LTS

Casey transcends time. He's uh.. err..hmmm... I'm not sure I have anything for that. Damn. Guess he's just an average college player who hasn't learned to pull himself up when he gets knocked around.

Later this year... when I upgrade my PC.. I am going to make a heavy metal backing track for that.

:beer: Being resourceful is sometimes just as good as being knowledgeable. Good jorb.

I'd poop your pants too. :)

It's a concussion for Fleury right? So it's undetermined and it's a goaltender who will take more shots to the head this year. I feel like they are regretting sending Pickard to the Leaves... Maybe Dansk rocks the world out there. Vegas was able to protect Subban a bit. He didn't have much experience and couldn't make it in Boston (who probably wishes they had Subban back now).

You have to think that Vegas will look hard at Niemi right?

Right now I only see Kane as being traded. The longer he goes without a deal the more likely he is to be a late season trade. I can see reasons for playing him with Jack right now. It wouldn't be the first time a player is tied to a point producer to up his perceived value. If the eventual heir apparent to Eichel's wing is Nylander then perhaps he ends up getting the call when they move Kane. I could also see them moving Reinhart there. Perhaps the 1 game Girgensons experiment was to see if there was a fit with Eichel before they pull the trigger on a Kane trade. Then Girgensons gets hurt and they have to hold off on the trade because they need the bodies. Frankly I see them trading Kane for a solid 2-3 D player at this point. He's the path to better D and the better he performs the better that D asset is going to be.

Damn GA. Is that posted somewhere or did you just compile it all? I mean either way it's an impressive post but if you compiled all of it then it's just that much more impressive.

Wow... Thanks. I happen to think we have a lot of fantastic posters on here. I think it's why this place is such a draw for all of us. Likewise. I think a lot of people have been. I don't think you have to condition every post made about Eichel with it but it's good to know that people don't think he's Casey Mittlestadt. I think that's a great indication of the problem with the Internet. As though because it's the Internet you don't have to try as hard. I see each discussion as I do in every walk of life. It's a chance to debate a point on its merits and those who create the better merits (or are more convincing) are the ones who are going to show as correct. Just because it's the Internet does not mean you should not approach your discussion any differently than if you are having it face to face (except for perhaps calling out areas where body language might have enhanced the message you were saying). But discussions are only democratic in that everyone should have a chance to contribute to it. It doesn't mean everyone is right or that everyone's opinion is equal. Everyone's opinion should be accepted based on the supporting information provided with it and be given the chance to be equal or superior to the counterargument.

I like not having Eichel on the point for now. Let the D patrol the blue line and shift in a pseudo umbrella fashion to still get Eichel the one-timer look but not having to worry about the blue line anymore.

:blush: This team can score goals compared to last year. We'll see if they can bring some confidence into the Red Wings game and start a little hotter. Let's be real here. If you were out there sucking it up on the ice and losing and feeling that pressure would you look forward to playing the next game? Perhaps. But I would guess not as much as you would if you were on a 5 game winning streak and things were going your way. Teams have confidence against the Sabres and are playing looser than perhaps they would elsewhere because the Sabres have shown some to be lacking confidence. If they can roll the change the other way it will get better. I think they will. Goaltending is weak, but the D has been the biggest culprit. Even that first goal could be avoided if they move bodies from the net. Part of the problem is that Housley has them jumping a D into the play to attack as 4. With the D activating they are leaving opposing players behind them with the goalie. Any turnovers could come back to bite them. Also, they are still learning defensive zone coverage. I believe Housley has modified that a bit to get the wingers up the boards a bit further and push the D out of the zone. As such they are still not transitioning their zone coverage and when they do gain control in their own zone the forwards are not moving as quick as they need to get the puck out. And there's the confidence. I don't think Bealieu has shown anything more than Antipin and Tennyson at this point. If they can pan out and become productive that's great but right now those 3 are normally 6,7,8,9 on most D depth charts.

