nfreeman

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.

Incredible. It’s like the hockey gods decided we’ve suffered enough and a franchise 1C who is a top-5 NHL player just dropped out of the sky. BTW, it’s also worth noting that DG has Skinner and Tuch playing like legit star top-line wingers too.

GR — you’re an excellent poster, but please break up posts like this into paragraphs. The monolithic wall of text is hard to read. I’d guess that plenty of board members just blow right by without reading it.

I wonder if this will satisfy @GASabresIUFAN?

Dude -- knock it off or keep quiet.

I don't think the Sabres will trade their #1 in 2023 unless they know it's not in the top 10 -- so that means they will either trade it with top-10 protection, or they will wait until the summer. I don't think Van will trade Demko or AZ will trade Chychrun without receiving a 2023 #1 in the deal -- so that means no trade with the Sabres until the summer. I suspect that KA thinks that goalies generally are too up-and-down to justify giving up major assets in trade for them -- so I think a trade for a good defenseman is more likely than a trade for a good goalie. I think that KA is open to trading during the season or the summer, but a summer trade is more likely as there will be more of an active market. I agree with @GASabresIUFAN that it seems pretty unlikely that AZ would trade Vejmelka.

There are guys in every sport, including hockey, who "put up numbers" but who aren't great players and are certainly not guys that a good team can be built around. Phil Kessel. Thomas Vanek. Sean Monahan. Taylor Hall. Max Pacioretty. Tyler Seguin. If we fast forward 4 years, we could easily come to the same conclusion about Eichel. Time will tell.