Ace
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- Oct 29, 2015
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Player Discussion Buffalo Pickers - The Search For Serviceable Defensemen, Summer of '23 Edition
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BG82
Registered User
Were really not. If you build it, they will come in Buffalo. Next season when were playing for a top playoff seed, the building will be bumping again
Ottawa arena is in a dumb spot and Arizona wont draw regardless lol
Every owner should be campaigning for a open draft lottery. This behind door crap with Bettman and Daly with Connor Bedard coming is concerning lil
Bedard could be better then McDavid
Jim Bob
RIP RJ
Sabre the Win
Joke of a Franchise
- Jun 27, 2013
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Could be but I doubt he will be, I don't think we see another player of McDavid's calibre for a long time. I can see Bedard like Jack Hughes in Jersey, which is no slouch.
Jim Bob
RIP RJ
Digable5
Buffalo Proton (Positively Charged)
If not suggested yet, I would offer up for consideration:
Connor Murphy (again)
Noah Hanafin
David Farrance
All potentially available; All former Granato players.
Connor Murphy (again)
Noah Hanafin
David Farrance
All potentially available; All former Granato players.
In simply looking at PK TOI, some names I don't think we've mentioned:
Hamonic
Holl
Both Right shot, a bit older d-men. Probably more of a Lybushkin replacement than a true top 4 (though Holl gets top 4 minutes in Toronto)
Hamonic
Holl
Both Right shot, a bit older d-men. Probably more of a Lybushkin replacement than a true top 4 (though Holl gets top 4 minutes in Toronto)
Some guys I don't think were mentioned that would be a trade route that I think are intriguing.
1.) Marcus Petersson. 26 year old with 2 more years at 4M. Pit probably would have moved him earlier in the season for a cheaper replacement, but he was bumped up to play alongside Letang and looked really good. May not be available, although Pit has cap issues and if they miss the playoffs, who knows what they will choose to do. Only issue is he is LHD, so not ideal as a Joker replacement on the second line.
2.) Oliver Kylington. Another lefty. 25 years old and not currently playing. Had a great break out year last season playing a lot alongside Tanev, but seemed to play well with whomever Sutter paired him with. There is a lot of mystery about what is going on with him, he is back in Sweden for personal reasons. Not sure if a trade would help bring him back, but I would inquire if I were a GM.
3.) Cale Fleury. 24 year old RHD being squeezed by Seattle's depth. Has had limited NHL opportunity, but has played solid in his chances. Was really great playing for the Checkers last season. Hakstol and Francis gave him 7 minutes in preseason last year and he played fine, but they waived him after the first or second preseason game to sneak him through waivers because they knew they were going to lose him if they played him more, someone would have taken notice, and they had 9 legit NHL defenders from the expansion draft. He plays a physical game. Good at reading plays and making the safe, smart play. Solid skater but not much offense. Can PK and does the little things well, but would be a better complimentary guy to pair with a puck mover. I believe there is still a fair amount of upside there. Will never be a point producer, but has a chance to be a stabilizing defensive presence on the blueline as he matures. Seemed destined to be Soucy's replacement, but then Francis signed Schultz and Soucy moved to the left side, and the Kraken acquired Megna this season, who looks to be the new #6 LHD next year. They have Schultz, Borgen, and Larsson on the right ahead of Fleury. Kraken would also like to get some icetime for Rykar Evans soon in a callup role, and they have Ty Nelson in the OHL who can't play in the AHL, but may be too good to go back to the OHL again next season. All this leaves Fleury, who is an RFA, in a bit of a gray area. Trading for his rights may be the universe's way of balancing things out for the Kraken poaching Borgen.
1.) Marcus Petersson. 26 year old with 2 more years at 4M. Pit probably would have moved him earlier in the season for a cheaper replacement, but he was bumped up to play alongside Letang and looked really good. May not be available, although Pit has cap issues and if they miss the playoffs, who knows what they will choose to do. Only issue is he is LHD, so not ideal as a Joker replacement on the second line.
2.) Oliver Kylington. Another lefty. 25 years old and not currently playing. Had a great break out year last season playing a lot alongside Tanev, but seemed to play well with whomever Sutter paired him with. There is a lot of mystery about what is going on with him, he is back in Sweden for personal reasons. Not sure if a trade would help bring him back, but I would inquire if I were a GM.
