Player Discussion 2017-18 End of Season grades. Detention for almost all of you!

[brian_griffin]

As in years past, I grade commensurate with expectations, which means, e.g., Jack Eichel is held to a higher standard than Jordan Nolan. I also rarely give +/- with the letter grades, as it's too much gradation for my personal taste.

I don't know the best way to sort the list. Could do it alphabetically. Could lump similar grades together but then if other posters cut/paste in reply, it will unravel. Could do it by position then alphabetically, so I chose that.

Forwards:

Baptiste: C I don't know that he'll ever exceed expectations, but his speed gets him a "C" even if his overall numbers and incomplete skill set don't.

Jack Eichel: C I'm not penalizing for the injury, but there was too much inconsistency in both on-ice performance and on-ice and off-ice leadership. When he cared / turned it on, he was dominant, but didn't see enough of that for a full game's worth of shifts and for long stretches of games. Yes, I expect a lot. And aren't going to expect less in the coming years.

"Zegmus" Girgensons: D Seemed to take a large step backwards. Inconsistent, passive. When he's intense and engaged, he can play anywhere in the lineup and be noticed / effective. This season was the opposite.

Josefson: D- Yes, he missed half the season. I wouldn't have missed him if he had missed all of it. I remember his shootout goal though - but that's about it. He only finished a minus-4 over half a season's worth of games, so that's the only thing keeping him from an F.

Larsson: D+ Props for coming back from the forearm/wrist injury. And as I posted in a GDT/GBU, he's the Sabres designated pinata for their opponents illegal stickwork. When he's intense, and plays with snarl, his impact is noticeable. I so wanted him to be a greater defensive presence / influence, but just didn't see enough of it.

Mittelstadt: A All new players start with a "C" grade and then either add or subtract from it. He signed his contract (+1 grade to a B), and I believe had points in 5 of the 6 games he played, including his first NHL goal, which was a nice snipe shot high glove (+1 grade to an A). So hope he doesn't become poisoned by the stench of losing.

Nolan: F There were instances where he actually made a decent play, and/or scored a persistent-effort goal. But there were many more where he was out of position / wandered the ice / didn't engage when the cheap shots came and the physical retaliation was warranted. He took too much ice time away from other Sabres who deserved the evaluation. I know that's on Housley, but Nolan is downgraded by association.

O'Reilly: B- 0.75ppg, league-leading faceoffs, and a lot of minutes. Complete player. Just seemed to be a little too quiet on and off the ice. I like the guy, and the player, I just wanted a little more from him. I think he, as much as any of the top-6 forwards, suffers from the lack of playing and coaching talent in Buffalo.

Okposo: C Props for coming back from his illness. I'll give him the Gentleman's C.

Pominville: D How this turd ended up 4th in goal scoring for this year's Sabres is either the hockey equivalent of "the Peter Principle" or a testament to what a collective pile of turds this squad truly was. He might have made a "C" if Housley had kept him on the 3rd line all season, where he belonged.

Pouliot: F When he cared to contribute, he shined. Most nights the skies were totally completely overcast. His nickname should be "publishers clearinghouse" given how often he mailed it it.

Reinhart: B Slow start, but hopefully convinced enough people of his true future value.

Rodrigues: A Outperformed my expectations. Has a ways to go to be a complete player (and he may never be one), but it's clear he gave good effort consistently. Shocked to realize he scored at a 40-45 point pace projected to 82 games. Didn't seem to be afflicted by the Sabres malaise.

Wilson: A See the same comments for Rodrigues (minus the scoring).

Defense:

Antipin: A I have no idea how this guy didn't do the Russian equivalent of "going postal" after being treated like a leper by Housley all season.

Beaulieu: F If I could give a lower grade, I would. Even trade school is not an option for you, young man. No ditch digging either. I've watched you, and you throw the dirt from your freshest shovel into the end of the trench you dug 10 minutes ago.

Bogosian: F Couldn't get healthy, couldn't stay healthy, played injured, and underperformed when he did play. You basically stole Pegulabucks.

Falk: C Met my low expectations.

