GASabresIUFAN

Makes you wonder about OSU doesn’t it.

KA’s New Year’s resolution! Get the Sabres D help.

3 Stars - UPL, Tuch and Cozens

Now win in OT.

I think we have scored 3 on our 4 good opportunities.

Crazy goal

What a stupid play by Tnt after a good one.

Game over

Cozens needs 20lbs.

Tonights D pairings stink. Mule with Bush. Seriously?

Can we talk about Skinners poor passing.

Ok guys start playing.

Our kids need to make faster decisions with the puck in the D Zone.

Anderson has been our most consistent goalie this season.

UPL is trying to prove Comrie needs to stay in the A. How ironic would it be if the Sabres are the team trading away a goalie at the deadline.

Lol. I had to laugh when I saw the thread title. So the stats say he is a reasonable 3rd line C. I’m shocked. Ok not really.

A Dahlin Lyubushkin partnership would be awful and kind of proves my point. Bush is makes terrible decisions with the puck. Frankly he is Risto 2.0.

The problem with Dahlin vs Samuelsson is not an individual question. It’s a team question. Who is the no.1 2 way D if Dahlin is out? The answer is simple, 1st overall draftee Power. Who is the no.1 defensive D if Samuelsson is out? The answer is Jokiharju. What’s a better pairing Power Samuelsson or Dahlin Jokiharju? To meet the answer is simple Power/Samuelsson. Dahlin is one of the top 5 or 6 D in the NHL now and a legit Norris contender, but Buffalo is one of the few teams that could possibly survive losing a Norris contender for a period of time. Buffalo’s bigger D issue, is the falloff between the top 3 and everyone else. Losing any of the top 3 for significant period creates a hole our depth can’t reasonably fill. If we had a player like Jensen as the 2nd stay at home D, this wouldn’t even be a debate.

No idea. The answer is the second half of the quote.

no of course not. What I'm saying is that we are in a better position to weather a short term absence of Dahlin vs Samuelsson. Ultimately it comes down to where the depth in our organization. How many teams have a No 1 over all D as the anchor of the 2nd pair? Zero outside of the Sabres, but that fact means we have great depth there then we do in D first players like Samuelsson.

That's where we disagree. Power would pick up the extra duties and he is a budding dynamic player who can run the 1st PP. After Samuelsson who do we have that is on that level defensively? No one. Joki is second, but he isn't exactly stellar defensively and Bush isn't good.

Savoie and not Kulich will be a Sabre next season. KA has 8 forwards under contract for next season and another 3 who are RFAs including Jost and Cozens who are almost certainly to be retained. (Asplund is the other RFA and is cheap depth to retain). KO and Z are the key UFAs. Honestly given KA's history, there is reason to think he'll go with the status quo roster leaving maybe one roster spot for a rookie. Savoie has the inside track because he can't play in the AHL next year and is probably to good to go back to Jrs.

I don't understand your answer. We have seen the team this year and last without Samuelsson but with Dahlin and the team isn't as good. No we haven't seen the team without Dahlin but with Samuelsson. That is why is a postulation not a fact, aka a theory. My theory is that the team is more likely to be able to weather a lose of Dahlin vs a lose of Samuelsson because we have other guys who can do most of what Dahlin does. Maybe not as well, but at least passable. We have no one who can play Samuelsson's style and that style is essential. Let's hope we don't have to find out if my theory is correct. However it is a fact that this team isn't nearly as good without Samuelsson and that isn't debatable.

I postulated in another thread that while Tnt and Dahlin maybe "better" players, that Mule was our most important. With guys like Power, we might be ok for a while without Dahlin. We also have enough forward depth to survive for a short while without TnT. However, the stats without Mule are awful. He simple smart style of defense makes everyone from the goalie out better.