Taro T

And, considering how many French heritage players had prominent roles on the Sabres, it's blatantly ridiculous. Now, an anti-####ty French player bias, pretty sure it was historically there though having Benoit as a key D-man during the tank era shows they got over it for a while.

Actually, Thompson is the guy most likely to get you the lead. Which is why for A SINGLE game, you're probably more likely to suck it up & get by without Dahlin. There's a reason that horrible 82 game season Ralph Krueger was good at getting bad teams farther than they should've been in short international series. Keep the other team away from your net & goalie & take advantage of breaks & PPs. It's a LT losing strategy, but can & often does work briefly. For a full series, would much rather have Dahlin. BUT with him only missing ONE game would rather have Dahlin out than Samuelsson. ESPECIALLY when you consider how much deeper everyone will dig for a short time aatthe loss of one of them. They all know how much Ras brings & will bring it up even higher to make up for it. That can't be sustained, but for 60 minutes, it absolutely can be.

You hope to get 1OA in a year it's a no brainer, but there are still weak years & years where there's a muddle at the top. Personally find it interesting that the 2 years the Sabres weren't just the worst but also weren't trying to be the worst & they coincidentally won the lottery too they ended up w/ a franchise D-man. But when they tried to stink, they ended up w/ the 2nd pick & a guy that didn't live up to expectations (for reasons beyond his control). Total aside: Also found it interesting that Benoit Hogue complained that the Sabres had an anti- French bias even though the 1st 2 times they had #1OA they chose French Canadians & their most famous line was the FRENCH Connection & then shortly after his gripe their highest scoring player ever was an American of French decent. And Donald Audette did very well here too. And was brought back to help w/ a playoff run after leaving earlier. They also had guys like the Sauves & Guevremont & Savard too as big parts of the team. Maybe they just had a bias against French players that were entitled & sucked? E.g., Benoit.

Started downhill very early 20's. Had done cross country for a few years & skated forever. Once the kid finally twigged onto going faster allows you to maneuver, it got a lot more fun.

ONE game to win? Would expect w/ the fire power up front they can weather ONE game without Dahlin better. A full series? Want Dahlin's magic on offense & solid play on D.

1OA has a great pedigree. Yashin, Daigle, & Yakupov all say 'hi.' 😉

Subban played well tonight. 1st period was slow but game was entertaining after that.

2-2 through 1, 8-8 through 2. Bandits chased Hill in the 3rd and won 18-13. It was theJosh Byrne night as he ended up 1 goal shy of Steenhaus' Bamdits record of 8 goals in a game. His 1st 4 were 2 PP & 2 PK goals. Pretty sure the last 3 were even strength. 3 shorties for the Bandits & 1 EN. Believe the MD 20-20's only had 2 PP goals. They were 7 of 11 their first 2 games. (They might've had a late one. Lots of penalties in the 4th both ways.) Good game for the good guys & Vinc played well but he can definitely be beat high over his left shoulder. That killed them against Albany. It was better tonight, but still an issue.

We're just at the end of the 1st & will be switching to the Bandits for a while, but that shot by Jobst to tie it at 1 was nasty. And Weisbach had a nice feed to him.

Bandits look to go above 0.500 tonight as they host Halifax at 7:30PM. Game is on ESPN+.

This week's #1 song is by Better Than Ezra. Coming in at #2: Ezra.

Agree on the 7/8 designation. In his last game as an Amerk, similarly he made a very nice play stealing the puck from a guy who was open back door to prevent the tap in. So, he does not give up on plays, but he does create more high danger chances that he should. Still expect he's probably getting the benefit of the doubt that comes from being the new guy, but Granato talks very highly of him & he's giving him the opportunity that comes w/ playing 2nd pairing. Will be interesting to see if he comes out when Jokiharju is healthy or if Bryson gets yanked. Still expecting it to be Cale. Wondering if/ suspecting his getting to play 2nd pairing is a function of Granato wants Henri on the 2nd pairing when he returns so Bryson/Lyubushkin is the preferred 3rd pairing and he wants to get those 2 experience together and he realized in the losing streak that pairing bad D together leads to really bad things so Buusch doesn't get to bump up to 2nd pairing until the bench is shortened to keep Bryson & Clague separated.

If you don't remember what you posted, why should @PromoTheRobot? 😉

We should be hearing soon if he's an Amerk or if somebody put in a claim on him. Hoping he clears but doubt we see him in the Sabres lineup again. But the 2 way contract only comes into play if the acquiring team also tries to waive him. Presuming, of course, somebody claims him. Not close to a given.

He also allows 2nd & 3rd (or lesser) pairing defenders NOT have to play 1st pairing minutes & opponents. THAT is huge.

Doubt he expects Chychrun would play in place of either, but at what he'd cost to bring in they'd have to be expecting to play him ~20 minutes/night IF he were brought in. 8 of those minutes would be coming at somebody's expense besides Bryson when all are healthy.

Yes, but it was before the Chicago game. 4-0. Scored 6 goals in each.

He very well could be better than him. But the coaches & Adams seem to see something in Bryson that the rest of us don't see. And doubt he'll be out of the lineup ahead of Clague because of that.

Don't believe there have been any others this season, so it was the Chicago game last year.

You disagree that Granato has started shortening the bench in the last 10 or so games? Krebs has gone out of the rotation too.

Hattie!

Not really. But earlier in the year they wouldn't have been. Granato's trying to give them opportunities to win, not just develop.

Clague & Bryson have both been nailed to the bench since Detroit got their 3rd.

Doubt Bryson would be bumped before Clague, but who knows?

Nope. Still simply listed as "PPD."