Sabres D targets ranked from most ideal to please no

A nice survey.

Roy, Gavrikov and Durzi are certainly in the right columns.

If Buffalo specifically needs a veteran RhD for one season, Sean Walker should be considered because his price would be low. And for slightly longer-term purposes, Jordan Spence might be available.

I'd be VERY interested in hearing why you have Ryan Graves in the "stay away" category, because I see him in many of my fellow LA Kings fans' ACGMs as an alternative to Vladi Gavrikov. I thought that he is an excellent defensive defender, particularly a shot-blocker. Since you see much more of him than I/we do, and would thus be more likely to be right about him, it would be educational to hear your reservations about him.

My take with Graves is analytics driven but I can offer the eye test bit at the end.

My issue with graves is that, although on the surface his numbers appear positive, digging deeper it appears that he doesnt drive any of his results if that makes sense. Like his good numbers offensively don't appear to be the result of his own shooting talent or play-making ability, rather he's fortunate to be on the ice with other players who are plus shooters.

Defensively he's kind of a nightmare. From what the data shows, the Devils give up a ton of quality chances in tight when he is on the ice. It's also probably not a coincidence that Marino's numbers took a dip when Graves was paired with him. This could just be a result of too many minutes, but then, why would you want a guy who cant handle those minutes for that much money, right.

From an eye test perspective, he's constantly out of position. Like take risks sure but it can't happen as often as it does with him. I don't think he's necessarily a bad player, but he's gunna get paid, and get term, and he's just not the guy for that. COL got the best usage out of him playing at fringe 2nd/3rd pair minutes. But after 26 pts and a thin UFA market, he's not gunna get paid that and it has the potential to be one of those contracts that keeps you from making key moves in the future.

Thanks a ton for this insight. I had him in my last two Kings ACGMs as an alternative to Gavrikov and have him there right now in two drafts that I haven't published yet. I guess I'll stick with Vladi.

Thoughts on Soucy from Seattle?

Probably go in the "available and overrated" category. Not someone they can comfortably put into a top 4 role, given that the top two pairs see more ice time at EV than most of the league.