Randall Flagg

Risto is absolutely the king of the tank-style whipping the puck out to center ice, whether he has passing options or not. He wasn't always like this, but he was raised by the tank. There was potential to develop him into the best defenseman this franchise has ever had, but it didn't work out.

I've learned, though, that you get a lot fewer notifications and confrontations if you say this after it shows on the ice than if you try to say it in June

I would bet $50 that our franchise's current three best defensemen are Dahlin, Scandella, Pilut in that order.

How many players produced and generated offensive chances like top sixers in the NHL last season on our roster? The answer is 3 - Eichel, Reinhart, and Skinner. Last season, Eichel, Reinhart, O'Reilly, and Kane were on the roster at the beginning and went on to do the same thing. The fourth line right now is better than the fourth line then, and there's one fewer top six player, including center depth that's the weakest since the tank teams. Again, the rookies will hopefully have this changed by April, but as I've written probably tens of thousands of words about this summer, just shuffling pieces doesn't mean anything as far as skill improvement, so doing that with "culture" being the first and foremost goal is going to disappoint those who are convinced that was the whole thing. You have to add good players. If your team is bad and you turn it over via trades, and most trades are not heavily slanted towards one team, why expect huge improvement? Ever since McDavid became a thing, there's a marked increase in the stick-handling abilities of even average/bad prospects. Everyone works on it like crazy now. Late round picks like Jesper Bratt in NJ are hitting the ice surprisingly early and have shocking puck skills. Most of our depth is built up with players from an era where this wasn't a thing, so their puck skill is pretty low compared to teams that go with all the kids (Toronto - the obvious, NJ, Colorado - Jost, Compher, Kerfoot playing big minutes last year, etc) fully. Without chemistry and established NHL offensive talent, your early games against cup contenders with a decade of playing in the same structure might not go too well.

Again, where? We have 3 players that are currently top-six-capable, at least in terms of generating offense on their own. Some vets with well-documented skill shortages and some unproven rookies that are going to play like that for a little while. A couple pieces that probably shouldn't be NHL regulars. I think, at least for a little while then, you're going to be in for some disappointment and questioning of the "core"

That kid is sick.

For what?

It took 20 games last season before a single team scored a single even strength goal against that line. Since most line changes are not from faceoffs, Eich was always going to play against Bergeron. But when we had the choice, Phil wanted that matchup. It's one thing if we have proven depth scoring. But he put our point-getters on that line. This is where Phil has shown his weakness - I don't think he has a great idea of what his players can and can't do, like, I think this forum could band together and do a better job at that. I really do. The on-ice strategy stuff, well, I'm not as worried about it. There's a screengrab I saw of McCabe on the boards with the puck. In years past, he would have no outlet. But all five Sabres were in an open seam, sticks on the ice, staring at him, waiting for the pass. His head was down looking at the puck and he iced it. The players do a decent job getting where they need to be. They had a lot of decent zone entries (that died soon after because of our lack of talent combined with Boston's stifling ability) because they positioned themselves well during transition. They don't have the skill to take advantage of it now. And like I've been saying since April, we aren't going to do anything of note until we do, and this board and probably team appear to be more likely to trade the rest of our skill before recognizing that as the main issue. On both ends it's starting to drive me nuts, especially because I got called out a lot for feeling that way back during the ROR trade and after, and yet those same posters are the ones making the GDT unreadable like 30 minutes into the season. What our players say after the 60th loss in the last year doesn't indicate anything other than they quickly ran out of things to say. They can't just try harder and boom their skill is on-par with the rest of the league. Also, I'm almost positive they more-than-doubled Boston's check totals. We're not that good, and downgraded the number of established good forwards relative to last season. We just need to hope (and there's a reasonable chance it happens) that all of Casey, Tage, and Alex can become effective players as soon as this year. And I'm really interested to see where we stack up on Saturday. The Rangers are more indicative of where we are than the Bruins, by far. I'm hoping it can be a good one that makes the players and fans feel better.

They "outchecked" Boston more than double. Risto, Sobotka, and a couple others had some really solid hits. They aren't a very good collection of hockey players. It's that simple. Everyone reading deeper than that after 60 minutes of hockey....

The worst way to start a season is a high ankle sprain followed by a lifeless loss. So nah.

I don't remember if I responded to this, but I recall being surprised by your preseason optimism and expectations. I'm not making an excuse. But a currently-mediocre roster setup is going to give us mediocre hockey games, most likely. They might gel and not become mediocre, but there was no single aspect of the game that was a surprise. Not a lot of high end plays, not a lot of high end players. Some optimistic plays from the youth, quite a few youth players that we are optimistic about. No very heady defensemen, lots of defensive miscues. It also doesn't mean they won't come out and tear up the Rangers - nobody really knows, and that's why they play the games.

I legit have no idea how. Some basic tv package that has NBCSN? I'm still probably not interested though. At that point I should just shut everything off and do my homework or some sh*t

I'd be watching that, but NHLTV says that since I buy NHLTV because I don't want/have/can't afford television, the games that are on television in my area are not shown on NHLTV.

If I could pick one poster to watch games with in person it'd totally be you in that porch thing you have

We have a bunch of defensemen who, athletically and physically, belong in the NHL. They can keep up, they can check the strongest guys in the league. However, our only good hockey-playing defenseman is the 18 year old kid, and maybe Scandella if he can settle into a lesser role. If you want to see what I mean by that, watch the Sharks' third pair, not the obviously elite guys, just the guys behind them who can play the game too and not just be there to some degree of effectiveness. You will see them do things you would never imagine any Sabre defenseman not named Dahlin capable of regularly doing. I don't mean this to be a reactionary take from this game - the reason I'm choosing to say this now is because everyone is angry, and when they aren't, implying things like "McCabe isn't a good hockey player" gets a lot more flack than it probably does tonight

Maybe not you or that poster, but some people did. Not me, I was wishy/washy and uncommitted either way, but some people hated the hires for that reason It looks like Phil chose to match Bergeron's line with Jack's. That's a no-no. None of the lines can really play defense super well, so if you stack one, you can't be sending them out against those guys.

Also on Dahlin - there were about 10 little plays at the defensive blue line and down in the dzone recovering the puck and creating transition that no Sabre defender has reliably done in a decade. He will become everything we need from our defense.

The thing I noticed from Sheary is the same thing I noticed from Wilson. Without boatloads of talent, they know how to do effective hockey things in various situations, things that you pick up playing on teams like Pittsburgh. It's kinda cool.

Alright everyone, if JJ is happy with something a Buffalo team does even in a loss, it isn't as bad as y'all think it is. ?

I didn't realize my prediction was still alive ?

Excuse me sweaty, we added Bogosian

I'm hoping the Rangers are as rough defensively as I think they're going to be. Gotta get this building back on our side.

But I could have told you we were bad and would probably lose to Boston all summer long. Before the catastrophe of Tuesday. In fact, I pretty much did that all summer long. Where's my prize? ?

That's okay for you, but there's just nothing grounded/tangible there that I really have interest in discussing. I'm not saying there's nothing to it, but by nature I try to stick to things that I could see and show other people and break down

Jacky Boy sounding like Dick Jauron. Better trade him, he isn't the answer.