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Pirates look at Gerbe on defense


wildcat48

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I do agree that the Sabres could go out and get an ECHL guy, and I don't know why they haven't.

I thought that I had read that Dineen had done this earlier in the season for defensemen and recently for goaltenders. Why can't he do it now?

 

I did see that Kostka was player of the week again for the Pirates. Maybe it will be good for his development (I know it's a long shot for him, but we sure could use a right-handed defenseman prospect.)

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as shrader said, this could just be a bluff meant to wrankle darcy and the LQ. if dineen is serious, then let's make a prediction that's the inverse of the one made earlier in the year about how gerbe would deke chara by going under his legs. which is to say: some rangy winger prospect is going to step over our wee man.

 

Calling up people is fine, but the issue here is not replacing them with anyone. The team clearly has some injury issues and the Sabres should be signing a body or two to fill those slots. Who cares if they're ECHL journeymen, it's still a healthy body to play on the blue line.
The more I think about it, this is pretty clearly a bluff by Dineen. He's sending the message "look, either you help us out or we'll have to do this". There's no way Gerbe is the best option, especially considering the fact that Mancari played a bit of D on Rochester (unless he's hurt too).
I know I said it somewhere, but it doesn't have to be a standard AHL defenseman at this point. They just need bodies. If it's an ECHL journeyman, then so be it. Then there are always guys out there in the Nolan Pratt mold. If they really wanted to find a stop gap for this team, they could.

i agree with every take shrader has here.

 

i didn't read the article, but i infer that the guy with cookies (wildcat) is grousing about the pirates' situation. while the big club needn't apologize for keeping butler up or doing anything else with personnel in order to make a push to the playoffs, i don't see why the sabres can't sign some gamers from the next league down to fill in on a 2-week contract, or whatever.

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Since Lindy stresses that all his players know how to play defensive hockey; this will only help Gerbe's game in the long run. Dineen can move around the guys every couple games to give them all some D practice. Thanks for being a great minor league - teaching coach for the Sabres Dineen!

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Wow... This has generated a lot of interest and that is great for me!!!

 

If more people visit Maine Hockey Journal maybe I can buy that new pair of shoes. LOL.... :lol:

 

I guess I need to start over and try to explain this from a Pirates point of view...

 

My issue is Buffalo sitting with X number of bodies in Buffalo, while the Pirates are have barely enough players to make a complete roster. That's it... That's my issue.

 

Buffalo agreed to provide Portland with X number of players as part of the affiliation agreement. But, Regier sat in Portland and said they would provide a team that resembled an AHL team. This team has been a sub .500 record team since December and as of right now they look like a team that doesn't seem playoff bound. For close to two weeks, the Pirates had five defensemen and Buffalo did nothing to bring in another d-man either from the ECHL, AHL loan or a player from Buffalo.

 

Injuries has been an issue and that's not Regier's fault. But, it is Regier responsibility to provide players for the Pirates. The Pirates don't have a hockey operations dept... It's the Sabres.

 

If we're talking Chris Butler... No one is going to argue that he hasn't earned a roster spot, but if he's going to play why couldn't Buffalo make a trade for an AHL player who could play in the NHL, if an injury happened? Philly picked up Kyle McLaren for a 6th round pick (trade later rejected by Philly). Anaheim dealt Logan Stephenson for Petri Kontiola. Shane O'Brien was available from Vancouver and played for Dineen during the Anaheim Ducks days in Portland.

 

There were players available and Regier just didn't act...

 

If we're talking Nathan Paetsch then he could be sent down by waivers -- do you really think he'd be claimed with all the players put on waivers as of late? Tom Preissing is in Manchester.

 

Even so, the Sabres could have Paetsch in Portland on a conditioning stint. When was the last time he played?

 

Shrader understands where I'm coming from.

 

It's not about throwing the Sabres under the bus, flaming them, or creating havoc, whining or anything like that.

 

I'm a beat writer that covers the Portland Pirates and it's my job to convey their thoughts, the fans thoughts and present facts based on the information I obtain. You are readers who provide your opinions and I respect that a great amount. I will say that I couldn't say that with Anaheim. :thumbsup:

 

****************

 

Next little fact and it's interesting one at that.

 

The AHL Clear Day Roster is coming up Wednesday and Chris Butler was sent down for four hours on Trade D-day so he would be eligible to play for Portland after Wednesday. It still leaves the possibility that Butler will be sent back to Portland. Also, players can not be on PTO's after Wednesday so if a player is on a PTO, they have to be signed to a SPC or released. The Sabres will need to make adjustments to fulfill a roster of 23 players.

 

ATO's don't count so I am sure the Pirates will see several players who season is over in college or juniors.

 

That's just something to keep in mind as Mar 11th comes near when the 3pm deadline approaches for the team to submit their clear day roster.

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Wow... This has generated a lot of interest and that is great for me!!!

 

If more people visit Maine Hockey Journal maybe I can buy that new pair of shoes. LOL.... :lol:

 

I guess I need to start over and try to explain this from a Pirates point of view...

 

My issue is Buffalo sitting with X number of bodies in Buffalo, while the Pirates are have barely enough players to make a complete roster. That's it... That's my issue.

