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Luke Adam makes the cut


Two or less

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I don't know if they will be eligible, but if so, it would be nice to see Kassian and/or McNabb on the U20 Canadian team when they come to Buffalo next December.

...and the sooner Kassian, McNabb and Adam are on the team the better. Size, toughness, skill...

 

Love to see them take the place of Pominville, Connolly and Rivet/Lydman.

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I don't know if they will be eligible, but if so, it would be nice to see Kassian and/or McNabb on the U20 Canadian team when they come to Buffalo next December.

 

Both Kassian and McNabb were two of the youngest players chosen in the past draft, thus it was going to be tough for either of them to make it. The one-month Kassian missed all but killed his chances. Kassian and McNabb have a very good chance at playing in the Buffalo 2011 games. As long as they keep improving and stay healthy.

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Our "Top Six" will not be able to get away with this piss-poor production forever. Two years from now our top two lines may look very, very different.

Our blueline could also be a lot different come the start of the 11-12 season. Lydman and Tallinder could be gone at the end of this season and Rivet after the following season.

 

PS I never thought this would be possible prior to the season starting, but I'm beginning to wish that the Sabres offer Tallinder a new contract. Would DR be crazy to offer new deals to both Lydman and Hank?

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Our blueline could also be a lot different come the start of the 11-12 season. Lydman and Tallinder could be gone at the end of this season and Rivet after the following season.

 

PS I never thought this would be possible prior to the season starting, but I'm beginning to wish that the Sabres offer Tallinder a new contract. Would DR be crazy to offer new deals to both Lydman and Hank?

 

Not sure. I wouldn't mind Hank back, and like you, i can't believe i'm saying that. The problem is, as forwards are rising to the top like Gerbe, Ennis, and Adam, Kassian and even Corey Tropp, who i'm not sure if people have noticed, but he's leading NCAA D1 in goals with 16. He's a junior but really a sophomore (experience wise) due to his suspension last year for the hit. Tropp could be a real special player IMO, goes to the net, great 2-way, speedy...

 

On defense, all our prospects (except Butler and Myers) have gone down south. Weber is still an unknown, although he's played good for Portland. Persson is nothing special. Drew Schiestel looks over matched at the AHL level and TJ Brennan is struggling big time in Portland. 0 goals, 4 assists. He was a hard hitter and a big point guy... but so far he ain't hitting anything.

 

Speaking of college though, anyone notice 2 of the top 6 teams in the country have starting goalies drafted by Buffalo? Connor Knapp (#1 ranked Miami of Ohio) and Brad Eidsness (#6 ranked North Dakota).

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Our blueline could also be a lot different come the start of the 11-12 season. Lydman and Tallinder could be gone at the end of this season and Rivet after the following season.

 

PS I never thought this would be possible prior to the season starting, but I'm beginning to wish that the Sabres offer Tallinder a new contract. Would DR be crazy to offer new deals to both Lydman and Hank?

I know we can't swing keeping both, possibly neither. Hank will be getting a very inflated contract on the open market based on this season's solid numbers and improved performance, though how much of that is attributable to being paired with Myers we'll never know. Therefore, I'm more inclined to keep a deflated Lydman, who will be much more affordable, and in my opinion, has proven over the years to be an overall better defenseman than Hank.

 

We have Brennan, Weber and Gragnani chomping at the bit to come up from Portland, and all are having very good years. I submit we could have paired Paetsch with Myers and had similar results to what we are getting with the Tallinder/Myers combo, so despite the obvious improvement in Hanks game, I think he needs to be the one to go.

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On defense, all our prospects (except Butler and Myers) have gone down south. Weber is still an unknown, although he's played good for Portland. Persson is nothing special. Drew Schiestel looks over matched at the AHL level and TJ Brennan is struggling big time in Portland. 0 goals, 4 assists. He was a hard hitter and a big point guy... but so far he ain't hitting anything.

 

While I agree that Persson may not end up taking the next step, between Weber, Scheistel, Brennan, Biega, McNabb and Crawford along with Southorn, Generous and Kostka, you would think at least a couple of them would pan out somewhere down the road.

