dudacek

Florida traded a 2nd-round pick and an Aleksandr Kisakov/Josh Bloom level prospect for 25-year-old Sam Bennett, then signed him to a 4-year, $4.2 million cap hit. The Panthers identified Bennett as a still-young player with unrealized potential who might benefit from a change of scenery (kinda like the Sabres identified Alex Tuch) and pounced. These are the kind of trades the Sabres are well-positioned to make, and should make. It is my hope that is what they have positioned themselves to do, and that they are patiently waiting to move when a buy-low opportunity presents itself.

People terrified of the Murray approach tend to ignore what the team would have looked like if we had Grigorenko, Zadorov, Compher, Samsonov, Roslovic, Myers, Armia and Stafford instead of Kane, Bogosian, O'Reilly and Lehner.

Absolutely. The way I see it, the Sabres window is open for the duration of Power/Dahlin's prime. The focus should be on investing our assets on developing/getting/keeping players who support that. The big picture cost is relevant, the means is not.

Three best forwards and best defensive pair, as well as starting goalie. Didn’t replace any of them until Tuch showed up at Christmas. It was as thorough a roster tank as any.

Very happy Sam is in a position now where the rest of the league can appreciate what he brings and he can be rewarded for it. Yes, he did do this here.

Where? The biggest outlier season for the Sabres over the past 25 years is Danny Briere’s 95 points, which is 23 points more than his 2nd best season. But that is a bit misleading since Danny was pacing for close to 90 the previous year before injuries cut that short. Two more outliers - Sam Reinhart (+15, 65 points) and Max Afinogenov (+12, 73 points) - aren’t really outliers at all when you see each had multiple seasons of similar point/per game that were cut short by COVID or injury. The only real “one-year-wonder” I found was Al Kotalik’s 62 point season, which was 19 better than anything else he did. Goalwise, Drew Stafford’s 31 in 62 games stands out as another outlier. His 2nd best was 21 and that was over a full season. But history generally shows that if Tage puts up 60 points this year, it’s pretty likely he has multiple 50-point seasons in his future.

He’s not riding a hot streak or getting carried by a star, he’s legitimately driving play and creating his own success. And he’s doing it against the opposition’s best players. He wants the puck and he expects to be a difference maker. We take his length for granted, but combined with his skill level and newfound assertiveness, that’s a pretty tough, dare I say unique, package to defend. I’d feel comfortable betting on @Brawndo‘s contract. It’s one of those gambles that contenders take and win.

I believe the Sabres can sign Tage to an extension this summer. They should.

Nathan Paetsch and the infamous jammed fax machine of Mike Zigomanis?

I’m sure it was deeply symbolic of the way this franchise has always gone out of its way to stomp on little hearts.

This is utter *****. No one has said anything like this. You’ve taken people’s hopes from 4 years ago and are depicting it as something it’s not. True derangement is constantly expecting to see nothing but the worst in everything and an outright refusal to focus on anything other than those things that support that particular world view. He’s a hockey player. A very good one, who continues to get better. Case in point.

So a player has to be RJ-level to be likeable?

Old stereotypes die hard. He won a lot of battles tonight. Played hard on the body regularly. Made smart exits with the puck.

Had a hell of a game tonight. As did Dahlin. Team responded well to Donnie calling out their effort against Ottawa. Do you like anyone in this organization beyond RJ?

Oh look, Dahlin loses another battle. 🙄

Why would you not want the puck on Dahlin’s stick?

Get ready for an Avalanche

Skinner is having another very engaged, smart game. Never seen him so in tune with his linemates.

Fun hockey

Toker stepping up!

Tage scored that goal against Makar and Toews. He’s got 3 against the best team in the league. He’s for real.

This game is real good litmus test as to who is actually capable of making plays when the game is played at the highest level.

Dahlin came to play today.

So, so bad…

Do you really think they had time to check him in the .7 seconds between his shot and Cozens coughing the puck up? Dylan and Casey looking seriously overmatched that period. KO and VO were OK, but the top line is the only line that deserved to be on the ice at this level. Shame Toker is Tokin’ because Kuemper looked like a soft white underbelly that period.