Crusader1969

oops, the 4th liner is supposed to be whatever number Varrone wears. thanks

They have the ingredients of an excellent team High end, elite, centers, A stud on D, (hopefully) a top end goalie and lots of youth on its way to help improve team depth. Future is bright but the next month could be ugly.

any guesses of the lines in another week? I think its going to be: 26 15 28 9 23 56 82 22 12 44 59 22 Wonder if they will give Bailey more than 9 games and let his Contract to kick in. If not replace 56 with Carrier (whatever number he wears) Definitely looking like a bottom 5 team.

Draft article: http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nhl/draft/2016/02/21/2016-nhl-draft-matthews-jake-bean-chychrun-depth/80668094/

I think you get the ads too http://www.tapparashop.fi/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=379

Then I guess you don't want to do one without the other.

If you want your tank to be successful there are two parts: 1) elite talent - that's the major part. 2) sell off all of the rotten core for as many draft picks as possible. You either turn those draft picks into prospects who will hopefully be on your 23 man roster or be valuable call-ups when injuries happen or you use them to facilitate trades for actually NHL talent. If you do #1 without #2 you become the Oilers.

losing a top player and not having the depth to overcome it is exactly why tank 3.0 exists.

if Sabres get lucky and pick #2 again this year, I will gladly buy myself a Tappara jersey with Laine's name on it.

I can definitely see your point. The biggest difference between us is you are looking at standings and i am looking at points. I wanted to see a big improvement from last year and they are on pace to do so. I just see getting to 75ish points and finishing bottom 5-7 as a win-win. Next year, I would like to see the team make a similar improvement in points - maybe go from 75 to 90. That should get them into play-off contention and well out of the bottom 10. If they get to 90 next season - the following year i would then be looking at 100+ for the following year, eventually being one of the top teams in the league year in year out. Just takes time and I'm enjoying watching the process.

Sabres still expected to finish 2nd last: https://twitter.com/DTMAboutHeart/status/701480752475725826

Austin Matthews 1G 2A in Swiss League today: http://www.sihf.ch/de/game-center/game/#/20161105071281 Secondary assist on 1st Goal, Primary on their 3rd and scores a tap in for their 4th goal. Final 5-2 Here is the Patrik Laine OT winner from yesterday https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyjjRwQt5G8 just a sample of why some (not many but some) have ranked him ahead of Matthews.

yes, I believe the high end forward pool for this years draft goes 6 deep. Its not all about the ping pong balls. Matthews, Laine, Puljujarvi, Tkachuk, Dubois and Nylander. At this point I think there is a decent chance that they all go before Chychrun gets picked.

They are a bottom team already and the guys you want to so do well are doing so. This team is where it is because they don`t have enough pieces yet to be a contender for the play-offs let alone the Stanley Cup. I see huge progress this year - the top 5 scoring forwards all played their first game with the team this past October.

No, im good with anywhere in the bottom 7. I`d like to see the Sabres get 75-80 points which should land them in bottom 5-7. Here you should have a decent shot at a top 3 pick but if not, you will still be able to land a top prospect. Of course, losing O`Reilly I may have to adjust my total point aspirations to 72 -75 points.

really nothing, I originally said that you are better off not finishing 20th overall but rather 5th or 6th last cause you can`t add to your top 6 through FA. Then someone else said Boedker to which I replied ``if your goal is Boedker and mine is Laine, Tkachuk or Dubois then we have different aspirations on what we want the Sabres to become`. It spiraled from there... Maybe I`m under-estimating Boedker? again under the big assumption that the Sabres can even sign him.

no, its nothing against the player or signing any FA. Im arguing that finishing 20th this season will do more harm than good long term because they will miss out on another player who will more than likely end up in top 6 or top 2 D pair. Play well during the home stretch - just don`t move out of the bottom 7. Where would Boedker rank on the current Sabres? right now he would be the 5th or 6th forward depending on how you feel about Ennis. Add 1 of the Big 3 in the 2016 draft and now he is definitely out of the top 6 (again assuming you rank Ennis higher) next season. Add Tkchuck, Dubois or Nylander and he is out of the top 6 in 2 years.

Next 3 games will be huge for Tank 3.0 Home to Pittsburgh followed by West Coast trip vs Anaheim, LA and SJ. I will be very impressed with them if they can get 4 points out of this stretch.

Just saying I want better than Boedker in the top 6 when this team is ready to become a real contender for the cup. I think the there are 6 forwards in the draft who project to be much better players that Boedker and I want one of them on the Sabres. A high draft pick (Top 7) will be much more beneficial to the Sabres long term than an extra 4 or 5 wins in a season when the team isn't going to make the play-offs. If we had a guy in Rochester that was ready to step into a top 6 spot next year that would be different. There just isn't a guy right now who we can bank on anywhere in the current prospect pool and believe me- I really like Bailey, Fasching and Baptiste.

If you want to add Boedker to your top 6, im pretty sure we have different aspirations on what we want the Sabres to become.

Lets hope not, team still doesn't have depth and I see there being 7 high end guys in this years draft - important to get one of them. Plus coming 10th would kill almost all hope of the lottery balls falling in our favor. Top 3 picks have "elite" potential. The Sabres have very little ammo for a trade to bring in another Top Pair D or top 6 F and there definitely isn't one available (outside Stamkos) in FA. There is no prize for finishing 20th in a 30 team league - much better off to finish 25th or lower IMO.

Patrik Laine scores OT winner today for Tappara

Puljujarvi with a nice day in Liiga. http://liiga.fi/videot/2016/02/20/jesse-puljujarvi-on-liekeissa-uskomaton-esityo-ja-huikea-soolo

First try on the NHL lottery simulator worked out pretty well Winners First Buffalo Sabres Second Arizona Coyotes Third Ottawa Senators

Another day and another prospect rank This one from SportsNet http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/juniors/sportsnets-top-30-2016-nhl-draft-prospects-february/ Craig Button today on TSN Radio "I see Matthews more in the line of Eichel than McDavid. McDavid has shown he is truly a generational player. Matthews will be a dominant centre. He isn't the best 18 year old in the Swiss league, he is the best player."