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This assessment is quite fair. The killer is, if you swap having 1 really good (like able to be in end of season awards conversations if the team had better coaching and could get into the mix of playoff teams) D-man and lots of Q's at G with having 1 really good G and lots of Q's at D; you'd be describing fairly accurately what the team was back when the current owner bought it excepting for the fact that the FO at that time had gotten the team to at least the semis on 4 occassions in about 16 years which was light years ahead of what their successors have done. So, 13 years have been thrown away to be exactly where they were when they decided to tank for a generational player who'd be available in the draft after the 2nd year of the tank. Kids that weren't alive when the decision to tank was made are now teenagers and there is not one single thing to show for having done so all so many years ago.

Yeah I dont buy into this .500 not including games you lost in OT... I get it in the old days... when each team kissed their sister and walked away with a point... it is not a tie or a .500 game when the other team gets two points and you get 1

Philly - L Wpg - L embarrassing loss Calg - OT/L Edm - L Van - OT/L Seattle - W 1-3-2

Oh, yes, the game reinforces the immaturity of the team and how, once again on this night, the coach made some inexplicable decisions which ended up playing into that immaturity. Which, yes, it can be read into, unfortunately, quite clearly. Meant to be more specific as to how, and how much, adding Norris will affect the trajectory of this squad. Just like we shouldn't be (and nobody around here is/was, not even remotely implying anyone was) assuming that the Sabres will be one of the best teams because of how good they looked against the Jets with Norris in the lineup; not sure that it's fair to expect them to be just as awful on the road as they have been without him. The way how the whole thing snowballed, would say we still don't know how much Norris will improve this roster. (Providing, obviously, if he stays healthy for a significant portion of the season at a minimum.)

The league has no idea what goalie interference is. The coaches don't know. The refs don't know. Toronto doesn't know. The fans don't know. The players don't know. Short of punching a goalie in the face, no one knows what the rule is. It is worse than what is a catch in the NFL.

Thompson reminds me a lot of a kid that was on my one son's teams very often (was a very good kid with a really nice family, so always grabbed him when he was available when picking our team); he was big and a little lanky like Thompson and had good speed and good hands. He was almost always our best F and he always wanted to play C, but oftentimes played him at W because ALL he thought about and cared about was scoring. He wanted nothing at all to do with coming back deep into our zone and that was one of the C's 1st assignments - take care of our end and you'll get plenty of chances at the other end. Thompson says he doesn't care if he's a C or a W but he definitely typically seems more engaged when he's a C than when he's a W; but he's better in the Sabres zone at W. If he's playing with a guy like Tuch who oftentimes takes the C's responsibilities in his own end, no issue with playing him at C. Maybe if they keep Norris with Tage, they can list Tage as the C but try to get to spots where when they're lining up for FOs it makes sense to have the lefty at the dot rather than the righty. Not fully ready to break up the experiment of Norris with Tage and Benson, but wouldn't give them too long a leash either.

I’ll die on the hill that neither of those was goalie interference

I know that was tongue in cheek, but these analytics dwerps are master gaslighters. They pine for the day that dinosaurs like us die off and they can have the power to determine who really "won." 5-2 Philly is so "hey boomer."

Straight talk... this is what I see... - Moderate talent level overall on this team... 1 Generational Player in Dahlin, 1 top line forward in Thompson, 2 Marginal Top line forward in Tuch and Norris who has injury issues. - Leadership who is it, who is the one that demands and holds people accountable... Veteran leadership is below average... talent mixed with toughness is about non existent... Doan may be the only one who I would consider a top 6 talent with the commensurate toughness... Tuch maybe a little... Dahlin is forced to be superman and be all of this... leaving me concerned for him. - A few up and comers, Doan in particular... Loved him before I even saw him play for us... after that... I struggle to see the next up and comer that will take us to a new level... Benson... maybe... hurt... 0 goals in 14 games... small but cant beat his attitude. Kulik, Rosen, Ostland etc.. fair pretty well... but I am not seeing them as players that are ready to lead a charge if ever... - Defense lb for lb the softest most uninspired lazy defense I have ever seen... Like I have no idea what do even do here... - Goaltending we are desperately trying to love us some somebody in net... we vacillate between Lyon and Ellis but really don't feel like we have seen enough to commit to a long term relationship... we all do agree that Ukka Peka Loseannin isnt girlfriend/boyfriend material... like we may take him to a wedding if we had to have a date... but nothin happening here... 3/4th line - some moderately tough players but clearly struggle to contribute offensively and are a defensive liability with some of the worst plus/minus on the team... looking at Greenway in particular who is a minus 7 after 13 games and limited minutes... - FO/ownership - They are worse than incompetent... like if you were incompetent and knew you were that's really bad... But if you are totally incompetent and see yourself as an affronted misunderstood genius and generally disdained those that criticized you and had literally no idea you were completely out of your league... that's a whole other level of dangerous.... Bottom line, the overall talent on this team is not great but more moderate nor does it possess the mix of talent/toughness the game requires. The talent is mostly concentrated into one generational player who literally has to be the Josh Allen superman every game... the rest is a limited cornucopia of forwards that would likely be 2nd or 3rd line players on real teams with highly limited toughness and leadership ability... The up and coming players with the exception of Doan are of the same soft ilk... The defense is going to gather to take a picture to be used on a package of Charmin to illustrate what softness is... Goaltending problems are still there and the FO is incapable of fixing anything... to the point I am not sure they even see a problem..

