[Chainshot]

Nicely done! Just looking at the forwards first and breaking things down a bit as each roster subsection cascades to the next:

Possible NHL Level roster for 2011-2012

Vanek - Roy / xxxx - Pominville
Ennis - xxxx / Roy - Stafford
Gerbe - Hecht - Boyes
McCormick - Gaustad - Kaleta

That assumes they re-sign versatile foot soldier McCormick and retain Stafford. It still leaves at least one center position to fill through signing or trade, plus perhaps a vet swing-man to fill out the Niedermayer-Grier role and give them roster flexibility.

That cascades down to Portland with some variation of:

Adam (c) - Byron - Tropp
Foligno - xxxx - Kassian
Lagacé - xxxx - xxxx
xxxx - xxxx - xxxx

In my opinion, they need three solid vets to lead the way down there - Matt Ellis, current Pirates captain and one of the hardest working guys in the organization should be one of them as part of the leadership group to guide Kassian and the rest of the youngsters. Turnbull is a guy who might be back. I'd love to see DaCosta or Miele as one of the other centers down there - it may be a pipe dream, but those guys would help out a great deal with the depth issue. It would also allow them if they so choose to leave Adam back on LW.

McCauley may be replaceable with Boychuk and with the freedom to spend a bit, I could see the Sabres looking for a couple of guys in the Mancari/Parrish mold to round out the vet space and give the Sabres more re-call options. Some of those guys may be on NHL rosters at the moment, some not.

Ben Walter is someone I've liked for a while and might be a good fit as an offensive contributor with a probably departure or Mancari. He's UFA, also 26, and has produced well in the A. A Miele or DaCosta solve a problem in the middle too.

Having a Portland lineup that shakes out something like -

Adam (c) - Miele - ( Vet )
Foligno - (Walter) - Kassian
Ellis (c) - Bryon - Tropp
Boychuk - Turnbull - Conboy or vet
McCauley - - Legault (E Coast league)
Lagacé (E Coast league)

That would be a fairly heavy lineup, some smallish speed guys laced with some big, tough players who can play. Planting two guys in the ECHL also gives them some more flexibility when the injury bug strikes. The keys would be who is the vet forward other than Ellis to bring in and can they sign Miele or DaCosta and also Walter?