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Rollin Benson alongside Skinner and Thompson?? Giddy up!!

BAAAAANNNNNDDDDWAAAAAAGGGOOOONNNN

Tis the season. Who is returning? @LabattBlue ✅ @North Buffalo @steveoath @Andrew Amerk @NorCal @drnkirishone @SwampD @gilbert11 @pastajoe @Two or less @Lanny (pastajoe's son)

Why would Anaheim want all our garbage for their best player?

The entire thing is structured around giving Kulich, Rosen and Benson a taste of NHL linemates, even though they are likely to be sent down? And where the vets are is mostly meaningless? Seems like an utter waste of time for an event designed to get a team ready for the season. I mean, I agree things will change and they will try different things, but I would hope Donnie is approaching every practice with more purpose than mostly random. These guys have their legs, they’ve been skating together for weeks.

What happened to Mr. Underhill’s American Express card?

I wouldn’t read anything into first day pairings or lines. This is a lineup about getting to see how the top prospects look with established players not about who will be playing with whom when the season begins. We will get a better feel for the end product once some of the kids start getting sent down or returned to their junior teams. I do agree that the D pairings were a little surprising and I do see the basis for these pairings, but I worry Clifton isn’t ready for 24 minutes a game.

And Houser.

On Sunday I found Deandre Hopkins AmEx while walking my baby. My fiancé contacted his reps and they were supposed to pick it back up earlier this week. They’ve seemingly blown me off.

With Comrie too?

He’s out. Long walk

If Zegras is looking for a Cozens deal and Anaheim isn’t willing to do it I’d hope Adams is working on this. Trade VO, UPL, Joker and/or a euro prospect (I really want Benson and Savoie to play the season together in juniors so that is why I’m not moving them) and a 1st to get Gibson, Zegras, and a 3rd and sign Zegras for 7x7. He can play wing or center with Mitts on the 3rd line, or wing with Cozens on the 2nd line. He’s an offensive, fast, creative player so I think he would do well moving to wing. Plus we have a couch that does well with younger players so I think he can help him a lot in that move.

The 2, 7 and border being sliced in half and pulled apart.

Nlay Rockey

Zegras is 22 with back to back 20g 60p+ seasons with a terrible Ana team. He is an RFA. Mitts is 24 and coming off his first 55p+ season and has one season left at 2.5. Both are similar size and play C and Wing. Lets say Mitts has great year and scores 65 pts or better this season, how much will it cost to retain him? 7 mill? More? Long-term, if the Sabres could have Zegras locked up for this coming season at 7 for 7, would they be better off getting him than keeping the older and somewhat less productive Mitts at a similar cost after this season? Who has more upside going forward, Mitts or Zegras? Given that backdrop, I can understand if KA asked about Ana about Zegras during his Bush trade discussions.

I assume the goalie for the first group was Levi?

LOL he looks like a 32 year old actor playing an 18 year old in a movie

Somebody posted earlier about being excited about seeing how they lined up on Day 1, just to get a glimpse inside Donnie's mind. Now you now what they say about the best-laid plans, but I think we did get a glimpse into what the coach is thinking. 1) Dahlin/Clifton, Power/Jokiharju, Samuelsson/Johnson I think this one probably caught most of us off-guard; don't recall many people thinking Clifton would be skating with the franchise and nobody was champing for more Owen and Henri. But the more I looked at it, the more it becomes clear that Mule and Johnson is a clear D-zone pairing and OP/HJ is a clear O-zone pairing, with Ras and Clifton very comfortable going either way. To be clear, I suspect there is going to be a lot of mix and match with this group, Donnie said as much. But we are going to see a much more balanced rotation back there when healthy. And there's lot of utility there for matchups if he sticks with this as a base. And of course there is the obvious L/R combinations. Maybe the opportunity for saying "i told you so" might even bring @Thorny back (hope so). 2) Bryson/Stillman Ryan Johnson/Clague There's your 4 spare defencemen, all battling with each other for one or 2 spots. Each is being given an equal opportunity, unsupported by a strong partner. May the best man/men win. 3) Tage/Skinner, Cozens/Peterka, Mitts/Tuch This, by far, was the most intriguing meatball Donnie gave us. I've been convinced Krebs was going to be the 3C and Mitts was going to get moved to the wing. Instead, it looks like the coach is considering 3 scoring lines built around 3 duos known to work well together. If the 3rd wheels step up, this could be exciting. 4) Krebs Girgensons Okposo Each of these guys got his own line, tied predominantly to AHL vets with outside roster shots. I'm reading this as Granato knowing exactly what he has in each of them, so he's using them to set the tone and test drive guys for the 13th forward and depth call-up roles. It makes me reasonably confident that the trio will be reunited come opening night as his go-to shutdown unit. 5) Greenway Jost Olofsson Here are your misfit toys, the trio who will definitely be on the starting roster – likely mixed and matched with the three top offensive duos above — it's just not clear yet exactly where. They get to skate together to start with an equal opportunity and will get rotated into their eventual homes as camp progresses. 6) Benson, Kulich Rosen I honestly didn't see any of these guys on the roster to start the year, but goddamn are they apparently going to get a fair chance. Each one is apparently getting a real shot to replace Quinn in the lineup as they ride shotgun with the Sabres top offensive talents. Maybe one of them will actually take advantage and force his way in. I'm very excited by what I'm seeing. What did you guys think?

BTW: I've seen a few posters mention that they aren't able to embed tweets -- but I was able to do so in my post above. Maybe it's just an issue when trying to do so on a phone?

Winter is coming!

lol

Welcome back. Definitely a team worth paying attention to now that these picks are starting to mature.

If I was on the other team I’d be chirping him about the white goo on the front of his mask. What is that supposed to be???

82-0 I can see, but let’s be realistic about the 82 shutouts.