GASabresIUFAN

DG said Mitts is still playing with his injury right now and won't be full healthy until next fall. Certain injuries obviously take time to heal, but can be played through. I have zero problem with VO playing if the doctors agreed he couldn't make it worse and it's clearly healed. There was an upside to him playing through the injury. He was forced to use his passing skills, which are better then I thought, to make a positive impact. We saw some of that improvement last night in his 3 assist game.

😭 God I loathed the Canadians, but loved watching the Flower play. RIP. 70 is much to young.

I know I listed this in the Awards thread, but I was surprised at how little love Anderson received in this category and I was curious for everyone's rationale on Okposo or Skinner over Anderson. Not that I disagree that they deserve consideration. Skinner has been bad the last two years and KO beset by injuries. 2021-22 Skinner 53gp 7g 7a 14 pts -11 Okposo 35gp 2g 11a 13pts -1 Anderson 4gp 2w 1L 2.134 gaa .915 save % 2022-23 Skinner 77gp 32g 28a 60 pts -14 Okposo 73gp 21g 23a 44 pts -17 Anderson 31gp 17-12-2 3.12 gaa .897 save % Honestly all 3 are incredible rebound stories when you look at their stats from last season. Skinner and Okposo were listed in a Hockey News Story of the worst NHL contracts barely a year ago. https://thehockeynews.com/news/here-are-the-ugliest-contracts-in-the-nhl-today. Anderson, 40, was set to retire. DG deserves significant credit for getting KO and Skins back on their games, but so do the players for doing the work to get back to games. Skins' season is on par with his first here. With three games to go he is just 3 points shy of the 63 he put up in 2018-19. KO has recorded his first 20 goal season since 2015-16 with the NYI and his 44 points is one point off his first season here as well.

Back to topic please. There is a goaltending thread.

So Vic has another 3 points tonight to get to 47 for the season. Sam scores his 29th and now has 77 points in 74 games. I love what Vic is doing, but is this really a debate. That said, KA get VO signed please. We’ve sent to much talent packing already. Time to keep someone.

Back on topic please. There is a goaltending thread.

Ralph was always such a great motivator.

Vic has now reached 20 goals 47 points with 3 games to go. Could he reach 50?

I just looked at the standings. They are 2 points behind Dallas with both team having 4 games to go and Dallas has lost 3 straight.

I expect him to be a good as Sam Reinhart. All humor aside, VO is really coming into his own since his wrist got healthy. 3 assist tonight was a stat line you'd have never imagined for him two years ago.

Just finished watching the game. A couple of thoughts. 1) VO is getting a bigger contract by the game. Maybe he is channeling Sam Reinhart after all. 2) I love seeing Power and Samuelsson killing penalties together. 3) Congrats to Owen for scoring his first goal by converting the best pass of Skinner’s career. 4) That maybe the worst ice in the NHL. 5) Sorry Lindy. You’ll need another game to pass Al Arbour.

What are LV’s playoff odds now?

Oh by the way, I know this is sacrilege but I’d trade Girgensons this off-season. I give his job to Asplund, waive Bjork and re-sign Vinnie. I’d then spend money to bring in a good two way center.

Aka Rory Fitzpatrick.

The infamous lines in a blender trick. We are wise to your crafty ways DG.

I’m not taking a shot at Asplund but realize that with Tuch, Skinner, VO, Krebs, Quinn, JJP, KO and Girgensons returning to the roster, Asplund is the 9th winger unless he moves back to center. That’s possible but I think KA maybe looking for a move veteran presence between Z and KO. The truth is I like Asplund and particularly like him when he plays with Mitts. There is nothing wrong with being the 9th winger next season. Between injuries and resting days, he’ll likely suit up 70 times. Also with KO and Z on the last year of their deals he is in the catbird seat for one of the 2 way slots in 23/24.

It also helped that Mitts became the distributor on the first unit. As I’ve said before, getting VO and Mitts healthy changed the Sabres from a two effective line team to a team able to roll four lines 5 on 5 and their impact has been bigger on the PP. Mitts has 7 PP points and 7 EV points since 3/1.

The Wild are unlikely to be trading Dumba or Fiala. Despite having to lug around the Suter/Parise’s buyouts for the next few years they are in surprisingly good shape cap wise for next year. They have 17 players already under contract for only 61.5 mill. Rossi will make the team for another value contract. Fiala is really the only major expense left. After that they are only looking at a backup goalie and a few depth F and D. This may put them a few million over the cap but that can be fixed by getting someone else’s LTIR contract like we did with Boychuk.

@matter2003 Samuelsson and Krebs are considered NHL rookies this season. Neither had played 25 games plus in the NHL prior to this season and neither had played in 6 or more games for the prior two seasons.

Welcome to the Twilight Zone

Question: Does Thompson break out if Sam isn’t traded?

They probably stopped calling him that after his first hair cut.

MVP - Dahlin - He is the fuel that makes the engine go. Rookie - Samuelsson, followed by Krebs Comeback - Anderson - he played only 4 games last year. Skinner is second Unsung Hero - Olofsson. The teams best two parts of the season occurred when he was healthy. Top Forward - Thompson - Wow. Just Wow! Top Defenseman - Dahlin Top Goalie - Anderson but I gave consideration to UPL for his save% in limited action MIP - Thompson Special Award to Tuch and Okposo for excellent on ice play and culture defining leadership.

@triumph_communes I added the MIP.

Anderson played 4 games last season and was thinking about retiring. To comeback and play 30+ games and give us at least decent goaltending is a major accomplishment and imho deserving of some consideration for Comeback player of the year.