DarthEbriate

Last season, the Sabres were 0-1-3 vs. Detroit with Tokarski and Dell starting all 4 games. The series was ended by mid-January. Each team has improved since then. Each team's fan base believes that this is a game easily won, but neither team stinks like it has in the past few seasons. It's the sexier offseason signing of Husso, Chiarot, and Copp vs. the quieter UFA of Comrie, Boushh, and going with the kids. The challenge tonight is to see how the Sabres continue to adapt to missing their 3 most defensively responsible defensemen.

With Tage we also have to remember he's played one season as a center (and Mitts takes extra-attacker draws for him, or did at the end of last season). He'll improve as he ages. A comparable would be Brian Boyle (6-6). Boyle started his career junky in the FO dot for 3 (partial-to-full seasons), then got over 50% and stayed there the rest of his career. Final career 50.1%. If Tage can win half, that's fine. I'm guessing that's why Mitts is on PP1 instead of VO. I'd also consider sending Krebs down as the #1C in Rochester taking every draw imaginable if he's not going to get the ice-time in Buffalo. My preseason pick of leading FO % guy was Sheahan as he's done well in his career, but as of waivers today it looks like that pick is out the window.

Well... the Packers are starting another new OL alignment. There's no Lazard or Cobb so it's Watkins who's played 3 games and a bunch of rookies. But on the positive, Toure is first in punt return rotation during pre-game -- maybe, just maybe, Amari can't muff a punt tonight, or dare to dream, Toure has a return go for more than 10 yards. Ha! What am I saying? That's assuming the Bills choose to punt for some reason. The Packers defense should be good for 5 stops tonight (ends of halves, maybe a turnover, Bills committing a holding penalty, getting a stop off a turnover deep in Packers territory to limit the Bills to a FG attempt). That leaves about 7-8 other drives that are going to be pretty fun for the home fans.

Then Mitts is your man. Sabres with more than 20 faceoffs taken thus far this season: Mitts 63-57 - 52.5% Girgs 24-25 - 49% Cozens 54-61 - 47.4% Tage 42-52 - 44.7%

Whoa Nelly! The shield is down! Commence attack on the Amerks' main reactor net.

There we go.

Messy penalties, but at least they have legs they didn't have here in Seattle.

Rob, you're an announcer. Don't say PP.

Great job by Dahlin to end that.

Every thread (of our stylish suits) eventually gets there, so kudos on hitting it in the initial response. For myself: nameplates. I'd make nameplate a verb and nameplate everything. The entire planet suit is one big city nameplate. And I'd never admit to any of it when asked.

VO gets to be with Cozens and JJP. I see a goal from them tonight. VO isn't as fast as Hino for the forecheck, but his playmaking and shot are demonstrably better. Defensively, he'll be solid on assignments. For a few games this is fine, but I still don't want to wear down Power yet. He's got a few years of filling out and also avoid the mental fatigue of playing so many minutes.

Hmm. As everyone's stated above, we get so few power plays, why not get the one-timer set up from both sides with TT and VO on the top unit with Dahlin? Then, Quinn can use his right-handed shot as the backup to TT, and Krebs/Mitts can be on the opposite side as the feeder. Having Quinn on the right limits the ability to take a cross-ice one-timer. Removing Asplund from the lineup... I don't get it. The team doesn't need a kick in the pants from the Seattle game, just another game to cleanse that free. If they're completely flat again, sure, then make a little change in lineup. Although it wasn't Asplund going slow on a change that took Quinn's 1st goal off the board.

In early years of the EA NHL franchise one of the color guy comments was about "avoiding a loss on the dreaded first home game after a road trip" which you'd hear on repeat. Maybe?

This was a fantastic episode. I'm also glad that we're finally exploring a giant galaxy and not just another desert planet rehash. No lightsabers. Very little spaceships or blaster fights. And it doesn't need any of them because they wouldn't make sense in the story. Keep going, Andor!

Most teams aren't going to move anyone yet (without an overpay) because the season is still young and GMs all want to show the fans they still have hope. But there are a few teams at the bottom who might decide to stay there as they grab a dinner of lard, whiskey, and fusilli for Bedard, Matvey, and Fantilli. Here are some UFA RHD on poor-start teams who could be pried away now for a draft pick and you could then re-flip at the deadline. You'd likely have to add just a touch of sweetener to get any of them for the entire season versus just a as a deadline rental. This list would expand at US Thanksgiving, but the Sabres might be through the worst of the injuries by then (or in real trouble if another top 4 gets hurt). NYI - Mayfield $1.45 cap VAN - Schenn $850k ANH - Shattenkirk $3.9M and LD/RD Kulikov $2.25M; would either waive their M-NTC in southern California to go to a perceived bottom team? no, probably not. NSH - Borowiecki RD $900k Edit: I'm not advocating for any of these moves, only that these players could already be deemed available based on contract and standings.

