Kassian to Vancouver for Hodgson

[LGR4GM]

If the plan is going to be to roll 3 more or less equal lines, there have to be some cheap players in the mix. Tropp doesn't need the puck and is doing the dirty work reasonably well. Meanwhile, Hodgy and Vanek look like they are developing some chemistry.

 

If Brown is obtainable -- great. I won't say no. But let's not lose sight of the fact that for the first time in half a season Vanek looks like a weapon again.

None of the guys mentioned including McNabb have shown they are ready to be top 6 blueliners in the NHL come 12-13(the closest may be Brennan). In addition, unless Sulzer's agent loses his mind, he should come reasonably priced @ 1mil per season.

Just a quick note on the state of our Salary Cap since we are discussing it. We are projected to have 19 players signed and 5.78mil in space. Now the good news is that Ennis, Kaleta, and Sulzer probably would not cost a lot to resign. Also i would assume the cap goes up about 2-3mil. In theory we could trade a prospect and a 1st rnd pick for a player who is in the 3million range if we wanted to bring in someone. Carry on.

[Weave]

That would be my exact plan: roll 3 lines, 2 scoring and 1 hybrid. Foligno is cheap (900K), Ennis will be relatively cheap (I expect a Stafford-esque second contract 2 year $4 million contract) and Hodgson is relatively cheap ($1.6).

 

Vanek-Hodgson-Brown

Foligno-Ennis-Stafford

Leino-Roy-Pominville

 

I'd be perfectly comfortable with this lineup heading into next season. I'm not opposed to offloading Roy, but at this point I don't want to rely on Luke Adam to fill his role, so we'd have to find somebody else viable...and I can think of worse things in the world than Roy in a contract year when at his age it's his last chance to cash in big time. Also, in any deal for Brown, I'm assuming we're dumping a few million of salary (Sekera or Leopold, for instance). I don't think money is an issue unless we're trying to add Parise or Nash.

 

According to capgeek. If we only sign Kaleta and Ennis and aqcuire Dustin Brown with no other players going back we have about $134,000 in cap space. So, I guess it is doable if you assume (as I would) that Brown will cost us picks and a player.

 

That would give us;

 

Vanek Hodgson Brown

Foligno Ennis Stafford

Leino Roy Pommer

Gerbe McC Kaleta

Tropp

 

Myers, Regehr, Ehrhoff, Leopold, Sekera, Weber

 

Miller, Enroth

 

I would be comfortable going into next season with something along those lines. McC centering the 4th line would be my only concern.

[dEnnis the Menace]

According to capgeek. If we only sign Kaleta and Ennis and aqcuire Dustin Brown with no other players going back we have about $134,000 in cap space. So, I guess it is doable if you assume (as I would) that Brown will cost us picks and a player.

 

That would give us;

 

Vanek Hodgson Brown

Foligno Ennis Stafford

Leino Roy Pommer

Gerbe McC Kaleta

Tropp

 

Myers, Regehr, Ehrhoff, Leopold, Sekera, Weber

 

Miller, Enroth

 

I would be comfortable going into next season with something along those lines. McC centering the 4th line would be my only concern.

 

Could always re-sign Goose :ph34r:

 

All kidding aside, that lineup is pretty solid. I'd rather keep Sulzer than Weber, as I've loved his play as of late, but I don't run capgeek numbers (I leave that to the rest of you), so I can't comment on how that would work number wise.

[shrader]

None of the guys mentioned including McNabb have shown they are ready to be top 6 blueliners in the NHL come 12-13(the closest may be Brennan). In addition, unless Sulzer's agent loses his mind, he should come reasonably priced @ 1mil per season.

 

And on top of that, Brennan is the only one on the list who will be eligible for waivers. The rest can be freely moved back and forth to Rochester.

 

Will Sulzer qualify for waiver exemption under the 80-40 rule? he played 40 games in 10-11 and will only play 29 games this season.

 

I'm not quite sure what you're getting at with this.

[I am Defecting]

Tropp is doing fine, but let's be honest about this: Tropp is not a top-6 RW on a contender.

 

He's top 9 for us. If we can replace him with a similar physical presence, with more offensive upside, then great. But we're talking 6 mil. per year now, unless we replace him with Gaustad, who has less offensive upside, imo.

 

I think we should be paying more attention to the small creative center, shooter, puck possessor formula. There's a lot of room in the center of the ice, and a small center has the same skates, but is able to turn harder and faster on the same ice as a heavier man. Any physicists out there to prove my point for me?

[LastPommerFan]

I'm not quite sure what you're getting at with this.

 

Me either.

[I am Defecting]

Did you really believe that Pommers would be a better captain than Drury?

