Thorny

Samuelsson staying healthy is huge, ya, but I’d imagine we can say the same about a couple of other players, too. The only reason we haven’t seen how much the team would suffer without a player like, say, Dahlin, is because we thankfully haven’t had to, yet.

Ya, we should enjoy it while it lasts as I can’t imagine we’ll see it for much longer. And if all goes to plan, once it goes away it may be a long time before we see it again

You can type this a hundred times, I already looked it up and posted the number haha

Could just be an “old habits die hard” thing until they finally say, “enough”. - - - Ran through the games quickly (yes this took a good while): by my count we’ve got the opponent’s backup 20 times on 32 games.

Ya I agree, it has been pretty odd. Harrington has been tweeting about it for a while now. You’d think teams would have caught on by now. Oh well, too bad for them, for now

I actually meant to type “majority” of games which I believe to be the case, definitely. We’ve seen more backups than starters by a decent margin I believe. If someone has the actual numbers / can correct me that’d be swell - only basing this off memory From what I can see it’s actually a significant majority

I still think we’ll need goaltending help at some point. In my mind I see it as sort of a ticking time bomb issue: as long as we are seeing backups nearly every game, our disadvantage at the position is basically nullified. More less a “prevent defence” like affect we are seeing, on our offence, getting to face more back ups than starters. But as soon as teams wise up and we start getting their starters, our lack of such becomes a more concrete disadvantage. Whether we make it this year may just come down to how much runway we get from the league, before that very adjustment. If the adjustment is made before we’ve got a spot secured, it may be that we are close but just miss, and that proper supplementation of the goalie position this summer allows us to get the rest of the way, next season

It’s good to see that most, to a person seem to think the time to cash-in on some of that prospect/pick/cap asset available is upon us. If we are still very much in the hunt come the deadline, see if there’s a move that can help us right now - getting in and getting some experience would be a boon. If not, make your moves in the summer and set the clock at “playoffs” in 2024.

And not soon enough, it is Sign me up

Woke up to a message about the Sabres from my wife, an unusual occurrence. But it was this and it’s checked out given she loves that show 😂

The Austrian goalie he’s shooting on is more less the level of goalie we’ve been seeing day in and out at the nhl level so...why not 😉

No Sabres on Canada, right? Unless I missed one? I feel like we’ve been spoiled by a stream of Sabres on that team recently

Adams tried to get Murray, right? I like to think/hope he’s still at least open on HIS end to making an upgrade at the position of a more proven variety, I’m not saying he can definitely succeed in making the move but if it can be had, the opportunity cost of doing nothing if the roster really is shaping up is probably greater than the price of acquisition. Like I said I hope Murray points to the fact he is willing to pay and it just needs to be a good deal and then accepted on the other end, but the key thing there was addressing the position was a priority. From the perspective of now I don’t think we’ve seen enough to say, “mission accomplished”. I understand if Comrie getting a two year deal means they are giving him two full years to earn it, him or UPL, but again IF neither does by season’s end I hope it changes from being “open to” and it being a priority to look to add. UPL and Levi can start in Rochester if we did get another, more proven guy to complement our ready to go roster

Well the GT hasn’t stopped us from improving but improvement isn’t just measured on a yes or no scale. Plenty to suggest we’d be significantly better WITH good goaltending and, if the rest of the team is good enough, what are we waiting for?

What do you see them doing at G, under the “moves to win” banner, if anything? Open-to-anything-at-the-right-cost-but-content-with-what-we-have-if-not kinda deal? Or a priority focus? This is of course under the idea Comrie *doesn’t* end up showing much more, this season, than he’s already shown. If he does show some more, some legit promise I feel like they’ll run it back in net, more less

It’s mind blowing. Technically, it’s statistically unlikely to miss the playoffs, just in general, if you are in at thanksgiving. Never mind if you are in 1st. That’s pretty unheard of. Historical context, already. To miss by 22 points..that’s Sabres special. Interestingly enough, this season thus far has the early markings of the same, but inverse: a dumb, non-reflective streak surrounded by the truly reflective play

Here’s a great article for anyone interested, breaking down Reinhart’s slow statistical start despite good underlying numbers, and his charge up the ranks since. https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/nhl/florida-panthers/article270235657.html “He had an awful lot of chances to score [early in the season] and couldn’t find the back of the net,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “You keep telling him to hang with it.”“ Probably the most telling: “According to the advanced hockey statistics website Natural Stat Trick, Reinhart’s 14.25 individual expected goals created rank 19th in the NHL and second on the team behind only Tkachuk (15.64). Reinhart is also second on the team in overall scoring chances (120) and high-danger chances (62), again trailing only Tkachuk among Panthers players (131 scoring chances, 67 high-danger chances).“

No game till Tuesday, damn

Goals in 4 straight for Sam 60 point (Borderline 1st line) pace is worth 6.5 mil in 2022 dollars, ya. Depending on all around game, etc. - - - In addition, Reinhart is a notorious slow starter. Since the calendar changed to November, Reinhart has 22 points in his last 24 games (75 point pace) He’s developed a pretty predictable consistency. Sam is who he is and he’s the same player Granato raved about, as a leader and all around player, the year he coached him His point totals also generally contain full value as he’s a driver of play at Even Strength - 67% of his points this season are at even strength, compared to say Tage, where 44% of his points are on the power play (Obviously, that isn’t a Tage comp, (obviously), he’s playing at an MVP level currently, and at 7 whatever is a steal among steals). Reinhart at 6.5 is desirable, accurate value

Giving me pause now is that the first WC spot, and the 3rd place div team, are 7 points out of reach. Unlikely we can both make up that required ground and then stay there. So, while WC2 is certainly in reach, it might be the only attainable spot with plenty of teams fighting for it, including Florida who I bet improves. That’s what is working against them. But the team looks good. And that’s the biggest factor. I don’t know if they’ll beat out all the teams chasing for 8th, in combination, but if I had to pick one team of the bunch, I’d take Buffalo as the favourites to snag it.

Why’d you give up wishing for a goalie?

I mean they were bad, not THAT bad

man I talked to you about disliking the Jets like..a week ago I spend way too much time here, clearly

Does Adams get credit for Power?

Wait how do we know who the GM was that offered up Tage? It just says 2-3 years ago Also what does this say it’s just coming up blank