Taro T

He should NOT be on the 1st pairing. When all are healthy, he should never be partnered with Dahlin unless they're playing euchre. 😉 IMHO at this point in time he is not a good partner for Power because he makes too many mistakes in his own end & more importantly he doesn't cover for his partner's mistakes there nearly well enough. Maybe he'll reduce one or both like he stopped pinching at the wrong time at the other end last year, in which case that opinion could very well change. But until he does, really would rather have Lyubushkin paired with Power because the expectation is he WILL cover Power's mistakes far better than Henri will. Expecting Granato would rather have him work through those deficiencies tied to Power's hip so expecting those of you that want Henri as the 4 will get your wish.

He SHOULD be in the 5/4 role, but he's going to be in the 4. Power will keep him seeming to be only slightly overmatched. (Much like Dahlin's growth last year made Henri seem to take more strides than he actually did. And he DID make strides last year.) Really hoping Lyubushkin settles in too well next to Power, like Samuelsson did with Dahlin, to let Granato give in to his inner "just let him learn into the role" next to Power. But not expecting it. Henri could look like a hero as the 5.

Perhaps ... 😉

Yeah, they're all in on 1 last run and then a modest (or so they hope) tank the following year.

IF Dahlin & Samuelsson can keep up their play down the stretch, expect we'll see the Sabres get 50 starts out of Comrie with the majority of them quality. If that pairing is still relied on as 1st pairing but are the Dahlin-Jokiharju we've seen, expect we'll be getting Anderson quality from him. Would really still like to see at least 1 more legit NHL D-man & them figure out the shutdown C, but the hopium says he can do it.

There's 1 team you missed on that template front & that's Carolina - both the early '00's & this latest iteration. Both got a pretty good core together but didn't have goaltending & then got reasonable/good goaltending and more or less came out of nowhere after stockpiling some talent. Still lean towards Adams doesn't go after established goalies because this team isn't quite ready to make a true push for a championship, so he's willing to pick up another Savoie/Quinn type player next year if Comrie isn't ready to be the man & if he is good enough to shock the world then he's good with that too. Last year showed that he has assembled a resilient group - they never turned on each other when things were bleak around January & they even bounced back and played good & entertaining hockey down the stretch. Expect the mental side hasn't changed regardless of whether Comrie's up to the challenge & because of that we'll see a GM get a 4th year in the job for the 1st time since Regier did it at the turn of the century. Really can't recall a time the team had as many well regarded prospects; had Regier not kept Rolston we'd've possibly seen it back around '15 but he still hadn't rebuilt the scouting department, so don't know if he'd've gotten the full bang for his buck. (And, the comment about Rolston was that he was so out of his element that he got Regier canned with him; had Darcy hired a competent coach he might've survived the "suffering" but by not even looking for a competent coach he made the organization a laughing stock & paid the price with his career.) Adams is definitely assembling a group of kids & letting them grow together. Hopefully Levi's the real deal; if he is, these kids will become special. But really hoping Comrie's special too, because Levi is still likely 2 years away.

Truth be told, another C, another D, & another G are all needed. Expect we'll probably see the C that grabs the 4C role brought in but expect the ship has sailed on the other 2. They seem to prefer Asplund & Girgensons at W & expect 1 of Cozens, Mittelstadt, & Krebs to also play W which makes a big shiny hole in the roster for that 12th F. Hope that it would be a higher talent C come in so then they could run 3 scoring lines with a scoring checking line comprised of Cozens, Okposo, & either Girgensons or Asplund on the left side, but doubt that comes to pass. And to those saying we really don't need to be worrying about how to fit a 12th NHLer into this roster, have been on THAT band wagon for a long while. Hoping Adams is there too.

My expectation is that he'll be a better NHLer than AHLer, but his ceiling is Biron at absolute best and it more likely tops out at Hutton at most or maybe Johnson. He seems to need the structure of the NHL to find a comfort level even though the shots are tougher. He got better at not letting every shot just under the crossbar go in which indicates he's more comfortable with the hips post surgery. Expect he'll get a few games in the NHL when Anderson can't go, but he'll break again before really getting going. Hoping that's too pessimistic, but doubt it is. Also expect Subban to look better in Ra-cha-cha than him, but him to get the opportunity of the callup. Didn't vote because the above didn't really seem an option.

Is it OK if I let you know tomorrow? Was volunteering at a conference last week & just brought our son back home to hit law school. Need 1 actual good night's sleep before committing. (If you need an answer today, would have to say 'out.')

Maybe Cuomo sold the service centers to a private vendor, but really doubt it. Each state that's part of the EZ-Pass system runs their own system. Each has its own 800 #'s and website. And, last time called because a tag wasn't working right the call center was located in 718 area code (foreigners or southerners AREN'T going to fake THAT accent). Granted that was about 4 years ago, but would be very surprised if Cuomo or Hochul privatized it.

Really believe that the PP goal anomaly has been locked in people's heads and that haven't been able to see his growth beyond PP specialist for whatever reason. People forget that when Reinhart showed that he was a goal scoring C, that it was Olofsson feeding him on the majority of those goals. They also forget, as you mentioned, that he looked really good in October before getting injured and again in April when he was finally healthy. Choose Mitts as most likely to breakout, but it easily could be Vic; and the rationale for both is they were both playing very good hockey at the end of Granato's 1st year and both were playing very well until breaking last year. Had they not broken, both likely would've already broken out.