 

Buffalo agreed to provide Portland with X number of players as part of the affiliation agreement. But, Regier sat in Portland and said they would provide a team that resembled an AHL team. This team has been a sub .500 record team since December and as of right now they look like a team that doesn't seem playoff bound. For close to two weeks, the Pirates had five defensemen and Buffalo did nothing to bring in another d-man either from the ECHL, AHL loan or a player from Buffalo.

 

Injuries has been an issue and that's not Regier's fault. But, it is Regier responsibility to provide players for the Pirates. The Pirates don't have a hockey operations dept... It's the Sabres.

 

If we're talking Chris Butler... No one is going to argue that he hasn't earned a roster spot, but if he's going to play why couldn't Buffalo make a trade for an AHL player who could play in the NHL, if an injury happened? Philly picked up Kyle McLaren for a 6th round pick (trade later rejected by Philly). Anaheim dealt Logan Stephenson for Petri Kontiola. Shane O'Brien was available from Vancouver and played for Dineen during the Anaheim Ducks days in Portland.

 

There were players available and Regier just didn't act...

 

If we're talking Nathan Paetsch then he could be sent down by waivers -- do you really think he'd be claimed with all the players put on waivers as of late? Tom Preissing is in Manchester.

 

Even so, the Sabres could have Paetsch in Portland on a conditioning stint. When was the last time he played?

 

Shrader understands where I'm coming from.

 

It's not about throwing the Sabres under the bus, flaming them, or creating havoc, whining or anything like that.

 

I'm a beat writer that covers the Portland Pirates and it's my job to convey their thoughts, the fans thoughts and present facts based on the information I obtain. You are readers who provide your opinions and I respect that a great amount. I will say that I couldn't say that with Anaheim. :thumbsup:

 

****************

 

Next little fact and it's interesting one at that.

 

The AHL Clear Day Roster is coming up Wednesday and Chris Butler was sent down for four hours on Trade D-day so he would be eligible to play for Portland after Wednesday. It still leaves the possibility that Butler will be sent back to Portland. Also, players can not be on PTO's after Wednesday so if a player is on a PTO, they have to be signed to a SPC or released. The Sabres will need to make adjustments to fulfill a roster of 23 players.

 

ATO's don't count so I am sure the Pirates will see several players who season is over in college or juniors.

 

That's just something to keep in mind as Mar 11th comes near when the 3pm deadline approaches for the team to submit their clear day roster.

 

I wouldn't risk Paetsch, because I DO think he'd be claimed. But that's just me. You point out some good stuff, should be interesting to see what happens next week.

 

BTW, I blaimed you for our loss last night :thumbsup:

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I wouldn't risk Paetsch, because I DO think he'd be claimed. But that's just me. You point out some good stuff, should be interesting to see what happens next week.

 

BTW, I blaimed you for our loss last night :thumbsup:

 

 

That's ok..... I get blamed for a lot of things...... :bag:

 

:lol:

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If we're talking Nathan Paetsch then he could be sent down by waivers -- do you really think he'd be claimed with all the players put on waivers as of late? Tom Preissing is in Manchester.

 

Paetch clearing waivers is hardly a sure thing.

He's a bargain 6th-7th man at 850,000 next year.

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Paetch clearing waivers is hardly a sure thing.

He's a bargain 6th-7th man at 850,000 next year.

No one will claim him. Haven't you heard? Paetsch sucks and is completely worthless. They could waive him today and not have any problems.

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wildcat,

 

the thing you need to keep in mind is that while there is an affiliate relationship between the Sabres and the Pirates, it's still an agreement between a major league franchise and a minor league franchise. The role of the minor league franchise in this relationship is to support the major league franchise, period. There is no reciprocal requirement for the major league franchise to support the minor league one. You actually expect Regier to trade away an NHL draft pick to get a defenseman to play 10-15 games for Portland? Get real. Expose Paetsch to waivers so he can play some games in Portand, even though the Sabres consider him an NHL-caliber defenseman and would rather have him in Buffalo for the stretch playoff run? Not going to happen.

 

So Gerbe has to play a few games on D. So what? He's probably extremely disappointed that he's not in Buffalo right now, so at least this is a change of pace for him.

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The AHL Clear Day Roster is coming up Wednesday and Chris Butler was sent down for four hours on Trade D-day so he would be eligible to play for Portland after Wednesday. It still leaves the possibility that Butler will be sent back to Portland. Also, players can not be on PTO's after Wednesday so if a player is on a PTO, they have to be signed to a SPC or released. The Sabres will need to make adjustments to fulfill a roster of 23 players.

 

ATO's don't count so I am sure the Pirates will see several players who season is over in college or juniors.

 

That's just something to keep in mind as Mar 11th comes near when the 3pm deadline approaches for the team to submit their clear day roster.

 

Some college teams are now done for the year, so potential PTO's could be right around the corner. The one potential target among draft picks would have to be Alex Biega, but I can't see him leaving Harvard a year early. Matt Generous may end his career with SLU this weekend, so he could soon be an option too. Then again, SLU is on the bubble for the NCAA tourney, so he'll probably stick around through the following week if SLU is eliminated from the ECAC early.

 

edit: SLU should play beyond this weekend.

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