 

I didn't include Gragnani as I still believe he could be an asset in the forward ranks or he will be moving on eventually.

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I know we can't swing keeping both, possibly neither. Hank will be getting a very inflated contract on the open market based on this season's solid numbers and improved performance, though how much of that is attributable to being paired with Myers we'll never know. Therefore, I'm more inclined to keep a deflated Lydman, who will be much more affordable, and in my opinion, has proven over the years to be an overall better defenseman than Hank.

 

We have Brennan, Weber and Gragnani chomping at the bit to come up from Portland, and all are having very good years. I submit we could have paired Paetsch with Myers and had similar results to what we are getting with the Tallinder/Myers combo, so despite the obvious improvement in Hanks game, I think he needs to be the one to go.

You started off reasonably enough, but spiraled out of control in the 2nd paragraph.

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While I agree that Persson may not end up taking the next step, between Weber, Scheistel, Brennan, Biega, McNabb and Crawford along with Southorn, Generous and Kostka, you would think at least a couple of them would pan out somewhere down the road.

 

I didn't include Gragnani as I still believe he could be an asset in the forward ranks or he will be moving on eventually.

 

Biega's showing some red flags this year, but it probably has more to do with the fact that Harvard is an absolute joke. He's the kind of guy who career-wise, probably would've been better served leaving last year (even if skating with two of his brothers is a good experience), but that wasn't happening since he's at Harvard.

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On defense, all our prospects (except Butler and Myers) have gone down south. Weber is still an unknown, although he's played good for Portland. Persson is nothing special. Drew Schiestel looks over matched at the AHL level and TJ Brennan is struggling big time in Portland. 0 goals, 4 assists. He was a hard hitter and a big point guy... but so far he ain't hitting anything.

I disagree with your negative assessment of our Portland prospects. Gragnani started out the year injured, but has 10 points in 17 games and a solid +4 rating. He could be a big asset for us as a Housley type puck carrying defenseman. Weber isn't an unknown at all. He's spent some significant time with us at the NHL level and played pretty well. He's dealt with some injuries in the past that have slowed his development, but right now he's our most solid blue liner in Portland. Brennan is not a scorer, so looking at offensive numbers from him would be a mistake. He's got 45 PIM in just 22 games, and is playing tough as expected considering it's his first run at the AHL level.

 

Of course, we never know until we seem them perform at the NHL level so at this point we're just guessing. Hope my guess is right!

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I disagree with your negative assessment of our Portland prospects. Gragnani started out the year injured, but has 10 points in 17 games and a solid +4 rating. He could be a big asset for us as a Housley type puck carrying defenseman. Weber isn't an unknown at all. He's spent some significant time with us at the NHL level and played pretty well. He's dealt with some injuries in the past that have slowed his development, but right now he's our most solid blue liner in Portland. Brennan is not a scorer, so looking at offensive numbers from him would be a mistake. He's got 45 PIM in just 22 games, and is playing tough as expected considering it's his first run at the AHL level.

 

Of course, we never know until we seem them perform at the NHL level so at this point we're just guessing. Hope my guess is right!

 

When i said unknown, i didn't mean unknown to the fans, but unknown future. Used a wrong word. He's still very much a project. His rookie season with Buffalo was great. Just as his season in Rochester. He had comparisons to Rhett Warrener and all was great. Second season he was bad. Very bad. Then came injuries. Weber is doing WELL in the AHL now, but nothing to get super excited about.

 

As for Brennan, Sabres picked him for his offensive upside. He can also use his weight, i agree, which is an asset, but his big contribution to the Sabres/NHL will be his smooth skating and his offensive upset and probably a PP QB. He has shown zero signs of that happening.

 

And, Grags.... he won't be in the NHL. Housley? Not a chance. Grangnani is great with his hands and can score. But, he gets very lazy at times (more often then not) and he's SOFT... very SOFT. Lazy and soft don't make it to the NHL and i really doubt Sabres re-sign him when his deal expires.

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