Which may be possible. And if that's the reason he wants to hit FA in a year, kind of hoping he ends up in TO or Filly. Let them maintain their oligopoly on weakminded keepers. 😉

Yepper.

Only 12 teams that he can be traded to unless he waives that clause and only in the age 36 & 37 years. How many of 2030's & 2031's Yotes & Sabres do you expect he'd be willing to waive for? Treliving is worrying about today figuring that contract will be the next guy's problem. Wouldn't be surprised if the owner said OK because he doesn't want to be giving the McDavid led Eulers a free pass ahead of them in years 1-3 of the deal and will worry about beating McDavid in years 4+ when they get there.

Will stand by the opinion that if Calgary was willing to seriously overpay then Huberdeau was willing to stay. IMHO, $10.5MM cap hit for 8 years, NONE of which he'll be in his 20's is an overpay. YMMV.

Just a reminder, in Junior Varada had 2 seasons in the mid 80 point range in the relatively low scoring WHL and was scoring at nearly a point per game and nearly 0.5 gpg in his rookie AHL year and then put up 30 goals in 48 games before being brought up for good. Varada was supposed to be a Varada that could play in the top 6. Just sayin`.

IMHO, the best scenario for him would be to pencil him into the AHL with an agreement w/ his Czechia team to send him back towards the end of November if he isn't adapting. But will trust the Sabres development team to make the right call on which option will be best for him. Nice to be able to say that & actually fully believe it.

2 separate grand juries did not indict. So 2 separate DAs couldn't present a case that he was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt without him getting to challenge the evidence against him nor present evidence to support his claims of innocence. The arbitrator was reviewing the evidence under the much less strict civil standard of a preponderance of the evidence (51%) indicating he is guilty.

Miami won't have a 1st rounder next year? Wonder what bust that wouldn't've gone until the 3rd round at best will now have to wait until the 2nd round to get picked.

My prediction is that Granato will end up putting Jokiharju with Power because he can't help himself. (He loves him some Joker.) But when Lyubushkin is with Power it'll work better. Dahlin gets the most ice time by far, with Samuelsson then Power close behind. Jokiharju will edge Lyubushkin in ice time for 4 v 5 total with Bryson a distant 6th. (That's all per game. Injuries will obviously effect total ice time.)

Umm, pretty sure a tall, skinny, cerebral, hipster known for his very own version of a scoreless outing would like to have a word with you. 😉

Really don't see it as an either or and expect the truth is somewhere in the middle. Ullmark said he was willing to stay and had worked out a deal he said he'd sign if it wasn't beaten. The Bruins beat it & it seems Adams offered to match that but Ullmark said 'no, beat this new deal.' Adams wouldn't and the rest is history. So, Linus probably was happy to be moving on, but he was willing to stay. If Adams really did offer to match the Bruins deal, he screwed up, because he should've put THAT on the table as his best offer rather than the one the Bruins topped. Yes, it would've been a bit of an overpay, but it wouldn't have affected a single other contact the Sabres had and it would've kept at least Dell off the roster; no data on whether it would've kept Anderson away. And the Sabres still might've been able to grab Comrie this year. It wouldn't be as obvious a chance to become the starter here, but it still would be a real possibility as he could be better than Linus (remains to be seen if he is better or not). But Linus being signed wouldn't affect Levi in the slightest and if it keeps UPL in Ra-cha-cha, so be it. It probably guarantees Portillo walks, but that seems likely now anyway. So, all signing him might have done in a negative sense is cost the team Portillo and likely Savoie as the Sabres probably finish 11th to 13th worst rather than 9th worst. Still would've liked to have seen Adams make the B's offer 1st. My 2 cents. And if not, as @dudacek said, at least have a real plan B.

And THAT is why Granato talks up Jokiharju. He's a player that has been improving but also one that does not play on his heels. IMHO, he's an ideal 5 that can improve (and likely will, though whether he gets to true 4 on a good team better is very much debatable) but the problems he has tend to be crimes of commission, not omission. And were Power 2 years older, he'd probably be a great partner for Henri. But the aspects of the game Henri needs to work on are not the ones a guy bringing a rookie that ideally will become a top pairing guy in fairly short order should be working on. Again, give Power Lyubushkin. And if it doesn't work, then put Joker there.

He's not. He's Biron minus the motor mouth. But last we checked, Biron was the 3rd best goalie the Sabres had this century. Until we have Miller (or better), Marty will do. 😉

Again, the biggest complaint about him is that he can not pick up the slack when his partner makes a mistake. He also still has issues against a good cycle and has a tendency to take himself out of the play. He has gotten way better at picking his spots on when to pinch in the other end this past year. It was rare to see Dahlin caught defending a 2 on 1 when the 2 were paired back up after the Butcher experiment ended. That was something we saw nightly prior to that. He's young & improving. But Power will learn better & the team will be more successful IMHO if his partner isn't creating those difficult situations that Henri's partner is expected to cover & his partner an cover for the inevitable rookie mistakes that Power will make. And, would really rather have Power paired up with the veteran who has complemented players like Riley rather than the one who may "learn to complement" Power's game. It really is that simple. And there is an expectation that the Joker could become that player. But, would prefer to see him w/ Bryson rather than Power when camp breaks in October.