Published by hockeybuzz.com, 6-2-2017
There's been an uproar in Sabreland over the Sabres cutting ties with two of their draft picks as RW, Gustav Possler (2013, 130th-overall) and C, Giorgio Estephan (2015, 152nd) were not offered rookie contracts by Buffalo. Possler becomes a free agent while Estephan can re-enter the draft this year.
Possler had some promise as the heady Swede displayed good skating ability and offensive upside. After attending Sabres Development Camp after the draft, the 5'11" 185 lb. Possler began the 2013-14 season with MODO of the top-tier Swedish Hockey League. In 18 games he scored eight goals and added seven assists before he was felled by an ACL injury. The Sabres drafted him as skilled shooter with a quick first step and a shoot-first mentality but that injury wreaked havoc on his career and he's been relegated to a bottom nine role pretty much ever since.
The Estephan story is interesting in that the first half of his draft season with the Lethbridge Hurricanes was full of turmoil. After a mid-season coaching change the Hurricanes improved and Estephan was able to put up a stat line of 23 goals and 28 assists in 64 games. Estephan had a tremendous follow-up season with 74 points (30+44) and a plus-26 rating in 59 games and he even improved upon those stats this past season--89 points (35+54) in 69 games. But in what often can be the case, the Sabres projected that those junior numbers wouldn't transfer to the pros. Those who routinely watched his play pointed to his skating and quickness which never improved.
A case could have been made that the Sabres have 29 out of 50 Standard Player Contract filled right now and with 21 open spots, they could've signed Estephan, but they elected to pass. As for Possler, there was word out of Sweden last year that he was contented staying and playing in the homeland.
*****
As mentioned, according to CapFriendly the Sabres have 29 players signed to pro contracts with the NHL allowing a total of 50. Buffalo just inked restricted free agent goalie Jonas Johansson to his entry-level deal and have nine more to make decisions on:
F, Marcus Foligno
F, Johan Larsson
F, Zemgus Girgensons
F, Evan Rodrigues
LW, Jean Dupuy
C, Justin Kea
D, Brady Austin
G, Robin Lehner
G, Linus Ullmark
They have 10 unrestricted free agents to decide upon as well with only a handful as possible re-signs--D, Taylor Fedun, W, Cole Schneider and C, Derek Grant.
Signing all of the above would put them at 41 pro contract and when you take away the one player they'll lose to the Las Vegas Golden Knights in the expansion draft, new GM Jason Botterill will be looking at about 10 SPC's left available, seven or eight if he wants to leave himself some wiggle room during the season.
In looking at it that way, every spot should be judiciously used.
*****
One way to get rid of a couple contracts is to send a package deal to the Washington Capitals for soon to be 32 yr. old superstar winger, Alex Ovechkin. Word on the street is that the Caps may be interested in moving on from their captain as well as the remainder of his contract which is four years at a $9.5 million annual cap-hit.
Any trade involving "The Great 8" is a big one and of course, somehow Buffalo is in the mix despite the fact that his no-trade clause has a 10-team list that probably has the Sabres on it.
Despite the negatives that come to the fore concerning aspects of his game and the fact that he looks like he's slowing down a bit, an opportunity to grab a player of his ilk is always worth considering. It should also be noted that whoever trades for Ovechkin would be doing the Capitals a favor cap-wise.
Any talks involving the Sabres would need to involve a bad contract headed the other way or Washington retaining some of Ovie's salary. We all know the contracts the Sabres will be looking at in that regard so any trade proposal should include one of Tyler Ennis, Matt Moulson, Zach Bogosian or Josh Gorges.
Having said that, methinks Botterill might be more inclined to put together a package deal for a top-four defenseman.
Showing posts with label Gustav Possler. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gustav Possler. Show all posts
Saturday, June 3, 2017
Tuesday, August 30, 2016
On Robin Lehner, Tyler Ennis and Gustav Possler
Buffalo Sabres goalie Robin Lehner opted out of the inaugural World Cup of Hockey this season by telling Team Sweden that he won't be joining them for the tournament that begins less than three weeks from today.
