Taro T

One other positve in Byram's ledger. When Dahlin is paired with him, he really feels free to join the rush and concentrate on helping generate offense. The 2 did not work well as a pairing last year; which kind of stunk because Byram had been brought in specifically to be paired with Dahlin. This year, we were told in the off-season that Dahlin would likely be primarily paired with Samuelsson and Power. But Adams original plan seems to be working. Hoping that continues. Also hope that Adams can find Power a partner while waiting for one of Johnson, the Russians, or Samuelsson getting to a point where they are effective in an NHL top 4 role. While it would be nice to have another top 6F; believe the #4 D-man is a bigger need because he isn't on this team right now with the entire D healthy (yes, Samuelsson is injured, but he has NOT been a top 4 guy this year when he was healthy) but they are at least 6 deep and maybe 7 or 8 deep at top 6 when fully healthy.

Jiricek is someone that's right on Adams timeline and holy cow does the D look stacked in 2-3 years if they get him. If he could be serviceable as a partner for Power today would be very happy to see them pull the trigger on a move like that. Because right now, they are shy 1 top 4 D-man. Whether people like Byram or not, he's at least legitimately top 4 in the offensvie end and in transition. Expect that Adams would be looking for someone a bit more seasoned to help today; but all the moves he's made to date have been with Dahlin's timeline in mind and he'd be approaching his peak when Dahlin is firmly in his. So, maybe Jiricek might be in his wheelhouse.

Interestingly, the article starts out talking about "aggressive" expansion plans and then ends with '2, well, maybe more than 2.' Guess that they figure any expansion at all after a quarter century of no expansion counts as "aggressive." Thanks for the article and thanks for your insight your past few posts into the junior ranks.

IMHO the biggest reason that Reimer is the backup and Levi is in Ra-cha-cha is that Levi has looked good with regular usage but has not looked good getting very limited situational starts. And right now UPL is the #1 and they only have ~3 more 3 games in 4 nights stretches prior to the AS break so if he's healthy he'll be getting the lion's share of starts. Doubt they get to a point this season where they consider making Levi a 1B to UPL's 1A as they really don't start to stack btb's until March and if things are working with Reimer as the backup can't see them risking messing with UPL's psyche (and to a lesser degree the Amerks playoff push). The veteran presence is merely gravy, again, IMHO.

Would have to go back and see how the divisions were shaping up at this point in time in some previous years, but it SEEMS that the pace to make the playoffs increases as the season goes along as teams like the BJ's this year start dropping back down to their actual level and the better teams start rounding into form. So, being barely over 0.500 today when they'll need to be 0.600 or barely below it in all likelihood come April very possibly could be good enough. Presumes that UPL will keep on keepin' on and that the team will get into a groove of simply being able to play the way Ruff wants them to do rather than having to think about how to do so in addition to doing so. Getting to their 1st 4 game win streak in more than a season would be a great indicator that they are getting it. Especially with the way how the 1st game back from a road trip has been a letdown way more often than not during the drought.

Roy was assigned to Ra-cha-cha to start that season. He was not waived to Ra-cha-cha. And Thorburn wasn't waived in '05 to Ra-cha-cha (he didn't need to clear waivers that year). He was waived and claimed in '06. D'oh! Sorry about having that off too.

People forget that '04-'05 counted as a professional season for all the guys that actually played that year. And he, and Thorburn too, were a couple of guys that likely would've had callups that season but the Sabre season never happened.

Yup, Pominville cleared waivers. Thorburn got claimed. Both had long careers but 1 was a top 6 player and the other a career 4th liner. Sabres got lucky with that one. Edit: Thorburn got claimed the following year when he'd become waiver eligible. Was off a year on that one. No idea why was thinking it happened a year earlier. D'oh! The 3 players that were waived to Ra-cha-cha to start that year were Pominville, Bartovic, and Janik. Bartovic was traded to Chicago the next day for Leighton.

Yeah, a LOT of articles about why the Jints should fire Daboll (and some saying Schoen should go too) but there doesn't seem to be anything credible saying it has actually happened. (But wouldn't be surprised at all if 1 or both are gone after they get humiliated in Dallas; presumes they'll get humiliated in Dallas, not a given but doesn't seem like too risky an expectation.)

