jad1

If Granato is shuffling lines, put Cozens and Tuch together.

Sounds like Robin has been scammed by a literal snake-oil salesman.

Thompson in OV's house. Showing the old man how it's done.

Krebs is turning into a better version of Asplund.

Let's go UPL!

Dahlin stops the shot and bombs the pass.

COZENS!!

He is a fart cloud

Of course. It has to be the a##hole.

If Krebbs would have been stronger on that zone exit, Okposo's penalty wouldn't have happened. The zone exits need to be better for the Sabres to evolve into a playoff team.

Sabres need much more urgency on zone exits.

I know faceoffs aren't important, but Cozens might want to participate in the next one he takes.

That save on Marchand. UPL is building his case.

Thompson shows up again. Guy is clutch.

They're the color of casino carpets when Fredo was banging cocktail waitresses two at a time.

Tage is so damn good.

Bills win, getting revenge for their early season loss to the Dolphins. Sabres win, getting revenge for their early season loss to the Coyotes. It's been a good night for vengeance. Happy Holidays everyone!

Are you talking about last season when Eichel was on IR, waiting to have surgery and had no contact with the team, and thus no leadership impact?

I also said that I thought they would improve in the standings, but they haven't done it yet. The point was that if Eichel's leadership was the anchor that some have claimed it was, getting rid of him should have resulted in an immediate and impressive improvement in the standings. It hasn't. It doesn't mean that the Sabres haven't improved in certain areas, because they have. It doesn't mean that they won't improve. It just means reasons they will improve will have nothing to do with Eichel's leaving, and more on the emergence of players like Thompson, Cozens, Dahlin, Quinn, and the rest.

The Sabres posted 75 points last season, their 4th best season total since 2015. They are currently two points ahead of last place in the division. No doubt several of their young players are developing. And the fancy stats do suggest optimism. But the overall team progress in the standings does not suggest a team that has greatly improved since trading Eichel. I believe that the Sabres will eventually improve in the standings. But the gap in the timeline between Eichel leaving and the climb in the standings will suggest that the reason will have little to do with Eichel's leadership or lack thereof.

No-showing for a period isn't a good look for a young team. This team seems to do it a lot.

Yeah, he showed that he's not a top six forward tonight.

This is like taking out the first few boxers in Mike Tyson's Punch Out.

Here's where the Sabres would benefit from having a veteren defenseman. Steady things down on the back end.

They also need a veteren version of Samuelsson and a veteren 3rd line center. The list isn't long. There is no reason that winning shouldn't be expected this season. The rookies are contributing. The vets (Tuch, Thompson, Skinner, Dahlin) are playing playoff-caliber hockey and deserve the chance to legimately compete. Rather than burning the season to see if Mitts, Krebs, and Bryson can break thru, Adams needs to add a couple/few vet pieces and Granato needs to tighten up the defensive zone play. Goaltending will continue to be an issue, but the train left that station when Adams refused to pay Ulmark, so they need to figure out how to work around the deficit at goalie. It's time to rally around the new core. There are lessons in losing, but those lessons are limited. There are better lessons to be taught in winning. It's time to focus on helping this core of players learn those lessons.