DarthEbriate

It's so prevalent, he's ended up with an AHL-level goalie on the NHL roster (and not strictly because of injuries) every single season he's been GM. This includes post- eye injury Hutton who was no longer NHL caliber at the time.

Remember the 2021-22 opener vs. Montreal post-COVID? Empty building. Embarrassingly quiet player intros. Opening shift of the game -- Okposo and Girgensons flew around. They each finished a big check. I think Girgs missed on another check and simply rattled the boards aggressively. The crowd woke up, the team found their legs immediately. The Sabres (not a good team by any stretch) started the season with a throttling of MTL and got to 5-1-1 before the energy wore off. I just looked up the boxscore (Sabres home game, so hit stats are meaningless) but they each were only credited with 1 hit. That's all the team needed to wake up.) This current team has NO energy line. Not at the start of a game, not at the start of a period. Not when they need to just go stir some bantha fodder up. On a related note, Skinner is turning back into Krueger-era and pre-Sabres-3rd-liner Skinner. He's completely a passenger. If he were a pest as some want to believe, he'd find other ways to contribute to the game even if his scoring wasn't happening at the moment. But he's not a pest, just a whiny wallflower.

Last year's 2nd-half Sabres would've been must-watch hockey trailing 2 at the second intermission. Tonight -- I'm going to go make/eat dinner. Hope they win. Good luck, 'Spacers.

This is the Sabres' best-looking powerplay in a long time. A long time. No goal, but, they went to the net. Got shots through block-attempts. Good movement.

Florida skates hard in both directions. It's nice to see a team do that.

Good move, and good going to the net, but Krebs has to stop in front of the net, not do a flyby.

Turned on the game and saw about 5 Sabres turnovers in 2 minutes, mostly forced turnovers and at least one just... blind pass to the opposition. Good forecheck, Florida.

Thanks for the shutout and an off day; here's the bench!

This. To get to 96, they need to go 23-7 in their final 30 games. And they have to 10-2 or better in their remaining games against TOR, TB, DET, NJ, NYI, PIT, & MON. A third four-point loss swing against one those teams basically ends the season that night. Now... 15 in a row, and they only have to go 8-7 in their remaining games. That's possible, however unlikely. No. But he's really good friends with Wayne Gretzky and Bo Jackson. They solve crimes together.

How about Zhitnik-stocky? 5'11 225#. Jeepers, Zhitnik's hockey-reference page has him at the same playing weight as Erik Johnson.

The bridge for UPL wouldn't be the issue. The issue is, if over the course of the bridge you get 2.5 seasons of above-average goaltending, you lock him up to a real starter's term/salary before he gets to UFA and can pick the best defensive team in the league and go win a Vezina. (While you're busy worrying about "blocking" Ratzlaff and Leinonen.)

Goalies are notoriously chaotic. Just look at Shesterkin's numbers this season in every column.... except for wins/losses. Re: Ullmark/UPL. I think Ullmark always had the higher floor and starting point -- he was always very good. UPL was a bigger project boom-or-bust type. Whose ceiling is higher (probably Ullmark by a bit) is still TBD and will also depend on the team around them. But one note to bear in mind in their comparison is games played in AHL/NHL. By the time Ullmark got his full-time NHL gig (2018-19, age 25) he'd played 127 AHL games and 26 NHL games. In contrast, UPL got his full-time NHL gig last year (2022-23, age 23) having played only 60 AHL games (he added 9 last year), 13 NHL games, and another 23 in the ECHL, impacted by COVID seasons. And then, he entered into silly 3-headed goalie rotations. Only this season has UPL eclipsed Ullmark's 153 NHL/AHL GP before going full-time. Goalies need development games and we're finally starting to see him "get it" at professional level. Next: sustain it, week after week, month-by-month. (That's what the bridge is for.)

Cozens keeps a big shot on goal at bay. Nice shutout, gents!

Mitts’ line is the top line.

Hooking, I believe.

Shields up! Double front! Luukkonen

Woohoo! That Benson goal had a slow-motion feel as soon as Bryson got the puck. The goal was happening no matter what, just a question of how long it took to go in.

LA looks lost. Some sort of king-in-exile stuff going on.

The Kid Line can smell blood.

Dahlin isn’t snakebitten anymore!

That… could be called a trip. Borderline.

Almost there… Tuch.

Will the Sabres score in the 1st period? Will the Sabres score more than one goal? Can the Sabres win a home game? Tune in tonight and find out!

As of 2/13, Quality Starts from with goalies 20+ starts (per Hockey-Reference): UPL is ninth in the league. He's been giving them a chance to win almost every game all season long. >.700 = Hill VGK, Montembault MTL, Swayman BOS, Ullmark BOS >.640 = Daccord SEA, Hellebuyck WPG, Demko VAN, Skinner EDM, UPL BUF That's a lot of very defensively sound teams and good goalies, including a guy who won 14 in a row. Every one of those goalies is at least +4 in their win/loss column except UPL who is -1 (Exempting OTL for simplicity)

Honestly, when the playoffs start, I'd root for the Latvian Locomotive to get a Cup regardless of his jersey colors. (But, you know, please move him to Vancouver rather than Toronto/Boston... so at least I don't feel conflicted.)