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Final Roster Cuts


Brawndo

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1 minute ago, Thorny said:

No d-man actually had to go, we will only have 22 active players once Bogosian, Montour, Hunwick, and UPL go to IR

Maybe, but we still have an extra roster spot. 

I said yesterday I expected 5 forward to go down, didn't see another defender necessarily going though. 

Krueger said he expects the bottom of the roster to be fluid and the road to Rochester well--travelled.

Most of that is to keep the NHL team honest and the Amerks motivated, but part of it will be situational, based on the opposition.

He said he expects all of the final cuts in blue and gold at some point this year. Be interesting to see how that unfolds.

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8 hours ago, Randall Flagg said:

Which is weird, because I didn't even think Joki was very good in the prospect tournament, much less preseason. 

All that "open competition" stuff as expected needed to be taken with a grain of salt. 

Just now, dudacek said:

Krueger said he expects the bottom of the roster to be fluid and the road to Rochester well--travelled.

Most of that is to keep the NHL team honest and the Amerks motivated, but part of it will be situational, based on the opposition.

He said he expects all of the final cuts in blue and gold at some point this year. Be interesting to see how that unfolds.

Sorry, just deleted that post, was reading the thread and saw you had the "extra spot still available" thing covered. 

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5 hours ago, Randall Flagg said:

We have a player who is essentially the biggest offensive black hole in the league over two seasons running, for reasons well documented by many statistical analyses that are completely independent of each other, and plainly evident in film, reasons which also plague the team as a collective more than any other facet of hockey relative to the other teams in the league, and not only was he allowed back to training camp, 

he's now practicing on our second line with the 9 million dollar goal scorer who got that money by playing with a guy whose funneling of pucks to the area where Skinner scores rivals any other player in the league 

I honestly don't have many words for if that happens in a regular season game. It would be unfathomable, given the context of last season, and would likely irredeemably shift my view of Botterill the rest of the way that it's been slowly heading the past two and a half years. Even if the team starts out hot, which would surely be due to other reasons, I wouldn't be able to trust a group of people that decide that's reasonable. 

Even if you argue he earned the look from the preseason, in a 2/3rds offensive role on the top line the guy had zero production and the same 40/60 expected goal split he always had last year. I hate using stats like that in sample sizes so small, but coming off of what last season was for Vlad, you'd think you'd need to see real evidence of tangible improvement in those areas to let it override 700 day trend. At least when we put Derek Grant in meaningful spots for half a year despite literally zero goals, he had actually PRODUCED in that preseason.
 

Yup. 

1 hour ago, Randall Flagg said:

Right, and my post plainly said that my opinions will change if the current setup finds its way into the NHL regular season. 

It's still a WTF move given everything there is to know about Vlad Sobotka, but it won't be problematic until every shift matters, October 3rd.

Yes. Honestly, I'll be shocked if Sobotka lines up game 1 on the second line. It just can't happen. No organization would be that stupid.

Every single person in the world assumed arguably the worst forward in the NHL last season couldn't possibly line up to start the year as a member of the Sabres. If not only that happens, but he's been promoted after an off-season that was supposed to entail surgery? It would be mind boggling. 

Edited by Thorny
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4 minutes ago, Thorny said:

Yup. 

Yes. Honestly, I'll be shocked if Sobotka lines up game 1 on the second line. It just can't happen. No organization would be that stupid. Every single person in the world assumed he couldn't possibly line up to start the year as a member of the Sabres. If not only that happens, but he's been promoted after an off-season that was supposed to entail surgery? It would be mind boggling. 

While still trying to remain hopeful that Sobotka won't be the 2RW, and the players that remain with the parent club can be explained by working the salary cap, so that is possible; the fact that he was pencilled in there the last few practices coupled with both Joe Yerdon & Rob Ray talking up how well Vlad fits into what Krueger is doing, regardless of how the fans view him, is NOT encouraging.

Guess we'll know better after tomorrow's practice and Wednesday's kickoff of the league season.

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21 minutes ago, Let's Go B-Lo said:

the devil wears prada gird your loins GIF

Love Stanley Tucci.

- - - 

It'll be:

Olofsson - Eichel - Reinhart

Skinner - Johansson - Sheary

Vesey - Mittelstadt - Rodrigues

Girgensons - Larsson - Sobotka/Okposo

 

Edited by Thorny
Just look at all the instances of symmetry in those lines (especially if it's Vlad and not KO). It's destiny.
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2 hours ago, Zamboni said:

It will play out one way or the other ...

