The Sabres have re-signed 23-year-old defenseman Marc-Andre Gragnani to a one-year contract.

Gragnani spent last season with the Portland Pirates of the AHL, tallying 12 goals and 31 assists in 66 games, including six power-play goals. He has played in six NHL games in his career.

After being drafted 87th overall in 2005 by the Sabres, Gragnani spent two more seasons with P.E.I. Rocket of the QMJHL. He’s played three seasons in the AHL, with the Rochester Americans and Buffalo’s current affiliate, the Pirates.

The signing comes with the expectation that Gragnani will challenge for a spot on the Buffalo blue-line this season, but the challenge won’t come easily.

The team currently has nine defensemen who could play in the NHL this upcoming season.

Craig Rivet: Rivet is captain of the Sabres and is a clear YES for a defense spot. It was previously thought that he would have to miss the beginning of the season due to injury, which would have cleared a spot for someone else, but the team announced that he is recovering and will be ready to start in October.

Tyler Myers: The Calder Trophy winner is ready to start his second full season in the NHL, and there’s almost no doubt that he’ll be on the Sabres bench the entire season given his outstanding performance last year.

Andrej Sekera: Sekera missed 7 games with a rib injury last season, and also sat out several others as the “extra” defenseman in the lineup. He ended up with four goals and seven assists in 49 regular season games. He’ll start off in the NHL, but could be demoted if his performance isn’t up to par.

Chris Butler: Butler also sat out several games last season as an “extra” defenseman. He is still under his entry-level contract and, thus, could spend time in Portland if the team decides to send him down. If he remains with the NHL club, he’ll have to step up his game and earn his roster spot.

Steve Montador: The 30-year-old’s will be in the NHL again this season. Montador tallied 5 goals and 18 assists in his first season in Buffalo after being signed in the off-season last year as a free agent.

Jordan Leopold: One of two newly-signed defensemen on the Sabres, Leopold will play on the NHL squad this season.

Shaone Morrisonn: Sabres fans will have to learn how to say & spell Shaone’s name, because they’ll be seeing a lot of him this year with the team.

Marc-Andre Gragnani: Gragnani’s contract is a two-way deal. It seems likely that he’ll play in Portland, but he could challenge Chris Butler or Andrej Sekera for a roster spot.

Mike Weber: The Pittsburgh native is ready to move up to the NHL on a consistent basis, but space is an issue. Weber will come into training camp and compete for a spot on the team. If he doesn’t make it out of training camp, look for him to be called-up in the case of an injury during the season.

Atlantic Division

• The rematch of Martin Brodeur vs. Ryan Miller will probably come some time next month in Vancouver. If Wednesday night’s game at HSBC Arena in Buffalo was a preview, we can’t wait. And neither can Brodeur. “I hope so,” he said. “We’ll see. I definitely hope so.” Brodeur figures to be Team Canada’s goalie while Miller will be in net for the U.S.
• To say it took the Flyers a little while to adjust to Peter Laviolette’s up-tempo system is a major understatement. But the growing pains appear to be over. The turnaround is in full swing. After going 2-7-1 in their first 10 games under Laviolette, the Flyers have adapted to the nuances of his attacking, two-player forecheck and left-wing lock.
• The Rangers are skipping town today as fast as they possibly can, getting a head start on a Western swing they feel can’t come quickly enough. Wednesday night, at least, their fans seemed to agree that there was nothing at the Garden worth sticking around for.
• Jack Hillen, who was hit in the face by an Alex Ovechkin slap shot in last night’s 7-2 Washington win on Long Island, suffered a broken jaw and damaged teeth. The Islanders defenseman will be out 6-8 weeks. “Jack’s been playing some real good hockey for us and for him to get hurt now [is tough],” Scott Gordon said today before the team left for Raleigh.
• Penguins defenseman Kris Letang realizes he has the potential to become a star and is also highly aware that, as a restricted free agent this summer, he soon could be paid like one. Letang, though, is attempting to delay thinking about his new contract.