Gorges: B Wasn't caved in as badly as some might have thought he would be. Didn't fit in Buffalo's future, but why in hell Housley played him over Beaulieu
just because Beaulieu is signed for next season is an abomination.

Guhle: B Grading on potential.

McCabe: F His rate of regression will have him back in the womb shortly after he recovers from IR.

Nelson: B Grading on potential. May not return to Sabres school next year.

Ristolainen: B Played the most minutes, AGAIN. Loved the snarl when he brought it. Need more leadership from him.

Scandella: A+ Consistent, and consistently good. The only Sabre who could legit challenge to not take the final exam.

Goal:

Johnson: D Inconsistency was his hallmark. Just when you thought he had found his groove after a couple strong games, he'd have a stinker.

Lehner: D I'll remember the one shootout he won. I'll also remember the weak goals, over-commits, "false tirades", injuries and "injuries ".

Front Office:

Housley: F He failed every unit/lesson. Game line-ups. In-game match-ups. Overtime starting lines. Team intensity to start a game. Team resiliency to finish a game. Team playing 3 full periods. Taking a 1st-period lead and opening it up in the 2nd period. Coming from behind in the 3rd. Media relations. F, F, F, F, F, F. He's soooo far in over his head, his nickname should be "Jacques Cousteau".

Botterill: F Stood pat too long / too often with the waiver wire. Got Moulson out, but too late in the season to earn a passing grade.

Others:
Kane: B finished second semester in San Jose.
Pass: Ullmark (5 games), Redmond (3 games),
Fail: Tennyson (a shocking 15 games), Moulson (14 games, should have been waived sooner).
Incomplete: Wilcox, Griffith, O'Regan, Bailey, Fedun, Nylander, Fasching, Crisco, etc.

Click to read more...

 

[5 Minute Major]

The way you grade our defense we shouldn’t need any upgrades there this summer.

 

[brian_griffin]

The way you grade our defense we shouldn’t need any upgrades there this summer.

Again, I grade commensurate with expectations.

I've posted elsewhere, for an 8-man-deep platoon, the Sabres need 2 middle-4 upgrades, minimum.
I sort them as:

Top-4: #6, #55
Bottom-4: #8 if re-signed, #93 (if extended), #29 (reluctantly)

Out the door: #4, #41
#57 (I know is still under contract),
#82 (I know is still under contract).

Antipin should be able to play middle-4 if he wants to return, if the Sabres get a solid Left-side to play with him. I don't know if that's Guhle, since they have similar style, & neither is overly physical. Bottom line, they need a LOT of help on the blue line.

 

[Snippit]

Agree with a lot of it but also disagree with a lot. Maybe you had different expectations for Risto but he regressed from last season. The amount of bad decisions, bad passes and defensive lapses was just too much. I'd give him a C-

 

[thewookie1]

I agree with most, Eichel I'd give a B though since unlike Reinhart he played above average most of the year. Botterill I'd give a C because he did mediocre at best on the Kane trade but made a few ok moves in Scandella and Wilson. Plus he actually had the balls to send Moulson down. And to me the waiver wire point is being overstated in his grade, players are 85% of the time completely worthless of the wire. The only guy I would of liked is Brown and he's a 4th liner and would of just been an upgrade to Nolan.

 

[stokes84]

Forwards:

Baptiste: C Added some speed. Give him a roster spot next year. Not sure he's really NHL caliber.

Jack Eichel: B Best player and only reason to watch most nights. Want to see him come through in the clutch more often.

"Zegmus" Girgensons: D Trade him.

Josefson: F Not an NHLer

Larsson: F Not an NHLer

Mittelstadt: A Our answer to Marner

Nolan: C Exactly what I expected.

O'Reilly: B- Runs hot and cold. Too slow.

Okposo: D I don't know if I'd want him on my team at $4 mil/per year, let alone $6.5 for an eternity.

Pominville: D Time to retire.

Pouliot: D can be a 4th liner I guess.

Reinhart: C- Thanks for finally showing up when the season was over. "Slow start" doesn't do justice to what he gave us.

Rodrigues: A Hey, a bright spot!

Wilson: B Brian Flynn Redux.

Defense:

Antipin: D Is he an NHLer? If he is, he's not a good one.

