nfreeman

I sure hope you're right, but Savoie is 42nd in the WHL in scoring and wasn't invited to Canada's WJC tryouts. That doesn't sound like a guy who's going to force his way into the NHL next year (and I think you're right that it's either the NHL or back to juniors for him next year). As for Kulich, I haven't seen him play, but he's 5th on the Amerks in scoring, which is really good for an 18-year-old, but also doesn't sound like a guy who is too good not to be in the NHL next year at age 19 (he doesn't turn 20 until April 2024).

Yes — Savoie and Kulich (and Rosen and maybe Cedarqvist) definitely factor into this analysis, along with VO and Mitts. If none of the kids is ready for the NHL next year, and if one or both of Mitts and VO are gone at the deadline or this summer, there will definitely be room on the Sabres for Kane and/or Toews. I think it’s something like 65% likely that none of the kids will be ready next year, and 50% likely that one of Mitts or VO will be gone (and 80% likely that KO will be gone, as he looks out of gas). So it’s pretty likely that there will be some room for one or two additions. I’d be happy with either of them, but not at any longer than a 2-year deal.

The only way a Kane trade happens this year is if Kane pulls a Taylor Hall and insists on being traded only to the Sabres, allowing KA to lowball the Hawks. That seems highly unlikely. Among other reasons, Kane has spent his entire career with Chicago, won multiple Cups and made a zillion dollars. He's almost certainly not going to screw them on the way out the door.

And what a clever, funny joke it was. Do you ever make jokes like this at your own expense, instead of at others'?

Similarly: why post this? Why take small-minded, mean-spirited, boring shots at other posters? Why not just enjoy the win and talk hockey? Why do you keep doing this? What is the point?

My rule of thumb on this — kinda the cousin to DeLuca .500 — is that you need 2 straight wins to make up 1 point in the standings. So if you’re 4 points behind, if you win 2 straight, you’re likely then going to be 3 points behind. Separately: good win for the Sabres and a great win for UPL. He was calm, in control and just fantastic. Having said that, they’ll need to play better than that to beat Tampa and Boston. Other game notes: - very dirty play by the VGK player (Kolesar?) on the boarding hit on Loobie in the 1st. - As others have noted, the kid line was ineffective and the Mitts/VO line was lousy. DG saw it and shuffled the bottom 3 lines in the 3rd, although I kinda expect him to revert to the regular lines next game. - Thank heavens for the top line. - Pilut wasn’t by any means strong but I saw him make a number of nice plays at both ends in addition to his goal. - Hopefully we’ll see Power back on Friday. Go Sabres.

Mitts’ line just got caved in on that shift. I really don’t like DG putting them out after a Sabres goal. Total momentum-killer. I agree that Cozens’ line hasn’t done anything tonight.

I think his effort is good. The problem IMHO is that his instincts about where to go are just terrible — both when he has the puck and when he doesn’t.

When I see Mitts leading the breaktout like that and unaccountably just skate into his teammates and produce an offsides, I despair for his future. He has no hockey IQ.

I love TT, but if we fast forward 6 years, I'd guess that Mathews will have more goals over this season plus the next five than TT will. But @Crusader1969 is right that due to the contracts, TT is the more valuable asset right now.

The bolded statements are all BS. JB does not get credit for drafting Dahlin. Just the opposite -- he was trying to ice a competitive team that year and they ended up DFL, won the lottery and drafted the consensus #1 prospect. As for Mitts vs Necas -- yes, hindsight matters and Mitts wasn't a reach, but that's not the point. The GM gets paid millions to get these decisions right and to ice a winning team. The Mitts selection at this point looks like a major mistake, and learning that JB overruled his scouting staff to make it is just the cherry on the poop sundae. Of course not every decision JB made was a complete train wreck. But the sum total of his decisions was exactly that. As I've said previously, an executive board of Sabrespacers would've done a much better job of running the Sabres than JB did. What grade would you give to JB for his tenure here?