An official statement from Sabres GM Tim Murray reads like this:
With an extremely slow summer for news outside the world of Jimmy Vesey, various media outlets jumped on the story from various angles with some going as far as to imply that Lehner had an injury. CBSSports.com's Fantasy Hockey page, citing a Renaud Lavoie report, began it's piece by saying "Lehner is dealing with an undisclosed injury" while stating in the next paragraph that their not sure whether it's "a new injury or one related to the high-ankle sprain" Lehner dealt with all last season.
In it's lead paragraph for the piece, the Associated Press said that "Sweden replaced him on its World Cup of Hockey,"
And the Ottawa Sun's Ken Warren injected some NY Post-style sensationalism calling Lehner's career "never-ending soap opera" as he proceeded to state that "the slow recovery is troublesome for the Sabres," while having Murray "trying to put out any fires" concerning Lehner before prodding his audience to "Stay tuned. Life with Lehner is never boring."
An official statement from Sabres GM Tim Murray reads like this:
"As Robin continues to progress during the offseason in his rehab from last season's ankle injury, he felt that it was best to withdraw from Team Sweden for the upcoming World Cup. Robin felt it was important to continue his rehab in Buffalo to prepare for training camp. He has been working out both on and off the ice and we look forward to seeing him on the ice with our team next month."
Wednesday, June 8, 2016
Buffalo Sabres top-three prospects by position--Left Wing
Reprinted with permission from hockeybuzz.com
The Buffalo Sabres have five left-wingers on the roster as listed by their website. One of them, Johan Larsson, has played a ton of center in the system dating back to when he was with the Rochester Americans, was their third-line center for the better part of the season last year and there's no reason to think that he'll be moving to the wing in the near future either. The left side of the Buffalo lineup includes one top-six/top-line LW in Evander Kane, a bottom-six left-winger in Marcus Foligno, energy winger Nicolas Deslauriers who is clinging to a fourth-line role and an enigma on the left side in Matt Moulson.
In light of the poor year that Moulson had, the drop-off on the depth chart from Kane to Foligno is significant with center Zemgus Girgensons placed in a top-six role but producing very little. Yett the consensus at the foot of Washington St. seems to be that the Sabres will fill the wings with converted centers while they take time to find and develop natural wingers in the system. It's a sound philosophy that will be used even more should Buffalo be able to land center Steven Stamkos via free agency as there will be even more center-to-wing shuffling.
In looking at the system as it stands right now, the high water mark for left wingers consists of one bottom-six projection and a bunch of question marks. Good thing Buffalo has centers who can convert to the wing.
The Buffalo Sabres have five left-wingers on the roster as listed by their website. One of them, Johan Larsson, has played a ton of center in the system dating back to when he was with the Rochester Americans, was their third-line center for the better part of the season last year and there's no reason to think that he'll be moving to the wing in the near future either. The left side of the Buffalo lineup includes one top-six/top-line LW in Evander Kane, a bottom-six left-winger in Marcus Foligno, energy winger Nicolas Deslauriers who is clinging to a fourth-line role and an enigma on the left side in Matt Moulson.
In light of the poor year that Moulson had, the drop-off on the depth chart from Kane to Foligno is significant with center Zemgus Girgensons placed in a top-six role but producing very little. Yett the consensus at the foot of Washington St. seems to be that the Sabres will fill the wings with converted centers while they take time to find and develop natural wingers in the system. It's a sound philosophy that will be used even more should Buffalo be able to land center Steven Stamkos via free agency as there will be even more center-to-wing shuffling.
In looking at the system as it stands right now, the high water mark for left wingers consists of one bottom-six projection and a bunch of question marks. Good thing Buffalo has centers who can convert to the wing.
Thursday, July 9, 2015
Gustav Possler in Sweden focused upon summer training for upcoming MODO season
Reprinted with permission from hockeybuzz.com
When the 2015 Sabres Development Camp roster came out Monday afternoon, there was an omission that raised some eyebrows if ever so slightly in some quarters--F, Gustav Possler. The 2013 5th round pick (130th overall) is still in his native Sweden while 46 other youngins are at the First Niagara Center getting themselves acclimated to their surroundings.
