GASabresIUFAN

Look where the two teams that added them are in the standings. Colo is doing it with significant injuries and NJ has with us in the standings last year. There are no sure things, but at some point this going for the cheapest opinion is simply is the wrong plan.

Then we have to question his talent evaluation skills.

....and he would have been wrong. Both had better pedigrees quicker ascents to the NHL. I viewed both as a significant upgrade over Subban, Dell, Tokarski, Anderson combo from last year. KA instead choose the cheaper opinion. Yes, Comrie might not have come, but he was re-signing Anderson as the backup anyway.

Considering Vanecek and Georgiev were younger and cheaper, maybe he should have taken a chance on them instead of Murray and Gibson. They also didn't have NMC/NTC and would have had no choice but to come here. All this team needs is consistent average NHL goaltending to succeed, much like the Devils. I honestly don't see why KA has such trouble even acquiring an average goaltender who can suit up 40-50 games.

Hell this past off-season, he could have traded for Georgiev and Vanacek who were available RFAs and instead he went the cheaper route and signed Comrie. Had I been in charge I might have taken a flier on Vanacek and Comrie and let them battle it out for the No. 1 job. Both guys were mentioned in last off-season's thread as available. Both have proven to be substantial upgrades over what we have. The price for Georgiev was a 2nd, a 6th both in 2022 and a 3rd in 2023. Not exactly a huge sum. Vanecek went for a similar price, a 2nd and a 3rd in 2022. We could have easily afforded these prices and it wouldn't have affected our pipeline much as all. We basically would have parted with the pick we used on Leinonen (who won't help us for at least 5 years) and other even less valuable pieces.

Sadly, I think the plan right now is Comrie/UPL. I hope and pray that he prioritizes the defense depth and goaltending. Until he does, I can honestly say I don't think he is committed to winning. Not my job. It's KAs and he so far has given us Anderson, Dell, Subban and Comrie. That said, I've mentioned Adin HIll before. I also mentioned Casey DeSmith as a bridge starter. I'm still interested in seeing if we can get Binnington cheap. I still like the Demko idea. There are many more. KA may have to overpay. The good news is that we have to cap space, picks and prospects to get it done. He is just going to have to bite the bullet. Trying is no longer enough. As some point he is going to have to succeed in getting legit goaltending.

Exactly. I don't care where the snow came from. It wasn't on my parents house and then it was over the 2 story house. If the wind picked up off the lake and dropped it on my neighborhood, it still fell.

that looks like about 8 feet + of snow.

https://nbc-2.com/features/commentary/2022/11/19/commentary-shovel-off-to-buffalo-the-blizzard-of-1977/amp/ The blizzard of 1977 hit Western New York and Southern Ontario from January 28 to February 1. Daily peak wind gusts ranging from 46 to 69 mph (74 to 111 km/h) were recorded by the National Weather Service in Buffalo, with snowfall as high as 100 in (254 cm) recorded in areas,[1] and the high winds blew this into drifts of 30 to 40 ft (9 to 12 m).[2] There were 23 total storm-related deaths in Western New York, with five more in northern New York.[3]

77 had 100” of snow in 4 days.

I was wrong about the "Waiting on Levi" strategy. The truth is as of right now KA doesn't have a cohesive goaltending strategy and hasn't for 2 years. He has no goaltenders signed beyond next season. Comrie is an experiment that may or may not (probably not) bare fruit. Anderson is 41 and likely to retire. UPL, despite a recent spell of excellent play, is much more likely a bust than a franchise goaltender. Both Levi and Portillo have back tracked this season in the NCAA. Assuming both sign, it's likely a minimum of 2 more years before either makes the NHL and the recently drafted goalie has a .841 save % this season in Finland. Based on contract status, Comrie and UPL are Buffalo's goaltenders next season. Can anyone honestly say you're confident they can give us playoff caliber goaltending? Combined they have 61 games of NHL experience. Stats YTD - Comrie 3.62 .887 & UPL 3.44 .891. The wait and see if any of the spaghetti strands will stick to the wall will continue for the rest of this season and maybe next. Don't give me he tried to acquire Gibson and Murray bs. There are 79 goalies who have suited up this season in the NHL this season, only 19 have trade protection (and some of those are Cal Petersen, Halak, Grubauer, Binnington, and M Jones who we probably don't want) There are other options. He just has to be willing to take a risk and spend some assets to get the team adequate goaltending. Until he makes a real move to to fix the goaltending, goaltending will continue to be this team's Achilles Heal.

It's actually 19 degrees in Atlanta. (8 Celsius) No snow sadly.

I hate to beat the horse, but how much damage did he do to all offensive players, not just Skinner. How much did he set back the development of TnT, Dahlin and Mitts? Look how Sheary, Montour and Rodrigues have done since they left. Sheary had 19 goals last year and has 19 pts in 34 game this year. ERod had 43 pts last year with 19 goals and has 11 pts in 22 games this year. Montour's career nearly died here under RK, last season he had 37 pts for Fla and has 26 in 32 games this season. Clearly RK had no idea how to utilize the talent he was given on the roster.

Thank you! If Montreal really wants him, make KA an offer he can't refuse. Obviously, not happening. KA has bet his entire rebuild on the "waiting for Levi" strategy.

I'll trade them Levi for their 1st in 2023 and 2024.

Yes

I could easily see a scenario where UPL gets spot starts the rest of the (if the G's stay healthy) especially when we have 3 games in 4 nights with at least one home date.

I still have PTSD from the Blizzard of 77 when we had a snow drift over our two story house.

Do we really care at this point? I hope Rasmus enjoys his $ and lives a long and happy life. That he makes Philly worse, all the better.

I’ve got nothing negative to say about how Granato handled the last 3 games. To get 3 road wins playing 2, 2 and 3 of your starting D is an amazing accomplishment.

It’s a road matchup issue. With the opponents getting the last change the teams worked to stop Cozens. I guess they decided they couldn’t stop TNT and company.

UPL is going down. 2 good games doesn’t mean you jettison Comrie who earned his opportunity. 11 games isn’t enough to evaluate the decision to sign him. KA tends to be patient. Considering how Anderson has played, he certainly isn’t going anywhere although he is still on a pitch count. The Sabres have only played 5 games all season with all 6 starting D, hard to evaluate any of the goaltenders when they aren’t playing behind the roster as designed. The last 3 games we have played 2, 2, & 3 of our regular defensemen. Until we get the majority of the D back hard to truly evaluate where we are. UPL play the last 2 games however is very encouraging. His compete level is clearly improved. It’s almost like he realized he was running out of opportunities to prove he was an NHL goalie.

The hockey equivalent of football “prevent you from winning defense” when the defense sits in a two deep zone and allows the offense to easily hit 15 yard passes down the middle in an vain effort to run out of the clock. Sometimes it works and sometimes it does. It drives me nuts when NFL teams do it and it’s just as bad when NHL teams do it. The teams in the NHL and NFL got their leads by playing aggressively. For the Sabres that means counterpunching. However at the end of games, the Sabres are sitting back trying to protect their leads, but end up giving puck control in zone to opponents against our injury riddled defense. Some of it isn’t by choice. In the NFL teams go “hurry-up” to prevent defenses from substituting. In the NHL it’s pulling the goaltender, but teams often really do seem to sit back allowing the other teams to attack.

Just a quick point. DG played Dahlin and Samuelsson for the final 3 minutes tonight. That is not a winning strategy long-term.

Sabres are 4 points from the last playoff spot with a game in hand on the NYI. Wash also has 38 points.