Beaulieu: F Maybe he can be a no. 7 somewhere.

Bogosian: Incomplete. If he played, we don't finish dead last.

Falk: D In over his head.

Gorges: C Wait, he was on the team?

Guhle: C He can't be in the top 4, and he needs to eat a few hamburgers.

McCabe: D What happened to him? Needs a major bounce back.

Nelson: B Played pretty well, but still not sure he's a legit NHLer.

Ristolainen: D Need to upgrade. He's fine if he's your 3rd best guy.

Scandella: C Slightly better Gorges. Puck dies on his stick constantly. Can stick around if we get some better puck movers. Fine if he's your 4th best guy.

Goal:

Johnson: F There are some openings in Europe, I hear.

Lehner: F Get off my team.

 

[Chainshot]

Goaltender. Or goat lender.

Lehner: F ) He stunk and let in stupidly stoppable goals far too many starts. His one brief stretch of solid starts in December was far too brief a run and by then, the confidence of the team in his inability to make routine saves was shaken.

Johnson: F ) He was a burning tire fire atop a dung heap floating in a cease pool for almost the whole season until a short late season run toward respectability. The Chad goals hurt far too often early in the season and cost them with weak goals against.

Ullmark: C) In limited minutes, did about as expected.

Wilcox: A) Had no expectations, performed well but is clearly an AHL filler guy.

 

[5 Minute Major]

Again, I grade commensurate with expectations.

I've posted elsewhere, for an 8-man-deep platoon, the Sabres need 2 middle-4 upgrades, minimum.
I sort them as:

Top-4: #6, #55
Bottom-4: #8 if re-signed, #93 (if extended), #29 (reluctantly)

Out the door: #4, #41
#57 (I know is still under contract),
#82 (I know is still under contract).

Antipin should be able to play middle-4 if he wants to return, if the Sabres get a solid Left-side to play with him. I don't know if that's Guhle, since they have similar style, & neither is overly physical. Bottom line, they need a LOT of help on the blue line.

I’m just not a fan of Antipin or Guhle. I know that may be going against the grain here but I found myself wincing a lot while watching those two in their own end.

I really don’t even see a top 2 player on the blue line. Risto has regressed and Scandella is decent.

 

[Chainshot]

Defense:

Scandella: B ) He was a solid addition who gave them solid minutes almost every night.

Antipin: B- ) Adjustments and illness took time. Still finished 4th in D scoring despite all the odd handling and lack of PP time. Hope he returns.

Nelson: C+ ) He surprised with some good stick and mobility. There are still some clunky moments, but he far exceeded what was expected.

Guhle: C ) He was about what was expected in his initial recall but the undisclosed LBI *groin* that slowed him down mid-season did him no favors.

Ristolainen: C) He was better than last year for a time early, but stop me if you've heard this before -- he wore down from overuse and the constant faux toughguy stuff after every single whistle.

Gorges: D ) An average season for him, both good and bad. The game seems to have passed him by and it had to be hard to not have his friend Gionta around any longer.

Falk: D) Plus for his willingness to engage. Overuse though as he should likely be no more than #8 and he was used as a 5/6.

McCabe: F ) He hit a few people but he was pretty bad at puck decisions and positioning yet again. Hopefully they fixed his shoulder and his brain. For someone the GM has mentioned returning as 2nd pairing, that comment is one of the most frightening things to come out of Botts face this year.

Bogosian: F) Great guy off the ice. Yet for being awesome in the community, he's paid to play hockey and he was flat out bad when he was in the lineup. Does anyone else question his off-ice habits yet again because he's incapable of completing a season? I normally give injured players an incomplete, but he is "core" and this is typical. He's unreliable and highly paid... and the GM is talking him up as part of the solution yet again. Do. Not. Want.

Beaulieu: F) Could be the worst defenseman in a non-tank year I have ever seen given the responsibilities. The only highlight of the year for me with him was mashing Martin's mush.

Tennyson: F) He may have done what the coaches wanted, but his GA/60 is shocking.

Fedun and Redmond get incompletes. Injury hurt this unit mightily at the outset and it didn't improve much until Nelson got a late and surprisingly effective recall. They have to find an upgrade here.

