I think the hope is that Clifton can play 23 solid minutes with power every night. Johnson may be cooked, not sure if the plan is to platoon or what. I think upl would edge out comrie, but all 3 will spend time in the crease unless a solid vet is brought in.

Granato shed some light on his thinking so far when he spoke to media after development camp started - he seems to want to play Johnson with different partners, depending on the situation. He spoke of teaming him with Dahlin at times, with Samuelsson during PK situations and with Power when he sees the need to steady some of the learning curve Power is still going to have as a sophomore. It sounded like he wants to spread Johnson's on-ice experience around during game situations, not just rely in the off-ice mentorship that would naturally occur.

In that same PC, it was also surprising to hear Granato say that he wanted Johnson as much as he wanted Clifton - we all heard Clifton talk of the USNTDP connection so the familiarity Granato had with him was obvious but there was no hint that Granato was so fond of Johnson to encourage Adams to go after him.

I heard somebody (Yost or larkin?) Suggest that johnson played for a Colorado team that went through the same development process that he's trying. Colorado played loose offensive hockey to build their confidence, then learned to play more disciplined, then had playoff success. They suggested that johnson could be very valuable in the room for the next step.

@bobo69

For certain defencemen need to play either side with any of the other five defenders who are dressed that night.

You can call me crazy but left/right pairings are important.
Let me provide one example why it is important.
Remember two years ago how easy it was for Tuch to steal the puck from Eichel,
Jack was playing his off hand and could not back hand the puck past Alex.
Look at Tampa, they have three strong LHD but they still manage to pair them with three barely NHL RHD.
Last time I checked, the Bolts won multiple cups with this concept.

You can look me up once the season starts can remind me that I am wrong, but I will be shocked if these are not the primary pairings:
Dahline-Clifton, Conner played with Lindholm at the start of the season last year when McAvoy was out, Dahlin and Samuelson together only had a handfull more hits than he did on his own.
Power-Johnson, Erik will not play 20 minutes, when he is on the ice he will be an on ice mentor for Owen
Samuelsson-Jokiharju
These pairing put a stronger defender and a stronger puck carrier on the ice together.
When a team only has two RHD of course the coach will be forced to pair two LHD.

Sign Halak already.

I'm inclined to agree with you, I don't think adams and granato put as much weight on it though. There's more than one way to skin a cat, they say, and we are gonna get a chance to see if they are right. I thought it was bizarre, adams pursuit of hanifin, adding yet another lefty would have given us a top 4 of lefties and a bottom pair of righties unless you intended to drop Samuelsson down to 3rd pair and play everybody closer to 20 minutes. It'll be fun to see what they do, it should be obvious if it's not working, I don't expect upl or comrie to cover for any defensive deficiencies.

Never dismiss the copycat tendencies of the NHL - Vegas won the Cup in large part because of their depth, especially on defense. Sportsnet had a great synopsis after the Cup finals that documented the ice times and usages of their top 6 defensemen: of their "top 4", Pietrangelo averaged about 22 minutes throughout the playoffs, with Theodore, Martinez and McNabb all in the 17-19 minute range on average. However, their 3rd pairing of Whitecloud and Hague averaged 15-16 minutes - so, in short, Vegas didn't overuse or wear out some of their defensemen through the grind. Sportsnet also noted that the Panthers top 5 defenders all were within 2-3 minutes ice time of each other, averaging 18-21 minutes apiece. I don't doubt that, given how thin the Sabres' defense was last year and how that forced Granato to overplay Dahlin, Power and Samuelsson, Adams and Granato took note of how Vegas and Florida handled their defense corps in the playoffs and know they need to not just have a solid two pairings but solid 3. Dahlin and Power will always see extra time in special circumstances (i.e. trying to overcome goal deficits or defending a lead late) but I anticipate that Granato and Adams know how fatigue impacted Dahlin's finish to the year and contributed in part to his injury just as it did Samuelsson. Power got lucky in terms of escaping injury but his usage was also unwisely high. It's one thing to "shorten the bench" for the occasional game based on circumstances but it's not a sustainable formula for success over a full season or playoff run.

The pattern where teams could just roll out their top 2-3 defensemen over and over like we used to see seems less pragmatic now where the parity around the league is so close. My hunch is that, based on the signings they made and possible other changes by camp as well as on what Granato said in his interview last week, the Sabres will try to balance their usage of their defensemen more. Ice time that Power used to get on penalty-killing will be shifted to Clifton and Johnson; ice time late in games to protect leads will see less of Samuelsson and more of either Clifton or Johnson. Even if the Sabres add someone like Hanifin, I think the Sabres will try using the same approach of spreading out ice time amongst all 6 defensemen.

Actually, it was Johnson himself who shared that comparison in his media interview - you can listen to it on sabres.com. Granato and Adams each referred to that experience as something they thought would help the Sabres' roster learn from, not only to get to the playoffs but once they're in and facing the added pressures that come with being in a playoff series.

Agreed, plus when you get to the playoffs, overtime can become a real factor. Leaning too hard on your top 3 could wreck you. Adding a couple more legimate d should help.

Obviously put your trust in Granato.
Power and Dahlin will get still get the bulk of the ice time, but the bottom pairing, whoever they are will play significantly more than the 15 min/game as they did last year.
Let's hope Bryson can rediscover his game that prompted Adams to give him a 2 year $1,850,000 contract.

Bryson is the low man on the totem pole and will either be waived to Rochester or traded - the number crunch on defense, if no other changes occur, along with Bryson not offering any special qualities that set him apart will dictate that. As much as Granato put a brave face on whenever discussing Bryson to the public last year, it was clear that Bryson was the least trusted defenseman in the ice time Granato gave him when everyone else was healthy.

One has to think that the top 6 will be Dahlin-Samuelsson-Power-Clifton-Jokiharju-Johnson with Lyubushkin-Stillman as the extras (if the Sabres decide to carry 8 D).