Taro T

Said management has stated that the goal is to contend. Personally have said 103 and have stuck to it. And from there, they'll be in the playoffs and we'll get to see how well management meets that goal of being a contender. And if they don't meet the goals, they should be held accountable (even if they do meet the goals, they should be held accountable). Stinks that they aren't at the NHL 0.600 they need to be at this point in time but if anybody expected it to be a linear trek to at least 99, well that never was realistic. Just see it as being way too early to panic over not being where they need to be. REALLY wanted them to win that game in Pittsburgh for at least 2 reasons. 1, it means they only need to make up 1 point over the entire rest of the season to be at 0.600 like they need to be; and 2, it gives a competitor for a playoff spot 2 fewer points. But, it didn't happen. The silver lining is, if Sabres twitter is to be believed, the Sabres are actually possibly going to make a move or 2. Will believe it when we see it, but the chatter is up. They should be able to pick up at least 6, if not 7 or even 8, points this next 5 game stretch. If they do so, well, they've either moved closer to where they need to be or at least treaded water while getting closer to getting Tuch and Quinn back and getting Cozens closer to back to full health.

And it was right about now that the team was about halfway through the 0-8-0 stretch. Comparing individual points in a season when one was so wildly inconsistent doesn't seem to make much sense. Last year, like several others during the drought, the Sabres burst out of the gate guns blazing and then fell off hard. This year, they started out a bit below where they need to be, but have picked it up a little since that start. That is a far more common way for teams to come out of the gate than in years past and is likely a reflection of how other teams see them as actually being part of the NHL once again. They weren't totally overlooked by other teams. They also didn't go completely into the toilet when their top 2 goalies coming out of camp (based upon who they were playing out of the gate) and several of their top F's suffered injuries. They couldn't overcome injuries to the D last year early in the year.

You know what will make the Sabres attractive to FA's and veterans w/ NMC's? Icing a competitive team that does some damage in the playoffs. Tuch and Kane (should he sign) being ecstatic about coming home isn't going to move the needle much. Kane getting the PP into relevance MIGHT help move that needle. (Say might, because there are structural issues with the PP that a single additional good PP player won't necessarily fix. And if he can't come back from the hip injury he definitely won't help there.)

That's with having 3 good offensive players out injured: Tuch, Quinn, & Benson. With Cozens battling an inability to find the puck in his skates. Isn't being injury-resistant supposed to be one of the plusses of having a young team? IF Tuch's injury is a groin/sport hernia would REALLY like them to revisit their off-season training regimens. Losing quality time from 2 guys pencilled into the top 6 to training injuries is at least 1, if not 2, too many. IF Ryan Johnson isn't going to be getting time in the top 6, please send him down until they suffer the next injury or are ready to give Erik Johnson a breather.

They started 0-2 and were 3-5. Since they've gone 4-2-1. That would appear to be trending slowly above 0.500. (They even WERE above 0.500 after 14 games.) Even with being SO on Saturday night, they're averaging 3 GPG in their last 7. (And were at 3.5 GPG in their previous 6.) That would seem to indicate that they haven't lost their ability to score. (But will 100% give you that they can't score on the PP to save their lives.) They do need to be better at home. No doubt about that. Cutting down on penalties would help too, but expect the reffing being more consistent would be as big a boost there as anything the Sabres could do differently. Most of your other observations would agree or disagree with on an individual player basis. But getting the guys that are currently either injured or playing w/ a fishbowl back to full health would go a long way towards dulling those criticisms.

Can't recall it happening in-season either, but expect it has happened before (on rare occassions). But, it does reek of desperation on Holland's part.

Umm, if his contract doesn't have a clause allowing him to void the AHL contract should he get an NHL offer, the Wolfpack could definitely have blocked him from taking the NHL job. (It might affect future coaching searches, but a contract is a contract.)

