GASabresIUFAN

But it is kind of the point of this thread. RK took the freedom from our forwards to create and DG gave it back.

They should lose one pick for every year they covered it up

How many goals did Hall have here? 1 How about Jack in season 2? VO’s production went down in year two as well. He also wasn’t here to know what he would have done prior, but he has 4 goals in 6 games so far this season. How did Mitts, Thompson, Asplund do under RK? What happened to Sheary, Vesey, Skinner, KO and ERod under RK. Even Samson wasn’t immune. His assists and p/gp all fell in year 1 of RK and further eroded in year 2 until DG became the coach. So yes everyone suffered.

Can you say Joe Paterno. The fine is not enough. Loss of draft picks. Loss of contracts down to 40 from the current 50. I also like the idea of limiting their cap.

All offensive players suffered under RK. I think It’s more likely that RK didn’t listen or didn’t solicit DG point of view to help get the offense moving. I think that’s why KA was comfortable enough to putting DG in charge.

I do think KA was trying to have a bad year to get Jack’s replacement, but apparently DG and the kids didn't get the message.

https://www.amerks.com/news/detail/quinn-and-peterka-connection-is-nothing-short-of-extraordinary Good read!

What I still don’t understand is how the Great Motivator and Communicator had DG on his staff and failed to utilize him to help cover up his X & O deficiency.

Could Jankowski earn his way to Buffalo?

Are they “unsung” if you are singing their praises? Also are a top 10 pick and a gold medal winning goalie “unsung”? Both are off to a great start to be sure. Hopefully 6 weeks from now they’ll look just as good.

You weren’t the only one.

He was an AHL all-star last season. He’ll be called up this season if and when guys like Miller and Butcher are traded. Management also likes Fitzgerald’s game and think he is close to NHL ready. I’ll be honest and say I never saw that coming. With Samuelson, Bryson, Joki, Dahlin, Power, Laaksonen and now Fitzgerald that’s a nice D foundation to build around

Substance vs bluster.

I also remain genuinely worried about the goaltending, but at tis point this is nothing to do but hope it holds up or pray the UPL or Dell get their crap together in the AHL and are able to give us good minutes at points during the year. It will be interesting to see how KA handles this team if they are at or near a playoff spot come the deadline, especially if we have injuries in goal.

The schedule is really in our favor for the first 22 games except a 4 game stretch around game 12 when we play Wash, Edm, Tor and Pit. So far we are seeing the same general play DG’s team gave us last season after the losing streak ended. They scored 5 or more goals 5 times last season with Granato as coach. They also scored 4 goals in another 4 times. In the last 23 games last season they averaged 3.04 goals per game. This season they have 19 goals in 6 games or 3.17 goals per game. To me they look like very similar to DG’s version from last year. If they continue to get at least decent goaltending they should remain competitive. At 3.04 g/gp the Sabres would finish with 249 goals and that is a playoff level of scoring

Toronto’s goaltending still sucks.

One other note, when TB was down going into the 3rd and needed to score at least 2 goals and pulled their goalie w 5 minutes left, they were outshot by the Sabres 13 to 11 and outscored 3-0.

This team isn’t devoid of talent. We have 5 top 10 picks, 4 other 1st rd picks, a former Hobey Baker winner and a guy who has scored 39 goals in only 122 games.

Sabres have scored 5 goals in 3 of 6 games. It took until game 38 last year to have 3 games with 5 or more goals (they had 6 such games all season 5 of which DG was the coach).

I’m sorry but I don’t think TB outplayed the Sabres. They had a couple of times they hemmed us in our zone, but not many. We did a good job of counter punching, making them most of our opportunities and disrupting the flow of their game. It was a very solid win. It actually reminded me of the Peca lead Sabres. No stars, except Hasek, but 60 minutes of effort.

Stamkos

Just finished the game. Wow! It wasn’t pretty but a complete team effort. Not sure any one player stood out, except Anderson. Great D plays by Pysyk and Bryson on breakaways. Kind of arrogant by TB to pull their goalie with 5 minutes left. I don’t think it mattered. Elliott was awful on a couple of the goals. Not sure why the hit on Cozens wasn’t a penalty.

Is Don Granato the best coach the Sabres have had since Lindy Ruff? Yes!

Any injury update on Mitts or Joki?

When is the last time the Sabres developed a top 6 center outside the top 10 picks? Derek Roy in 2001? What about before that? How about Tucker and Ruutu in 1983 (Adam Creighton was taken 14th overall that year, but I don’t consider him a top 6 center). Not exactly a long list of success. Besides Turgeon and Perreault, (both 1st overall), those 3 have the most career points by a Sabres drafted center. I can see Eichel, Reinhart, Cozens and Mitts surpassing Roy (524 pts), Tucker (436) and Ruutu (432), but they are all top 10 picks. Ultimately it’s hard to develop centers from any round if you don’t draft any.