It is, as best as I can tell, impossible for the Sabres to go forward without making any moves. While this team is leaps and bounds better than last year's team, I don't know that they've gone from "Playoff Team" to "Stanley Cup Favorite" which is where we wanted them to be (and where they would have been had Brad Richards been signed today). We might be a Stanley Cup Contender, but to mix my sports metaphors, I want a quarterback, not a project.
Like I said, I don't think we're done. We've about a million to go below the cap (The Sabres, for the Record, have the highest cap number for next year as of this writing) and need to pay Enroth, Sekera, Weber and Gragnani. Kotalik and Morrisonn (the latter of which who, according to WGR550's Paul Hamilton, wants to be waived) will go away and give us more room. But we're sort of deep all over our roster except for center.
And we need a legitimate number one center.
Derek Roy is above average, but he's not the clutch player that we need to lead us out onto the ice. Ville Leino, for all the team's talk, would be better served on the left wing (and if we're doing individual goal songs, his should be the Thundercats Theme, seeing as he is their leader). I can live with Gaustad and McCormack as my bottom centers if Roy is second on the depth chart and we have a legitimate stud on the first line. It's the missing piece,
Now, there is a part of me that wants to scream that it's a three year plan and we could certainly go into the season with this roster and make a move near the trade deadline to bring someone in (because if you thought this year's Free Agent class was bad, don't even consider looking at next year). Or that we can trade for someone next year in the off season.
But that part of me is wrong.
Three years, to my mind, simply accounts for the possibility of injury and bad luck. I would expect to see someone else moved and think that Leino as a center is a bit of a smoke screen so as not to screw us in negotiations for another center.
As for the contracts, if Leino plays to the level of his contract, then I'll be pleased as punch. But it's a little high. As is Cody McCormack's who was also signed today, but I feel like his contract is less of a risk of being a huge overpayment. I also think that Christian Ehrhoff's contract is a little ridiculous, but that's the NHL in this day and age. He is far more proven than Leino and being payed less per year (If certainly not for the first two years).
At the end of the day, I give the Sabres a B on the report card, but do so in pencil. When we have the four RFAs taken care of and see what else happens in the trade market, I can then properly judge the Leino signing and maybe use a pen for my grade.
Sabres Starting Lineup As of Today:
| Buffalo Sabres 2011-12 Forward Lines | ||
| Thomas Vanek | Derek Roy | Drew Stafford |
| Tyler Ennis | Ville Leino | Jason Pominville |
| Brad Boyes | Jochen Hecht | Nathan Gerbe |
| Cody McCormack | Paul Gaustad | Pat Kaleta |
Depth Forwards
Ales Kotalik (ROC)
Luke Adam (ROC)
Zach Kassian (ROC)
Nick Foligno (ROC)
| Buffalo Sabres 2011-12 Defense Pairings | |
| Robin Regehr | Tyler Myers |
| Christian Ehrhoff | Marc-Andre Gragnani |
| Jordan Leopold | Andrej Sekera |
Depth Defenders
Mike Weber (Healthy Scratch)
TJ Brennan (ROC)
Mark Pysyk (ROC)
Shaonne Morrisonn (ROC)
No comments:
Post a Comment