Taro T

On THANKSGIVING?!?!? Since when is this thread open on Thanksgiving?

Really wanted Lyon to get the start last night, but knew it would be UPL between the pipes. And UPL's defenders can point to things that his teammates did to put him in the point that he had to make saves, but that's kind of the entire point of the position. If nobody makes a mistake, you are going to face only about 5 high danger chances per game. But people make mistakes, it's a very quick paced sport and your opponent is taking away time and space, and the good goalies bail their teammates out more often than not. And if the game situation is removed, UPL didn't give up any "bad" goals. Each of the shots that beat him had a factor that made it more challanging than a normal save; but NONE of them were of the "well, Hasek could've stopped it, maybe, but mere mortals didn't have a chance" variety. Yes, the 1st goal was tipped, but the shot was from nearly 10' above the circle and Bryam's stick was at or outside the circle too. If UPL's entire body isn't moving towards the far post, he very likely makes that save even though it was deflected. Yes, his teammates didn't help him on the 2nd goal, but he's the one that overreacted to the initial shot that went wide, which led to him having to overreact when the puck bounced off the boards into his skates which led to him dropping his stick. Once he dropped his stick, he was toast, but he didn't need to be. Stay square and plan on closing the 5 hole with his legs rather than his blocker and that play continues. But he continued the overreaction and tried to make the save with his blocker which delayed the closing of the 5 hole. Yes, his teammates made a poor line change on the 3rd goal and Power didn't step up into the deflector in time to keep him from directing the puck at the net, but UPL only had to move 1/2 way across the crease to get in front of that shot. It wasn't labelled to the far post. If he isn't fully commited to the shot on a 3 on 1, he makes that save. It wasn't a mini 2 on 1 that he should expect his D-man to be able to prevent the shot from the pass, but it was a mini 3 on 1; he has to be cognizant that there's a good chance he's facing a shot from his left side and can't 100% commit to the puck carrier being the shooter. But, when the game situation is included in the evaluation, all 3 were goals that the team really needed him to figure out how to make that stop. The good news is that UPL didn't give up any WTF Specials. The bad news is, all 3 of those goals came while the outcome of the game was still in doubt. The 1st came on only the 3 shot his teammates let get through to him in a scoreless game late in the 1st; the 2nd came literally 30 seconds after his teammates had tied the score; and the 3rd came as time was dwindling when already trailing by 1. That 3rd goal made it an almost certainty that they'd have to pull the goalie at the end and they had given up 8 EN goals this year and have scored 0 6v5 goals this year. That stat is now 9 against 0 for. He isn't looking confident from the get go in any of these games. He's overreacting and fighting to make the 1st stop. He's seemed to be settling in in the 2nd period but he's still isn't looking confident when the game is getting tight. No idea how they give him confidence in himself. That has to come from within. And the shame of that is they set him up to be in a spot to believe in himself and get the team to believe in him too which is that feedback loop that gets him rolling (at least until he runs out of gas 1-2 months later).

