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Welcome to another excited edition of Sabres hockey. Todays questions are simple but important. WHY THE ^**($#)%&)(#&$)(*#& is Greenway on the first line? Which goalies name will be picked from the helmet and get the start tonight? Does Noah Östlund enjoy free flights from Calgary to Rochester? Did he get miles? What if Zach Benson scores a goal that isn't disallowed? Will the Universe end? What would happen if Tage Thompson and Alex Tuch both decided to drag this team into the playoffs? Would we give them a key to the city? If a goalie makes a saves in Calgary but no one is watching, is it goalie interference? Find out tonight on Sabres after dark, the show where the lines are made up and the defensive zone doesn't matter. That's right the defensive zone is like Kevyn Adams haircut, no one cares.

Then they should have been called for encroachment.

GSAx works like this. The league tracks every shot on the ice and they get assigned a shot percentage, which means they also have a corresponding sv%. This tells us that compared to league average (shooters and goalies) the Sabres goalies give up the most goals or they are the worst in the league. A lot of us focus on defensive breakdowns. "Of course Sabres Goalie (I won't pick on anyone specifically) allowed a goal there, the shooter was left alone on at the dot!" Ok but let's chart all the shots from that spot without a defender within 5ft (they can do this now). Let's say that it goes in 500 out of 1,000 times. That's a .5xGF if you stop it as a goalie you get +.5xGA but if it goes in you get -.5xGA. Some of you are like, "well doesn't that just add goals against!?" and no. You have to remember the majority of shots are saved. Also the majority of shots have a like a .1xGF with stuff like breakaways up around .3xGF so to get up to 10 full goals within 2 months isn't great. That means each game the Sabres goalies are allowing an extra .3goals which doesn't seem like much but image if we swung that in the opposite direction and we were saving .3 more. That means the Sabres goalies are giving up a half goal more per game than the inverse goalies. The bottom line is the Sabres are inexperienced and yes there are defensive breakdowns. All teams have defensive breakdowns. Our goalies however are the worst in the league at making saves. We aren't particularly high on the list of giving up HD chances (someone can look at exactly where we are) so my conclusion is 2 things. First is the defense unit (forwards and defenders) are mediocre in their coverages, when a breakdown occurs, they take forever to cover it up. Second, our goalies are not good. Ellis and UPL have not been steady at all and Lyon was good until Lindy decided he should sit for a couple of weeks. The 3 goalie rotation doesn't work and Buffalo should move 1. I favor moving UPL due to the cost of his deal.

We could of drafted this guy https://www.nhl.com/wild/player/jesper-wallstedt-8482661

Houston was on top of him before the center even snapped the ball.

I see almost none of what you’re talking about in Greenway. Having read through Wild fans thoughts in the past, they didn’t see that either.

Ruff was at the end of his extended and overall successful coaching career with multiple teams. He was basically retired. He was hired after a blatantly nonexistent search directed by the owner to the GM. At that stage of his career no other franchise would have even considered him for a HC job. KA was hired by the silent owner to rebuild the roster and basically start over. No other organization in the league would have considered such a Howdy Doody candidate for the most important position for a franchise let alone hire him. How many other owners would have kept on their GMs with the record that our shallow GM has? The Pegula constructed organization is an unserious organization. The outcome should not be a surprise. And the owner remains silent! Abnormality has become this franchise’s normality.

Doan, Benson, Tucker period!

I’ve always had a soft spot for players like Greenway. Big guys who can handle themselves in a fight and who are therefore expected to engage, but who clearly don’t have fighting in their nature. I would bet that there are days where Greenway has levels of anxiety that most of us have not experienced. Knowing there is an expectation that tonight you will fight another team’s toughest player, when that is just not part of your natural make-up, can’t be a great way to go through your day. At his best Greenway is a low-end Jochen Hecht. If he is in the top 6 and he is healthy, engaged, and playing well, he can let a couple of offensive line-mates cook. Ruff’s track record for over a decade now, clearly demonstrates that he is in the lower end of current NHL head coaches. Of all the issues with Ruff’s coaching, this doesn’t register for me.

Greenway is the best on the team at giving a faster teammate a push with his stick on the backcheck,lol.

?? Wilson was a highly touted 1st round pick. His ceiling was always a 1st line player.

Ed Oliver isn’t on the offense blocking that Denver or Houston pass rush.

Greenway sucks. Östlund is better than at least 1/3 of the team. We aren’t a serious organization.

Not really worried when Playoff Josh is coming out. Ed Oliver recovery ahead of schedule, they showed a video of him flexing the arm coming out onto the practice field the other day. Just in time for the playoffs.

I’m not so sure about that given what is taking their place, New England, Denver and even the Houston. Denver and Houston have defenses that are built to pressure QB’s as we witnessed in our game against Houston.

I'm just meh on losing Tuch if he's set on a $11 million a year deal at his age. Sell high. Some of the kids are ready.

1939???

well you can't top that so I guess I will just go listen to a little Pink Floyd.

I'd take a young Matt Martin over a young Jordan Greenway any day. That's the point though. Nobody thought Wilson had that in him in his earlier days. Greenway's just a big slow lug who takes shifts off when he doesn't feel like it.

Tom Wilson is a really good hockey player. Jordan Greenway is Temu Matt Martin.

He's been dropping off the last few games. Let him spend some time in Rochester and get his tires pumped up.

Yeah, awesome, great timing for the Bills.

It feels awesome to see KC implode!

4. And he's a plus 3 somehow. So expecting it'll just be a matter of time before @Doohickie's telling us all how he should be playing every night. 😉

The concept isn't flawed. This is how Washington turned Tom Wilson into a productive player rather than just a wrecking ball. But Greenway is no Tom Wilson.