The 20 yr. old Possler sits a tad down the depth-chart on a very thin left-side and of the top-three at that spot (Daniel Catennaci, William Carrier) he probably has the most pure talent.
As to why he's not at camp, there's been no definitive answer. According to Sweden's Allehanda.se, Possler initially refused to comment on the situation. In a loose translation he told Allehanda's Adam Johansson that he wouldn't be commenting on the situation other than to say that he feels good, he's not hurt and that he'll be training this summer for his upcoming season for MODO Hockey Ornskoldsvik .
SportsExpressen.se's Av Alexander Nilsson did a follow up with Possler situation and came up with the same results save for some ambiguity as to who's decision it was--Possler's, his agent or the Sabres. Clarity will come eventually as Possler said he may have been misunderstood in the Allehanda article. "I really don't know what happened," he said, "but there's really nothing to it." Nilsson would later tweet, "Possler declines NHL camp to focus on Modo: 'The best thing for me.'"
As with all things prospect-related, Kris Baker was kind enough to lend a bit of clarification to the situation (at least until an official announcement is made, if need be.) Baker pointed out that Possler has one more year on his MODO contract and even though Buffalo GM Tim Murray may have "tinkered with the idea of evaluating him at development camp, it's always been assumed that the plan was for him to play out his contract for MODO," Bakes told me.
When the 2015 Sabres Development Camp roster came out Monday afternoon, there was an omission that raised some eyebrows if ever so slightly in some quarters--F, Gustav Possler. The 2013 5th round pick (130th overall) is still in his native Sweden while 46 other youngins are at the First Niagara Center getting themselves acclimated to their surroundings.
The 20 yr. old Possler sits a tad down the depth-chart on a very thin left-side and of the top-three at that spot (Daniel Catennaci, William Carrier) he probably has the most pure talent.
As to why he's not at camp, there's been no definitive answer. According to Sweden's Allehanda.se, Possler initially refused to comment on the situation. In a loose translation he told Allehanda's Adam Johansson that he wouldn't be commenting on the situation other than to say that he feels good, he's not hurt and that he'll be training this summer for his upcoming season for MODO Hockey Ornskoldsvik .
SportsExpressen.se's Av Alexander Nilsson did a follow up with Possler situation and came up with the same results save for some ambiguity as to who's decision it was--Possler's, his agent or the Sabres. Clarity will come eventually as Possler said he may have been misunderstood in the Allehanda article. "I really don't know what happened," he said, "but there's really nothing to it." Nilsson would later tweet, "Possler declines NHL camp to focus on Modo: 'The best thing for me.'"
As with all things prospect-related, Kris Baker was kind enough to lend a bit of clarification to the situation (at least until an official announcement is made, if need be.) Baker pointed out that Possler has one more year on his MODO contract and even though Buffalo GM Tim Murray may have "tinkered with the idea of evaluating him at development camp, it's always been assumed that the plan was for him to play out his contract for MODO," Bakes told me.
Thursday, June 18, 2015
Ramp-up to the 2015 NHL Draft Pt. 4--Size, grit and knuckles at LW
Reprinted with permission from hockeybuzz.com
Unlike the right wingers in the system where there's plenty of talent and depth in the pipeline, the Buffalo Sabres are very thin at left wing in the talent department, at least near-future. There's size and grit, edginess and some speed, but overall the left side pale's in comparison to their counterparts on the right.
That being said, going into next season the Sabres have themselves a bonafide top-line LW in Evander Kane which is something they don't have on the right side. The former Atlanta Thrasher/Winnipeg Jet under contract for three more seasons. Buffalo also has a top six left-winger in three-time, 30-goal scorer Matt Moulson who signed to a five-year, free agent contract with the club in July, 2014. Those two sit atop the depth chart on the left side followed and are followed by 23 yr. old Marcus Foligno (2009, 104th-overall) and Nicolas Deslauriers, a converted defenseman who came to Buffalo in the Brayden McNabb to LA Kings swap.
When you add in centers who can play the left side, like Zemgus Girgensons, Johan Larsson and others, they're solid at left wing on the big club, but the depth and talent-level in the pipeline is another story. It's an area that should get some attention come draft time.
