2021-2022 Roster Speculation Thread, pt. 4

[Jim Bob]

I wouldn’t overlook youth and the hunger to improve that comes with them.

That alone will make next year’s team better than any tank year.

And then we realize we have a retiree in goal…

 

[TehDoak]

It won't even the worst Sabres roster of the past 10 years

So, i was thinking about this.......

Ennis-Hodgson-Stafford
Moulson-Girgensons-Gionta
Foligno-Larsson-Stewart
Flynn-McCormick-Deslaurier

Myers-Gorges
Benoit-Strachan
Mezaros-Zadorov
Pysyk

Enroth
Neurvirth

I mean, what really killed that team was Hodgson falling off the face of the planet, bad coaching, that terrible defense, and then finally the Girgensons injury and sending all the goalies away at the deadline

Compare that to:

Skinner-Mittelstadt-Olofsson
R2-Cozens-Thompson
Bjork-Eakin-Okposo
Asplund-Girgensons-Hinostroza

Dahlin-Joker
Butcher-Miller
Hagg-Psysk
Bryson

Anderson
Dell

The lineups are actually pretty similar

Let's see:

forwards: I'll give 2014-15 a slight edge. Maybe a push if you consider Hodgson just fell off a cliff that year.

Defense: Hrm, this years is slightly better because Dahlin.

Goaltending: easily 2014-15

Coaching: I'll give Granato the edge here as Nolas was clearly from a different era.

I mean....I think it get a sub 60 point team, it has to be a bad team + injuries + other issues

I also think we are going to get 1-2 NHL bodies back in the Eichel trade.

If we get the "all futures" deal for Eichel and the above line up is it, I'd say the lineup is like 60-65 points

Some bad injuries and Eakin is playing in the top 6 for extended period of time? Probably down in the 50s or so

 

[PatrikBerglund]

I very much doubt we’re gonna be nearly as bad as 2013-2015.

Who will our first line centre be?

Or second?

Goalie?

 

[Matt Ress]

Who will our first line centre be?

Or second?

Goalie?

It would be nice to get back a vet C even if he would be a true middle 6er. That way you can send him out with Skinny and Olafsson to get beat up while the kids stay somewhat sheltered and gel together. As optimistic as I am about Mitts, I hate the idea of letting him get eaten alive every night.

 

[PatrikBerglund]

It would be nice to get back a vet C even if he would be a true middle 6er. That way you can send him out with Skinny and Olafsson to get beat up while the kids stay somewhat sheltered and gel together. As optimistic as I am about Mitts, I hate the idea of letting him get eaten alive every night.

Or Buffalo can apply to be accepted to play in the AHL for the upcoming season, to hopefully give the team some confidence going into 2022-2023.

 

[Royal Thunder]

So this youth movement is great and all, but are we planning to just have no quality veterans to insulate these kids? I can’t help but feel like it’s a big mistake to be rolling out Cozens and Mitts as our top two centres. Look at a team like LA who will have Kopitar and Danault to support Turcotte and Byfield. What is the plan here exactly if Eichel is traded? We better be getting a couple quality NHLers as part of the package..

Has a youth movement ever worked out without any vets to guide these kids along? I know the off-season isn’t over but it doesn’t exactly feel like we are on the verge of acquiring some veteran help.

 

[Jim Bob]

 

[Jim Bob]

 

[Matt Ress]

Or Buffalo can apply to be accepted to play in the AHL for the upcoming season, to hopefully give the team some confidence going into 2022-2023.

I like it. European style. What would the All Buffalo team look like...

 

[Buffaloed]

So this youth movement is great and all, but are we planning to just have no quality veterans to insulate these kids? I can’t help but feel like it’s a big mistake to be rolling out Cozens and Mitts as our top two centres. Look at a team like LA who will have Kopitar and Danault to support Turcotte and Byfield. What is the plan here exactly if Eichel is traded? We better be getting a couple quality NHLers as part of the package..

Has a youth movement ever worked out without any vets to guide these kids along? I know the off-season isn’t over but it doesn’t exactly feel like we are on the verge of acquiring some veteran help.

