Building the best Sabres team ever

[dudacek]

Hoping I can get on to the defenceman tonight.

Unexpectedly busy weekend.

[Eleven]

28 minutes ago, dudacek said:

Hoping I can get on to the defenceman tonight.

Unexpectedly busy weekend.

Even tomorrow or the next day, whatever that is (I think it ends in a 'y") is ok.  Just wanted to know if we're still on!

[dudacek]

Larry Playfair is voted the Sabres all-time enforcer and Matt Barnaby its all-time disturber.

 

[dudacek]

Next up are the defencemen, which was a very hard group to categorize.

And that starts at the top of the depth chart, where the team has arguably never had an all-around Raymond Bourque/Nick Lidstrom level franchise D.

Polls #13 and #14 will select our offensive defenceman, and our shutdown defenceman.

[Eleven]

I hope there's a way to get both Schoenfeld and Ramsey in there eventually, but Schoenfeld won for me tonight.

[#freejame]

Tough one for me but I picked Campbell. Hopefully someday it was be Dahlin, but right now Soupy gets the nod. He’s a better defenseman than either and solid offensively. 

[Weave]

1 hour ago, #freejame said:

Tough one for me but I picked Campbell. Hopefully someday it was be Dahlin, but right now Soupy gets the nod. He’s a better defenseman than either and solid offensively. 

Going by what’s been done to date, I picked Soupy as well.  And Rammer gets the nod here too.  Excellent shut down guy with good puck moving skills.

[nfreeman]

Howie and Schony.  Flash and fire.

[Eleven]

Campbell was so, so BAD those first couple of seasons, though.  As in, every time he was on the ice, he screwed up.  When I look at how each of him and Dahlin started their NHL careers, I have to think Dahlin's ceiling is miles higher.

[#freejame]

1 hour ago, Eleven said:

Campbell was so, so BAD those first couple of seasons, though.  As in, every time he was on the ice, he screwed up.  When I look at how each of him and Dahlin started their NHL careers, I have to think Dahlin's ceiling is miles higher.

I’m inclined to agree, but for this exercise I have been taking prime to mean highest point of their career and right now Campbell’s high is higher than Dahlin’s. 

[dudacek]

Ramsey is the best defender the Sabres have ever had, and it's not even close IMO: poised, took care of the puck, always in the right spot, blocked shots and made the opponents pay. He wasn't bad offensively either.

Hajt had the poise thing going on. He rarely made a mistake, but he was non-factor offensively. He was the epitome of the "if you don't notice him that's a good thing" school of defending, but he wasn't a top pair guy by any stretch of the imagination.

Schoenfeld is a very interesting question in terms of how the game has changed. And not only how the game has changed, but how we watch it. He was always engaged, always pushing forward with reckless abandon, fearless and intimidating and making the opponent pay. He was entertaining to watch and easy to cheer for. I also wonder if he ends up looking like Zach Bogosian in today's game. He made mistakes.

[Weave]

1 hour ago, dudacek said:

He was always engaged, always pushing forward with reckless abandon, fearless and intimidating and making the opponent pay. He was entertaining to watch and easy to cheer for. I also wonder if he ends up looking like Zach Bogosian in today's game. He made mistakes.

Or Rasmus Ristoleinen.

[dudacek]

Looks like I’m not the only one with a low opinion of Housley.

There is no question that he was easily the teams’s all-time best point-producer on D.

But he just wasn’t A competitor or a good defender.

[Taro T]

56 minutes ago, dudacek said:

Looks like I’m not the only one with a low opinion of Housley.

There is no question that he was easily the teams’s all-time best point-producer on D.

But he just wasn’t A competitor or a good defender.

If Housley wasn't an American there's not a chance he gets into the HoF.

He might singularly be the most overrated Sabre in the entire 50 year history of the team.

[Weave]

7 minutes ago, Taro T said:

If Housley wasn't an American there's not a chance he gets into the HoF.

He might singularly be the most overrated Sabre in the entire 50 year history of the team.

I'm more than a little shocked that Housley is getting more love than Campbell, especially considering what he did for us in the playoffs.

[Taro T]

1 minute ago, Weave said:

I'm more than a little shocked that Housley is getting more love than Campbell, especially considering what he did for us in the playoffs.

