DarthEbriate

But I'll say it in Star Wars dialogue: --- Yeah, that's what you said last year when JBotts Biggs and Tank RaKru left joined Buffalo.

The future is unknown, but I can easily see Boston (particularly the fans) liking Lazar a lot more than they like Hall, just as we have. Hall will have the assists on the PP, just like here where he got to play with Olofsson, Eichel, Dahlin, and Reinhart, but Lazar can become a mainstay on a Boston-style 4th line for several seasons.

At the time of his injury, Lazar was tied for 3rd on the team in goals as well, he isn't solely a hitter and certainly not on this year's roster. Any good team has a blend and the best teams have grit on their top six. We have scorers/offensive-first and in some cases offensive-only players aplenty. That search for them is constantly ongoing. Of them, Skinner can be pesky, but certainly isn't intimidating to the opposition. Cozens and Asplund are dogged but not hitters. I could argue that we haven't built a team to be even remotely tough since GMTM and Byslma and that that team was our best team since we last made the playoffs and that roster was fresh out of a tank that stripped everything bare and was terribly flawed. Last year's roster had a Hart-candidate and still finished with a worse points percentage. Don't discredit checking/hitting effectively as a skill. It's hard to find players who hit hard, legally, and effectively game-in and game-out. You have to skate well enough to be in position, you have to throw enough hits that you affect players before you hit them because they know you're going to run them into the boards. You have to practice hitting and be used to it physically, and you need to stay healthy to make it a part of your game.

Crap. Dahlin will be playing awesome again, and Lazar is going to completely tag him in the corner (legally, totally following his M.O. that we appreciated him for, and maybe throwing a bit more into each hit tonight to try to impress his new teammates), isn't he? No one will rush to Dahlin's aid, he'll play the rest of the period and then get shut down for the season. It's a terrible premonition.

Then a Blidh or Kuhlman would've had to be included or moved by Boston. I don't like the Lazar for Bjork flip because we now have no grit at forward (granted, Lazar is temporarily out injured). But when Boston, Washington... and next year Tampa, start throwing hits and decide to play "intensely" and stir things up a bit, we don't have any player who will respond. Risto will play tough until the whistle, sure, but if a fracas breaks out, well --- we've seen him fight and it isn't pretty. This team is so soft, and got softer in the trade, and Boston will definitely attempt to make a point of that fact tonight. (Note: The final sentence is more GDT-thread themed.)

On a grander scheme (and my counting may be off here, I didn't rely on any calculator or tables, just plain-ol-Ebriate math). I didn't count SO goals for, so RaKru lost 2 and Granato lost 1 goal. Granato 37 goals in 13 games = 2.85 goals/game RaKru 58 goals in 28 games = 2.07 goals/game (despite a then top-5 PP by percentage thanks to us lighting up NJD on the PP early in the year)

As a team, no, 12% shooting percentage is not likely sustainable. However, six games is a very small sample size considering one of those games featured 5 goals on only 18 shots.

Certainly. I cap at 2nd, and just like Boston I'd have really pushed for just a 3rd. On the Sabres side --- instead of taking Bjork and giving away my only grit C in Lazar, really my only gritty forward, period... (Cozens isn't and shouldn't be as a rookie, Okposo could but can't respond to anything because he's a jostle away from concussion) --- if Boston needs to free up $800k, then we just say "give us an AHL JAG." The equivalent of JS Dea or CJ Smith. If Bjork is being replaced in the lineup, then Boston can always demote him. His 1.6M will clear waivers. He can take the place of the Dea/Smith equivalent for Providence.

True. But is he good at his job? Ullmark holds all the leverage. A backup goalie needs to be a 1B because Ullmark has missed time with non-collision knee injuries in back-to-back years. Dahlin is re-learning his game with Granato and increasing his value again. Ditto Jokiharju. Mitts is now a center again, and probably the 2C behind Eichel. Reinhart, a McCabe replacement... It'll be like this summer when half the roster was UFA. The money is going to disappear quicker than we expected. Especially since 4th liners like Eakins and Girgensons are making 2M+ each. And Skinner. Oh, Skinner.

Except his deal is for 2 more years beyond this one, at double Lazar's rate, in a flat cap. Most inconsequential of the deal, yes, but consequential for the future. You can take a flier on a high-end prospect like Thompson (similar contract/duration), but Bjork is a 5th round pick, JAG-talent. Maybe GM Sheevyn flips him for a pick today. Or maybe we can package a 6th-round pick to get Seattle to take him, but Seattle can find much nicer tidbits on our roster to take (cough, cough Borgen). Worst case: GM Sheevyn acquired Bjork and therefore believes in him and protects him -- leaving an Asplund unprotected.

"Take a mulligan, KA." is my favorite Morgan Freeman quote. It's from Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, I think.

Power play assists, power play zone entries, the occasional breakaway shot that... bounces harmlessly into the corner. The "Hall 1st Overall Pick Perk". Some basic entertainment value. Hall for a 2nd should've been the trade and off we go. (Or wait until later in the day to see if Boston blinks.) But if the only other option is to actually take on salary to lose the only forward grit we have (who also takes OT faceoffs, will defend teammates), for another --- as folks have said up-thread ERod comparable? No thanks. We can call up that guy from the AHL for spot duty next season.

