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You are absolutely correct. I was thinking of Mike Mularkey. I guess my brain tried to erase the memory of Jauron.

I don't think he is out for the season, I think that would have been announced if it were true.

He is pretty damn good at it for it being as hard as he says...

There is a narrative by many that UPL has only played well in a stretch of 40 or so games under that last year of Granato. Statistically that may be true but some way or somehow the Sabres seem to win games with him in the net. His over all record is 163 starts 75 wins 68 losses and 16 OTL's. Not great but not bad. What caught my eye was the 22-23 season. His rookie stat line was 33 starts 17 wins 11 loses and 4 OTL's. Very respectable stat line, but the underling numbers were not. His goals against average was 3.61 and save percentage was .891. So what was the situation? The season starts out with Eric Comrie and the aging Craig Anderson in the net. What could go wrong? It went bad early. Sabres go on an 8 game slide in November and Comrie gets hurt. UPL comes up from the Amerks and after losing his first game plays pretty well though December and January. Comrie comes back in late January and UPL starts to sputter. The 3 headed goalie monster kicks in and the Sabres go on a losing streak in March that kind of dooms them until Levi shows up and makes it close finishing the season 5 and 2. Obviously the wins in this season were all driven by offense. The question is how did they any games at all with the defense they had. 79 Games from the 20 year old Owen Power. 78 Games from the 22 year old Dahlin who Granato had to defend to the press about his play in the first part of the season. 68 Games from the steady if unspectacular Lybushkin. 60 Games from 23 year old Jokiharju 55 Games from 22 year old Samuelesson. 59 Games from 25 year old Bryson who was -24 The rest were made up with an odd mix of the injured Stilman, Klage, pilut and others. But then there is the forward group lacking 2 way players, Skinner, Olofsson, Cozens, Quinn, Peterka. You had a few like Tuch and Okposo and Girgensons. Obviously it was all about the offense going off and outscoring the crappy defense and not very good goaltending. How did they keep any pucks out of the net with that crew in front of them? What can UPL do with what is on the ice now vs what was on the ice then? I think UPL can come around and fit into this system as long as the offense stays alive.

Tough 6 game road trip. Have to be .500 after it. They don’t typically do well when out west. Hopefully they can beat their cousins. Maybe finally beat Seattle?

Only saw the first period then went to bed, but that was the best one I seen all year.

I just hope he plays well on the road, because we need the help NOW Turn into road warriors and get back into the race

Only one game, but what I saw was pretty spectacular.

My thoughts? Lando Norris(sian). Joshdo Norrissian? He's the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy. I thought you could help with some repairs. They told me they fixed me. It's not my fault!

Correct. If he can stay healthy and play like he did last night then he’ll make a huge positive impact. Unfortunately, he has played in 5 of a possible 47 games since joining the Sabres. That doesn’t exactly lend confidence that he’ll be in the lineup often enough to make a difference.

I had a chance encounter with some former Sabres when I delivered furniture to one of the townhouses they lived at back in the day and there were several players there hanging out including Kotalik, Vanek and Roy...we were just chatting while I set things up for them and I asked them who they thought the player with the most skill on the team was and without hesitation all of them said Connolly.

If he stays healthy he is a very good player at both ends. The problem is his staying healthy.

Meh.

Reading the same thread day after day is the definition of insanity.

It's the stuff that dreams are made of. 😂

Look at the bright side. No “should of” in the last page to read.

Dick Jauron and Pitt vs PIT…another truly thrilling start to my day.

I think there is a new champion for me on the list of most hated internet butchering of the English language. “Could of” now wears the belt. Hell, my phone just tried to autocorrect it right there.

That was one of the best defensive games the Sabres played all year. Every time the Jets had a rush, one or more Sabre got back and diffused the situation. And when the Jets got a shot off UPL saw it clean and only had to make one save. Only one breakaway and UPL stopped it. Someone is getting traded from the goalie room. Unlikely it will be Ellis because of waiver rules. (Sabres have to offer Ellis to any team that made a waiver claim for him plus the Blues.) So one of UPL or Lyon is being shopped. We know scouts and GMs have been at Sabres games.

What are you talking about? That was Mike Mularkey, not Dick Jauron. That's when all we had to do is beat the Steelers backups at home in the final game when they rested everyone, and we would have made the playoffs and we choked it. Jauron went 7-9 three straight seasons and then was fired in the middle of his 4th year at 3-6. In his entire coaching career, he had one magical season in his 3rd year with the Bears where the defense and special teams propelled them to a 13-3 record with abysmal QB play and winning close games in improbable ways every week and then never repeated it again, following that season with a 4-12 record. His overall record as an NFL HC was 60-82, an abysmal .423 winning percentage. His one playoff game was an absolute ass kicking at home against the Eagles where they lost 33-19, were outgained yardage wise 336-184 and had 4 turnovers.

He has one specific issue, health/availability. He's a 1st line talent with Tim Connolly's reliability (Connolly in my opinion could of been a superstar with his skill, I don't see Norris being Connolly level)

He was fine. No mistakes.

He's a dynamic player who can drive play and finish. We just need to pray that he can stay (mostly) healthy.

He’s certainly got some speed to him. I don’t think there was ever a question of skill. It’s all about how long he’s able to stay on the ice to use it. I seem to remember him being our best player in the preseason.