 

[Chainshot]

Center:

Rodrigues: B) Solid offensive contributor, versatile as an offensive catalyst, made a noticeable impact in just about every line he played on. Not a good defender still, and the coach is on record as wanting him on the wing.

O'Reilly: C+ ) Above average season -- still a lot of minutes, tons of faceoffs, etc... while hitting his scoring norms. However, another slow start and the "woe is me/I can do better" press schtick wears over time.

Eichel: C+ ) Above average season - still finding his way and there is clearly more to his game to bring forward. It'll be interesting to see how he steps up next season if the closure of this year was an indication - taking on responsibility for shot generation and leadership. He has to figure out how to be engaged more often and every night.

Josefsson: C) About what I expected, though he was hurt a lot. Still a capable defensive player who only offers shootout offense.

Larsson: C-) Had Phil's confidence most of the year, but that arm injury seems to have robbed him of any ability to handle the puck. He was effective when engaged, could stir the pot, but didn't do it nearly often enough.

Mittelstadt: Incomplete) Not a big enough sample. Liked the offensive creativity and skating, will be interesting to see how he evolves.

Criscuolo, Porter: Incomplete) Not enough to grade one way or another.

 

[Chainshot]

Left wing:

Wilson: C+) For a simple pickup, most nights he was an energetic, responsible player who managed to find a way to contribute. The nights he wasn't were both noticeable and had him out of the lineup.

Bailey: C+) A tiny sample, but he was a little bit better than I expected and gives me hope he can still be a bottom 6 guy with speed.

Kane: C) Had a great stretch of one-man production to start the season, then faded as the trade talk picked up, perhaps nagging at him. Average.

Girgensons: D-) Gus flopped. He had a lot of opportunities and didn't get it done. Brain cramp moments abounded when he was spun out in the middle, but he turned his chance on Jack's wing into very little. Very disappointing.

Pouliot: F) The gilt turd on a team of crappy players. Rarely have I seen a player do so little with so much, but he managed.

Moulson: F) Terrible. He should have retired but he was not an NHL player in preseason and finally got sent packing.

Nolan: F) We know he can talk about leadership and accountability... but the guy did not bring that to his job. People get trucked, he skates away. Bad defensively, not good at his job... but hey, Davis Payne likes him right?

Nylander: Incomplete) He has to get better... luckily he has a long time to do so.

 

[Chainshot]

Right Wing

Sam Reinhart: B-) That early season slump can't happen again. That said, his second half was very strong and could be a strong jumping-off point. The center experiment gets an incomplete since he was getting turns with AHL fill like Seth Griffith.

Kyle Okposo: C+) I know, I know... but coming off the life-threatening medication issue, he was actually a little bit better than I expected. He has to get better, hopefully a full off-season in the gym and on the ice can bring him back up.

Nic Baptiste: C) He brought energy and when he started to figure out chip and chase with hard stops and hard starts could get him playing time, he built on it. There is more to his game, but it seems like he's made it finally. It'll be interesting to see if they slot him in for next year.

Seth Griffith: F) Well, he beat out Fasching, Bailey and Baptiste early so, um... yay? He did so little with what others created for him. Definitely a AAAA player in the mold of a Jody Gage - not an NHLer though.

Jason Pominville: F) Leadership? Oh. Well. Heh. Slow and only able to generate shots when carried around the ice by Eichel. He's done like dinner. That "mid"-season disappearance - from game 10 until almost the end of the season - for a letter-wearer is unforgivable. He is spent. If only he would retire.

O'Regan, Fasching: Incomplete) Fasching gets an asterisk since his third camp and second full development season were steps back. O'Regan looks like he might be a bit like Rodrigues to me.

 

[jBuds]

This season f***ing sucked. It was miserable. I hated it.

It was the first time I’ve ever felt drained as a fan, like watching was obligatory and just a diehard’s mandate...zero enjoyment. Often it was anger and bitterness. Resentment.

Everybody failed. Owner, GM, Coach, everyone. Sorry.

 

[jBuds]

Okay, sweet. I feel better.

Excited for the lottery! Things will get better.

Can’t get worse.

 

[DJN21]

This season ****ing sucked. It was miserable. I hated it.

