nfreeman

I'm not optimistic yet, but they have 4 winnable games in the next 8 days (Flames, Habs, Blues and Flyers). If they win 3 of those, they'll have won 5 out of 6 and gotten back to DeLuca .500 -- after most of us were ready to leave them for dead yet again (and deservedly so, to be sure). And Dahlin, UPL, Cozens and Quinn are looking much better, Benson is back and looking pretty good and a number of guys are playing with some fire in the belly...

Just for yuks, I'll point out that the longest field goal record, at 63 yards, was held for over 40 years by Tom Dempsey, who made the kick while playing for the Saints but who finished his career with the Bills. Dempsey was born with no fingers on his right hand and no toes on his right foot, which was his kicking foot. His kicking shoe was squared off in a pretty striking manner.

Well, I'm not throwing Lindy over and I still have enough optimism about the players that I'm not willing to trade them for an average roster. So that leaves TP and KA. I think the Sabres have unquestionably gotten below-average GM'ing from KA. For TP, I think it comes down to whether you think the average owner is substantially more likely than TP is to move the team or sell it to someone who will. If the question assumes that the average owner is the same as TP on this point or better (i.e. less likely than TP to move the team or sell it to a pirate) -- then the answer has to be trading TP for the average owner, since the team has utterly fallen off the table on his watch. If the question makes no assumptions about the average owner on this point, then I'll keep TP and trade KA, because my biggest ownership issue by far is franchise security, and #2 is willingness to spend to keep good players, and I have no doubts about TP in these areas, whereas I think the average owner would be much more suspect than TP on these. YMMV, of course.

I think you're right, and I think Lindy likes Cozens, and I would be pretty surprised if he were scratched. I was just offering up an example of a bold statement.

Gilbert and Kulich in for... Samuelsson and Quinn? Or maybe a much louder statement: Bryson, Gilbert, Kulich and Benson in for Byram, Samuelsson, Quinn and Cozens? Either way -- they played one of their worst games of the season last night, then had to travel and play a road game tonight against a motivated opponent. If they lose tonight they are 4 and 8 and the season is already slipping away -- because teams that end up 4 games below DeLuca .500 don't make the playoffs or draw good crowds for home games. Nor do they deserve them.

Loser teams give up a goal right after they score one, and loser teams take dumb penalties while trailing with 10 min left in the game. The stink of losing is still well soaked into this team.

Yes, I realize that he was hurt. That gives me some reason for hope that he'll improve as he heals. But I don't think his "numbers" make a GD bit of difference. He's been a complete JAG this season. Again, I think it's reasonably likely that his mediocre play has been injury-related. If not, though, and if this is all the Sabres get from him, it's a disaster.

Heck yes Dahlin should be included. I'd bet Lindy thinks so too -- he sure didn't hesitate to throw Dahlin under the bus after the loss to Florida. Dahlin has the huge contract (something like top-3 in the NHL for defensemen) and the C. He's supposed to be their best player and be a force all over the ice every night. I'm still waiting for him to deliver even 1 game like that. He's been OK -- nothing more.

It's well past time for the Sabres to get what they need from: Dahlin Samuelsson Cozens Quinn Those are supposed to be 4 of their core guys, and each has been a big fat zero this season. I'm interested to see the reshuffled lines, but let's not kid ourselves: Lindy is doing this because the poor play of Cozens and Quinn has forced his hand. Dahlin did seem to be moving better and more assertive with the puck vs Florida, but he needs to bring it on both ends and he needs to be a leader. That's what an $11MM captain is supposed to do. He's been miles away from that level this year. The good news is that I do not expect them to come out on home ice like they aren't aware that an NHL game is going on. They will play hard. We'll see. If they win tonight and the new lines look good -- which they might -- they'll be 1 under DeLuca .500 with reason for optimism.

Let's keep the politics in the politics club please.

