Taro T

That was quite the poop show. Agree with @PromoTheRobot that the team is gripping the sticks way too tight. But they have to figure a way to get their heads out of their bippies. No idea why Granato pulled the goalie when he did. If they get one to make it 6-4, absolutely pull UPL. But the odds of them giving up a goal rather than scoring one were way too great at that point to pull him there with it still 6-3. Hopefully the B&R works its magic on Friday. (Would probably have a better chance of working with Levi between the pipes too.)

Don't know if he's correct or not, but Biron on Sabres Live today said he'd heard the game jerseys would still be made in the same factory that Adidas has been making them. So, if they can get the same fabric rather than the junk they usually use, it might not be as horrible as it sounds at first.

At times he will be. But not expecting him to truly come into his own until that following season.

Realized that. And don't believe that was the driving factor in taking the Otter deal. As stated, expect it was more a case of not just getting the best offer he could get but also not losing a negotiation with somebody he needs to negotiate with in the future. (Both the Sabres and LA GM's would be among those he didn't want to cave on the ask.) And since the Otter offer was comparable (presumably) or even better than the best offer the Sabres and LA were making, he went with that deal rather tan let one of the other GM's get him to walk back his ask with them this time.

Doubt the Ottawa trade was a favor to Chychrun, but maybe. Expect it simply came down to Armstrong wanted either Savoie or Kulich (maybe both?) from the Sabres and when Adams wouldn't budge on that he went with an offer that was reasonably close to what he'd get from the Sabres minus Savoie or Kulich. Armstrong said he made his decision off of the top piece being offered. The Sabres 1 and the Otters 1 at the time of the trade were essentially equivalent. Armstrong didn't want to "cave" and accept Adams offer, so he took what was essentially the same offer from someone not named Kevyn.

Such a difference between the NHL and the AHL. Pilut is serviceable at the AHL level.

Josi might be out tonight. As good a night as any to start a turnaround.

Seinfeld is the biggest name that will no longer perform on campus. He's been quite outspoken about it. Pretty sure you could find several interviews with him with a quick search. (He can state his position far more eloquently and accurately than we could.)

Boo. Not a fan of Fanatics. Have a Thompson ASG replica on order from there (long story, don't ask) which was supposed to be delivered yesterday but now is set to show up next Wednesday. Hoping that the "authentics" that they end up making are of the quality that CCM, Reebok, and Adidas have been, but not particularly hopeful.

The big issue with not having 1 more NHL caliber D-man in the lineup is when 1 guy is out, the best defenseman gets shackled to the tweener. That should NOT happen. But it does because Power had seemed to be running out of steam (so he keeps Jokiharju as his partner) and neither Lyubushkin nor Stillman can lug Bryson nor Clague around with him without having the F's completely change their game and Granato is loathe to make the F's change the style. Which leaves the team's best D-man carrying a tweener. Heck, if they could get away with Dahlin playing with either Bousch or Stillman that might help him tremendously as both are actual NHLers. Guess the jury is still out on whether Stillman truly is an NHLer or another tweener, but so far he's looked better than the tweeners or Fitzgerald. Carrying a boat anchor even for only 12 minutes per game gets old quickly. Especially when you have to do it against the other team's top line.

Considering there was roughly 1/4 of the season left in the year and the maximum retention on a contract is 50%, retaining salary would cost in actual real $'s about 1/8 of what the player was due to earn this season in a worst case. If they had a signing bonus, it could be significantly less than that (the O'Reilly example just brought up being a great example). It was a missed opportunity. Can understand reasons for missing that opportunity, but it still was a missed opportunity.

So we are an administrative clerk's performing their job from a 4 headed goalie monster. Can't recall ever seeing one of those before. (Yes, teams have gone through 4 or more goalies in a season; but don't ever recall a team having 4 that could literally be given any given night's start before.)

Would like them to sit him the next 2 games to actully watch how the rest of the F's play. There aren't a lot of teams that play the Sabres style (and Minny definitely ain't one of them) so watching live could help with the acclimation process. After that, would play whichever of he, Jost, and Olofsson the coaches feel bring what the team needs against that particular opponent. Let that guy be the 3rd piece on a Mittelstadt Hinostroza line and if one of them plays particularly well one night, consider bumping Hinostroza the next game (if they won, keep him in) if they lost, bump him and go with 2 of those other 3. Lather rinse repeat these last 14 games.

