ska-T Palmtown

If some chump on TikTok does not do an "instant reaction" did the subject event even happen??!??

If Pitt gets to DRAFT YET ANOTHER generational superstar, I will burn that town down. Mario, Jags, Sid, and Geno are enough talent for 300 years of a hockey franchise's life ... STOP THE STEAL!

Also, the previous two seasons the Sabres were darned near EXCELLENT in the third period, but usually came out in a coma. So, it was refreshing to watch them find a new and inventive way of pissing away a season; get our hopes up early, THEN fumble it away. What new thing will they come up with next year! /s

if consensual and in the right place, they are not ... but it is just so jarring to hear it blurted out during a hockey game

Has no one told him to stop saying "a bit of a reach around there"?

wadda ya mean? 😉

Man, Östlund reads plays well.

lol, what a muffin shot by Hall

Is it really just that there is "no pressure"? I mean - this style of hockey, if they could actually sustain it, could easily get a team into the 90's for points. But how many times have we seen them come out and just crap the bed ...?

I don't want to sound like a Power-apologist, but the rest of the team did a terrible job supporting him - getting open or circling back to help. He needs to not telegraph that pass as much, but someone needed to get open. He's a pretty good skater/stickhandler, not sure why he did not try to carry it.

Ostland has looked tenacious so far.

So you're saying there's a chance!! lol

And this is why my eyes roll real hard whenever there is talk about how they "need to move on from" whomever the non-Cozens whipping boy is. Replace Krebs with Marner? Sure. Replace Krebs with [insert bargain basement cost-off player]? No thanks.

This happened ....

I just remembered a convo I had with a buddy back in the Heroic Charge to 9th Place Season where he wanted Cozens for Patty Kane (when Kaner was with the 'Hawks) ... boy if only that could have worked out ...

We've tried 8th a bunch ... how about 1-3 or 9-11? 🙂

I am a total stan for Stephen King. Started reading the Dark Tower series in 10th grade (with book 4 ... thanks mom!) I have read pretty much all of his work. Anyway, just finished up "Holly" which was a great thriller about a recurring character from one of the many amazing worlds he has created. Off the top of my head, I think this was his 5th novel with Holly in it, his first with her as the undisputed main character. (google says she was also the subject of a novella!) I typically buy books from the airport when I am travelling for work or pleasure - so I want a reliable author that practically never disappoints, so I lean on Mr. King as often as I can.

I never mind extra insight. I work in a heavily regulated industry where ensuring everyone's concerns are heard and explored is the norm. So much nuance is lost in a forum style chat that it is always great to have that explanation. The Sabres have both out-scored and under-defensed the Eulers who are comfortably sitting in third in their division. The only way I would be comfortable going into next year with only an improved offense is if the concept is to still be top-10 in GF, but have such outlandishly good puck possession numbers that the other teams don't even have the puck enough to out score the Sabres. But, I don't think that is a very realistic scenario, so the top of my personal wish list is improved team defense.

I will be amongst the first people to faint from unfathomable joy should the Sabres ever return to the playoffs - but I gotta be honest, getting swept and utterly wasted in round 1 will not be that great of a feeling, lol. So, I am hoping (against ALL odds) that the Sabres become a better team, in all facets, next year.

Yeah, for sure. Now that I reconsider my own points a little ... most of the current forwards are meh to bleh with respect to their d-zone job anyway - so if you swap out a 15 goal winger for 44 goal Nylander, perhaps all you do is add 29 goals to the goal total with minimal impact on the GA number? I just want progress in not looking like a complete clown show in their own end. It is just embarrassing to watch.

I think the point I am trying to make is that the Sabres are not (-15) (and as you pointed out, it was way worse before this meaningless late season tease) because they did not score enough, it is because they did such a horrendous job of preventing the other team from scoring.

We are saying the same thing ... I think adding Marner or someone of his ilk would drastically improve our team defense more than finding the ideal #6 (or even #4) D-man. Not only would his spot on the ice improve d-zone coverage dramatically - one would have to assume he would help others be better.

It think it is just the nuance of it for me. Nothing in a vacuum. We are in the upper 1/3 of teams for GF. Adding someone like Nylander from Tor, with his notoriously poor defensive zone play does not make the Sabres a playoff team. Adding someone who scores about as many goals as someone they replace who can also play better defensively ... now they have my attention.

This is a heated exchange so I wade in with caution and with genuine interest as to what else, in hockey, defines a successful offense than goals? Or is it better to just say "we are 9th best in goals scored" and note that adding forwards that can score better than the current group need not be near the top of the priority list? I ask because I don't think "add more scoring" fixes the Sabre next year. *Scoring forwards* are not the issue, but as I, and many many others have lamented, *TEAM* defense should be a primary concern this offseason. I think it is ever-so-slightly above "average NHL goaltending" only because in some sample size UPL played around that level ... I have yet to see this team play good team defense consistently. Please note that in my world, "team defense" likely means getting a better assistant coach that can help fix whatever it is that we watch in front of the Sabres' goal.

(Obligatory response about how "defense" is a team game and it usually seems like the coaches forgot to tell the forwards that. The general concept amongst GOOD defensive teams is to out-number the offensive team on the puck. O sends 2 fwds into the corner - you send your strong side D, C and strong side winger. GET. THE. PUCK. The Sabres are constantly outnumbered on the puck in their own zone. It is infuriating.) **Disclaimer: The above post in no way constitutes approval of the sometimes (often?) clueless play of defensemen not named Dahlin; rather it is intended to serve as an indictment of how the Sabres, as a team, "play" defense.