Randall Flagg

The only thing that would give me pause about keeping Mitts there forever is how much better Tage looks in the same spot than elsewhere

That line is so good lol. Should we start with it next year?

Quinn has been getting some PK time Tuch's game slightly bothered me as recently as 5 months ago but the dude is just a phenomenal winger

Helluva keep in by 43

Based Kyle

We definitely just had 6 skaters out there lol

This start doesn't mean much but is much better than mailing it in. Keep it up boys. Gonna miss this

In 2008-09 Miller went 34-18-6 and we missed the playoffs because the team won just 5 of Lalime's 21 starts. I wouldn't bet on it happening but would still be nervous that Comrie or UPL do have the potential to ruin a playoff push

That's great The PK has been 77% or worse each of the last 3 years, down to 72.9% this year. How will he support this number to 80%+? When can we expect the solution search to be over

Yes we do. Anything realistic worth plucking off of either roster?

The bolded will also double the amount of defensemen available. Kevyn's going to wind up adding one even if he doesn't want to, so long as he is in the loop on league discussions

Thanks all. Looks like there were just the two then.

Don't see any from last night

Where can I listen to postgame interviews?

There are a LOT of UFA defenseman available that fit what we'd like in that 4D role. More than I ever remember seeing. We should definitely be able to snag one.

I can work on this tonight maybe. Loads have teams have managed to have not-bottom-of-barrel goaltending the last three years while ours has languished there

Im not mad about it, and I'm not spending any serious time lamenting things because I believe in my heart that next year will be special But yes, at some point along the way, after the 8 game streak (we were only 4 games under .500 and 22% thru the season when that ended) it was clear that we were getting historic production from Tage and Dahlin, that Cozens took a step, and that we had frightfully bad defensive depth, while having a shot at the playoffs and having firmly established the Samuelsson splits. And we had to ben bishop our way to the cap floor, meaning there was all kinds of room. Casey Fitzgerald started 23 games for this team. It is not unreasonable to feel lost opportunity here and fans certainly were aware of it at the time. I was reading forums even if not posting. Some of the clapbacks at this frustration are more obnoxious and less correct than most of the frustration I've seen outside of drunk nill. But maybe that's just my reflexive bias against SDS showing 🙂 But that frustration is mostly drowned out for me by anticipation. It is not hard to see how different things are this time

The lines aren't fixed by any means, just wanted to lay out the 12 starting forwards

Someone else can give them to him. When he did play, he was like 88th in the league in goalie metrics. The 23-24 sabres are not an appropriate place for this experiment.

Nothing about three of those names you mention make me think "this is serviceable for a team that has to make the playoffs." Nothing. They are more likely to torpedo a playoff run than serve it well.

I could be wrong, thought Carolina and or Edmonton had 11

We are in sole possession of this NHL record after last night

My dream offseason: Sign compher and Freddy andersen and one of graves/Mayfield Trade for hanifin Skinner-Thompson-Tuch JJP-Cozens-Quinn Mitts-Compher-Savoie/Kulich Z-Krebs-Greenway Samuelsson-Dahlin Power-Graves/Mayfield Hanifin-Joki/Boosh Stillman-Joki/Boosh Levi Andersen

It is possible to feel that the season is a success relative to what you hoped for in October, and also feel dismayed that it wasn't treated like a "make the playoffs NOW" season when it became apparent that the team was capable of making it

The past 12 years have brought with them a moment where I get smacked by the understanding that the season is over, and that the N remaining games exist for nothing more than "development" and hoping Ennis or Eichel or Tage can put up some fun numbers. N was usually a number in the 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s. N was 72 in 2017-18. Along with this blitz of reality came a quiet dread knowing that there were still months before spring, and dozens of hockey games to watch before they might contribute towards a successful season again. This season, N is 2. Normally when we reach game (82-N) I come on here to post about all the things that the general manager should have seen, things obvious to us, that might have made things work out differently. These things were maddening, because they would not only plainly doom a season before it started, but hinted that the men in charge would not be there when we finally climbed out of the abyss I cannot make that post this year. I can still recite Jason Botterill's comedy of roster moves, Tim Murray's woeful bottom-6 and defensemen preferences etc. But this year that content doesn't exist, there's nothing in the bag for me to pull out It is apparent to me that Kevyn has come as close to optimizing our trajectory out of that 18 game losing streak 25 months ago as you can reasonably expect from someone. Sure, there are things he could have done here or there to make this ending a little better - that's always true, and in reality, it's true of the teams around us as well - why let the Sabres make a hindsight tweak if you wouldn't let Florida make one as well to leap back ahead? Sure, one more solid defenseman would have helped that without-Samuelsson record. But I can't organically get worked up about this the way I still can about GMs from years ago, because too many things made too much sense and worked out too well in comparison to those seasons. Kevyn is a real GM and he has built a real team that is about to be real good. I would then launch threads outlining the sorts of things we would need to do to drag the roster to respectability the coming summer - usually 6-8 additions that stretch the limits of my imagination and would require a lot of work, a lot of thinking. Things that every one of us knew would not come close to happening. But this year, I can't do that either. I need a good backup goalie, a 4D, and some depth. Sure, I'd take another splash or two. But things are different, I don't NEED that to be able to pretend that our team could squeak in. My eyes are telling me that even if he didn't lift a finger this summer, we are a 100 point team next season. I trust my eyes a lot It is very nice knowing that I only need to sit through 2 games, which end within 72 hours from this point, before these guys go home and get ready to be great in October. They will be FUN, because we all know what is coming.