensively oriented Jason Zucker and Ryan McLeod as middle 6 options over Jeff Skinner and Casey Mittelstadt.

What do you think about the Sabres new look bottom six and what kind of impact will it have on the coming season?

Other than Girginsons and maybe a little bit from Okposo all the guys we offloaded were not ones who would take a punch in the face. I like the fact we got speed and am hopeful that the new players are going to do the dirty work so Tuch, Cozens and Dahlin don't end up on IR because they are the ones fighting. 

[Pimlach]

On 8/18/2024 at 1:14 PM, dudacek said:

The Sabres flushed long-time leaders Kyle Okposo and Zemgus Girgensons from their NHL roster along with Tyson Jost and Victor Olofsson.

in their stead, they acquired of Beck Malenstyn, Nick Aube-Kubel and Sam Lafferty to round out the bottom half of their forward ranks.

Those moves complemented how they brought in the more defensively oriented Jason Zucker and Ryan McLeod as middle 6 options over Jeff Skinner and Casey Mittelstadt.

What do you think about the Sabres new look bottom six and what kind of impact will it have on the coming season?

The combinations of Jost/Robinson/ Girgersons/ Okposso /Olofsson are simply non-playoff.   Moving on was long overdue.   

[B-U-F-F-A-L-O]

On 8/18/2024 at 4:19 PM, GASabresIUFAN said:

The make over of the 4th line, like most things KA does, was a year too late.  Lafferty is the biggest upgrade here. Aube-Kubel has never been a full time NHLer and Malenstyn is a gamble with only 1 year of NHL experience at 26. More speed and more physicality is a good thing.  Not sure they bring anything more offensively than last year’s mess.

The 3rd line is a complete unknown at this point.  McLeod is a downgrade from Mitts, but an upgrade over Krebs.  Zucker is a downgrade from Skinner offensively, but an upgrade from Olofsson. Greenway is still Greenway and remains limited offensively.  I’m also not sure the 3rd line will actually give us many more goals than the 4th line. 

The other bottom 6 question is where does Krebs fit into the bottom 6?

 

You tell us the 3rd line is a complete mystery then tell us what you think the 3rd line is… which is it?

Krebs is part of depth. You’re not supposed to have zero depth like so many past Sabre configurations.

Our depth could be the difference we need in making the playoffs this year. RYJO has a pro year under his belt.  Gilbert is going to help and help us stand up for ourselves, Bryson just had his best year….Our defense is going to be super this year….We’ve never rally had depth on D….

On O we have the aforementioned Peyton Krebs who might be ready to help on O… I think this will be the 1st year that both Rosen and Kulich will be called up and ready to play. Ready to help the team win. Having both of them ready might be the key, we’ll see…. We also have Rousek who should hopefully be able to keep the bottom six going when injuries occur. Maybe even Helenius gets a taste? I think we are going to have real depth for the first time in forever…. The suffering is finally over….

We’re doin’ it!

Go Sabres!

 

 

 

 

 

[phil_soisson]

A factor that could have an effect on which of these possible prognostications prevails is situational player deployment. How many times was Granato questioned on those decisions? While Granato's strengths as a developmental coach were acknowledged, presumably Ruff possesses far better experiential instincts and aptitude in regard to who to put on the ice in a given situation, which may commensurately improve outcomes.

[GASabresIUFAN]

Here are the 8 guys who played mostly 3rd and 4th line minutes for the Sabres last season - Krebs, Girgensons, Greenway, Jost, Olofsson, Robinson, Okposo & Benson.  They scored 55 goals last season.

These are the expected 7 guys who will populate the 3rd and 4th lines for the Sabres this coming season - Krebs, Greenway, Zucker, McLeod, Aube-Kubel, Malenstyn and Lafferty - They scored 57 goals last season.  

Not exactly a huge increase in offense.