3rd game in a row that they didn't give up the 3rd shot against of the game until there were 5 or less minutes left in the 1st. Astoundingly bad decision by Timmons to try a drop pass to no one in a game that was that tight checking to that point. Byram made the right play, but he and UPL had bad luck in that the puck changed direction slightly and got through. Considering that was the only scoring chance the Sabres gave up that period, would like to have seen UPL figure out a way to make the stop there. Not sure what Östlund was doing that period. He tried to force a puck back to the point that had no chance of getting through, made a youth hockey deke right before hitting the blue line taking both his linemates offside and had one other really boneheaded thing in the 1st. All of which were the sort of things he was doing his 1st 2 games up; but he'd played really well since then. Wonder if seeing Norris in practice and being able to do math had him clutching the stick a little too tight to start the game. Quinn decided to try to force a puck back to the point that also had no chance of getting through that the Pens ended up icing for some reason. Was expecting we'd be seeing WTF Quinn this game because of that, but that really was just about the only head scratcher he had tonight and he generated some very good chances and more or less scored both goals. He's been looking like we'd hoped he would since Zucker has come back in the lineup. Regardless how Lindy adjusts the lines when Norris gets back, would absolutely not break those 2 up. Zucker really seems to help his stay focused and confident. There was one other bad drop pass that period, but it ended up pretty harmless too. Didn't realize Kea was 36. Always hate seeing 36 or 39 reffing Sabres games because it always seems they have it in for the Sabres. At least now know why 36 hates 'em. Wonder what 39's story is? Realize it was Crosby and he'll always get the benefit of the doubt at this stage of his career, but both the call against Timmons and the noncall when Crosby "accidentally" stepped into Dahlin should've gone the other way. They let the Pens get away with interference all game, but they pretty much let the Sabres do so as well; so those 2 Crosby calls were pretty much the extent of lousy reffing. Maybe 36 was in a good mood because it's Thanksgiving tomorrow. (Considering he's a Canuck, that's not intuitively obvious, but maybe he married a Yank and she's psyched for tomorrow.) The Sabres aren't going to get a more evenly called game than this one with 36 in control. No idea what was said on the bench or what individual effort caused the team to collectively get their legs moving when they had the puck, but a light switch definitely got flipped 35 or so minutes into the game. Game got much more entertaining after that. Though thought UPL was shaky in the 1st, he got a couple of shots right into the crest to start the 2nd and he was picking his game up a lot and looked solid in the 3rd while the Sabres trailed. Was wondering how he and the team would react to the Pens giving up on their shell hoping to get Jarry the SO, but they all spit the bit when the Pens pushed back. Yes Timmons and his teammates should've been better there; but THAT was when they needed UPL to remain calm and bail them out. And he panicked as much as they did. He over reacted to the 1st shot and then was in a bad spot when the puck was back under him bouncing off the boards; lost the stick and then tried to make a blocker save 5 hole rather than just closing the 5 hole with his legs. He said he lost the puck briefly behind Byram. It was a tough spot to be in, but they NEEDED him to find a way to make that save. And then on the 3rd goal, yes, with the slow line change by the Fs Power was a bit slow on getting to the guy who scored, and the goal wasn't on UPL, but goalies who's teams win on the road tend to find a way to make at least 1 of those 3 tough saves. Jarry faced way more tough shots and ended up stopping all but 2. They needed UPL to find a way to make at least 1 more of them. Overall, he played well. Still thought he was shaky in the 1st, but the team kept the Pens from getting many shots through; just like they'd done in the 1st against both Chicago and the Canes, and gave him time to get into a bit of a groove while having only given up 1 to that point. He didn't give up any bad goals, or just the 1 bad goal, depending upon how you viewed how he got to the point he lost his stick and lost the puck; but he also didn't make any "big" save that bails his teammates out. It's good that he didn't give up the bad goals; but if he's going to be the guy they run with out of the 3 they have, he HAS to find a way to bail them out a couple of times when they need it. Jarry found a way to do so. And, at the end of the day, that's the difference from stealing 2 in a place that's been a house of horrors or just going home having to take solace in having played a tormentor pretty much evenly. Thompson and Tuch need to be better too. Neither played badly, but they both were just off enough in the offensive zone to not find a way to at least keep Tage's point scoring streak going, if not his goal scoring streak. Ruff said a few days ago that Samuelsson is their best D-man right now, and a modest case could be made that Dahlin has some competition for that title that he's clearly held all alone for at least the last 5 seasons and arguably the last 7 seasons. Really liking watching his play this year. Good to see him earning his pay. Can we petition the league to ensure that the Sabres don't play in a game where Zamboni gravy boats are being given away that night? 2 years in a row they played well, but ran into a hot goalie and effectively lost a 1 goal game they likely deserved better than. Head back home and make the Devils wish that they were hitting up some Boxing Day deals rather than the ice. Expecting Lyon gets that start, but wtf knows.

Because as long as you have control of the puck, you are allowed to bring the puck into the zone behind you. But all of your teammates must still wait for the puck to fully cross the blue line before they enter the zone. The point of offside is to keep players from hanging at the net before the puck is in the zone. Even a guy as big as Tage Thompson can't be hanging out at the net as the puck is coming into the zone when he has possession of the puck. The NHL's version of the game is low scoring enough. No reason to artificially lower scoring chances even more than they already are when the play doesn't give the attacking team an unfair advantage. MHO. YMMV.

