DarthEbriate

Finally, a good bounce.

3 on 0 and... no rebound. Tricky 3 on 0 though because Tuch was far ahead of the others and he would have possibly gotten backcheckers involved if he slows up for a pass option.

Every puck battle is lost. VGK is so much stronger on their skates, along the boards, and getting to the front of the net. And they get their sticks in position to block shots effortlessly, or deflect it away from danger, or steal it cleanly. It's a clinic.

Fitz should've taken out Pacioretty for that. The wheels are off. And have rolled several miles downhill. And have burst into flames with the friction caused by rolling down said hill.

In my experience there's no such thing as luck. But that's some seriously poor Tuch luck right there.

He's another LHD

That was easy.

Huh. They assigned JJP, Murray, Ruotsalainen, and Biro (and Laaksonen and Prow) to the taxi squad... but elect to play Pysyk at center vs on D? May the Force be with us. (And I do like the idea of keeping the FitzMuel together.)

The GMs absolutely learned from the VGK expansion and both positioned their contracts better and avoided the side deals for picks. And the Seattle brass has also admitted they never dropped their asking prices for picks-for-cap space trades to bolster their futures. That's on them. The other thing is Seattle was originally slated to enter in 2020, but pushed their launch back a year (in ... 2018 or early 2019?). That gave the GMs an additional season to get their cores and exposed lists set. Now -- that wasn't without some disadvantages -- the Sabres had to protect Dahlin and Joker in 2021... where they wouldn't have had to in the summer of '20. Cast a positive spin on it --- the break would have been even longer without Sabres games had the NHL gone to the Olympics. Instead, we're getting "free" COVID makeup games, a shorter break, and still get to see Olympic hockey with Power and Levi. It's win-win-win!

Kassian (4x$3.2M) is a poor contract, but that's what comes of playing with McDavid for a bit and still being the toughest player on the team. He had an injury-crushed season last year. However, I'd argue anyone who stays in the league for 11 seasons has really cratered. He just never became the Concept of Kassian. Foligno (3x$3.1M) is excellent this season and has been a heart-and-soul of that Wild team since his arrival. They finally have some scoring talent as well. I imagine they hope Greenway becomes their next Foligno. Foligno would be great in a Sabres uniform. Reinhart is fine. He was fine before he left Buffalo.

That's too specific. 😇 This season the Sabres PR team has three classifications of injury: upper body, lower body, and COVID.

Possibly when the team releases an official tweet or there's a direct message on his status. The Lysowski tweet you've posted even had his status buried. Or he might just absorbed into the Injury List thread. This Mitts thread started 2 weeks back when he first returned from surgery.

I care. This is part of the lack of interest for Butcher vs. Mitts who could be a top-9 center for years to come. I think also it's part of the mystery. We know why Butcher left the ice and we know he's got a LBI and will be either week-to-week or month-to-month or out for the season. With Mitts... he was pulled for looking off. That could just be altitude sickness, that could be scar tissue from surgery, or it could be back in Vegas, or after the All-Star Break, or it could be terrible news. We shall see.

MIN extends Jordan Greenway to a 3x$3M deal. Is he a great player? No. But he's an effective player and has shown progress every season. The points are down this season, but in 185 minutes at 5-on-5 with Foligno and Ek this season -- no goals against. This is why you sign a player in-season. Greenway could have a really good second half and/or playoff and drive his value up by $1-2M/season were he to hit UFA.

The all-underdog parlay fails. I guess I'd be sad if I had actually made a wager as such. Hope the shooters don't miss much time. Tager, VO, Mitts, and Quinn already. Sheesh. 'Til Tuesday.

But... again, any worse than Dunleavy?

Tough loss to the hottest team in hockey. Good thing the entire AHL squad is ready to go to Vegas with the team.

The Avalanche have had really good sticks tonight deflecting pucks off of Sabres' sticks, and putting things into the corner. Power out. Wi-fi should drop momentarily... Yup. Back.

I like the final drawing of 56. It was a Tage impression.

Well done on the kill!

Toker was tokin' there. It has been a long time since he's played. Glad he's healthy again though, because he's better than Dell.

Trouble is, right now his shot is broken. With Golofsson not shooting and Thompson out, the PP has no one to just crank it.

Good job driving the net, Muel. Forced the takedown.

Gotta shoot on the power play.

They've also been very pro-Tuch all game.