It was the first time I’ve ever felt drained as a fan, like watching was obligatory and just a diehard’s mandate...zero enjoyment. Often it was anger and bitterness. Resentment.

Everybody failed. Owner, GM, Coach, everyone. Sorry.

This was the first roster is a long time that I genuinely just didn't like. Hard to define outside of the obvious lack of talent and ahl players abound. At least for awhile when we were mediocre or bad I still "liked" some of our guys and rooted for them to turn it around.

Guys like pouliot etc...I didnt really mucheap care if they failed or succeeded because they were useless players.

Some highlights include the obvious likes of Reinhart and eichel and late season stretches with our prospects but this team lacked identity on the ice and on my tv screen for me personally...oh well

 

[hizzoner]

I think some of the ratings seem to be based on expectation and some on result. For example I expected little from Nolan so gave him a D..
I expected more from Scandella and Risto so they get a B
Wilson gets a B--if he scored on more of the glorious chances he had I would have rated him higher
Housley and Botts? Incomplete. If I had to grade them I would give Botts a C and since I don't know why the Sabres played this Jekyll and Hyde impersonation I do not know if Housley is to blame or whether playing a lot of minor leaguers with different players on different lines, goalies who gave up bad goals(never won a game for us it seemed), defensemen who put more pucks in our net on deflections than they scored for us-it would be unfair to rate-Housley .

Everyone who has rated them has a good rationale but bottom line this team gets an F.

 

[Aladyyn]

I'll only grade players who matter.
Ristolainen B-
Scandella A
Guhle B+
Nelson A

Eichel B
Reinhart B+
O'Reilly B+
Rodrigues A+
Okposo C
Baptiste, Mittelstadt, Nylander incomplete

 

[allsilverdreams]

I would say 3 players received a grade higher than a D the rest were either an F or D.

 

[AustonsNostrils]

Goaltender. Or goat lender.

Lehner: F ) He stunk and let in stupidly stoppable goals far too many starts. His one brief stretch of solid starts in December was far too brief a run and by then, the confidence of the team in his inability to make routine saves was shaken.

Johnson: F ) He was a burning tire fire atop a dung heap floating in a cease pool for almost the whole season until a short late season run toward respectability. The Chad goals hurt far too often early in the season and cost them with weak goals against.

Ullmark: C) In limited minutes, did about as expected.

Wilcox: A) Had no expectations, performed well but is clearly an AHL filler guy.

He played 240 minutes with a .935 Save Percentage and a 2.00 Goals Against Average and you give him a 'C'?

And the thread starter gives Eichel a 'C'.

Negativity is to be expected after a season this bad but keep things in perspective.

And now we have this new trope that is gaining wider acceptance that ROR is 'too slow'.

 

[MayDay]

I'll only grade players who matter.
Ristolainen B-
Scandella A
Guhle B+
Nelson A

Eichel B
Reinhart B+
O'Reilly B+
Rodrigues A+
Okposo C
Baptiste, Mittelstadt, Nylander incomplete

So the “players who matter” all get above-average grades! Lots of As and Bs.

If those grades are accurate, I take it that it must have been a pretty successful year for the team.

 

[Aladyyn]

So the “players who matter” all get above-average grades! Lots of As and Bs.

If those grades are accurate, I take it that it must have been a pretty successful year for the team.

The problem is only having 9 players who matter with 3 of them not even being on the team for a large part of the season.

 

[AustonsNostrils]

I'm not giving grades but the bright spots in the season were the past 40 games of Reinhart, if he doesn't play that way October-January next season I sure don't want to hear excuses from Aladyyn unless he's hurt. That level of play should now be expected of him all the time.

Rodrigues is a bright spot, Scandella cares more than anybody on the team and adding him was a bright spot, Nelson was a very bright spot considering he was practically written off, Guhle was a bright spot, his skating alone but he will have his struggles as all young dmen do, Wilson is a bright spot as a bottom 6 energy guy, the brightest spot was getting Mittelstadt signed and him being able to contribute immediately putting up 5 points in 6 games, I think Nylander's second half improvement in Rochester and his play in the handful of games with the Sabres is a bright spot, there's an NHL player there, let's see if he can become a good one now. Ullmark's season in the AHL and in the 4 games here was a bright spot. Baptiste managing to stick around is a smaller bright spot and I think Bailey if given enough games would prove himself ready to be an NHL player of some type. CJ Smith's rookie season in the AHL was a bright spot, had he not gotten hurt he'd have had a 60 point season and possibly ROY.

