nfreeman

Well, until this year, Mathews has been a better goalscorer. He's also played better at best-on-best tournaments. Right now, Jack is ahead, but there are quite a few chapters to be written. Hopefully, these 2 stars and teams will be blood rivals and cup contenders for the next 10 years.

Throwing a million words at a dispute is not equivalent to curb-stomping the other side. I appreciate @Randall Flagg's passion on this, but breaking down his latest opus reveals: - He omitted the fact that Matthews didn't play in Eichel's 1st year -- so the warm recollections of Jack's rookie year games vs the Leafs are neither here nor there. - He omitted, in almost all of his reminisces about Jack's performances, the deets of Matthews' performances in those games -- a highly relevant matter since the whole question here is whether Matthews has been better although Jack has been good. - His glossing over the fact that in the year before last, there were 2 games in which Matthews and Eichel both played, both of which occurred in garbage time, and which were split in both wins and the Eichel-Matthews showdown. As for the games last year, while randall is certainly entitled to his opinions, blithe assertions that Eichel was better is not the same as his actually being better. In any case, the first game between the 2 teams, a 4-3 OT loss in early December, was IMHO the best game between the 2 teams since the 2 stars arrived. Both guys were awesome and dangerous and scored 2 goals (although as randall notes, Matthews closed his hand on the puck and carried it around the net before scoring it on a play that should've been penalized), and Eichel rose to the occasion -- but Matthews also had an assist and the GWG in OT. Again, Randall may think Jack was better than Matthews in that game, but I thought Matthews was better by a hair. In the 2nd game last year, a 5-3 loss in late February, when the Sabres were dropping like a stone but still only 2 games under DeLuca .500, the Sabres took a 1-0 lead on Eichel's PPG -- but then gave up 4 in the 2nd period (the 2nd of which was by Matthews) and the game was effectively over. Eichel had 2 goals but was on the ice for 2 goals against, while Matthews had 1 goal and was on the ice for zero goals against. That is far from "Jack dominated" -- no matter how much we'd like it to be the case. As randall quickly mentions, Matthews and the Leafs clearly were better in the 3rd and 4th games last year. Now, I agree that Jack has been better this year, and I sho 'nuff hope that continues. But we need to deal in facts around here.

Say what? The Sabres were 0-4 vs the Leafs last year, and 2-2 the prior year (with those 2 wins occurring in true garbage time -- March 5 and March 26). In the Sabres' four losses to the Leafs last year, Matthews had better #s in 3 of them. In the prior year, Matthews missed 2 of the 4 games. In the 2 that he played, each of them had better #s in 1 of the games (and the teams split the 2).

I'd much prefer Larsson to ERod for that slot on Skinner's line.

Except that this has never been the case prior to this year. This is a credibility-destroying assertion.

Eichel usually gets especially fired up to play Matthews. I'd like to see: - Linus locked in from the get-go - Skinner to re-assert himself - Some secondary scoring - Bogo in the lineup and plaing like he owes his dudes a major effort after his temper tantrum and he's got something to prove - Unless Sheary and ERod have both looked alive in practice, I'd like to see 11 F and 7 D again. It was working. Go Sabres.

Yes. It is wrong to call someone a turd, a POS, and a cancer. Selfish? Immature? Reacted badly? Sure. But what marchand said was way over the top.

Pittsburgh's QB: better or worse than Peterman?

That's 2 overthrows by Allen to Beasley.

White came back! And when they showed each of the D starters introducing himself and giving his alma mater, White said "Tre White Goalie Academy." Awesome.

Perhaps, but failing to do so would be a very good indicator that he can't cut the mustard as an NHL scoring forward. Do you have examples of scoring forwards who performed poorly in extensive AHL action but nevertheless became good at the NHL level? There are plenty of very good NHL players who spent a good amount of time in the A. Briere bounced back and forth from the A to the NHL before finding his game and becoming a great NHL center. Marchand played 1.5 seasons in the A before becoming an NHL regular at age 22. JT Miller was #15 overall and bounced back and forth for 2 seasons before sticking. Pacioretty bounced back and forth for 3 seasons. Your last sentence, and IIRC some prior posts, indicate that you think the AHL is essentially useless as a developmental tool. That may be true for some guys but I don't think it's true for most.

I agree with all of this, but I think he needs quite a bit more than confidence and chemistry with linemates (not that you said otherwise). He does not have sufficient NHL tools at this point to be an effective NHL forward IMHO. In particular, he does not have a good enough sense of time and space between him and his defender to stay clear of the defender, or any strength on the puck whatsoever to keep control of the puck once the defender engages him. He needs to significantly improve both of those items or he can't be a scoring forward in the NHL. Yes, although it took much longer with Mitts than with the others, which kinda supports the speculation that they had made promises to Mitts on this. I agree with @TrueBlueGED, you and others -- he needs to stay in the AHL until he makes it very GD clear that he's too good for that level and can be a real NHL forward. Well, I have to believe that JB sees it too at this point. Maybe JB did make promises to Mitts and had to play the "then new coach can't be bound by prior commitments" card, or maybe RK used his Jedi mind positivity witchcraft on Mitts and got him to agree to it, or maybe MItts' parents or agent agreed that he needed it and convinced him, or maybe a bunch of things.

