jad1

Bills and Sabres win. Bruins and Pat's lose. It's the small things....

Awesome game. This team is for real.

Right, keep him off the ice in tight situations. He obviously cannot be trusted.?

Thing about Jeff is that he's scored two OT winners this season. As much as I like Housley's coaching this season, I'll never understand his OT and shootout personnel decisions.

Whatever development plan Housley has this guy on is not working. There's no way he should be on the ice against a high caliber team like Winnipeg.

This is the truth.

I think players get a silver stick trophy for playing their 1,000th game from the NHL. Hopefully the team will do something on Saturday too.

It's time to give Dahlin those opportunities.

F'n Ristolainen. Dumb as a bag of pucks.

So, remind me: are we tanking this year?

No doubt, especially in the short term. Long term, I don't know if he fits where the Sabres want to go, but between losing him and Kane, the Sabres already anemic offense has lost almost 50 goals from last year. Right now the Sabres have 4 NHL-legit top-6 forwards. (Eichel, Reinhart, Sheary, and Skinner). It's difficult to play consistent hockey when you're staffing your two top lines with bottom six talent. The good news is that there is a plan. There are young guys on the roster who can fill those slots once they gain some experience. Optimistically, though, it will probably take at least till Xmas before the young guys gain some traction. Between now and then, hopefully vets like Okposo, Pominville, Sobotka, maybe Wilson when he comes back who can contribute something to keep the tr team moving.

Yeah. I think it's a short term issue. The plan has to be that Mittlestadt will improve as he takes his first tour through the league (Dahlin too). If the team can manage to be .500 at mid-year, the young guys can help push for the playoffs after Xmas, especially if guys like Nylander, Olaffson, and/or Guhle are ready to contribute.

Along the same lines I was thinking about swapping Reinhart with Mittlestadt. Let Casey play on Jack's wing for a while, as a playmaker without center responsibilities and let Sam work with Skinner.

Right now, the Sabres are a one line team. Opponents known that, and they smother the Eichel line. The first line knows it, and they're trying too hard to make the perfect play. Short term, this is where the O'Reilly trade hurts. Until Mittelstadt can improve his game to the level of a 2nd line NHL center, the team is going to struggle. Mittelstadt is taking some steps to improve, but Skinner has been orphaned while Mittelstadt finds his game. And Okposo might be trying hard, but he was a give-away machine on the power play. He was a possession killer last night.

It'll get better when they have a functioning 2nd line. Mittelstadt needs to grow into the role as the 2nd center as the season progesses. He taking steps, but not having a true 2nd center at this time is holding the team back.

As the Sabres prospects mature, Murray will be vindicated for his ability to access talent. It's his trades and over-all demeanor that will vindicate his firing.

Makes you wonder about the coaching. Dumping Kane and O'Reilly who accounted for 100 points on the ice because the coaching staff can't handle the mood in the locker room is not encouraging.

I agree with Marty that ROR would be a great 3rd line center, and with what Toronto did today, that would have been worth his salary the next few years. Average O'Reilly's and Mittlestadt's salaries for the 2nd and 3rd centers, and even with ROR slotted at the 3rd center, the Sabres would still be getting a bargain.

So Botterill has Well he better explain his perspective to the fans then, because with what Toronto and Vegas have done in the league, his perspective makes no sense. Botterill talked a good game about waiting for the right deal with Kane and O'Reilly, but when it comes right down to it, he traded over 100 points for a bunch of nothing. He needs to convince the fans that this was the "right" deal he's been bragging about, because right now, it looks like this roster is going to set more records for futility.

This team needs to be relegated. At least Bots can get back to his beloved AHL then.

Risto is a complete mess. The guy barely looks better than a 7th dman.

McDermott's not the guy to turn this franchise around, and neither is Beane. It's Levy/Jauron part 2.

Bailey makes you wonder if there are other players in Rochester who play like they give half a damn. Maybe it's time that those guys get a shot to hurdle the low bar set by Moulson, Okposo, Pouliot and like 10 other guys on this sinking ship.

This whole roster is nothing but a cap hit.

It's a great deal, but I just realized how old I'M going to be 9 years from now. It isn't pretty.