Taro T

No Schlitz, Sherlock. A significant portion of that cap space will be gone then, but the cap will also be significantly higher then too. So, worry about that in 2 years. Greenway is only under contract through next season so ramifications on the cap 2 years from now have little bearing on a potential Greenway deal today. Having a $3MM 4th liner (should they make a move to put a goal scorer on Mittelstadt's line) is NOT an issue to be concerned about. Right NOW cap space is an asset that the Sabres can use whether it be retaining salary on a deal shipping Olofsson out the door or taking in some other team's overpaid soon to be UFA. Just because Adams hasn't used that asset the past 2 years doesn't mean he must not use it again this year.

Both of which they already have in spades. So why would they need to trade away Greenway to get an extra (presumably) late 1st (if he'd even bring that back; he didn't cost that for the Sabres to get him)? It makes no sense with the team sitting with nearly $9MM in cap space (which is effectively nearly $17MM in cap space at this point in the season) to be trading him away.

They can't lose every game they ever play against the Krackers, so why not get that 1st win tonight? Will be a great test as to whether they've turned a corner with the flipping of the calendar.

He IS replaceable. But the Sabres have nobody in the system that can replace him within the next 2 years. IF he is traded (and personally, don't see it happening), they then need to go out and get a replacement for him. He has a skill set and a role on this roster that nobody else possesses. Trade him, and the team that people already decry as having too much of 1 style player and not enough of the Greenway types now has 1 less Greenway type and (because it's all that they have in the system) 1 more of that other style player. And, this is not addressed towards your point, but have seen people here state that Greenway should be traded and the pieces he brings back should be part of a package for a real D-man. What pieces can he bring back that the team doesn't already have to use in a trade? They have (at least this year and POSSIBLY next year) cap space; they have high end prospects; they have draft picks available; they have players on expiring contracts. Wtf is he bringing back that is magically more tradable than what they already have as trade bait?

Why would he? By NOT concentrating on it he both got a Brinks truck backed up to his house AND gets his Springs free to do what he wants without having to worry about that pesky 2nd round of the playoffs.

That, or he'll take a major paycut to continue to get to wear his blue and white underoos.

Hoping their idiot leader kept his "I wish it was colder" T-shirt. 'Cause, he's going to get his wish.

Expecting you'll get your wish this week on that. He was in street clothes the 2nd 1/2 of yesterday's game. Messed up his knee. They'll miss his blocking, but not his not being able to get onto the same page with Allen on which way to break a route. He and Josh not seeing eye to eye on 3rd down on that 1st drive kept the game much closer than it should've been.

Antidisestablishmentarianism. 😉

Congrats to your boys as well. Hopefully they kick the Pokes in the arse next week.

Alive.

Pretty sure the Browns are locked into the 5 slot, so the Fishies would be either the 2 or the 6. A Bills loss or tie locks the Fishies into the 2. A Bills win drops the Fishies to 6. A Bills win locks them into the 2. A Bills tie locks them into the 6. A Bills loss will put them in 8 or 7 depending upon whether the Jags won earlier this afternoon or not. But, make it easy on themselves and just win this game like the "should." Then they'd host the Stillers if the Jags didn't win and they'd host the Eulers if the Jags did win.

3 A's. And, as mentioned earlier, all 3 wearing an A scored a goal for them last night.

Girgensons got called for a slash along the boards on the puck carrier. Clifton got called for interference for a check he threw in the slot with the puck nowhere near. Girgensons got called for a slash along the boards on the puck carrier. Clifton got called for interference for a check he threw in the slot with the puck nowhere near.

Good catch. Yep. Dahlin will have to wait until Tuesday to get his next ENG.

That might be the best hockey game they've been in since sometime middle of the year last year. Both teams were skating. Both got chances (the Pens for the most part better than the Sabres, but they both got chances). Both got big saves. Both were getting ridiculous penalties called on them (the refs were very fair, but they did call an awful lot of ticky tack penalties both ways). It was a really fun game to watch. For the 1st time ever, the Sabres have both Levi and UPL on their games. Let's hope both can sustain it. Levi played his best game of this year, and likely his best NHL game on Thursday in Moe-ray-all and UPL followed that up with his best game of the year, and likely his best NHL game ever. The Sabres gave up a lot of chances, but UPL was up to the task and they did a reasonable job of clearing the relatively few rebounds out of high danger areas. Once again, a really fun game to watch. Would like to have been there. And personally prefer that had one Pittsburgh team had to win and one lose tonight, wanted it to be this permutation of that finish. The Sabres took care of business today; let the Bills take care of business tomorrow (or let Tenessee bail them out; Tennessee sent them onto the 17 year drought, IF they need help, it would be appropriate for those SOBs to finalize removing the Home Run Throw Forward curse 😉 ).