Good. I wonder if RK had to convince JB on this, and if so, how long and how much arguing it took, and if, as some have speculated, JB promised Mitts he wouldn't have to go to Rochester and they therefore had to convince Mitts. In any case, as I've said previously, I don't want to see him here again until he lights up the AHL for at least 25-30 games. He's not close to being ready.

Dude.

Very good game IMHO. The Isles are really good and the Sabres played them very well -- much better than the previous game this season vs the Isles in Buffalo. A few game notes: - In addition to being quite stupid and almost costing his team a win, Barzal's hit on Dahlin was really dirty and suspension-worthy IMHO. - As others have noted, Dahlin looked great and made a big difference on the PP. - I also really liked Montour's game in particular and thought the D overall was quite solid. - Great GTG by Jack and great one-timer by VO. - That's the 2nd game in a row with an early misplay by Linus to surrender a goal. - Worst game by Skinner in a while. 11:29 of ice time and zero shots. In fairness to him, I don't think MoJo has been the same since his injury, and Skinner also had a bunch of his shifts with ERod and Sheary (both of whom were also invisible). - I was hoping we'd see Eichel-VO-Dahlin to start OT, then Skinner-Reino-Risto.

Good call. The Isles are #1 in the NHL in scoring defense, giving up 2.33 goals per game. (The Sabres are tied for #16 at 3.00 per game.) The Sabres are #13 in scoring, at 3.15 goals per game. The Isles are #18, with 2.90 per game.

Company Xmas party tonight with spouses/significant others at a really good restaurant...

Do we know whether the trade request was made before the first healthy scratch? Based on Bogo's quotes upthread, plus Eichel's reaction, it seems like it might've been an emotional knee-jerk response from Bogo to being scratched. Which still kinda stinks, but might not be as damaging (or as crappy a thing to do) as if he had requested it a few weeks ago and then intentionally leaked it yesterday as a strategic move to force JB's hand.

It's certainly fair to say that JB hasn't yet earned the benefit of the doubt. He's whiffed on a number of moves, large and small. But if they make the playoffs this year, JB will deserve credit for: - RK -- this is the big one, as it was a pretty risky and outside-the-box hire and is probably the most important factor in the hypothetical turnaround - Ullmark & Olofsson -- JB didn't draft them, but he should get credit for their development - Skinner - Johansson - major overhaul of D group -- Joker, Montour, Miller, plus not panicking and trading Risto for a crappy return - smaller moves like signing Vesey and re-signing Larsson We'll see.

The bolded is the assumption that underlies this entire argument, and it doesn't hold water IMHO. Skinner was the 2nd-best FA last year. The #1 was Panarin, also a high-scoring LW. Panarin, who is 1.5 years older than Skinner, got $11.6MM x 7 years and a full NMC from the Rangers. That's 29% more per year than Skinner. Panarin's last 4 years pre-contract: 30 goals, 31 goals, 27 goals, 28 goals (total goals: 116; total assists: 204) Skinner's last 4 years pre-contract: 28 goals, 37 goals, 24 goals, 40 goals (total goals: 129; total assists: 97). Panarin is better than Skinner, but is he 29% better? I don't think Skinner got more than market value. And the Sabres certainly didn't have to pay a "terrible franchise" premium. You're suggesting that JB should've relied on Skinner wanting to be close to home and dared him to go farther away. That's easy to say from behind a computer, but it would've been a stupid risk to take IMHO -- and for what? To save how much, exactly? If JB refused to go above, say, $7.5MM, I think Skinner would've told him to jump in a lake, and then the Sabres would've been screwed.

I don't think most here are PO'd about the trade request itself. The problematic part is making it public.

That pass was a beautiful hockey play.

Well, I agree that Skinner is overpaid if you look at it in a vacuum, but I think at the time they extended Skinner, their FA desirability was so low that they would've had to overpay any FA. More importantly, although I agree that Skinner's #s would be better if he were on Jack's line, IMHO Skinner is still a major force with lesser linemates and is largely worth his contract. He is relentless -- always buzzing around the net and creating scoring chances. He plays a tough game, he's a great skater and is surprisingly good on the backcheck. I think he'll be a good playoff player too.

I think RK's got that European Dr. Frankenstein black magic working and the positive vibes, combined with Jack seeing the resulting wins and the light at the end of the tunnel, have turned Jack into a freaking monster. I don't remember a Sabre being this dangerous since Bert (although I missed the PLF-Mogilny era).

Well, I don't want to give Reino that much, but I want even less (by quite a bit) to hurt the team's chances of escaping the desert by playing a lineup that departs from RK's preferences in an attempt to save $$. That's a Ralph Wilson/OSP move right there.