Rodgers (and Green Bay's front office) still think they're hanging out in the sky after running off the edge, but they'll make it to the other side if they don't look down. But quite soon they'll just be that coyote cloud of dust at the bottom of the canyon. That said, the Sabres game in Seattle is why I will watch the game in its entirety. There's always hope that a team might no-show.

Reversal! 😇

I'm hiiiiiiiiiit. <Y-wing trails downward and explodes> Well, as a Sabres fan, that was a waste of money. My wife likes the Kraken colors and found the game with good energy for the hometown crowd. We learned that Buoy is pronounced boo-ie and is even more terrible when only 6 feet away than it is when onscreen. Cranky ex-Fremont resident says: and if you're going to have a troll in honor of the Fremont Troll, at least give it a VW beetle accessory to smash up. The Sabres did not play with conviction. Passes were weak, board battles were lost easily, and clearing attempts were weak and held in the zone. Comrie wasn't good, but they also left him out to dry. And yet, they still had a chance to make a game of it with the 3rd period penalty/offsides goal wiped, but credit Seattle. All night the Kraken sticks were super active, they forced positive puck luck and turnovers, and they engaged. It was a light-hitting affair, but the Kraken engaged in their contact and separated man from puck constantly. Chalk it up to a team that spent 2 days in the rain and gloom and just wanted to get on their redeye and get home. This was a successful road trip, but they should take out their anger on Montreal, because they'll essentially have rested for 4 days. And don't sleep on Seattle. They can play against the speed teams really well (they beat the Avalanche in Colorado) this week, and adding Burakovsky and re-adding their heart and soul in Tanev has helped stabilize their play. The goalies are still garbage, but when you only offer 10 shots through 2 periods and pretty much shut it down in the third anyway, even Jones looks fine. I wouldn't read anything into this performance long-term, even including the defensive replacements.

With everyone healthy, Boushh wouldn't be a Sabre this season as Bryson-Borgen would be pairing #3. He's not Lyubushkin yet, but will be similar when he's Boushh's age.

Martin Jones. Yup. They had poor goaltending last season and signed Martin Jones as a UFA to a 1-yr/$2M contract. Jones has been Hutton-level since Hutton became Hutton-level.

I'm a bigger Borgen fan than many and would've loved to see the Sabres throw JBott a 6 to take Bjork, but tonight I'm much more worried about having Bryson and Pilut get driven to the net than having anyone hit or fight or mix things up. Boushh and Fitz can help them out, but swapping out Muel and his ability to box out and throw people around for Pilut who has to play a nifty, quick game is the thing to keep an eye on. Gotta keep Comrie clean. (Or just outscore them by 4.)

Last time here in Seattle, it was obvious how much Olofsson's absence meant to the entire team. And no Tuch yet, although the Eichel trade happened the same day. When they rematched in Buffalo a few weeks later, Anderson was already hurt and the wheels were not just off but rolling down the hillside. The Kraken has never played the March '22-and-beyond Buffalo Sabres. Tonight is going to be fun. Just stay on target, stay on target. The Sabres can rest on Wednesday.

Hope everyone is rested and ready to go battle the dianoga rathtars summa-verminoth tentacle monsters. They're averaging 3 goals/game and they've been consistent in their scoring, but their goaltending remains weak (4 goals/game allowed -- and also consistent, as they've given up 4 or more goals in 5 games). Very up and down (beat the Avalanche, but then blew 2 leads to the Blackhawks). They will battle and scrap though, unlike where we saw the Canucks wilt in the 3rd. It'll be a good test to close out the road trip. Lock Sabre-foils in attack position!

The entire team. Mitts was scratched. TT was in danger of floating to RFA without a tender. Dahiln was lost. Skinner was on the 4th line and scratched. HCRK should have been nuked from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.

Knee sprains are 4-6 weeks, which the Sabres can survive without a trade if they keep playing at the level they are (or even better, if Skinner and Thompson start scoring). Muel is so good at protecting the net though, I figure the goalies will suffer a touch on rebounds and such while he's out. Again, we must hope that all the news on the Muel continues to be positive.