Northeast Division

• Jacques Martin’s disposition was anything but sunny Wednesday night as he watched the Canadiens drop a 3-0 decision to the Tampa Bay Lightning. The head coach arranged for the Canadiens to arrive in Florida on Sunday to give them an extra day of warm weather, but they failed to return the favour as they delivered two lacklustre performances.
• If Brian Burke can find a taker for Jamal Mayers, the Maple Leafs forward happily will pack his bags. The same goes for defenceman Garnet Exelby. “I still feel like I have a lot of hockey left,” Mayers said after practice on Wednesday. “Hopefully there are other people within the game who think so. My agent (Pat Brisson) was given permission to talk to teams and see what is out there. I am willing to do what I can to help and if that means moving on, that is what it has to be.”
• This must be prefaced with caution: The Ottawa Senators still have 28 regular-season games to play. That’s an eternity in the NHL. Anything can happen. They could fall off the map just as quickly as they could climb the standings. Nonetheless, as they ride a six-game winning streak that has taken them to a comfortable fifth place in the Eastern Conference, you’d have to think that coach Cory Clouston is beginning to attract notice as a coach-of-the-year candidate.
• After nearly two weeks of jetting from sea to shining sea, the last thing the Buffalo Sabres needed Wednesday night in HSBC Arena was overtime. Or a shootout. But the groggy Sabres weren’t in the fog you might expect after their seven-game road trip. They still found some jump in their step. They got a boost from the 2010 debuts of Andrej Sekera and Nathan Paetsch. And, of course, they have Ryan Miller.
• With the way National Hockey League coaches are so quickly dismissed, you’d think there’s a line in the management handbook that reads, “When all else fails, whack the coach.” For some organizations, the line may read, “At the first sign of trouble, fire the coach.”

Southeast Division

• It’s taken awhile – a long while – but the Thrashers will soon finally face a hard decision it dodged four months ago. The franchise is not going to keep three goaltenders and soon, it will have three. Who is the odd-man out?Johan Hedberg, Ondrej Pavelec or Kari Lehtonen?
• For much of Wednesday night’s game, Jean-Sébastien Giguère frustrated Alex Ovechkin and his teammates with stop after unbelievable stop. The Washington Capitals fired 35 shots on the Anaheim Ducks goaltender through two periods, yet had only one goal to show for their effort.
• This time, it was Cam Ward‘s turn. New York Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist had been stellar in three games against the Carolina Hurricanes this season, allowing a single regulation goal in each of those games. But in a 25-second span early in the first period, Carolina finally cracked Lundqvist’s armor, the first strikes in a 5-1 win over the Rangers at Madison Square Garden Wednesday.
• First, there was the birth of his daughter, Alina, six weeks premature, the day after Christmas. Then his early January bout with the flu. “A weird time,” Lightning goalie Antero Niittymaki conceded. “There were so much other things to think about.” Niittymaki blanked the Habs as the Bolts continued to climb in the standings.
• A day after being a healthy scratch, Panthers forward Nick Tarnasky was one of the first players on the ice at Wednesday’s practice at Incredible Ice, and one of the last ones off it. For coach Peter DeBoer, that was a sign that being able to sit healthy players will help the Panthers as they battle for a playoff spot.

Hat tip to the now defunct Illegal Curve for their permission in taking over this daily series.

Anthony Curatolo
NHLHS Senior Writer
acuratolo@nhlhotstove.com
Twitter: @HockeyGuy_AC

The title says it all.  This article will be no more than a comprehensive list of NHL (and some other players owned by NHL teams) players set to participate in the 2010 Winter Olympics.

For the sake of clarity we have sorted players by team.  Minor league players in red, injured players in blue.

