GASabresIUFAN

"The Butler did it" each time he scores. I can hear RJ now. @dudacek is probably right it's going to be something boring like Benny or Bensy.

What happens if they move VO? Surely he has no market value at this point given his cap hit and his advanced stats. Would TP even allow such a move to bury nearly $5 mill in the AHL? How much of his cap hit would KA/TP be willing to eat to facilitate a trade? Would waving him to the A be the best thing for him or would he prefer to be loaned to a SHL team? Would a D first team like the NYI be willing to take a chance a him given their desperate need for scoring? My last question is was this roster situation foreseeable? I wrote in the off-season that VO was not going to get traded because of Quinn's injury, but now I wonder if KA and his staff should have realized that at least one of Biro, Rousek, Kulich, Benson, or Savoie would make the team. If they had realized this, maybe they still should have traded VO when he had some market value (maybe they still did try and he didn't have any market value then either). Even if none of them proved immediately ready, there were a large number of good vets that remained un-signed in Free Agency for weeks and weeks. Hell Kessel, Stastny, Puljujarvi, and Josh Bailey are still; un-signed.

That’s not very nice. 😉. I understand what you mean, but if Mitt’s line remains this effective all year it will make everything easier for everyone else.

You want them to play worse?

Fairburn talked today about how good Savoie has looked in practice and also raised the lousy chances for and against with VO on the ice. To activate Savoie Fairburn suggests waiving/trading a goalie. I’m not sure you’d make that move if both backups haven’t even played a game yet. I’d send Savoie to Rochester for a rehab stint so that KA can get a look at what he has before moving on from anyone. I also wouldn’t mind seeing VO sit, put Jost in as the 4C and move Krebs to Cozens’ wing to see if adding Krebs’ passing and willingness to work will help get that line going.

It was a joke.

Ken Dorsey is not the answer, but Brian Daboll might be available soon.

In general I don’t disagree, but so far outside Mitts’ line, none have been good enough.

Went to Morrissey on Thursday. Today at Depeche Mode. Opening act DIIV. Sorry to be missing the Bills game but what can you do. Priorities.

From the Athletic “4. Kyle Okposo, Girgensons and Peyton Krebsformed one of the best defensive lines in the NHL late last season. Okposo and Girgensons were brought back for their ability to play a reliable and direct game as part of Buffalo’s fourth line. That line has leaked chances against in both games, though. On Saturday, the Islanders had more than 94 percent of the expected goals when that line was on the ice at five-on-five. In two games, that line has generated only one high-danger chance and allowed eight against at even strength.” I have no idea what your heat map is showing but 8 to 1 in HDC against vs for is enough of an indication that they aren’t getting the job done so far.

The stats posted earlier show that after two games VO isn’t even close to our worse forward or skater. We have yet to see Savoie skate a minute against NHL players. Let’s wait a few weeks before we start chucking people to the curb. So far Krebs, Z and KO have all been worse than VO.

From the Athletic.

Benson has arguably been the best Sabre after two games. Great start. He sees the ice as well as any forward and makes great decisions with the puck. He also back checks.

They did, but the point is they got better as the season progressed. They started the season against the top 2 goalies in the NHL and they looked much better tonight. I expect better results soon.

FyI folks: The Sabres were 9-11-0 after 20 games last season and then lost the next 2.

I don't think either guy has a draft eligible brother. Right now it's the top line.

Levi was excellent tonight. Effort was better. Tnt, Cozens, Power, Dahlin, Skinner, and Tuch all need to be better. They are the core. They need to play like it.

What about Grigorenko? He was born May 1994 and made his 1/20/2013.

Reinhart was at least 19 after he went back to Jrs.

Lindy Ruff and Lee Fogolin.

So is the fast break. We saw late last year that they can play defense when needed. They just have to commit to it, even in DG’s system.

The DG system is equivalent to a basketball fast break system. Get the puck up ice as fast as possible. Everyone needs to be able to skate and turn on a dime. It’s great in philosophy and it’s fun to watch when it works. However the downside is tons of chances against, especially when the team can’t get the puck out quickly.

I feel a South Park reference coming.

We all know how much you like to take a general statement that you know to be true (Levi wasn’t sharp in camp and did let in a softie last night) and find a detail to say that the general statement is false. Yawn! My post also talks about the poor defense as well. None of that changes the fact of my post that this team is to talented to play as they did last night all season. It’s just one game.