Taro T

Faceoffs "don't matter" for 2 reasons. 1 - a lot of faceoffs are in the neutral zone which rarely get won cleanly enough to have a team on its heels and 2 - they are rarely won cleanly. But make no mistake, cleanly won faceoffs in the zone can & do change the outcome of games.

Yup. And they were needs in the offseason. But, unless this Chychrun rumor has legs, expect what we see is what we get until the offseason.

Which was the point of "(b)ut until we see the Jost line falter am not expecting it as that's the only line left w/ mix & match pieces." 😉

That there's a 7 page thread on this same subject about 5 posts downpage. 😉

But, with the glaring exception of the 4th goal against, he & his line were strictly used as the 4th line. Asplund got a little PK duty, but none of the 3 were getting "all situation" ice time. They were matched against TB's lesser heavy line and didn't do particularly well there. (If TB didn't ave Colton & Maroon on the 3rd line might've seen them going against that line, but they did & they weren't.) 2 games ago they were still being deployed as the 2nd line. Mittelstadt did not see the ice in the OT. Don't believe Olofsson did either. Should they gain their confidence back getting sheltered minutes, expect they'll then be treated as the 3rd line, which they only had against Joisey recently and they scored the 1 goal in that game. Personally, as @Brawndo has been advocating, would like to see Mitts & VO broken up. But until we see the Jost line falter am not expecting it as that's the only line left w/ mix & match pieces. (Really doubt they experiment more w/ moving Tuch around and the Cozterkinn line isn't going anywhere.) My guess is that they see sheltered minutes for a couple of games (easy against Detroit, tougher to pull off against the Avs, good thing that game is at home). And then based on the outcome of those games we see Krebs &/or Honostroza roll into the line up.

Minor point on 'putting them out against Stamkos' on the 1st goal that line was out against. Tampa only dressed 11 F's. Stamkos was out with the "4th line" with Perry & Namestikov. The Mitts line was getting matched up w/ the 4th line. They got the puck out of the zone but the Tampa D recovered the clear & turned the puck back up ice. What else, after the 12 F's were chosen, did you want Granato to do on that one? The 4th goal against was a coaching mistake. And Granato had a chance to rectify it as he got a TV timeout right off the initial faceoff. He could easily have flipped to the Thompson or Jost lines. Also, the FO for that 4th goal was at the Sabres BL, not defensive zone.

You'll have to ask Granato your question because it was a bad decision. Understand that he wanted to get the Mittelstadt line ice time as they hadn't had a shift in a long time, but the shift right after getting the 2 goal lead was not the one to give them. Should have waited 1 or 2 more shifts to give them a matchup they could handle & after TB had made their charge for getting that goal back.

Fully expect to see a steady diet of Levi the last couple of weeks. Hoping that he's alternating w/ Portillo but not expecting it.

The good: 3 of the 4 lines were working tonight. And Granato realized the other line wasn't working & limited their ice time. (Apparently 1 shift not enough.) For the 2nd game in a row the Cozens line was deployed as a true 2 and this time they flat out dominated. They gave up almost no scoring chances typically going against Stamkos & could've had 4 goals easily rather than just 2. They looked like a true #2 tonight. Cozens burying a rocket. He gets chances, and it isn't all that important that he become a finisher as both his linemates are finishers, but IF he can start converting even 1/3 of the chances he gets, the Sabres are about to have 2 #1 lines after a decade + that never had one unless Eichel was on the lineup. Dahlin & Samuelsson just keep getting better & better together. Whatever analytics guru saw something in Jost deserves a bonus. He's got that "4th line" humming & they were deployed as the clear 3rd line because of it. Granato seemed to be (except for the late Stamkos goal) matching lines. Are we FINALLY out of "development" & into "let's act like other NHL teams" by matching lines & unbalancing the forwards ice time when they don't deserve to get balanced ice time. The bad: The Mitts line was not good. Believe their 1st goal against was on Power taking the wrong man, but he' a rookie & it seemed Olofsson had time to recognize it but did so too late. Granato has the other 3 lines rolling. Will be interesting seeing how he gets this one there too as Mitts & Olofsson seem to have absolutely no chemistry though they have in the past. Power, even w/ the assist, did not bring his A game. Fully expect he'll bounce back in Detroit. And still nearly won it had the puck settled down for him. UPL. He needs to get his movement under control better & take away the bottom of the net. The ugly: The shot Lyubushkin took off his ankle/foot. Fear that's broken. The PK. They'd been pressuring the past couple of games and looking good. This one they gave way too much space. Don't envy Detroit. They're in for a ticked off team.

A 10. 2 picks after Nylander.

That said, the deal that makes sense to move, say, Dahlin won't happen because nobody would offer what it would take to legitimately pry him away.

