GASabresIUFAN

Your welcome. That game could have been 10-3 if not for Saros.

Does this help?

A couple of quick observations. I love how much better the Sabres are at covering the point when the D pinches. I noticed Krebs, Mitts and Skinner all game long quickly recognizing the pinch and covering the point immediately. This has made the cycle so much more effective. This has been improving all season long, but it’s been really noticeable of late. Speaking of Krebs and Mitts (and Cozens as well), they look like they are about to explode. They were so active tonight. I particularly noticed Krebs fighting and winning on the boards against bigger players. I also really like Cozens and Krebs together. Asplund was also good tonight. Samuelsson is a monster and is becoming a terrific player. I also love Fitz’s effort. DG talked about Fitz’s growth before the season even started. What an amazing night. Dealer, hopium all around.

No points for Josi tonight. To bad.

Lol. The return on Jack trade is looking pretty good as well. I love the joy Krebs plays with. He’ll never forget scoring the first goal tonight.

Thank the Lord they didn’t f-up RJ night. My great hope is the Sabres make it back to the Cup and RJ comes back to call one of the Cup games.

Just wait until they put Quinn with him next year. He just needs a linemate who can score.

I have to say, I really like Fitz’s effort.

FYI

Why are they having RJ night on April Fools Day?

You know he has to hate all then attention.

They started the season 5-1-1. They are ending 8-3-3 so far. In between 11-29-7. Ouch! Anderson would play only 1 more game after the victory over Ana for the 5th win to start the season until 1-29-2022. This is a good team when healthy and the JAGs aren’t playing. Hopefully they are learning to win and that carries over into next season.

It does. ”Extras: Bjork, Hayden, Butcher.” - 3 players who should never suit up for the Sabres again. One last thought: They better win this friggin’ game for RJ.

I do love it when a plan comes together. If I had to make a couple of changes, I’d send Bjork packing, and obviously Hagg and Jankowski won’t be back. I’m still hoping for an upgrade on Pysyk to play with Power and the need for a top flight goalie hasn’t changed. However the majority of this young group will be what we see next fall and is our team right now.

We need a two way center who can win a few faceoffs on the PK and PP and also add some secondary scoring. Lars Eller comes to mind. Adam Lowry? Henrique?

This gets really annoying after about 5 seconds. Sorry in advance.

yeah, but Asplund as leading goal scorer? Seriously? 🙂

I think (hope?) that Bjork is more then just vulnerable. What has he done to justify keeping him? Bjork is just awful and needs to go. Caggiula also needs to walk the plank. I'd much rather see R2, Murray or Biro get a shot at the roster. Trade Bjork and if there is no market, waive him and send him down to Rochester as one of the vets down there. To me there are forward 8 spots written in pen for next year. Tuch, Tnt, KO, Mitts, Cozens, QUINN, Skinner, and Krebs. Girgensons injury history puts a small question mark on his status. VO's contract puts a question mark on him as well, although I suspect both will return. Asplund cheap contract and excellent D metrics also likely brings him back, but I can also see him being put in a deal to upgrade the goaltending or finding a partner for Power.

Not a surprise. He seems better with 7 goals in the 14 March games.

Lol. Not at all. It’s an important discussion as to where guys like Pysyk fit into the team going forward. My hope was always that guys like Pysyk, Butcher, Hinostroza, Caggiula etc were just placeholders until the kids proved ready. However Pysyk and Vinnie have proven to fit in well here both in the locker room and on the ice. They also make good inexpensive depth going forward. That said KA has failed the team and the fans if Pysyk opens the season next year in our top 6.

As the 7th D for depth. In all my capfriendly rosters I have us acquiring 1-2 Vet RHD and have Pysyk and Hinostroza re-signed as veteran depth

Not much. I got Murray being 1st recall correct. I had Dahlin as my team MVP and having 45 assists this season. Got the MVP right and still have a chance on the assists. Sabres need another 6 wins to match my predicted win total. I said KA would acquire a goalie because Anderson got hurt and UPL and Dell were struggling. I said Bryson would out perform Butcher (which he has), but I thought (hoped) Ka would trade Butcher away because of it. I complete blew it on Hagg, R2, JJP, Mitts and Cozens, although JJP has carried the Amerks at times this season. I never saw Thompson's season coming. Also KA did much better in the trade for Jack then I thought. I had Jack going for a conditional 1st, a medium prospect, a 2nd conditional pick and a cap dump. I got the picks mostly right, but Krebs is a grade A prospect and the predicted cap dump instead became a top 6 forward in Tuch.

As you probably know already, I am not a fan of hopium generated by tanking, near JAGs like Pysyk or signing aging vets to long-term deals. I am a fan of teams improving incrementally, or draft and develop and using our cap space to fill holes in our roster like goaltending and an accomplished RHD to pair with Power.

That is frightening.