Recalled/Assigned: 2-14-20 - Pilut sent down

[Chainshot]

How does that help you? How does having ANY of those players sitting help you? Is Pilut so superior to Miller or McCabe that it warrants it? You all complain about Botterill's poor asset management. Sending Pilut to Rochester right now with the current players/numbers is the best choice for maintaining asset/player value. It allows the rest of the top six to get some more solid pairings and playtime so that performance can improve, which will not only help the team win, but also improve trade value if possible. I see lots of complaints, but not one legitimate reply showing how keeping Pilut in Buffalo right now brings about the most overall benefit.

Putting McCabe in the pressbox takes a regularly poor performing defenseman out of the lineup and still affords them the flexibility to use Dahlin/Pilut/Jokiharju as the PP point men. In the idea of trying to build for the future, we know what we have in McCabe, Bogosian and Ristolainen. Teams aren't going to suddenly come to a realization that any of them are more than they already are. There is no need to showcase any of them. This isn't the '70's with limited game film availability - these teams can pull up and parse out footage of just about any game and specific players. Yes, they go watch players in game situations, but do you think any of the gaggle of the usual defensive suspects on this team is going to move the needle after personal viewing?

 

[Dirty Dog]

Yea, god forbid one of shitty defensemen with no value gets claimed on waivers

 

[OkimLom]

Botterill’s inaction earlier in the year forces this situation. Unfortunately because of the mess of the defense, it was the right move until Jason cleans it up.

I just won’t be surprised if Pilut goes back overseas with the lack of roster spots on the main roster and the roster “crunch” at the AHL level, especially if Botts isn’t done reshaping the defense. If I’m Pilut’s agent I’m talking to Botterill today to find out exactly where he fits in the future and on the team.

 

[Bendium]

And that's the crazy stuff - Pilut is a very good puck mover and that keys his defensive game (in that they aren't in their own zone due to repeated turnovers) and has shown chops as a PP point man beyond what they get out of Montour certainly and could easily slot into PP2.

So they have bad defensive defensemen in the classic sense and while desperately trying to shelter Dahlin.

I think that is a good description of Pilut. He should be getting ozone starts, not because he needs to be sheltered defensively, but because he is good offensively and solid against the rush. He should not be taking a lot of dzone starts and definitely not playing the penalty kill where his size and smaller stick radius work against him. PP2 is a definite possibility.

I also agree we are hurting from a lack of true shutdown defensive defensemen. We could really use one LD and RD penalty killers to compliment all these puck moving skaters we have now.

 

[Bendium]

Botterill’s inaction earlier in the year forces this situation. Unfortunately because of the mess of the defense, it was the right move until Jason cleans it up.

I just won’t be surprised if Pilut goes back overseas with the lack of roster spots on the main roster and the roster “crunch” at the AHL level, especially if Botts isn’t done reshaping the defense. If I’m Pilut’s agent I’m talking to Botterill today to find out exactly where he fits in the future and on the team.

He will be one of the three LD in Buffalo next season or be traded. I am fine either way.

 

[Dubi Doo]

How does that help you? How does having ANY of those players sitting help you? Is Pilut so superior to Miller or McCabe that it warrants it? You all complain about Botterill's poor asset management. Sending Pilut to Rochester right now with the current players/numbers is the best choice for maintaining asset/player value. It allows the rest of the top six to get some more solid pairings and playtime so that performance can improve, which will not only help the team win, but also improve trade value if possible. I see lots of complaints, but not one legitimate reply showing how keeping Pilut in Buffalo right now brings about the most overall benefit.

Yes, Pilut is much better than McCabe and Miller.

 

[sabrebuild]

It's yet another silly move by this organization to not get more useful information about how to most effectively prepare for next season.

As Chain said, we all know what McCabe, Bogo and Miller can do in this league.

Secondly, we all need to accept two things. First, no one on the team who is likely to be traded is returning anything good, outside of Risto, so showcasing is a dumb idea. Second, it is unlikely this team is going on a winning tear to make the playoffs, while I'm not condoning tanking, every extra point hurts us in the lottery from here on out. Given that, even if it was to be stipulated that the team would be a tenth of a goal better with more stable pairs, I can't imagine how the value of thst outweighs giving Pilut more reps at the nhl level, so we can see exactly his level after 70 nhl games rather than less.

