Taro T

If Comrie plays like he did prior to getting injured, this move will work out fine. But, if he doesn't, still would rather have Levi around taking that 1 game per week in Buffalo than Comrie playing like he did in the 2 games post-reactivation. As said earlier, don't see either him having stayed up in Buffalo nor getting sent down to Ra-cha-cha messing up his career trajectory at-toll (or however it is that Ray says that phrase). But want the Sabres to make the playoffs THIS YEAR. Hoping Comrie is up to the task on Sunday. If he is, cool.

Though he's 35, he wasn't 35 at the end of the last league year, so he didn't qualify for a 1 year incentivized deal for this contract because of age and he played 73 games last year so he didn't come close to missing 100 days on IR last year and he didn't qualify for a 1 year incentivized deal of this contract because of injury status either. He should be eligible for a bonus laden 1 year deal next year, should he and a team decide they want to sign/offer one.

Bills spitting the bit at the same time the Sabres are treading water just outside of where they need to be and slowly losing runway to get there doesn't help to lighten the mood around here.

Makes sense. If Greenway is going to play tomorrow, somebody had to go down. Rosen has been playing on the 3rd line and they brought Biro up presumably to play on the 4th line. Wonder who sits tomorrow, Jost, Rosen, or Olofsson? Would expect Rosen, but who knows. Also, wonder which D sits? Or do 2 of the F's sit and Jost joins Rosen in the press box?

To fill in for Girgensons spot on the 4th line (which is actually 3rd in ice time). And makes for a very interesting 3rd line Greenway - Kid/Jost - Olofsson/Kid.

Expect you're close on the reasoning for going 11-7, but it's more nuanced than that IMHO. He wants Clifton to play on the PK. He wants R Johnson to play 5v5 during the 1st 2 periods, but not so much in the 3rd. So, he essentially has them combine for a 5th D's normal ice time. He's very comfortable with the other 5 D in their current roles (though many here would like to see some variations on how those other 5 get used; and since he's the coach, he gets to call the shots). So, he likes not having to bench any of the 7 he trusts (at least for certain aspects of the game). That by going 11-7, he can avoid having 3 or possibly even 4 rookie F's in the lineup, only 1 of which (Benson) he trusts in crunch time only makes it that much easier for him to go 11-7. And, all that said, am really looking forward to them getting some F's healthy again so they can get back to 12-6. And, looking at what you wrote again, believe we're on the same page about the F's.

IF they actually are completely healthy (doubt we see that the entire year, but maybe), yeah, the 3 Amerk F's go back, unless somebody's knocking it out of the park by then and then one of Benson getting set to WA, Johnson going back to the Amerks, or Bryson finally getting waived happens.

Not that it means anything (had never noticed the site had projected return dates for players on IR), but Puckpedia is forecasting Thompson's and Girgenson's return dates as December 2, Quinn December 27, and Greenway tomorrow. It seems they're citing Lysowski's articles about the injuries, so would take those projections with a HUGE grain of salt. So, take them for whatever they're worth; but if those are even close to accurate, the Sabres may be close to full strength much sooner than this kid expected.

And his is a very unusual situation. He was playing great in Juniors and then the Sabres convinced him to preemptively get double hip surgery. He never was the same goalie because the hips didn't feel right. Last year he corrected one of the major issues he had in hunching down some in the butterfly leaving the top of the net wide open. But his movement was still very slow. He's said he really worked on nutrition and conditioning this past summer, but he did not look good in the preseason and was 3rd on the depth chart. His movement was still subpar. But in the past few games, his movement within the crease has been significantly better, and in the last game against the Rags he had that paddle save where he dove across the crease but before that, he had one where he did the splits and got completely across the crease in position and made a huge save. Maybe he has finally gotten to a point that even though that movement still feels weird/wrong (or even better, maybe it finally doesn't feel weird), he trusts his doctors, trainers, and coaches that it really isn't going to #### up his hips/knees to push that hard across the crease. IF he has, this elevated play could be sustainable. Don't know that it is, but it could be. Will also be interesting to see if teams alter their tactics now that they'll actually be trying to get a book on him since he's the Sabres starter. And if they do, will he and the rest of the team be able to counteract those changing tactics. If he keeps playing like he did the last 2 games, Adams insisting that he trusts all 3 goalies and that he didn't see anyone available that was as significantly better than them for what the price would be be, might for the 1st time in 4 years have actually been a good call. (Way too early to say that is is, but it might actually work out.)

Yeah, what he asked. (Presuming it's the personal matter, but am really confused by this one. Hoping he's not dealing with a family member in a very precarious situation.)

As long as they don't ice the puck when those 3 are out there, they could probably get away with using that line in very sheltered usage. (Give them Dahlin and the Blues 4th line and see what happens.) But am not expecting to see that. Heck, they might play Jost instead of either Rosen or Kulich tomorrow night.

With Levi having been sent down and Girgensons on IR and Greenway on IR-NR, they were at 22 players on the active roster. So, Biro is the 23rd player on the roster. When Greenway (who will presumably be the 1st one back, but who knows) is ready to go again, some other move will have to be made. Had thought that either Rosen or Kulich had been up on an emergency recall; but Greenway isn't counting against the 23 man limit, so they both could have been up on regular recall.