We have one side of the story. There is at least 1 more side to the whole thing. Will reserve judgment until having more info. 2 items that will come out in the action (don't know whether they'll become public but the board reviewing this will get the info) that would greatly affect which side is "right" (IMHO, YMMV) are why her boss told her she was 'mentally weak' (or whatever the phrase was, not re-reading the complaint, that phrase gets the jist of what she os alleged to have said). That seems a very odd thing to state without there being more that came earlier in the exchange. (And realize she is diagnosed w/ PTSD, but that in itself would not seem to warrant that put down. (Maybe it did, but would like to know more context there.)) The other item which would be material to her claims is was Yeo approved to speak to journalists for whatever reason? He very well might've been approved to speak w/ them having had speaking to journalists a big part of at least 2 of his prior jobs (HC of the Wild & then the Blues; he would've had a lot of experience in that area and MIGHT have been approved to do so because of that experience). And, while it may have been "colleagues" only 1 example was cited. And again, due to his background, he may very well have been permitted ahead of time to speak on behalf of the 'Nucks.

Know you were making a funny, but UPL gets this one because Anderson got the last one & will get the Avs game.

It seems they did give him a shot at making the roster but he was unable to beat out Hinostroza nor keep them from signing another player for the 4th line & PK that at present has not only beaten him & Krebs out, but Hinostroza too. Yes, Krebs is at the tip of this particular spear, but there are 2 other guys he couldn't beat out. In his favor, he DID beat out Bjork, so he has that going for him. Not sure it's better for his development to have Krebs in the pressbox than playing in Ra-cha-cha; they've indicated they feel he will learn from watching & being around the team. Personally expect he'd reinforce habits they're trying to break him of by sending him down, but also expect they still see him as a player that will contribute offensively on a 2nd or 3rd line. So, Krebs stays up for now as the 23rd healthy body. Will be interesting to see if he goes down should they get a 24th healthy body that is a skater. He's the only guy not with a regular role that is waiver exempt as of now. Really curious if Sheahan would be doing this if his wife was handling it better. After seeing her clip, expect this might be more of a "happy wife, happy life" scenario than a "good Lord, please not another garbage plate." Maybe she's always wanted to visit Switzerland. She'll likely get to do so for ~4-5 months.

He misheard a lyric w/in Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody." No biggie.

Unfortunately, the networks want those 4 extra games & the conferences are more than happy to give them to them. Personally would say 6 is about ideal. When's the last time 7 had a legit claim on the championship? But that would never fly when there's 2 or 6 more games to be played.

Neither is Pilut. The expectation is it'll be Krebs sent down if the skaters are all healthy, but they've avoided that to date. Earlier in the year when all were healthy they ran w/ only 7 D, so it'll be interesting to see who goes down.

Yup. That is the floor of his value.

Thanks for that. Missed that he'd been moved to the evaluation window. Knew Boettger was back practicing; missed Marquez' update. Thought he could get redesignated to a 4 week IR (if they have any of them left) not necessarily season ending but he couldn't practice while back on the IR.

The penalty might've been the defining action when they decided whether to keep him up as the spare forward or somebody else. Seems Asplund is pretty much ready to be back. Will be very interesting to see who comes out of the lineup joining Krebs in the pressbox. 2 other interesting things to watch, if all stay healthy, when does Krebs get back in the lineup (& who does he replace) and when Bryson is back, again, if they're all healthy, who goes down to Ra-cha-cha - Krebs, Pilut, Fitzgerald, or another F.

Probably sees how much of a train wreck Krebs has been but Krebs stays up and he goes down after a waiver wire pickup beats both of them out. Don't know, but expect he feels he didn't get as fair a shake as he'd been led to believe he'd get.

Yes, the Yotes are stocking up on young players & draft picks and are, as you say, 2 years behind the Sabres. Fully expect the Yotes are hoping to win the next 2 draft lotteries and not fall just short in their quests unlike when they tried in '15 & '16. Then start rebuilding w/ Matthews as the centerpiece in a triumphant return to the desert. Again, my expectation is that they see Chychrun having more value converted into the picks & prospects he'll return than the play he'll bring on the ice. An awful lot of the "insiders" are of that opinion as well. Is it correct? We'll see. And, really expect you are mistaken if you think he'll bring back significantly more than Ristolainen did when he's a rental. Rentals get discounted; it is what it is.

Then basically you are saying they shouldn't trade for any high end guy who's already on/ past his 2nd contract. Because it's very rare for those guys to get traded with more than 2-3 years left before they're UFAs.

True. But did anybody see them having their mid-season funk last year or losing to the Colts this year? Bills need to win out, which is going to be tough given all the injuries, but it is possible. Hard to see anybody w/ less than 3 losses this year, so Bill need to keep doing what they can. And if KC does win out, well the Bills beat them once down there. It's not an impossible ask to do it again.

Don't see any way they'd want a guy as old as Olofsson. Really doubt they'd want anyone older than Cozens. (Not saying he'd have to be in the package, just not other seeing anyone older than that being a part of it. Should the Sabres actually make an offer.)