Yep. IF they're trading McDavid (or Draisaitl for that matter), they're doing a reset and changing the overall direction of the team to go from 2 extremely skilled guys with whatever supporting them to trying to build an actual team. (Which, personally have no faith that Holland at this stage still knows how to do, but that's besides the point.) And considering how good McDavid is, really don't see any way that the Eulers get TRUE equivalent value for him. Should they wait 2 years to trade him, when he's heading into / is into the last year of his contract; they won't even get reasonably close to equivalent value. They'll get similar (but probably slightly better because McDavid is still the best player in the league and Gretzky, while still good, wasn't still miles ahead of all that didn't wear 66) to what the Kings got for 99 because there's no guarantee that he'll stay with the team that gets him.

Considering they just took 7 points in games 10-14, so we know that this team, as is currently constituted can actually do what they need to get back on track; 15 through 15 isn't horrible. (It isn't good, but it isn't a disaster either.) They play the B's tough. Get that W and getting 5 points (or even 6) over the next 4 is very doable. 3 games on the road vs beatable teams, then a chance to even the score with the Pens.

Curious if part of the problem on the PP isn't that they're practicing against the Sabres PK (minus Thompson and Tuch, the 2 longest PKers the Sabres use). The Sabres use a fairly passive diamond/box but have the Fs giving decent pressure because they're so long. The Sabres #1 PP unit practices against this, but they likely are going against Greenway and Okposo when they are working. Which isn't nearly as imposing as would working against Thompson with Greenway or even Tuch with Greenway. Wouldn't mind having them work against say, Krebs and Jost or maybe even Peterka, but with the 2 of them going balls out pressuring. Couldn't make the PP unit any worse. And maybe dealing with more pressure in practice would help them move the puck better/quicker when they see that in games.

Not thrilled at the idea of bringing him in at this point of his career. But have to believe they know him well enough and will have done their due dilligence on him that IF he is a Sabre sometime in the next week / 2 months that it will be a positive. (Now, if it were a goalie they were looking at, unless his last name was Saros, would still have doubts about it - track record.)

Thing is, the HC sets the tone, he doesn't need to be the X & O's guy. But if he isn't the X&O's guy, he needs really good ones under him. At an absolute minimum, they have to have an assistant that can run the PP. With the exception of a 6 or so week stint last season when the PP was the best in the league, the PP has been broken during the entirely of Granato's tenure. He & Adams needed to be more ruthless this off-season to fix that. It is disappointing that they didn't make at least that move within their coaching ranks. And had they punted the entirety of the AC's, wouldn't have been upset.

Personally would have Gallant as the 1st choice. One of these years, he'll be Buffalo's coach for the next 2-3 before getting canned for ticking off management after taking the Sabres to another level. Just like he does everywhere else he goes.

It isn't a thing according to the letter of the CBA, but there's other things (like having a team that's cap compliant before putting anybody on BF-LTIR to start the season) that the league and PA let slide; so would not be surprised if when the Sabres were asking the league office what their full menu of options for Savoie (and Benson) this year is that the league told them they'd need to give Savoie a game in the NHL in order to use the conditioning stint in the AHL. Still, it's a huge shame that he can't stay in the AHL this season. That is painfully obviously the level he belongs at today.

Yes, Hannifan (or similar) would make a lot of issues get better. And wouldn't that be something if Krebs were a key part of the package. Wonder how many of the top 5 picks in the '15 draft he can eventually get traded for?

Though personally would consider groin lower body, pretty sure the league considers it upper body. His dealing with a groin injury that occurred while training in the off-season would explain why he's had something that's lingering and he can play through it at times and look as good as he did last year but also can't skate back the entire length of the ice on a backcheck. At any rate, if there is something they can do to get him back more consistently, they need to do it yesterday. He is the leader of the forwards and they do seem to feed off his energy and things seem off when he isn't in the lineup.

And with the D they currently have, would really like to see Samuelsson get paired with him for a bit because he's at a point where a stay at home vet would be beneficial. E Johnson would be a great partner for him, but you are necessarily going to need to reduce his ice time to make that happen and you are going bounce them down to the 3rd pairing. Which won't happen because then you're likely looking at Jokiharju and Clifton as the 2nd pair which is a true disaster waiting to happen and has already bitten them in the bippy in very limited usage.

