GASabresIUFAN

Montreal. Columbus. Ducks. Buffalo’s cap space.

Here are some videos of the nominees so far. Power’s OT Winner (His 1st of the year) Lyubushkin’s SH OT Winner - His 1st of the year and 1st as a Sabres. Tuch’s OT winner over Boston on New Year’s Eve

Lyubushkin’s SH OT goal got me thinking. Dangerous I know, but I began to wonder if this is the highlight of the season so far. The others that come to mind were Anderson’s milestone victory, TnT’s first 6 pt night against Det or his 5g/6p night against CBJ. Also Dahlin’s NHL record 5 game goal scoring streak by a D to start the season. Oh yeah, tonight was TNT’s league leading 4th hattie of the season. Power’s OT against Dallas was a great play and Tuch OT winner against Boston on New Year’s eve was pretty memorable as well. Other thoughts?

But making the playoffs and giving a young team that experience is extremely valuable long-term. While it’s highly unlikely they’ll win a series even if they make it, it isn’t impossible. Don’t forget that there is also value for the players when the GM shows faith in the team by adding at the deadline.

Here is the list by the way. 1. McDavid 46-63-109 (59 games) - 1.85 pts/gp. Best center, best player 2. Matthews 26-31-57 (51 games) - 1.12 3. MacKinnon 19-48-67 (48) - 1.52 4. Crosby 25-44-69 (57) - 1.21 5. Draisaitl 35-52-87 (57) - 1.53 6. Barkov 16-34-50 (49) - 1.02 7. Point 34-31-65 (57) - 1.14 8. Huges, Jack 35-37-72 (54) - 1.33 9. Bergeron 20-21-41 (56) - .73 10. Thompson 39-36-75 (56) - 1.34 11. Eichel 18-22-40 (44) - .91 HM Petterson 28-47-75 (56) - 1.34

https://www.espn.com/nhl/insider/insider/story/_/id/35712543/ranking-nhl-top-centers-execs-players-vote-best Tage finished 10th just edging out......wait for it.........can you guess?......... Jack Eichel!!!!!! LOL

I didn't even mention the porous defense and bad goaltending even once. Oops! I guess I just did.

Adding depth on defense isn't going crazy. It's something that KA needed to do last summer and didn't manage to get done. If he can manage to add depth with term, then he has bolstered the D for this season and beyond.

That's not the ending, but Tina does drop-kick Ike a few times in that special place. The sad part was it took Tina 16 years of abuse to realize it.

I maybe wrong, but I think this is the first SH OT winner for the Sabres.

I can’t wait to get home and watch the game. Although the show we saw “Tina” was awesome. Anyone here who likes Tina Turner should get tickets and see the show. Best ending ever for a Broadway type show.

I’m at the theatre. Looks like we played a great second period. Finish the drill guys.

Why shouldn’t they? How long do Bergeron and Krejci have left?

Scratch Orlov off the list. Orlov and Hathaway to Boston. https://www.tsn.ca/nhl/dmitry-orlov-garnet-hathaway-traded-to-boston-bruins-from-washington-capitals-1.1922953

I remember their last Cup win. Actually I don’t, I was one.

Interesting list. Anyone you want besides the usual suspects. I have an interest in Jordan Greenway. But is he coming here is the real question.

Misty Wind. This should be a very interesting game. Tonight will be a real test of this team's character and Donnie's coaching. Can they get up and play their best hockey against a great team and find a way to win. They have not played well against the lightning of late. Since 2010 the Sabres are 7-17-1 against TB in Florida and we are 1-7-2 against them in the last 10. Sadly, I think they put up a game effort but lose in OT 5-4. Mitts, TNT, Power and Quinn with the goals.

If KA makes the two moves described above I'll be a very happy Sabrespacer. Merging the two deals, If we add Chychrun, Reilly, a 2nd (or 3rd and 5th) for Bryson, Rosen, Bloom, a 1st and a 2nd. I would say KA has done right by the team, secured excellent depth for this season and next, and gone a long way toward making the team better. I'm also very interested in Jensen and Orlov. Both were on my list this off-season of veteran guys who would make the team better and help shepherd/mentor the kids.

