In The Buff

I saw this article just now & thought I'd share it. Its a history of Swedish Sabres we've had over the years, with a pretty good write-up on everyone. On a side note, i didn't know we had a player named Linus Omark on our roster at one point. Not to be confused with current Sabre Linus Ullmark. Anyways here's the link for anyone interested: https://thehockeywriters.com/sabres-swedish-hockey-player-history/

Anaheim has been mentioned as a possible match all thru the offseason too. The question is who would the Ducks be willing to get rid of & who would we even want & do those 2 things match. Its been an issue of compensation imo. But at this point I think Risto has been an asset to our blue line & offers something nobody else does & i dont know if i'd want to get rid of him. I'm guessing if anyone is gonna go maybe it'll be Scandella, since i believe he's also a UFA next year. If we're not gonna re-sign him (and i would doubt that we would), makes sense to trade him before the deadline, sooner or later.

Right from the beginning faceoff the Rangers came out with energy & intensity. We just havent matched that imo. That NYR pressure could be why we've seen so many turnnovers Who knows.

man the Sabres are having a rough time getting past the blue line tonight

The decision may very well be not to play Bogo at all. But when he's healthy, at least that option exists in case he's needed. Thats the point i suppose. Depth is a good thing

Bogo isn't healthy today & won't be for quite some time. But when he is the health status of those players could be different at that time, so that would be a decision to be made then of course. But hypothetically if he were healthy right now (even though Montour in your question isn't ready to play right now either) I'd imagine RK would make an assessment based on how Bogo looks in practice to see if he'd be an upgrade over anyone. I would also expect a conditioning assignment in Roch prior to him being in the lineup, if theres time left in the season for that. Its hard to hypothesize these things because we just don't know what Bogo's time frame is. I can't really just pick a player willy nilly because thats just not how any coach would/should do things imo.

Yep if this season goes as we all want it to, come time for that final playoff push a healthy & fresh legged Bogo could be just what we need at that crucial point in the season. Especially since injuries are gonna happen at some point (even though they won't since i don't want to jinx anything). But having more healthy players at your teams disposal is never a bad thing imo. And for those Bogo naysayers, everyone's been down on Okposo prior to this season, including myself. And he's played well with RK's new system. Who's to say Bogo won't do better in RK's system as well? Depth is a very good thing to have!

I don't think many are in the "all is well' camp with Risto. There's definitely areas of his game that could stand to be improved upon. But he offers something that nobody else provides on our back end. That strong physical presence that dishes out the physicality & doesn't just take it all game long. I think a D core needs a mix of physical players & offensive players. If Risto is taken out of the equation, our d core looks a lot more wimpy. Just my opinion of course ?

Yes thats what i think happens too. For Bogo as well whenever he's ready. Only makes sense that you'd want to get these guys coming off injuries time to get up to game speed. Barring other unforeseen injuries of course

Erod's a good depth player, can play all thruout the lineup, but he's not as good a goal scorer as Sheary is & I do think that line has better balance with him on Casey's wing. But its nice to see Casey was able to capitalize on a couple opportunities tonight. Kids been working hard & putting in the effort & getting some chances. Its great to see him be rewarded for it. And i'm sure it'll relieve some of the pressure he's put on himself & from some fans as well. It'd be awesome if he got a hat trick tonight!

I wonder if the Ducks have Miller start tonight to face off versus his old team. And thanks to Pi2000 for another GDT thread. I really love the old videos you add to them. Brings back lots of great memories! Thanks!

As fans we're tempted to do a lot of things with this roster. But big picture we're 5-0-1. I dont think you take a chance at screwing up his head or confidence by sending him down unless he does something detrimental to the team. Like costly giveaways or seriously stinking up the ice. You continue to stay the course, coaching him up, instilling confidence into him & hope those chances he's been getting start going in. If we start a 5 game losing streak & that line is still under performing or more specifically him then yeah, perhaps sending him down would be good. But not at this time when we're 5-0-1 imo.

Yeah 1 or 2 year deals only. I don't think its smart to commit multiple years to bottom 6 players hitting 30. Also there's other players in the pipeline that could very well be pushing for ice time. Players that would be cheaper & younger & perhaps offer more upside. And that Larsson line is playing well now. To a surprise to almost everyone.... 6 games into the season. Perhaps they're overachieving & can't keep it going, who knows? Lets wait to see how that line looks in January or February before we start talking about multiple year contract extensions. I mean just a few months ago when they were given 1 year deals, lots of fans were upset that they would be playing here again this year. Now 6 games into the season after some success we're talking multi year deals. Such is the rollercoaster of being a sports fan i guess. But a wise GM i would think takes a patient & cautious approach before throwing the money around.

On a side note, once Montour, Bogo & Pilut all return from injury, JBots is gonna have to make a move. So perhaps if this line is still not where we want them to be, a trade can be made to bring someone in that will effect the composition of that line.

