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Well, there is that. He has done a very good job. I would go so far as to say he's done a great job. But I realize many (most) would say he has not been great because of the playoff disappointments. Maybe it's my landing in middle age. Maybe it's paying more attention to certain aspects of the games. Maybe it's the Hamlin incident and the ambulance coming onto the field for Micah (among others) during my time as a STH (which dates to Josh's 4th season (2021-2022)). For whatever reasons, I feel exceptionally aware of how hard a game pro football is. Brutal, really. And winning a game in that league? As hard as it gets.

Having another proven NHL caliber finisher in the lineup makes a big difference. Need people to take advantage of these generated chances!

sounds like it was probably a deep bone bruise from taking a puck to the ankle. Now he just needs to fall in love with a girl named Allie and they can get married and live happily ever after like in The Notebook!

Would expect him to be on the trip, but not activated unless there is an injury/illness. Would have to relook at the rules, but believe he could be activated on an emergency basis should a D go out due to illness or injury in warmups, as they'd be below 6 healthy D on the roster. (Haven't looked at the details on that in a long time, so that might not be allowable, but pretty sure it would be.) But that would only help with the roster crunch for a day or 2.

If this remains the case long-term, Utah will probably move him at some point. It could also be a case of matchups or a player having a periodic poor game. I was recently looking at Connor Timmins PT (playing time) and he’s averaging a career best 19:30 a game. This is a 3 minute a game increase over his career PT and he’s earned the extra PT with his play this season. However his game to game TOI (time on ice) varies significantly from a low of 14:06 to a high of 24:36. When I looked at the games with the low TOI, I saw games where either he was struggling or the Sabres were behind early and Ruff added shifts to Byram, Power and Dahlin to get more offense. I wonder if something similar is happening with JJP. In games that Utah is trailing, JJP gets more TOI to create offense, but in tight games his TOI diminishes to protect the lead. They do seem to be giving him a higher % of Ozone starts than we did and his PT per game is down over a minute than last year in Buffalo. I’m still not thrilled with the trade, but there is no denying that Doan has made a very positive impact on the team. I’d have rather kept and signed JJP and had Adams make a McLeod type trade for Doan. We are down .3 goals per game vs last season and I believe losing JJP is a factor in the downturn.

Metsa sent back down yesterday… maybe that tells us everything we need to know about Kesselring. I know Metsa is the easiest one to send down if Östlund plays, but maybe it’s more than that. Did they say anything about Kesselring not making the trip?

I wonder if they leave Kesselring home for the roadtrip and wait until they get back to plug him in.

In that case, I think Östlund is here to stay. Him staying in the lineup after Norris’ return tells me everything I need to know about him.

There are a lot of interesting projects when it comes to energy storage, including thermal energy storage (molten salt,etc). The most reliable and efficient form of course is Hydro, but it requires a significant amount of land to do it at scale. Batteries have come a long way since the first BESS I put into the grid, which actually was a molten salt BESS, but the energy density is lower than lithium and only makes sense in some applications. Energy storage, IMO, is the next area for significant tech advances but lacks the investment from companies, schools, and governments. So far the market has looked at standard solutions for various conditions because that is the best way to secure sales once its ready for market. Conversely I see a big opportunity to identify and develop multiple types of storage that makes sense on a regional basis, depending on the geography, weather conditions, and grid demands.

Josh Norris in his Sabres career: 5games, 3g, 2a, for 5pts

All I can say is that top line of Benson-Norris-Thompson looks like it's going to be a menace to the rest of the NHL for as long as it can stay healthy and intact.

One thing that I believe is overlooked about Norris is that he's only 26. If he can somehow find a way to get past the injuries (not likely, but you never know), he's a not only a really talented player, but he has a lot of years ahead of him. He was certainly a difference maker on the ice last night and a huge addition to the power play.

Given his history and how skinny he looks, it seems impossible that he would stay healthy through a regular season and especially those extra games after the regular season that some other teams get to play in.

Kesselring is listed as day to day. And he's been skating for about a week now. Danforth is listed as week to week. Kulich is listed as month to month.

No, he (John Muckler) was at the bar. Drake Hotel in Chicago. We talked about the 4 OT win against the Devils in the 1994 playoffs, when Muckler was behind the bench. I'm sure some of the more senior members of Sabrespace remember that one.

if he can play more than a few games in a row for us here, maybe we have something. But that's really the 1st bar he needs to reach. Being out there & available for a real stretch of games. Up until this point, thats been his major issue. Obviously if we have any hope of moving up in the standings, we'll need a healthy Norris playing like he did last night.

He misses the net a lot, way more than he should.

I think the stats are telling the story pretty well. This team remains at the bottom of the standings because they don’t score enough and give up to many bad goals. There are many factors that play into those stats such as coaching and roster construction, but in the end these stats are a reflection of our 3 mediocre goalies and the forwards lack of playmaking skills to create offense.

… yet

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?