Of course, that's a questionable premise, providing a given that Pilut being one of the stable pairs, and sitting Bogo and McCabe/Miller, would definitely be a less effective lineup than the other way around.

This is the way bad teams suppress their own ability to get lucky.

 

[BananaSquad]

I’d try to trade him with maybe something else to get that young forward

 

[Bendium]

Yes, Pilut is much better than McCabe and Miller.

Anything to back your claim?

 

[Bendium]

I have liked some things Krueger has done, but I have not liked the handling of defensemen, especially the rotation on the bench and the line juggling of the 7 dman rotation. I think consistent partnering is very important at the NHL level where a 5% increase in efficiency is a lot. The pairs should have been solidified well before the halfway mark. Either Krueger handled it poorly or Botterill drove player playtime trying to recoup value. Either way it was mismanaged.

I agree that we know what we have in McCabe, Bogo, Risto. Bogo is untradeable with his contract and should just sit the bench till the season is over. McCabe and Risto are flawed and we need to move on from, but both still have some value and need to be playing till they are traded. I think Miller and Montour are better than they have had an opportunity to show because of the defensive rotation mess, and therefor we need to play both in consistant pairings with decent minutes until we see what we really have, or they are traded. No matter how you slice it, there is little to no benefit of sitting any of those players or continuing to rotate them thru the bench. Pilut being in Buffalo would continue to complicate the pairings and bench time. Putting him in Rochester stabilizes the pairings and playtime, even for Pilut.

 

[Dubi Doo]

Anything to back your claim?

I go based solely on the eye test, but I understand people may disagree.

 

[Kyndig]

I personally thought Pilut would generate more points at the NHL level just by how well he moves the puck but he hasn't. I don't care though because hes infinitely better defensively than I thought he would be on top of the fact he doesn't pass it to the wrong team often like some other defenseman we know.

Pilut is easily an upgrade over McCabe..but I guess since Miller had the beauty toe drag through 4 players and passed it off he now gets Pilut's spot.

 

[OkimLom]

I personally thought Pilut would generate more points at the NHL level just by how well he moves the puck but he hasn't. I don't care though because hes infinitely better defensively than I thought he would be on top of the fact he doesn't pass it to the wrong team often like some other defenseman we know.

Pilut is easily an upgrade over McCabe..but I guess since Miller had the beauty toe drag through 4 players and passed it off he now gets Pilut's spot.

He plays the game that WOULD produce points. The issue is where the puck is going when he’s passing. Even the best defenseman aren’t getting points when you have a forward roster like we have.

 

[TheMistyStranger]

All better

 

[sabrebuild]

All better

It's pretty funny if these paper movements for tiny cap benefits are being sold as smart moves, thinking for the future.

 

[pigpen65]

It's pretty funny if these paper movements for tiny cap benefits are being sold as smart moves, thinking for the future.

He played in a game last night

 

[Buffaloed]

Bogo must have coughed up another fur ball.

 

[dotcommunism]

It's pretty funny if these paper movements for tiny cap benefits are being sold as smart moves, thinking for the future.

Teams using LTIR can't bank cap space.

 

[Buffaloed]

Teams using LTIR can't bank cap space.

Could some of this Rochester shuffle have to do with keeping players on ELC's from hitting performance bonuses?

 

[dotcommunism]

Could some of this Rochester shuffle have to do with keeping players on ELC's from hitting performance bonuses?

Going down on off days isn't going to have any effect on bonuses (although it does save a tiny amount of salary). I think these latest moves are more a case of wanting him available as an extra in case they need someone in Buffalo while they want him to actually play some games in Rochester.

 

[CrazyPsycho]

Back he goes, is this a cap move again with a couple days off?

 

[1TuchAnd1NoTuch]

Maybe they want him in the Amerks lineup for Saturday and Sunday since they are rolling with the same 6 D next game

 

[littletonhockeycoach]

Maybe they want him in the Amerks lineup for Saturday and Sunday since they are rolling with the same 6 D next game

Perhaps and maybe. But consider ..... speculatively, mind you......, he didn't generate enough interest from the rest of the league via the trade deadline to keep him up with the team?