Speculation: Roster Speculation, 2018 Off-Season

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Dirty Dog

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It does seem that Eichel, ROR, CM are going to be the top three centers with Housley. Okposo and Reinhart will be two of the RWs in the top 9. So:

XXX - Eichel - Okposo

XXX - ROR - Reinhart

XXX - CM - XXX

XXX - XXX - XXX

lol what a f***ing mess
 

Ace

Registered User
Oct 29, 2015
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It does seem that Eichel, ROR, CM are going to be the top three centers with Housley. Okposo and Reinhart will be two of the RWs in the top 9. So:

XXX - Eichel - Okposo

XXX - ROR - Reinhart

XXX - CM - XXX

XXX - XXX - XXX

lol what a ****ing mess

I bet ROR is not here next year.
 
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Snippit

Registered User
Dec 5, 2012
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It does seem that Eichel, ROR, CM are going to be the top three centers with Housley. Okposo and Reinhart will be two of the RWs in the top 9. So:

XXX - Eichel - Okposo

XXX - ROR - Reinhart

XXX - CM - XXX

XXX - XXX - XXX

lol what a ****ing mess

XXX-Eichel-Svech/Zadina
XXX-ROR-Reinhart
ERod-Mittelstadt-Okposo
Wilson-XXX-Baptiste

That's assuming we get one of the top 2 forwards though...if we don't, then CM is moved into the top 6 because we won't have the depth to support a 3 center spine.

Mittelstadt-Eichel-XXX
XXX-ROR-Reinhart
ERod-XXX-Okposo
Wilson-XXX-Baptiste

In either combination though, this team badly needs a veteran 4C that can actually play.

There's honestly way too many holes to fill in one off-season. In addition:

1) Starting goalie
2) 2 top four defenceman (1 if we get Dahlin)
 

Icicle

Think big
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Okposo should be slotted as a 4th liner til he remembers how to play.
 

Dreakon13

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Jun 28, 2010
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I'd like to think the idea of Eichel-ROR-Reinhart gets rolled out of the gate next year. If they're all still here.

Let Okposo, Rodrigues, Mittelstadt, Nylander, Pominville, any UFA replacements and our 2018 1st rounder (assuming it isn't Dahlin or defense) figure the other three lines out.
 

nickdawg95

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Fairly optimistic that Okposo will have a good season next year(50-60 points) Maybe Bogosian become serviceable again ?

Svechnikov-Eichel-Okposo
Nylander-RoR-Reinhart
Nash-Mittlestadt-E-Rod
Wilson-Brodziak-Baptise

Guhle-Risto
Scandella-Nelson
Antipin-Bogosian
Antipin-Mccabe

Bury Pominville in the A

Throw some money at Nash 2x4 / Brodziak 1x2.25
 

Yatzhee

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Aug 5, 2010
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There is going to be changes to be sure. But I don't believe ROR, Okposo or Reinhart get moved.
 

Chainshot

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It comes down to what they want to do as an identity. Is O'Reilly the shutdown guy or do they try to flex him like they did when Eichel was hurt -- which means they need to improve on a d-zone/shutdown guy who is better than Larsson. Are they going to try to ride Mitts in as the third center which then means he gets the advantageous deployments and they still need to figure out who gets the crap detail as the d-zone guy(s)?

And the idea that Bogosian and McCabe are going to give them 2nd pairing minutes floated by Botterill in his interview the other day is hopefully smoke, yet we've yet to encounter Botterill being wily in his statements. He's been pretty transparent in his actions and commentary aligning. So that's distressing to hear he wants to rely on the unreliable to get a bump on his blueline.

Then there is goaltending... Ullmark seems the heir to one spot but they need a quality 2nd option that they don't have anywhere on the roster right now. Confidence in their netminders may help the skaters.

I'm fully expecting to be both disappointed and underwhelmed.
 
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OkimLom

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May 3, 2010
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Then the changes amount to reshuffling the deck chairs.

If the problem was that our core wasn’t scoring then I would say keeping core pieces would be reshuffling the deck chairs. That’s not the case.

This teams needs a good amount of turnover of support players in this roster. You do that, you’ll see improvement on this team, I guarantee it.
 

OkimLom

Registered User
May 3, 2010
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Fairly optimistic that Okposo will have a good season next year(50-60 points) Maybe Bogosian become serviceable again ?