I said Tage, but really it's too close to call. Both guys are elite at their positions, both are capable of being the best player on the ice in a playoff series and the Sabres would be screwed if either one were injured. I will say, in response to @bob_sauve28, that I don't think Power will be as good as Dahlin. I'm confident that Power will be a very good defenseman for a long time, and maybe great, and I think he's a somewhat better skater than Dahlin, but he doesn't have the puck skills that Dahlin has.

Holy-maybe-it's-time-to-stop-defending-an-indefensibly-terrible-GM, Batman!

These 2 tweets are making a very strong case for throwing @GASabresIUFAN into the Sabrespace dungeon.

I watched a good chunk of the final, and of US vs Iran, but I don't like soccer either. Deciding the WC on penalty kicks is insane. For that matter, penalty kicks themselves are silly -- the scoring percentage is much too high, so that whenever a penalty kick is awarded, it's pretty much like awarding a goal. Also, it's just a guessing game that frequently results in the goalie just leaping the wrong way and looking ridiculous. The whole clock thing is pretty silly too -- the ball goes out of bounds, the players fake injuries and act like they've been shot, the refs kinda keep track of how much time all that takes and add on some indeterminate amount that for some reason doesn't show up on the scoreboard, so no one knows how much time is left -- WTF is that? Not to mention the fact that a lot of the games are 1-0 snoozers. Having said all of that, I've attended two big-league soccer games in Europe, and really enjoyed both of them. The crowd was really into it and they were fun experiences. But no thanks to watching it on TV.

I thought Davies did fine vs AZ. There was a nice moment at some point in the game when Tuch was giving him a pep talk on the bench. I couldn't tell what Tuch was saying, but it didn't seem like Tuch was yelling at Davies -- more like welcoming him, encouraging him, etc.

That bottom 6 isn’t crazy, but I don’t like it as much as the current bottom 6. Krebs looks good and rapidly improving with Zemgus and KO, and even a bit edgy, which I think you’ve noticed. I also think VO-Jost-Mitts looked better last night — maybe Mitts’ best game of the season — and good enough that I want to see them for a few more games.

Not complaining — merely observing that this is fairly unusual at this point in the season with this many wins. however, I will also observe that until they’ve borne down and closed out a 3-2 win against a good team, which a good team needs to be able to do, they haven’t done it.

What a fantastic, memorable, picturesque, all-time RS game that was. The sports gods smiled on Buffalo last night. That PI call, which was the right call, still doesn't get called every time and was the difference in the game. And AZ had a clean shot to tie it from the slot and with Anderson out of position with a couple of minutes left and shot it wide.

I think everyone would be happy with an addition like Foligno. It's Reaves that people are disagreeing with. I don't think I'd bench KO or Zemgus for Reaves, FWIW (or anyone else in the top 12 forwards -- maybe Asplund or Vinnie, but maybe not).

BTW, still zero wins for the Sabres in which they score 3 or fewer goals.

I'd really like to see some more wins against quality opponents. 2 wins in the 3 games vs Vegas, TB and Boston would be great.

Let Power rest for the next few days until they get back home. For that matter do the same with Bryson and Loobie. Dahlin and Samuelsson are both solid as a freaking rock.

After a nice 3-game winning streak, including their first win vs a good team in forever, the Sabres are currently 1 game under DeLuca .500. The next 5 games: at Vegas Tampa at Columbus Detroit at Boston If they split the Vegas and Tampa games (and you-know-who has missed Vegas' last 4 games and 6 of their last 7) and beat Columbus and Detroit, they will be 1 over DeLuca .500 when they venture into the lion's den on 12/31. Kill the beast in its lair that day, preferably dropping 7 or 8 goals on them, and the Sabres will start 2023 2 games over DeLuca .500 and in the playoffs or right on the bubble. Then we can, and will, start charting playoff matchups.

Y'know, I know they need D and likely G as well, but I am going to point out that I think Jost was a nice pickup. Last night vs AZ the Mitts-Jost-VO line looked better than any Mitts-VO line has looked in a month of Sundays. DG was on WGR a few days ago and he mentioned that he thinks Jost has a lot more to give. It sounds like Jost is one of the guys, along with Mitts, Krebs and VO, whose potential the coaches are focusing on unlocking.