Taro T

What a stinker that one was. Peterka was the only player that had a reasonably good game, out of 18 skaters and 1 goalie, only getting 1 guy playing reasonably well is awful. Yes Greenway had 2 points, but good Lord, his passing was attrocious. Won't single anyone else out (and only singled him out to point out that sometimes scoring doesn't mean you played well), but could single them all out. So incredibly frustrating that they quit the final 10 minutes. This team never quit last year nor this year until 1 week ago against the Bruins. That's twice in 1 week. For all the talk of Dahlin, or Cozens, or Thompson, or whomever as the Captain next year; there is only 1 player on this entire roster (well besides a goalie and possibly Bryson &/or Clague) that wasn't involved in either game. THAT is the guy that should be the next Captain.

Scary, isn't it.

You betcha. Doing our normal - stop at UP on the way there then off to the nosebleeds. Granato loves him some Olofsson. Very interested to see what the 2nd line does. Hopefully Comrie can play well and get us 2 good games in a row from him.

The Yotes are nuts. They'll never be able to use him in the playoffs this ... wait ... well, nevermind. ;)

Yes he had, but in large part because he didn't want to be a true "full time" hockey player. He thought, correctly, that it'd be easier for him to attend McGill law school playing for the Voyagers than playing for the Habs.

Nope. Let them flame out like the tire fire all things Boston should be. Then bring him in and see how good a Dryden impression he can muster.

Nope. They do it much different that the NHL does and don't follow it nearly as closely. But stuff like signing bonuses get paid up front and then get charged across the enitre life of the contract, provided the player plays out the full contract for that team he signed with. If he gets cut, traded, or retired then any monies he's already been paid that didn't count against the cap have to go against the cap to get the team back to being charged for actual monies it is out. Thus the term "dead cap." Which is cap space the team can't use in the current season because it already paid that money out previously. And what players count against the cap vary year by year with the annual charge being a proration of bonuses over the life of the contract plus the annual salary the player gets in that year. And because cap hits can vary year to year is why contracts can be renegiated before they expire. (Realize that this likely misses many fine points of NFL contracts, but it gives the jist of how they work.) NHL contracts work much differently. Though actual salary in any given year can vary, the cap hit is the total value to be earned over the life of the contract divided by the length of the contract. Except in rare cases, performance bonuses aren't allowed and things such as signing bonuses only effect the timing of when the player gets paid in that particular season with the bonus but does not affect his salary for other seasons covered by the contract. And because contracts hit the cap as AAV and not more complexly is why contracts can't be renegotiated during the deal. It would make the cap way too complex to implement without going to the essentially fictional cap that the NFL has. (Teams there can effectively exceed the cap for years before finally biting the bullet and absorbing huge dead cap hits for 1-2 years, sinking to the bottom of the league just once and then getting their stud QB of the future and doing it all over again.)

The team is pretty much set for their top 3 D now and for the foreseeable future. If they get a legit #4 via FA or trade, they then have 3 legit 3rd pairing D-men on the roster and they have 2 tweeners and Johnson to backfill those. They have the capspace to grab another 4/5 guy in addition to the aforementioned 4. Bring that body or 2 in house and they can easily wait for the Russian D-men, Jonhson, &/or that kid they drafted last year to be ready to step up. They don't have to find guys to fill out th top of the roster and with Dahlin & Power both able to play 25+ minutes and Samuelsson 23, they can afford to even have a Bryson or Clague filling in provided it isn't for 1 of the top 3. But with 1 extra D-man brought in the 1st injury replacement is Stillman and if they find another guy too, then the injury replacement becomes the new guy, Lyubushkin, or Jokiharju. That is pretty deep and it doesn't cost much at all to get there.

Welcome the #### back.

The team has 7 skaters on the roster 6'3" or bigger and 2 more that are 6'2". There are only 5 guys that are listd at 5'11" or shorter and only 2 of those (Skinner and Jost) will be here beyond the next season. (Hinostroza won't be resigned and is a spare anyway. Olofsson is not likely long for this team and is the 1 F that plays small. And Bryson is finally a spare when healthy and likely doen't fit in beyond next season. Kulich seems to play bigger than his 5'11" and Savoie is tremendously talented. This team can handle having a few smaller guys on the ice when literally 1/2 of the players dressing when they're all healthy are at least 6'2". This is not a small team.

