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2016-'17 Lineup


Taro T

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He did indeed slip my mind. Seems like we have a fair few forwards to work with, and are completely lacking on the defensive end.

Girgensons - Eichel - Baptiste

Carrier - O'Reilly - Okposo

Kane - Reinhart - Bailey

Foligno - Larsson - Gionta

 

Injury call-ups: Rodrigues, Fasching, Asplund/Nylander (hopefully both are in Rochester)

Never see again: Moulson, Deslauriers, Grant, Ennis

 

Line 1: Eichel gets his Sheary/Hornqvist. This is contingent on Baptiste's continued growth.

Line 2: This line posted ridiculous possession numbers while together, give them slightly easier minutes with Larsson back.

Line 3: They passed the eye test, Kane and Samson are a pairing I really like. Bailey needs to get better with decision-making and consistency.

Line 4: Will get toughest matchups and still spend a lot of time on the attack. 

 

Or, 

 

O'Reilly - Eichel - Okposo 

Kane - Reinhart - Baptiste

Carrier - Girgensons - Gionta

Foligno - Larsson - Bailey

 

One killer top line and piece together the rest.

 

Defensively, bleh. Make something happen with all of the forwards we have. 

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Can we roll four lines next year?

 

Okposo ROR Carrier

Girgensons/Fasching Eichel Nylander/Rodrigues

Kane Reinhart Bailey/Rodrigues/Baptiste

Foligno/Larsson/Girgensons/Gionta

 

Any of the slash guys plus our first pick for a good D

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Can we roll four lines next year?

Okposo ROR Carrier

Girgensons/Fasching Eichel Nylander/Rodrigues

Kane Reinhart Bailey/Rodrigues/Baptiste

Foligno/Larsson/Girgensons/Gionta

 

Any of the slash guys plus our first pick for a good D

I certainly like this idea. I wouldn't hesitate to trade our 1st in this draft at all if it meant a return of a top pair d-man.

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Am I the only one that doesn't get a warm fuzzy over Carrier, Baptiste, E-rod, or Bailey in the top 6 next year?  To me, that's not improvement.

 

I'd add Fasching too but haven't seen enough.

No you are not alone, and you feel that way because they aren't top 6 talent.  

 

I was just contemplating starting a roster thread, but this is as good a place to discuss our roster holes.

 

Top 2 centers: ROR and Eichel - no enhancements needed

Top 2 RW: Okposo and.......

Top 2 LW: Kane and .....

 

So where does everyone else fit, and where do they belong?

Reinhart - Natural position center.  Best role on the Sabres;  3rd line center or top 6 RW?  Personally, because of our lack of legit top 6 wingers, I think his best use is as a Top 6 RW.

Foligno - Arguably our 2nd best LW, but that isn't saying much.  Best role?  IMHO 3rd line LW.

Gionta - Arguably our 2nd best RW if Reinhart plays center. Best role? 3rd line RW for 12 more games.

Ennis - talent and contract says Top 6 winger.  Player since concussions; overpaid 4th liner

Moulson - Contract says top 6 LW.  Performance says 3rd line LW at best, but really an overpaid 4th liner

Delauriers - current role 13th utility forward and sometime D.  Future role, not in the NHL

Girgensons - Talent, size and speed to be an effective 3rd line forward and Pker, performance to date?  Current role 3rd line center, but should be our 4th line center.

Larsson - injured, but projects as a 4th line center and Pker going forward

Bailey, Baptiste and Facshing = all interchangeable RW that aren't quite ready for the NHL.  All potentially could be RW versions of the current Foligno or Gionta, but I don't see any of them as long term top 6 forwards. Bailey has the speed to play with the best, but clearly isn't ready.

Carrier - looks like a 4th line checking LW with limited offensive potential.

Erod - look like a 4th line energy guy with a little offense. 

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Am I the only one that doesn't get a warm fuzzy over Carrier, Baptiste, E-rod, or Bailey in the top 6 next year? To me, that's not improvement.

 

I'd add Fasching too but haven't seen enough.

That's part of having such an excellent center spine. Also, most teams run a balanced top 9 rather than a skill heavy top 6.
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Am I the only one that doesn't get a warm fuzzy over Carrier, Baptiste, E-rod, or Bailey in the top 6 next year?  To me, that's not improvement.

 

I'd add Fasching too but haven't seen enough.

I'd be fine with it, if that guy is added to a group of 5 that contains a healthy O'Reilly, Okposo, Eichel, Reinhart, and Kane (has been a fair few times this season that hasn't been the case).

 

We'll have to hope that Nylander claims that top 6 spot sometimes relatively soon, to really help solidify the unit, provided he reaches his potential.

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That's part of having such an excellent center spine. Also, most teams run a balanced top 9 rather than a skill heavy top 6.

 

Our about-ready prospects not being top 6 players is because we have good centers?  Esplain.

 

OK, if we are talking balanced top 9, I don't get a warm fuzzy out of them on our top 9 either.  Frankly, we don't have the depth for a good top 6.  No way we have the depth for a balanced top 9.

 

Then again, I don't get a warm fuzzy about our prospects in general.  I'm just not seeing breakout talent here.  Guhle might be the only one, and he has yet to play as a pro.

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Our about-ready prospects not being top 6 players is because we have good centers? Esplain.

