What are the chances of Grigorenko lasting the year in BUF? ... Is he projected into their Top 6, currently?
Management has basically come out and said he will be in the NHL for the whole season. He's not eligible for the AHL and they feel sending him to juniors would only hindr his development at this point. So he's a Sabre for sure... I feel he'll be given every opportunity to be the second line center while Cody is in the top spot.
Good move by Hodgson and his agent to a get a longer term deal rather than a bridge contract because it'll probably pay off. His 5-on-5 numbers without Pominville (and Vanek to a lesser extent) were downright tragic:
With Pominville (65% of his EV TOI):
20 pts
3.60 GF/60 min
2.91 GA/60 min
Without Pominville (35% of his EV TOI):
2 pts
1.16 GF/60min
4.65 GA/60 min
Now that Pominville is gone, we'll see which Hodgson the Sabres are going to get. The guy who can score at a 55-60 point pace or the defensive disaster who scores at a 25-30 point pace. If he doesn't improve his defensive play, I doubt he'll be trusted with the minutes to put up good numbers.
the defense should be more worrisome than the offensive production