Anaheim Ducks (8) – Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry, Scott Niedermayer, Teemu Selanne, Saku Koivu, Jonas Hiller, Bobby Ryan, Luca Sbisa

Atlanta Thrashers (5) – Ilya Kovalchuk, Maxim Afinogenov, Ondrej Pavelec, Pavel Kubina, Tobias Enstrom

Boston Bruins (6) – Patrice Bergeron, Marco Sturm, Tim Thomas, David Krejci, Zdeno Chara, Miroslav Satan

Buffalo Sabres (4) – Toni Lydman, Ryan Miller, Henrik Tallinder, Andrej Sekera

Calgary Flames (3) – Jarome Iginla, Miikka Kiprusoff, Olli Jokinen

Carolina Hurricanes (3) – Eric Staal, Joni Pitkanen, Tuomo Ruutu

Chicago Blackhawks (6) – Brent Seabrook, Duncan Keith, Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Marian Hossa, Tomas Kopecky

Colorado Avalanche (3) – Paul Stastny, Peter Budaj, Ruslan Salei

Columbus Blue Jackets (6) – Rick Nash, Jan Hejda, Samuel Pahlsson, Fredrik Modin, Milan Jurcina, Fedor Tyutin

Dallas Stars (4) – Brenden Morrow, Jere Lehtinen, Loui Eriksson, Karlis Skrastins

Detroit Red Wings (7) – Valtteri Filppula, Brian Rafalski, Niklas Kronwall, Nicklas Lidstrom,  Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk, Tomas Holmstrom

Edmonton Oilers (2) - Lubomir Visnovsky, Denis Grebeshkov

Florida Panthers (2) -  Dennis Seidenberg, Tomas Vokoun

Los Angeles Kings (5) – Drew Doughty, Jack Johnson, Jon Quick, Dustin Brown, Michal Handzus

Minnesota Wild (5) – Niklas Backstrom, Mikko Koivu, Antti Miettinen, Marek Zidlicky, Martin Havlat

Montreal Canadiens (6) – Tomas Plekanec, Yannick Weber, Jaroslav Halak, Andrei Markov, Sergei Kostitsyn, Andrei Kostitsyn

Nashville Predators (6) – Alexander Sulzer, Shea Weber, Marcel Goc, Ryan Suter, Martin Erat, Patric Hornqvist

New Jersey Devils (6) – Martin Brodeur, Paul Martin, Zach Parise, Jamie Langenbrunner, Patrik Elias, Johnny Oduya

New York Islanders (1) – Mark Streit

New York Rangers (5) – Ryan Callahan, Chris Drury, Henrik Lundqvist, Andres Ambuhl, Marian Gaborik

Philadelphia Flyers (5) – Chris Pronger, Mike Richards, Kimmo Timonen, Oskars Bartulis, Ole-Kristian Tollefsen

Pittsburgh Penguins (5) – Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Marc Andre Fleury, Sergei Gonchar, Brooks Orpik

Phoenix Coyotes (3) – Sami Lepisto, Zbynek Michalek, Ilya Bryzgalov

Ottawa Senators (6) – Jarkko Ruutu, Filip Kuba, Milan Michalek, Daniel Alfredsson, Kaspars Daugavins, Anton Volchenkov

San Jose Sharks (8) – Dan Boyle, Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau, Dany Heatley, Douglas Murray, Thomas Greiss, Joe Pavelski, Evgeni Nabokov

St. Louis Blues (3) – Eric Johnson, David Backes, Roman Polak

Tampa Bay Lightning (5) – Antero Niittymaki, Ryan Malone, Mattias Ohlund, Martins Karsums, Andrej Meszaros

Toronto Maple Leafs (6) – Jonas Gustavsson, Mikhail Grabovski, Phil Kessel, Tomas Kaberle, Mike Komisarek, Niklas Hagman

Vancouver Canucks (7) -  Roberto Luongo, Sami Salo, Christian Ehrhoff, Pavol Demitra, Ryan Kesler, Henrik Sedin, Daniel Sedin

Washington Capitals (4) Tomas Fleischmann, Nicklas Backstrom, Semyon Varlamov, Alexander Ovechkin

-Alexander Monaghan
NHLHS Founder
amonaghan@nhlhotstove.com
Twitter: @NHLHotStove

I previously skipped over the Sabres, so here they are.

