Confirmed with Link: Casey Fitzgerald on waivers, claimed by Florida

[Dirty Dog]

Good for him!

 

[BUCKSHOT]

we traded Fitz for Jost

 

[Bendium]

I think if we view it from a big picture standpoint, they were going to have to waive a defender with Joker back, as they weren't going to carry 8 and keep Quinn or Peterka in the minors.

So really the only way this turns into an avoidable error would have been if one of the D were injured last night.

I don't believe there is a gm currently in the league that would give up any value for Fitzgerald or Bryson, so the options were pretty limited.

More often than not, guys like Fitzgerald are temporary claims for teams struggling with injuries, and are back on waivers and end up back with their original organization in a couple of weeks, so we can't assume that he won't end up back in the fold in the near future.

We have some holes that need to be filled and assets that need to be moved. KA has had plenty of time to make some trades, even if they were minor ones to adjust balance and improve the roster. He hasn't done it. I like KA, but this is one area I am really beginning to question. He wasn't even forced into the error yet, but he was absolutely letting himself get trapped in a corner.....by doing nothing. Some people think doing nothing somehow reduces your responsibility for the outcome. It does not. Doing nothing is just as much an active choice as doing something.

 

[missingmika]

And there you go. To me this is a clear asset mismanagement by KA. They did not have to lose this player when they could have just sent Quinn, JJP, or Krebs down. It also highlights for me an issue with KA not finding a trade to relieve the issue. Claiming Jost, which was absolutely a good move, added a contract into the NHL team that was not accounted for in the original plan. So, KA has had since that claim, to make a trade to unclog the pipeline. He hasn't gotten that done.

Unforced error here.

Let me tell you the story of Axel Jonsson-Fjallby…….

Fitz will most likely be back. If not, it’s a Jost for Fitz trade basically. I’d take that.

 

[sabresfan129103]

 

[Irie]

We have some holes that need to be filled and assets that need to be moved. KA has had plenty of time to make some trades, even if they were minor ones to adjust balance and improve the roster. He hasn't done it. I like KA, but this is one area I am really beginning to question. He wasn't even forced into the error yet, but he was absolutely letting himself get trapped in a corner.....by doing nothing. Some people think doing nothing somehow reduces your responsibility for the outcome. It does not. Doing nothing is just as much an active choice as doing something.

Realistically, if you were GM, who would you rather trade off of the active roster so that you might not lose Casey Fitzgerald?

 

[Bendium]

Let me tell you the story of Axel Jonsson-Fjallby…….

Fitz will most likely be back. If not, it’s a Jost for Fitz trade basically. I’d take that.

We can come up with lots of ways to talk ourselves into it not being so bad, but the hard truth it that a large part of this board considered sending a waiver exept rookie down for a few games, some kind of capital offense, while at the same time willing to waive depth dman under the "belief" and hope that they would not be claimed.

It was poor asset management plain and simple. Is it a huge miss dooming the franchise forever? Ofcoarse not....but it was a misstep that is a bad sign with a bunch of these kind of decisions coming up in the next 1-6 months. The next step for the franchise is here....are they ready? I am not convinced they are.

 

[DustyZ]

Who are we to question the Sabres expertise here?

They know hockey, and defense is part of hockey.

And who needs right handed defenseman anyway.

And we are Deeeeep!!

 

[Bendium]

Realistically, if you were GM, who would you rather trade off of the active roster so that you might not lose Casey Fitzgerald?

I am targeting a middle six winger or middle pairing dman, and trading current roster players, prospects, and picks to bring in a couple needed pieces, and improve the whole lineup by pushing everyone in the bottom half of our roster down one spot of responsibility. If I get a dman I am sending at least one dman the other way, and maybe a forward. You make a concentration trade.

Lastly, none of Quinn, JJP, or Krebs is performing so impactfully that they can't be lived without. Some time in the AHL could do each of them some good from a confidence and development aspect, and help the Amerks players as well.

There has been plenty of time to see this problem coming, and find a better way to address it, which since Jost was claimed, was always going to require a trade or waiver exempt send down.

 

[Push Dr Tracksuit]

We have some holes that need to be filled and assets that need to be moved. KA has had plenty of time to make some trades, even if they were minor ones to adjust balance and improve the roster. He hasn't done it. I like KA, but this is one area I am really beginning to question. He wasn't even forced into the error yet, but he was absolutely letting himself get trapped in a corner.....by doing nothing. Some people think doing nothing somehow reduces your responsibility for the outcome. It does not. Doing nothing is just as much an active choice as doing something.

this is actually what most people think and that the active choice to not do something does mitigated responsibility if it minimized risk

the crazy part is where people think that GMs are playing against simulations, the next guys paid to and he's in competition with you, and sometimes that means you suck up bad situations and minimize the damage

here's a formerly promising prospect thats just not making the step, expose him or start tampering with a lineup thats on pace to catch the 8 seed in the east thats seen basically the entire nhl roster (with a few exceptions, see this exact player) have career/breakout/exceeding expectations seasons, we know the third pairing needs to improved, we know fitz wasnt cutting, we know hes probably the one gone if/when KA makes the move, he is valueless to this team and every one else knew it to

 

[Nikolajs Sillers]

Honestly, I'm surprised:

You know Panthers defence is a crap if they claim Casey

 

[Chainshot]

You know Panthers defence is a crap if they claim Casey

They sent Kiersted back to Charlotte so Casey becomes their long-term 7.

 

[Irie]

We can come up with lots of ways to talk ourselves into it not being so bad, but the hard truth it that a large part of this board considered sending a waiver exept rookie down for a few games, some kind of capital offense, while at the same time willing to waive depth dman under the "belief" and hope that they would not be claimed.

