Taro T

Want absolutely nothing to do with a 75% Kane. That's the guy that did absolutely nothing for the Rags in the playoffs. IF he's at least back to 90%, then maybe. (Still don't want him, but won't absolutely hate the idea.) Anything less is a hard no.

You Rick Martin's kid? 😉

So, worry about that when Quinn and Thompson are actually available and demonstrating they've recovered from their injuries. Waiving him now makes no sense if the goal is playoffs. (And the goal is playoffs.)

Personally, expect that they believe the bigger issue for the team is the bottom 6 rather than the top 6, which is why we saw them give Biro and Rosen Rousek an opportunity when injuries were mounting but have yet to give Kulich or Rosen a look.

He had the primary assist on Dahlin's goal and drew the penalty that created the PP that they actually (miraculously?) converted. Seems from here, that he had a pretty significant impact on the outcome in Chi-town.

To the bolded, that is a definite blackmark on the coaching staff. The team too often gives up a goal in the 1st 2-3 shifts which sets everyone onto their heels for large parts of the 1st period. Especially considering how Granato doesn't get too concerned about line matching and how low keyed he and his staff seem to be, would like to see him "reward" the line that played best the previous game with the 1st shift of the game. If you can't internally get that initial jump out of the gate, maybe make it a reward for excelling the most the previous game and hope that brings a bit of a jump to that initial shift. Faceoffs will get better as the C's get older/more experienced. PP - don't see any cure on the horizon. And THAT's another failure on the coaching front. (Personally, also expect the PK is going to continue trending downward unless the goaltending picks up as long as Thompson is out, because the PK relies on the length of the PKers to disrupt the other team's PP rather than being aggressive to disrupt the PP. When they get more faith in the GT, the PK can get more aggressive.) They DO go to the net, but typically can't get the puck there as well once somebody without the puck is there. And when they drive the puck to the net, there often isn't support. (They are not good at collecting rebound opportunities.) Expect that will improve as the lines get more settled and players know better what their linemates are going to do.

Expecting this is correct. He has not seen a single game night from the pressbox this season but somehow he's going to get sent down to the minors, doesn't seem likely.

We agree he shouldn't get a 6th year should they miss next year too. But that doesn't mean that he won't get it. As to the 2nd part, if they make it this year and then miss again next year, then would say Adams is wrong as well. He's sold a slow cook to have a long run near the top. He needs to deliver on that extended run. And if he does, having taken 3 or 4 years to get to that point will hopefully have been worth it. Don't know that'll be the case. (Wasn't sold on re-retooling and punting Eichel and Reinhart because it did mean extending the drought at a minimum 2 more years and bringing in a goalie, a Danault and a couple of other pieces could've had them in the playoffs.) But we are where we are. And DON'T want to re-re-re-retool with a GM that has a completely different idea of what direction the team should be going.

Adams is betting that he has put together a roster that is good enough to make the playoffs and he doesn't need to trade away prospects/picks yet. (Or at a minimum, as he has been "close" to several deals; that he doesn't need to trade away as many as it would take to increase the probability that he's correct that they're good enough as is to make the playoffs.) He MAY be right. If he is, standing firm on his beliefs will end up having been the right choice. But this cuts the margin for error razor thin. It could cost him his job. If it does, so be it. But personally, would give him 1 more year IF they don't make it this year. Because do believe that once this team makes the playoffs, they're going to stay there for a long time. But if this team that seems to truly love their coach can't get it done for him and continue to make the same errors that have cost too many games last year and this year as well, then they really will have demonstrated they need a different coach. But also believe this discussion is premature. They win tomorrow and on Black Friday and suddenly this board sounds like it did after the Minny W.

IF they miss the playoffs this year and next Adams should be gone. (Realize, rereading it that wasn't as clear as it should've been.) EXPECT he'd get to come back after 2 playoff misses because Granato will be the sacrificial lamb after fail #2.

Well, yeah, Knox should not be a primary target. But for forcing the D to get lined up less than optimally, having him back in the lineup would be beneficial. MHO, YMMV. Also, it seemed that Allen's struggles started with the shoulder injury. Expect that had more to do with the O's problems than finally trusting Kincaid to be on the field with Knox. Further, it's only a 1 game sample, but Brady had a plan to gain info about what the Jest were doing vs different formations and used that as the game went on. Never got the feeling that Dorsey knew how to get that info about the D nor how to use it. (He very well may in his next go around should he ever get back to being an OC again.) Fully expect that if they're running 12 under Brady, it'll be more effective than it was under Dorsey.

Until Thompson and Quinn are healthy, he's definitely one of their top 6 F's. When they are available again, the team should revisit that determination. If he's still one of their top 9 and they want to use him on at least the 2nd PP, they should probably keep him up beyond those 2 coming back. And they should revisit the Q before he's on the roster for 40 games. At that point, does his being here increase the chances of making the playoffs? If the answer is 'yes' then he stays the whole year. If 'no' have fun with Savoie. And THAT is the only real question that matters. Personally, don't really care about the ELC. As long as he isn't here for 40 or more games, his status regarding FA doesn't get affected. And if he earns being here beyond 40 games, keeping him around now is more valuable than having him under team control for 1 extra year (presuming a contract that carries into UFA years can't get worked out for whatever reason when the time comes to work one out).