Goals scored needs to be better, no?

None of the shooting % stats indicate that shooting is a Sabres issue. They are above average in almost every shooting metric.

Because Terry’s cheap and won’t pay for anyone not employed by the team.

What if he is better than either Lyon or UPL? Or worse yet , better than both I say trade / release Lyon and let's be a real franchise with 2 goalies on the roster, for at least 2 mins anyways

Sure. Only you stop the photos in the frames that best proves your point. "begin the unnecessarily slow moving dipping mechanism" ...

Taro, to me it is easy to read into last nights game. It shows something massive about the character and maturity of the team. They are a work in progress. Still lacking some key pieces, and we saw example of good game day coaching (Tochett) and bad game day coaching (Ruff). How many times have they won 2 in a row and failed to show up to get a 3rd win? Did they look hungry? They expect teams to roll over for them. All the events that preceded the 3 goals in 59 seconds says a lot. Their inability to regroup and come back, they had a lot of time to get back in the game. By far the worse line out there was Benson-Thompson-Norris, the line you expected to carry the team was not at all in sync. The only line I liked all night was Östlund's line. So, after two games I am ready to break up Thompson and Norris to see what else they can do. I think Tage is mediocre center, but as a winger he doesn't seem to know how to get himself open for a clear shot. So put Norris with other players and see what else we have. I also think its time to move Benson off of the 1st line. ZERO goal production and the season is more than 1/4 over. That is not first line worthy. Maybe Benson can work with Östlund? Try a savvy vet like Zucker with Norris? On a side note: I find it odd that Dunne challenges Deslauriers once before the game, and again during the game - only to have Deslauriers pass. My interpretation is that Dunne is viewed as insignificant, and Deslauriers did not want to risk losing a fight and letting Dunne influence the games momentum which turned to all Flyers after the first 5 minutes and 30 seconds - the time that Tage Thompson took a lazy penalty on a power play after playing lazy in his own zone. Note to Dunne, stop looking for silly staged fights. Fight only when it means something, and don't wait for an invitation or for clearance. Just go. Deslauriers waited until the game was all but over to get involved in any scrums, he took an extra 2 minute roughing penalty on Dunne, and then watched as our PP failed to put a shot on net for 2 minutes. Tochett told the TNT guys he wanted to control the ice in front of both nets and they did. That is were hockey games are won.

Well, I mean it is his job to get them ready to play for the Sabres, they will fit right in.

This team is basically Lucy and we are Charlie Brown. They always suck you back in just when you say you are done and promise they will become an actual good team but right at the point you are ready to jump on board they just pull the football away as you try to kick it and you end up on your back again like you have the other 20 times it's happened over the last 15 years. When are we ever going to learn?

after a 14 .5 year body of work achieving the same repeated failure... and what looks to be a continuation of the same... I would say you would have a better chance hitting Powerball on 2 consecutive drawings than it being luck....

I personally like Thompson at C. It shouldn't be this way, but I do feel he seems more engaged there. Send Östlund back to ROC and bring Rosen back up to play wing. Then move McLeod back to 3rd line C where he's better suited.

Just gonna go by photos?

Agree. Only a couple of our players have demonstrated they have quick hands, puck poise before shooting in close, and the eye to snipe. Makes you wonder what our scouts look for in prospects and what they work on in practice. Character doesn’t shoot the puck, and frankly I haven’t seen much character from our guys anyway.

When the team plays a game like last night its easy to blame the goalie. The Flyers game result was more about the Sabres leadership and focus, about playing smart hockey, and keeping self control. Brutal mistakes were made all night and usually by the best players on the team.

Was wondering how much of the incredible play on Monday had been due to the overall team adrenaline from getting Norris back finally healthy after so long and how much of it was getting a true top 6 skater into the lineup. Hard to read too much into last night's game because of the way how that 2 minute or so streak of horrible decisions and a bit of bad puck luck torpedoed the night. But, though Norris did have a hand in the PP goal (didn't he get the 2nd assist on the Zucker goal?), his line didn't look special even before the wheels fell off and the Appert appears to be stronger than the Norris as the PP didn't do squat after they got that 1 PP goal and it was poor play by Thompson on the PP that started the ball rolling downhill. They moved the puck well on the PP that worked. They did a lot of standing around waiting for Dahlin or Byram to get the puck to Thompson or Norris for a 1 timer outside of that. Again, the Appert is strong with this crew. Tomorrow's game will be a better indication of what they'll really get with Norris in the lineup. Am wondering how long it takes before we see Ruff's revised original plan for how to deploy the lines with Norris in the lineup. (Aka Thompson and Norris each centering their own lines.)

Leone said he thinks the Amerks lost 16 faceoffs in a row at one point last night. Utica dominated OT and won the game because they won every single faceoff.