DarthEbriate

This thread is my kind of scum. Fearless and Sabres-based.

But we don't have that point. So... it was good. Or will we finish 2nd lowest by 1 point, and then the team that finishes 3rd lowest wins the lottery?

I'm still thinking 23/24 at the earliest. All our D will still be under 25 then and Cozens won't yet be in his prime. TB and FLA will still be good-to-great in 2 years. DET on the upswing, TOR still should be decent. Bergeron and Marchand should still be good in 2 years, too. It's not like the division is projecting to be weak or facing a lot of teardowns that haven't already started in the next two seasons. Skinner should have either been extended upon completion of the trade, or rented at the deadline for a 1st. He would have been the top scoring threat winger, worthy of a late-round 1st and a prospect as a rental (like Evander Kane was traded for). Instead, we'll end up buying him out in after 2 or 3 more seasons because he'll be too much on the cap as we try to re-sign the next core.

I missed last night's game, but it looks like it didn't have any controversy or anything interesting happening, so that's fine.... Will also miss tonight's game, but if Dell or Subban starts, at least the entertainment will be in watching to see how many Ovechkin can net in his Gretzky chase. That should be fun.

Nice. The Amerks are now responsible for 2 of the Comets 3 losses on the season. Now, to get some AHL-level goalies back onto the squad.

For sure. And anyone who saw UPL last year knows he wasn't ready for NHL full-time duty... so the Anderson-level deal this year should have theoretically been a 2-year deal to attract someone possibly younger. A 2-year contract wasn't going to block UPL, Levi, or Portillo. It's a failing on GM Sheevyn to slight us on the goalies... getting a 40 year-old who had said he was going to retire and an AHL-level goalie who'd regressed in the last couple years. Brossoit could be a decent stopgap.

Bummer. For him and the Sabres. It'd be nice to see the team at full strength, even if briefly. day-to-day: a player appears to be horrifically injured... but is fine in the next scene week-to-week: a player requires a swim in a Bacta tank month-to-month: a player is encased in a metal suit with limb replacement

This stinks. I guess the good news is: hashtag Jankowski is already signed to rock and or roll. It was quite the slash...

Good PP if a shot ever ends up on net.

Not at all. Until UPL starts stringing multiple quality starts together at the AHL level he can't even be considered to be the NHL backup. (Note: if UPL plays consistently great the rest of the season on the Sabres, fine... then they still need a starting caliber goalie who is ready for the grind.)

There's a reason NJ traded us a 5th to take his salary.

To be fair... our recent what-used-to-be-Carruba collision of the game has often been the opponent initiating said collision. We don't often throw a noticeable check.

From time to time. Dear, oh dear.

Yup. Also a.k.a. the clone of Lukkonen (for folks who've read the books back in the day).

6K is fine. But K^6? That's where it's at.

Sir! The odds of Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen pulling a Binnington is approximately 3,720 to 1.

^That, Life Day, and Boonta Eve are pretty much the perfect birthdays.

Next order of operations, they need to start purging the team of folks who a) don't want to be there, b) are causing locker room dissent, and c) are not "their" guys. So --- who all do you want from Vancouver? What do you do to acquire them? For example, a really bad idea: Get Vancouver to retain $1M/year on RHD Myers and send us a 1st to take his contract. He'd have to waive his trade list for it to work. Then, pair him with Power to form the tallest D-pair anywhere. And despite being the biggest on the ice, never ice them on a D-zone faceoff. After two years (2024-25) he's off the books as we start needing to spend to the cap on our kids, or buyout the final year of his contract. Note: We should rather do a broken Travis Hamonic (also needs to waive his trade clause) as the RHD than Myers. Both are bad ideas, but ideas are free.

--Goalie Ukko-Pekka has volunteered to lead the Sabre defense. +Good luck.... You're gonna need it.

Goaltending should be able to steal a game to break long losing streaks. So should scoring 4 goals in a game. But right now our defense/goaltending is so out of whack we could easily spiral like we did last year once Ullmark was hurt. Thankfully, this year we don't have Hall or Staal as veterans fully checked out. To the bolded -- This is verging into its own thread: a Bridge to (Friar) Tuch, when we'll be able to hopefully evaluate our forward lines from January-to-Trade Deadline (or Olympic Break if it happens). What do we do in the meantime until Tuch returns to break these losing streaks? I like your thought on a bit more specialization. Get Girgs and Okposo back together. And whether it's Cozens or Eakin may not matter as much as just having a line we can trust to cycle and turn momentum. But I'd tend toward Eakin with the As, and Cozens back with the speed line.

