Who do you move for Norris (and eventually Kesserling)?

[SabresBaltimore]

Norris returned last night with a hell of a game, and to make room they sent their 7th defender. But their about to go on a 6 game road trip and won't have the luxury of a quick trip down the 90 if you suddenly need to dress another defender.

To further complicate things, Kesserling is skating. No timeline on when he returns, but they will need to make a spot for him when he does. If you call up a 7th defender this becomes easy to deal with.

Last night they kicked the can down the road another day, but can they afford to go on this trip without a 7th defender? It seems like they have to make another roster move before leaving for Philly tomorrow.

The easy answer is Östlund. Not because he's the right choice, but because he's waiver exempt. I think he's justified staying up, and the other options don't bring what he has added to the roster. I think he's slotted into Kulich's expected role fairly well.

They have 3 goalies. That's the obvious cause we've been dealing with all season. Do they waive Ellis and just move on? St Louis will grab him right back (if someone else doesn't). Do you try to trade one? Have they been trying to trade one? A trade isn't likely to just happen by tomorrow night unless they have been close on a move. If they waive Lyon I'd think he'd get claimed by someone, possibly just as a rental like what happened to Reimer last year.

The other options are Dunne or Kozak, but both would need to clear waivers. I think Dunne has a better chance to clear than Kozak, but maybe I'm overvaluing Kozak or undervaluing Dunne with how well he's played for us this season.

Personally I'd dress either Kozak or Dunne over Greenway, but I don't see that happening. They seem to like Greenway more than I do. I think his contract makes him hard to move.

I'd probably waive Dunne (though I'd prefer to waive Greenway, but the Sabres won't do that)

What's your move?

[Ctaeth]

The Kesselring move may be easier if one of the goalies just takes over the net and makes the others expendable.  

For now, I don't think you can send Östlund down.  Norris just returned and if he goes back out again on the trip... we're probably starting Jordan Greenway as top line center again 🤢.  Östlund gives some flexibility to the lineup that they need imo.  

[shrader]

Dunne has been a nice surprise, but he's very clearly the choice.  He's not getting claimed, but if by some chance he does, you move on.  That's a piece that is much easier to replace than anyone else.

[Pimlach]

It sure seems like Östlund has taken a job from Kulich right now.   

Until they figure out the 3 goalie situation they will have to release either Dunne or Kozak.   

Dunne might be the one waived and is the most likely to survive and make it back to Rochester.  I think Kozak would be picked up by another team if waived.   

 

[Taro T]

1 minute ago, shrader said:

Dunne has been a nice surprise, but he's very clearly the choice.  He's not getting claimed, but if by some chance he does, you move on.  That's a piece that is much easier to replace than anyone else.

When Norris 1st started skating, thought Östlund's play dipped a bit realizing that he was now in Rosen's boat when Greenway came back into the lineup.  But Östlund has picked his play back up the last couple of games.

Kozak gives the team more flexibility for the games that Ruff wants to give Greenway a game off.  Dunne fits better into the role on the 4th line that Greenway fills than Kozak does.  But again, Kozak gives more flexibility to roster construction and is a better player.

So, expect Dunne gets exposed to waivers, unless somebody decides they REALLY want one part of the 3 headed monster and meet Adams price.

[shrader]

11 minutes ago, Taro T said:

When Norris 1st started skating, thought Östlund's play dipped a bit realizing that he was now in Rosen's boat when Greenway came back into the lineup.  But Östlund has picked his play back up the last couple of games.

Kozak gives the team more flexibility for the games that Ruff wants to give Greenway a game off.  Dunne fits better into the role on the 4th line that Greenway fills than Kozak does.  But again, Kozak gives more flexibility to roster construction and is a better player.

So, expect Dunne gets exposed to waivers, unless somebody decides they REALLY want one part of the 3 headed monster and meet Adams price.

This thought about Östlund came to mind this weekend. After that draft, I said I’d be thrilled if we could get 2 NHL centers out of those 3 first round picks. It’s starting to look like we got 3. If they ever turn it around, that draft is a huge part of it. 

[msw2112]

Unfortunately, I don't see any of the 3 goalies seizing the crease anytime soon, so they may be stuck there.  Östlund is deserving to stay, but may need to go down for now so that they don't lose a contributing player.  If it's not Östlund, it's probably Dunne.  All of the early season injuries aside, which has been abnormal and crazy, it's normal for teams to have injuries here and there during the course of the season and it's likely that a Sabre player will be injured sometime soon, clearing the way for Östlund's return.  I do agree with the post above saying that Dunne is the most replaceable and would likely clear, so I wouldn't be shocked if he were the one sent down.  I don't have time to get into a Greenway discussion/debate right now, but I do believe that Dunne is adding more value than a less than 100% Greenway at this point.  Greenway to IR might not be a terrible decision, as he clearly can't play every night, so he's wasting a roster spot on nights he can't play (and others may argue that he's wasting a roster spot on nights that he DOES play, but, again, not looking to get into that debate here).