Recency bias most likely.  Maybe people are directly comparing Dahlin and Soupt's early careers and remember how inconsistent Campbell was prior to the lockout but are too young to have watched Wowwie play.  Aside: Pretty sure he still gets Christmas cards from Stephane Richer.

If that's not why, no idea.

[Sabres Fan in NS]

Dahlin and Schoney (if for no other reason than the Cashman thing).

[Neo]

Hard ... Some of these guys are favorites.  Bottom line ...  Housley and Ramsey  .. but Bill Hajt’s gotta make the team!

[Eleven]

2 hours ago, Neo said:

but Bill Hajt’s gotta make the team!

Over Schoeny?

[Neo]

7 hours ago, Eleven said:

Over Schoeny?

No .... but, but.

The glee I find here is Dudacek’s premise of building the best team.   That’s not naming the best players, necessarily.   I tried to list my best six Sabres defensemen and always found myself trying to add Hajt as six or seven.   I still do.  Here’s my problem ...  just like my list of top ten movies has 27 entries, my list of top six defensemen has ten.

[nfreeman]

15 hours ago, Taro T said:

If Housley wasn't an American there's not a chance he gets into the HoF.

He might singularly be the most overrated Sabre in the entire 50 year history of the team.

 

15 hours ago, Weave said:

I'm more than a little shocked that Housley is getting more love than Campbell, especially considering what he did for us in the playoffs.

Gentlemen.

Soupy had 2.5 good seasons for the Sabres, before which he was a train wreck in the D zone (substantially worse than Howie) and back-and-forth from Rochester, and after which he was traded at the deadline by the LQ/OSP axis of evil.

Howie was soft and not much of a defender but still.  He was electrifying and he was highly productive for 8 solid years.  The Sabres have never had anyone come close to producing offense from the blueline the way Howie did (although Dahlin hopefully will get there).  And as I've said before, he was the 2nd-most-exciting Sabre carrying the puck on the rush of all time, although Eichel is starting to make a run at that spot.

This shouldn't be controversial.

 

[Taro T]

5 minutes ago, nfreeman said:

 

Gentlemen.

Soupy had 2.5 good seasons for the Sabres, before which he was a train wreck in the D zone (substantially worse than Howie) and back-and-forth from Rochester, and after which he was traded at the deadline by the LQ/OSP axis of evil.

Howie was soft and not much of a defender but still.  He was electrifying and he was highly productive for 8 solid years.  The Sabres have never had anyone come close to producing offense from the blueline the way Howie did (although Dahlin hopefully will get there).  And as I've said before, he was the 2nd-most-exciting Sabre carrying the puck on the rush of all time, although Eichel is starting to make a run at that spot.

This shouldn't be controversial.

 

Stephane Richer agrees 100% with the bolded.

[Neo]

14 minutes ago, Taro T said:

Stephane Richer agrees 100% with the bolded.

Perfect ...  I know you “see” the moment.

[Weave]

2 hours ago, nfreeman said:

 

Gentlemen.

Soupy had 2.5 good seasons for the Sabres, before which he was a train wreck in the D zone (substantially worse than Howie) and back-and-forth from Rochester, and after which he was traded at the deadline by the LQ/OSP axis of evil.

Howie was soft and not much of a defender but still.  He was electrifying and he was highly productive for 8 solid years.  The Sabres have never had anyone come close to producing offense from the blueline the way Howie did (although Dahlin hopefully will get there).  And as I've said before, he was the 2nd-most-exciting Sabre carrying the puck on the rush of all time, although Eichel is starting to make a run at that spot.

This shouldn't be controversial.

 

Well, it does say "in their prime", so those 2.5 seasons weigh heaviest.  and prime Soupy contributed way more to an excellent Sabres team, including playoff performance, than Housley ever did,  Housley was never not a controversial Sabre.

[dudacek]

Dahlin edges Housley in a bit of a surprise to be our top offensive defenceman. Ramsey will be our go-to in shutdown situations

 

Next up are their alter-egos, this team's  bottom-pairing defenceman: the first poll is for the puck-moving, PP guy, the second for the shot-blocking PKer