Sorry, thought the St. Louis game was tonight, not tomorrow. Was going off Puckpedia's projections for Greenway's return. But had heard/read that he would miss the St. Louis game (which is why Biro got called up). So, based on all that, thought Greenway was rejoining the team when they got back from St. Louis. NR is Non-Rostered. So he's on the team's reserve list, but he doesn't count against the 23 man roster limit. With the additional IR designation, it would appear he's on the Injured Reserve list as well. He took part in the morning skate of the 1st game he missed (Pens at home, right?) but Granato said after that he was waiting on injury news on one player before committing to 12-6 that night. They ran 11-7 and added that Greenway was out for a personnal matter.

Greenway is not listed on the roster (he's on some version of IR through today's game), so prior to bringing Biro up, the team only had 22 active healthy players. They now, with Biro up have 13-8-2. If Greenway is reactivated tomorrow (as expected) then somebody else will have to get sent down (presuming no injuries tonight in St. Louis).

Wonder if he wanted the 1 year deal to have the flexibility to sign a bonus-laden 1 year deal next year with whomever he signs with? Could effectively allow the team he's with next year (presuming he's the 1st guy to get this surgery and actually recover from it and he plays again next year, a monsterously big presumption at this point in time) to circumvent the cap a bit if the team is strapped for cap space. (He'd qualify for a bonus laden 1 year contract by virtue of being 35 come June 30 and may also qualify from missing 100+ days due to injury this year (depending upon when he actually starts to play for the Wings).) Multiyear deals with performance bonuses for guys that aren't on ELC's are a no-no.

THIS season, it is unlikely, but not impossible that he'll make a move or 2 prior to the deadline. In future seasons, he's going to have to start to make moves on the same sort of timelines as the rest of the league because his treasure trove of prospects are going to start to become waiver eligible and the team will actually have to being to consider possibly having to navigate the salary cap. But he might get away with moves of a similar scale and timeline as this past summer for 1 more year. (Haven't looked closely at when some of the younger guys start becoming waiver eligible, not sure how long everybody in system has been under contract.)

Here's to hoping Comrie plays well vs Nashville on Sunday.

True. But don't agree that since coming back from injury that Comrie has been better than Levi. And this is where/why yours truly disagrees with the "send Levi to Ra-cha-cha" crowd. The Sabres need to win hockey games and make the playoffs. They should be playing their 2 best goalies. 100% agree that UPL is the best of the 3 right now. Do not agree at all that Comrie is the 2nd best of the 3. And if Levi is the 2nd best, he should be staying in Buffalo getting 30-40% or so of the starts (UPL should get 50-55%; with Comrie getting a game here or there). The team is 0-2-0 in Comrie's starts since coming back from injury. They're 2-1-1 in Levi's starts since HE came back from injury and the 1 regulation loss was against the B's before their bubble burst. There is no pressing need at present to move away from the 3 headed monster. IF Levi costs them games, fine, send him down. But would like to see how he does against St. Louis 1st (and they likely will give that game and Carolina to UPL); so see how he does vs Nashville. See where he's at for a couple of weeks as the #2; if he can't hack it, absolutely send him down. But don't just send him down because he's a hothouse orchid that needs to be getting #1 usage RIGHT NOW or his entire NHL journey will be irreparably harmed. Because his isn't and it won't. (It won't ruin him to get sent down either; but the decision HAS TO BE will they win more games with Levi as the 2 or Comrie as the 2. And that needs to be the ONLY criterion at THIS point. If they make a trade for a F or a true tp 4 D and now can no longer afford to keep the 3 headed monster going; well make a decision at that time. Or if Comrie is clearly the 2, make a decision. But right now, they aren't going 11-7 because of the 3 headed monster and Comrie hasn't come close to locking up the backup role since coming back.) Edit: Welp, nevermind. (Still not convinced Comrie is better right now than Levi is.)

Wtf is your issue? Have said REPEATEDLY that UPL is currently the #1.

If the Sabres skaters played the same way in Washington that they did that night in Washington, honestly don't see UPL getting the win there that night. They were hanging the goalie out to dry a lot that night. MAYBE they play better in front of UPL (after the 1st 5 minutes of the Avs game, they actually played well in front of him that night at home) that night in DC; but am not convinced. And didn't want UPL to get the start in Joisey, because they needed to have him available and in the right place tonight vs the Rags. Any of the 3 SHOULD be able to get the W in St. Louis. They need to win in Carolina. IF they're very comfortable that UPL will be on his game Saturday if he goes Wednesday too, then fine go with the hot hand. But, if not, get another goalie going too and come back on Saturday with the guy that gives them the best chance to win that game.

He locked down the #1 role in the Penguins game. Personally, would start Levi against St. Louis. They need UPL to be ready to go in Carolina on Saturday. Worry about who starts vs Nashville after that one's done.

And, for once, the Sabres actually had a good start. They didn't score on either chance, but the Mitts line had a killer opportunity on each of its 1st 2 shifts. That seemed to help boost the other lines too.

Getting good goaltending matters. (Not that Comrie got much help in Joisey, but if he could've gotten that 1st one that got by, and he had a chance to, the whole game could've gone differently. Doubt that would've been enough on the night that Hischier finally gets back in the lineup; but that 2-fer had them pretty well sunk before the game even started.) That, and young teams tend to be inconsistent. (And, it being the Rags last game without Fox didn't hurt matters either. 😉 )

In general, not a fan of 11-7, but after watching what they did with 2 full lines of bottom 6ers vs Joisey was hoping that if Samuelsson was healthy that they'd run 11-7 tonight. If Greenway is back next game, would go 12-6, but if not, would run 11-7 again but letting Kulich get the 6 minutes of ice time rather than Rosen.

He has looked really good since getting back into the lineup. Much different player than he was earlier in the year. It's good to be healthy.