Based on Matthew Pouliot’s series on Circling the Bases, I have decided restore the rosters for every NHL team. Like Pouliot, I have established some ground rules for my selections.

1. Each team contains players they originally drafted or signed before any other NHL team. This includes players drafted and not signed, as well as European free agents coming over at an older age.
2. I have chosen to leave retired players off the list, and lean toward players in the AHL rather than those deported (KHL, SEL, DEL, etc.).

Essentially I am choosing the best available players for a team to succeed in the current NHL season. All 30 teams will be covered, with grades assigned to forwards, defense and goaltending. After all 30 articles are written, they will be ranked in order. This series’ intent is to reward or shame NHL scouts.

The Sabres rely heavily on their drafting and development of young players in order to keep their payroll down. Due to their restrictions monetarily, the team has succeeded in producing a vast amount of NHL regulars as well as some well regarded players.  Overall, there really is no weaknesses to their lineup from the net on out.  A mostly young core, this team greatly resembles the team currently constructed but with more depth and much improved blueline.

The lineup for the Buffalo Sabres is as follows.

Forwards:

The forward core consists of a good mix of young players.  As these players continue to develop, the team will only get better and better much like the current roster.

Thomas Vanek – Derek Roy – Jason Pominville

Clarke MacArthur – Tyler Ennis / Nathan Gerbe / Tim Kennedy – Drew Stafford

Daniel Paille – Paul Gaustad – Maxim Afinogenov

Ales Kotalik – Wayne Primeau – Patrick Kaleta

Extra(s): Brad May, Andrew Peters, Mike Zigomanis, Mark Mancari

The only glaring hole is the second line center.  I chose to let three highly touted prospects fight it out for a spot.  Those three smallish centers are a large part of the future in Buffalo therefore we can see why some other players like Afinogenov and Paille are no longer with the organization.  Although their forward core may appear to be impressive, and by all means it is, in no way does it compare to the plethora of NHL defensemen the team drafted and developed.

Grade: B+

Defense:

The Sabres probably have the best defensive core in the league.  Although they drafted so many good defensemen, it is mainly the bottom of the depth chart that are still with the team.

Brian Campbell – Dennis Widemann

Tyler Myers – Keith Ballard

Cory Sarich – Henrik Tallinder

Extra(s): Nathan Paetsch, Jay McKee, Chris Butler, Andrej Sekera, Jan Hejda

Every defenseman listed is a capable NHL defender. One would be hard pressed to find a better top four around the league.  It is just unfortunate that three out of the top four are out of the organization.  Sadly Wideman elected free agency before playing a single game for the team while Ballard yielded Steve Reinprecht ironically a solid 2nd line center.  Traded for Steve Bernier and a first round pick (Ennis), Campbell moved to San Jose to play with his close friend Joe Thornton.  An honestly decent trade, one which helped the Sabres even more in the long run.

Grade: A+

Goaltenders:

The Sabres produced perhaps the best goaltender in all of hockey.  In fact, the situation with this team closely resembles the same roster as the team’s post-lockout team.

Ryan Miller

Martin Biron

Extra: Jonas Enroth

As of this writing, Miller leads all goalies with a 1.83 GAA, .939 SV% and four shutouts through 26 games.  He clearly is the best tender to represent team USA in the Olympics and a strong contender for the Vezina.  Biron is still the same goalie who led the Flyers to the ECF two years ago.  He can string together an impressive string of wins regardless of his playing situation as shown in the past.

Grade: A

Hope you enjoyed this version of Restoring the Rosters.  You can help NHLHS stay alive by visiting our sponsors to the left.

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-Alexander Monaghan
NHLHS Founder
thehotstove@gmail.com