All 3 goals by the guys wearing A's tonight.

Pretty sure they said the Moe-ray-all one was his 3rd. So, that should be #4.

They keep showing the IC Light sign as the puck moves out of the Sabres "shoot twice" end. Anybody else who grew up with the Old Vienna beer jingle hear "just say I.C., add an L, add an E, and you've got Lice" when you see that sign?

Who knew?

Sabres had the same odds as the Pens had that year. They were 2 of the teams with 3 balls in the lottery; the Rags and BJs being the others. Everybody else had 1 or 2 depending upon their results the past 3 seasons.

Yeah, with the Bills and Fish having the last game of this weekend, you have to figure the winner will definitely get a Sunday game next weekend and the other one SHOULD get one also. (Presuming both are in the playoffs this year.)

Just win.

Right now, it's very much on inexperience and poor coaching. Tack on key players playing through injuries and it's a very rough combination. Personally expect that Granato does have the leadership to keep the team on the rails because if the team had the mindset of the fans they'd be the Sharks. There hasn't been any stretch where some momentum has built; they've never gotten on a roll and that is painfully frustrating. It's frustrating for those of us just watching it, it has to be maddening to be living it. But, except for when Levi was down in the minors, they've never been on a long losing streak. One 3 game streak (which followed a stretch of 7 points in 5 games) and less than a handful of 2 game losing streaks. Keeping the truly horrible losing streaks at bay, IMHO, is a sign that Granato hasn't lost the room. But the PP being horrible for pretty much the entire season and their continued inability to win games at home both shout out that the coaching simply isn't good enough. Yeah, it was nice seeing them change up the PP; personally not convinced that wasn't more an accident than a plan and also not convinced that an actually reasonable PK unit would have all 4 defenders continue to focus on Thompson regardless of where he went which is what opened up the low cross ice passes. Would absolutely take 2 or 3 more games with 2 PP goals before teams realize the Sabres have adjusted, but not expecting 6 weeks of it again like we saw last year. Don't know what to do about the home game woes. Expect that could come down to simply getting them out of the mindset of trying to put on a show at home. The transition game kills them at home; both too many turnovers leading to odd-man rushes and getting caught too deep with nobody covering leading to odd-man rushes. Both of which, if you aren't looking for the highlight reel play, maybe you don't go for the overly fancy play that blows up in your face. (And that's a significant oversimplification of what they're doing; but without writing a novella ...) Still like Granato. (Not convinced he's the right man for the job at this moment in time; but also expect he's here at least into next year so there is that.) But want to see him make at minimum 2 changes to his assistants like yesterday. But, expect this roster is what we have through next season. Kulich will be on Mittelstadt's line bumping Greenway to the 4th line with Krebs and likely some vet brought in as a FA. And maybe one D besides E Johnson isn't here as the mythical push/search for a Chychrun to round out the top 4 continues; but expect most if not all the other 6 back next year. And expect them to return Levi and UPL between the pipes. If they don't make at least a push towards the playoffs, maybe they make bigger changes. But not expecting them. And that does increase the anxiety levels because it makes missing the playoffs this year a real possibility and people will have an entire off-season of expecting a team that wasn't good enough to return en masse with the expectation that simply being a year closer to their prime won't be good enough for the jump necessary. Can't blame you for not wanting to be here right now. This place is dark. But, it is a new year, maybe Ellis got a PP Coaching for Dummies book for Christmas and has been studying it religiously and maybe the Levi we saw on Thursday is the one we get the rest of the season, and maybe they'll stay healthy for a spell, and ... (####, hope springs eternal. Somebody on the outside today will be on the inside come April; why not these schmucks.)

Doubt it. But we shall see. He seemed to enjoy himself in Lauderdale last year. (TO in the dead of winter could be another story altogether, but expect he likes the recognition.)