Sobotka will do well on a top 6 roll. It’s a different coach, approach, system and several new faces/team mates. I would love to see him suceeed.

Sobotka will look as bad or worse than last year after a few games and will quickly be demoted to the 3rd or 4th line. 

Even though it’s regular season, I know (sometimes I wonder if most fans know) that there will be line changes all the time. Depends on who’s clicking together, chemistry, on ice results, and effort. Most coaches who make it to the NHL level screw with lineups mid game all the time. I’m not worried about Sobotka in regards to where he ultimately plays the most.

You forgot options #3 and #4.

3) Sobotka plays as badly as last season, yet remains in the top-6 for months.

4) Sobotka never actually plays in the top-6 during the regular season.

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29 minutes ago, Taro T said:

While still trying to remain hopeful that Sobotka won't be the 2RW, and the players that remain with the parent club can be explained by working the salary cap, so that is possible; the fact that he was pencilled in there the last few practices coupled with both Joe Yerdon & Rob Ray talking up how well Vlad fits into what Krueger is doing, regardless of how the fans view him, is NOT encouraging.

That is exactly correct.  Methinks they've been trying to butter us up all preseason.  I am not convinced RK is as unchained as others may believe.

Edited by ...
The Ghost of Dwight Drane
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2 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Can someone provide a quote by HCRK where he said Vlad will start the season with Skinner and Johansson? Where is the quote where HCRK said anything about opening night lines or pairings in general?

Just because he experimented with pairings and lines during the pre-season is really meaningless until we see those same lines and pairings in the regular season.

I said it earlier, maybe in this thread.... let's see what the lines look like at Wednesday's practice.

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2 hours ago, Randall Flagg said:

It's still a WTF move given everything there is to know about Vlad Sobotka, but it won't be problematic until every shift matters, October 3rd.

Eh.  In player interviews maybe Vlad told RFK that he sucked last year because he had sucky usage.  I remember there was an interview in some Euro newspaper where he declare he viewed himself as a top-6 NHL forward, just looking for a chance to prove himself.  Maybe Ralph said, Okay.  Prove it.  And when he doesn't after a handful of games he'll never be heard from again.

If he does well, RFK gets the credit.  If he bombs RFK can demote him and show how he deals with players who can't perform to expectations.  As long as he doesn't leave a crappy Vlad on the second line, he really can't lose, can he?

 

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1 hour ago, Curt said:

You forgot options #3 and #4.

3) Sobotka plays as badly as last season, yet remains in the top-6 for months.

4) Sobotka never actually plays in the top-6 during the regular season.

Well. I for one don’t think those have any chance of happening. But hey, maybe you’ll be right.

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5 minutes ago, Doohickie said:

Eh.  In player interviews maybe Vlad told RFK that he sucked last year because he had sucky usage.  I remember there was an interview in some Euro newspaper where he declare he viewed himself as a top-6 NHL forward, just looking for a chance to prove himself.  Maybe Ralph said, Okay.  Prove it.  And when he doesn't after a handful of games he'll never be heard from again.

If he does well, RFK gets the credit.  If he bombs RFK can demote him and show how he deals with players who can't perform to expectations.  As long as he doesn't leave a crappy Vlad on the second line, he really can't lose, can he?

 

I mean, we essentially lost the 17-18 season because of a handful of games at the beginning where the same logic was given to Moulson and a couple other obviously awful players, so, yeah, he can lose 

Edited by Randall Flagg
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38 minutes ago, Andrew Amerk said:

If I drive from Rochester to Buffalo for the home opener, and I have to see Vlad on that second line, I might leave and go buy a dill-doe to throw on the ice. 

Just don't throw it at the Bills game.  The Athletic had an article claiming that'll get you banned from all NFL stadiums for life.  Though, thinking about it, that may not be a bad thing.

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10 hours ago, Doohickie said:

Eh.  In player interviews maybe Vlad told RFK that he sucked last year because he had sucky usage.  I remember there was an interview in some Euro newspaper where he declare he viewed himself as a top-6 NHL forward, just looking for a chance to prove himself.  Maybe Ralph said, Okay.  Prove it.  And when he doesn't after a handful of games he'll never be heard from again.

If he does well, RFK gets the credit.  If he bombs RFK can demote him and show how he deals with players who can't perform to expectations.  As long as he doesn't leave a crappy Vlad on the second line, he really can't lose, can he?

 

This sounds oddly rational to me. Yes, let it be so. 

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