Defense Next Year - Could we see major change?

[Huckleberry]

Dahlin – Jokiharju

McCabe – Montour

Pilut – Ristolainen

I do love those pairings, but we still have to see how Jokiharju will work out with his small NHL sample size.

I also agree you don't trade for miller without playing him, I think Joker will start in the AHL if Ristolainen isn't traded.

[Thorny]

On 7/28/2019 at 1:09 PM, GASabresIUFAN said:

https://theathletic.com/1094587/2019/07/25/with-a-sudden-abundance-of-defensemen-which-combos-make-the-most-sense-for-the-sabres-top-six/

Here is the Athletic's analytical take on the Sabres pairings for next season.

Quick thought:

If Risto isn't traded this could very well be the lineup but with Miller in for the injured Pilut, except we'd have the $4 mill man Scandella on the bench and Bogo waiting to come off IR depending on his recovery.  I'd be just fine never seeing Scandella or Bogo again (although I think Scandella can rebound after a tough last season), but Jbot would need to do something to get rid of one or both to save as much of their cap hits as possible.

Can't see them trading for MIller and not playing him, and I also don't see him playing on the left side. Still assuming that means Risto is traded. 

[Zamboni]

Risto will be gone. Plus there’s no way he’s going from playing on the top pair with the most minutes, to playing on the bottom pair with much less ice time. We already have a couple really overpaid bottom dwellers.

[GASabresIUFAN]

Ok McCabe is signed.  We now have 9 NHL D without Jokiharju and the injured Pilut.  Assuming Pilut and Bogo start on IR wer are still 2 D over stocked.  Who goes and who stays and what deals can Jbot find at this late hour.

[nfreeman]

@GASabresIUFAN-- IMHO, it's important to remember that 3 of the 11 Dmen are pretty marginal guys for one reason or another -- we probably wouldn't be confident with either Hunwick or Nelson in the top 6 and Bogo simply can't be relied on to be healthy enough to play, is pretty streaky when he does play and has only 1 year left on his deal.  It would be nuts to factor those 3 guys into any decisions on other guys.

So that leaves 8 guys including Pilut and Joker.  Joker looked good but Chicago decided that he also looked like an overmatched rookie from time to time last year -- which is what Pilut also looked like last year, and Pilut is coming off of major surgery.  I'd be OK with either of those 2 in the top 6 on opening night, but at the same time I wouldn't be surprised if either of them turns out to need another year in the AHL.

And McCabe gets hurt a lot.

And Scandy's smoking hot GF dumped him for his infidelity last year and evidently it messed with his head.

My point is that we're not talking about the 1970s Canadiens here with this D group.  I agree that it's likely some roster/salary moves are coming, but JB has a lot of flexibility and it's not urgent.

[MakeSabresGrr8Again]

37 minutes ago, nfreeman said:

@GASabresIUFAN-- IMHO, it's important to remember that 3 of the 11 Dmen are pretty marginal guys for one reason or another -- we probably wouldn't be confident with either Hunwick or Nelson in the top 6 and Bogo simply can't be relied on to be healthy enough to play, is pretty streaky when he does play and has only 1 year left on his deal.  It would be nuts to factor those 3 guys into any decisions on other guys.

So that leaves 8 guys including Pilut and Joker.  Joker looked good but Chicago decided that he also looked like an overmatched rookie from time to time last year -- which is what Pilut also looked like last year, and Pilut is coming off of major surgery.  I'd be OK with either of those 2 in the top 6 on opening night, but at the same time I wouldn't be surprised if either of them turns out to need another year in the AHL.

And McCabe gets hurt a lot.

And Scandy's smoking hot GF dumped him for his infidelity last year and evidently it messed with his head.

My point is that we're not talking about the 1970s Canadiens here with this D group.  I agree that it's likely some roster/salary moves are coming, but JB has a lot of flexibility and it's not urgent.

There really aren't many options when it comes to Bogo so, out of that group of players I think you have to consider him. Sure, some people would like to be done with him now but, one more season I can deal with. He seemed to be a bit better last season with the surgery he had (needed a maintenance day here and there) so maybe we get lucky and he has a decent year (not enough to re-sign after this but,hey). Useful enough is all I ask.

[GASabresIUFAN]

There are only 4 guarantees right now on D.  Dahlin, Montour, Miller and McCabe, assuming they stay healthy will be in our opening night top 6. Everyone else has a question mark

5) Risto - we need a top 6 center and he is our best trade chip

6) Scandella - had a terrible year last year and is on his final year.  Do we trade him to get under the cap? 

