Taro T

Peterka may become a good player in his own end, but both Quinn and Benson were known for that prior to getting to the NHL. JJ, not so much. And, yeah, until Frick and Frack aren't a thing, should probably expect them to continue to be joined at the hip when both are healthy. But expect Quinn-Cozens-Benson could be a very good line in its own end once they are all 'all growed up.'

Granato is on record as saying he doesn't consider it a Line 1, Line 2 situation. He actually said it's up to the other team to decide which is line 1 and which is line 2 and they'll make it known by who they play against the Sabres lines. And the one getting the easier matchups should be more effective that night (this sentence is paraphrased far more than the prior). Granato is on record as saying he doesn't consider it a Line 1, Line 2 situation. He actually said it's up to the other team to decide which is line 1 and which is line 2 and they'll make it known by who they play against the Sabres lines. And the one getting the easier matchups should be more effective that night (this sentence is paraphrased far more than the prior).

He would also be at 3 games left (but for the Amerks). He can play in 9 more Sabres games before burning his 1st ELC year.

Yep. No Bills trades yet. Though they are still rumored to be one of up to 4 teams still kicking the tires on Jackson from Chicago. The Levi Wallace rumors haven't subsided yet either. Would guess it's about a 25% chance the Bills make a move and 1 of those 2 would be the guy they bring in. Surtain would be EX-PEN-SIVE in draft capital and can't see Beane being willing to part with as much as it would take. EDIT: or it's a 100% chance the Bills make a move and it's Douglas from GB. (That post didn't age well.)

Time on a conditioning stint when the player isn't coming off BF-LTIR counts as active roster for accrued seasons for pension and FA. It is also supposed to count against the 23 man active roster. Don't believe it counts against the burning of a year of the ELC for having played in 10 games because the player isn't actually playing any NHL games. Only time in actual NHL games counts towards that 10 game threshold to prevent the ELC from sliding a year. Time on a conditioning stint coming off BF-LTIR doesn't count against the team's 23 man active roster. But, in order to bring him onto the active roster, the team will need to have an open slot for him. Time on IR doesn't count as active roster for the 23 man roster, but it does count as active roster in terms of accrued seasons for pension & FA matters provided the injury was hockey related and from the current season. Benson has played in 6 of the Sabres 1st 9 games. He can play in 3 more wthout "burning" the 1st year of his ELC. But if he plays in that 4th game that would get him to 10, his 1st ELC year can no longer slide.

Overall, not really, but he's still only 22. In 2-3 years, with Quinn and Benson as his W's, that could be a very good 2 way line. And he has shown it in spurts. His 1st game against McDavid standing out as the prime example of it. It's hard to say how much of his getting a bit lost in his own end and over chasing the puck was due to him not being able to play a defensive game and how much of it was his coach wanting him to be agressive at both ends of the ice.

IF he was put on IR, it's at least 1 week he's out from Sunday. So, they might consider him only out through Saturday's game which from this point is a few days. But he'll technically not play in a game until at least next Friday (which is the Sabres 1st game after the Loafs game) which is nearly 2 weeks from his previous game. So, depending upon how you're looking at it, they both could be correct. (And, on a different note, they'd better win the TO game because stewing on a loss in that one for nearly a week will leave this place almost unbearable.)

1.5 is "a few?"

The bolded would seem to be the case. They'll have another morning skate tomorrow where Granato will have his lines set. If he liked the way Biro looked there today, he'll be back tomorrow but could find himself planted on the bench for much of the 3rd if the game is tight.

If Adams wasn't willing to put him on waivers after his looking like hot death at the end of last season and in the preseason, there is no way he's going to risk losing him to waivers after pitching a shutout against one of the best teams in the league. @Weave was right. The 3 headed monster is here to stay. 😟

Stand corrected. 🍺

Either way, the Lysowski tweet states that the injury was from "a few weeks ago."

He did miss games earlier this season. But it wasn't stated that was due to injury. Presumed they simply wanted to give him a chance to watch a game or 2 with a coach right next to him discussing the play.

Yes, he does when he's ready to come off IR. Hoping that however this plays out that if he and/or Savoie aren't going to get regular action down the stretch this season in Buffalo that they both get sent back before they reach 40 games on the Sabres roster (not necessarily playing but being on the roster). Because that is when they get credit for a year of service in the NHL and that does bring them each 1 year closer to RFA and UFA statuses. Considering how Adams has handled other young players, doubt either would stay up past that limit if they are just going to be up for training purposes and not to help win games.

Hadn't realized Benson had sustained an injury a few weeks ago. Any word on when he was 1st injured (was it from training, the prospects camp, TC, other)? Hoping it isn't groin. That could linger all season whether he's in Buffalo or Washington.

Actually, when Jost 1st showed up, he tended to get the C shifts on that line and that really gave Mittelstadt an opportunity to not have to try to do everything for his line (which, while the 2nd winger changed a fair amount over the 1st weeks of the season was primarily him, Olofsson, and Asplund). Mitts was winning puck battles when those 2 were his linemates, but he then had nowhere to go with the puck and lost it along the boards fairly consistently. When Jost got onto that line, Mitts started to pick up significantly as he now had someone to pass to. Mitts was playing well before Thompson got injured and Granato swapped the 2 to give Thompson the chance to have less responsibility on the 2nd line's W. Which is why Granato was comfortable with making that move.