You obviously didn't watch him in his nearly 4 minutes of game action. He was not good. And when they decided to activate Samuelsson, a corresponding roster move needed to be made. There were 3 realistic options beyond the 1 they chose: send RJ2 down, put Bryson on waivers to send him down, or send Rousek down. They wanted to continue to play Johnson, they also wanted to play Rousek after the good game he had the day before, and for whatever reasons they have they are loathe to risk losing Bryson. That left, either keep Muel on IR even though he's ready to play or send Savoie back to WA. You were REALLY going to keep Muel on IR to give a kid that was not ready the day before an opportunity to play again on the road against a veteran opponent that you're battling for a playoff spot? If you were, interesting. It wasn't the coach that sent Savoie back. That's on the GM. The decision to only play 11 Fs was on the coach, but they still had a F that was healthy and available to play. That they didn't want to play him doesn't mean they'd've played Matt were he still available provided Muel was activated. They gave Matt even less time the day before than they gave Krebs.

The 3rd goal is absolutely going to get blamed on Johnson and he bears a lot of responsibility for it. But also guarantee you that UPL believes he should've had it. He was very late in reacting to the shot being taken.

And with today's loss they are exactly 3 points behind the pace they need to be at an NHL 0.600 which effectively guarantees a playoff spot. They've averaged picking up 5 points every 5 games and they need to get 6 points every 5 games over the full season. They'll need either a really nice win streak or 3 - 5 game segments with 7 points in them (3-1-1, which they'd done the 5 games prior to tonight's game) and hitting that 6 points in 5 in the rest of them. Somebody else said upthread that missing Tuch is very big for this team. That sure seems to be the case. Get him back for Tuesday and get the W and life is moving back towards good again.

Yes, UPL made some nice saves in the game. But for cripe's sake, he CAN'T give up junk goals when the team is close to getting to the dressing room without having suffered more damage. Let them regroup and hopefully figure out a way to get something effective going.

Yes, it was on the D that UPL let a shot originating from near the boards below the goal into the net. Durn it, they should've found a way to keep that DANGEROUS shot from getting to UPL. He never had a chance. They were responsible for that 2nd goal as well. How DARE they give up a shot from well above the faceoff dots. Yes, Johnson had the puck deflect off his stick on the 3rd. On a goal that UPL didn't start to react to until it had hit his stick. 100% on Johnson. And UPL had NO CHANCE on the 4th (which is actually true) so let's blame the empty netter on the D as well. What, are you Savoie's grandpappy? His parent's dog groomer? There must be a reason you are so butt hurt about the decision to send him back.

Peterka hit the post or crossbar as well. Get those 2 to go in and let UPL find a way to stop the Malkin shot that went in off his melon and it's a different game entirely.

McCauley was one of the refs last night, McIsaac (who is beyond awful) was the other. Tonight it was McCauley and Furlatt.

Disagree. The 1st 2 goals against, in what had been a scoreless game were both bad. There was bad luck on that 1st goal against, but he can't flinch like that when the puck hit his mask. (If he has to flinch, flinch upwards. Puck doesn't end up in the net that way.) The 2nd goal is inexcusable in a 1 goal game. And realize that @PromoTheRobot will disagree vehemently, but put that 3rd goal as much on UPL as it was on Johnson. Watch the replay. He doesn't even begin to move to his right until the puck is already deflected (and he NEVER reacts to the deflection). Had that shot been on net without the deflection it was still beating him. He didn't get across to the post at any point on a shot that was originally going wider than the post. Had he reacted timely, he had a legit shot at stopping the puck because it was quite high in the slot where it was deflected from. If they get through the 1st tied 0-0, which they really should've been able to do, it's a brand new game in the 2nd. When your team is struggling, you can't give up bad goals. Give them an opportunity to win; don't make the slog even tougher.