mjd1001

Overall good game, but by far the worst line was Tuch/Thompson/Doan for most of the game. Even strength they had 2 scoring chance for, 7 allowed. Their shots for/against, Fenwick, Corsi, Expected goals for/against....all were awful. McLeod, Zucker, Quinn by far the best line of the night in terms of analytics. Dahlin has the best analytics of all D-men on the game. https://www.naturalstattrick.com/game.php?season=20252026&game=20347&view=limited

Tage 1 goal in the first 7 games... 11 in his last 15 games

He might. Often times on the official scoresheet and NHL.com, they list goals as 'unassisted' for a few minutes before adding the assists. Its like they want to get the goal scorer up as soon as possible, and iron out the details a few minutes later.

Big game Wed against Pittsburgh. For me personally, growing up I always looked forward to any games the day before Thanksgiving or the games on New years eve. The Wed before Thanksgiving, it was a long weekend from school (now sometimes a long-ish weekend from work), that a win that night just 'feels' better than most other nights.

UPL played well. I still don't trust him yet.

What I don't want is for him to play just well enough that they want to keep him around but not well enough for him to steal you games.

That's the math, some crazy things can happen. But if they were to win their next six in a row, their point percentage becomes .592. technically, as of today, that would still not put them in a playoff position.... So if you look at the standings exactly the way they are today they would have to win seven in a row, but with the way the rest of the league usually shakes out, six in a row from today would probably do it.

Yeah... I posted this about an hour ago but to get to the point percentage of the last playoff spot, they have to win six games in a row. Not five in a row, not five of the next seven... Doing that would still have them out of the playoffs. From right now they have to win six in a row just to get to the 8th and final spot.

Or you could look at the standings and say to get that last eighth spot in the conference, you need a .600 Or better point percentage. Starting today, what do the sabres need to do to get to that level so they could be the last team in the playoffs? It's a six-game winning streak. If they were to 'only' win the next five in a row that brings them to .577..... Which would still have them outside a playoff spot.

100% Beat Carolina and Pittsburgh the next 2 games.

Why does it look like Quinn was upset to score that goal and no one else on the ice was really all that happy either?

Samuelsson 5 goals in 19 games. Thats almost a 22 goal pace.

UPL sporting the early .800 save percentage tonight.

Do they not have anyone else? McLeod has been awful on the PP. His game is speed, skating, always moving. Not exactly a guy who is good at setting up in the offensive zone.

The issue with Quinn is almost 100% consistency and effort. We know he has the ability to make really nice plays in the offensive zone. He just has to have as many good games as bad ones.

Maybe Chicago is having some fits of bad defensive coverage, but it is infuriating the Sabres can be up 2-0 and looking good after playing so bad against Calgary.

I'm not sure about winning board battles, but I would put Zucker there.

You are probably correct in the long term regarding Doan, but often times its not how much talent you have, but rather how you compiment the players you are with. I think most will agree that Tage Thompson is the most talented offensive forward on this team, so how does Doan impact him when they are playing together: Tage with Doan: 1 goal every 16 minutes ES. Tage with anyone other than Doan: 1 goal every 18.7 minutes That is actual goals, how about how well they generate chances? (expected goals) Tage with Doan: 1 expected goal every 17.8 minutes. Tage with anyone else: 1 goal every 22.5 minutes. Small sample size, but in the 65 even strength minutes Doan has played with Tage, they produce, and generate chances better than Tage with anyone else other than Doan. Just like last year with Kulich and Tage...maybe it won't last, maybe it will, but it deserves a bit more time to find out.

I think Malenstyn was pretty bad early in the year, but the last week or two I think he has been one of the better forwards.

He might know what to do but he doesn't want to. Hire a proven hockey guy, maybe a couple. Pay up to get them to come here, and sweeten the job by telling them its their show to run, all Terry asks is he be notified when money is going to be spent. Pegula needs to tell those guys he wants to hear the explanation behind their moves, but that he won't override their decisions. It seem to have been a while since he was willing to give control to competant members of a front office and give them control/money/power to make their own decisions.

It is the most likely scenario but from a Fan's point of view there is.. not one a few but one really big major flaw I see. If it plays out that way, Kekalainen is the new GM. Where is the exhaustive search for the new GM? Where are multiple interviews, where is the chance to see different points of view? If it does play out that way, and I think it's the most likely scenario at this point, it's another case of Terry pegula not taking any chances, going with someone he's comfortable with, rather than the best person for the job.

I know negotiations don't always work like this...but that is all the more reason to not rush to sign Tuch now to a big dollar contract. That is one way it is in HIS interest to not push for top dollar to get those 2 more years. If the Sabres sign him for 8 years at $10.5, they are dumber than any of us thought..when no one else can sign him for more than 6. Those 2 extra years he will be 36 and 37 years old. No rush to sign him to guarantee you are taking a $10m+ cap hit on a player that age....at least in my opinion. Of course, I'm one of the ones who is in no rush to sign him...and as much as I think he's the 2nd or 3rd best player on this team right now, and I LIKE him as a player, I'm not going to be heartbroken if he isn't here next year.

That has been my opinion for a while. Had a few arguments here that even in the past, the OL, WR group, basically everything on this team is, and has been in the past...at best a borderline playoff team with an 'average' qb instead of Allen. The OL thing is the one that always drove me crazy...the last couple years most people have said they are one of the top 5 in the league. I don't see it.

Yep. Sabres get an asset, Tuch gets a playoff run. Its not like it seems he is giving them a hometown discount. If they are going to have to 'pay up' for him now, they can do so in the offseason. If he wants to go someplace else, he can just not sign here anyway. If the Sabres are out of it, no reason to sign him now, trade him and see where things take you. ESPECIALLY if you have a new front office in the offseason. Terry can tell that front office how much he likes Tuch (if he does) but let it be up to the new front office. Don't sign too many people in advance and let the new front office have little/less roster options to work with.