The other issues with the inhouse only plan are that there are certain positions we don't have ready and good enough prospects in (such as goalie and defense) and by the time some of these prospects reach the NHL, we'll have wasted the primes of guys like Skinner, VO, TNT and Tuch. I am not a fan of accelerating a rebuild before the core is established, but we have a core - Skinner, TNT, Tuch, Cozens, Dahlin, Mule, and Power, and the offense is flourishing. It's time to give the core the support it needs. Remember even if a GM is great at drafting, he is going to average a max of 3 players a year. That means it will take about 9 (with development time) years to build a team solely through the draft.

What youngster am I throwing out the window? Bryson is 25 and is D+6. Fitzgerald is 25 and is D+7. Clague is 24 and is D+7. Lyubushkin is 28. These aren't kids. These guys should now be in their prime and simply aren't good enough. I'm sorry but you can't keep every prospect. At some point, the organization has to move on. KA let Fitz go. Bryson has been demoted to the 7th slot as he has already been supplanted by Clague. Now KA needs to get a better to move Clague out of the top 6 as well.

@nfreeman Please see Dmitri Orlov. He was someone I mentioned in the off-season that I thought could be available if Wash was going to try to rebuild on the fly. I'd love to see him here, especially with so many Russians coming in the pipeline. He is still very effective at both ends of the ice, would provide leadership to the young D group and would be a really good initial partner for Power. Only 31, but a UFA. He does have a M-NTC, but I'd love to get him. To get him to come, I'd have zero issue with giving him a 3 year 12 mill extension. By the way, don't get your hopes up.

Probably.

That wasn't a reasonable expectation. Bryson's advanced stats weren't adequate last year. Fitz's were worse. Toronto, a team desperate for D help, made no attempt to retain him after trading for him last season. Pilut was a crapshoot but wasn't very good his first go around which is why he left for Russia. These were band-aids and KA knew or should have known they weren't good enough. Why should they have known? Just look at DG's usage of Bryson down the stretch last season. DG had reduced his PT to 10-12 minutes a game down from 18 to 19 early in the year. Casey's minutes also dropped down the stretch last year. They weren't playing well enough to justify the PT and DG knew it. Not exactly a ringing endorsement for this season. Last season in the playoffs, Tor only played Bush about 12 minutes a night. Again not a ringing endorsement for us to reasonably expect him to handle 18-20 here.

Kind of sad that people are willing to accept a mediocre product when we could be some much more with a couple of reasonable changes.

So KA won't make an affirmative move to fix the goaltending until Levi is ready and that could be when exactly? Maybe in 2024? Maybe never. That's not a plan. in 2021-22 our save% was .894, our GA was 3.5 goals allowed per game. Our PK was awful at 76.42%. All of these stats we significantly below the league average. To fix these areas, KA brought back Anderson but added Comrie, Lyubuskin and Clague with the results of .......... In 2022-23 our save% is .892, our GA is 3.49. Our PK is worse at 72.67%. Thus zero improvement. So you all can say what a good job KA has done building the offense and this is true, but there is more to winning in hockey besides offense and KA's acquisitions on defense and in goal have been mediocre at best (Clague, Anderson), but mostly lousy (Comrie, Dell, Lyubushkin). Whether the offense is ahead of schedule or not, a good leader takes advantage of the good fortune and supports the troops. Regardless of what KO is whispering in his ear, KA needs to fix the D and goaltending now. It's really that simple. No one is going to block Levi. No one is going to block Johnson. No one is asking KA to destroy the pipeline to fix these areas. What I am saying is take a chance KA. Get the help the team needs to break the playoff curse. The players, the owners and the fans will thank for it. Think of making the playoffs as part of the development curve of the organization. First you make the playoffs, then you win a few rounds and then you compete for a Cup. However none of that will happen with keeping the status quo on defense or in goal.