That only works if the veterans are already here. That's why you should never completely get rid of the veteran core the way the Sabres did. Bringing in veterans from the outside never works unless one is named Messier. You can look at Sabres rosters for the last decade when they brought in veterans to mentor the youngsters. The only reason they come here is for a paycheck.

 

[joshjull]

So this youth movement is great and all, but are we planning to just have no quality veterans to insulate these kids? I can’t help but feel like it’s a big mistake to be rolling out Cozens and Mitts as our top two centres. Look at a team like LA who will have Kopitar and Danault to support Turcotte and Byfield. What is the plan here exactly if Eichel is traded? We better be getting a couple quality NHLers as part of the package..

Has a youth movement ever worked out without any vets to guide these kids along? I know the off-season isn’t over but it doesn’t exactly feel like we are on the verge of acquiring some veteran help.

LA is very poor example to make your point

1) The Kings want to make another push to the playoffs and beyond with Kopitar/Doughty still as core pieces.. Acquiring Danault (and being linked to a Jack trade) was to have a 1-2 punch up the middle to accomplish that. You don’t hand kids those spots and expect the playoffs.

We aren’t looking to make a playoff push this year. We’re trying to see what we have with a ton of young players and shape a new core group.

2) When the season starts Byfield will be 19 and Turcotte 20. Other than Cozens, we have no one as young and inexperienced as those two who will be playing serious minutes for us.


Mitts from an age and experience pov doesn’t belong grouped with Cozens, Byfield and Turcotte. He’s older (23 in Nov), has 155 NHL games under his belt and already had a trial run of 20gms as a top 6 center. He’s right in the wheel house of someone a team in our situation would be looking to see if he could handle a top 6 role for a full season. We’ll find out if he’s up to it.

As for Cozens, I’m not sure what the plan is for him. He could end up at center or wing. In what role for either I’m not sure.

I wouldn’t look at this from a 1C or 2C pov either. Its about roles. What roles do they expect of Mitts and Cozens to play. At the moment I think Mitts will be the top offensive center with offensive skewed deployments. That obviously could change based on the rest of the offseason.

 

[Jim Bob]

How bad teammates can disrupt dressing rooms, team chemistry

Jerks don’t know they’re jerks because they aren’t constantly jerkish. It would be a lot easier if they knew, but alas, they do not. Think about the ones you’ve let into your life – there has to be stretches of times they’re decent, or you’d have never let them in to begin with. But over time a pattern of jerk-like moments emerges, and all the runs of decency start to exist in their shadow.

Those people choose to see the other times, the more decent ones, as what defines them rather than the bad moments, which they see as outliers. Everyone deserves chances and has their imperfect moments, of course, but sometimes the balance is just tipped too heavily the wrong way for them to be right on that.

 

[BloFan4Life]

How bad teammates can disrupt dressing rooms, team chemistry

If Jack ain't on the ice, I would recommend he stay in Boston until doctors clear him.

 

[Jim Bob]

If Jack ain't on the ice, I would recommend he stay in Boston until doctors clear him.

It all depends on what the path forward looks like. If the Sabres plan is to get Eichel back on the ice to rehab his trade value, I would expect that they would want him around Granato and the team.

Granato has coached Eichel before. I would trust him with being able to navigate this.

 

[BloFan4Life]

It all depends on what the path forward looks like. If the Sabres plan is to get Eichel back on the ice to rehab his trade value, I would expect that they would want him around Granato and the team.

Granato has coached Eichel before. I would trust him with being able to navigate this.

Jack has a problem with every coach, keep him away.

 

[Jim Bob]

Jack has a problem with every coach, keep him away.

If they are unable to trade him, he has to come back to the team eventually. The sooner the better to me.

 

[TehDoak]

How bad teammates can disrupt dressing rooms, team chemistry

The bigger the talent, the wider the berth typically.

I think Patrick Kane is a shining example of this. If he weren't an all world talent he wouldn't have gotten away with punching a cab driver or the dumb shit he pulled during several offseasons.

DeAngelo basically ran himself out of NY by being vocal about his conspiracy theory stuff, and pissed off teammates by being casually racist.

