thewookie1

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

I guess its less that I wanted more powerplays than I feel there was a serious 2 tier rule set the entire game. In the late 1st or early 2nd, Zucker was literally mugged and taken down and yet no call was made. When we had a 4v3 PP, Thompson was hooked almost 180 degrees without a call and soon after they scored following the next faceoff. Dahlin gets blatantly tripped as they enter the zone thus giving them an easy in yet Thompson playing Malkin hard along the boards is immediately called even without it being a scoring chance impact play. The whole game felt like the Sabres were being called for weak penalties to which the broadcast would refuse to show. Lastly the offside goal, the TNT announcers made me want to punch my TV I was so perturbed by how they completely ignored that there was a 2nd view of the puck + stick from the other side which would make it easy to see that it was impossible for the puck to have crossed the line when the other Pen had entered the zone.

As I said earlier, felt scripted or fixed; the amount of missed calls on the Pens in the 3rd only for them to ding Thompson to help Crosby get a shot at his 1st of the year feels far too scripted. Between the offside goal and somehow not calling a blatant trip on Dahlin with 2min left in the game we were screwed royally.

Bs call

Power had his man locked up, Rakell was the extra guy on the back end. How Pittsburgh got away with a literal backward trip at the zone entry though is asinine.

Pretty much because he’s the only guy on the line playing well, but still hobbled

These refs are imbeciles

Cloudy skies!