Making that streak slightly more impressive, 3 point games weren't a thing until '99-'00 (pretty sure that was the year the "loser point" was born) so you actually had to win 1/2 of the games that had a decsion in order to get to that 0.500 winning percentage. (Guess it also makes that stretch during the drought that much worse too.)

The Bruins are mortal and the Bolts are looking that way as well. The teams that have been in the Sabres boat the past couple of years haven't improved more than the Sabres have and though the Habs still seem to give the Sabres fits; the Sabres are one of the few teams that they do. Dahlin, since finally getting healthy, is playing as well as we could hope for offensively and has been ok (overall) defensively and he likely is still learning Ruff's system. They still have a tremendously difficult time getting into the zone and maintaining possession on the PP; BUT once they do so, they have actually been really effective. UPL is looking like a legit starter and based on all of a 1 game sample, it looks like Reimer could be a Shields/Roloson that can go ~0.500 in occasional relief. (If they get even better results when he gets his occassional start, awesome; but having the backup flirting with 0.500 is usually enough when you have a legit starter.) At the moment, there are only 5 teams in the east that are at/above the NHL 0.600 guaranteed* playoff pace and only 1 of them are in the Adams (though FLA is pretty much a single win in their next game from that threshold themselves). So, there's an opportunity for 2 (or 3 if we don't include FLA) teams to up their output and join them in the dance. (Amazing how bad the east has been since that weird year when all 8 playoff teams were well over 0.600 and all 8 non-playoff teams had been pretty much eliminated by the 1st of March.) All that says, the table is set that if they keep working and getting more comfortable in understanding what Ruff expects of them and executing it, then playoffs are quite doable.

He played a couple of games in Ra-cha-cha. But in trying to get more info on when they happened it seems they were on a conditioning assignment, not as a transfer at the beginning of the year. Had been thinking that was at the very beginning of the year before Don Waddell got a hard on for trying to trade for 1 of the 3 but it seems it was later in the year when Regier finally agreed to look for a trade for him. Spent way too much time trying to find which games he actually played for them that year. Just know he lost both of them. So it appears that no, none of the 3 were waived that year. Oops. EDIT: His time in Ra-cha-cha was on a conditioning assignment from Feb 28 - Mar 5. He was recalled on Mar 6 and was traded to Vancouver on Mar 9. So, no, he never was waived to Ra-cha-cha that year.

Very good night by Reimer. Will admit, did not think he had this kind of a game in him at this point of his career. Real important for the team moving forward, because the coaches now know that they can trust him and that they can decide who to play when based on keeping the workload they want for UPL and not having to overthink whether they can "risk" playing James. What a great way to head into a mini-break right before the holidays.

Yes, he was. Please point out where in the quote you quoted it says differently.

Never? '90-'92 were just a dream? Andreychuk Malarchuk Hawerchuk Here a 'chuk, there a 'chuk, ev'rywhere a 'chuk 'chuk.

Not disputing the bolded, but am curious what evidence you've seen to indicate this being the case? He didn't play at all in the preseason and he also hasn't played at all for the Sabres in the regular season.

Maybe. Any decision on who to start when needs to keep in mind that UPL WANTS to play every game and he plays better when he's getting the bulk of the starts and doesn't have realistic competition for the #1 role. (Still not sure if that last one is merely correlation or has a causation factor to it.) Personally believe getting 2 games above 0.500 IS a big deal and expect the Snarks to be playing hard early to try to not mess up their former C's big night. Depending upon what UPL's injury last week was, would be seriously considering giving him the start but would let both him and Reimer know before hand that whether he keeps going in this one will be decided at each intermission. And, yes, this backup that was brought in, twice, probably doesn't have much buy in from the coaches. He clearly had lost the backup job to the kid in early training camp. Had Levi's play not slipped from what it was earlier this year when he was getting roughly every other game, Reimer either wouldn't have been brought back or he's be the 3rd goalie waiting out his 30 day stint with the big team to help reduce the likelihood he gets claimed a 3rd time off waivers (because until he's been here a full 30 days, the Ducks can claim him and move him to their farm team). Remember, though Ruff has had backups like Roloson and Biron, he's also had Essensa. He's mentioned that he doesn't want to play the #1 on back to back nights. But just due to the workload before and after this one, could see UPL getting the nod. Am expecting it'll be Reimer, but wouldn't have any money on it and again, personally would go the other way (dependent of course upon what the injury was).