7) Bogosian - hip surgery part two.  Last year on his deal. Likely to start on IR

8.) Hunwick - 2.25 for a 34 year old depth D - could easily be cut for cap space.

9) Nelson - 800k for depth - can be sent down to erase cap hit, but I think he starts as the 4th RHD

10) Jokiharju - Jbot acquired him and if he has a good camp he could jump into the top 6, but is waiver exempt and could easily start in Roch

11) Pilut - See Jokiharju and add starting the season on IR - likely to start in Roch even when healthy to get his legs back.

12) Gilmour - Don’t sleep on him.  Likely signed for AHL depth, but has NHL experience and skates well.  Could easily step into a void if Scandella is traded and Pilut starts on IR.

13) Borgen - Physical RHD who looked ok in 4 NHL games. Waiver exempt, but could step in if Risto traded and Joker shows he isn’t ready. 

That’s a huge group of guys competing for just 4 slots. Jbot will send Joker down if he doesn’t win a top 6 job to insure he plays big minutes.  I think Nelson and Hunwick have the edge on slots 7 & 8 if we keep 8 D to start the season. 

[Derrico]

3 hours ago, nfreeman said:

@GASabresIUFAN

And Scandy's smoking hot GF dumped him for his infidelity last year and evidently it messed with his head.

This I didn’t know.  Let’s hope he isn’t holding any of that baggage this season.  It was strange seeing him go from atleast competent middle/bottom pair to tire fire almost overnight. 

[Weave]

6 hours ago, nfreeman said:

And Scandy's smoking hot GF dumped him for his infidelity last year and evidently it messed with his head.

 

 Say what now?

[GASabresIUFAN]

I didn’t know this either.

https://953wdae.iheart.com/content/2019-03-29-buffalos-marco-scandella-made-a-huge-mistake-cheating-on-his-girlfriend/

https://www.barstoolsports.com/chicks/insanely-hot-model-gets-cheated-on-by-nhl-player-sells-his-jersey-on-ebay-for-charity

He should be waived just for blatant stupidity.

Edited August 4, 2019 by GASabresIUFAN

[Thorny]

On 8/3/2019 at 10:17 AM, GASabresIUFAN said:

Ok McCabe is signed.  We now have 9 NHL D without Jokiharju and the injured Pilut.  Assuming Pilut and Bogo start on IR wer are still 2 D over stocked.  Who goes and who stays and what deals can Jbot find at this late hour.

They may carry 8 on the roster, in which case, we are only 1 over once Pilut and Bogo go to IR (is this even confirmed? I thought Pilut had a chance to make it back on time)

If that's the case that we are only 1 over, it's an easy transaction for JBot. 

[nfreeman]

1 minute ago, Thorny said:

They may carry 8 on the roster, in which case, we are only 1 over once Pilut and Bogo go to IR (is this even confirmed? I thought Pilut had a chance to make it back on time)

If that's the case that we are only 1 over, it's an easy transaction for JBot. 

Yes and I think sending Hunwick down will alleviate both the roster and cap crunches.  

[Thorny]

1 minute ago, nfreeman said:

Yes and I think sending Hunwick down will alleviate both the roster and cap crunches.  

Yup. Botterill is in a position where he probably has the ability to make a bigger trade if it presents itself, but a big move is in no way necessitated. 

[Randall Flagg]

2 minutes ago, Thorny said:

Yup. Botterill is in a position where he probably has the ability to make a bigger trade if it presents itself, but a big move is in no way necessitated. 

For the cap (which is what you're referring to), yeah. 

For playoff contention? I hope he understands that it is. 

[dudacek]

6 minutes ago, Thorny said:

They may carry 8 on the roster, in which case, we are only 1 over once Pilut and Bogo go to IR (is this even confirmed? I thought Pilut had a chance to make it back on time)

If that's the case that we are only 1 over, it's an easy transaction for JBot. 

Sabrespace seems to think neither Pilut, nor Bogo will be available opening night.

Bogosian had mid-April hip surgery with a projected 5- to 6-month recovery. Pilut has shoulder surgery about a month later with the same projected recovery time.

To me it looks like either could be available opening night, but that isn’t likely.

[Thorny]

7 minutes ago, Randall Flagg said:

For the cap (which is what you're referring to), yeah. 

For playoff contention? I hope he understands that it is. 

Oh gosh yes.