I used to have an attitude that I didn't really care about whether or not the Amerks had vet players and won a lot, but I've changed my way of thinking recently. If the Sabres truly wanted to be a model franchise and a winning one then they need to be putting together winning teams at the NHL and AHL levels. Not that this is news to anyone on here though.
While guys like Mancari, Matt Ellis, and Kevin Porter may never amount to much in the NHL it's better for our young guys to have guys like that to play with. It's no different then the NHL where you want your top young players to play with good players who will help their development. I'm glad the Sabres are signing guys like this because I think it will be good for the organization and our prospects in the long run. I can only imagine that playing with a guy like Mancari whose an offensive stud at the AHL level helped Gerbe and Ennis during their time down there. Not only that but you want your young guys to become used to winning.
With Darcy saying today that they're going to sign "a couple" guys for Rochester in the next few days, and seemingly excluding Whitmore--at least in this wave--do Amerks fans have any preferences? I'd imagine Zigomanis and Aucoin would be at or towards the top. Also, I'd have think they're looking at forwards given that Buffalo has eight defensemen and Rochester has a bunch, as well (Finley, McNabb, Pysyk, Biega, Crawford, MacKenzie, JGL, and possibly Brennan and/or Schiestel).
I sure hope it's not just bringing back Stuart and someone like Parrish.
Just sourcing Regier's comment that Zip15 touched on above; no discussions with Whitmore either:
Quote:
[Regier] also plans to “add a couple people over the next few days” for Rochester.
The Sabres have little interest in bringing back winger Derek Whitmore, whose 28 goals topped the Americans last season.
“We have not had discussions with Derek,” Regier said. “I think there’s a little bit of an understanding that he was going to search in a new direction and we were going to. But I would not rule out the possibility of him playing there. … He’s certainly a very good hockey player.”
Whitmore played his first two NHL games last season.
Hopefully the "couple of guys" aren't just Roy and Wise. If it were me, the 1-2-3 of it would be Aucoin, Zigomanis, Picard on top of the shopping list. Aucoin alone makes the Amerks a serious threat since they would have one of the top playmakers in the AHL feeding one of the top finishers in the AHL in Mancari.
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It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. - Aristotle
Wonder if that Bailey kid is related to a former certain B-Sen who was on the Championship team. Jason Bailey....he had some issues in Bakersfield that were well documented.
Any news or reports about who Rolston is going to replace McKee with?
It'd be nice if the Sabres / Amerks reached out to Mike Grier and bring him back into the organization....
I'd rather they look for a career coach than break in yet another newbie. That said, Tails is on staff with Cassidy as the "development coach" and was on the ice through Dev Camp. It's possible he moves up to assistant. If not, then get someone with some experience. Enough Teppo/McKee/Patrick stuff. The OJT should be for the players, not the coaches.
I'd rather they look for a career coach than break in yet another newbie. That said, Tails is on staff with Cassidy as the "development coach" and was on the ice through Dev Camp. It's possible he moves up to assistant. If not, then get someone with some experience. Enough Teppo/McKee/Patrick stuff. The OJT should be for the players, not the coaches.
I wish the Sabres would take a page out of what the Red Wings did (hiring Renney as an assistant) or other teams have done by bringing former head coaches in to assist - and let Patrick and/or Adams go down to work with the kids in Rochester. Unfortunately, it seems Ruff only wants to hire former players that have less experience than him....
Signings are pretty much done. Not good. This team has less offense than last year. They sit there and talk about going into free agency and fixing the lack of talent from last season, and they somehow manage to take a couple steps back.
Quote:
“I think we’re pretty close anyway (to a full roster), but if you look around the whole league, a lot of teams are holding off right now,” Rolston said. “If there’s a lockout and they have to send their young guys down, you want spots for them to play and continue their development. I think teams are holding off on a lot of those (additional) players.”
Quote:
”He’s (Stuart) certainly one of the guys we’ve been talking about,” Rolston said.
Yeah, good idea. Add another guy who can't provide offense.
Sounds like they're posturing for having guys like coming back down. Problem there is, that's only Hodgson, Tropp, McNabb. Myers and Ennis are not on their ELC's, aren't exempt from waivers.
Silly. Sign one more guy who can score, not another 10-goal plug.