They have one. Do you mean a better checking line or a scoring line that can also consistently check. They don't have the latter.

Now this is the sort of stuff was hoping to see when starting this thread. How many games do we need to see his longest pointless streak be while still being able to get to the dance? Would say 3. More, less?

Would agree that this is what Granato needs to do this coming season.

Yes, the goal is the playoffs. But without a plan and goals that work towards that it isn't saying much. Agree that fixing the home record is going to be paramount to getting into the playoffs. They likely won't improve the road record much if at all and even if the team is better next year they might not have as good of a road record.

Do we need a different defensive coach next year or merely the increase in emphasis on that portion of the game? Teams are exploiting the D's tendency to overplay the puck below the goal line (often getting both D below the goalline along with the puck carrier) so that when the puck bounces back out (either to the point or the slot) there is an opening in the low slot for the opponent and the low F is slow in reacting to that and the D are too deep to recover. They also leave the backside open, but that is better than leaving the slot open. Had seen games where they were better at covering those but recently they've been as bad as that as they have been all year. Hoping that additional top 4 D man coming in and Power being a year more experienced helps them get back to taking that sort of play away. That alone might drop the GA by at least 20 and possibly 30.

Agree that these are the sort of things that Adams needs to be doing. But what are the goals that the rest of the crew needs to make doing well in the playoffs a reality? Would agree that a little introspection (and at the maangement level, a lot) will be beneficial across the board. But what are some more tangible subgoals which will be necessary to make the big goal a reality?

Which is what Adams needs to be doing. Any thoughts on what do the players and coaches need to do to get into the dance and, more importantly, do some damage once they're there?

They're already at 248 (probably actually 247 as that likely includes a goal for their 1 shootout victory). They'll likely end the year close to 280 goals. Do they need that as a target again next year? Really doubt only 248 would get it done. Does Thompson need to be a 50 goal scorer next year to get them where they need to be there? How many 30 goal scorers do they need? How much do they need to reduce the goals against? Getting a #1 G and a 4D will help there alot. Assuming the starter plays 50 games. If he gives up 2.8 per game (140 on the year) is that low enough to get them where they need to be?

Open topic, looking for something positive to talk about besides the possibility of Levi having a miracle effect on the trajectory of where they seem to be heading these past few games. So, we'd all like to see the team make the playoffs next year, and doing some damage there would be a very nice bonus. What do they need to be striving for to make that a reality. Won't focus in this post on what the individual player goals need to be, though hopefully those come up here. Will focus on what the team needs to have as team based goals to reach those higher end goals. They HAVE to be at or above an NHL 0.600 to get there. To make that a realitiy, they should focus on getting to 0.750 at 1 home and 0.500 on the road. The latter should be doable, because with 1 more win this year away from the MMArena, they don't just guarantee an NHL 0.500 but that mythical Deluca 0.500. Getting to 0.750 at home, will be a much tougher task given where they are now, but it SHOULDN'T be an impossible task. On a shorter term basis, the team should have a goal of never losing 3 games in a row. There is no way a team this young will be able to avoid any back to back losses, and no 3 game losing streaks would be a stretch goal, but getting there will make those other goals reachable. They also should strive for not going 2 games at home without taking at least 1 point. Do all that and making sure they get 12 points in every 10 game segment becomes doable and guarantees that NHL 0.600. To make that happen, they really need to fix the PK. If the PP can stay top 5 (and actually be legitimately top 5, not just ride a 1 month hot streak to a good ranking even though they're usually middle of the pack at best), then somewhere in the middle of the pack might be good enough to reach those goals. Could being top 20 be enough of a jump to make the other goals possible? What else do they need as smaller goals to get? to the big one?

How is saying "they played very poorly" defending anything? (Nicely played, the old guy from Bradford is smiling.)

They did not quit Friday, regardless of how often you state that they did. They played very poorly, but they did not quit. Pretty sure that I am done with this thread. (But as always, not positive that's the case,)

Didn't get to see the 3rd. As mentioned elsewhere had a meeting with a client this afternoon. Through 2 they had not quit. They were playing poorly, but hadn't quit. (There actually is a difference between the 2.) Saw the final score, so will likely not watch the 3rd. So, will have to take your word for it that they quit in this one. Really hoping nobody here is happy with that if they did. But am guessing some are if they did. 'See, they quit when Tuch was in the lineup too.' Congrats. Not exactly a good thing if it did in fact happen.