The bad part is 1 and 2 haven't changed from this offseason. And 1 has been a need since Hutton's third month with the franchise (exempting one blip October of games since). And 2 has been a need since drafting Dahlin. He did have a veteran D-man who was his primary partner his rookie year... Bogosian. And since Bogo was traded he's been mostly paired with Risto, Montour, Miller, Joker, and a touch of Borgen and Casey Nelson. None of them are veteran defensive stalwarts.

I think we'll have to see a bunch of mix-and-match to see who gels with whom. (Yes, next year is also going to be a development year like this year... but it'll be easier if we have a real goalie.) Power-Joker would work. I think that has to be a 3rd pair in terms of EV minutes. Joker is solid if unspectacular and he could be great for Power, but it's 2 kids. I'd rather see an older guy for Power to be able lean on (Myers-Tallinder, like). Then probably something like Samuelsson-Bryson and Dahlin-Pysyk/UFA. And it's really got to be a top-4 UFA, but the players available are going to be minimal. Perhaps at the trade deadline we send a 2nd for a veteran rental from an eliminated team. Normally, you'd try to send that vet to a contender, but a top pick in the 2nd round could be enough to sway them to take the pick value, rather than worry about the player's chances at a Cup. Then, you've got 15 games or so to have that vet gel with Dahlin and re-sign. I don't like this proposal very much because that veteran may not sign. Agreed. He doesn't need to sit, but he needs to play fewer minutes. Give Bryson and Miller more PP time. And, regardless of score, roll all three D pairs. The issue now is Dahlin (or team defense) makes a gaffe and it automatically ends up in our net. Then, Dahlin plays more and more as our preferred offensive defenseman and keeps struggling because he's trying to press. Just aim to keep him under 22:00 until he gets consistent with his play.

Samuelsson is going to join the team soon and he's going to become the #1 lockdown guy by default. Samuelsson-Jokiharju is not going to be ready for that pressure. Dahlin and Power will both need established top-4 guys, too, if that's how they're going to be deployed. It's exciting to think about the defense 2 years from now: Dahlin, Power, Joker, Samuelsson. That's cool. They'll also all still be 24 and under, meaning still not even as experienced as Hagg and Bryson are today. They'll all still be unfinished D, not yet into their prime.

This is the way. GM Sheevyn said no blocking the young folk... and there's no blocking. This is the way. But! The change of scenery Dahlin needs is the same this entire new core needs: 1) a goalie they can trust and, 2) talent equal to what's being asked of their role. We're letting Dahlin play #1 minutes. That's fine if his #2 is capable of that. Pysyk is a good player, a steady, smart/savvy player. He's a great match for Dahlin, really. He's not a top-pairing D. He's a career 3rd pairing guy who's played a lot at forward because he is a smart/savvy player. Dahlin's other options are Joker (who is also a kid and might someday be a top-4, but right now should be a 3rd pair), Miller (career 3rd pair), and Butcher (7th). And if Dahlin switches... Hagg (3rd pair, maybe 2nd with a fantastic partner), and Bryson (3rd pair). The question goes to roster construction: Do you think Detroit was worried about blocking Seider when they acquired Leddy (still capable of being a 1st-pair)? No. They went out and got someone to play with Seider at the top. And if Seider wasn't ready, then he would be getting 3rd pairing minutes. (Detroit also got a young, trending up goalie in Nedeljkovic.) The worry now is --- who are we getting this offseason to support Dahlin? And will we need another one for Power?

Absolutely. Players play better when they have confidence in their goalie. The past few seasons this team has looked remarkably better when they've had Ullmark or Anderson in net. And even with Toker to an extent -- they at least have faith in the Toke. But when it's Hutton or Dell... it all goes to hell. GM Sheevyn should have claimed Nedeljkovic off waivers. Hutton had been on the downward trend every single year, with vision issues, and was not good early last year. Then you've got two young on-the-rise goalies in Ullmark and Nedeljkovic and you can decide which one to keep based on performance. Don't worry about blocking UPL... if he ends up blocked then you have 3 on-the-rise goalies and can trade for assets. Instead, Sheevyn kept Hutton and moved Johansson (which, by accounts from PHam or Vogl, one of the writers... was terrible in practices last season as he was in games. His confidence was busted) and then lost Ullmark. And it's all AHL-level since because a 40-year old goalie must not be the plan. That's where is offseason had to have an NHL-caliber goalie acquired via trade.