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It only gets difficult when Justin Danforth comes back assuming all others are healthy. Not sure why they signed this Amerk blocker to a 2 year 1.8 AAV contract. If this was Jarmo's doing it's a bad look. Not sure where they intended to slot him into the lineup in the first place. With that contract he is going to be difficult to get rid of this year. I am not worried about losing Dunn but this guy could cost us Kozak.

I'm guessing they'll only pick up 5 points. I hope they prove me wrong: Philly - W in OT Wpg - L Calg - L Edm - L Van - W Seattle - L in OT caused by a Tage Thomas giveaway leading to a Seattle odd man rush & score

He's really fast and has good hands. He's a genuine one or two C. I would rather have Tage be either the first or second C on another line.

How did UPL look so good yesterday? Maybe it's because the rest of the Sabres didn't give the Jets any room to operate? Only one breakaway allowed. No stupid turnovers. If you don't need your goalie to stand on his head if the rest of the team is doing their job. Last night was a classic example.

Is your nickname Mr. Sunshine? 🤣

After how bad he was last year. I need a MUCH larger sample size of good play from UPL before I make the decision he has 'separated' himself from everyone else and is the clear #1. Especially because the numbers Ellis put up are mostly the result of one really bad game.... And the sample chosen just happens to not have a bad game by UPL.... Although he has a lot of them in the past year and is perfectly capable of continuing to have them.

Sample size too small.

Is it that clear? Seems to me UPL faces far less shots per 60 which could indicate many things....one of which they place a less aggressive system in front of him. IDK for certain. Lyon, outside his last 3 starts had a far better quality start rate than either of them. We have 3 good backup goalies...none of which have truly separated themselves as the best backup....UNLESS you factor in money....making UPL possibly the worst option.

Or send down Östlund. Or waive Dunne or Kozak. They do need a 7th defenseman for the road.

I'm going to add the 1st home game after the road trip because it's also against Philly. This is a Philly Cheesesteak Roadtrip Sandwich that will save or end the Sabres season. The Sabres are mostly healthy. They have a chance to right their road record and unite as a lineup against weak teams. They weren't "in it" at US Thanksgiving, but the road trip will either launch them into contention or effectively end the season. 12/3 @PHI -- they currently sit in the final WC spot. They have your spot, start taking it. W 5-3. 12/5 @WPG -- Just defeated them. Hellebuyck still won't be back, you're still faster than they are. Go win it. W 4-2. 12/8 @CGY -- They just embarrassed you, but you have their number in Calgary. They're still one of the worst teams in the league. Go win 5-2. 12/9 @EDM -- Just defeated them. They are still severely underperforming and are basically a two-player team with no goaltending. (2nd night of back-to-back, this is the toughest game on the slate). OTL! 2-3. 12/11 @VAN -- they're bad. Go win. Plus, I'll be there, so I demand to be entertained. W 6-3. 12/14 @SEA -- they're also bad. Two days of rest! Win here for the first time ever, you punks! W 5-0. 12/18 PHI -- three full days of rest to reacclimate to home. You've caught them on the hot streak, time to take their spot. W 4-3. Finish the sandwich 6-0-1. Yum, yum, yum. 33 GP and 39 points in the standings, probably good for 8th-9th in the conference. And then they're just getting started! (until a new rash of injuries and they back up the hot streak with 5 losses in a row -- because they like to Sabre with us.)

The Sabres are 9-5-2 at home, but only 2-6-2 on road. Philly is the next game. They are 14-8-3 (8-4-2 @ home) = 4 goals Wpg is next. 13-12 overall (6-5 @ home) = 5 goals Calg is the 3rd game. 9-14-4 (4-4-2 at home) = 5 goals Edm is 4th. 11-10-5 (5-2-2 at home) (This is the 2nd night of a back to back) = 4 goals and UPL in net to seal the trade Van is 5th. 10-13-3 (3-7-1 at home) = 4 goals Seattle is the 6th and final game of the road trip. Sea is 11-7-6 (6-3-3 at home). = 7 goals, because I really don’t like Seattle’s team name Thats the fare’s to be paid to make this a successful road trip.

He could be the next Pat LaFontaine. He could be the next Luke Adam. We need, like, 20 games straight before exploring this question with any substance. IMHO, of course.

League wide rankings since Nov 1st for goalies who have played at least 185 mins (66 goalies).... UPL (416 min) Sv% 21st GAA 18th HighDanger SV% 36th MediumDanger SV% 15th LowDanger SV% 13th Goals Saved Above Expected/60 21st Ellis (303 min) Sv% 39th GAA 52nd High Danger SV% 58th MediumDanger SV% 48th LowDanger SV% 31st Goals Saved Above Expected/60 39th Lyon (185 min) Sv% 59th GAA 64th High Danger SV% 50th MediumDanger SV% 28th LowDanger SV% 61st Goals Saved Above Expected/60 61st UPL has separated himself, he should be the clear #1 moving forward. A decision needs to be made on the backup.

Wins. Losses. A tie.

Östlund is a true centre whereas Kulich is not. Kulich is better suited as a goal scoring winger. It doesn’t sound like Kulich will be back anytime soon but they shouldn’t be competing for the same position when he does return.

UPL

Ruh Roh Lawrence looks facially very much like Cozens😁. Hopefully the hockey sense is much better.

rock star

IMO UPL has always shown he has the potential to be a good goaltender, but not more than an average starting NHL goalie, and certainly not the type of goalie who has shown that he could become the goalie who can make the BIG saves and make those types of saves consistently, at least not so far. Ellis to me has at least shown the potential to be the kind of goalie who will develop into a really elite goalie the way he battles to no end to make a save. Right now, whether or not he makes the save, he moves much more quickly in the crease than UPL and he's much quicker to recover from an initial save than UPL when getting into a position to make the second save on a shot. The more Ellis is played, the more I think he will refine his skills and use his quickness and vision to become the type of goalie this team has been wanting for a long time. There is only one way to find out.

I hadn't considered the possibility that Kesserling was close enough for them not to call someone up from Rochester, especially since he only started skating again yesterday. I still think they'll have to call someone up from Rochester for tomorrow night, even if they send him back sooner than later.

Östlund is a nice player. I tried to look for holes in his game last night, but couldn’t really find any. Me likely.

Not so sure about that. They definitely kept Greenway out longer than needed and they seem to have been able to get Norris back sooner too, but with both guys they wanted to err on the side of caution about possibly rushing them back too soon. And even now, Greenway is getting spelled games while he works back from the surgeries. So, expect there's a good chance that Kesselring could play now if the absolutely needed him. But they're happy with what Bryson has been doing. We'll know either way tomorrow as they aren't likely to travel to Filly without a 7th D-man available, whether he's on the 23 man roster or not.