DarthEbriate

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.

My reasoning was never my strong suit. I think the draft will absolutely influence upcoming trades because GMs need to set themselves up to have their main chips protected without also having to give Seattle additional assets. That could take some ideal trade partners off the table. For Vegas, Buffalo gave up a 6th. Sure, not a big deal. But other teams gave up 1st round picks and high-end prospects last time around. If you're a GM making a trade (for Risto, for example) you'd better love him enough to protect him/extend him, or you will angle to get even more from Buffalo in the package so that you have assets to barter with Seattle or in the event Risto is a rental for you.

This is absolutely what I Hope happens. But the fearful dark side version of me is concerned that all other GMs learned from Vegas and we’re going to get a middling 2C for Risto + Mitts + pick. And really, we need a 2C on a 2-year deal.

Going to the local taproom and being able to let the pup off leash so that she can get crazy with a new friend (a 6 month Burmese-retriever mix that outweighs her by 40 # already). Watching pups get their wiggles out with a good brew.

If the draft was this coming offseason I agree we lose a d-man, but because it's next year (barring moving Risto or Montour in between) we're absorbing a higher risk of losing a piece we value (or adding a draft pick to keep that piece). And it might change whether we protect 7/3 vs 8 skaters. As an example: If this year, protect 7F 3D (Risto, Montour, Miller/McCabe?) and off we go. They take Miller or McCabe. Fine. Or heck, maybe we throw in a 4th and they take Bogo (the wouldn't go for that for a 4th I don't believe). But because it's next year, we might consider protecting 8 skaters to keep 4 D. Risto (unless he's moved), Montour (because why wouldn't we re-sign him), Joker, and Dahlin. To get back to 7F/3D to protect, we might be forced to move Risto for less than we want (or just protected prospects/picks) or hamper our willingness to get a 2C that we then have to protect. Along the lines of forward depth and help isn't coming (staying on thread target) --- if we manage to get a 2C worthy of protecting without moving Risto, then that depth is available for plucking by Seattle. Mitts (still scoring potential), Thompson (still scoring potential), Olofsson. Or at the least, we are getting fleeced for draft assets to take a specific player. A bunch of teams, ourselves included, got set up for expansion this summer of 2020 when it was announced. And then Seattle delayed. Punks.

I'm disappointed that Lethbridge doesn't have a road game at Seattle or Everett this season. (I don't like this whole JBOT-avoids-the-WHL/CHL-in-general as it clamps on my style of going to games to give Sabres prospects the macrobinocular test.)

Asplund and Wilson round out the Amerks lineup? Up 3-0 now.

The one wrench to the short-term plans is that the expansion draft isn't this summer. Seattle's one-year delay to come onboard post-CBA is taking some nice plans (look at all our cap space and short contracts that expire this offseason) and, while not rendering them moot, making them less beautiful. Because the expansion is in 2021, we'll have to protect additional players that wouldn't have needed to be protected this year (Dahlin, Olofsson, Mitts) that would have still been safe this summer. That stinks. But the other end of the wrench (it's a combination wrench, I guess) is this year's UFA. You don't want to sign any player long-term who you aren't willing to protect. It means a lot of 1- and 2-year deals, which is fine if it's a replaceable person (hey Vesey!). But what if it's a good ascending player who has a nice season for you and you want to build around him? Now we might have to lose someone decent or have to give up a draft asset to keep him. Ideally, you go into the expansion season like are set up this year: this year we can protect everyone we like because we barely have any contracts to protect. We were set up for this season with that, but to set ourselves up for that again next season might look like wheel-spinning.

He's the Wedge to our Jack Skyeichel. Or maybe he's Biggs or even Han --- because he gives Jack the time and space to make the shot. But he's a good wingman. It's the remainder of the 2nd line that needs building up and fine-tuning.