He is the Hunter. Hall's NMC obviously put us in a tough spot. I like getting a second for him and is what I was expecting (not hoping). It should've been a second + a throw-in given the salary retention to make it work, but whatever. But losing our turbo Lazar for next season? For Bjork? No. Lazar is better, plays center, has grit, and is really a needed player for this particular Sabres roster. Bjork is yet another plays-smaller-than-he-is guy who isn't that big to begin with. I like the name. I like the musical artist. He was a misfit on the Bruins roster and they were right to jettison him before they go to light speed the playoffs. I can only hope Bjork proves me wrong, but watching any Buffalo/Boston game the last couple seasons he's been the most disappointing/invisible Bruin forward. He's been bad against us. But here's a better trade for the Sabres --- don't make it. If you don't get a better offer by the end of the day, fine... bring Hall back into the lineup. Let him play for his paycheck here down the stretch in the revived offense. Maybe he can help revitalize the dismal power play.

I was hoping Mitts and Thompson would've been starting together in ROC at the beginning of the year; Thompson's contract would've allowed the waivers. I'd have thought Asplund as a center there, but it could've been a nice top line for the Amerks. Instead, it took awhile, but we're seeing it here. Other stray notes: Remember when Thompson started the season as RW1 and promptly let us know he was not ready? So unready, in fact, he went to scratch. He's back as RW1 and is looking alright. Bryson has played 23 games. He's averaging over 19 minutes a game. He just got back to an even +/-. On this team. Through the bulk of the 18-game losing streak. He and Risto aren't perfect, but they are a fit. Sorta like Pilut also meshed with Risto, somewhat. Pilut. Now there's another puck-moving defenseman that floundered under RaKru.

It's how I draft in EA NHL games. After the 1st round, cool names only need apply.

To be fair to one Linus Ullmark, this team didn't play nearly as well without him, either. The thing I'm seeing with Granato that they did not have with RaKru --- even when Ullmark and Eichel were healthy [edit: even last season when Eichel was healthy, obviously this season he was never 100%]--- is their tenacity and dare I say "compete-level". Instead of folding after a bad break, this team now battles back. They aren't guaranteed to follow up a goal-against with five minutes of ineptitude, likely leading to a 2-goal deficit from which point the other team coasts. They scrap instead. And if that's on Granato, then it's just a shame he couldn't have exacted that sooner as an assistant, or... if we couldn't have just fired RaKru over the summer after he had a hot start turn to rubbish. Or just as part of the purge of all departments (even though he was likely asked to help name the names in the scourge).

Catching up on the game... Concentrate, feel The Concept Of (Moulson/Ehrhoff, now Skinner) flow. Yes, good, calm.... Through The Concept Of (Skinner), things you will see: other places, the future, the past. Old Sabres skaters, long gone. I wish I had your confidence. Your focus determines your reality. I never doubted you for a second. Wonderful! When @Scottysabres started the game he was but the learner. Now, he is the master.

It takes years, but ZFGMTM begets ZFGDT?

Re-signing is the right move from the Sabres' perspective. But is it the right move for Ullmark?

Fun note on today's game: The Amerks played yesterday. The Monsters played last Saturday. It should be a classic examination of too-long-of-a-layoff vs. second of a back-to-back.

GM Sheevyn cackles: "Order Thirty-Three executed. Almost Halfway there."

This year: Montour 7 Yr veteran D. 38 games, 5-9-14 points and playing better since the RaKru shackles were removed. Going to a team with significant need who had lost their top RHD. 3rd rounder. Last year: Scandella 10 Yr veteran D. 51 games (when MTL moved him to STL), 4-8-12 and playing less effectively as the season went on with Jokiharju. 2020 2nd rounder and a conditional 4th rounder in 2021. No salary retained in either case. Scandella had a higher salary. Why are we incapable of netting a 2nd round pick for a rental UFA D?

Just think if HCRK had not been in charge to start the season, or rather, if Granato had been given more control of the offensive attack to maximize the potential of the roster that had been assembled (assorted non-gritty skill guys and overwhelmingly "puck-moving" vs. stay-at-home/defensive defensemen). We could still very well be out of the playoffs and selling at the deadline because the quality of the division and injuries. But Hall and Staal would have had high-end trade value with "normal" seasons. Granato's team is averaging 2.75 goals/game in 12 games -- mostly without Cozens, often without Hall, and completely without Eichel. No PP support whatsoever. RK's team averaged 2.14 goals/game in 28 games -- and had one of the league's top-rated PPs for half of it, and Cozens/Hall, and even sometimes a functional Eichel.

Dare I say it... this team could use a high-speed top six skater who plays with pace and drives defenders back or if they fail to, can get around and make something happen. Hall, a healthy Eichel, Cozens...

Here we go: Maxi-big the Too Many Men. Well, that smells stinky off.