3.) Cale Fleury. 24 year old RHD being squeezed by Seattle's depth. Has had limited NHL opportunity, but has played solid in his chances. Was really great playing for the Checkers last season. Hakstol and Francis gave him 7 minutes in preseason last year and he played fine, but they waived him after the first or second preseason game to sneak him through waivers because they knew they were going to lose him if they played him more, someone would have taken notice, and they had 9 legit NHL defenders from the expansion draft. He plays a physical game. Good at reading plays and making the safe, smart play. Solid skater but not much offense. Can PK and does the little things well, but would be a better complimentary guy to pair with a puck mover. I believe there is still a fair amount of upside there. Will never be a point producer, but has a chance to be a stabilizing defensive presence on the blueline as he matures. Seemed destined to be Soucy's replacement, but then Francis signed Schultz and Soucy moved to the left side, and the Kraken acquired Megna this season, who looks to be the new #6 LHD next year. They have Schultz, Borgen, and Larsson on the right ahead of Fleury. Kraken would also like to get some icetime for Rykar Evans soon in a callup role, and they have Ty Nelson in the OHL who can't play in the AHL, but may be too good to go back to the OHL again next season. All this leaves Fleury, who is an RFA, in a bit of a gray area. Trading for his rights may be the universe's way of balancing things out for the Kraken poaching Borgen.
I thought Kylington had a shoulder injury or something that is basically career ending.
I hadn't heard that. The Flames organization has stated that they have been in touch with Kylington throughout the season, but have no timeline on his return "and that he is dealing with a personal family matter".
Could be a bad injury I guess. Speculation on the flames board is that his mother is sick. I pretty much doubt he's available unless he wants out (that is if he can still play), and if he were available and healthy there likely would be a bidding war, but it never hurts to ask.... Said Doug Wilson after acquiring Joe Thornton
Jim Bob
RIP RJ
I hadn't heard that. The Flames organization has stated that they have been in touch with Kylington throughout the season, but have no timeline on his return "and that he is dealing with a personal family matter".
Could be a bad injury I guess. Speculation on the flames board is that his mother is sick. I pretty much doubt he's available unless he wants out (that is if he can still play), and if he were available and healthy there likely would be a bidding war, but it never hurts to ask.... Said Doug Wilson after acquiring Joe Thornton
This would seem to indicate something like his mother being gravely ill.
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Yeah, there is a report out there is that they are probably where he lands. From a depth perspective, just about everyone is welcome at this point.
In the same way, I'm going to keep repeating Cameron Morton over and over in the hopes that A) he can play the same way in the AHL/Rochester that he has with Erie and B) that he could one day do that in Buffalo.
- Feb 3, 2015
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I think we need to move on from the fantasy of acquiring the perfect u-24 year old top 4 RHD to partner next to Power for 8 years or bust. And embrace the Tampa strategy of cycling through quality veteran defensemen. Seems like every other offseason they're dumping a good defensemen and picking up a new one.
There's nothing wrong with improving your line up with a high quality, older veteran for only 1-3 years. It doesn't make a guy a "rental" if he's not signed for 7-8 years.
Potential trade targets.
Flames:
Weegar
Zadorov
Tanev
WPG:
Demelo
Dillon
Chi:
Murphy
NSH:
Fabbro (more of a development project trade)
Phi:
Risto ( I kid! But in all seriousness Torts seems to have fixed him. He's a very effective defensive stay at home guy right now playing the best hockey of his career) (I don't actually want him back, just wanted to pay risto a compliment)
There's nothing wrong with improving your line up with a high quality, older veteran for only 1-3 years. It doesn't make a guy a "rental" if he's not signed for 7-8 years.
Potential trade targets.
Flames:
Weegar
Zadorov
Tanev
WPG:
Demelo
Dillon
Chi:
Murphy
NSH:
Fabbro (more of a development project trade)
Phi:
Risto ( I kid! But in all seriousness Torts seems to have fixed him. He's a very effective defensive stay at home guy right now playing the best hockey of his career) (I don't actually want him back, just wanted to pay risto a compliment)
As a fan of "done is better than perfect", yes, very much so. That's where expanding the search out to include LHD and give the flexibility to have a solution that could including having a ____- Dahlin and Power-Samuelsson top four should be on the table as an option.