Svechnikov-Eichel-Okposo
Nylander-RoR-Reinhart
Nash-Mittlestadt-E-Rod
Wilson-Brodziak-Baptise

Guhle-Risto
Scandella-Nelson
Antipin-Bogosian
Antipin-Mccabe

Bury Pominville in the A

Throw some money at Nash 2x4 / Brodziak 1x2.25

What evidence points to Okposo having a big year next year?
 

ZZamboni

Puttin' on the Foil
Sep 25, 2010
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Priority #1 IMO is to by any means necessary whether it doesn’t hurt at all, hurts a little, or hurts a lot ...
Get rid of Bogo, Pominville, Nolan, Beaulieu. Rip it off like a bandaid.

Things will look clearer once those guys are in the rear view.

Lehner isn’t returning, Johnson most likely isn’t returning, Gorges isn’t returning, one or both of Pouliot and Josefson isn’t returning.

A lot will hopefully be purged from the team by next October if not sooner.
 

Chainshot

Give 'em Enough Rope
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Why on Earth should anyone consider Bogosian as a possible good player at any point? Taking his three "full" seasons in Buffalo, he's missed 108 games and been dressed for 138... that's 44% of the games he's being paid to play that he's been out of the lineup and how many of those he dressed was he sub-optimal? At least the 18 for this season, by eye-test.

The only thing he's shown on the ice is that he's unreliable. Great guy off the ice, but on it? When he's on it? If he's on it? No. All that physical talent and he doesn't play a smart game in the least.
 

GellMann

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Dec 16, 2014
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What evidence points to Okposo having a big year next year?
How crisply he stickhandled the last four months (or two years, rather), how agile and fluid he skated, how you could always rely on him to get the puck to a scoring area with possession, or get himself open in one if he didn't have it.
 

Moskau

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Jun 30, 2004
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WNY
Jim Benning wants to add other teams bad contracts this off-season with the money Vancouver gets from the Sedin's retiring. I mean... it doesn't get any easier.
 
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Chainshot

Give 'em Enough Rope
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Jim Benning wants to add other teams bad contracts this off-season with the money Vancouver gets from the Sedin's retiring. I mean... it doesn't get any easier.

While appealing, what do they want for that service and what does Buffalo send to make it worthwhile? Seems like they'd want futures, which aren't really what the Sabres are swimming in.
 

Ace

Registered User
Oct 29, 2015
22,958
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If the problem was that our core wasn’t scoring then I would say keeping core pieces would be reshuffling the deck chairs. That’s not the case.

This teams needs a good amount of turnover of support players in this roster. You do that, you’ll see improvement on this team, I guarantee it.

The problem is that we are slow.

If someone wants to get me out of five more years of ROR being slow at big money so I can get assets that are faster...then I can build a team that plays how Botterill wants.

I don’t care if he scratched out his 60 points again. I don’t care how many points any of these people got after teams were already up multiple goals because they skated all over us until score effects took over.
 

Ace

Registered User
Oct 29, 2015
22,958
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Why on Earth should anyone consider Bogosian as a possible good player at any point? Taking his three "full" seasons in Buffalo, he's missed 108 games and been dressed for 138... that's 44% of the games he's being paid to play that he's been out of the lineup and how many of those he dressed was he sub-optimal? At least the 18 for this season, by eye-test.

The only thing he's shown on the ice is that he's unreliable. Great guy off the ice, but on it? When he's on it? If he's on it? No. All that physical talent and he doesn't play a smart game in the least.

I need this Bogo crutch people rely on to go away for good. This idea that if he’s healthy it will solve a problem. No...it will create a different problem. That I now have Zach Bogosian and his negative hockey sense playing back there for a ton of money.

Buy him out.
 

couture23

Registered User
Jun 23, 2012
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Toronto
It does seem that Eichel, ROR, CM are going to be the top three centers with Housley. Okposo and Reinhart will be two of the RWs in the top 9. So:

XXX - Eichel - Okposo

XXX - ROR - Reinhart

XXX - CM - XXX

XXX - XXX - XXX

lol what a ****ing mess

ERod is guaranteed to be on the team, and probably Nylander as well.
 

valet

obviously adhd
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If we can trade Okposo for a 2nd, 3rd, and bottom pair dman I'll be over the moon

Who cares what his actual value is, that seems like a fleecing right now
 
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