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Roster Thread (2023-2024 Season)

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Clifton on his off-hand side has been too much of an adventure. Similarly, did they hedge their bets not expecting Jokiharju to progress like he has shown?

Regardless, the collection thus far are better individual players than Clague, Fitzgerald and Pilut so that is a net positive.


Also weird that my phone knows Pilut well enough to not autocorrect it…
 
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Chainshot said:
Similarly, did they hedge their bets not expecting Jokiharju to progress like he has shown?
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I think it was a multitude of hedging as it came to the defense:

1.) Would Jokiharju progress? If not, sit him while Clifton and EJ dress. If so, great!
2.) Would Clifton show out if given the chance to play with Power? If so, great. If not, still upgrades the PK while improving on last year's bottom pair.
3.) Would EJ have enough in the tank to play 82 games? And at what level?

I think the surprise among all this is that RJ is showing that he's NHL caliber.

So we basically got the best-case scenarios out of RJ, Joker AND EJ while Clifton is basically what he showed in Boston and no more. And had we gotten the worst case scenarios out of all 3? Wellllll, it's STILL better than Bryson/Clague/Pilut/etc.

There's going to be some rotation now. Hell, we can afford to give EJ a day off here and there if he starts more obviously aging.
 
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Zman5778 said:
I think it was a multitude of hedging as it came to the defense:

1.) Would Jokiharju progress? If not, sit him while Clifton and EJ dress. If so, great!
2.) Would Clifton show out if given the chance to play with Power? If so, great. If not, still upgrades the PK while improving on last year's bottom pair.
3.) Would EJ have enough in the tank to play 82 games? And at what level?

I think the surprise among all this is that RJ is showing that he's NHL caliber.

So we basically got the best-case scenarios out of RJ, Joker AND EJ while Clifton is basically what he showed in Boston and no more. And had we gotten the worst case scenarios out of all 3? Wellllll, it's STILL better than Bryson/Clague/Pilut/etc.

There's going to be some rotation now. Hell, we can afford to give EJ a day off here and there if he starts more obviously aging.
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I think at least for next season if EJ walks then you have RJ/Clifton as the 3rd pair with Clifton back to his natural side, or RJ up with Dahlin and Sammy with Clifton, assuming they keep Joker around.
 
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Chainshot said:
He is the guy I would want most of ones who maybe kinda sorta would be out there.
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Do you really think Adams would be willing to part with any of our 15 or so undersized skilled forward prospects for a legit good NHL player who could *gasp* get us into the playoffs? All they do is talk about tomorrow so they don't have to bother putting up results today.
 
Youngest team in the league not being consistent, what a shocker. They even showed a predominant effort on the road, just couldn't finish. Mitts alone should've had at least two.

Some of those bipolar hot takes in here are hilarious/annoying. I for one prefer to rejoice in the progress and the improvement of some former whipping boys.
 
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Uberpecker said:
Youngest team in the league not being consistent, what a shocker. They even showed a predominant effort on the road, just couldn't finish. Mitts alone should've had at least two.

Some of those bipolar hot takes in here are hilarious/annoying. I for one prefer to rejoice in the progress and the improvement of some former whipping boys.
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I'm asking: In your opinion when should the standard stop being moral victories and instead become victory victories? Missing the playoffs again while a few players show progress (while far more go in the opposite direction) doesn't make me feel like rejoicing. You have no idea how depressing it was for me going through Buffalo and WNY seeing Bills flags on every other house and Bills gear everywhere and virtually no Sabres flags or gear anywhere outside of the area by the arena on GameDay. It just hit me how irrelevant this team has become and how badly this fanbase has been destroyed and it just makes me want to puke my guts out.
 
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I wonder what Lindholm + Vladar costs.

Vladar might not be an upgrade to Comrie...but it also might change the dynamic a bit.

Also....Lindholm is pretty much the center we need. An experienced guy who can chip in points, play the PK, good at faceoffs, former Selke nominee. I mean, his extension would cost a mint. But, Thompson-Lindholm-Cozens down the middle for the next 5 years with a endless supply of prospect wingers waiting for their ELCs?

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Just so everyone's aware, adding an additional forward won't change the terrible, and I mean criminally terrible, defensive play. Our defensemen literally give the puck to opposing players in our own zone. They actually get the puck out of our zone and attempt to pass it back in to our own zone, many times to opposing players. It's down right embarrassing to watch players like Power and Samuelsson panic, make horrifying bad decisions, and have 0 accountability.
Our goalies are bad enough as it is, but our defensive zone turnovers are exposing our goalies specifically because of the bad defensive plays. 3 goals last night direct results of unforced, panic give aways. Pathetic.
Address the D and goalie situation, forwards we have plenty of.
 
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I mean, the absolute bare minimum at this point would be:

1. Add a ‘skills coach’ to the staff to go over tape with players about their play in their own zone. Plenty of ex Sabres in the area. Just someone to review tape and go over assignments and positioning in the d zone. It’s the blind leading the blind in the d zone.
2. A middle six two way center. Lindholm is a wish. Boone Jenner maybe with Columbus in crisis? Running 3 C who can’t find their own end isn’t a winning formula.
 
