Preseason GDT 4: Leafs vs Sabres L2-1

[Bleeding Blue & White]

Leafs Roster:
Goalies: James Reimer, Ben Scrivens

Defence: Keith Aulie - Dion Phaneuf, Carl Gunnarsson - John-Michael Liles, Cody Franson - Jake Gardine.

Forwards: Joffrey Lupul - Tim Connolly - Phil Kessel
Clarke MacArthur - Mikhail Grabovski - Nikolai Kulemin
Nazem Kadri - Tyler Bozak - Matt Frattin
Joye Crabb - Darryl Boyce - Colton Orr

Sabres Roster:
Goalies: Ryan Miller, Drew MacIntyre

Defence: Jordan Leopold, Mike Weber, Christian Ehrhoff, Marc-Andre Gragnani, T.J. Brennan, Brayden McNabb

Forwards: Cody McCormick, Derek Roy, Colin Stuart, Michael Ryan, Drew Stafford, Brad Boyes, Thomas Vanek, Paul Gaustad, Jason Pominville, Patrick Kaleta, Matt Ellis, Nathan Gerbe, Tyler Ennis, Corey Tropp, Marcus Foligno

[Erndog]

Both teams icing pretty full lineups, should be a good "test". 

[Zee]

Both teams icing pretty full lineups, should be a good "test".

Yup, there's our D minus Gardiner and Komisarek.

[You're right]

Both teams icing pretty full lineups, should be a good "test".

Yup, there's our D minus Gardiner and Komisarek.

Which is where Komi should stay......

[Bender]

Both teams icing pretty full lineups, should be a good "test".

Yup, there's our D minus Gardiner and Komisarek.

Lol at the Komi quote. Also one player will be coming off the fourth line. Otherwise it's pretty full.

Sabres are missing at least Leino and Myers. I feel like the Sabres are built a lot like the Leafs. No outright stars outside of Vanek (Kessel) and Miller, big bodies on D but with offensive upside, waterbugs on the first 3 lines. It'll be interesting for sure!

[Erndog]

Both teams icing pretty full lineups, should be a good "test".

Yup, there's our D minus Gardiner and Komisarek.

Lol at the Komi quote. Also one player will be coming off the fourth line. Otherwise it's pretty full.

Sabres are missing at least Leino and Myers. I feel like the Sabres are built a lot like the Leafs. No outright stars outside of Vanek (Kessel) and Miller, big bodies on D but with offensive upside, waterbugs on the first 3 lines. It'll be interesting for sure!

I was thinking about that the other day as well.  There's Kessel/Vanek who are the upper tier players and then there is a lot of depth.  A lot of 'skilled, fast players'... similar in ages too.  Obviously they have Ryan Miller which is quite a significant difference.  I'd say Roy is a very, very good center (a notch above Grabs or Connolly easily) but other than that, they have fairly comparable rosters in my opinion.

[BlueWhiteBlood]

Should be a really good test tonight for sure...

[cw]

link
Goalies: James Reimer, Ben Scrivens

Defence: Keith Aulie - Dion Phaneuf, Carl Gunnarsson - John-Michael Liles, Cody Franson - Jake Gardiner.

Forwards: Joffrey Lupul - Tim Connolly - Phil Kessel
Clarke MacArthur - Mikhail Grabovski - Nikolai Kulemin
Nazem Kadri - Tyler Bozak - Matt Frattin
Joye Crabb - Darryl Boyce - Colton Orr

The following three players took part in the morning skate but aren't expected to play tonight: Mike Komisarek, Luke Schenn, Jay Rosehill.

That's getting much closer to looking like the starting lineup/roster members.

Scrivens, Gardiner, Kadri, Frattin, Crabb & Boyce are the only ones on the bubble and some of those guys have a decent shot to survive (like Boyce & Kadri).

Probably worth taking a look at the game tonight .. 

[Sarge]

No Army... We lose.

[Zee]

If I open up a barley pop tonight during the game it'll almost feel like a regular season game.

[BlueWhiteBlood]

I don't know what managements plans are, but I think they need to give Mike Zigomanis a little bit more of a shot to show that he may be able to play the 4th line role better than Dupuis and or Boyce. I expect Wilson to insist on Boyce making the team, as he seems to have endeared himself to Wilson, but I also think they should decide on Dupuis or Zigomanis for the 12th or 13th man position on the big club.

I read an article this morning that stated, which I forgot, that the Leafs were 5-2-1 with Zigo to start the season and promptly lost the next 7 or so games after they demoted him last year. Coincidence? Not sure, but he knows how to win draws and kill penalties and that I think shouldn't be overlooked, I know Carlton will agree with me.

[Bender]

Both teams icing pretty full lineups, should be a good "test".

Yup, there's our D minus Gardiner and Komisarek.

Lol at the Komi quote. Also one player will be coming off the fourth line. Otherwise it's pretty full.

Sabres are missing at least Leino and Myers. I feel like the Sabres are built a lot like the Leafs. No outright stars outside of Vanek (Kessel) and Miller, big bodies on D but with offensive upside, waterbugs on the first 3 lines. It'll be interesting for sure!

I was thinking about that the other day as well.  There's Kessel/Vanek who are the upper tier players and then there is a lot of depth.  A lot of 'skilled, fast players'... similar in ages too.  Obviously they have Ryan Miller which is quite a significant difference.  I'd say Roy is a very, very good center (a notch above Grabs or Connolly easily) but other than that, they have fairly comparable rosters in my opinion.

Buffalo might be the surprise of the year imo. They have so much depth everywhere and have an all-star goalie in Miller, with Derek Roy coming back from injury...

[Zanzibar Buck-Buck McFate]

Both teams icing pretty full lineups, should be a good "test".

Yup, there's our D minus Gardiner and Komisarek.

I suspect that would come as news to Luke Schenn. 

[Zee]

Both teams icing pretty full lineups, should be a good "test".

Yup, there's our D minus Gardiner and Komisarek.

I suspect that would come as news to Luke Schenn. 

I should have quoted the original post, I think he edited it and removed Schenn cause it came out later that he wasn't playing tonight.  Originally there were 8 guys listed there.

[Zanzibar Buck-Buck McFate]

Both teams icing pretty full lineups, should be a good "test".

Yup, there's our D minus Gardiner and Komisarek.

I suspect that would come as news to Luke Schenn. 

I should have quoted the original post, I think he edited it and removed Schenn cause it came out later that he wasn't playing tonight.  Originally there were 8 guys listed there.

Cheers.  I figured it wasn't just an oversight.

It does bring up the subject of whether it makes sense to keep Gardiner up no matter how good he looks.  I'd rather have Komisarek/Aulie/Gunnarsson rotating in and out than Gardiner, who could use ice time in all situations.