I'm considering Gerbe a lock as the 13th forward.

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mechaphil

:')

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FIGHTER OF THE NIGHTMAN

"on the ice now for buffalo, looking for the pass, and gets it, afinogenov, couldnt get the shot away, now HE DOES, HE SCORES!!!! HOLY MACKEREL ROLE THE HIGH LIGHT FILM, MAXIM AFINOGENOV, WHAT A MOVE!!!!.... thats not fair... that was unbelievable"
-R.J. and Lorenz

Besides getting beat down by Zherdev (or so I hear), Gerbe has really impressed me this pre-season.

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mechaphil

same, and thats not just me hanging on his balls

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FIGHTER OF THE NIGHTMAN

"on the ice now for buffalo, looking for the pass, and gets it, afinogenov, couldnt get the shot away, now HE DOES, HE SCORES!!!! HOLY MACKEREL ROLE THE HIGH LIGHT FILM, MAXIM AFINOGENOV, WHAT A MOVE!!!!.... thats not fair... that was unbelievable"
-R.J. and Lorenz

Gerbe has been real good this preseason. Lets face it people I know their are alot of people here that don't like Nathan Gerbe but the kid can play at the NHL level. Me personally I like him. What's not to like! Yes he is small but the dude can skate, has some slick moves and at least throws what little weight he has around.

So that leaves the Sabres with (F)Vanek, Roy, Stafford, Ennis, Pominville, Connolly, Gerbe, Niedermayer, Hecht, Grier, McCormick, Gaustad, and Kaleta, (D) Myers, Morrisonn, Weber, Rivet, Sekera, Montador, Butler, Leopold, and (G) Miller, Lalime, and Enroth in camp.

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mechaphil

Gerbe and Ennis are going to tear up the NHL when they hit their prime years.

They're already impressive players as it is.

I always knew Gerbe had it in him.

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Wheelhouse

So who on Defense gets sent down or moved? Weber, Butler or Sekera. I'm not really too sure on which of the three are better. I like the toughness that Weber has but I don't know if the guy is better than Sekera or Butler. What's people's thought on the final 2 defenseman?

The crazy thing Gerbe has been pretty decent in the preseason I don't know who you take out of the lineup to insert him in! Plus I like what McCormick brings to this team.

Well, if Rivet isn't playing by the time opening night rolls around, no one is getting sent down. Besides, Lindy said they're starting the year with 8 d-men. So again, no one gets sent down. But if it was me, I'd keep Weber and Sekera and do something with Butler.

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mechaphil

What happened to Lalime now?

Any indication on the severity?

/I happen to really like what I've seen this year out of Enroth so I'm not too broken up over this development.

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Hold my beer and watch this...

Ya, from what I gathered from pre-season, Lalime and Enroth are both going to give you about the same thing(albeit that it's not much).

Someone already said that Kassian would do good to get 1st line minutes in juniors, so that's probably a good thing.

Groin injury. Lindy has expressed worry over Lalime not getting playing time in the preseason because of it, although he did say it's getting better.

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mechaphil

As much as most people would like to have Kassian on the team I think it would really hurt his development. He wouldn't get many minutes a game and getting sent back down to juniors give the sabres a full year for him to work on his footspeed without having to pay the guy. Plus their is no space for him on the big club just yet. Gerbe to me is a lock on this team. He has gotten better and deserves a spot.

Kassian needs to develop several areas of his game still.

His passing needs some work, as do his reads. The only way to really work on that is time in games. His shot is fine, his skating can be honed by strength and conditioning.

A year in juniors will do wonders for his confidence, and this taste should leave him hungry for more NHL time. All in all another year in juniors is the best thing for the kid.

I was very surprised to see Parrish cut, I thought for sure he'd be in Portland this year serving as a mentor for our younger guys.

Lalime's injury does concern me, hopefully he'll be healthy for the start of the year, because Enroth isn't necessarily ready yet, and he needs more reps in the AHL. Sitting 20 out of 22 games in Buffalo isn't going to be good for him, especially if this groin injury of Lalime's is one of those that is a nagging injury that lasts into November or December.

All in all, I really liked the cuts made, and I fully expect Weber to make this team. He's shown everything this team needs, consistent physical play, added toughness, and a willingness to drop the gloves and stand up for his team.

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"She's like plan C after an 18 pack"

Squanto 7/27/2010

The zherdev right was pretty much a draw. They both barely got their gloves off before Gerbe wrestled him to the ice. Gerbe landed on top so he gets the pin.

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Proud LGBTQQ Individual

I wouldn't even call it a fight...it was a horse collar flip to the ground.

I so wanted to see gerbe throw some punches just for the novelty of it.

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Hold my beer and watch this...

More news coming out: Vanek and Lalime are out for tomorrow night's game. Vanek is gonna get evaluated for his neck thing, and Lalime is out with that groin injury I mentioned earlier.

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mechaphil

I read on another message board that Zack had a foot injury. That sucks he was sent back but its better that he was sent back before he gets banged up even more. I bet in a couple weeks he will be traded by Windsor, that team is shit right now in the OHL.

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just call me Brad

Twitter @BUrbanowicz13

With regards to Gebre, even though he is 5'6, he is very very hard to take off the puck behind the net this preseason. He was getting ganged up in the Montreal game by two guys and skated right around them while still having the puck.

I haven't seen much of Ennis in the games I've watched just because he hasn't really played huge minutes for the team in preseason.

But I would say Roy, Stafford, and Vanek should be roaring to go. Roy has had magical hands all preaseason, Vanek is looking like a beast, and Stafford is being relentless in his game.

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I agree with the Gerbe assessment. Ennis hasn't played alot this preseason because some sort of family thing going on but he will be fine the guy is going to be in the running for the calder trophy.
Stafford has looked way better since he lost weight and worked out. One thing I don't understand is that he should have been in much better shape to begin with when he signed that last deal especially after the money he's getting paid. Really no excuse for it. But I wouldn't be surprised that he worked out hard this summer because he's in his contract year. It just seems like alot of players that are at the end of their contract seemed to work out harder so they can put up better numbers then they would otherwise.
Vanek and Roy seemed to be playing well this preseason and hopefully both have taken what critcism they had in the offseason to want to be better this year.