 

[brian_griffin]

And the thread starter gives Eichel a 'C'.

curious what grade would you have assigned?

Was his defensive growth exceptional? Was his effort and impact consistent? Did he routinely elevate his line mates? Was his leadership demonstrable? Was this year a progressive build upon last season? Is he pulling the Sabres wagon?

He’s a great talent. I expect a lot from him.
It took bobby Clarke until his late 20’s before he led the Flyers to a cup

 

[stokes84]

Was his effort and impact consistent? Did he routinely elevate his line mates? Was his leadership demonstrable? Was this year a progressive build upon last season? Is he pulling the Sabres wagon?

When you miss 20% of the season and still lead the team in scoring, the only reasonable answer to these questions is "yes".

 

[sincerity0]

I am not going to penalize any player for "leadership faults" because none of us are in behind the scenes. Good leadership isn't going to make a bad team great.

Forwards:

Eichel (B+/A-): A touch under 2.9 points/60 (all situations) and over 2.1 pt/60 at 5v5 on a bad team is great. Jack looks to have grown his game to be a bit better at 5v5 production, and has shown better consistency in both zones. He definitely can work on his defensive zone, but I dont think that should be a major knock on him. Jack is always going to be an offensive first player. He should be developed to try to generate as much offense as possible. Eichel definitely shows the ability to take over games. A $10m cap hit might suck for a couple years -- but I am excited at the idea of having some elite wingers potentially be playing with Jack over the coming years.

Reinhart (B+/A-): After a horrible start to the season, Sam really turned it up in the second half. Reinhart was one of the few players to be a positive corsi player at 5v5(!!!), while becoming an offensive threat. His attention to detail on the ice is fantastic. Sam's growth as a forechecker is been a pleasant surprise, as well as his continued success in front of the net. I'd like to see Sam produce a bit more at 5v5 but I think that will come as the team improves. His skating as improved leaps and bounds over his first couple years. I'm excited to watch Sam grow over the next few years -- he can become an elite 2 way player.

ROR (A-): O'Reilly is an incredible player. Along with Risto, there may not be a player in the league that has had a more consistently difficult role on a team in the league. This guy PKs, PPs, generates offense, defense. He's the type of player I'd wish every kid would aspire to be when they play (half joking, half serious). An even Corsi player. Generated decent offense at 5v5 and a good PPer. No complaints for ROR. Buffalo could collect a ransom for him.

E-Rod (B): Evan has shown a solid ability to slide up and down the lineup, PK, PP, and generate offense. His growth as a player has been nice - I ultimately see him as a 3rd liner with secondary scoring ability. E-Rod's skating and offensive instincts will allow him to slide up the lineup in case of injuries. There is a case to put him on Mittelstadt's wing next year and let them feast on easy match ups.

Jason Pominville (C): *ducks* he might be old and overpaid but I think he still can play a forth-line role next year over buying him out. Get him off the PP. Dont think about sliding him up the lineup. His skating as obviously fell off the wagon since his first go-around on this team.

Scott Wilson (C): Traded for a 5th round pick, I think he's an NHLer. 4th liner. PKs a bit. I don't have a problem with him being a forth line player on the team next year.

Okposo (D+): I am trying to evaluate everyone fairly, but I wasn't a fan of the Okposo signing, and although he played decently before his injury last year he has not been what we needed. Okposo is producing 4th line even-strength offense. It seems that offensive possession died on his stick; flubbed passes, and took forever to shoot on the PP. One of the worst +/- players in the entire league (and he doesn't PK). There should be serious concern in the Sabres front office -- how did he get a letter? 5 more years of this @ 6m?

Girgensons (D): I am ready to move on from him. Doesn't generate offense. Gets caved in consistently.

Johan Larsson (F): One of the worst forwards in the NHL this past season. There is no excuse for him to be on this roster next year.

