GASabresIUFAN

Skinner is very Kessel-ish, but Kessel played with 2 good players on Pitt's 3rd line named Hagelin and Bonino. Last I looked Sheahan and Lazar will never be confused with Hagelin and Bonino.

If you really want to send a message bench him. Why put him in a position to fail by playing him with marginal players with little or no offensive skills? It makes no sense.

You realize that Skinner averaged 17 minutes a night over his 8 years in Raleigh with a low of 16:03. He won't come close to that PT under RK.

Isn't that like 50 years apart between Stabler/Namath and Tua? Bart Starr also went to Bama and Matt Jones looks like a player. What school is QB U anyway? Bama? Purdue with Brees, Len Dawson and Griese? BYU with Young and McMahon and now Wilson? Georgia with Tarkenton, Trippi, and Stafford (Fields?)? Oklahoma currently with Murray and Mayfield? Miami for a while with Kelly, Kosar and Gino Toretta.

Why play both Sheahan and Lazar with Skinner? Why not just play one and at least give Skinner one skilled forward to play with? RK talks about balanced lines, but what balance is there with Skinner and two guys who are D first forwards neither of which has shown any playmaking ability at the NHL level. Slide Sheahan or Asplund in for Okposo to keep the checking nature of that line intact and put Cozens with Skinner and Lazar. That's more balanced.

Scotty, the D was in the top 10 in the NHL at shot suppression and 10th in least goals allowed 5 on 5, with a rookie (Jokiharju), a kid in the lineup (Dahlin) and one our most talented D playing out of position (Montour). Montour is now back in position and Jokiharju and Dahlin should build on last season. I think that is something to be optimistic about.

I updated my post, although I did see that Asplund may sub in for Okposo instead of Cozens. That doesn't change the fact the RK is playing Skinner with Lazar and Sheahan as predicted.

No we don't. We need him to score goals. As many as possible, especially 5 on 5. Brett Hull is in the HOF because he scored goals, not because he backchecked. I never said Skinner shouldn't buy in and work to improve his two way game. However, the team needs him to score and our coach has decided to limit his ability to do so. That's just wrong.

Cozens isn’t playing tonight w Skinner Hard to move up if you don’t get a legit chance to show your worth.

My guess would be he doesn’t pass the puck; probably because he isn’t good at it. For guys like Jack and Samson who both distribute and score, I would think Skinner’s inability or unwillingness to give the puck back would be really annoying.

I’m with yeah buddy. So build a line where Skinner is the focus but with players who might work skill wise. Lazar and Sheahan aren’t those players.

Thus RK won’t budge an inch on his principals to work with the player and therefore he takes our best 5 on 5 scorer and relegates him to play with AAAA Lazar and PTO Sheahan. That makes sense. So much for RKs great people skills. Skinner needs to buy in but even Barry Trotz found a way to work with Ovie.

RK sending Skinner out with Lazar and Sheahan makes me even more pessimistic about RK the coach and our bottom six.

Ralph’s he makes the lineup. As I predicted days ago all 5 of the 4th line players are in the lineup. Garbage bottom 6.

so much for analytics

There has been a Hudson Fasching sighting. He is on the Yotes taxi squad. Good for him. Maybe he'll get a chance there.

I'll pass on Forsberg.

My biggest worry with KO is one more wrong hit and he'll have significant issues for the rest of his life. He isn't worth his contract but there is nothing to be done at this point.

Are we speculating that some teams kept a 3rd goalie on the active roster because they feared that the 3rd goalie wouldn't have cleared waivers? I can see that with with both AZ and Tor.

You are correct, although for some of these plumbers 20 points over a full season would be extremely difficult. In addition how many of these guys will suit up every night? Remember these guys are at the bottom of the roster for a reason.

I actually think Housley put Z,KO and Larsson together.

I am optimistic about our Defense group and our top 6 forwards. These are the best 2 forward lines we have fielded in decades and could be two of the best in the NHL. I love the idea of Hall and Eichel together and think Staal will thrive playing with VO and Reinhart. I'm thrilled that RK is playing Montour at RD and that alone will make a major positive impact on the D group. I also think Dahlin is going to become one of the elite all around D in the NHL. I's pessimistic about our bottom 6 and PK. RK's forward line combinations, when not obvious, are appalling. I also worry the Hutton will not be improved and that the PK will still be at the bottom of the league because we didn't upgrade the goaltending. Prediction: I think the Sabres surprise but still fall short because Ullmark and Hutton aren't good enough. They get off to a slow start but rally at the season progresses to finish 5th to the East, ahead of NJ, Pit and the NYI.

I'm kind of surprised that Johansson is on the taxi squad and not in Rochester. I thought they signed Togarski for the taxi squad and to have a goalie available for the expansion draft.

I agree that 2 (Eakin and Rieder) of the 4 should be in the lineup, but that's it. I also agree that we have 3 inept lines last year. You do realize that playing only two of these marginal guys means that their slots have to go to two kids (unless a trade is made). That said, you, me or anyone else on this board could put the 1st two lines together with our eyes closed and two hands tied behind our backs. The talent alone dictated that they belonged together. When they succeed it won't be a reflection on RK, but on KA for getting Hall and Staal here for this season. Also if they give up around 4 goals a night, it probably means that the goaltending, that KA was supposed to upgrade but didn't, isn't off to a good start and or that the PK, he tried to upgrade, also isn't off to a good start.

Dahlin on a slap shot from the point on the first PP of the season.