Unlike the right wingers in the system where there's plenty of talent and depth in the pipeline, the Buffalo Sabres are very thin at left wing in the talent department, at least near-future. There's size and grit, edginess and some speed, but overall the left side pale's in comparison to their counterparts on the right.
That being said, going into next season the Sabres have themselves a bonafide top-line LW in Evander Kane which is something they don't have on the right side. The former Atlanta Thrasher/Winnipeg Jet under contract for three more seasons. Buffalo also has a top six left-winger in three-time, 30-goal scorer Matt Moulson who signed to a five-year, free agent contract with the club in July, 2014. Those two sit atop the depth chart on the left side followed and are followed by 23 yr. old Marcus Foligno (2009, 104th-overall) and Nicolas Deslauriers, a converted defenseman who came to Buffalo in the Brayden McNabb to LA Kings swap.
When you add in centers who can play the left side, like Zemgus Girgensons, Johan Larsson and others, they're solid at left wing on the big club, but the depth and talent-level in the pipeline is another story. It's an area that should get some attention come draft time.
Wednesday, July 3, 2013
Six more picks for the Sabres in Rounds 3-7, and a quick overview
The Buffalo Sabres entered the 2013 with 10 draft picks. They left with 11 prospects.
In the first two rounds, they chose five players--two defensmen in the first round and three forwards in the second round. They followed that with a third-rounder, three fifth rounders a sixth and a seventh.
The rest of the picks:
Kris Baker of sabresprospects.com recaps the draft succintly and for more info on the picks, click here.
Bakes was also on WGR's Howard Simon Show recapping the draft. Most of the segment was dedicated to the upper picks but he did have the chance to touch upon some of lower picks.
Defenseman Anthony Florentino topped his list of most intriguing late round prospects.
Of Florentino, Baker said, "Very underated in this draft class. Can do a little bit of everything, doesn't have too many flaws to his game, a nice kid off the ice but a mean kid on it. "
"I gotta tell ya," Baker continued sequeing to his next most intriguing prospect, "this Cal Peterson kid he is old school."
Here's how Bakes described the goalie, "He's scrappy, he's a battler, he'll poke-check. He'll stop the puck, but sometimes he'll come out and want to stop the shooter. He's very aggressive."
Baker points out that Peterson will be going to Notre Dame. He's one of five players drafted this year that will be taking the college route: second round picks JT Compher (Michigan) and Connor Hurley, (Notre Dame); Florentino (Providence); Malone (Harvard.)
Nearly half of the Sabres draft haul this year will be headed to college and will have much longer to develop, up to four years, before they'll turn pro. Having five from one draft class really projects out well for the organization.
Via Bill Hoppe, Olean Times Herald, 'With so many picks and our contract situation, you don’t want to waste those picks because their contracts all come up at the same time,' amateur scouting director Kevin Devine explained Sunday on the Prudential Center floor after the Sabres finished picking. 'We wouldn’t be able to sign three or four of them. So that was a plan. We looked at the college route and Europeans for the new CBA, which now gives us four years for those guys over there.'
The odds for any player taken outside the top-five making it to the NHL, much less making an impact, aren't all that great. As you move down the draft it becomes slim to none.
But you never know what can happen with a particluar player. They obviously have enough skill to play, and something about them says there's a possibility. Having four years to allow for the player to develop is a nice cushion.
Having five picks like that, while also having six picks going the junior route where the projection is one to three years, really sets the team up nicely down the road.
The Sabres had themselves quite a haul at the 2013 NHL Draft.
In what's said to be the deepest draft in years they picked five players within the first 52 picks.
One (Rasmus Ristolainen) might be able to jump right to the NHL this season. Another (Nikital Zadorov) is only a year or two away.
They went with size and they went with character. And they looked to pick players with two-way game.
With 11 total picks the Sabres had the luxury of picking two hometown boys in Justin Bailey and Malone with the former being a legitimate power forward prospect.
After focusing upon centers last year they grabbed defense in the first round. Wingers were slightly predominant within positional balance: four wingers, three centers, three defensemen, one goalie.
A post-draft wrap with GM Darcy Regier and Assistant GM/Head Amateur Scout Kevin Devine can be seen here.
Every year, teams are very happy with their draft and this year is no different for the Sabres.
