nfreeman

Constructing lines based on contract status would be the essence of the tail wagging the dog, IMHO. This team needs to emerge from the basement. Eichel's line is highly effective and Olofsson is being cultivated into a really good player. Busting that up in order to try to save money on his next contract (or Reino's) would be nuts.

So with Mitts healthy-scratched in 2 out of the last 3 games, and benched for a good chunk of the 3rd, and the Sabres winning without him -- does JB finally heed our advice and send him down to Rochester?

I agree with all this, but I think they need more scoring throughout the lineup and Zemgus provides close to zero, with close to zero possibility for improvement. As I've said previously, possession and Corsi are nice, but at some point they need to translate into production. I also think someone else with more offensive upside could play with Larsson and KO (whom they are stuck with) could take Zemgus' spot without much of a dropoff in possession/forecheck. I'd rather that roster spot go to TT, Cozens or an offseason pickup.

Howie's "like" on Twitter is certainly interesting for us, but it's not a good look for him.

I would not expect Pittsburgh to trade Galchie for just Bogo. The Sabres will have to add a pick or mid-level prospect at least.

I would keep Larsson but not Zemgus.

yeah baby! Yeah! And that was a great freaking pass by Reino on the GWG.

No one is saying that wins are more important than total points. The point is that if you are happy with a record of, say, 18-18-9, even though it gives you 45 pts in 45 games, you are missing the forest for the trees. With that record you are almost certainly going to miss the playoffs. You need to average well above one point per game if you want to make the playoffs, and by far the most likely way to achieve that is wins -- not an absurd albeit theoretically possible number of OTLs. That is why, as noted upthread:

That's a bummer about TT. It must've been a pretty serious shoulder injury -- and likely the kind of thing that will bother him all year.

On the one hand, Galchy's numbers are pretty decent, as are his position, size and age. OTOH, it's hard to get excited about JB bringing in another Pittsburgh salary dump. I could certainly live with Bogo for him, or probably Scandy, but not one of the younger Dmen.

I agree with this, but I also think he is extremely weak on the puck — which requires leverage and anticipation and is different from a general lack of physical strength. As @Weave notes, the lack of any improvement over last year is a major red flag.

Interesting article on the Risto-Montour pairing: https://www.diebytheblade.com/2019/12/11/21010520/buffalo-sabres-have-found-something-in-the-brandon-montour-and-rasmus-ristolainen-pairing

Well, it looks like the Caps will have a hard time keeping Backstrom, as they already have over $76MM committed for next year. IF (and IMHO only if) the Sabres make the playoffs this year and look like they've finally turned the corner, it's not impossible that Backstrom would consider it. Backstrom will turn 33 one month into next season. He's been very productive and very durable for his entire career. He's currently making $6.7MM in the final year of a TEN-year contract. Would he come here for, say, 4 years x $8MM? If so, I would give him that in a heartbeat. Or would the Sabres need to go to 5 years x $9MM?

Correct. @Hank -- when has an average of one point per game ever meant ".500"? As a factual matter, ".500" means "50%". IMHO, in the sports context, it has always meant "winning 50% of your games." When the NHL eliminated ties, I think it also introduced the bastardized ".500" concept as a way to deceive fans of lousy teams into thinking that their teams had better chances of making the playoffs than they actually did. E.g.: "we're 18-18-9 -- we're .500 -- so we must be in the playoff race! [even though that record actually has them 8 points out of the playoffs with less than a 10% chance of making it]" But SabreSpace knows better, I hope.

IMHO, "elite" = "undisputed top-5 player in the NHL." Jack certainly hasn't been at that level prior to this year, but he may be there now. I think this is a question best answered at the end of this season.

Except that they've lost 2 games more than they've won...

I hate the idea of healthy-scratching 2 Dmen once Dahlin returns. They've all been playing fairly well.

THAT just happened.

In the abstract yes please on Holtby, but I'd have a hard time giving him, say, 7 years x $7MM, which is probably what it would cost to get him here.

If the Sabres are a bubble team at the deadline, I would not trade any of the pending UFAs. Only a couple of them (probably Scandy and Bogo) might bring back a third-rounder or better, and that's only if they are playing well -- and if they are playing well, I don't want to subtract them from the lineup. I want to make the freaking playoffs already.

From the Athletic -- regarding Mitts being healthy-scratched vs the Oilers:

I love this guy.

This has all the feel of a classic 0-3 Buffalo sports weekend, innit?

I'm not sure I'm at "terrible", but it was pretty disappointing IMHO. In Allen's defense, the Bills' O-line could not handle Baltimore's pass rush, and Beasley and Knox each dropped a well-thrown pass that would've converted a big 3rd down. I think they will have a good D as long as McD is here.

Great effort by the D. Lousy games for Allen, the O-line and most of the rest of the offense.