TehDoak said:
I mean, the absolute bare minimum at this point would be:

1. Add a ‘skills coach’ to the staff to go over tape with players about their play in their own zone. Plenty of ex Sabres in the area. Just someone to review tape and go over assignments and positioning in the d zone. It’s the blind leading the blind in the d zone.
2. A middle six two way center. Lindholm is a wish. Boone Jenner maybe with Columbus in crisis? Running 3 C who can’t find their own end isn’t a winning formula.
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The problem is ... which of our current centers (when healthy) comes out of the lineup, gets traded or moves to wing?

I think Mitts is currently their best pure center and is better defensively than the others. Thompson is solid and definitely better in the middle than he is at wing, but probably not ideal playing against other team's top lines. That leaves Cozens, who I think is better as a winger long term where you don't need as strong a hockey IQ to be impactful. That said, do you really want to pay Dylan Cozens $7M to be a winger when you have all of these wing prospects coming up? I think they may have screwed up giving him such a high dollar/long term deal, but also understand the thinking.

They're at a bit of a breaking point where they have too many similar players and not enough good two-way players. Sure, Benson and Quinn could help form a strong two-way line someday but they'll need the right type of center. Maybe Tage develops into that, hard to say.

I love the idea of Lindholm, but also realize he'll start hitting the aging curve sooner rather than later. For 3-4 years sure, but he's likely getting a max term deal from someone and that's a huge risk. A huge problem is having a guy like Skinner at the top of your lineup consistently making boneheaded plays that kill possession and being terrible in the d-zone. Having him be a go-to guy and on your top PP, etc. does not lead to consistent winning. Of course when he's hot, he'll make up for some of his shortcomings with putting pucks in the net. But I'll standby my feeling that you can't win consistently with him on your top line/top PP. I think the makeup of the team needs to be tweaked before we can consistently be a winner. I think one or two from our current core will need to be moved out in order to find the right balance.
 
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GrierIsGod123 said:
The problem is ... which of our current centers (when healthy) comes out of the lineup, gets traded or moves to wing?

I think Mitts is currently their best pure center and is better defensively than the others. Thompson is solid and definitely better in the middle than he is at wing, but probably not ideal playing against other team's top lines. That leaves Cozens, who I think is better as a winger long term where you don't need as strong a hockey IQ to be impactful. That said, do you really want to pay Dylan Cozens $7M to be a winger when you have all of these wing prospects coming up? I think they may have screwed up giving him such a high dollar/long term deal, but also understand the thinking.

They're at a bit of a breaking point where they have too many similar players and not enough good two-way players. Sure, Benson and Quinn could help form a strong two-way line someday but they'll need the right type of center. Maybe Tage develops into that, hard to say.

I love the idea of Lindholm, but also realize he'll start hitting the aging curve sooner rather than later. For 3-4 years sure, but he's likely getting a max term deal from someone and that's a huge risk. A huge problem is having a guy like Skinner at the top of your lineup consistently making boneheaded plays that kill possession and being terrible in the d-zone. Having him be a go-to guy and on your top PP, etc. does not lead to consistent winning. Of course when he's hot, he'll make up for some of his shortcomings with putting pucks in the net. But I'll standby my feeling that you can't win consistently with him on your top line/top PP. I think the makeup of the team needs to be tweaked before we can consistently be a winner. I think one or two from our current core will need to be moved out in order to find the right balance.
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Good post. Agree on Skinner. Sadly we see how his play drops when you move him out of the spotlight. Cozens will make too much to be a W long term. I don’t think C is his best position. Requires him to pause and to think too much instead of playing instinctively. Tough choices to make if management wants to win. Easy ones if the status quo development model is the new normal.
 
GrierIsGod123 said:
The problem is ... which of our current centers (when healthy) comes out of the lineup, gets traded or moves to wing?

I think Mitts is currently their best pure center and is better defensively than the others. Thompson is solid and definitely better in the middle than he is at wing, but probably not ideal playing against other team's top lines. That leaves Cozens, who I think is better as a winger long term where you don't need as strong a hockey IQ to be impactful. That said, do you really want to pay Dylan Cozens $7M to be a winger when you have all of these wing prospects coming up? I think they may have screwed up giving him such a high dollar/long term deal, but also understand the thinking.

They're at a bit of a breaking point where they have too many similar players and not enough good two-way players. Sure, Benson and Quinn could help form a strong two-way line someday but they'll need the right type of center. Maybe Tage develops into that, hard to say.

I love the idea of Lindholm, but also realize he'll start hitting the aging curve sooner rather than later. For 3-4 years sure, but he's likely getting a max term deal from someone and that's a huge risk. A huge problem is having a guy like Skinner at the top of your lineup consistently making boneheaded plays that kill possession and being terrible in the d-zone. Having him be a go-to guy and on your top PP, etc. does not lead to consistent winning. Of course when he's hot, he'll make up for some of his shortcomings with putting pucks in the net. But I'll standby my feeling that you can't win consistently with him on your top line/top PP. I think the makeup of the team needs to be tweaked before we can consistently be a winner. I think one or two from our current core will need to be moved out in order to find the right balance.
Click to expand...

That’s easy. Mittelstadt is part of the trade for Lindholm.
 
GrierIsGod123 said:
Or should it be Cozens for Lindholm and something else? Is that stupid?
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You can’t trade Cozens so soon after that massive deal- breaks trust with team/management, and we aren’t good enough to be as ruthless as the Knights.

We’d have to move a prospect or wait until next year.
 
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