 

OK, if we are talking balanced top 9, I don't get a warm fuzzy out of them on our top 9 either. Frankly, we don't have the depth for a good top 6. No way we have the depth for a balanced top 9.

 

Then again, I don't get a warm fuzzy about our prospects in general. I'm just not seeing breakout talent here. Guhle might be the only one, and he has yet to play as a pro.

Certainly the 5 current fixtures of our top 6 are good and worthy top 6 players? There is debate about who has the ability to take that last spot, but for my money nearly all of the pieces required for a good top 6 are already here, so I'll disagree that we don't have depth for a good one.

Edited by Thorny
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Certainly the 5 current fixtures of our top 6 are good and worthy top 6 players? There is debate about who has the ability to take that last spot, but for my money nearly all of the pieces required for a good top 6 are already here, so I'll disagree that we don't have depth for a good one.

 

I think Evander Kane should be on our 3rd line, which leaves us with a top 4.  If you want Sam at center we are looking at a top 3.

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Our about-ready prospects not being top 6 players is because we have good centers? Esplain.

 

OK, if we are talking balanced top 9, I don't get a warm fuzzy out of them on our top 9 either. Frankly, we don't have the depth for a good top 6. No way we have the depth for a balanced top 9.

 

Then again, I don't get a warm fuzzy about our prospects in general. I'm just not seeing breakout talent here. Guhle might be the only one, and he has yet to play as a pro.

Having great centers means that we can afford to have just acceptable talent in some wing spots. We'll find the Kunitz to Jack's Crosby, or perhaps the Moulson to Jack's Tavares. Dudacek suggested giving Rodriguez a shot with Jack in this dead season to see if there's something there. That would be smart, but Dan's gonna Dan.

 

Bailey, Baptiste, and Fasching will continue to grow. I think it's a very acceptable gamble to count on one of them to step up for top 6 duty next year.

 

Honestly, our forward depth is already in a pretty good spot. I think Dan's system has you underestimating our talent.

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I think Evander Kane should be on our 3rd line, which leaves us with a top 4.  If you want Sam at center we are looking at a top 3.

It's true that if Sam is moved to where he should be, and ROR isn't moved to LW, it becomes all that much more important that Nylander projects out to a top 6 player. Adding another piece to the top 6 could become necessary depending on Kane's viability there, but right now I'm in the camp that sees him as a good top 6 player.

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Yeah, Sheary turned from Baptiste into Sheary because of Sid. Rust turned from, uh, Baptiste into Rust playing with Malkin. We need our wingers to be able to do this - with Jack, it shouldn't be too hard for one of them to. Keep up, learn how he works, do all that gritty skate hard work hard crap, find space, and you don't need to be Pat Kane to play in the top 6. And then the depth being spread out punishes the other team.

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Yeah, Sheary turned from Baptiste into Sheary because of Sid. Rust turned from, uh, Baptiste into Rust playing with Malkin. We need our wingers to be able to do this - with Jack, it shouldn't be too hard for one of them to. Keep up, learn how he works, do all that gritty skate hard work hard crap, find space, and you don't need to be Pat Kane to play in the top 6. And then the depth being spread out punishes the other team.

ERod can easily do it

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Flagg nailed it: we've got five legit top six forwards and Nylander was picked to be the sixth.

It's better than a lot of teams.

 

Carrier will never be a top-six wing, but he is a forechecking demon who helped ROR and KO drive possession better than pretty much any combo we've seen this year. Use him and those other young guys even strength to wear people down and open space.

 

Perfect world it plays out something like this

 

Eichel 18 minutes

ROR 18

Samson 17

Kane 17

Okposo 17

Nylander 14

Girgensons 14

Larsson 13

Foligno 12

Bailey 12

Fasching 12

Carrier 12

Edited by dudacek
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Flagg nailed it: we've got five legit top six forwards and Nylander was picked to be the sixth.

It's better than a lot of teams.

 

Carrier will never be a top-six wing, but he is a forechecking demon who helped ROR and KO drive possession better than pretty much any combo we've seen this year. Use him and those other young guys even strength to wear people down and open space.

 

Perfect world it plays out something like this

 

Eichel 18 minutes

ROR 18

Samson 17

Kane 17

Okposo 17

Nylander 14

Girgensons 14

Larsson 13

Foligno 12

Bailey 12

Fasching 12

Carrier 12

FWIW, I'd rather have 6 "top 6" forwards across three lines with guys like Carrier, Baptiste, and Bailey that are fast and physical filling in the other spots and making room for the other guys.

 

I'm also hoping we move on from Girgensons and Larson this summer. Out with the old...

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FWIW, I'd rather have 6 "top 6" forwards across three lines with guys like Carrier, Baptiste, and Bailey that are fast and physical filling in the other spots and making room for the other guys.

 

I'm also hoping we move on from Girgensons and Larson this summer. Out with the old...

Idike to give Girgensons a chance in a system that does that confuse HoF players
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FWIW, I'd rather have 6 "top 6" forwards across three lines with guys like Carrier, Baptiste, and Bailey that are fast and physical filling in the other spots and making room for the other guys.

 

 

This is what I want to see.

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Idike to give Girgensons a chance in a system that does that confuse HoF players

Maybe he'll come back to life when we move on from Professor Disco but he comes off like he's barely interested in hockey these past 2 years. I'm fine moving on if our crummy team broke his spirit.
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