nfreeman

Let’s chill out in here please. There are bigger fish to fry tonight.

YMMV, of course, but I think injury-prone is definitely a real thing. Some guys (some NHL players, that is, and most human guys) just aren't built to take the NHL pounding, especially on D. Samuelsson might indeed be injury prone, although there is less of a track record than with Chycrun. And we didn't have to trade any of the crown jewels for Samuelsson.

This is exactly the kind of noble sacrifice that builds good karma for the team. Good man and arigato.

Good call -- now that you mention it, I recall that NordVPN didn't work on my ipad either when I was overseas a few months ago, but it did work on my windows laptop.

You can’t. You need a vpn. You can probably sign up for 30 days of NordVPN or similar vpn for about $5.

Well, perhaps the point about Chychrun is that he is pretty injury-prone, and that history should be factored into the price a GM is willing to pay in trade for him.

But it's pretty well established that KA definitely tried to obtain Matt Murray and probably pursued John Gibson as well. Those are not the actions of a GM who is deliberately trying to have bad goaltending.

Alright boys. You wanted it to matter at the end? You wanted your guts to churn for 60 minutes? To be terrified when a puck squirts loose into the slot in the D zone or when Barkov has it on the rush? To be infuriated when Mitts skates it inexplicably into traffic and turns something into nothing? To have your blood rise and be ready to fly into the fray with Cozens when he squares off with Tkachuk? To be freaking euphoric when Tage or Tuchy scores a huge goal on a gorgeous setup? Here it is. We’ve been waiting a long time for this night. Go Sabres.

Holy mackerel tomorrow night is huge. Current WC standings: Islanders -- 78 GP, 87 pts Pittsburgh -- 77 GP, 86 pts Florida -- 77 GP, 85 pts Buffalo -- 75 GP, 81 pts Ottawa -- 77 GP, 80 pts Games tomorrow night: Buffalo @ Florida Pittsburgh @ New Jersey Ottawa @ Carolina Come on Sabres. Give us another week of thrills.

One more comment on the Rangers game: DD's "Skinner, Skinner, overtiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimmme winner!" was a great, great call. (I just heard it yesterday as when I watched the game on Friday, we had the NYC MSG feed.)

I think TT will play, although he’ll continue to be hampered by injury.

Levi with a bullet.

Well, as perreault and others have noted, the obvious item is a defenseman better than Stillman but not as good or expensive as Chycrun. It seems like a few of those changed hands during the season at points when it was obvious the Sabres needed a decent defenseman. Of course we can’t know for sure whether a move like that would’ve delivered, say, 2 more wins but it seems reasonable to think so. We also don’t know whether any of those defensemen would’ve had a good attitude about coming here, which I agree with KA is an absolute requirement for bringing guys in. One other key factor in this debate IMHO is that I think most of their home struggles — which is where the season will have been lost if they don’t miraculously make the playoffs— are not due to lack of talent in goal or on D, but in coaching/mental toughness. I’m kinda skeptical that any in-season move for a bottom 3 defenseman would’ve solved those issues.

Welcome and excellent first post!

Mitts, like many of his teammates, has definitely taken major steps under DG. He's become a quality depth scorer who can flex into the top 6 when needed, although you probably don't want to rely on him in that role. He's always had great hands and his strength on the puck has improved. IMHO, his biggest weakness has always been poor decision-making, and I continue to see many instances each night where he has the puck and either skates it or passes it into the wrong spot, killing a possession. He's improved in this regard from dreadful to below average. I can see it continuing to improve next year. Mitts turns 25 early next season, which is the last year of his current contract (which was $2.5MM per year x 3 years). He'll be an RFA after next season, so there isn't an urgent need to give him a big contract or otherwise make a decision on his long-term status here. I think they'll most likely see how he does next season and then decide. In the meantime, if he finishes this season with 50-52 pts, that number plus his contract status makes him a reasonably attractive trade asset -- although as others have noted, he seems pretty well liked by the coaches and his teammates, so perhaps a trade is unlikely.

Also — that Skinner OT winner is on his Sabres highlight reel IMHO. After pushing the action all night, he bursts through 2 defenders in the circle, takes possession cleanly with his skate, kicks it perfectly to his tape and then immediately beats the goalie top shelf to win Levi’s debut? Freaking awesome.

He’s certainly quite strong on the puck.

A few thoughts on Levi and the G situation generally: - as others have said, the top 2 spots should be Levi’s and Comrie’s to lose. - Even so, each of the 4 goalies is probably aware that if his next outing is lousy, he’s likely not getting another shot this year. - If Levi and Comrie both play well down the stretch it becomes pretty hard to see them bringing in another goalie this summer. - If Comrie starts tonight and doesn’t bring it, I’d expect to see Levi in the next game and then UPL.

So was it confirmed that Stillman was a healthy scratch last night? If so, I'd guess Bryson stays in since they won and played pretty good team D, but I wouldn't be shocked if DG rotated in Stillman.

So last night on the Rangers' broadcast (which is a consistently excellent production btw), they said something that I don't think I knew: Levi had the all-time 2nd-highest career SV% in NCAA history, behind only Hellebucyk.

by the way, Skinner really brought it last night.

Holy mackerel. Levi is the prince that was promised. He was great and he inspired them. The homestretch is gonna be thrilling.

I didn't realize, before checking just now, that Minny is ranked #1 in the country and is playing in the Frozen Four this week. National Semis are Thursday night -- Minny plays BU and Michigan plays Quinnipiac -- and the championship game is Saturday night.

I was overseas in January and was able to watch ESPN+ via vpn. It didn’t work without vpn. Happy trails!