dudacek Posted August 27, 2015 Report Share Posted August 27, 2015 (edited) Two more new faces, each with question marks Carlo Colaiacovo D (one season left at $900,000 per, age 32) Philadelphia 33/2/6/8/0/10 Matt Donovan D (one season left at $825,000 per, age 25) New York Islanders 13/0/3/3/4/0 A year ago, Tim Murray dove head-first into the bargain bin of depth defencemen and came up with Andre Benoit and Tyson Strachan clutched between his teeth. It wasn’t the meal he was looking for. Each ended up forced into roles above their ability and weren’t invited back. This summer, Murray tried his luck again at the same store. You’d have to have been really paying attention to realize Matt Donovan and Carlo Colaiacovo were in the NHL from start to finish last season. Colaiacovo got good reviews and regular ice time with the Flyers, but his season — as it always is — was limited by injury. From 2008-12, he put up a nice run of 30–point seasons with the Blues — even then missing 15-20 games a year. He’s played just 64 games in the three seasons since. Donovan, meanwhile, defined press-box defenceman. Despite good health, he dressed just 13 times last year for an Islander team that was unwilling to trust him on the ice, or to the waiver wire. The flip side for this Oklahoma-born-and-raised 2010 WJC gold medal winner is that he has dominated offensively every time he has been given the opportunity — 53 points in 87 college games and 119 points 180 games in the AHL. Murray has given a pair of low-profile puck-movers the opportunity to show they are NHL-worthy. Given the lack of depth on the Sabre blueline, fans have to hope they are up to the challenge. Links to the rest of the series: Anders Lindback: http://forums.sabres...nders-lindback/Pat Kaleta: http://forums.sabres...patrick-kaleta/Johan Larsson: http://forums.sabres...-johan-larsson/Matt Hackett: http://forums.sabres...1-matt-hackett/Andrej Meszaros: http://forums.sabres...ndrej-meszaros/Phil Varone, Zac Dalpe, Jerry D'Amigo: http://forums.sabres...e-dalpe-damigo/Mikhail Grigorenko: http://forums.sabres...ail-grigorenko/Tyson Strachan, Andre Benoit: http://forums.sabres...han-and-benoit/Mark Pysyk: http://forums.sabres...w-3-mark-pysyk/Tim Schaller: http://forums.sabres...9-tim-schaller/Matt Ellis: http://forums.sabres...-37-matt-ellis/Cody Hodgson: http://forums.sabres...9-cody-hodgson/Tyler Ennis: http://forums.sabres...63-tyler-ennis/Chad Johnson: http://forums.sabres...3-chad-johnson/Nick Deslauriers: http://forums.sabres...ck-deslauriers/Cody McCormick: http://forums.sabrespace.com/topic/23505-roster-review-8-cody-mccormick/Rasmus Ristolainen: http://forums.sabrespace.com/topic/23511-roster-review-55-rasmus-ristolainen/Josh Gorges: http://forums.sabrespace.com/topic/23515-roster-review-4-josh-gorges/Matt Moulson: http://forums.sabrespace.com/topic/23526-roster-review-26-matt-moulson/Marcus Foligno: http://forums.sabrespace.com/topic/23528-roster-review-82-marcus-foligno/Zach Bogosian: http://forums.sabrespace.com/topic/23530-roster-review-47-zach-bogosian/David Legwand: http://forums.sabrespace.com/topic/23537-roster-review-17-david-legwand/Brian Gionta: http://forums.sabrespace.com/topic/23544-roster-review-12-brian-gionta/Zemgus Girgensons: http://forums.sabrespace.com/topic/23556-roster-review-28-zemgus-girgensons/Robin Lehner: http://forums.sabrespace.com/topic/23560-roster-review-40-robin-lehner/ Mike Weber: http://forums.sabrespace.com/topic/23569-roster-review-6-mike-weber/ Evander Kane: http://forums.sabrespace.com/topic/23572-roster-review-9-evander-kane/ Edited August 27, 2015 by dudacek Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weave Posted August 27, 2015 Report Share Posted August 27, 2015 Who? If all goes well they will be an asterisk that barely had their cups of coffee here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dudacek Posted August 27, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 27, 2015 Who? If all goes well they will be an asterisk that barely had their cups of coffee here. Fair comment. But all going well means acquiring more defence men. At this point we have nobody else. They have NHL contracts and as the roster is currently set will battle Mike Weber for ice time on the bottom pair. That assumes Pysyk is in the top four. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorny Posted August 28, 2015 Report Share Posted August 28, 2015 Am I the only one that thinks Donovan has a chance to be a decent #6 D? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dudacek Posted August 28, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 28, 2015 (edited) Am I the only one that thinks Donovan has a chance to be a decent #6 D?Not at all. I can't say I really remember watching him play, but he is young enough and has proven everything he needed to prove in the AHL. Had anyone heard of Deslauriers before Murray plucked him from the Kings? We have a crying need for a guy who can play the PP. You have to admit though, he comes with a strong whiff of Marc-Andre Gragnani. Edited August 28, 2015 by dudacek Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rasmus_ Posted August 28, 2015 Report Share Posted August 28, 2015 Not a fan of any of these guys. Trade!@! I went with Donovan, but Ruhwedel and Colaiacovo are likely ahead of him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huckleberry Posted August 28, 2015 Report Share Posted August 28, 2015 Not a fan of any of these guys. Trade!@! I went with Donovan, but Ruhwedel and Colaiacovo are likely ahead of him. I think McCabe is a better player than those guys but will be send to the AHL for the start of the year. Meanwhile Murray can see if he has a Decent NHL defenseman in this group. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnnyK Posted August 28, 2015 Report Share Posted August 28, 2015 Good depth signings now sign Cody F and see wins a job and ice time on our D Go Sabres!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
North Buffalo Posted August 28, 2015 Report Share Posted August 28, 2015 I think McCabe is a better player than those guys but will be send to the AHL for the start of the year. Meanwhile Murray can see if he has a Decent NHL defenseman in this group. Agreed would rather see McCabe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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