GASabresIUFAN

Barely. KA get some friggin D

Levi with the win.

Pitifull

When will they, the coaches, learn to coach defense.

These idiots left Levi out to dry.

Memo to KA. Sign (or trade for) a good goalie - Adin Hill? Demko, Hart, Saros Trade for Marcus Foligno Sign Erik Haula Sign Orlov Find a LHD partner for Lyubushkin Trade Jokiharju, Bryson, UPL, VO and Comrie

F-ing Sabres

Casey has 9a in his last 6 games and is over 50 pts for the season. Ray saying tonight his work ethic is off the charts. Haters, still want him gone?

Defense, Defense, KA get some defense.

Are they trying to kill the kid?

Anderson, Comrie and UPL are standing by Levi and saying “see we told you the guys playing defense suck”

Casey’s brother Luke had 2 goals for Minn tonight in the semifinal of the Frozen Four as Minn dominates BU 6-2.

I’m going to add another goalie to the list. What about Adin Hill? He’ll be 27 next season, has 101 NHL games under his belt, and his stats are 2.66 and .910 for his career.

I think he is too old to compete in the Tri-Wizard Tournament.

You and I are in full agreement on this. I want a Saros or even a Hart to insure we are a playoff team next season and if Levi is better so be it. Then we'll have a Swayman/Ullmark "problem." I can live with that. However, there is a large gap between what we would do and what we think KA might do. Certainly, more tape will give teams a better chance to "solve" Levi, but Levi is so focused and professional at 21, I expect him to work to take away any differences in his game long-term.

There is no question this is true. There is also no question that Levi is as prepared to play in the NHL as a rookie as I've seen in Buffalo since Barasso. However, regardless of how special the kid is, I look at Ryan Miller, Conor Hellebuyck, and Jake Oettinger, all college goalies who had similar college careers, and all benefitted from at least some time in the AHL. Miller played very well in Buffalo his rookie year (15 games 2.63 & a .902), but still played 170+ AHL games. Hellebuyck played 88 AHL games across 2 seasons and Oettinger played 54 across 3 seasons. The only guy I remember being arguably ready at a younger age was Carter Hart and his results have been mixed in the NHL.

You expect KA to anoint Devon as the starter next season? If he does that, he'd better have a darn good backup plan. Comrie and UPL don't constitute a good backup plan IMHO.

Devon Levi has played two excellent games in his 1st two starts against very talented offensive teams in Florida and the NYR. He has faced 69 shots in those two games and allowed only 4 goals. The shots against were typical for the Sabres this season. His .942 save % is incredible. It’s likely that Devon starts at least 3 of the team’s final 6 games. Why not. He is giving us the best chance to win right now and we need wins. For the sake of this discussion, I’m going to assume Devon plays at a similarly high level in his remaining starts. When that happens, how does KA view his goaltending going into next season? Does he anoint Devon as the starter and keep one of Comrie or UPL as the backup. Does he move on from both UPL and Comrie and bring in a seasoned NHL goalie, like Talbot, as 1B to Levi? Does he bring in a high end veteran like Boston did to pair with Devon? Does he send Devon to start the year in Rochester to take some pressure off the kid, keep one of UPL or Comrie and bring in a more seasoned vet as the starter? With 3 goalies under contract, but 2 are unreliable and one is a rookie, KA has some hard choices to make. My gut tells me to follow Dallas’ approach with Oettinger and let Devon start next season in Rochester. Bring in a good vet on two year deal and move on from one of Comrie or UPL.

But a hard log jam to navigate. We really need a proven bottom-six center like Eric Haula. However, maybe they think Jost can grow into that role. Maybe they get more physical as a group because they get more physically mature. Look how much more physical Mitts is now that he's 24 and willing to play that role. Sadly, I just don't see KA deviating from his "plan" I don't see him acquiring someone like Haula.

One thing I noticed about last night's game was how much more physical the Panthers are than the Sabres. Frankly, to move up the standings we are going to have to get more physical. Swapping in two more rookies for vets like Z and KO won't accomplish that. I also don't think Kulich is part of the plan for next season. That said KA is walking a tightrope for next season. He has a top 7 forwards - Tuch, Skinner, TNT, Cozens, Quinn, plus Mitts and JJP. He also has Greenway under contract plus Krebs and Jost. In addition, KA has two UFA veterans he probably doesn't want to lose in KO and Z, an under contract 25 goal-scorer in VO, and 3 quality players pushing from below in Rousek, Kulich, and Savoie. That's 16 players for 13 jobs and none of which truly makes the Sabres tougher to play against than they are right now. Something has to give. If he sticks with the developmental route then I see the following Skinner TNT Tuch JJP Cozens Quinn Mitts Krebs/Jost Savoie Rousek Krebs/Jost Greenway (Or you could see Z instead of Rousek) The next question is how does the Sabres forward group get more physical while keeping up the pace of play DG/KA wants?

If they get promoted back to the SHL, I think he has to stay in Sweden according to his contract.

Before tonight they needed to go 5-1-1 to get to 92 points. Now they have to go 5-0-1 in the last six. However, with the loss to Fla, I think we'll need 93 points to have a realistic chance.

Well, the Sabres have to win out to have a chance. Not impossible, but highly improbable at this point. At least Levi played beautifully again.

He's given us 18 of 32 starts with a .893 or better save %. (15 of 32 he had a .9 or better save %). In 17 of those games, he allowed 3 goals against or less. The Sabres record in those 18 starts is 12-3-3. The average shots on goal in those 18 games were 35+. Normally I wouldn't consider a .893 save % credible goaltending, but considering our poor team defense, the injuries to key defenders this season, our lack of D depth, and the fact that we lead the NHL in High Danger Chances allowed, our goaltenders deserve some leeway. FYI league average goaltending save % is .899. So while I'm not a huge fan of UPL and he has had some majorly terrible performances, he has been decent to good to very good the majority of games he has started this season.

Let's see - Joki is playing top 4 minutes for a playoff contending team. He is a good NHL defenseman who is probably best suited to the 5, but that doesn't diminish the minutes he's given us every season since acquired. I'm not a fan of UPL, but he is only 23 and has given us credible goaltending for the majority of his starts. I believe he will be a good NHL backup long-term and that is a quality asset.