Provided the goaltending improves, the team doesn't need saviors. They have a strong top 2 lines, solid to excellent 1-3, and the lesser pieces for the most part are solid and still have a lot of room to grow. A 1G, whether through internal or external route, and a 4 on D, and maybe some extra depth to supplement the kids and keep them from getting deployed into roles they aren't ready for and this team is a legit contender, not just a WC team. Do expect the D-man brought in, but doubt we see much in the way of depth brought in especially if Johnson signs because they have some kids that aren't in the NHL now that could probably play there today if necessary and with a new D-man plus Johnson, they'll be 6-7 true NHLers deep at D with 3-4 tweeners backing them up. The wild card is the biggest need goaltending. Can see them rolling with Comrie and UPL with Levi on the farm, but unless 1 or both really pick up their game it will still be hit or miss. Really hoping they get it right, but untill they actually do get it right, that's the 1 spot that they haven't shown an ability to fix for today.

Was told the starter got ill mid-game, thus the need for the switch. Lucky stinking Pens.

They don't have a lot of OT losses because they usually win in OT. They are actually very good in OT. Extra OT losses only help if they were the result of games that they otherwise would've lost in regulation. Failing to win the games that they'd gotten to OT don't help at all.

Rookie. ;)

That was what ESPN+ was doing during the intermissions. @zamboni said it was the ESPN+ feed at the Eulers game.

Unfortunately, still expect them to finish with 91-92 points. But one nice hot streak gets them above that and into the dance. C'mon boys, make it happen.

The game is better than the announcing crew, which is saying something.

In the 1st game out for Dahlin last week, did the Sabres win or lose? (Btw, Tuch was out as well.) In the 1st game out for Samuelsson yesterday, did the Sabres win or lose? (Btw, Tuch continued to be out as well.) CLEARLY Dahlin is the better player. But in a SINGLE GAME must win situation, it is often easier for the other players to pick up their games enough to weather the great player being out of the lineup. They KNOW if they don't bring everything they have, they're sunk. There isn't the same urgency having a very good player out. Getting that one win is clearly doable though difficult. Winning more than that is a hurculean challenge and way more difficult than making up for the very good player. That's the theory and this kid's sticking with it.

He was the loudest. Not sure that makes him the biggest.

Someone will almost definitely regress. A bit. But they also have extremely young guys: Quinn, Peterka, Krebs, & Power who should all have substantially better years. Jokiharju should be better next year as well and personally am hoping that Lyubushkin has that "defenseman's 2nd season in a new place" settling into a comfort level with his new team that could also be better next year. If they can get goaltending whether it be by one or 2 of the guys they already have taking a step, or by trade or FA, this team should be very good and challenging to be in the top 3 in the division. Bring in another 4-5 D-man to round out the unit and they could do some damage.

PPG might be stretching it but he'll almost definitely be a 60 point player and could easily see 70 points from him. Doubt he gets a 7-8 year deal this summer but could easily see a 4-5 year deal without a NMC attached. Or with a very limited NMC attached.

Purely off name recognition either Makar or Fox. Both will be in the playoffs and expect that will matter to voters. (Though it objectively shouldn't.)

Bold take. If the Sabres make the playoffs, he finishes 2nd. If the Sabres miss the playoffs, he finishes 3rd. Either way, if he's reasonably healthy next year he wins it in '24. (Just don't see them giving it to anybody but Karlsson this year.)

The bolded is great to read. Wonder if that will also carry over to matchups and deployment? And if it does, why couldn't it have started yesterday? Personally, would sit Olofsson, but expect it will be Peterka.

Yes, somebody had to center Peterka and Olofsson. But you don't make that player also go against the McDavid line and provide additional support to that line in the form of Bryson. Yes, Cozens went against McDavid pretty much all game in Buffalo last year. He didn't get gifted the weakest 2 defensive wingers on the team while drawing that assignment. Cozens was given a difficult assignment but was set up for success. Krebs was given a difficult assignment and was set up for failure. And, that 2nd goal was against the Eulers 4th line, not the friggin' McDavid line. Don't have an issue with the deployment on that 2nd goal. As you said, those guys had to play against somebody. But that 1st goal was durn near criminal. And actually, as shown early in the 2nd, nobody HAD to center both Olofsson AND Peterka at the same time. Put 1 on 1 line and the other on another.