For as much as we wish Casey was further along in his development, i do think we need to remember he's only 20 years old & is gonna need time to fully mature. We're talking multiple seasons both physically & on the ice. If he wasn't getting chances i'd be more worried. But he's been getting opportunities to score & just hasn't finished. In time those chances will go in. So i'm not overly worried about that line. Not enough to bench anyone anytime soon. Plus in Casey's case, he's cash money in shootouts & contributing there. But if that line was a liability defensively that'd be another story as well, but theyre not to this point. So i say just keep coaching them up & give them some time to get it together. In the meantime we can all talk about it in these threads that come out a few times a week lol

i do think in time that line will be better. You have Mitts who is still finding his own game & learning how to use his high skilled talent & apply it to his play. You have Vesey who has only been in the league a few years too, playing on a new team which along with him is learning a new system as well. You basically have 2/3's of that line not knowing 100% what theyre doing yet. So I'm not really surprised that line isn't our best. I think if we had a more seasoned pro to go along with those 2 guys, it'd help them out a lot. But again i don't want it to sound like i'm too harsh on them.

Skill is great to have, but nothing can beat effort imo. And so far that Larsson line is putting out solid effort game in & game out. As for the Mitts line, with Vesey & now Erod, idk if i can say the same for them. And i hope i'm not being unfair to them, i know Vesey is just slower & i do think thruout the year the goals will come. But we for sure do need another forward brought in, so we can have 3 lines that can score. Perhaps if down the road we're still in a playoff race, we'll bring a guy in. As opposed to waiting til next year to address it. Still i like the compete level our team as a whole is showing. Thats really all i can ask for as a fan. You can't win them all, so win or lose, just compete & give an honest effort out there

Cool, that for sure is something i would've liked to tried, but my Sabresspace is already in Nightmode if youre a fan of night modes/dark modes, i use a browser addon/extension called Dark Reader, that turns every webpage you view on the internets into a dark mode. So no more white backgrounds on any webpages. And if theres a webpage u want to have a white background, theres a toggle button on ur toolbar to switch it from dark to white. Something i wish i had known about sooner, but now that i have it, its dark mode 24/7 & i love that. Just thought i'd share that here in case someone else out there would like the same thing. Good work SDS ?

Yeah numbered lines don't matter as much as the situations & performance. But you will see a disparity with the lines in ice time. Theoretically your #1 line will have more ice time than #2, 2 than 3 etc. I dont get too hung up on who is where personally. I just want to see all 4 lines rolling in game & being effective. Whatever combinations achieve those results, so be it.

I wish him well as well but to a point. If he puts up 30 goals this year, i'm gonna have a hard time coping with that. But so far that trade looks like both teams got what they wanted. Time will tell of course

By all accounts Dahlin had a lackadaisical preseason, so perhaps RK was limiting his ice time because he wasn't sure which Dahlin was gonna show up, or bcuz he wanted to ease him into the game/season or perhaps it was to limit his ice time to motivate him to elevate his play to earn more. Whatever the reason was, it worked. I wouldnt read too much into it personally with it being just the 1st game on the road vs a talented Pen team

I see i'm not alone in voting for Vlad. 2 hours into the poll & he's leading with 5 votes. I wonder if everyone else is thinking he'll score into his own net even though the poll explicitly states 1st Sabres goal. I picked him because of all the heat he's taken. So he'll score the 1st & then go another 15 games before scoring another, in proper Vlad fashion.

A trade is still possible i suppose. Its no secret that Anaheim was heavily interested in Faulk prior to him being traded to St Louis & that Risto would fill a need for them. They're probably 1 of the few teams left that were looking for a RHD that i know of. Idk what would come back tho. Nick Ritchie has been on the outs there & is a former 1st rd pick (which we seem to like to stack up on) but is a LW. Adam Henrique would fill a need on our end & is signed thru 2023. But that in itself could be a negative since by then if everything works out we'll be fine with Mitts & Cozens. But he'd be the only one there i could see helping us now. And even then its questionable/doubtful Anaheim would move him. I thought for sure Risto would be moved out months ago. Now i think its doubtful. If at all it'll be weeks from now when some of our guys come back.

I think for a lot of us the 2C issue is frustrating because #1 it was a self inflicted wound. But #2 it clearly was a need last year & its again this year. And if we're looking at Mitts or Cozens being another year or 2 away from making an impact, you're talking about 3 or 4 seasons of having a glaring need on your team without it being fully addressed. Perhaps thats the plan, moving Mojo around, Mitts, Erod, etc like you guys have suggested. But 3 or 4 seasons of more or less the status quo in that regard is a tough pill to stomach. For a team & a franchise thats been waiting so long as it is.

Can't believe you're actually comparing Reinhart to Ville Leino & making the point that Leino is/was more successful at C than he was. That 1 season was clearly an aberration, not just in the NHL but all the way down to Juniors he only had 2 other good years, 7 years apart. Reinhart was/is 1000% more productive in Juniors & the NHL than Leino was. I can't see faceoff stats from back in Juniors when Reinhart played center, but if he had a Briere & was centering that line, i think its pretty safe to say he wouldve been much more successful than Leino was, so that comparison is just folly. Just saying