DarthEbriate

Huh. I guess Quinn isn't in, and instead Biro gets his first game. Arttu-Fogart-Murray looks good.

Yikes, Samuelsson. Sloppy there.

Cliff Pu sighting. He's really bounced around since we traded him, eh?

Oh, Gerbe. Hey! What's he doing in the AHL?

Ah --- stars drifting, singer with super-long arm gloves... and now a bald eagle mascot. Why is their mascot a bald eagle and not a...monster? Like a rancor or wampa?

+ Aren't you a little short for a Sabre? More like a dagger or something? - What? Oh, the red arms on the uniform! I'm a streaming Amerks game. I'm here to rescue you. + You're what? - I'm here to rescue you from the lack of Sabres hockey. I've got your Arttu Ruot---. I'm here with Jack Quinnobi. + Jack Quinnobi is here! Where is he? - Come on!

A long time.

Huh. It's opening night and we still only have 17 skaters dressed and 7 of which are defensemen? I mean, sure Quinn and Elie are in quarantine but that could have been planned for weeks ago. And they waited until yesterday/today to sign Olofsson the Jesper? What in blazes? All that to say, Go Amerks! I hope we win.

The Sabres just sucked 10 years of our lives away. They may someday go as high as fifteen. No one withstands the machine.

I wish Amerks.com put dates on their articles. This was posted awhile ago, back when the taxi squad was assembled and UPL and Laaksonen were still in quarantine. They should have a bunch more folks on the squad now.

Well I'm glad they didn't just stand pat with the roster. Wocka, wocka! Hopefully, the AHL is able to learn from the NHL's opening and avoids getting their players or support and arena workers sick, or at the least identifies and shuts players/teams down in a timely manner. Maybe they're able to get a somewhat useful season in for future development purposes and keep players living the dream.

I think it boils down to vision. The decision was made to tank. Fine. Tank-vision on the McDavid timeline. All well and good. But since that decision, we’ve had DR-vision and Sabres University-vision, then PLF/Nolan-vision, then PLF/GMTM vision which quickly became just GMTM-vision. Now, the tank is over and it’s time for rebuild vision. So we have GMTM/Byslma-vision, JBott/Housley-, JBott/RaKru-, and now Kheevyn/RaKru-vision. And each of these combinations takes the team in a slightly different tack. Is it win now, or just compete hard, is it overpay washed out players or just ice an AHL roster, is it build the center-spine or build an attacking d-corps, is it play heavy or play small and fast? Our feeble skills are no match for the power of the hockey stability. We have paid the price for our lack of vision. And all this points to the ownership changing the slate every 2 years.

Isn't it nice that there are so many blunders to chose from? I quote the final words of Lt. Telsij, "There's too many of them!"

At this point, it's simple: replace Hutton. He had a fantastic start in October 2019, but otherwise has been awful (even his first season with us was only .908 sv%). Honestly, we're so good at making AHLers-making-their-first-NHL-start look good that I'm wondering if maybe we just get Tokarski up and let him roll as the backup it'll work for us. (Johansson has not looked ready - not last year, definitely not in this year's preseason scrimmages.) Ullmark may not be elite, but he's solid and is dynamite in shootouts. He's already stolen points for us this season and if he'd have played Sunday he might have stolen another point for us. I want to see him get his sv% up into the .916/.918 this season. I don't see him becoming a dominant starter (.925/All-Star caliber), but he can easily be a platoon goalie for the next 5-6 years or be a super steady backup. He could definitely backstop a good team to a Cup (in the vein of young Ward, Osgood, Crawford, etc., even if he's not getting the Vezina votes).

I guess I don't look as The Muppet Show as a derogatory description... I mean, it would look like chaos but we'd be entertained, have lots of good music going around, plenty of subversive victories over the norms, and there'd be the occasional explosion.

Nah. That'd be starting Hutton exclusively, breaking up McCabe-Ristolainen, and moving Olofsson off the PP. 🍺 Yesterday, he was an upgrade from Thompson for certain.

I'm a KO fan. I believe he deserved a handful of games to make up for the lack of preseason (and the whole time off thing) but he's lost an additional step since last year. You're saying Okposo was a bad idea, I'm beginning to agree with you. Eakin and Rieder being faster than Larsson makes Okposo look that much slower. GLO was able to grind, but this new line is not designed for that and as such it's designing KO to the bench. I'd try Eakin-Rieder-Mitts once Reinhart returns.

If the primary objective of PP1 is setting up Eichel and Olofsson for one-timers, then Risto should be in front. Eichel, Olofsson for sniping, Hall and Dahlin for distribution. Reino is excellent in front of the net, but he can do that on PP2 as well as operate on the half wall, jump below the goal line and distribute, and pop open for his underrated shot. He's much more versatile. He and Cozens combined on PP2 could be very effective.

You and I were both commenting and pleasantly surprised by his first game. He played positionally sound, made a couple hits, and chipped the puck out. The more he plays though... his hands are exposed. Any bounce gets away from him and he doesn't have the speed to recover. Today with Montour (who's been kinda gross all season) was an absolute mess. Play Borgen, put Miller on the left side like he was to start the year and roll with that for a few games.

Mitts and it isn't close. TT still has time (three year contract!), but he's not shown anything yet this year. Mitts looked good at times today. He also looked bad on the garbage pinball goal at the end of the second where no Sabre defended the crease or shutdown their man, but he wasn't alone.

Simmonds could've been signed for less than Girgensons and earlier. Of course... if one of these young players wanted to make a name for themselves they could become this player. I don't know that it's in everyone's DNA, but if you want to make it, maybe you do it anyway. Heck, even Hulk Hogan turned heel when he left the WWF and went to WCW (dating myself there). Thompson -- you wanna make this team? You want a permanent role in the top 12? Just forget dangling and run someone. Then get in a fight. Then savor the roar of the crowd.

And the only two guys who have repeatedly stood up for their teammates the past four seasons are Reinhart (out) and Okposo (limited ice and has to protect his head lest his career ends). And that doesn't mean having to throw punches. That's just getting in someone's face if there's anything dirty. And you don't need a team or even a line of goons. You just need a few people who will be there for each other. Was it Bylsma's first year where the whole team got in a fight at Arizona and Bogo and Reino and Eichel were laughing on the way to the dressing room? (Coincidently, the last time the team looked any good heading down the stretch.)

Just look at the Devils depth. As @inkman pointed out, they've got a D-pairing of Tennyson and Kulikov. I don't think there's a single one of us who'd take that pairing over our worst potential D-pairing. And yet... Coaching + hustle can cover the modest talent gaps. Ruff taught us that for years and years. If NJ can get a decent goalie over the next few years they'll be really decent. But for right now, it's still a team our team needs to beat. And after this opening series... Here we go again.

Good. Gooooood....

The Sabres gonna Sabres and Devils gonna Devil point is that every bad team's fans say that (after allowing a team they're absolutely dominating to tie it up). But --- one team today wasn't going to fold.