It was poor asset management plain and simple. Is it a huge miss dooming the franchise forever? Ofcoarse not....but it was a misstep that is a bad sign with a bunch of these kind of decisions coming up in the next 1-6 months. The next step for the franchise is here....are they ready? I am not convinced they are.

But I think you are ignoring the fact that the team is not going to carry 8 D. So one was going to be waived, it was inevitable (since no one will trade for Bryson or Fitzgerald.)

It is the unfortunate side effect of having 5 different D out and having to bring up the entire farm for longer than emergency recall stints. When that happens, your Farm D is going to have to pass through waivers again once everyone is healthy.

This was unavoidable due to the crazy injury bug they experienced.

When crap like that happens, sometimes you just have to live with the minor consequences. Losing Fitzgerald to waivers is the minor consequence in this case. (and he may not even be lost longterm, so it is too early to worry too much about that imo).

 

[Irie]

They sent Kiersted back to Charlotte so Casey becomes their long-term 7.

I can't see Zito going with Fitzgerald as their 7 after the TDL. They have too high of playoff hopes to not make a move before the deadline to bring in some legitimate depth.

 

[Bendium]

They sent Kiersted back to Charlotte so Casey becomes their long-term 7.

What? They sent a waiver exempt player back to the AHl to manage thier roster without exposing assets unnecessarily?

Florida's just doomed their chances.

 

[Chainshot]

I can't see Zito going with Fitzgerald as their 7 after the TDL. They have too high of playoff hopes to not make a move before the deadline to bring in some legitimate depth.

Probably before it. Though deadline day is when rosters expand.

 

[Gras]

What? They sent a waiver exempt player back to the AHl to manage thier roster without exposing assets unnecessarily?

Florida's just doomed their chances.

Did they send down a waiver eligible forward so they could keep 8 dmen up on the 23 man roster?

 

[Bendium]

Did they send down a waiver eligible forward so they could keep 8 dmen up on the 23 man roster?

There is nothing wrong with keeping 8 if you need to for some time to manage your assets. Its not a reasonable comparable.

 

[BUCKSHOT]

There is nothing wrong with keeping 8 if you need to for some time to manage your assets. Its not a reasonable comparable.

part of the 23 man roster spot issue is you'll be carrying 3 goalies some nights

 

[Bendium]

part of the 23 man roster spot issue is you'll be carrying 3 goalies some nights

This is still just an excuse.

A huge number of people on this board argued for sending a d-man thru waivers vs sending down a waiver exempt player and then making a trade or waiting for injuries to work out the bottleneck, under the unfounded belief they would not be claimed......... oops!

Not one person has come back and even acknowledged it was an error to take the riskier, and unnecessary path. Instead, its just a myriad of excuses why its ok anyway.

 

[Chainshot]

This is still just an excuse.

A huge number of people on this board argued for sending a d-man thru waivers vs sending down a waiver exempt player and then making a trade or waiting for injuries to work out the bottleneck, under the unfounded belief they would not be claimed......... oops!

Not one person has come back and even acknowledged it was an error to take the riskier, and unnecessary path. Instead, its just a myriad of excuses why its ok anyway.

Probably because Fitz is measurably bad at hockey and it's likely he isn't very good in Florida either.

 

[Panthaz89]

Thank heavens the White Knight has arrived for Casey Fitzgerald.

I really don't get it we have to get better by getting rid of bad players team has no use for a guy who comes in and doesn't play D focus on guys who will actually be able to hold onto an NHL spot and not have the coach force our top guys to play 30 mins to shelter them.

 

[Irie]

This is still just an excuse. A huge number of people on this board argued for sending a d-man thru waivers vs sending down a waiver exempt player and then making a trade or waiting for injuries to work out the bottleneck, under the unfounded belief they would not be claimed......... oops!

Not one person has come back and even acknowledged it was an error to take the riskier, and unnecessary path. Instead, its just a myriad of excuses why its ok anyway.

This is because most do not view this as an error.

Depth D (and forwards) are not your core. You don't change team plans to keep them in the fold or worry about waiver claims. Fitzgerald has zero trade value, and with the way he has played this season, he had no value as an NHL depth option - thus the hate for him in this thread. (personally, I hate to see the hate, and I do hope as a fanbase, we collectively would be thankful for his effort in trying, but I have no delusion that he is somehow serviceable on the big club in his current form)

The team has been ridiculously lucky healthwise with their forward core this season. With the addition of Jost, the team has a full stable of healthy forwards, but if they were to experience an injury wave to their forwards similar to what hit the D, this team could be dressing 6 rookies a night. So moving a forward to make room for FItzgerald as an 8th D is even riskier.

Fitzgerald is easily replaceable in the offseason with better cheap vets. Adams biggest error was probably hoping Fitzgerald could play effective minutes in an injury situation instead of resigning a guy like Pysyk for the insurance role. He is just lucky Clague stepped up and has been serviceable as the teams 7th D.

 

[Bendium]

Probably because Fitz is measurably bad at hockey and it's likely he isn't very good in Florida either.

Hey, I am with you there. I think Fitz is a really good AHL defenseman and would love to have him playing in Rochester. He might be better in a more rigid defensive system. who knows. So is it a huge loss? No, but the impact is not at all what I have been arguing. I think there were better roster management choices to be made along the way here, and so this one concerns me as an indicator.

 

[Der Jaeger]

Fitzgerald is what he is right now: an AHL/NHL tweener. He’s not bad, but he’s not ready for the NHL game. He may never be.

Call me jaded because of what happened in 2005-2006, but I’d gladly take what Casey Fitzgerald brings to an NHL roster over Jeff Jillson. I really wanted to have Fitzgerald, Pilut, and maybe even Clague in the AHL to safeguard against disaster.