darksabre

It's definitely a symptom of the forwards failing to maintain possession or slow opponent's breakouts. D can be more aggressive stepping up if the forwards are getting back up ice, but I think that's not happening which is forcing the D to play conservative. It's a feedback loop.

It was the Around the NHL thread and it's as cringey as you'd expect.

The time for that was many embarrassing posts ago

I just don't see it. They're all playing good-enough hockey and the effectiveness of their forwards group is helping to cover up any deficiencies they have on D. I think if I were Winnipeg I would be hesitant to start removing goal scoring from the front end just to get a defenseman who is essentially Tyler Myers Redux.

I have looked at their defense. And what I see is that it's working just fine. Perhaps they'd like a depth piece on the right side as the season goes along, but I don't know if they need Risto.

I still struggle with seeing Winnipeg pulling the trigger on this. They really don't need Risto as bad as we need Ehlers.

If Risto gets us Nieto and Compher does that work? They immediately become our 7th and 8th best forwards.

Compher would be funny.

They would need to make room for him anyway. I think trading some D to another team to make cap space nets us a player we like other than Toffoli, and then Toffoli comes for picks or a budget player. I don't like LA as the primary trade partner. There's gotta be something else. I like Colorado.

I would be disappointed if Toffoli was the only move. He's a low risk piece that couldn't hurt, but i want more.

It's possible that Botterill missed his window, but there really haven't been any trades of note that would indicate this. It's not like other teams have been active in spite of him.

Bennett's defensive numbers aren't bad. He'd be an upgrade on Sobotka at least... (I'm not pushing this one very hard...)

That's kinda where I was going with it. It's just a cap dump for Calgary to make space and then it comes off of our books sooner or later.

That's a good question. I proposed Risto for Bennett and Hamonic as a general money in/money out trade, but I probably need a pick or a prospect coming back in that trade from Calgary too.

Colorado might be a sneaky candidate to trade with. Despite their injuries they've got depth scoring. And their defense is a little sketchy. Plus they have cap space. I think I'd like them as a trade partner.

I'm honestly amazed he made it this far into the 21st Century. He's been garbage for at least a decade.

Would anyone here give Sam Bennett a shot as second line RW?

One comment I want to make is that I no longer believe Anaheim makes sense for us as a trade partner. It looks like their season is kinda going the same as ours: lacking forward depth in a way that any problems with defense are moot. The best they could offer us is probably players like what we already have filling out the bottom of our roster: plugs or unseasoned kids. They can't afford to give us much more for any defense we send their way, so I think Botterill probably shouldn't be looking at them as a trade partner. LA makes a lot more sense given their contracts/cap situation. They're the only team besides Minnesota that could be labeled as "obviously rebuilding", but Minnesota is in a less flexible space cap-wise. I wish we could include San Jose given that Meier would make sense given the rise of Labanc, but they have too much money tied up on D anyway. We could offer them picks or prospects but we need to clear cap somehow. I still don't think the Jets make any sense as trade partners. They're doing okay and would probably be happy to just sit tight.

Probably. Though I think this could be a month of streaks. It could get ugly... Carolina - L Ottawa - W Chicago - W Minnesota - W Boston - L Florida - L Tampa - L Calgary - L Toronto - L Toronto - W

The Sabres are 9-6-2 and have lost 5 in a row. They're 1 game above Deluca 500. They've lost the first 4 games of November and they have 10 left. They need to stay at or above Deluca 500 to have any chance at being relevant in December, which means they need to win 5 of the next 10. They built a cushion in October but I'd rather not use it all up this month.

Quality of competition seems to be a factor. I think it's hard to out work better teams if you're just not good enough.

Nice cop out, are you running for office? ?

The Sabres don't play until Thursday, which makes this week a good time to make some moves. Does it happen? And if it does, what do you think the trade ends up being?

Botterill needs to make some moves. We just cannot go through this season with the roster as it is. Still too many plugs filling out roles in the bottom 9. The defensive depth we have should be satisfactory but we need some better forwards. We see the D pairings regressing as the forwards stop being effective and opponents figure that out.

At the very least you can update your resume in real time lol