mjd1001

Team is not winning the Cup next year. Have UPL be your #1 guy. In limited time in Buffalo he has looked pretty good in front of a suspect D-unit. Want to bring back Anderson or another Mid priced vet to back him up fine.

For Dahlin the progress has been steady. At first you saw flashes of what he could be in individual great plays. As time went on, you saw him having great shifts. Then he would have great periods. Recently he has been having great games. Hopefully things will continue and he'll start having great months, or even great seasons.

I don't understand how so many eastern teams (especially Boston but Buffalo also) have weekend games that start in the afternoon.....yet whenever an east coast team goes out west most of the games seem to start late. It would just make sense that every team has a good number of afternoon games, especially on weekends or holidays, and the ones on the west coast are against visiting east coast teams (for the fans sake). I've been watching more and move Sabres games lately, but I'm not up to watch any of these late starts either.

I actually don't like this trade right now. An extra 6th means really nothing to this Sabres team now...and getting rid of Hagg means just one less guy in the organization, and that filters down to Roch. Unless you can take that 6th and flip it with another player to improve the NEXT return. Unless they are just making roster room for Power or anyone else coming from College?

I agree 100%. Girgensons might be one of the most underrated players in recent memory on this team. He doesn't put up a ton of points, but he does score SOME, but everything else he does for this team is a positive in almost every way. That is a guy I want in my top 12 forwards for years to come.

In one of the twitter threads, it said he took a pretty bad shot with the puck off of his arm. I didn't see it so I don't know if its true, but it might be an explanation that would be non-neck related.

Should he not play and Vegas wins without him.....doesn't mean much long term and it wouldn't mean hes a bad player....but a win in the first game without him will surely give fans something to joke about for a couple of days.

I read a good article about ice surface a few years ago that basically went against all conventional wisdom of the larger ice surface being better for speed/faster players. It claimed just the opposite in most cases. The large ice surface allows the Defense more time to setup. They have that extra half second to see the play develop. More importantly it is about the distance the puck travels. On a small ice surface there are more 'bang-bang' plays, a pass from the board to the slot is shorter and gives the D less time to react. And quite simply on a smaller ice surface the puck is usually closer to the net and that is where more goals are scored. The large ice surface benefits most a team with a fast/mobile D-unit...and that benefit is it allows them to react to and choke off the opposing rushes a bit easier. The small ice surface benefits forwards with good hands and good acceleration (that good first step).

How about the Sabres win a high-scoring game in OT? Gets a W for Buffalo, Oilers still get a point.

Agreed, and he never was. The only way anyone thought he was generational was before his draft SOME pundits told us he was. But ever since he started with the Sabres, he never showed signs of it. Very talented? Yes. The ability to be NEAR the top of the league in scoring? Occasionally. But generational as a center/point producer? Never generational.

Let the kids develop and move into their roles. Strategic signings for the bottom 6, with the young guys getting more chances in the top 6. No more middle aged higher prices free agents to take spots (and time) away from the young guys. Smart signing or trade for ONE veteran D-man that might have top 4 skill to pair with one of the younger guys. Patience. Don't go out and trade for or sign 4 or 5 guys because they will make the team better next year. No 'big name' guys just because we like the sound of their name or they had 1 or 2 good years a few seasons ago. I have no desire for a 'jt miller' type guy that so many people keep bringing up....who is going to be 30 years old and would likely make this team better NEXT year but at the expense of taking ice time away form the younger players. The team IS getting better as the young kids develop. Don't mess with the locker room, just add one or two strategic pieces and let things develop.

With regard to the Sabres prospects and how they are developing, players like Mitts, Cozens, etc... There are many of us who want to rush players to the big club, and then label them as busts if they aren't superstars (or at least regulars bordering on stars)...if their first round draft status doesn't translate into that within a couple of years. We have seen our own Buffalo Example of Tage Thompson...Its just this year he has blossomed into a player bordering on a star, and he is 24. -First round pick at age 18 -Didn't even play a game in the NHL until he was 20 -before until this season (where he is 24 now) he had 145 games played and 18 goals, a pace of 10 per 82 games. This year he is on a 35 goal per 82 pace. I saw a bit of the Coyotes game last night and there is another example of it taking a LONG time with some guys. Lawson Crouse. He's 24 also, I think the 11th overall pick but up to that draft many thought he would be well inside the top 8. -He is now playing in his 6th NHL season now. Through his first 5, most people thought he was a total bust, not even worthy of an NHL roster spot. He averaged under 14 minutes of ice time per game played and was pretty much buried on a 4th line. -In his first 5 years: 281 games played, 36 goals, 10 goals per 82 pace (same as Tage). This year, 18g in 54g. 25 goal pace. PP time and SH time now. Most of us know this, but you really cannot rush prospects. Sometimes they turn out to be nothing, but other times, they need 5 or 6 years in the league, especially with forwards they may seem like total busts and then something clicks with them when they get close to 24 or 25 years old. For players like Krebs, Cozens, Dahlin, even Mitts, we may still only be seeing a fraction of what they will bring to this team in a couple years from now.

Leaf fans have pretty much overtaken Boston fans to me as the most annoying in sports. Yesterday during and after the game, you could read social media posts by leaf fans and read 6-7 in a row saying NOTHING other than the Refs are jobbing them...that 'the fix was in' to make the Sabres win because it was nationally televised in the USA, and I even read one post that the Leafs would be in position to win the presidents trophy if not for the refs not liking them. Nothing about them being overrated, nothing about them being a good-but-not-great team, an OCCASIONAL post about their bad goaltending. But mostly about how they just get robbed by the refs every single game.