Pouliot/Josefson/Nolan: Also some of the worst forwards in the league last year. Botterill obviously did not want to make any long term commitments in his UFA/Waiver pickups, and it shows in this case. These guys f***ing sucked. Rolling 3 lines probably would have more productive over 82 games. Send them around the Sun in one of Elon Musk's rockets.

Bailey/Baptise (NR): We all hoped that these two would provide a bit more offensively, and I know I at least expected them to be NHLers by this point. Both should be on the team next year. Neither will provide major offensive upside, but could become decent 3/4 line players.

Mittelstadt (NR): 6 games, 5 points (a couple 2ndary assists). Offensively he looked comfortable. Casey may struggle to start next season mainly to defensive struggles but he's smart enough, and a good enough skater that he will adjust quickly. I wonder if he is a good candidate to have on ROR's wing for the first couple weeks of next year. At least have him with a stable, 2-way winger like Reinhart if we insist to have him at C.

Defense:

Marco Scandella (B+): Scandella provided steady two-way play this year. This trade looks pretty bad for Minny since I definitely think that they gave away a quality 4-top NHL D. It's hard to judge Scandella because the rest of our team is so bad. I was hoping for a bit more offensive upside, otherwise there are no major complaints. Too bad we need about 3 more of him.

Risto (C+): When is this guy going to turn it up to the next level? He's got the size, skating (esp for a big-man), and offensive prowess to be a top-pairing guy. Maybe it's the role he's cast in. For years our coaches and GMs have been saying that he needs less minutes but he's still getting a ton! Acquiring another Top-4 D and/or Dahlin could do wonders for Risto. Otherwise, I wonder if he is a player that may need a change of scenery -- from his point of view it must be depressing to be a constant on a horrid team.

Guhle (B+ - Tentatively): In his 18 games, Guhle produced at ~22pt/82gm pace at 5v5. Guhle definitely has Top-4 potential on skating alone. Couple his skating with his passing / on-the-rush ability and he could develop into a 40pt D-man. Housley has to be ecstatic to have him on the team next year full-time. Guhle should be a treat to watch in the AHL playoffs.

Antipin (C): I was hoping for more from Viktor, in all honesty. He never got much offense going, and was consistently benched by Housley. Antipin has good skating ability, and he definitely has some offensive upside. One has to wonder if there was a language barrier, otherwise it's baffling that he would get benched for guys like Falk, Gorges, Beaulieu, etc. I hope he doesn't go back to Russia because he could still be an NHL defenseman. One can hope...

Beaulieu (D): For a 3rd round pick -- it was worth taking a flier on a former first round pick. He was not effective defensively, and prone to unforced errors. I'm not sure it's worth buying him out for marginal cap savings. He should be able to compete for 3rd-pairing minutes to see if he can salvage... something.

Nelson (C+): Ok defender. Developed nicely for a UDFA. Good skater and seems to be hungry to get better. As a UFA I hope the Sabres bring him in on a cheap 1-2 year deal. At 25/26 he's not going to get much better, so I personally wouldn't want to invest a lot in him. There is a chance he could develop into a quality third-pairing guy. Casey Nelson definitely has decent depth potential, though.

McCabe (C-): What the hell happened? I thought McCabe was developing nicely into a potential top-4 D.... he did not look good at all this year. There is marginal hope that he could turn it around. There should be legitimate consideration to make him a trade piece for another defenseman. Former 2nd round pick, has the possibility to be an ok third pairing guy, maybe? If a team wants a young-ish D back (he's an RFA at the end of this deal) I team might be willing to take him on.

No ratings on guys like Tennyson, Falk, Redmond -- they are not NHLers being cast in a league that is above their skillset. Tennyson was bad though. And according to some Amerk's accounts I follow, he's not much better in Rochester, either.

Goalies:

Lehner (C): I'm ready to move on.

Johnson (D): Not.... good.

Ullmark (NR): Decent goalie. Rochester guys love him. I have faith that he could compete for a job next year. If I were the GM i'd still try and bring in a quality vet on a 1-2 year deal. Maybe make a trade for a younger goalie in a larger deal.