Taro T

Presuming R Johnson isn't the odd man out next game, that's pretty much the best permutation of pairings they can come up with at this point in time.

What injury is Cozens playing through? Prior to breaking his nose, he was not the same player this season he was last year and he's pretty much the same guy he was prior to breaking his nose now. He isn't getting effected by that any longer. Expect there's a greater likelihood that Dahlin is battling nagging injury at this point than Cozens is. He hasn't looked quite the same since the cheap shot down in the Sunshine State around the All-Star break last year. And, yeah, neither is coasting.

Nope. NHL 0.500. 81 points season 1; 78 points season 2. Agree his seasons are now irrelevant to what's going on today.

Mittelstadt with Benson makes sense. Mittelstadt with Greenway makes sense. Either can work if they actually have a legit NHLer that can shoot (said legit, please no talk of giving 2 of them Olofsson), but the 3 together is missing 1 major piece - a finisher. Maybe move Greenway to the Thompson line and Skinner to the Mitts line? Right now, having brought in a guy to replace Quinn while he was out would be really multiplying its dividends as Greenway could be on the 4th line and the Sabres could be working towards a legit NHL 4th line while still having what should be 3 scoring lines.

Agree with most of this. And when he is on his game, the comment about zone exits is spot on. But lately he has not been good at generating quick exits. He's overthinking whether the pass is actually there or if it's coming back in his face and he has shown a real reluctance to make that quick exit pass. Which is a big part of why it would be great for him to get bumped to 3rd pairing usage rather than all-situation 2nd pairing. Would have him going against lesser competition typically and would create a smidge more space for his 1st look breakouts to work. He's simply getting asked to do too much right now. He'll grow into the role they're using him at; but he'd get to that point quicker if he weren't currently in that role. Problem is, there isn't really an obvious pairing to be the 2nd pairing if he is 3rd pairing (or even watching a game from above). Clifton or the elder Johnson don't seem able to fill that role and it's a lot to ask a rookie to do that with either Jokiharju or Samuelsson as his partner. So, Power continues to get put into tougher situations than are ideal.

Nope. Just the last one. Robinson got to play against the BJs.

Yep. They absolutely should've made changes in the assistant coaching ranks. Thing is, that CAN be remedied today. Doubt it will, but it can. The points missed because Quinn was in the pressbox and Olofsson wasn't a good enough replacement can't be recovered. These HAVE to be moments that management has learned from or this season is a bigger waste than it's setting up to be. The one item though that Adams was right to a degree on is that MOST of the goalies that were avaialble would not have been significant enough upgrades for what they'd've cost over the guys they have. The one thing people forget about when suggesting guys that seem better than what is here is that those other goalies would still be in this same system. And it is NOT goalie friendly in any way shape or form. There were rumors that Saros or Hellebucyk were available. Saros would 100% have been an upgrade over what we have and would've been good enough. Hellebucyk would've been an upgrade. Based on the talk from the analytics people, not positive that he'd've been enough of an upgrade though he definitely would've been an upgrade. An offer to Varlamov that got him to leave his bestest buddy or an offer sheet to Swayman also could've worked. But not much else without actually teaching and reinforcing the defensive system was going to be a significant upgrade over what they have. And what they have is an upgrade over last year; just to date not enough of one. And those guys aren't available anymore. (If they ever were. Hellebucyk was available and for the right money Varlamov and Swayman were too (everybody has a price). Not sure if the Saros dream was ever more than wishful thinking.) But, Quinn is back and hopefully his return brings back the Cozens that could actually shoot the puck. And, assistant coaching upgrades are available today. Make at least one there, and let's see if they can battle back into this thing.

Glad it isn't upper body as that rules out concussion/ related issues. 🍺

At an absolute MINIMUM they need a real PP coach brought it. That unit is embarassingly bad and is a big part of why they haven't strung 2 W's together multiple times this year. There is too much talent on this roster for the PP to be so horrible and the Sabres PP is a major momentum driver this season.

Upper body? Lower body? Old age? He'd actually picked up his game the past 3 or so weeks. Hope it isn't too serious. But not too broken up that he's out of the lineup.

He also MIGHT've been brought up to get an "outsider's opinion" on whatever minor move they're thinking about making to try to spark the season being saved. (We can hope, right?)

Yeah, DEFINITELY didn't want to disrupt that PP that's clicking on almost 1 cylinder. Imagine how bad it would've been had they disrupted it.

Personally, take him at his word that he tried to make moves but was rebuffed. We KNOW he made a trade for Murray. It was widely reported that he made a legit offer for Chychrun and it could very well have been better than the offer the Otters made but the Yotes had a bee in their bonnet for getting "their guys" poached at the draft. Believe the reports that he was in on Pesce are also legit. But, this is a bottom line business, and his inability to get a big deal done since the Eichel deal was consumated but having tried is NOT a selling point in his favor. He needs to adapt from the failed attempts and succeed next time.

Already posted about 5 above your post.

Yea!!!! 2023 is finally gone. Have a safe, healthy, and prosperous new year all. Back when the Hasek Sabres were making long playoff runs, there were a couple of times that the flipping of the calendar literally flipped a switch on their fortunes (once good and once bad). Here's to hoping. 🍻

Absolutely. Just take care of business and they're the 2 seed and nothing else matters. Was merely pointing out that should they screw the pooch, there are actually 3 other games that matter, not just 2 like multiple sites were claiming.

They'd lose UPL if they waived him. Can't see them being willing to do that at this point.

Seeing online that the Bills clinch a playoff spot next week with either a win (which gets them the 2 seed), a Steelers loss, or a Jags loss; either of the latter 2 guaranteeing at worst the 7 seed. But, if Indy and Houston tie, then the Bills would be the 7 in a worst case even if all 3 of those other games don't go their way. A Bills tie would also clinch them the 6 seed. (None of those other four 9-7 teams could get to 10-1/2 wins.)

US didn't start their #1 either. Pretty sure Slovakia wouldn't have seen as many chances either if the kid from Michigan State were between the pipes. Wonder if both coaches agreed ahead of time to roll with the backups in that preliminary round matchup knowing that they both would likely be 1 and 2 coming out of the bracket? And agree that Savoie is a very possible trade piece when real trades actually start happening.

There were penalties to be called. Greenway getting his skates taken out from under him in front of the BJs' net the most glaring. But the refs do not do the Sabres a favor by calling penalties. The Sabres PP is beyond attrocious and consistantly gives the opponent momentum. The one PP the Sabres got could've given the BJs the W last night. Watching the broadcast after getting home from the game, they said the Sabres were something like 2 for their last 34 PPs covering like 14 games. That is astoundingly bad and should cause somebody (or somebodies) to lose their job. But it hasn't and until the off-season (at the earliest) it likely won't. It actually BENEFITS the Sabres to have a call against their opponent remain uncalled. Which is a horrible indictment of the quality of the PP.

No flippin' way Botterill expected Berglund to walk away and Sobotka to be such an absolute analytics black hole. They did NOT get Johansson in that trade nor would his inclusion have made this trade good. And again, Ryan O'Reilly was a Selke caliber FO winning C that could also score at a reasonable rate that was locked up for 4 more years. Only getting (effectively) a prospect (pretty much viewed universally as the Blues 3rd best prospect, not even 1 of their top 2) and a late 1st (expected to be a mid-late 1st when the trade was made) for THAT was ineptitude on a major scale. But, they only got a prospect and a mid-round 1st pick for the kid that you bought a shirt of; well, yes, he was only 1 year away from becoming a UFA and not under team control for another 4 years, had never been seriously considered for any league awards, and was viewed as a 1RW rather than a 1B center. Reinhart brought in a good return. ROR brought in relatively jack squat.

Eh, he's usually either hot or cold against the Cheats. This one he was stone cold. Of course, his receivers dropping 3 of the 1st 8 balls he threw didn't help matters any. Win in Miami, a place where he normally plays extremely well and the Bills would host their 1st 2 potential playoff games and should the Ravens get upset in the divisional round, they'd be hosting a 3rd playoff game as well should they get that far. Welcome to the NFL's wet dream of parity (or, based on the reffing we normally see around the league from week to week, parody).

Apparently he's OK.

They're seriously tight against the cap. Would be surprised if they wanted to grab Comrie. Guessing that Woll is ready to come off IR, so TO made that move.

They're still $11MM under the cap. Having those guys on the roster in Buffalo or Ra-cha-cha didn't prevent them from signing anybody they might've wanted to sign. Heck, they start worrying about the cap floor if they don't have those guys.