Zman5778
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I'm starting to favor this idea. It's been painfully obvious that this team needs another veteran in the lineup......and really the only vet we have on the backend is Boosh. And given that Okposo's future is very much in doubt, a veteran leader-type might be absolutely ideal. Murphy from Chicago might be the picture-perfect add in this case: good contract, good performance, leader in the room and has plenty of experience.
If they are going the LD-LD-LD-LD route... I wonder about Noah Hanifin? He's not necessarily the best fit stylistically in terms of being a shut down guy - but he's a good player, he's the one who probably shakes loose in Calgary instead of Weegar or Andersson , and I'm pretty sure Granato has experience coaching him. The latter seems to be a prerequisite these days...
The issue Buffalo has with the strategy of recycling random vets is Granato's system.
Other teams can pick up Colin Miller, or Bogosian and plug then into their top four, give them a structured environment and a job to do and all of a sudden, they are extremely effective.
In Buffalo, they do not have that structure and they are more lost than effective as they try to read the play and react.
Finding a serviceable partner for power with the way he roams the ice is easier said than done.
As others have suggested, a Sammy-Power pairing and finding another partner for Dahlin may be the option that has the most flexibility and might be the easiest solution.
Jim Bob
RIP RJ
I doubt Adams would be willing to pay what Calgary wants for Hanifin given that he only has one season of team control.
*raises hand*
That'd be me.
In pairs that have more than 100 minutes for the year on the Sabres, Power-Samuelsson have the highest shots/60 and 2nd lowest shots against/60 of any of the pairs. Very small sample (only 115 minutes) but it could point to them being a working duo and leave the possibility of a Dahlin partner drawing from either side of the shooting spectrum.
Looking at RD UFA, sorted by TOI (excluding some obvious no's, like Klingberg/Shattenkirk)
In (X:XX) I'm including their PK TOI/game
Dumba (1:47)
Mayfield (2:52)
Holl (3:00)
Severson (1:06)
Hamonic (3:17)
Clifton (1:18)
Gudas (2:28)
E. Johnson (35+) (2:03)
Hamonic, Holl, and Mayfield seem to be taking top unit minutes on upper tier PKs (Ottawa is 8th, NYI 10th, and Toronto is 13th). Severson, Dumba, and Clifton seem to be 2nd unit guys. (though Boston's PK is #1).
Just some random thoughts when looking at the UFA class.
In (X:XX) I'm including their PK TOI/game
Dumba (1:47)
Mayfield (2:52)
Holl (3:00)
Severson (1:06)
Hamonic (3:17)
Clifton (1:18)
Gudas (2:28)
E. Johnson (35+) (2:03)
Hamonic, Holl, and Mayfield seem to be taking top unit minutes on upper tier PKs (Ottawa is 8th, NYI 10th, and Toronto is 13th). Severson, Dumba, and Clifton seem to be 2nd unit guys. (though Boston's PK is #1).
Just some random thoughts when looking at the UFA class.
*raises hand*
That'd be me.
In pairs that have more than 100 minutes for the year on the Sabres, Power-Samuelsson have the highest shots/60 and 2nd lowest shots against/60 of any of the pairs. Very small sample (only 115 minutes) but it could point to them being a working duo and leave the possibility of a Dahlin partner drawing from either side of the shooting spectrum.
Curious to look at each D individually to see who they have their best ES metrics with.
Dahlin's best partner is Power.
Jokiharju's best partner is Dahlin
Power's best partner is Sameulsson
Sameulsson's best partner is Power
Lyubushkin's best partner is .... Stillman
Bryson's best partner is Clague
Clague's best partner is Bryson
My very knee-jerk takeaway from this very small. flawed study is that
a.) Power and Sameulsson should be a regular pairing
b.) If Granato is going to play Clague or Bryson, he should play them together as a package deal
c.) Lyubushkin has not really been a good fit
- Feb 3, 2015
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There's an ocean between Miller and Bogosian. Evolving Hockey has Miller at a cumulative career GAR of 42.8, Bogosian at -17.2. To put those numbers in perspective, Dahlin is a 16.5 GAR this season alone.
I think we simply expected a bit too much out of Miller and he got Kreugered along with everyone else. He looked really good under Granato for like 30(?) games before the injury and then he looked like crap for the 10(?) games after coming back from injury. And he's looked good everywhere else but Kreuger Buffalo. He also only played 137 games for us.
Bogosian has been garbage his entire career, everywhere he's gone.
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