Edited March 28, 2012 by Yuri Olesha

[Doohickie]

Well Drury was never Captain as such. He was Co-Captain with Briere.

[korab rules]

He's top 9 for us. If we can replace him with a similar physical presence, with more offensive upside, then great. But we're talking 6 mil. per year now, unless we replace him with Gaustad, who has less offensive upside, imo.

 

I think we should be paying more attention to the small creative center, shooter, puck possessor formula. There's a lot of room in the center of the ice, and a small center has the same skates, but is able to turn harder and faster on the same ice as a heavier man. Any physicists out there to prove my point for me?

I want a replacement with a similar offensive presence but more physical upside.

[Robviously]

That would be my exact plan: roll 3 lines, 2 scoring and 1 hybrid. Foligno is cheap (900K), Ennis will be relatively cheap (I expect a Stafford-esque second contract 2 year $4 million contract) and Hodgson is relatively cheap ($1.6).

 

Vanek-Hodgson-Brown

Foligno-Ennis-Stafford

Leino-Roy-Pominville

 

I'd be perfectly comfortable with this lineup heading into next season. I'm not opposed to offloading Roy, but at this point I don't want to rely on Luke Adam to fill his role, so we'd have to find somebody else viable...and I can think of worse things in the world than Roy in a contract year when at his age it's his last chance to cash in big time. Also, in any deal for Brown, I'm assuming we're dumping a few million of salary (Sekera or Leopold, for instance). I don't think money is an issue unless we're trying to add Parise or Nash.

I would still like to move Roy. I'm more convinced than ever that the After-Black-Sunday core needs to be dismantled. We took off last year when Roy went away and we took off this year when Gaustad went away. Stafford got better when we moved him away from Roy. Correlation is not causation, but I've seen enough that I'm ready to find out what this team can do with a new leadership structure.

 

Keep Poms and Vanek as your captain and alternate, then ask the younger guys to step up. The team is at its best when that happens anyway.

[X. Benedict]

I would still like to move Roy. I'm more convinced than ever that the After-Black-Sunday core needs to be dismantled. We took off last year when Roy went away and we took off this year when Gaustad went away. Stafford got better when we moved him away from Roy. Correlation is not causation, but I've seen enough that I'm ready to find out what this team can do with a new leadership structure.

 

Keep Poms and Vanek as your captain and alternate, then ask the younger guys to step up. The team is at its best when that happens anyway.

I'm in no hurry to get rid of Roy. It has taken him almost a year to recover his skating form. Now the Sabres have 3 balanced lines that are all scoring threats and defensively responsible. Take away Roy and you have two lines.

[I am Defecting]

Hodgson, Ennis, and Pominville are the captains of their respective lines.

[wjag]

I'm in no hurry to get rid of Roy. It has taken him almost a year to recover his skating form. Now the Sabres have 3 balanced lines that are all scoring threats and defensively responsible. Take away Roy and you have two lines.

 

I'm with you. Roy does a lot of special teams work. He'll be potting goals again.

[nfreeman]

That would be my exact plan: roll 3 lines, 2 scoring and 1 hybrid. Foligno is cheap (900K), Ennis will be relatively cheap (I expect a Stafford-esque second contract 2 year $4 million contract) and Hodgson is relatively cheap ($1.6).

 

Vanek-Hodgson-Brown

Foligno-Ennis-Stafford

Leino-Roy-Pominville

 

I'd be perfectly comfortable with this lineup heading into next season. I'm not opposed to offloading Roy, but at this point I don't want to rely on Luke Adam to fill his role, so we'd have to find somebody else viable...and I can think of worse things in the world than Roy in a contract year when at his age it's his last chance to cash in big time. Also, in any deal for Brown, I'm assuming we're dumping a few million of salary (Sekera or Leopold, for instance). I don't think money is an issue unless we're trying to add Parise or Nash.

According to capgeek. If we only sign Kaleta and Ennis and aqcuire Dustin Brown with no other players going back we have about $134,000 in cap space. So, I guess it is doable if you assume (as I would) that Brown will cost us picks and a player.

 

That would give us;

 

Vanek Hodgson Brown

Foligno Ennis Stafford

Leino Roy Pommer

Gerbe McC Kaleta

Tropp

 

Myers, Regehr, Ehrhoff, Leopold, Sekera, Weber

 

Miller, Enroth

 

I would be comfortable going into next season with something along those lines. McC centering the 4th line would be my only concern.

Could always re-sign Goose :ph34r:

 

All kidding aside, that lineup is pretty solid. I'd rather keep Sulzer than Weber, as I've loved his play as of late, but I don't run capgeek numbers (I leave that to the rest of you), so I can't comment on how that would work number wise.

I would still like to move Roy. I'm more convinced than ever that the After-Black-Sunday core needs to be dismantled. We took off last year when Roy went away and we took off this year when Gaustad went away. Stafford got better when we moved him away from Roy. Correlation is not causation, but I've seen enough that I'm ready to find out what this team can do with a new leadership structure.

 

Keep Poms and Vanek as your captain and alternate, then ask the younger guys to step up. The team is at its best when that happens anyway.

 

I'm with Robviously on this. It seems like there's a fair amount of forgiving and forgetting going on here. There is still a good 30%-40% chance that the Sabres miss the playoffs, and probably 70% or so that they get bounced in the first round. This is the team with the highest payroll in the NHL, and the same "core" group of forwards that has failed every single GD test since Black Sunday. And I totally agree that trading Gaustad has lit a fire under some underperforming rear ends.

 

If they keep the hammer down, make the playoffs and then upset the Rangers or the Bruins in the first round? OK, in that case I'll be open to tweaking the forward group as opposed to revamping it. But if they don't get out of the first round, and the "core" again produces zero in the playoffs, I'm not interested in a forward group that hasn't parted ways with at least 2 of Roy, Pommer, Vanek and Stafford.

 

None of the guys mentioned including McNabb have shown they are ready to be top 6 blueliners in the NHL come 12-13(the closest may be Brennan). In addition, unless Sulzer's agent loses his mind, he should come reasonably priced @ 1mil per season.

 

I could definitely see McNabb in the top 6 next year. I agree on Sulzer's cost.

 

Did you really believe that Pommers would be a better captain than Drury?

 

Is this a joke?

[K-9]

I think Hodgson played his best game as a Sabre last night. He really seems to be settling in and making very good decisions with the puck. I love the idea of Vanek getting healthier just in time to build great chemistry with a center that knows how to manage the game.

 

GO SABRES!!!

[nfreeman]

I'm in no hurry to get rid of Roy. It has taken him almost a year to recover his skating form. Now the Sabres have 3 balanced lines that are all scoring threats and defensively responsible. Take away Roy and you have two lines.

 

I agree with the bolded parts, but I need to see him deliver in the playoffs. I really believe that when the highly-paid, letter-wearing forwards are passengers in crunch time, it drags everyone down. If he's a nonfactor again, IMHO they need to move him out and get another true center in there (and I realize that it's easier said than done).

[Derrico]

None of the guys mentioned including McNabb have shown they are ready to be top 6 blueliners in the NHL come 12-13(the closest may be Brennan). In addition, unless Sulzer's agent loses his mind, he should come reasonably priced @ 1mil per season.

 

You don't think McNabb is ready? He's looked very solid in his time up here IMO. Brennan has looked good as well. Not to mention we already have The Hoff, Myers, Leo, Sekera, Weber and Regehr all comming back as of right now.

[I am Defecting]

I think you'll find that comparing Pominville to Drury as a captain is not a joke. I don't do stats, but maybe I should, in reference to Hodgson, of course.

Edited March 28, 2012 by Yuri Olesha

[Taro T]

I'm in no hurry to get rid of Roy. It has taken him almost a year to recover his skating form. Now the Sabres have 3 balanced lines that are all scoring threats and defensively responsible. Take away Roy and you have two lines.

It depends what comes back for him. They'd need to either get a center back for him or have already made a deal to get a center to keep from having the glaring 'centers, we don' need no stinkin' centers' conundrum from reappearing.

 

I'm on record as both wanting to get rid of him because I don't want him on either of the top 2 scoring lines and don't like his leadership and advocating for him to be centering the checking line as long as he's here. As long as he stays paired with Pominville and neither Stafford nor Vanek are subjected to playing on his line, I'm not hating the idea of keeping him.

 

For quite some time, the missing pieces on this offense were a 1st line center and a power forward. The Hodgson - Kassian trade, at least for now, seems to have remedied the center issue via the Boston model (no true #1 center but 3 guys that can be #2's, thank you for stepping to the plate Tyler Ennis - as the Labatt's bear said memorably 'did not see that coming') and the power forward issue by making room for Foligno. I'd still like to see a true top 6 power forward for the Hodgson Vanek line, probably even more so than getting that TRUE #1 center but at least now there's A power forward in the top 6. (Tropp's playing well but I don't put him in that category yet.)

 

Most likely both Foligno and Hodgson will suffer through their sophomore slumps, but we might get lucky with Hodgson as he got enough experience last year in the playoffs that this could arguably be considered his sophomore campaign. Having a/another true power forward in the top 6 would lessen the Sabres feeling MF's growth pains considerably.