An overall grade here would be a B+. They did some great things, but the only area that they didn't seem to address was top-line scoring, which they wanted in the top-four but couldn't attain.
Other than that, it'll be three or four years before we get a full take on what Devine and his merry band of scouts accomplished at the 2013 draft.
For a list of (very positive) draft grades from various media outlets provided by sabres.com click here.
In the first two rounds, they chose five players--two defensmen in the first round and three forwards in the second round. They followed that with a third-rounder, three fifth rounders a sixth and a seventh.
The rest of the picks:
- 69th --Nicholas Baptiste, RW, 6'1" 201 lbs.
- 129th-Cal Peterson, G, 6'1" 175 lbs.
- 130th-Gustav Possler RW, 6' 0" 183 lbs.
- 143th-Anthony Florentino, RD 6'1" 227 lbs.
- 159th-Sean Malone, C 5'11" 183 lbs.
- 189th-Eric Locke, C 5'10, 183 lbs.
Kris Baker of sabresprospects.com recaps the draft succintly and for more info on the picks, click here.
Bakes was also on WGR's Howard Simon Show recapping the draft. Most of the segment was dedicated to the upper picks but he did have the chance to touch upon some of lower picks.
Defenseman Anthony Florentino topped his list of most intriguing late round prospects.
Of Florentino, Baker said, "Very underated in this draft class. Can do a little bit of everything, doesn't have too many flaws to his game, a nice kid off the ice but a mean kid on it. "
"I gotta tell ya," Baker continued sequeing to his next most intriguing prospect, "this Cal Peterson kid he is old school."
Here's how Bakes described the goalie, "He's scrappy, he's a battler, he'll poke-check. He'll stop the puck, but sometimes he'll come out and want to stop the shooter. He's very aggressive."
Baker points out that Peterson will be going to Notre Dame. He's one of five players drafted this year that will be taking the college route: second round picks JT Compher (Michigan) and Connor Hurley, (Notre Dame); Florentino (Providence); Malone (Harvard.)
Nearly half of the Sabres draft haul this year will be headed to college and will have much longer to develop, up to four years, before they'll turn pro. Having five from one draft class really projects out well for the organization.
Via Bill Hoppe, Olean Times Herald, 'With so many picks and our contract situation, you don’t want to waste those picks because their contracts all come up at the same time,' amateur scouting director Kevin Devine explained Sunday on the Prudential Center floor after the Sabres finished picking. 'We wouldn’t be able to sign three or four of them. So that was a plan. We looked at the college route and Europeans for the new CBA, which now gives us four years for those guys over there.'
The odds for any player taken outside the top-five making it to the NHL, much less making an impact, aren't all that great. As you move down the draft it becomes slim to none.
But you never know what can happen with a particluar player. They obviously have enough skill to play, and something about them says there's a possibility. Having four years to allow for the player to develop is a nice cushion.
Having five picks like that, while also having six picks going the junior route where the projection is one to three years, really sets the team up nicely down the road.
The Sabres had themselves quite a haul at the 2013 NHL Draft.
In what's said to be the deepest draft in years they picked five players within the first 52 picks.
One (Rasmus Ristolainen) might be able to jump right to the NHL this season. Another (Nikital Zadorov) is only a year or two away.
They went with size and they went with character. And they looked to pick players with two-way game.
With 11 total picks the Sabres had the luxury of picking two hometown boys in Justin Bailey and Malone with the former being a legitimate power forward prospect.
After focusing upon centers last year they grabbed defense in the first round. Wingers were slightly predominant within positional balance: four wingers, three centers, three defensemen, one goalie.
A post-draft wrap with GM Darcy Regier and Assistant GM/Head Amateur Scout Kevin Devine can be seen here.
Every year, teams are very happy with their draft and this year is no different for the Sabres.
An overall grade here would be a B+. They did some great things, but the only area that they didn't seem to address was top-line scoring, which they wanted in the top-four but couldn't attain.
Other than that, it'll be three or four years before we get a full take on what Devine and his merry band of scouts accomplished at the 2013 draft.
For a list of (very positive) draft grades from various media outlets provided by sabres.com click here.
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