At least not until Florida gets healthy.

Where's the challenge in that?

As expected. The plan this year seems to be: Sabres win, you get the next one (unless it's a back to back); Sabres lose, next man up. Hoping he plays well and gets his head back on straight. He could be good for a month or 2 if he does. Not expecting he'd stay on pace much beyond that because even though they have 2 other guys that have shown they're NHLers that should be able to spell him should he get good; that they'd still ride him until he drops. And, it seems quite difficult for him to get his head back on straight once he does drop.

So, wouldn't that be a good place to get over 0.500?

Hard to call a November game a must win, but this team HAS to get above NHL 0.500 while it's still merely a slog to get to NHL 0.600 and not requiring a nearly miraculous run to get there. Pittsburgh seems as good a place to get over 0.500 as anywhere. Hoping we see Lyon, but fully expecting UPL between the pipes. Maybe he's finally in a good spot in his own head. Guess we can hope.

Well that is 180 degrees from what Ruff said he plans on doing next week when Norris shows back up; but we shall see.

Why you shouting at this kid? Talk to Chz or Scott about it if you have issues.

Personally, liked the Swamp Cats rink. But the location is fine. 15 minutes outside Lauderdale and across the road from an absolutely MASSIVE mall. Avoiding Miami isn't really an issue IMHO, though realize that sentiment won't be held universally. Agree that the MMArena isn't a dump. The concourses are IMHO too narrow, and there isn't much if anything they'll do about that, but they're at least 50% bigger than they were in the Aud. And the concourses being narrow is not a reason to tear it down and build a new one. There are very likely upgrades that could be made fairly inexpensively. Know though that back pre-Covid, when they were looking at modifications to the arena they were talking about MAJOR changes - things like converting at least the seating in the lower half of 105 and 117 and possibly all that seating into small tables with stools / chairs with service to the tables which would significantly alter the seating capacity and how the game is presented. Hope they never go forward with that plan; but they have been thinking big and outside the box in the past. And if they do stuff like that, could easily see their plans costing $0.25-0.5B. And have no idea who'd be paying for that though expect ownership doesn't want to be on the hook for it.

This site has set a filter to automatically add the umlaut to the O whenever Östlund's name is typed. Similar to the way how if you misspell Pominville it still corrects it to Pomminstein. So, no need to copy and paste to get Östlund done up the way they spell it in Sweden. 😉

There is a reason the Green Bay Packers are the only major publicly owned sports team in the US. Private companies don't have to show their full books to anyone but the IRS. With the players in the NHL getting 1/2 of HRR, we can calculate out what total HRR was (give or take a few $MM for not knowing exactly how much goes into insurance/pension funds) any of the last 20 or so years for the league, but not for individual teams. Forbes and the others that make these estimates of team value take knowns - ticket prices, concession prices, streaming prices, advertising rates and a lot of semi-knowns - TV contracts, tickets sold, concessions purchased, labor rates (for items other than player salaries), utility rates, tax rates, game related expenses, etc. and a few other items like reported prices for franchise sales and expansion fees and then project out estimates of what these are currently and in the future, and assume a discount rate - then voila (it doesn't just mean "your french fries are ready" 😉 ) you have the "official" value of what every single team is worth. And it's ALL just semi-educated guessing. And agree the teams are more profitable than the owners let on to them being - it's tougher to get concessions on utility/tax rates and to get municipalities to pay for maintenance/amenities when you're effectively printing money (ala the NFL) or even merely "comfortable" (ala the NHL and the other major sports leagues).

If they weren't using Dunne in place of Greenway when they're spelling Greenway, would agree. But Dunne played Sunday because they wanted to give Greenway the game off. Doubt they want to send him down if they have plans on playing him every few games even if everyone is healthy. As Norris is an offensive guy who's also responsible defensively, am expecting Östlund ends up the 14th man and is the one getting sent back down.

