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As the sting of the disappointment of the 2012-2013 Sabres season begins to disapate, it is a good time to look at how the future of this team will stack up. With the playoffs heating up, and a renewed organizational drumbeat of long-term Stanley Cup contention, it is likewise a good time to evaluate our roster vs. the teams having success in the playoffs. This post will focus only on the organizations forwards, and how the Sabres should think about them, in attempting to build a legitimate Cup contender. Personally, I feel that one of the biggest things that has held the Sabres back in the past has been a lack of purpose in assembling the forward corps. It is not good enough to get the best talent available to you and try to figure it out where they will play once the team is assembled. Each piece should be brought in for a specific reason. Specifically, each piece should be carefully considered with the rigors of the Stanley Cups in mind. Below, I have listed the 20 forwards currently in the system that I believe will be given a chance to make the roster, and if not will likely form the corps of call-ups in Rochester. As we are looking at a true rebuild and I feel that the team’s centers are far from set in stone, I have only broken the players down by left hand vs. right hand shot.
Left: Vanek, Ott, Ennis, Adam, Girgensons, Grigorenko, Foligno, Lleino, Porter, Gerbe, Scott, Larson, Cattenacci
Right: Hodgson, Armia, Stafford, Flynn, Kaleta, Tropp, McCormick
As you can see there are a lot more lefties than righties. This shouldn’t really be a shock, as there are just more left shooting NHLers. Nevertheless the organization is much deeper down the left than the right.
Parsing through this group of players, figuring out which of these guys go, which stay, where they play, and what needs to be brought in around them is the crux of the rebuild (at least on the forward side). Ultimately you need to develop a core of players who can contend for a cup. In watching the playoffs this year and in the past I have seen lots of different kinds of teams have success. You can lean on a few stars, or do it with depth. You can be more defensive, or more offensive. You can be faster and more skilled, or bigger and more physical. You can just be a good balance of everything. In all cases, you will have to successfully defend against good offensive teams, outscore good defensive teams, not be bullied or easily injured by big physical teams, and you need to play with intensity. To me, the best way to ensure that you can do this is to have players who do multiple things well. The more things that each player does well, the more your team does well. Another way to say this is avoid one dimensional players when possible. Sure, there are some skills that very few guys can do at an elite level. For example, sometimes you just need goal scoring, adding an elite goal scorer who doesn’t do much else is the most efficient way to do that. Nevertheless, what you want in Stanley Cup players is similar to what you want in a Stanley Cup team. You want individuals who can score (or create scoring), defend, play physically, and play with intensity. To me, this starts down the middle. Cup winners are typically strong down the middle.
Like most teams a