thewookie1

I think you’re trying to co-op the fact Quinn having a bad start to the season to validate your opinion on his play the past 2 seasons and frankly I think you’re mostly incorrect. The problem I see with Quinn this year isn’t that he’s getting bullied or is Olofsson 2.0 but rather the fact he seems to have completely lost most of what made him such a great player last year. His passing is inaccurate and dangerous, he’s not shooting from prime locations, his defensive positioning (which was pretty solid with defensively suspect teams) has suddenly vacated the premises and most noticeably his speed seems to be locked behind a lead door. He’s utterly perplexing in a way that leaves me feeling confused. Cozens you can very easily spot specific issues which seemed to come forth, in mass, after his concussion and broken jaw last year in combination with the puck luck of a black cat walking under a ladder while mirrors fall around it. The guy quite literally had a perfect 1 timer go off the shaft of a stick against Florida as well crossbar shot against Detroit. Quinn, unlike Cozens, whom does occasionally show some flashes of the Cozens we loved seems like he’s an entirely different player altogether.

Would it be wrong for me to suggest him getting a new concussion and hoping his persona flips back to his pre-Hathaway self? Could our 4th line go and track Hathaway down and beat him senseless in a back alley until he gives back Dylan's soul?

They played well against a superior team; the wheels fell off a bit after Dahlin's momentum smacked Lundell in the mouth. Verhegahe is a bloody bastard for blatantly boarding Krebs and then turtling by refusing to stand up; Cozens gave him some light cross checks but he can't exactly do much without being suspended for full on crosschecking a player sitting on the ice. UPL was solid but his typical issue popped up again with goals 4&5 which I can't blame on the defense really; they were well positioned and either the goalie needs to have it or the shot was just perfect. Florida plays dirty and we didn't shy away from it which is a step forward. All the hand wringing over Power is getting ridiculous; players make mistakes, live with it. He also had some really nice shifts and solid tie up in the 1st to prevent a goal. The best way to view him is akin to a potentially better version of Tyler Myers. Big bodied but will rarely use it aggressively and getting hung up on it is just a waste of air. Dahlin was truly a mixed bag all game, made a couple boneheaded defensive plays (not trusting his partner is an old habit that will die hard) but also creating offense with both his angles and passes. Unlike Cozens who seems snake-bit and over analyzing everything; WTF happened to Quinn. He went from an analytical 2-way star in the making to looking like "hockey hard, me sad" Between his baffling passes and positioning I don't see the player we literally just saw last year and I have no clue as to why.

I guess we should expect BS in favor of Florida after that goal in the Isles game where Tkachuk literally stole the goalie’s stick then dug into him to score

Weak call, first 10 min there were playoff rules. Now BS is illegal

Aside the SHG they played very well situational hockey start to finish. Thompson said Dahlin deked him out on the SHG. 100% he needs to shoot that but I still understand he wanted to help Thompson get the hat trick and feed the hot hand versus his freezing cold hand. He also played the 2-1 very well and UPL would want that one back. Just a failure in general but they bounced back and fought hard. Kane has a magnet in his stick; I don’t have the foggiest idea how that puck reached him in the last minute. I give Peterka credit though for doing everything physically possible to prevent Kane from his usual theatrics.

The new scoreboard is scary big

I’d give every team an emergency 1F, 1D, and 1G that can’t have a cap hit over 1.25mil and but can play in the AHL. They’d be cap free players only allowed to activated in specific situations and could ply in the AHL or merely skate with the team. Players on ELCs are not allowed, bonuses that can rise above the 1.25 mil are not allowed, the contract cannot be retained under the 1.25mil to qualify and the old player would have to pass through waivers if the team decides to change their emergency player to someone new. The NHL protects itself from unforeseen situations while throwing the NHLPA a bone with 96 roster spots. It would allow teams to carry a vet player with them without it being a liability. For instance this year the Sabres could have kept Reimer safe, signed Giordano and some older forward with playoff experience.

Hate it, will only further commercialize everything like jersey sponsors

Zucker’s been solid with assisting the two of them, He has 4/5 assists now

Injuries, pain specifically," can," make you agitated and have a far shorter wick for anger. Frustration + continuous pain can easily trigger a player to act more jumpy with issues that wouldn't usually trigger them.

Cozens made the play to help get the ENG, baby steps. He's so in his own head at this point its formed a black hole. They generally played well; Dahlin looked good, not Dahlin level good but very competent and shown his mean streak a bit. Top Line looked great from start to finish, all three actually made some good backchecking plays with Peterka's being the highlight. Benson had his usual game, doesn't put up points but is a bee in the bonnet of every opposing player on the forecheck.

It's very strange how 5v5 they are rather effective, the top line has been cooking with Peterka's return but yet the PP looks completely discombobulated most of the time.

We really are cursed aren't we?

The thing is we would t get a new team; the NHL isn’t going to bring a team back to Buffalo if the Sabres were to leave. They’d either go to Hamilton or Toronto 2 or not at all. None of which are sufficient

Thompson can't be an effective winger due to his size; he needs a playmaking winger and he'll be a solid 1C

Then it’s not even worth them ever doing well again

Nothing we can do would of worked anyway, we may as well just give up

I just don’t think we will ever be good again…… I don’t care who we bring in, they will always fall off

Feels like the Sabres are perpetually trying to plug a dam with fingers but never have enough. Fix offense and the D and goalies implode, goalies look good and we can’t score

I trust he can be a highly effective player with the right teaching and training; I have zero interest in dumping Cozens so he can explode elsewhere and win a Cup

Zero interest in trading Cozens; if he bottoms out in 2/3 years we can pay to dump him. He still has very high potential and the last thing we should be looking to do is trading Cozens. We need to work to help fix his confidence issues

Dahlin looks off but is still playing passable as well as playing solid in his own zone Power has been fine; he's even using his body occasionally but because he isn't a bruiser or putting up 2pts a night, he's a bust... Thompson has looked good in spurts and he ramps up like every year; Tuch has been playing hot Quinn seems to have lost all semblance of the player from last year and I'm unsure why Cozens lost something after his fight with Hatheway, he lost his ability to think quickly and has had to have his magic sucked out of him

Analytically he suppresses Dahlin 3 pts but they are still positive. Joki without Dahlin is 38% GF He's certainly capable of better than 3rd line winger-hood But his confidence seems shot at this time

Muel was supposed to be it and showed plenty of potential but is seemingly imploding Byram wasn't the type of defenseman I wanted but we were effectively blocked with a more defensive player in Pesce and seemingly can't find a way to draw in one via FA Clifton has done well and is a good 3rd pairing player. Lyubuskin and Johnson were effectively Hail Mary's Jokiharju plays well with Dahlin...... that's about it