Taro T

Peterka and Benson on the top unit? Them actually TRYING to move things around in Denver and even work the puck from below the goal line? Has Ellis been reading this board? 😉

Is it Tuch's fault that there are 2 ancient F's that are considered the team's leaders but there aren't any ancient D (that have been here more than 30 games)? This team is kind of in the spot the Bills were with the "bickering Bills" back in '89 leadershipwise. The younger guys really are (or SHOULD be) the leaders, but the old guys are still looked to as the leaders. Personally, don't believe it was a coincidence that the team stepped up to another level after Devlin and Smerlas were allowed to leave via Plan B and the team finally became Kelly's, Smith's, and the rest of that bunch. As far as who else can step up? Mittelstadt, Cozens, and Thompson all are candidates to join Tuch and Dahlin. (Though Cozens needs to get out of his own head.) In the not too distant future Quinn, Peterka, Benson, Johnson, and maybe Power should be right up there as well. And expect Levi will be a leader on this squad by then as well. REALLY don't want to see this team get back to where it was early in the Pegula tenure with outsiders getting the C either in short order or immediately like Ott, Rivet, Gionta. Nothing against any of them, but it was telling that no leaders (other than Vanek of all people, who split the C with Ott) were on the team that had come up through their system by the time Ott was given a partial C. Don't expect it will go back to that anytime soon.

But, GA's contention ISN'T that Dahlin AND Tuch are the leaders. That was THIS KID's contention. His is that it's that ONLY Dahlin is the leader. And when asked to provide support for his view, he comes back with 'well, it just is.'

But strangely, it does seem (and this is going off their record and what others who've been watching have been saying) that in Ra-cha-cha they're still teaching last year's offense 1st defense only as a last resort system that the Sabres ran most of last season. Which, considering it meets the philosophy that offense is harder to teach, we'll get them playing good O and then worry about good D and these are for the most part the team's prospects makes sense on a certain level. But if the big club is actually trying to work a pro level of O/D balance and they need the prospects to be ready to step into what the parent club is doing should they get called up; then it would seem they need to be teaching THAT system in the A IF the goal is making the playoffs and doing some damage there. They don't seem to be doing that. (Say seem because have only casually watched a single Amerks game so far so have no personal observations to base that on.) And, if the goal is making the playoffs, at some point don't they HAVE to start teaching the Sabres system in Ra-cha-cha? None of this is saying that the kids coming up have been the problem on the big club. The Amerks haven't helped this year at all, but they have in no way been the biggest parts of the problem. But IF they were learning what they're supposed to be doing, maybe they actually can be PART of the solution rather than the 6-8 minute per game players.

Gee, that's helpful.

Perhaps. You will forgive us for not taking just your word on that.

The leader of the D or the leader?

Personally, believe the C would mean more to Tuch. And expect most of his issues this year are stemming from the injury he suffered as TC opened. Likely groin or hamstring. Also, Tuch does all the little things you expect in a captain. Between periods, he's the guy over talking up the refs. He's the guy that saw RJ at the end of the bench and brought him out onto the ice. There is a noticable lull in the F's drive in the 1st game that Tuch isn't in the lineup. (No, they didn't do anything with him in last night, but nobody was on their game and expect Tuch isn't close to 100% either.) Either he or Dahlin would make a fine captain. But expect this is more Tuch's team and as stated above, expect it means more to him than it would Ras.

To the bolded, sadly, yes it is.

How absolutely bizarre. 15 shots for the Avs. 19 shots for the Sabres. Now 1 more shot for the Avs; does this mean the Sabres don't get another shot again for 10+ minutes?

It's POSSIBLE the 4th guy out is Benson. But that's pretty much permanent for the rest of this season as he can only come back up before WA is eliminated via an emergency recall and he has to go back to juniors when the Sabres have 12 healthy Fs. So, it isn't all that likely that he goes back.

Yes.

And it's funny how perspectives change. Suggesting that Cozens might be a better choice as a 1RW than a 2C (or even God forbid a 3C) was met with an extreme reaction 2 seasons ago. Now, many accept it as a possibility.

Expecting it's UPL. He was healthy enough to be the backup last game and Levi started 3 straight. The more interesting Q is who starts on Friday presuming UPL doesn't pitch another SO? IF they still consider UPL the 1/1A he'll get the start vs Vegas with Levi going the next night in AZ. If they're both 1's (which actually means they're both 2's) or Levi is the 1A then Levi gets Vegas and UPL goes the next night. And that presumes that UPL plays well win or lose. Should he get shelled or gets a SO, the decision over the weekend is easy and we don't learn anything more about what the coaching staff thinks about their goalies.

Not just odd man rushes, but in the AZ game (and really most others) they made it REALLY easy for the other team to break out of their own zone. They did a very good job early in the game to limit shots from those rushes, but it was too easy to get out of their own zone. Need to improve that, among other defensive shortcomings.

Pretty sure that's correct. They let defensive offsides play out unless they're concerned for the QB's safety. Makes sense that offensive offsides plays out the same way.

That's the hope. Really thought getting the OT winner a few weeks back was going to flip that switch for him. Doesn't appear to be the case. The next guess/hope is that getting his security blanket Quinn back on his wing does the trick.

Interesting. TIL. Even more interestingly, if the O does have more than 7 players on the LOS, then they effectively remove an eligible receiver from the formation because only the 2 players on the outside of line of players at the LOS can be eligiible to receive a pass. Knew that an eligible receiver had to be on each end. Thought you could only have 5 players in between them. That's ONLY true if you want your other 3 players eligible to receive a pass. 🍺

Levi played well, but not great. He'd definitely like the 1st one back. And that leads to the main thing IMHO that he needs to work on. He needs to shrug off what HE considers to be a bad goal. His rebound control right after that was much worse than it was before or after. It's when he gave up the goal to Suzuki vs. Moe-ray-all and when he gave up the 2 SO goals right after the 5 hole. He's mentally strong enough to be shrugging those off and he's done it in the past. Clean that up and he's pretty much what management had hoped he'd be heading into the season. He's already stopped (at least for now) giving up the late goal which was a major issue prior to being sent down. He'll give up a late goal again at some point. Will be interesting if he can keep that goal out of his head when it happens. That, IMHO, will be a huge factor in whether the people that want him developing in Ra-cha-cha get their wish or whether it'll be those wanting to see him helping them win games up here get theirs. If he trusts himself to keep from giving up the late goal, the team will trust him as well. He's moving well, is anticipating well (heck, the anticipation is why he couldn't stop the goal against in the Bruins game, he was ahead of the pass across and when it went off Johnson's leg he couldn't quite get his glove back the other way in time), his glove is working, and his rebounds (except right after a "bad" goal) are in general good. The rebound control could be better still, but that's a work in progress.

Presumably Benson won't be loaned to Team Canada. Both are good things.

It never fully closed. The Fishies end the year against 3 teams with winning records. They're 0-3 so far in those contests.

That Vic Fangio is a Supra-Genius. (Just like Wile E. Coyote.)

Murray doesn't play that game in Ra-cha-cha (at least he didn't last year and all reports indicate that's still the case). Not sure why Rousek didn't get a longer look. And, yes, he fits into the bottom 6 mold. But, if they aren't going to bring him up ...

Not saying they should have a ton of them. But, having 1 available to step up, who knows the "system" btw, wouldn't be a horrible thing to have.