Taro T

Your post brought up the Q of how many starters/#1's they've faced? Habs - Montembeault (backup) Arizona - Vejmelka (became starter, but at the time was the backup & it was his 1st ever NHL game) Vancouver - Demko (starter) Boston - Ullmark (backup) NJ - Daws (1st NHL game / backup) TB - Elliott (backup) Ducks - Stolarz (backup) LA - Quick (platoon) SJ - Reimer (platoon) Seattle - Grubauer (starter) Detroit - Nedeljkovic (starter) Caps - Vanecek (starter) Eulers - Skinner (backup, 1st ever NHL start) Loafs - Woll (backup, 1st ever NHL start) So, they're getting just under 1/3 of the other team's starters which isn't that excessive for a non-respected team. But they've also faced as many guys in their 1st ever game as they have starters.

Recency bias. He isn't even the worst Sabres head coach of the last decade. (Which might have something to do w/ wandering the desert for pretty much the last 10 years.)

Yes, the post you quoted clearly stated there are no issues w/ attendance as evidenced by the statement "(t)otally get your point that having 4,000 people in a barn that holds 18,000 is a huge problem." 😕 As for comparing Detroit & Buffalo, yes, they are both border cities. That is true. But might some of the extra attendance in Detroit be due to having a greater metro population of nearly 3x that of Buffalo? (1.2MM vs 3.5MM) And, really don't need you nor ESPN to tell me attendance is poor. Have been to 4 games so far. Have actually seen the attendance issue 1st hand. And none of this addresses the point of the post you were referring to, that your prescription to cure the poor attendance is untenable as had already been pointed out.

Well, if you're limiting it to guys that are 6'7", your pool of candidates is SEVERELY limited. Have there even been 50 guys in the league's history that are that tall? (And how many of those were goalies?)

Slightly shorter, but solider: Mario Lemieux.

Small sample size, facing a legion of backups, Granato coaching a more uptempo pressing game than his predecessors which actually WANTS guys in front of the opponent's net, finding out that healthy forwards are more effective than injured stars (who knew?), & John Cooper deciding that he didn't need a goalie for the last 6 minutes of the Tampa game. 😉 Certainly there's more to it, but that's a start.

Interesting thought. A 6th or 7th round pick could land a guy if Dallas ends up deciding to waive one. Anderson has been good. That he'd be good wasn't really in doubt. What was in doubt was could he maintain a high level of play over a full year (yet to be determined, but unlikely) and whether he could stay healthy (obviously that answer is 'no'). Tokarski has been far better than OK both last year and this. As improbable as it was. But they really do need another guy capable of giving them quality NHL minutes. Dell is not that guy.

Would've gone w/ 1 of the C's too. But Quinn had the highest ceiling of anyone left on the board. (And a really low floor, especially for a top 10 pick.) But if you saw something to make you believe his play in his 1 big season was legit & sustainable, a case can be made he was BPA. And his play since doesn't diminish the possibility he was the BPA when they were on the board.

Yep. If you have a great player to pair him with Hall can be excellent. But he hasn't shown an ability to drive on his own in a long time (if ever, at this level).

He doesn't look like the same guy that got some preseason action & the 1st few Amerks games. There's a "poise" (for lack of a better word) to his game this past week or so that was NOT there earlier.. Would be fantastic if he can keep it up.

And you are looking at this completely backwards. The point @LGR4GM is making is that the STHers have paid the going rate for tickets and at an ADVERTISED "significant savings off box office prices" (the quote is directly from the website). They can't just cut ticket prices arbitrarily. They also expect to collect revenue sharing from their league partners. There are conditions on their collecting that money, one of which is they don't arbitrarily cut prices. Totally get your point that having 4,000 people in a barn that holds 18,000 is a huge problem. But due to contracts with others, they can't simply give away seats for $10 and hope to make it up on jacked up beer prices. As Adams said, they need to rebuild trust w/ the fans. They're doing a lot of things right w/ the in game experience. They have live bands playing in the intermissions. The music they play during breaks is oftentimes selected by the fans & actually doesn't stink. They've let the individual players choose their own goal song. They have people exit the building after a W to Buffalo's own Rick James. So, they are trying. They still have to work on their POS systems because they are interminably slow and are completely cashless so you can't even try to speed it up by having cash ready to drop on the counter. There's nothing they can do about having the border issue be a huge hassle for 1/2 the fanbase (though they likely could add a rapid test station somewhere in or near the building to make it easier to get back into Canada after the game) but if they keep playing well at home attendance will pick up after the Bills season is done - that's how it always worked prior to the long sellout streak.

Skinner IS playing better, but he's still Skinner. For all the criticism Miller & the other D took for the late turnover, that puck was right on Skinner's stick. Any other winger would've won that board battle & gotten the puck out of the zone. It'll be interesting to see where Skinner ends up when Olofsson comes back. People seem to be forgetting that Olofsson was the team's leading scorer when "that 70's line" was intact. Expecting that Olofsson will go back there & if Mittelstadt's wrist ever heals that Skinner will be back w/ him.

Oddly enough corresponding to the 1st game neither Anderson nor Tokarski were between the pipes. Don't know how Tokarski became Tim Thomas, but they'll need him to keep that up. No btb's this week, but 2 the following week & 1 each the last 4 weeks of December. So, Anderson has a week to heal up before he is absolutely needed back. Don't want to see them risk messing w/ UPL's newly found confidence & skill just yet. So Craig has to be back 8 days from now.

Help us Obi-wan Michael Bales. You're our only hope. 😉

To the bolded, that is generally the case but not universally. Larsson is a very effective checking line C but is not good on the wing. Thompson seems to be trending towards being able to play C but lost at wing as well.

Not happy that they'll be playing Dell tonight, but if the rest of the crew plays as hard as they did last night maybe he can pull it off. At least TO had to go to OT last night, so they won't be fresh either. Let's see them light up a rookie getting his 1st ever NHL start.

But once people start realizing they actually ARE good at home, attendance will pick up. Too bad it was an ESPN+ game as that likely limited the viewership as well.

Rocked the blue "3rd" Spacek tonight. Worked like a charm. 😉 Agree about wearing what he wants. But don't know that anyone in AZ will take pity on a Sabres fan.

Technically, they've yet to play Dahlin on the right side. But when he was with Butcher they both would wander & he spent about 1/2 his time on the right side. And, until the WC road trip it worked very well.

It aged better than the "he needs to be in the AHL right ####ing now" posts we've seen. And by the way, he stayed with the linemates I wanted him to stay with. How did the "he needs to have Girgensons & Okposo as linemates" posts age?

To the bolded, absolutely. But as said earlier, wasn't sure of the best way to handle Cozens tonight and said flat out that I'd trust Granato's judgement more than ours. He forking nailed it. And guessing this game will result in a decrease in "Cozens belongs in the AHL" posts. At least for a day or 2.

Every ####ing shift. Including all those in the 3rd when Draisatl was put on his wing. And at the end of the day, Dylan was a +2 in a victory. Granato gets it. (The rest of us, not so much.)

True. But why waste 2+ minutes reviewing the 2nd one. If they can't figure it out in 1 minute, it should stand.

~5,000. Tomorrow will likely hit 8-10,000.

And it didn't turn out he needed the sheltering of Kyle & Z either. Nor did he need to be sent down to figure it all out. As said earlier, wasn't sure of the best way to handle him, but trusted Granato's judgement more than either of ours. Guess he nailed it.