Edited March 28, 2012 by Taro T

[nfreeman]

I think you'll find that comparing Pominville to Drury as a captain is not a joke. I don't do stats, but maybe I should, in reference to Hodgson, of course.

 

I don't care about the stats, although the most important stat -- playoff wins -- heavily favors Drury.

 

More importantly, when Drury was captain, there was no "fragile little children" issue. Until the last month, Pommer's captaincy has been all about day care for fragile little children. And it's far from clear that that issue has been resolved.

 

Pommer has had a very good year. The team he is captaining has had a very poor year. They have earned a chance at redemption, but they haven't done anything yet with that chance. Let's see if they do so before we start comparing him with Drury, who was an absolute rock.

[Robviously]

I'm with Robviously on this. It seems like there's a fair amount of forgiving and forgetting going on here. There is still a good 30%-40% chance that the Sabres miss the playoffs, and probably 70% or so that they get bounced in the first round. This is the team with the highest payroll in the NHL, and the same "core" group of forwards that has failed every single GD test since Black Sunday. And I totally agree that trading Gaustad has lit a fire under some underperforming rear ends.

 

If they keep the hammer down, make the playoffs and then upset the Rangers or the Bruins in the first round? OK, in that case I'll be open to tweaking the forward group as opposed to revamping it. But if they don't get out of the first round, and the "core" again produces zero in the playoffs, I'm not interested in a forward group that hasn't parted ways with at least 2 of Roy, Pommer, Vanek and Stafford.

Think about when the team has been good the last three years:

2009-2010: Tyler Myers shows up out of nowhere, wins the NHL Rookie of the Year, and leads the team to the division championship. Ryan Miller has his best season.

 

2010-2011: The Sabres have the worst record in hockey at Christmas, Derek Roy goes down, and Vanek starts playing like a superstar. The team makes a furious run to the postseason behind Vanek, Ennis, Gerbe, and Enroth.

 

2011-2012: The Sabres are dead in the water at the trade deadline and unload Gaustad. Suddenly the team gets hot again behind Ennis, Foligno, Stafford. Miller is playing some of the best hockey of his career and Pominville is having his best season (not statistically but definitely in terms of stats and leadership).

 

So of the Black Sunday leftovers, the only ones who ever carried the team anywhere good are Miller, Pominville, and Vanek. Connolly, Gaustad, and Roy were never a big factor when our team has been good; younger guys have had way more to do with it than them.

[Weave]

I'm with Robviously on this. It seems like there's a fair amount of forgiving and forgetting going on here. There is still a good 30%-40% chance that the Sabres miss the playoffs, and probably 70% or so that they get bounced in the first round. This is the team with the highest payroll in the NHL, and the same "core" group of forwards that has failed every single GD test since Black Sunday. And I totally agree that trading Gaustad has lit a fire under some underperforming rear ends.

 

If they keep the hammer down, make the playoffs and then upset the Rangers or the Bruins in the first round? OK, in that case I'll be open to tweaking the forward group as opposed to revamping it. But if they don't get out of the first round, and the "core" again produces zero in the playoffs, I'm not interested in a forward group that hasn't parted ways with at least 2 of Roy, Pommer, Vanek and Stafford.

 

The playoffs are the final exam for the old core. I agree completely with your sentiment that Roy and Stafford especially need to show something in the playoffs if they want to stick around. The lineup I posted was merely a capgeek exersize to see if Brown could fit in our current lineup. I am perfectly OK with limiting changes to that *IF* the guys we need to lean on actually do some supporting this year. if they don't, it's take out the trash time.

[I am Defecting]

 

Pommer has had a very good year. The team he is captaining has had a very poor year. They have earned a chance at redemption, but they haven't done anything yet with that chance. Let's see if they do so before we start comparing him with Drury, who was an absolute rock.

 

I'll be comparing him to Drury. Granted he has a Cup to live up to. From what I've seen lately, Pominville has it in him, and Hodgson can be his first mate.

 

Drury's accomplishments with the Sabres will be surpassed, by Pominville, I think.

[nfreeman]

I'll be comparing him to Drury. Granted he has a Cup to live up to. From what I've seen lately, Pominville has it in him, and Hodgson can be his first mate.

 

Drury's accomplishments with the Sabres will be surpassed, by Pominville, I think.

 

I appreciate the optimism and I hope you're right.

 

Hodgson has looked quite good lately.

[dEnnis the Menace]

I'll be comparing him to Drury. Granted he has a Cup to live up to. From what I've seen lately, Pominville has it in him, and Hodgson can be his first mate.

 

Drury's accomplishments with the Sabres will be surpassed, by Pominville, I think.

 

I hope you're right. Drury was very clutch as our captain when he was here. If Pom can live up to that standard that would be awesome.