Skibum

As inconsistent as the Sabres have been, their main competitors for the Wild Card have been even worse. With almost 30 games left, a high scoring team with multiple games in hand and a better win % than the 8-10 place teams, the odds of making the playoffs are actually in their favor right now.

It's not a good contract at all. It's already a bad deal by virtue of his performance through most of the first three years of it. I think it's still bad now that he's scoring, because (a) his lack of reach and physical presence limit him, and (b) it seems that he is only as good as the players he's playing with, to a higher degree than most guys making $9M. I think his contribution falls off a lot if when he's not on a really hot line. That's a liability if his linemates miss any time.

43 pts/49 games = .8775 * 82 = a 72 point pace now, and he's getting better every day.

Ha ha, WE.

Of course I'd love to see Meier on the team, but his asking price would go a lot farther toward veteran blue-line depth and goaltending, which it seems to me are bigger issues with the Sabres right now, no?

Allen to Diggs for the win.

Well, that wasn't much fun. 💩

Looking back, it's crazy and especially awesome that he's ahead of Seguin and Hall - I vividly remember the hype those guys got leading up to that draft. They were branded as guaranteed superstars. Not that their careers have been bad by any means, but I love that a guy like Skinner has quietly outscored them both to become head of the class. I'm also impressed that he's so far ahead of Tarasenko. I don't follow hockey stats these days, but it seems like every time I watch a Blues game, that guy scores six goals.

They can still make it, but the odds are not favorable and it will be very, very close. It will also be very exciting, because 'making it' means that from now on, they will have to win a lot more than they lose - and they are, at long last, a likable team. A playoff push this year could/would be the spark that finally brings the fanbase back to life and makes hockey fun again in WNY.

Leschyshyn - Great hockey name. 10 letters, one vowel.

Yeah.

It's still OCTOBER.

Six games in, winning record, solid west coast road trip, team hasn't looked this good in 15 years, and here we go with 'The Power Play is a Problem". Capitalized and everything.

When you can roll two quality veterans with your top forward prospect on the fourth line, that's a sign of a good team.

Crazy that this record stands at just 4 freaking games after a century of seasons. Borque, Coffey, Lidstrom, Niedermeyer, Bobby freaking Orr? Nobody???

Hasek (top 10), Perrault (top 25), and Housley (could be anywhere) should all make it. I want to think LaFontaine and Hawerchuk make it if Zetterberg did, but it's a crowded field. Mogilny and Andreychuk probably don't get the nod.

70-save shutout in the 4th OT. No, that's not possible. Or is it?

Not sure I agree with this, as much as I love Ryan Miller. Oh well, congrats to him on a great career - I have bigger problems than this.

I lived out of market and didn't own a TV from 1996-2011, but I still made it to the bar once in a while to watch, particularly during the Briere/Drury era. But honestly, my best "Sabres" memory from that era was Hasek winning the '98 Nagano Olympics by himself. My interest waned pretty hard after July 1, 2007. The team clearly had no chance being built around Vanek. I pretty much stopped watching altogether somewhere around Eichel's 2nd year. The team was just unwatchable to me, and beyond the Sabres losing, I felt that the NHL game overall had become far less exciting. I'll be honest, I miss the brawls and the face-washings. And if I hear 'Let Me Clear My Throat' one more time, I swear... I literally just started watching them again a few weeks ago. I guess you can call me a fair-weather fan, but at the same time I have never stopped watching the Bills, no matter how bad they have been. I guess a bad football team is somehow less pathetic than a bad hockey team.

I'd call it a win-win. St. Louis got the Cup, therefore they did not lose. Buffalo may end up getting a better player for more years, therefore they also did not lose. But to answer the OP question, No, Tage is not better than ROR, YET. He's got a long way to go to prove that.

Spacek also came close with 45 points in 2008-9. Everyone forgets how good he was!

Two points to Winnipeg pushes them closer to contention for Vegas' playoff spot...

The Sabres made no trades because nobody wants any of their available players. Seriously, what is any NHL team going to give the Sabres for Cody Eakin?

Hey, Jack - there's a reason you don't know what a good crowd sounds like in Buffalo. You captained the worst and most underperforming teams in Sabres history. The fans never saw their team register an inspired performance in your time here. Your whole tenure was a buzz-kill for the city, and the arena was like a morgue.

Wow, really! I was just throwing that out there because he was the only person scoring for a while.