Adams should get 1 additional fail IF they miss the playoffs this year. Considering Granato didn't make any adjustments to his staff this past off-season even though STs were a joke last year, he should not get an additional fail IF they miss the playoffs this year. But fully expect that Granato gets 1 more fail and Adams gets 2. And, can fully understand the sentiment that Adams should be gone with a miss this year because he made the margin for error much smaller than it needed to be by not making any moves at the F rank nor the G rank. (Figuring the moves that were made at the end of the year would be enough for this year, even after Quinn's training injury.) And, with all that said, still believe this team winds up ~103 and in the playoffs. Sometime around the flip of the calendar, this team will find another gear. The D pairings will be settling in, the team should be used to doing what they're getting asked in the D zone, the goalies will fully understand what they're up against, and a couple of key pieces missing from the top 6 should be back.

If Kincaid is lined up away from the T (or out wide on the same side as Knox) isn't that effectively the same as the 11? But with the added bonus that the D doesn't know if the Bills will line up in a heavy formation or not just from the personnel. Absolutely loved the Kincaid pick when it was made and seeing him able to block as well as he did on Sunday this early in his pro career makes it an even better choice. They can start going 'no huddle' with Diggs, Davis/Shakir, Knox, Kincaid, and Cook/Murray and the D has to be ready to try to stop literally the entire play book because you can run 2 TE power formations with that personnel and you can run empty formations with them (and pretty much anything inbetween).

Merely putting it into perspective. It IS impressive. But it isn't like he's threatening Gretzky's single season records this year. (Unless he finds a way to successfully lobby the league to play about 40 games against those 2 this year.)

Only 1/2 of which came against Edmonton and San Jose. (Does he get 4 games against each or only 3? If he could've gotten 16 against them like back in the old days they might be confusing him for Bobby Orr. 😉 )

The attendance is up from last year. STs are up from last year. Both by several 1,000. IF they weren't following in the Canes footsteps making it tough for visiting fans that travel well to buy tix, attendance would look a lot better. Both Moe-ray-all and Boston had last season early year weeknight attendance in large part because they wouldn't sell tix to people they expected were Hab and B fans repectively. Personally expect attendance to pick up pretty significantly once the Bills season is over. If they're even close to a playoff spot that'll be pretty much a given. But, go ahead and deem the fans to have spoken en masse less than 1/4 of the way while still in the heart of Bills season.

Davis is primarily in the game for his blocking. When he leaves next year because some team gives him an offer the Bills can't match, wonder whether the Bills bring in another larger guy to fill Davis' role as the 2WR or if they give the smaller Shakir who won't be as effective at blocking but seems to catch everything thrown his way the opportunity there. They could probably get away with Shakir if they really do start going to a lot of 12 personnel sets like they planned to do before Knox broke his wrist.

Whatevs.

Yes he does. D'oh!

And we agreed that he SHOULD have addressed Quinn being out for 1/2 the season. Pretty sure we also agreed that Okposo shouldn't have been brought back. It wasn't and he was. And with running with the 3 headed goalie monster, that leaves them icing 11-7 or playing both Jost and Olofsson (and Okposo too).

Agree w/ you other post that he is not going to be the driver of a line. Expect he could be effective on the 4th line if he had a 2nd winger better than Okposo. But he and Girgensons are not good enough to overcome the boat anchor that the captain has become. Wonder if putting Jost onto that line with those 2 or one of the kids (Rousek, Kulich, Rosen, ???) could get that line improved enough to be an effective 4th line. Sliding Okposo to the 3rd line (which ice time wise is actually the 4th line), tanks it. But they aren't getting much from it either. Find a way to get the 4th line effective, and suffer through the 3rd lines minutes. But, right now, at age 22, no Krebs is not good. He's particularly not good enough to pick up a linemate that is even worse. And he's being asked to do that on the 4th line, and has also been asked to do that when he's been put onto the Frankenstein line the handful of times he's been bumped to that 3rd line.

Would guess that would put him about 4 weeks away from them playing him in a best case scenario. Would be a very nice Christmas present to get. Wonder if the December 30 Columbus game is the target? (They have 3 playoff teams in a row right before that game; could see them easing him back in against presumably lesser competition for the 1st night back.)

Lacking both Thompson and Quinn, with the choice of the 18th skater being RJ2, Clifton, Olofsson, or Jost; can see why they do prefer it. (Personally, would prefer they go 12-6; but Granato didn't ask. 😉 )

You REALLY expect them to just go with 6 D tomorrow? Jokiharju is on the 4th pair with Bryson because he's probably still recovering from whatever it is that kept him out earlier and so that Power and RJ2 can get used to playing with each other and Samuelsson can get extra work with Dahlin. (He hasn't been himself since coming back into the lineup.) He'd been practicing with Bryson before the Chicago game too, but played with both Dahlin and with Power that game. Am expecting that to happen again. Expect he'll probably be 4th in total ice time again too with about as much as EJ gets and more than either Clifton or RJ2 (who will essentially split the 6th D spot, but primarily on different pairings).