DarthEbriate

Is constantly dressing 11F 7D just Coach K's way of shouting "Help us, JBot! Help me... help you... you're my only hope."? They don't even have a 4th line, let alone a 2C. And the only guy who is hurt is a rookie. Olofsson

That's the way to make the contract make sense in the short-term. In the long term, I'm more ambivalent about Skinner's cost because we'll start seeing Vegas and Seattle's impact as well as renewed TV contracts, as well as continued growth in non-traditional markets (see the players starting to emerge in the southern US). I think the cap will soften the damage. Wrong movie... but what if Hasek fell through a hole in a floor, but was wrapped in a carpet and unable to move his arms or legs?

They're playing EA hockey this year.

You never know with non-contact knees. The whistle blew in a lacrosse game once -- I slowed from run to walk to... and my knee disappeared. I hit the dirt and my knee was on fire and I could only wince. And then... my leg began to relax, and (with the sound in my head like a thunderclap) the whatchamacallit snapped back from the rear-side of my knee back to the top of my knee. And voila. I was able to limp off the field and return to the game about five minutes later. Yeah, typical... banked the shortie to close us out.

Oh Linus. I'm sorry to see that. Non-contact knee. I hope it's just a weird strain and he's good to go shortly. On the positive spin -- Jbot -- go get a goalie!

But... I'll contend that Johansson is not a C. Sure, he played center when he broke into the league, but hadn't been primarily a center for years. So that he's a bottom 6 level center this year isn't surprising. He's also had a huge-slump Skinner and no one on the other wing. Note: I won't contend that he'll be the de facto 2C next year.

What happened to Linus there?

Huh. No one posted in the last 10 minutes? Either my refresh is down, the site is busted, or the game put everyone to sleep.

They could also put him back with Eichel next season --- depends on if Olofsson's game meshes with the 2C.

With Larsson or Lazar or (2nd year) Mitts or MoJo as center? The expectations change when he's with Eichel. Or when a new 2C arrives. But for now the brass has to believe he drives offense and gets his goals whomever is his center.

At worst, we (and Sabres leadership) have to believe that he'll keep putting up 20-25 even if Mitts, Larsson, or Asplund were his centers .... just like the centers he had with Carolina. Until we have a legit playmaking 2C who can get him back up to 30+. How will Gilligan muck it up this week? Stay tuned!

The droids can walk through a flurry of shots from all of our lines excepting Eichel and Reino.

Ottawa continues to win races to the puck. I thought JBot said this team was fast!

That's the rub. We aren't off to a hot start without him, but we aren't crushed and unable to play our backup these past 3 months if he just plays his record (.500 with plenty of OT/SO losses where we get points and giving the team a chance to win). If he'd played steady all season and collected OT points for us, fine. But it's been 3 months of junk, which impacts Ullmark, too.

What's troublesome is that Hutton won his first 6 in a row. If we could get another good run out of him and then trade him.... or at least have him be steady instead of having standings-killing slides for 3 months.

Thanks, Linus. That was yet another last-minute goal against. But not today.

Wow, that was a nifty stop and pass by Eichel to almost spring Skinner into the zone. More of this line together, please. At least until other scorers show up

Oh. I thought that was a MoJo pass. But instead it was a clear assist by the D to Samson. I'll take it. Edit: I was thinking "good sacrifice of the body to make the pass Mojo" and now I'm thinking "you've gotta protect yourself and the puck better Mojo"

Let's just say that he once ran Kessel in less than 12 parsecs, never mind that a parsec is a unit of distance and not a unit of time. And I see what you did there. Before he was cut in half and made up of more surgeries than man, Bogo had good straight-line speed. What I've been able to see in an SI article and early write-up is that Bogo was viewed as a smooth skater when younger, but certainly not praised for elite skating or speed.

This is and will be a problem for any Sabres coach with JBot. It's good to have a Woolley and a backup Woolley. But we have Miller (with a heavy shot), Dahlin, and Pilut on the roster and they're all currently a 3D+PP guy. Joker being so steady at the beginning of the year also took Miller out of the equation. And we have Gilmour, Bryson, Laaksonen, and Johnson in the system. Sorry, Miller. The trouble is, you can't dress a D-corp of only Woolleys. And we all wish Bogo was simply better at defense, worth his cap hit offensively, and always healthy, given what he can bring to the table (speed, energy, fisticuffs and a laughing beard -- ala that PHX game a few years back now).

I think Eichel is getting used to his annual All-Star appearances and will look solid if not spectacular tonight (but not tired or unrested). Skinner plays well and gets 2 points.

RALPHO: All right, nine of 10 at home after the All-Star Game. Ready to get back in that playoff race? EICHEL: If your people fixed the powerplay. And the void at 2C, and the injuries, the secondary scoring, the penalty kill, the backup goalie, the poor road record, and the fan malaise of 10 years of suffering. <RALPHO Looks at JBOT.> <Cut to JBOT in box. Lights flash on JBOT's headset.> EICHEL: All the coordinates are set. It's now or never. <CHEWREINO barks in agreement.> RALPHO: Punch it!

They don't need relegation. Instead, every so often when a team is underperforming (and coincidentally needs a stadium upgrade for leaguewide revenue purposes), they just threaten to up-and-move to another similarly sized market that doesn't have a team, or bandy about the word "contraction" for a summer. That said, the Sabres would certainly qualify to be replaced by an AHL squad for a season. (But I think we'd crush the AHL squads and be back in the bigs in no time unless Eichel happened to miss the entire relegated season.)

That's my new band name.

Enough of this. PA, release him! This bickering is pointless. Lord PA will provide us with the metaphor by the time Doohickie believes this is our year. We will then make the playoffs with one swift stroke.