Good post. I'm kinda struggling with how to think about Diggs at this point. He was my favorite guy on the team, and I have his jersey, but I couldn't bring myself to wear it to the game I went to earlier this year and I don't think I'm going to wear it to the next one either. I'm just so disappointed in the way he conducted himself towards the end here. He put his grievances, whatever they were, before team success. And the fact that the Bills were willing to take such a huge cap hit to get rid of him tells me that he must have created an intolerable situation behind the scenes. He was exactly what they needed when they got him, and I think he made a huge positive difference in JA's development into the Terminator, but he squandered a ton of goodwill with the diva act. And it wasn't an act -- I think he really was an unbearable, self-absorbed diva. All good things come to an end.

I agree with all of this except the part about NAK -- I think a guy in his situation is pretty happy about getting a shot with a "higher" slotted line -- kinda like a promotion. Whoa. He's a young player who has shown great potential but who is off to a slow start. It would be insane to trade him at this point.

Well it's good to see your smiling face again! Back posting so soon -- I wish the Sabres were half as tough as you are.

Ugh. Hang in there sir. We're thinking of you.

OK, so they've played 4 home games, and played better in each one than in any home game last season that I can remember. Lindy has them focused and determined from the opening faceoff, not to mention playing with much more speed and structure. They've found a good chunk of their scoring touch, and the top line looks terrific. Quinn and Cozens are still out to sea, though, and goaltending has been spotty after a strong start. Now they're facing the defending champs who have one of their stars back and will probably start their top goalie and bring their A game. They had a bigger crowd on Saturday than in the previous game, and the fans had a good time and went home reasonably happy and excited. I'm guessing they'll have a decent crowd again tonight. Come on boys. Play hard from the get-go, give the fans another W, maybe dress Gilbert so he can pummel a bastard panther and we'll be on our way to a home ice advantage, with loserville getting smaller in the rear-view mirror.

McD can coach my team as long as he wants. He's going to get the Bills to the promised land. Maybe even this year.

So no change in the lines. That’s OK with me. I think Cozens’ line is going to start showing up.

This is the kind of home game where, last season, a respectable crowd would've shown up and been massively disappointed by the Sabres coming out in a coma for the first 30 minutes, ultimately resulting in yet another awful loss where the fans left the arena disgusted with the team and vowing not to waste hundreds of dollars on that crapola again. So far this year the Sabres have played well at home. If they deliver a rousing win today it will help in the standings and in convincing the fans to return. Bring the passion boys.

I think @mjd1001 has it right -- this is going to work itself out. Cozens IMHO has already started to look better, Quinn is too good and too determined to just fall off the table and disappear and Benson is going to get healthy. For that matter, Kulich is a fast, relentless bull who is also going to keep coming. It may take a little while, but they will start producing. Also, I can't believe the OP didn't include a single Mittlestadt recrimination. What is happening here?

Serious question -- and while I'm not a spring chicken, I'm not old enough to know the answer, and I don't know if anyone here is: before this song, was "vibes" a thing? Or did the Beach Boys coin the phrase?

I agree that Kulich has looked pretty good. My point was more that McLeod's line has been quite good, and presumably (although I don't really know) has been drawing quality opposing lines, so replacing Zucker with a rookie, who doesn't have as strong of a 2-way game as Zucker does, could disrupt them.

Fair enough, and I agree that Cozens looked better vs Dallas, but that line has still produced a big fat zero. I'm fine with giving Zucker, who looks like he still has a pretty solid well-rounded game, a chance on that line.

As I said in the GDT, I thought Power was great on both ends vs Dallas. I also think he's been very good all year and that there's a good chance he's in the process of taking a major step up this season.

Interesting. So if Benson and NAK are out, which looks to be the case, Zucker and Kulich are both still in but are essentially trading spots on their respective lines? If so, that maybe shakes things up in a positive way for Cozens and Quinn, by giving them a seasoned pro on their line, but also maybe in a negative way for McLeod and Greenway by giving them a rookie on their line.

Another look at TT's goal last night: