nfreeman

Certainly there is no way the Sabres should do this unless an extension is part of the deal. But IF Hall would sign an extension, would NJ take Risto, Mitts and an unprotected 2020 #1? And would JB offer it?

Skinner, and it's not a close call IMHO.

OK, here we go. Have the Sabres turned a corner and emerged from their death spiral? Sweeping the Leafs in a home and home would be pretty sweet and would very nicely cap a great Buffalo sports weekend. Some notes: - Despite the win yesterday, the Sabres are an atrocious 1-for-their-last-35 on the PP. - Sam Reinhart has one goal in nine games for the Sabres; Jeff Skinner scored a goal Friday, his second in the past eight games; Conor Sheary is without a goal in his past 18 games and Casey Mittelstadt scored Friday after going 16 games without a goal. - Before yesterday, the Sabres had lost 5 in a row to Toronto. - Jack Eichel, who was awesome yesterday, enters today's game on an eight-game point streak that began on Nov. 16. As of the conclusion of last night's game, his 15 points (8+7) during the streak led the NHL during that timeframe. - Victor Olofsson has recorded points in 10 of his last 11 games (4+6). He enters today's game on a career-best, six-game point streak (3+3). - Jimmy Vesey enters today's game with points in each of Buffalo's last four games, totaling five points (3+2) during that span. Goalies are Hutton and Anderson. Here we go. I think there is a pretty good chance that the Sabres have righted the ship and, while not an upper-echelon team, will remain around the bubble for the rest of the season. Go Sabres.

I’ve noticed this about Matthews this season — and the Leafs generally seemed sloppier on D and in the neutral zone today — but not so much vs the Sabres in the past. YMMV though.

I thought the first period was pretty even. Certainly there was ample cause to be discouraged after the Mojo-Ullmark combo clown show gave Toronto the 2-0 lead very early in the 2nd though. I did not think the Leafs got bad goaltending. Each of the Sabres’ goals was a high-skill play IMHO. I agree with the concern about Hutton though.

Well, the battered fan syndrome reactions are pretty understandable IMHO. Me, I’m just exulting in a very exciting win with quite a few high-skill plays, and the first time that I can remember Jack decisively outplaying Matthews (who nevertheless scared the poop out of me every time he had the puck in our zone). In addition to Eichel, who was awesome, I thought Olofsson, Skinner, Vesey, Larsson and Bogo all played well. Not Reino, who was a step behind the play all night. If the Sabres can win tomorrow night it could be a turning point. in the meantime it’s a Thanksgiving miracle of a Buffalo sports weekend.

They changed it from a 1-in-4 chance at winning the top pick to a 1-in-5 chance. Either way, if the plan relied on getting McDavid, the numbers made it a stupid plan.

The Sabres will get there.

Happy Thanksgiving friends. It's been a great day, with family, mild Southern weather, a bit of exercise to start the day, a delicious bird with homemade stuffing, and a terrific performance by the Bills. The Sabres? That's a subject for another day. I might get me some leftovers pretty soon.

Allen is having a great game. Very strong showing to hold the Cowboys on 4th down and then march all the way down the field from the 6-yard line to kick what will hopefully be the game sealer.

Shaky start but an excellent recovery by what looks like a mentally tough Bills team (with a crappy kicker though).

Believe it or not, it was on Delta’s on-demand video. Separately, one of the parts to the story that I had forgotten was the circumstances of Konstantinov’s car accident after the 1997 cup win. This was a very sad story: 5 days after Detroit’s 1st cup win in 41 years (which came after a couple of great regular seasons with the Russians that ended in playoff heartbreaks), the team got together for their last hangout before the summer, a golf tournament. They had booked a bunch of limos so they didn’t need to worry about drinking and driving. But the driver of the limo used by Konstantinov, Fetisov and one of the trainers fell asleep behind the wheel (it turns out his license was suspended for DWI at the time) and the car crashed pretty violently in a 1-car accident. Fetisov wasn’t badly hurt but Konstantinov and the trainer were nearly killed. Konstantinov was in a coma and on life support for an extended period and was given less than a 10% chance of survival. He lost quite a bit of physical and brain function and although he has recovered beyond expectations, he is in a wheelchair and I think cannot speak. The Red Wings (coached by Scotty, by the way) dedicated the following season to Konstantinov, who had defected, in 1993, from Russia at age 26 and was the best defenseman (Norris runner-up the year the Wings won the cup) on a team that included Nik Lidstrom. Konstantinov made his first public appearance since the accident at game 4 of the finals, at which Detroit completed their sweep of the capitals (this was the year the caps beat Dominik and the Sabres in the ECF). Anyway, I think most hockey fans would enjoy the documentary.

I just watched “Russian 5” on a plane. It’s a documentary about Federov, Konstantinov, Larionov, Kozlov, Fetisov and the ‘90s red wings. It was really good. Great footage of the Colorado-Detroit wars of that era and a lot of interesting parts to the story that I hadn’t known or had forgotten.

I agree. The Bills certainly have capitalized on a soft schedule, and they've beaten either zero or 1 good team this year, but they are miles ahead of where the Sabres are. Even if they lose to Dallas, they'll have won 2/3 of their games at the 3/4 point of the season. They will also, as you point out, probably make the playoffs for the 2nd time in the last 3 years. They've become, if not a top-echelon organization, certainly an upper-echelon and respected one. The Sabres, on the other hand, are looking at yet another lost season, with a quiet arena, thousands of empty seats, terrible rankings in player surveys and periodic statements from former players about how gruesome it was to play here. The good news is that consistent winning would solve these problems, and they have strong ownership and a decent amount of talent. I think the right senior management group, in combination with the right coach and goalie, could right the ship pretty quickly. I'm just becoming increasingly skeptical that JB is the man for the job.

I'm not ready to just dump him, because he's still a very young player, but if it's necessary to include Mitts in a package to bring in a legit top-6 forward, I'm ready and willing to do so.

While I agree that they wouldn't get much for him, I don't agree with the bolded. He looks terrible to me. He has zero points in his last 14 games, he creates no chances, he turns potential chances into turnovers and missed shots, his line doesn't create any sustained O-zone time, and he's maybe the weakest Sabre on the puck that I can remember since Derek Roy's early years. I think there is a high risk that he never scores 40 pts in a season and a non-negligible risk that he washes out entirely. JB's infatuation with Mitts and failure to send him to Rochester is a major black mark on his record IMHO.

Dude. Take it down a notch please.

OK, we can continue to wallow in misery and snipe at each other, or we can become part of the solution. TP clearly needs our advice. What do you want to tell him? I voted: - Do not fire JB now, but immediately find and bring in a czar (I nominate Sabrespace alumnus X. Benedict). - Most of the factors listed as between the Bills and Sabres. - Do not sell. We need him, it will get better if he follows our advice, and when it does it will be awesome.

http://thumbs.gfycat.com/BetterWhichAlligatorsnappingturtle-mobile.mp4

Winning streak commences. Sabres are coming in hot. Zemgus with the hattie.

Good. We need another defenseman. I just hope he can play winger too though.

Good win against an EC playoff bubble/DeLuca .500 team. The Sabres got outworked but mostly kept their composure defensively I thought. Ullmark was very good. Bogo led the team in ice time with 22 min. Where did that ice time come from? Risto had 19 min -- his 1st game below 21 min all season. I thought Dahlin looked a bit better paired with Bogo, although they both had a few shaky moments. Olofsson made 2 very nice plays on his goal, the first being the early pass to Eichel to clear the zone and then the decision to head quickly up ice, and Reino's pass to spring VO was sweet. I'd sure like to see more possession time and O-zone time tomorrow vs TB.

Edmonton and Arizona are heading to OT -- that should be entertaining.

Cribbs was really good, both running it and catching it. Letting him go to the USFL over $$ was another Ralph Wilson cheapness-driven blunder in a late 1970s - early 80s string of them.