From this picture, it doesn't look like it will be easy to see much up close, the fans look very very far away.

Personally, I never 'fully embraced' Eichel. I hardly go to games so its not like I'm someone who cheered or booed anyway. But there was just something about him. I liked him as a Sabre, I wanted him to do well, but I never got that fan-player 'warm and fuzzy feeling' of feeing he was 'one of us'. To me, last nights comments aren't a huge deal, but they somewhat cement the feeling I had for him even when he was a Sabre.

He came across as someone who can be 'coached' to say or do the right thing, but when he doesn't get his way and gets frustrated, a bit of an entitled/elitist attitude comes out.

I have one friend who is a big Flyers fan and I have on occasion browsed some of the Philly message forums. What is interesting is in less than 1 year a good portion fo the fanbase there (at least those who post) mirror his reaction to the buffalo fan base: -When the trade happened, most liked the trade. Though it was a steep price to pay but they were getting a very very good physical d-man that was held down in Buffalo. A few (minority) didn't like the trade because of his analytics numbers. -A month or so ago 'while he was not playing and injured' I noticed that now it was closer to 50-50 whether flyers fans liked him....maybe leaning slightly toward not liking him. A common thing that my friend mentions when I talk to him and what you can read on the flyers forums: Physical D-man, often takes himself out of the play to make a hit, Seems to have all the offensive tools you want but his production lags a bit, and Flyers probably better off trading him to get something back rather than re-signing him. I admit I only browse other teams forums when I am really bored and have time, so I probably missed 75% or more of the discussion about him, but the exposure I do have is very close to what many of us learned about him for his time here.

I agree with what you are saying. And I know that you aren't arguing with me...but that leg injury may have put him 6 months or even farther behind where he should have been as a 10th overall pick...and even as a 10th overall pick (give or take a few spots) development time may have still been 3-4 years or more. I just think fans need to practice patience with him. He may not ever be a quality 1st or 2nd liner...and if he does become one, it might take another couple years to get to that point.

Krebs is someone that may require even more patience than what some fans want to give. Some things to remember: -He was a first round pick, but in the bottom half of the first round. He wasn't 8th overall like Jack Quinn, 7th overall like Dylan Cozens, 8th overall like Mitts or even Nylander. There was a reason why he was 17th overall, there might be some part of his game that take a little more time to develop. -Going back to his draft status...what is a 17th overall pick? Who was drafted right near him (16th to 18th) in his draft year. Alex Newhook and Thomas Hartley. Who was drafted in those positions the year before so they are a year ahead? Martin Kaut, Ty Smith, and Liam Foudy. How about we go back to guys who are 2 years older drafted in those positions? Juuso Valimaki, Timothy Lilijegren, and Urho Vaakanainen. My point being guys drafted in the middle-to-second half of the first round most often don't end up producing well at the NHL level for 4-5 years after they are drafted even they even do that. -I understand we are looking for things in Krebs and thus see some signs of things we like. But he will probably need time. Another year in the minors wouldn't be out of the question. Maybe a stint in the AHL at the end of this year and then with the Sabres next year but still not producing. That is what it may take.

to be successful next year a lot of upgrades need to happen. Of the UFA's, Hinostroza I think has earned a bottom six chance with the team next year if he wants it. Pysyk I'd like to see back also. Hagg as the 7th D-man I'd be OK with. Butcher, Caggiula, Bjork, and Eakin need to be replaced/upgraded for sure. Hayden and Jankowski I don't really have an opinion on, they aren't good enough to be a driving force on this team in anyway, but as Roch guys that could be called up in a pinch maybe...nothing more than that though.

If we are talking since 2000, On D, take of Risto, maybe replace him with Lydman and I'd even hear arguments for Warrener or Sekera over Risto. Up front I didn't 'like' Roy as a player, but he did produce, so him and Stafford (based on production) I think you need to consider. Connolly may have been near the top of the list as far as talent. We only saw it for about a half season and 1 playoff series leading up to his concussion, but at that point, no matter how short of a time that may have been, he may have been the single best player in terms of talent and production we have seen in the last 20 years (even over Eichel). Too bad that just when he got to that point, he had that serious injury.

If they are good enough I'd still say very good odds they make it here. This "war" is only a couple weeks old. A lot can happen in the next few weeks, or months. Wars can be won or lost, governments can change their positions, things can be ironed out in treaties....even whole governments can change. Those guys may not have even been contributors to the big club for 2-3 years or more. Things are likely to be a lot different then than they have been for the last 2 weeks.

I agree with that on Risto. He had/has the talent, he worked hard, he spent a lot of time here, but despite the effort and the physical talent, he just wasn't that good. For me, you don't get an honor just for 'trying hard' and 'having physical tools'...if the technique/hockey IQ is missing in a big way.

I don't know if I'd have them in Rochester next year. If it is obvious they need to be yes, but I am hopeful all of them will be old enough/have enough experience that they will be with the big club next year. With that said, I do agree with your general premise. I think almost every player needs to spend a good time in the AHL, it rarely hurts them. Too many times we have fans of the team that want to rush prospects to the big team. Despite that strategy having failed over and over and over, we still hear people that say "he was a first round pick bring him up!" or after a prospect scores 2 points in a single game in Roch, they say "he's ready, bring him up!" I want most, if not all of the Sabres prospects to have at least 1 full year in the minors. That said, I think Quinn and Krebs should be beyond that point next year and ready for a stint with the Sabres.

At this point in the Sabres 'development', I don't really care if they lose or even get blown out. It is going to happen. But I want to at least see some goals. These last 2 games have been 2 of the hardest ones to watch recently, not because they lost or how bad they are losing...its just because there are no goals. Boring.