Will have to think about it more, but don't believe this will materially increase the quality of junior hockey in the US which was the original premise. Will it increase youth hockey participation? Perhaps, but expect that'd be more of giving an ancillary assist to the large footprint the NHL already put in place in the US (and appears planning to expand further in the next decade (unfortunately IMHO, because 32 teams is also IMHO about perfect)) and the current NCAA program expansion that was propelled by 2 major factors: 1 - the NCAA giving hockey and lax programs exemptions from the "a college will compete at a particular level in ALL sports that they play at a varsity level to be included in the NCAA" rule back in the 90's and 2 - the realignment of the college programs caused by the creation of BIG 10 (or 14, or 18, or wtf they're up to now; whatever it is, it AIN'T 10) hockey which was almost entirely propelled by Pegula's donation to Penn State to take their hockey program from Club level to full on D1. Those 2 were the driving force in bringing smaller schools like RIT and Niagara into Div 1 and also large schools like some of the BIG 10 and others like Arizona that never had Div 1 hockey in the past into Div 1. Will it be a driver of increasing the # of schools participating in NCAA Div 1 Hockey? Probably. But still not convinced it'll have a bigger impact than those other 2 drivers - the effects of which are still being felt and are still leading to additional expansion of NCAA ranks. Still expect this to be more of a boon to the "big boys" than to everyone in general. But you make some good points and maybe it will be a rising tide that lifts all boats. A couple of forces working against any of this significantly improving participation / talent is ice rinks are very expensive to run (especially in non-traditional markets where the weather actively works against making quality skating ice) and because of that and how much equipment players need to participate it will always be a tough sport for kids from lower income homes to participate in any significant way. Had expected the 90's roller hockey fad to be more enduring than it was and removing the need for ice to play hockey would've gone a long way towards eliminating / reducing some of these barriers. Either way; it'll be fascinating watching how this evolves and am almost positive there will be additional effects that we aren't even contemplating yet.

Seriously. It's like it confused the Snarks with the Loafs.

Unfortunately, at least until Johnson or one of the Russians are ready for the big time OR Adams makes a move, their best option for a partner for him is Jokiharju who really isn't a top 4 guy NOR a stay-at-home D-man. (If he were even 1 or the other, it would lighten Power's burden and cover some of his flaws.)

Will be very interesting to see how it plays out. And this prediction could be correct. But personally don't see that happening as this change seems like it will favor the current "haves" at the expense of lower leagues. Currently, the lower tiers (both Canadian and American) can get kids that want to end up going to US college on scholarship but aren't quite there (typically due to age but sometimes due to being a late bloomer) as they've been shut out of the CHL by the NCAA. Now, those kids can play in the CHL without effecting their NCAA eligibility. So, personally expect those lower tiers will see a bit of a talent defection rather than an infusion of talent. Kind of like how with all the consolidation of the big NCAA conferences and the football playoff there is more money than ever in college football but it seems to be going more and more to the dozen / couple of dozen programs at the very top. (The odd Indiana story not withstanding. Would be very surprised if they manage to be in the top 10 again moving forward as the coach won't get to bring a whole lot of transfers along with himself again. Though maybe his eye for HS talent that should be but aren't recruited by the big boys will be sustainable. Will be interesting to watch play out either way.) And apologies if your comment was directed to the US National Team and not the 17-20 yo hockey landscape in general. Expecting that will remain strong as the ADM does seem to be effective at least for the upper echelon players.

Pretty sure you're being optimistic there. 😉

Forgot about that. (The way Ruff had talked about taking him out of the Habs game, made it sound like it was an illness and forgot they'd said it was a minor injury that held him out of the next 2. So, still had that thought of it being an illness in the back of the brain.)

Expecting @mjd1001 is onto something with the possibility of UPL getting the start tonight. He had a relatively light work load, has only played twice in the past week, and will have 3 days of rest before the Sabres next game. Also, would expect Aube-Kubel to be the player coming out of the lineup should Thompson be ready to go; but hopefully we shall see.

More similarities: the starter missed time in November due to injury and they had a 3 headed goalie monster with management wanting to put at least one of those goalies being waived with the intension of spending time in Ra-cha-cha and also one of them finding himself on a west coast team. Almost nobody expected that team to make the playoffs. In no small part because it had been years since the offensively challenged team had seen the playoffs and they simply walked away from their best pure goal scorer who was viewed as an impediment to playing winning hockey.