Kanes issues are well documented (his being questioned/accused for sexual assault while here, the money issues, gambling, etc)

A lot of sportswriters will label players by how they treat sportswriters. Happens in smaller markets (we see it with a few writers here) and big markets.

The truth is, a lot of hockey players are jerks, they are professional athletes. It's when they get out of line publicly or try to elevate their needs about the teams (on the ice) when it becomes an issue.

Jack has a problem with every coach, keep him away.

I find it funny when a player wants out he's suddenly demonized. Please provide some proof that Eichel did anything that we don't see from ANY star in the league. He kept out of trouble off the ice. I'd argue he was a spoiled kid who didn't get a lot of help during his career, and that is on the franchise for failing to get him the veteran help he needed. That is the real problem with the tank. When you finally get that franchise player you threw away a season to get, any quality vet who can command his respect is long gone.

 

[joshjull]

Andrew Sember: As the depth chart stands now, who is more likely to center the Sabres’ top line: Dylan Cozens or Casey Mittelstadt?
Lysowski: There will be a competition in camp, but Cozens’ refined two-way game likely puts him in the drivers’ seat to center the top line. The 20-year-old faced other teams’ top centers during the final weeks of last season – including Sidney Crosby and Patrice Bergeron – but it might be wise for Cozens and Mittelstadt to alternate in that role. After all, it will be important for Cozens and Mittelstadt to generate confidence, particularly with the puck.

The Sabres need to find a way to unleash Cozens’ scoring ability because injuries and a steep learning curve prevented him from consistently generating offense as a rookie. He totaled four goals and 13 points in 41 games. It might be difficult to expect more offense from Cozens if he’s handed the most difficult assignments every night.

 

[Jim Bob]

 

[Jim Bob]

NHL offseason by the numbers: Which teams have improved the most (and least)?

25. Buffalo Sabres

Wins Added: -3.0 wins

Salary Added: -$2.9 million

In: Will Butcher, Mark Pysyk, Vinnie Hinostroza, Robert Hagg, John Hayden, Craig Anderson, Aaron Dell

Out: Sam Reinhart, Linus Ullmark, Jake McCabe, William Borgen, Rasmus Ristolainen

The Sabres are a worse team true talent-wise than they were to end the season and that doesn’t even include the impending Eichel trade that will only drop their wins added further down. This team has limited short term hope so getting worse is the right play here as the rebuild starts over. Buffalo earned some amazing draft capital in the Ristolainen and Reinhart deals, though losing Linus Ullmark for nothing does hurt.

 

[sabremike]

So this youth movement is great and all, but are we planning to just have no quality veterans to insulate these kids? I can’t help but feel like it’s a big mistake to be rolling out Cozens and Mitts as our top two centres. Look at a team like LA who will have Kopitar and Danault to support Turcotte and Byfield. What is the plan here exactly if Eichel is traded? We better be getting a couple quality NHLers as part of the package..

Has a youth movement ever worked out without any vets to guide these kids along? I know the off-season isn’t over but it doesn’t exactly feel like we are on the verge of acquiring some veteran help.

My big question: You want kids to be able to grow so wouldn't getting a quality goaltender (even short term) be something that needed to be done? If they know they make any kind of mistake it's ending up in the back of the net it's going to kill their confidence and they will play like they are walking on eggshells. If they know they have a goalie they can count on they will play more confident and less afraid.

 

[TehDoak]

NHL offseason by the numbers: Which teams have improved the most (and least)?

Yeah guys, next season is gonna be great.....

 

[joshjull]

Yeah guys, next season is gonna be great.....

It’s talking about Jack’s play relative to the league and his teammates during the 19-20 season under Krueger. The best year of Jack’s career but many others struggled under Krueger’s coaching. We already know Jack is really good and losing him will suck. Knowing how Jack did relative to the league and teammates under Krueger two season ago doesn’t really help us figure out the upcoming season.

 

[SundherDome]

You can't give Mitts or Cozens the 1c. I think you throw Eakin or Girgs into that role and try to even out the minutes

 

[sabremike]

You can't give Mitts or Cozens the 1c. I think you throw Eakin or Girgs into that role and try to even out the minutes

Eakin was quite possibly the single worst player to put on a Sabres uniform of the past decade so that's a really bad idea.