DarthEbriate

And we have one. He's just ineffective.

You've got the midichlorian count to do it. As I once said about Jackikin Eichwalker, "His Aerobic Fitness is off the charts. No skater has a VO2 max that high." Usually you break up a star roster after you win the Cup. Or at least a lengthy ride at the top of the Conference (San Jose style).

They would be behind large US metro areas in an expansion. But, the NHL will want to keep the US hockey-mad market of Buffalo/Western NY and most importantly, a team for any non-Leaf person in Southern Ontario. The Leafs won't let a team in Hamilton, but they can't keep a nearby team out of the nearby US market. One of the best things for the league would be a strong Toronto-Buffalo connection to appeal to any Leaf-haters amid the 13 million people in Southern Ontario.

The poster says the $80 million payroll is irrelevant. Harrington still says it's irrelevant. ... Are they in agreement? The Sabres are irrelevant to the other teams of the league.

Canceling media, sure. But, I'm not sure less practice is what they need. I mean, it's silly, but the Predators canceled their U2 show last year and won like 14 games in a row or something stupid. Sometimes the stupid thing works (in the short term).

The only reason there was any hope yesterday is because of Colorado's criminally bad starting goaltending. Now, if the Avalanche hadn't traded for Wedgewood a few days ago and Annunen comes in... maybe the Sabres win 7-5 anyway. But even in that situation, it wouldn't have changed the fact that once the Avalanche woke up and said, "we need to start skating on offense and defense", the game was over.

Definitely a possibility. McDavid-Reinhart instead of McDavid-Draisaitl. Maybe name Okposo or ROR the captain instead of McDavid. The Sabres probably run through fewer coaches (probably the same number of GMs, based on why GMTM and GMJBott were let go).

The Buffalo Sabres are no ordinary rabbit!

The looming question for me from this game is... how bad is Dahlin's injury? Because Byram has looked fine with Dahlin (lots of players do). Byram and Power together as the top pair for any stretch of time? No. No, no. no no no.

Game 6, 1999 Final. Not that they should've won the series or had a lead or anything, just for the pain. This loss? This loss I could shrug off by the time I turned off the television.

If they were producing like average 2nd liners and had about 15 points each right now, yes. The Sabres would probably be in 3rd place in their division. That's on the GM. (And on folks like me who saw Quinn's production in his first two seasons and thought... RW2, PP time all season... that's a 50-point floor player, if healthy. And potentially your best combined shooter/playmaker on the roster.) -------- In an alternate spin on the OP; what next? Scratch him again. Or maybe he needs a change of scenery before the GM locks him into a 7-year deal when all he has earned for next season is a bridge. Alternate, if he improves a bit over the season, but never gives 2nd line production... And another GM makes him an RFA offer sheet -- do you just take the picks?

An MVP-caliber QB will do that for you. Replace Josh Allen with... the NY Jets running string of QBs since Allen was drafted... and they're a talented roster that's maxing out at 7 wins. That has nothing to do with the owner.

Normally, this is definitely a backup goalie game for Winnipeg, but they're losers of 4 in a row and have ceded their division lead to Minnesota. It should be a Comrie revenge game, but it could very easily be a Hellebuyck get-right shutout game.

Home game vs. a team with the same win% (currently, not necessarily by the time they meet), but that has a -12 goal differential vs. the Sabres' -2 (was +4 a week ago when the Sabres were in...3rd place in their division?). That's a game any franchise would expect to win. Will they beat the Wings? We'll see.

But Darth Pegulas the Wise and GM Sheevyn want to be here. Unlike Eichel, Reinhart (top 10 in scoring in the league in scoring), Montour (16th among D), Ullmark, and many, many others.

No surprise to lose at home to Minnesota this season. The current homestand has four more games: Jets, Ex-Coyotes, Red Wings, Rangers. Goalie, frisky team, Eastern team they should beat, and the falling-apart-Rangers. That's a tough homestand for this roster.

1st bold: Wedgewood will give them Reimer-level goaltending and it will be enough for them. 2nd: And it was. MacKinnon wanted the puck from Power. So he went over, knocked Power down, and chipped the puck away. Rantanen wanted it from the forward, and got it. Shortly after, there was a shot on goal. Though I don't believe that instance led directly to a goal.

I took a peek at the scoreboard back when it was 4-1 and thought, good thing they're winning by so much, because everyone else is going to OT. Sure enough, all the Eastern competition games tonight hit OT. The Sabres are going to find themselves with 5 teams between them and a playoff spot by morning, on track to pick 8th overall again.

He and Zucker. But if I'm Zucker's agent I'm already on the phone to GM Sheevyn that I'm not interested in re-signing, so it's probably best to look for a contender like Florida for me, too.

But Mitts was a -2, amirite?

Pulling the goalie -- I do not expect the Sabres to outwork the Avalanche even with an extra skater.

Just stand in front of the net. Wait for rebound. Tap it, unmolested by the defenders, into the net. (Great save by UPL, but no help from his teammates.)

MacKinnon wins his puck battles and the rest of his team feeds off it and the win their battles and races, too.

I hesitate to think what this game would look like if Wedgewood had simply been given the start.