Curt

I’m sympathetic to that view. I’d rather see Casey at C in Rochester than moved over to wing in the NHL. I still think he can have a decent future as an NHL C. He needs patience, even though the fan base has little left. It’s not his fault that Buffalo has been bad for a long time. It doesn’t change his development.

Yeah, it’s true that Buffalo needs adequate C’s, but that fact that you are tired of waiting for a 20 yr old to figure it out does not mean that he isn’t going to be able to play a good 2/3C after further development. It sounded as if you were passing premature judgment on the kid’s future simply because you have grown impatient with him.

This is a You problem. He is 20.

Yes, I’m a little concerned that the 1st line isn’t doing so well at 5 on 5, both in terms of goals, goal differential and Corsi.

Agreed. I have faith that Eichel/Dahlin will be able to adjust and find an open Skinner/Reino near the net/slot if PKs start to sag off of them.

Well, I’ve heard that there is no way that Sobotka can play in the top 6, so I guess this is one way of keeping in line with at. 😉

Taro already said that the improved player movement to create passing lanes was a change. The only thing you two disagree about is whether there has been a change in the formation. The basic PP formation (umbrella or 1-3-1) has been the same. Their execution seems to have improved greatly. The addition of Olofsson to the opposite circle is no small part of that, as he adds a shooting threat from there that was sorely lacking.

Context matters. It’s a RFA contract signed several years ago VS a UFA contract just signed. The contract has definitely gotten better over the years.

The contract is fine, but it’s not amazing. He is the highest paid D on the roster.

Out of the 2, Laine is probably the one most likely to make great improvements. It sounds crazy but Laine is actually 3 years younger than Olofsson.

Or the backup plan just worked out great! Either way, I’m not complaining.

Didn’t mean to imply that they weren’t playing hard. I was more so talking about going into a “defensive shell”. Did they seem to do that at all before it was 4-0? I don’t hate it so much with a 4 goal lead, as opposed to 2.

I don’t like that they have been consistently packing it in with 3rd period leads. I don’t think that’s going to be a successful strategy agains good teams very often. One of my few complaints thus far.

Yeah, that’s a veteran team who are finding themselves not quite good enough to be a contender. With this bad start they are probably all thinking that the team may be blown up and sold off by the trade deadline.

I wasn’t really able to watch. Seems like they turtled in the 3rd again with a 2-0 lead, getting massively outshot in the period. How was it to the eyes?