How crowded is the Sabres blueline?
Posted 4:23 PM ET | Comments 6
With the news today that the Sabres have resigned Alexander Sulzer it raises the question is the blueline too crowded?
Assuming no further trades happen, the defense stacks up like this:
Ehrhoff-Sulzer
Myers-???
Weber-Mcbain
If Mcbain does make the opening night roster he will be a #6/#7 defensmen. So that leaves 1 possibly 2 spots to fill. With only 2 spots to fill and 5 players to fill them. Sounds like an issue but look at the 5 players.
Mcbain is the most experienced of them playing in 206 games in his 4 seasons with Carolina. He scored 75 points (19G,56A) during those 4 seasons. He was also a -9 during that time. His role at best for this season is a #6.
That leaves one more spot for 4 more players. McNaab, Pysyk, Ruhwedel and Ristolainen all have a chance to be able to crack the lineup. The four of them have combined for a total of 51 NHL games. None of them have shown in their limited experience to be full time NHLer's.
Judging from the fact that most of our young d-men are not fully ready to jump to the NHL, the blue line isnt as crowded as it seems.
Assuming no further trades happen, the defense stacks up like this:
Ehrhoff-Sulzer
Myers-???
Weber-Mcbain
If Mcbain does make the opening night roster he will be a #6/#7 defensmen. So that leaves 1 possibly 2 spots to fill. With only 2 spots to fill and 5 players to fill them. Sounds like an issue but look at the 5 players.
Mcbain is the most experienced of them playing in 206 games in his 4 seasons with Carolina. He scored 75 points (19G,56A) during those 4 seasons. He was also a -9 during that time. His role at best for this season is a #6.
That leaves one more spot for 4 more players. McNaab, Pysyk, Ruhwedel and Ristolainen all have a chance to be able to crack the lineup. The four of them have combined for a total of 51 NHL games. None of them have shown in their limited experience to be full time NHLer's.
Judging from the fact that most of our young d-men are not fully ready to jump to the NHL, the blue line isnt as crowded as it seems.
Pysyk will be on the team, no doubt
You are clueless !!!
Pysyk !
Well I guess now we know it is none of the above and Hank the Tank will be back with Myers this year
Pysyk is going to be traded for a forward
How exactly am i clueless? Now granted after the hank trade all this is thrown out the window but i was just pointing out the fact the articles saying we had "10 nhl d-men" were misleading. Ruhwedel is going to be in Rochester this year, so then its down to 9. McNaab regressed last season from his season 2 years ago so he is no lock to make the team either. Of the choices left its Pysyk or Ristolainen battling it out for the last spot with the loser playing top minutes with the amerks. It wasnt meant to be a knock on any of those players just pointing out that our "10 nhl d-men" was actually only 7.