DarthEbriate

Ehrhoff isn't off the ledger yet, though his payments do not count against the cap.

It was the Housley/JBott takeover that wanted to build Nashville-style d-corps. Adams has simply perpetuated it where the only defensive defenseman outside of Samulesson has been a 3rd-pairing ceiling guy (shell of Erik Johnson, Lyubushkin, Clifton). Of course, that Nashville team's D-corps that went to the Final with Housley as their d-coach featured Josi (age 26), Ellis (26), Subban (27), and Ekholm (26). And then a 3rd pair of Matt Irwin!!! and Yannick Weber who averaged about 10 minutes in the playoffs. All we need to do is wait three more years until Dahlin is 27, Power is 25, Muel is 27, and Byram is 26. Adams will still be here and the Sabres will be in the playoffs.

Lots of reasons he'll be back: Alternate captain = leader. PK defender. Never give up on a young defenseman too early. Pegula doesn't want to pay for a buyout or retention for that many years for someone not to be here. Sheevyn probably wouldn't get good value in a trade without retention.

But shouldn't Ruff, with 30 years of coaching experience, have been able to do that already? And then, because he's the future POHO, he could give Adams the shopping list to go get a defenseman who fits the need?

Gotta keep Byram's next contract down.

Points, hardware, accolades, playoffs... who has the better career: Power or Edvinsson?

Are you sure we're talking about the same Ullmark? The discussion was definitely about the risk of extending/paying 1A money to a goalie who had had non-contact knee injuries in back-to-back seasons. But I don't think anyone thought he was a bad NHL goalie. Certainly not after playing behind the Sabres' team defense and putting up the numbers he did.

Ullmark was a much better and more consistent goalie than Luukkonen for the Sabres. Ullmark's career low in save percentage was .905. His second worst season is .912, this year, with Ottawa. Luukkonen was one of the hottest goalies in the league the 2nd half of last season and he only got to .910. He's had one season better than that at .917, which was all of 9 games. Ullmark was, and remains, a bonafide 1A starter in this league.

Saw a highlight... Power just got pushed around by Larkin on that goal. Absolutely no Power. The complete opposite of But more importantly, why in the world is Ruff challenging that? The failure on that challenge should have been rewarded with a 5-minute major.

Zadorov is kind of the ideal Jokiharju partner. Physical, crease-clearing, and going to take chances both offensively and defensively, which allows Joker to be the steady presence and manage the breakout. Now, if they're you're 2nd pair, you're happy. As your top pair (which they are while H. Lindholm and McAvoy are out), they should get exposed. But Boston has good structure to cover for some of that exposure.

Brannstrom has a goal just over a minute into his Amerks debut.

That's true, but,

This one is interesting, but I think it makes sense given their depth at forward. When McDavid is on the ice alone, I'm guessing it's a lot of guys standing around waiting for McDavid to do his magic. I remember one instance of this against the Sabres. McDavid held onto the puck, looking to make something happen, but in either a line change or just no one having the instinct to attack, he had to pull up and it became a turnover and transition the other way.

Saturn has 274 moons now. I guess the rings weren't enough.

I hope Norris gets 2 goals (one on the PP) and an assist tonight. That'd be fun. Detroit is on the brink of collapse, losers of 6 straight, and already separated from the final wild card spot by 3 teams. Time to put them to rest.

Overconfidence. Faith in your friends draft picks.

The VGA monitor gif hitting right in the F-19 Stealth Fighter nostalgia danger zone. I can hear the engines. Ah! Mute the engines.

A Cozens Conn Smythe this season ought to do it.

Oh. It's on TNT. I'm out.

It's covered in ... subordinate?... clause in step 2. Sabres success is fairly easy to gloss over since the Hasek trade.

Got to watch some of the rest of the game I missed live yesterday. Solid home win for the once-road goatheads. McDavid skated 26 minutes, Draisaitl added 23 minutes. Good thing Edmonton has both of them because when they're off the ice, there isn't a lot there to worry about.

They've already got Dahlin who can play the right side, Bernard-Docker files for arbitration and then gets a 2-year extension, and Clifton. Ryan Johnson as a 7 who can play on either side. Offseason complete. 😇

^ This is one part of a point I'd make, and the other half being... and wait until he isn't being told, "Keep it simple while you adjust to our schemes and your new linemates/responsibilities." I do think they eventually move him to wing, but for the moment, he has Perron (veteran who will consistently cover up his mistakes; a Zucker, if you will) and Batherson - a legit top-6 winger who is 26 years old and has improved his points totals every single season. And he's only on PP2. This was not the case in Buffalo (at least not for more than a few games here and there) for his entire tenure. Even this season, he was basically always on PP1 and was skating on a line with Quinn or JJP or Benson or even Kulich. He never got Zucker-Cozens-Tuch for 10 games in a row. This season, he had 2-game stretch between Zucker-Thompson (the Sabres were 2-0).

He's more machine winger now than center, twisted and evil toe-dragging and sniping. As long as TNT is a 40-goal scorer and his linemates are two-way players, the team is better off than if he's a center and Jeff Skinner (for example is his winger.

I seriously doubt Dahlin told GM Sheevyn he wants out if things aren't fixed. That's standard content-saturation sensationalism. But I don't doubt that in their conversations he's expressed frustration with GM and ownership about wasting years and talents of players and the need to continuously improve. Dahlin has one hockey lifetime to be the best he can be, and this present hockey lifetime it is impossible to be the best you can be on the Sabres. (And that's not because Dahlin occasionally makes turnovers like every other puckhandling NHL defenseman makes turnovers.) I want my captain pushing leadership to improve. "We [the players] won't get another shot at this, Admiral [the owner]." so to speak.