What to do? What to do?
August 14th, 2009 | by Vance |The current Sabres lineup now boasts a glut of forwards. With Gerbe and Kennedy looking to make the jump, that even adds more to the bottleneck on the wings. Let’s take a look at where I have the depth chart so far.
| Offense | ||
| Thomas Vanek | Derek Roy | Drew Stafford |
| Clarke MacArthur | Tim Connolly | Jason Pominville |
| Jochen Hecht | Paul Gaustad | Mike Grier |
| Dan Paille | Adam Mair | Patrick Kaleta |
| Matt Ellis | Cody McCormick | |
| Defense | ||
| Craig Rivet | Chris Butler | |
| Steve Montador | Andrej Sekera | |
| Toni Lydman | Henrik Tallinder | |
| Nathan Paetsch | Joe Dipenta |
And that’s without including Gerbe and Kennedy, let alone Tyler Myers and Mike Weber on the blueline! Now I’m assuming that Stafford will get signed, and he’ll take his usual spot up with TV and Derek Roy. But this Grier signing has all but assured that Kennedy, who was in line to make the team at that 3rd line RW position, will start the year in Portland.
GM DR has all but said he’s not done tinkering, well he’s certainly bringing guys in, but what about a guy, or three, going out? We know Hecht’s deal is nearly untradeable, but perhaps getting healthy, and playing back on the 3rd line, where he belongs, will be a boon to his play. The only real tradeable assets on the offense are Derek Roy, Clarke MacArthur, Paille, and Goose. Goose isn’t goin’ anywhere, but the others are possibilities I suppose, especially when it comes to looking at our current cap situation when juxtaposed with the Sabres “self-imposed” cap line. I’m just a little befuddled as to what is going to happen here.
On D there may be takers for the likes of Tallinder or Lydman, but one would assume we’d have to give up picks to shed some of that salary. Myers has nothing left to prove in Juniors, Weber has nothing left to prove in the AHL, time to make space.
What do you guys think? Who needs to go? Who do you want to see go? And please, can we not bring Andrew Peters up once here in the comments! Haha.
Tags: Buffalo Sabres, Depth Chart
By Steve on Aug 14, 2009
I don’t think anyone needs to be moved. I think DiPenta will start in Portland (he signed a 2-way contract right?) and with two goalies that gives us a 23 man roster. Gerbe, Weber and Kennedy stay in Portland, Myers stays in juniors. No doubt guys will get hurt this year as they always do, and it’s nice that we have some guys down in Portland who will be ready to step right in, but don’t expect them to start the season in Buffalo. This also gives Darcy the chance to wait and see if he can get any good offers on Hecht or Tallinder. Maybe one of them has a hot start, maybe some other team is really thin on D and has some injuries. I think the Sabres stay where they are to start the season.
By Vance on Aug 14, 2009
I think more than likely you’re right. DiPenta and McCormick both have 2 ways so they’re pretty well set in Portland. Unless Gerbe or Kennedy light the world on fire in Camp / Preseason, I think what you see what you get.
Unless of course, Stafford is traded for Nate Horton, since that rumor is all the rage right now.
On an unrelated note…I wonder if Myers gets the 10 game tryout before getting sent back to Juniors, since he can’t be sent to the AHL this year. Ought to be interesting.
By Chris on Aug 15, 2009
Somehow get rid of dead weight in Hecht and Tallinder and trade Stafford for Kaberle and sign Zherdev with the extra money from losing the above mentioned players. and this is how i see it…..
Vanek TC Zherdev
MacArthur Roy Pommer
Paille Goose Grier
Ellis McCormick Kaleta
(mair is out for awhile)
Rivet Butler
Kaberle Lydman
Montador Sekera
Paetsch
1st PP line:
Vanek Roy Zherdev
Kaberle TC
2nd PP line:
MacArthur Goose Pommer
Sekera Montador