Roster Thread (2023-2024 Season)

[MOGlLNY]

I also think Sabres want Kulich to spend more time with Vinny Prospal. Rather than calling him up and potentially never getting sent back down. He's obviously doing a great job with him and Rosén at the moment.

 

[old kummelweck]

I also think Sabres want Kulich to spend more time with Vinny Prospal. Rather than calling him up and potentially never getting sent back down. He's obviously doing a great job with him and Rosén at the moment.

Not a bad point aside from the part about them preferring that over sticking with the big club.

 

[Chainshot]

I also think Sabres want Kulich to spend more time with Vinny Prospal. Rather than calling him up and potentially never getting sent back down. He's obviously doing a great job with him and Rosén at the moment.

Or when he starts figuring out how to play in his own zone. Might be that.

 

[Djp]

Others have laid it out, but I don't think Benson is dealing with a significant injury. Kudos to Adams for gaming this out. Best of both worlds in getting experience for and eyes on Benson (and soon Savoie) and bridging the gap to Quinn internally. It hasn't all been pretty but it's the smart move to me vs an awkward veteran stopgap.

Unless they changed it, there is also a roster day count too besides the game count. that's what hit Grigorenko. Time on IR and AHL rehab don’t count.

The decision would have been this weekend if he played both Flyers games. This buys them 3-4 weeks, with a week or two on IR here and a week or two playing in Roch.

He’s has played 6 games. That leaves 3 left.

I think Biro is the more complete player at this point and they want Kulich to stay in his comfortable development groove in Roch since it's working so well. Also, Kulich is still a slide candidate and it makes sense to keep his nine games clear for emergency. It would be awesome to slide him and have a full three-year ELC still.

Biro, Rousek, and a couple others you need to check out and see how they are at nhl level.

 

[Dubi Doo]

Or when he starts figuring out how to play in his own zone. Might be that.

Still struggling in that area? I predicted Kulich would start with the Sabres, but he didn't show much. I actually think Rosen will get a look first unless rhings drastically change.

 

[Chainshot]

Still struggling in that area? I predicted Kulich would start with the Sabres, but he didn't show much. I actually think Rosen will get a look first unless rhings drastically change.

He's 19. Hell, he's still eligible for the U20's this year and he's playing AHL level center. There is a lot to learn.

 

[Dubi Doo]

He's 19. Hell, he's still eligible for the U20's this year and he's playing AHL level center. There is a lot to learn.

True. I'm very lenient in how much time I expect a center to take to develop a good defensive game. It can take years!

I may get annoyed when Cozens or Thompson makes a dumb play defensively, but then I remind myself defensive responsibilities as a center is one of the tougher tasks in hockey, and Cozens and Tage are still very young or, in Tage's case, only has a couple seasons experience as a center.

 

[old kummelweck]

I'm open to the idea that Biro may 'stick'. He's getting a hell of an opportunity here. If he can show that he can get Thompson going, this is sorely lacking depth and gives them WAY more flexibility and makes the stakes much lower for Benson and Savoie.

 

[Jacob582]

I'm thinking the anti-patrickkane crowd want Biro to succeed in a big way with the Tage line.

 

[Jim Bob]

I'm thinking the anti-patrickkane crowd want Biro to succeed in a big way with the Tage line.

I think the pro-Sabres crowd wants the lines that Granato puts together to work in a big way.

 

[Chainshot]

I'm thinking the anti-patrickkane crowd want Biro to succeed in a big way with the Tage line.

Or the ones watching Nick Backstrom unable to perform at the NHL level after having had the same surgery. Might be those folks too.

 

[Jim Bob]

Or the ones watching Nick Backstrom unable to perform at the NHL level after having had the same surgery. Might be those folks too.

 

[Jim Bob]

 

[Chainshot]

Basically, yeah.

 

[joshjull]

He's 19. Hell, he's still eligible for the U20's this year and he's playing AHL level center. There is a lot to learn.

Plus, his contract can still slide. I have to think that's part of their calculus as well.

 

[nickdawg95]

wish we'd trade oloffson and get someone that's hard to play against like Hathaway Frederic

 

[EichHart]

When does Quinn come back so Okposo can get benched?

 

[debaser66]

wish we'd trade oloffson and get someone that's hard to play against like Hathaway Frederic

I think they tried already since the end of last season, he must have negative value by now.
Maybe the only thing you could do is to pay the other team to take his contract.

 

[Puppa2Miller]

Didn't Okposo start off looking last year like he was no longer an NHL player too? I may not be remembering quite right, but I think he found his footing a month in or so.

Not that it should take that long, but he might still bounce back some, at least until Granato overuses him and he starts looking washed by the end of the season all over again

 

[Doug Prishpreed]

If you went by actual importance to the overall team, number of minutes played, impact to the outcome, etc., the lines would be ranked more like this:

Skinner - Tage - Tuch
Greenway - Mitts - Okposo
Peterka - Cozens - Girgs
Biro - Krebs - Jost

If/when Cozens, Peterka, and Krebs can get their head out of the asses and all hit that next level in development, this team will be good. Hard to tell when that happens though.

 

[Chainshot]

If you went by actual importance to the overall team, number of minutes played, impact to the outcome, etc., the lines would be ranked more like this:

Skinner - Tage - Tuch
Greenway - Mitts - Okposo
Peterka - Cozens - Girgs
Biro - Krebs - Jost

If/when Cozens, Peterka, and Krebs can get their head out of the asses and all hit that next level in development, this team will be good. Hard to tell when that happens though.

That was part of it last year too - Okposo was in the top 6 in 5-on-5 and total TOI. Others need to step up and take that ice time away and they have not.

 

[Doug Prishpreed]

That was part of it last year too - Okposo was in the top 6 in 5-on-5 and total TOI. Others need to step up and take that ice time away and they have not.

Yep, exactly. You can almost measure team development by looking at ice time for the two guys who are supposed to be 4th liners but aren’t allowed to be because they’re needed for other roles.

 

[Zman5778]

Didn't Okposo start off looking last year like he was no longer an NHL player too? I may not be remembering quite right, but I think he found his footing a month in or so.

He was put with Thompson like a week into the season and basically put Tage into Full Giraffe Mode.

Okposo had a stretch of the year where he looked gassed (mid-year-ish?), but it wasn't at the beginning of the year.

This year? Okposo still looks solid defensively.....but holy hell does he look like he's lost a step in transition. I can't imagine that he plays next year at this rate. That said, he's still quite fine as a 4th liner/PK option with limited PP use.

 

[Dingo44]

If you went by actual importance to the overall team, number of minutes played, impact to the outcome, etc., the lines would be ranked more like this:

Skinner - Tage - Tuch
Greenway - Mitts - Okposo
Peterka - Cozens - Girgs
Biro - Krebs - Jost

If/when Cozens, Peterka, and Krebs can get their head out of the asses and all hit that next level in development, this team will be good. Hard to tell when that happens though.

And even with Cozens and Peterka struggling a bit they've scored 3 goals and 4 goals respectively in the first 10 games. Just think of the production when they find their complete games.

 

[Doug Prishpreed]

And even with Cozens and Peterka struggling a bit they've scored 3 goals and 4 goals respectively in the first 10 games. Just think of the production when they find their complete games.

The production doesn’t even need to go crazy, they just need to minimize the giveaways and stand-around’s to a level where the coach doesn’t have to white knuckle every shift. And learn how to play a full 60.

I guess that’s the largely IQ, and those 3 players aren’t best known for their IQ. Which is fine, just a longer development path to iron out the finer details.