Didn't see it mentioned.. Red Wings trade Riley Sheahan and a 5th in 2018 to Pittsburgh for Scott Wilson and a 3rd in 2018. Clears space for Ahtanasiou. Red Wings also traded Ryan Sproul to the Ranger for Matt Puempel. A lot of moves for a guy that's only signed for a year. They better be able to lock him up. Also Jagr out with LBI suffered in the 1st against Minny. I hope it's not too serious. He's coming up on Mr. Hockey's games played number.

The bandwagon for a team is always going. The question is which fans are on it and which are off it. Given that most posters on this board have continued to post here throughout the worst of times I would say that we've all been on it the entire time. The bandwagon analogy doesn't even work here. You are trying far too hard to inject your negativity into the situation. This isn't the "realist" view you so hoped to provide. This is straight up trying to bring people down when they have a reason to be pleased with the team. No one is on here saying they've fixed everything and its perfect. Nearly every post I've seen is discussing the current moment of the Sabres and their trend over their first 9 games. I haven't seen one post that says the Sabres are now the best team in the NHL or even a playoff team. Most people are just happy they're moving themselves a bit further from the basement. But not you... you just want to tell people they shouldn't be happy with a comeback win, against a rival, in the second game of a back to back, on the road. The Sabres are 13th in the league in GF. This despite playing the Kings who have given up the least goals, Vegas who have given up the 3rd least, Anaheim the 5th least, and San Jose the 11th least. The problem is that the Sabres are 2nd last in GA (Pittsburgh is the worst). I wonder if the Vegas fans are not excited because they beat the Sabres goalies which have both let in a ton of goals. But let's confine our version of reality to just last night's game. Bruins first goal - Lehners fault. Bruins second goal - A couple of crazy bounces and in Bruins third goal - Lehner could not see the puck Bruins fourth goal - Bounce of defender skate from going wide and into the net Sabres first goal - Khudobin might have that, it was a corner snipe. Sabres second goal - no goaltender doesn't give up a rebound on a puck that hits his shoulder, defender fails to cover Eichel Sabres third goal - turnover again, still Khudobin should have had it. Sabres fourth goal - absolutely flukey goal that is redirected by the defender on the ice's leg into the net Sabres fifth goal - hard to stop the puck when your teammate shoves a player on top of you So by my count, there are 2 goals on Khudobin and 1 goal on Lehner, maybe give the Bruins the second goal if you believe Lehner should have jumped on the puck before it could be shot in. But yea.. a total sieve. So much so that his save percentage, while only .881 was still better than Lehner's at .871. Again, what color is the sky in your reality?

Remember last year when people said they could take losing so long as this team was more exciting and scoring? They'd take giving up 2 on 1s just to push the offensive pace? I remember those statements.... Last year.. after 9 games the Toronto Maple Leafs were: 2-4-3 26GF 34GA Last year.. after 8 games the Nashville Predators were: 2-5-1 19GF 28GA This year the Sabres after 9 games are: 2-5-2 25GF 35GA We all know where those other two teams ended up. Keep it positive boys... The Sabres still have 2 players in the top 10 in scoring and 3 in the top 15. That's 3 players ahead of Ovechkin, Crosby, Malkin, and P. Kane in overall scoring. Again... the D is bad. We knew the D was bad. It was upgraded in the off-season with Scandella but with Falk and Bogosian out they are stuck with Antipin, Bealieu, and Tennyson. The depth isn't there and if either of those 3 can pan out to be serviceable then great.

We've got your back. Unless you need a place to stay tonight. :)

ROR is a leader. The skill players are leading this team. They just need to fix the defense. We knew that. The big difference this year is that the coach isn't playing to not lose.

That's clearly shoving Risto into the GT.

It's time for Jack to put his name into the best player conversation on NHL Network. He needs you win this for his team.

Khudobin is the kind of goalie Jack should destroy with his wrist shot. Time to pick a corner 15.

Watch that work by ROR and tell me he's not a leader. This team needs confidence and he just went out there and outworked the Bruins.

Neither is turning around a hockey team when you know you should be better than how you are playing.

McCabe led the team in TOI in the first. I think the trade for D is coming soon.

How many more points have they earned? Yep. With that world class goalie too. The Sabres just aren't the worst. Second worst maybe. But right now Montreal is worse.

Careful, some things don't react well to bullets.

Well, watch Montreal.