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Wut?

Realize that the analytics say that Kulich and Thompson were very good together and they were in the offensive end and against middle of the pack teams. But, from the eye test, Kulich got absolutely stomped in his own end against teams with very good top lines. The Sabres didn't face many of those down the stretch, which IMHO skews their results. Completely expect Kulich to get better at that; but IMHO at least against teams w/ GOOD top lines, he is NOT a top line C. Maybe the guy to play with Thompson and Benson is McLeod; then Norris gets Zucker and Tuch or Doan and Tuch; and Kulich gets Quinn (until Helenius steals his spot 😉 ) and Doan/Zucker. McLeod is very defensively responsible and showed more in the offensive zone last year than people expected. Especially if opponents are keying on trying to take away Tage, then maybe McLeod's offense last year wasn't just a mirage.

Here we go, AGAIN. Keeping the contract over talent. Play the best not the money.

I think we had it only a short time ago with Luukkonen. January-February 2024 he was .919 sv% and a 2.31 GAA and 4 shutouts in 26 games. That's a half-season of RGE, particularly on a Granato "we'll teach 'em defense next year" team. Although that was the year of teaching them defense.

Funny you mentioned that because I thought he looked a tad slower getting to a couple of pucks/areas on the PK last night.

I'll add my voice to the chorus praying for the Sabres to be visited with some random goalie excellence by Georgiev. Can we make that a #fancystat? Or does it defy statistical quantification? "Random Goalie Excellence" (RGE). Let's get it going. #RGE

Like you I think separating Norris and Tage is a good idea but I’d put Tuch with Tage because of his defense. Haven’t seen much of Norris but my understating is he’s a 200’ center and D isn’t Tage’s forte - yet.

We are so overdue for a goalie doing the lightning in a bottle thing. We need a guy who steals a few games. It's our turn.

They wasted little time having it removed. I guess bronze just wasn’t orange enough. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/09/23/trump-epstein-protest-art-national-mall/86310895007/

Not as a goal song but as a song to play after the horn sounds at the end of a win, I think this would have the crowd jumping and clapping. Classic oldie, Slapshot movie connection, upbeat, happy... I think it's a winner 👍

Gotta say that despite all common sense, the thought Georgiev might catch lightning in a bottle has entered my mind. Sure, it’s been while I stumble along in a preseason hopium daze after watching him look rock solid in one easy preseason game and reading about how focused he’s been in camp. He was awful last year, but OK the year before and excellent the year before that. Hes not good, but he is capable of playing good. Hes 29 with 150 NHL wins under his belt and a .903 career save percentage. Just seems be a handful of out-of-nowhere goalie stories every year around the league. Why can’t it be us for once?

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6656814/2025/09/24/sabres-preseason-stock-watch-helenius-mrtka/ BUFFALO, N.Y. — Late in the Sabres’ 2-1 preseason win against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday, Lindy Ruff saw a chance to learn something about 2024 first-round pick Konsta Helenius. Helenius had assisted on the go-ahead goal but then took a hooking penalty with less than five minutes left in the third period. “I could have sat him or I could see what his next shift was going to be like,” Ruff said. Sure enough, Helenius was on the ice late helping to preserve the lead with two key defensive plays. “I liked his answer after he took the penalty,” Ruff said. “Came out, gave us a heck of a shift and had an opportunity inside the zone where they could have beat him. His stick detail and battle was good.”

No idea why Marty is harping so bad on Benson and Thompson chemistry. The game showed exactly how they work well together. Benson digs and draws attention, Thompson finishes. Yeah maybe it’ll take a little while for them to find each other, but that’s what pre season is for. Norris looks good, I entertain the argument he isn’t needed with them, could be swapped out. But I strongly believe Thompson needs to play wing and stay focused on getting open. Samuelsson looks bad. Yeesh

3 detainees shot, 2 killed. No ICE officers were injured. Shooter motive unknown. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/live-blog/dallas-ice-facility-shooting-rcna233385

I have no idea if that’s correct spelling or not. I was wingin’ it.

No, I don't think he has the foot speed anymore. 😇

UPL demotion because the other 3 are doing their brick wall impersonation? sign me up

I guess that's the lesson I could take from preseason, this might be just testing outlines and getting a feel for them. I would like to see Norris play with Tuch. Norris has speed, and Tuch is... In my opinion... One of the best forcheckers in the league with decent speed himself. I'm not sure who would be on the other side of that line... Maybe some kind of guy who's not afraid to go into the corners and do the dirty work and is decent in his own zone... Maybe even Doan? So many possibilities I think could be interesting... I just hope they don't end up slotting the lines like this is a video game or fantasy hockey.

Hope that doesn't hurt his speed and quickness

Patience. Norris has to stay healthy first.

One issue is that Norris wins about twice as many faceoffs as Tage does. I do understand the point that in some ways they are both finishers. It's Lindy though, the lines will change all the time. Zucker was talking about that on the radio postgame last night. It sounded like it's one of the things players had to buy into with Ruff as coach. He said now they expect lines to get shuffled during the game.

Maybe the team is buying into Ruff's defensive scheme Maybe

always innovative and cutting edge at MSG.

Yeah, I'm not denying that Kulich might have some growing to do in his game, and there's a possibility he could take a step back. I'm just saying that I would start there and then make changes if necessary after you see it works or doesn't work. Maybe the coaching staff thinks a key to this team's success is getting good on the power play... And you want Thompson and Norris to play together to develop chemistry that will translate to the power play? I don't know. I'm supposed to be working now so I don't have time at the moment... But I think an interesting project might be to look at Norris's numbers in Ottawa. Who is he the most and least productive with? Where were his analytics good versus bad? Basically, to find out what type of player in Ottawa he played the best with versus not so well.