Taro T

And if that's the case, then so be it. But the Sabres shouldn't have to give up Jokiharju to get a legit 4. That's pretty much shuffling deck chairs.

Agree they need more diversity on the roster; not sure how important that is for the pipeline if they can trade some of the surplus of what they seem to be good a drafting (scoring forwards with a very high pace of play) for someone a bit more established in an area that they aren't good (or at least don't seem to be good) at drafting. Scorers are harder to find. Sandpaper guys should be easier to get. And C's should be tradable for D if we really need more of those as prospects. (Again, given the top 3 on the team and the age of the 5, not sure that the D they REALLY need right now are of the prospect variety. They need 2 more NHLers today.

The plan should be to add 2 more bodies (ideally a 4 and another 5/6) so the team has 8 REAL defensemen (or minimum 7 with either Clague or Bryson as the 8) and the other the 9/10 while Johnson cooks in Ra-cha-cha. Ideally Clague and Bryson both are back and in Ra-cha-cha ready to come up if we see another injury plague like from November. The forward ranks are in pretty good shape. Those additions would put the D onto that same footing. Find a 1 for the net and they're cooking with gas. And, don't really see jettisoning Jokiharju as being a thing just on an "if" and a "may." They have no true 4 on the roster (unless you're counting Samuelsson who currently is a 4 and might be (and likely will grow into) a 3 which is good enough when his partner is a Norris caliber guy.) Getting that AND adding depth should be the priority, not going for incremental improvement by upgrading the 5 to a 4. The goal should be to make Henri a 5 and pair him with either Lyubushkin or Stillman depending upon opponent. Bousch has looked good (except for the 1 game that nobody but Peterka showed up in) with getting to play 3rd line and not with Bryson or Clague weighing him down. He can play on the left side, so either of the current 3rd pairing guys could play with Joker or the 2nd new guy could play with him. They're still high on Joker and expect gettting to play 3rd pairing would make him appear to be a stud. They have plenty of cap space at present and have no need to jettison a good/reasonable D-man at this time. Especially considering what the learning curve likely is for learning what Granato wants the D to be doing, really don't see a reason to get rid of him.

10. So teams slotted 1-11 have an opportunity to draft 1st overall.

You seem to be forgetting the 2nd adage. You don't deplete what you're weak in to shore that area up. Trade what you have a surplus of to shore up weaknesses.

So Greenway to the Jost line or is he the 2nd F rotating through the lines with Hinostroza?

That's convenient. He has to be looking back at that day he signed with the Sabres and wonder wtf he was thinking. Durn near nothing has gone right for him this year.

So we can only have all the forwards together when the top D pair is out? March stinks.

Pretty sure we're referring to the same moment. Maybe it was shoulder. Thought it got him in the helmet.

Hoping the slowness is in part due to not necessarily knowing where to be. Skinner and Thompson have been playing together for nearly 2 full sesons. They KNOW what the other one will do. But yeah, he's most likely pencilled in as Okposo's replacement and the only reason right now that he's Tuch's replacement is that by trying him there the other 3 lines can get back to what was working prior to Tuch's injury.

Did Samuelsson get a concussion off that shot that hit him in the ear?

Umm, you hurt your argument by including Turgeon and especially Housley as examples of players that weren't soft. Turgeon was soft as butter and Housley still hasn't figured out that Stephane Richer didn't wear blue and gold. Pretty sure he still gets Christmas cards from Richer. There's a reason the team finally got past the 1st round of the playoffs once both those 2 had been removed.