Krebs has THAT timing issue that you mentioned, that they're in win NOW mode so they can't put his development ahead of the team's success. But he also has the timing of there being at least 6 legit prospects that could all be ready to get real looks within the next 2 seasons and there aren't many open slots above his on the team. When Mittelstadt and then Thompson were initially getting pencilled in as the 1 C, there weren't 9 potentially top 9 guys on the roster nor were there 2 lines worth of guys chomping at the bit with legit chances to get looks. There wasn't as much competitition for jobs when Casey and Tage were being given opportunities to show whether they were up to the task. It's a good problem for the team to have, but Adams will have to be adept as he decides who to keep and how to get max values for the ones he doesn't have a dressing room stall for.

You could very well be right about that. And didn't see much from him last year. But, personally, am not ready to write off a 20 yo that isn't expected to be a scorer that's only in the 2nd year of his ELC. Figure he'd be due on the big club about 3 seasons from now IF he's going to make it. A lot can happen in that time.

Expecting Jost stays the 13th F until they're at a point they'd lose one of the younger guys to waivers trying to send him down 1 more time. At which time, he becomes somebody else's Hinostroza. Krebs is definitely on the bubble once some more of the youth is ready to step up. Olofsson is the 1st off the island. Okposo isn't far behind. Krebs on paper has more talent than Girgensons does, but the games aren't played on paper and Z is still in his late 20s and a leader on the team. Unless one of the regular current top 9 skaters gets moved in a true hockey transaction (either upgrading G (not happening anytime soon) or (more likely) adding a true top 4 defender), when Savoie/Benson, Kulich, Rosen, & Rousek are ready to make the squad; Krebs would seem to be the next guy on the short list to be moved to make room. Am still intrigued by the 'concept of Kozak' and wonder if he'll grow into the 4C role or if that will have to come from outside the organization. (Haven't caught any Amerks action yet this year, so no idea how he's looked so far.)

Bills signed Fournette to the PS to take Harris' place while he's on IR. Good low risk, high reward signing. Guess that means the rumors the Bills were looking to add Derrick Henry are done. Bills still have 1 open roster spot on the 53 man roster, so they might be bringing in 1 more guy. (Rumors are they're interested in CB Johnson from the Bears.)

3 sets of double K's; what sort of Russ Meyer alien flick you watching? A single pair of double D's is plenty. 😉

There was a lot and it had a pattern to it. That's enough said on that subject.

Don't believe the bolded is correct. (It definitely wasn't in the past; haven't heard of any rule changes regarding it so am presuming it still isn't the case.) Teams don't often wear their 3rds on the road because their 3rds are typically dark so the team can wear them at home. And 3rd typically being dark is a big part of why the league went to darks at home. (Very few teams had light 3rd; the Rags did with the white version of their Mike Richter facemask unis but that's the only one that immediately springs to mind (certainly there were others, just not recalling them right now).) Equipment managers griped about having to ship/travel with 2 sets of unis when they were playing a team that wanted to wear their dark 3rds at home; so the league switched back to the way it was prior to the Sabres and 'Nucks entering the league in '70 - darks at home, lights on the road; unless both teams agree beforehand.

Ham Sammich said 11-1-1. Will trust you over Paul.

They didn't show the replay of the incident in the rink, so was expecting it was worse than that. (Both the injury and the play by Okposo.) That's a horrible take by Seravalli. As for the rest of the game, didn't agree with Granato having Johnson and Bryson take the 1st shift of the game and the way it started out they were very lucky to not be down a goal by the time Bryson finally got to get off the ice, but UPL played well enough for the team to start to get going. And the team played its best game of the year. Only 24(?) shots against all game and they'd given up 5 about 3-1/2 minutes in. No backdoor opportunities for the Avs the entire game. Couldn't believe Tuch wasn't the 2nd star (agreed with the 1st and 3 star choices) but Tuch had his best game of the season by far. He was a forechecking and backchecking machine and had a great look to set up Jost's goal to give them some legit breathing room. Even after going tits over teacups into the boards awkwardly in the 2nd. Can't recall the last time being at a game where it looked so much like so many guys had taken injury causing hits/pucks and everybody was fine when the dust had settled. (There were at least 3 'gasp' moments today. And all 3 guys were fine.) Benson didn't have a great game, it was his weakest yet, but he still nearly set Thompson up with a goal on Benny's last shift of the game. So glad that puck to Samuelsson's head hit the helmet or visor. Thought he was going to be out a couple of months getting the front of his face wired back together. Was a huge relief to not see a pool of blood under him when he finally got up. Really would like to see them mandate either full cages or fishbowls. Realize it isn't "old time hockey," but there just isn't enough of a reason to not make them wear them. (Guys complain they lose the puck when it's at their feet, but somehow they managed to survive that issue and still excell prior to getting to Juniors / the Pro ranks.) UPL earned the 1st star tonight, but still not convinced he can play that well for a long stretch. Hoping to be wrong about that. Sweep the Phlyers and get back above 0.500.