What he said. 😉 Personally would say a fair number of "hockey" trades end up win - win. It's the ones where 1 team gives up a really good player for future assets or a whole lot of middling assets that one gets taken to the cleaners. What's rare is the lose-lose trade. Though at this moment, it appears Adams pulled one of those off when he traded Cozens away. Maybe Cozens figures out how to play in his own end and/or how to make a clean pass on a PP or Norris stays healthy for more than an entire week and that one begins to look good for 1 of the 2 teams; but until either of that actually happens, won't expect it. Will hope for at (at least from the Sabres perspective, the Otters can go F' themselves) but won't expect it.

Think they'll put him in on the road, or wait until Friday and the friendly confines to have him lace 'em up?

Yes. 100%. And breaking 1 bone does NOT make your body necessarily more prone to injury.

100 was NOT necessary to get into the playoffs wtihout worrying about tiebreakers; it was SIGNIFICANTLY more than enough to get in the playoffs. Provided the Caps wouldn't have dropped any points to the Aisles that they in actuality took from them, 85 points was all that was necessary to get into the playoffs that year in the East that year; and it took 95 to clinch in the West. Even had the Caps taken all 12 points from the Aisles that year and enough of those 6 games had their results reversed to get them to within 1 point of each other, 97 points still would've absolutely guaranteed finishing in front of the 9th place team. You don't have to beat the 8th place team to be in the playoffs. By being the 8th place team you ARE in the playoffs. You have to beat the NINTH place team to be in the playoffs. And 85 points in the East and 95 points in the West guaranteed you that 8th place spot. Btw, those other 3 years, in the East, 92, 92, and 90 was enough to get in outright. Though 91 got you into the playoffs in 23-24, it took a tiebreaker to determine which team got in and one that reached 91 did NOT get it. The 1970 Montreal Canadiens are still the only team since expansion, and likely ever, that got to 0.600 and didn't get in. So, 0.600 is still the goal. Get there and you are as close to guaranteed to be in as you can get without it being an absolute 100% certainty.

And yet, calloused bones are stronger than they were prior to breaking.

No doubt, Norris caliber D are tough to replace. And didn't intend the post to imply that Adams (or his successor) needs to be looking for a guy(s) to replace him when he's out. Thought it was pretty clear that it was saying they need to get more Zuckers (who are absolutely available) and more Bensons (not necessarily so available) and Doans (who has been a model of health this year, but those guys, especially before they've become established, do become available a bit more frequently). And considering more than a decade later the Sabres are STILL trying to replace Miller; would say stud goalie is the hardest position to replace.

It seems Zucker takes more of that role. IMHO Doan is in more of the Darcy Tucker role the Loafs used to use. Win puck battles for loose pucks low and go to the back door for tap ins.

But interestingly, and neither of the other 2 of the "big 3" have been out this season, but Dahlin is the only of the Big 3 who's absense that they seem unable to overcome. (Looking at last season's performance, regarding how the team handled the loss of the other 2.) And it's also interesting, though not surprising considering how little experience the team has as a whole and how young they are, that the one 30+ veteran skater on the roster is one of the guys they don't seem to be able to make up for his absence; nor can they make up for the absence of the kid who SHOULD be too small and too slow to make that huge of a difference, but who's motor and hockey sense tend to create chaos that they seem to be missing from the forward ranks. And those are the types of guys that Adams has been reluctant to focus on when obtaining players - the veteran that's been there before and can help calm the team down when things are going kerplewy and the guy that may not check every box physically but he simply makes good things happen when he's on the ice. And the play of both can be contagious. Bringing in Doan was a good move to help (stinks that it came at the expense of Peterka, but is what it is). They really need a few more of these types ideally as they really seem to miss them when they're gone.

Didn't say HOW we got them. Have to subscribe to get the story. 😉 (Where's the D'oh! smiley when you really need it.)

To the bolded, 100%. Shockingly, the 800 or so players that actually get to the highest level of the sport are all (with maybe 1 or 2 exceptions and even they are in an elite, just not quite as elite, company) within the top 1,000 or so players in the world.