I assume it's going to be quite some time before Kulich comes back, but things could get a lot more challenging/interesting then.  I assume that Kesserling takes the spot on the ice from Bryson, but I don't know what that does in terms of a roster spot.  I'm not as down on Bryson as some here, but I do believe he's the most expendable of the defense corps.

[Drag0nDan]

2 minutes ago, msw2112 said:

Unfortunately, I don't see any of the 3 goalies seizing the crease anytime soon, so they may be stuck there.  Östlund is deserving to stay, but may need to go down for now so that they don't lose a contributing player.  If it's not Östlund, it's probably Dunne.  All of the early season injuries aside, which has been abnormal and crazy, it's normal for teams to have injuries here and there during the course of the season and it's likely that a Sabre player will be injured sometime soon, clearing the way for Östlund's return.  I do agree with the post above saying that Dunne is the most replaceable and would likely clear, so I wouldn't be shocked if he were the one sent down.  I don't have time to get into a Greenway discussion/debate right now, but I do believe that Dunne is adding more value than a less than 100% Greenway at this point.  Greenway to IR might not be a terrible decision, as he clearly can't play every night, so he's wasting a roster spot on nights he can't play (and others may argue that he's wasting a roster spot on nights that he DOES play, but, again, not looking to get into that debate here).

I assume it's going to be quite some time before Kulich comes back, but things could get a lot more challenging/interesting then.  I assume that Kesserling takes the spot on the ice from Bryson, but I don't know what that does in terms of a roster spot.  I'm not as down on Bryson as some here, but I do believe he's the most expendable of the defense corps.

Personally i want to evaluate Östlund on a long road trip more than i want to keep dunne assuming he doesn't clear.  I also don't think you can operate with kozak/krebs as the 3/4 centers and expect to score enough goals.  

[SabresBaltimore]

11 minutes ago, msw2112 said:

I assume that Kesserling takes the spot on the ice from Bryson, but I don't know what that does in terms of a roster spot.

I think we make a move now to let us call up a 7th defender, then Kesserling becomes easy. Defender goes back to Rochester, Kesserling goes in and Byrson is now the 7th defender instead of a callup. I just don't think it's practical to only carry 6 defenders for very long, especially with all the injuries we've already had this year.

[Taro T]

6 minutes ago, SabresBaltimore said:

I think we make a move now to let us call up a 7th defender, then Kesserling becomes easy. Defender goes back to Rochester, Kesserling goes in and Byrson is now the 7th defender instead of a callup. I just don't think it's practical to only carry 6 defenders for very long, especially with all the injuries we've already had this year.

Not so sure about that.  They definitely kept Greenway out longer than needed and they seem to have been able to get Norris back sooner too, but with both guys they wanted to err on the side of caution about possibly rushing them back too soon.  And even now, Greenway is getting spelled games while he works back from the surgeries.

So, expect there's a good chance that Kesselring could play now if the absolutely needed him.  But they're happy with what Bryson has been doing.

We'll know either way tomorrow as they aren't likely to travel to Filly without a 7th D-man available, whether he's on the 23 man roster or not.

[SabresBaltimore]

6 minutes ago, Taro T said:

So, expect there's a good chance that Kesselring could play now if the absolutely needed him.  But they're happy with what Bryson has been doing.

We'll know either way tomorrow as they aren't likely to travel to Filly without a 7th D-man available, whether he's on the 23 man roster or not.

I hadn't considered the possibility that Kesserling was close enough for them not to call someone up from Rochester, especially since he only started skating again yesterday. I still think they'll have to call someone up from Rochester for tomorrow night, even if they send him back sooner than later.

[LGR4GM]

 

[Scottysabres]

UPL

[Flashsabre]

1 hour ago, Pimlach said:

It sure seems like Östlund has taken a job from Kulich right now.   

Until they figure out the 3 goalie situation they will have to release either Dunne or Kozak.   

Dunne might be the one waived and is the most likely to survive and make it back to Rochester.  I think Kozak would be picked up by another team if waived.   

 

Östlund is a true centre whereas Kulich is not. Kulich is better suited as a goal scoring winger.

It doesn’t sound like Kulich will be back anytime soon but they shouldn’t be competing for the same position when he does return.