JoeSchmoe

I find it annoying that the NHL would honour existing KHL contracts. If I'm the NHL, any agreement to keep players in Russia would be tossed. So, if a Lawrence Pilut wanted to walk away from his KHL team and get out of the evil empire tomorrow, he'd be free to do so. What they've done here is just window dressing and does not have any real impact.

This is where I'm at. If he gets the upgraded roster next year, especially goaltending, and does not show improvement, then you can say it's the coaching. But for this year, the roster was a joke. I was talking to some leaf fans last night that were absolutely laughing at who KA signed to play goalie this year. They also laughed at our "top" line of Tuch, Thompson, and Skinner, who by all intents and purposes sound like a 2nd or 3rd line for most teams. They did acknowledge that there could be a future in Power and Levi. They were unaware of Quinn and Peterkas stories though.

So based on this roster (especially the goaltending), where did you have the team finishing in the standings? What save % did you expect out of Anderson and Dell? Who on the team has underperformed your expectations? Who specifically could be playing better under a "better" coach?

The Sabres have a combined save % of 0.895. This is about as good, if not better than where they could have been expected to be based on the retreads KA acquired going into the season. Are we going to pin this on Granato?

Who had the worst rosters of the bunch? That Bylsma team actually looks like a decent squad with many NHL vets to complement a young core. We also had actual legit NHL level goaltending with a combined 0.919 save percentage! https://www.hockey-reference.com/teams/BUF/2016.html

Are you talking about the team as is right now, or the one with Quinn, JJ, Power, and hopefully Levi or another competent goalie? Right now, the forward ranks have too many boat anchors, the D core is too thin and too young, and the goaltending is a tire fire. I'm confident we have the pipeline for the F and D, but while hopeful, I'm still not convinced we've found the G-spot.

I did too, but I don't think it's THAT out there. When I read this post, I gave up and cheated... If the board hangs in there, hopefully someone will get it.

Bjork can skate, but the problem is he skates to all the wrong places. He reminds me of a Bailey or Baptiste... The skills are NHL level, but the IQ is not (not even close).

Skinner, Tuch, Thompson Quinn, Cozens, Mitts JJ, Krebs, Okposo Olofsson, Aspland, Hinostroza Maybe he takes Asplands' spot in the lineup, but I would hope that spot would be easily upgradable through FA.

You're right that he's better than those 3, and would be helpful now if they'd turf one of them to put him in. I just think we should look for better if we want to be a cup contending team.

Is there a deadline on when players waived by the Sabres can go down to Rochester? I'd like to see them waive Bjork towards the end of the season. He can skate really well, but IQ wise isn't able to process the game at the NHL level. He might be effective as part of an extended ROC playoff run though, when the game moves a little slower for him. I'd guess you can't do this on the past a certain date otherwise NHL teams would all send down their JAGs. Is that right?

Now 351 out of 351. They're still the ones... That make me mad Still the ones... That are always bad And they still suck tons And they're still the ones They're still the ones... That cannot win Still the ones... Bjork-Hayden-Eakin And they still suck tons And they're still the ones!

He's got hands of stone. I do love his work ethic though, but he just can not finish or create for the life of him. He's still better than a Eakin-Hayden-Bjork, but we need his hard work with either more set up or more finish if we truly want to be good.

Especially since Girgs is a boat anchor and has no business on a winning team.

Never gets old! Let's see more of them next year!

Even Dunleavy seemed into this one by the end of the 3rd.

More combos have entered the 100min club and our boys are still DFL at 344 out of 344.

$1 beer for anyone wearing a Sabres jersey during all Leaf games.

Two more lines entered the 100 minute club. They're now 333 out of 333. I wonder, if these guys were as good as an average NHL 3rd line (which presumably could be had a relatively low cost through free agency), how many more wins would the team have?

On a happier note, Peterka got another 2 points tonight.

^^^^^^^ Bjork is 366 and Eakin is 368.

Nope. Of forwards that have a minimum of 30 games, he's 379th out of 380 in points per 60min played. The other two have NHL level skill, they just lack the IQ. Hayden has neither.

I saw that too. It's unfathomable to me to see how this could have been. For sure Eakin drives down the line, but Bjork is the lowest IQ guy on the team... and Hayden is Hayden. I don't really remember the line at all, but it just seems impossible given the lack of talent.

Eakins contract expires the end of the year so there's basically no chance he plays beyond this season, which is already lost. My bigger concern is that Bjork is still on the books for another year. He just isn't smart enough to play in the league... but I suspect Adams will be trotting him out again next year just because they're paying him.