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The Sabres don’t seem to be inclined to give Komarov or Novikov much of an opportunity in the NHL. Novikov has been the Amerks best defensive for the last 2 seasons plus and hasn’t sniffed the NHL. I know his skating is a concern, but to keep playing Bryson or Johnson or Jones or Metsa and not give this guy a chance doesn’t make much sense at this point. S As to Wahlberg, are we seeing any progress? 2 goals (and only 2 pts) in 8 AHL games ytd isn’t a great start to his sophomore NA prop campaign, but he is only 20. As to Poltapov, I doubted he’d come to NA when drafted and nothing has happened to alter that opinion. Richard and Neuchev are my sleepers. Both seem to be improving each season.

Hmmm. He is still knocking the rust off but you see nothing good? I see smart and heady plays . Like using his body to block out opponents, taking smart angles to the puck, holding and protecting the puck instead of panic and coughing it up - little things that do not get on the scoresheet. So far I am happy with him.

You were at the game and didn't notice the awful play in front of UPL that led to those 2 goals?

My son started working this year at Yahoo on their fantasy apps. I passed on the complaints to get his feedback. “Noted! That’s a bad experience. The way to delete teams as a commissioner is you have to go into finalize teams and “unlock teams”. It’s so dumb and I wish we’d get rid of it, it’s part of my current project. Not sure what happened with the kicker, but if you can share a league ID and some screenshots I could take a look. Additional teams might be from some dumb pop up we have that automatically puts you in a league that’s drafting immediately if you tap on it.”

Yep - this was my third game. The building is livelier, for sure. That's all this home crowd needs, by the way -- a competitive team giving an honest effort. And if'n when this team gets good? The building will be back to roaring. Man, I appreciate this perspective. The local beat reporters, as far as I saw, were all just like "UPL was stellar - 33 shots, 30 saves," or words to that effect (not sure of the precise SOG number). We were at the game and found UPL to be an absolute horror show for the first 2 periods. If the Caps had been playing better (stronger to the net), they might have scored 6 or 7.

Which is a good thing, no way do i want Gavin McKenna in a Bruins uniform.

Our fans crack me up. I’m seeing a bit of outrage over him calling a couple defensive timeouts, conveniently leaving out that there was obvious confusion on the field each time. There have been issues at times with calling timeouts, but not yesterday.

Yeah, I misspoke. I said "loser point" because I was typing Bettman's name. Like some (many?), I just hate that some NHL games yield 2 points and some yield 3. But I also understand that that's a feature, not a bug.

A guy who knows puck. And loves the Sabres.

Key? I’ve noticed him out there if Tuch/Greenway or another normal PK guy is in the box. He scares me.

He was a key PK player in the OHL. If he can add more to his NHL game that should translate to more TOI and confidence. I am still hoping for this guy to reach his potential. Frustrating development with all of his setbacks.

The defence overall has been much improved

What gave me the idea for this thread was the question how is goal scoring this year in light of losing JJ Peterka and no Josh Norris. From there I compared the other stats. The Goals Against numbers are odd being up slightly, but the biggest change is special teams. PP and PK are massively improved.

I dunno...Caps literally didn't even have a shot on goal I don't think in their last 3 PP's and the best scoring chance was MacLeod's breakaway shorthanded. If they did have a shot it was nothing dangerous.

That's the way OTs work. If one team gets the puck and can control it for, say, 30-40 seconds, the other team gets gassed and drops into a passive shell.

Jack Quinn has been a key penalty killer. What does that tell us? 🤷‍♀️

A wrist shot is a really specialized process, not entirely different from pitching a baseball. I was practicing with a goalie years ago and he would start to move to where I was going to shoot before I was even shooting. Obviously I was not going to score like that. Then I watched how Jack Eichel shoots and he has this sweeping wrist shot that begins way back behind him and gets released in front of him and I emulated that and it worked really well. Not so much for speed of shot but for deception. I was skating in over blueline and let fly a wrister, not super hard, but low to stick side and goalie never moved. He just could not pick up where shot was going coming off the blade and my body language did not give it away. I also could choose where to shoot all the way up until release. I bring this up because now they are using AI and computer biomechanic programs with players wearing sensors to map out their shots and offer improvements. In baseball pitchers it has improved performance a lot. That video I posted also made a big deal about how athlete's bodies are more specialized. Do NHL scouts measures players arms or whatever body part they feel is important for them to have great shots? I'd be surprised if they didn't. Maybe Zac Benson's arms are not "shooters" arms or something and that's why he fell in draft. And I'd be shocked if stick technology has not been improved to help shooting. Maybe in this period of hockey history shooters have regained the edge and goalies will get new skills and equipment or whatever to take back the edge.

Baby steps but slightly improved. Now finish off more close games.

Yes.

McD and Beane are a terrific duo and are in sync. Pegula has struggled to get the upper staffing right for the Sabres but has hit a home run installing the leadership for the Bills. Our OL play in this game was terrific. It created running lanes even when the opposition knew we were going to run. Kincaid played well. The holding call on Knox was so marginal. Referring is a tough job. But whatever happened to good judgment and discretion. The Bills’ fans are blessed to have Josh Allen as their qb. He’s an all-pro player and good guy. Who does more commercials? Kevin Hart or Josh Allen?

Haven’t seen a game yet. Have they reduced the cross crease pass plays that led to so many SH goals last season?

Good goaltending makes everything look better. Buffalo fans, of all people, know this. And ***** goaltending, makes everything look worse. Buffalo fans, of all people, know this.

Resulting to name calling now? Would you like your kicker back? Would that ease your wounded ego?

Anaheim

I’ll say it again: McD can coach my team as long as he wants.