And there's the conundrum. They played great team defense in the Ryan Miller game, they were boxing guys out in front of the net and F's were being responsible as well. They didn't score much, but that was more a function of Sorokin than their being defensively responsible. Tonight, they played soundly in their own end. Yes, they only scored once, but that was due in large part to a horribly unfortunately timed attempt at a line change and it also was a function of Shesterkin. It wasn't due to their being defensively responsible. REALLY thought they were going to start being defensively responsible (or at least adequately defensively responsible after that 1st Aisles game. It's only happened on occassion. And am very confused as to why that is. They CAN do that and when they've done it, they've still generated chances. If they didn't get chances when they play responsibly it would be understandable why they abandon it after only a single game. But they DO generate chances. And as long as guys that can shoot like these ones can can get chances, eventually they'll start burying them again. Would LOVE to hear Granato's thoughts on this particular item.

Oh yeah, the task has become Herculean. But, win Monday, and then worry about the next one. Play like they did tonight and they have a very good chance to get that 1st W in the last 5.

They won't announce the NCAA bids until next Sunday. Even though they won't get in, could see him holding off on signing until then, unfortunately. His team, literally, is going to be the highest ranked team missing the dance.

It ends in Loaf Land. F those guys.

Wish he would have ANY confidence in his shot. His absolute unwillingness to shoot unless he has absolutely no other options is maddening. We get it, he's young and not man strong yet. But the simple fact he NEVER shoots should give him an edge should he actually shoot. It also will open up those passing lanes he's always looking for. And, if you had the success he's had stepping into new environments that he's had, you'd be a very confident MoFo too. His confidence is very much a product of the success he's had stepping up. Again, just wish he'd actually shoot on more than a rare occassion.

Actually there is. The C's are a really tall lanky guy that hadn't taken faceoffs on a regular basis since college, a 22 yo, a 20 yo, and a journeyman. When those 2nd 2 get older and stronger they'll get better. When Thompson works on them more hopefully he'll be better, though with his length, he simply might never get good at them. It is extremely rare for a young guy to be even adequate at FO's early in their career.

They played a great game and really did play well enough to win in regulation. Thought all 18 skaters came to play today (even Mr. Hard Luck tonight Olofsson) and UPL had his best game in a while. They actually backchecked hard and did a good job of limiting the Rags chances. Never can understand why they can only play that way in their own end once every 5 or so games (if that). Play like this 14 or so times out of these last 17 and they have a shot. Hope Levi gets a game this week.

The 1st goal against, he overplayed a Friar taking the puck wide of the net and couldn't get back across to stop a wrap around. The winner was tipped wide off the end boards and the puck bounced right back to the guy that had tipped it and Levi couldn't get across in time. He came close, but the play was bang bang. Welcome to Buffalo!!!!!! They credited him with 33 saves but Providence only had 34 shots. Pretty sure he only had 32 saves. (Unless they aren't counting the 1st goal as a shot because it deflected off a Husky defenseman on the wraparound. Which makes no sense.)

Great game by Levi. But fortunately he gave up the goal in OT. Welcome to Buffalo Mr. Blue Jeans.

And expect a modicum of restraint from the forwards before bolting the zone when the other team has the puck. Not saying abandon the high scoring high pace style of play they've adopted; It won't take much more focus on playing sound defensively to see significant improvements in goals given up once those upgrades are made. And they have on rare occassion shown glimpses of playing sound in their own end. But they almost never do it 2 games in a row. Am really curious as to why they occassionally do play sound defensively? Is it coaching or is it simply their years of having played hockey that sometimes playing the way they'd been coached to play until getting here just comes bubbling to the surface?

Considering it's been over a decade since the Sabres have had more than 1 good goalie at any time and even getting to 1 has been a struggle; that'd be a good problem to have.

And we are in agreement there. But there is room for more than 6 goalies in the system and pointing that out was the purpose of the post you're responding to.

Could be wrong, but don't believe just getting Wallstadt alone would've necessarily chased Portillo away being a couple of years younger. But to have brought in both Wallstadt and Levi in the same year (when UPL was also in the system) would've been a big reg flag saying they don't trust Portillo's skills. There is also the possibility that they philosophically don't believe in grabbing more than 1 prospect goalie in any 1 year. Which also would keep them from bringing in both Wallstadt and Levi in the same year.