GASabresIUFAN

I saw the video after the game. It was shocking to see Josh get the game ball. He might have been the last person who deserved it. Cook, the Oline, the Dline, the entire defense were all more deserving. There was a post earlier talking about the Buffalo playoff chances if they win out. That post mentioned that Jax had to win yesterday for there to be any scenario in which the Bills win out and still don't make the playoffs. Since Jax lost, I'd assume the Bills are a lock for the playoffs if they win out.

Why wasn't Comrie waived as well?

Yes. Tokarski and Cooley are both probably better options then Comrie at this point.

I outlined above the roster completion issues under KA. Now for the good news. Goaltending - There is no denying Levi’s potential. Since returning from the A, Levi has been good to great (the shoot out not withstanding). If he continues near how he has played the last 4 starts we have our franchise goalie. I have been a huge critic of UPL and I’ve outlined his first 20 games last season as a reason for caution. However, he has given us solid goaltending in 7 of his last 9 appearances and looks like a solid long-term backup. Potentially they could be our best tandem in 20 years. Defense - Dahlin is a superstar but he needs help. There are 3 other potentially good pieces on this roster in Power, Samuelsson and Ryan Johnson, but all are terribly inconsistent. The good news is all are 21-23 years old and should, with the right coaching, continue to improve. The issue here is coaching. Forwards - Centers - We have two legit top 6 centers in Cozens and TNT. Both need to learn to play 200 feet and win a draw, but there is no denying their offensive skill when healthy. Forwards - Wingers - Tuch, Skinner, Mitts, Quinn, Benson, and JJP. Hard to argue with the talent of these 6 players. If we were healthy and had a 3rd line center, this team would be able to roll 3 nearly as talented forward lines and create huge matchup problems for most teams. The issues here are health (Skinner, Quinn), and inexperience (Benson, and Quinn). Normally I’d have listed JJP under inexperienced given this is his 2nd season, but it’s hard to argue with his play this season. He has been one our best forwards night in and night out this season. The issue plaguing our entire forward group is a lack of commitment to playing 200 feet. Mitts, JJP and Benson seem the only three in the top 9 who consistently backcheck. Forwards - Depth - Krebs is a huge disappointment. He is traveling the Jost, Girgensons, Lazar road of a top 20 draft pick who never blossoms into anything but a serviceable depth forward. I think we all had higher hopes for Krebs. Greenway is honestly the only depth forward on this roster that I’d keep beyond this season. Krebs, Jost, Z, KO, and Robinson should all be sent packing sooner than later. The core of this team is extremely talented. If a coach can get the forwards to play 200 feet and we get a little more consistency from the D and goalies this should be a playoff team even in the rugged East.

The Sabres general approach to the rebuild is a good one on paper. Draft well and develop young players, build a core group, lock up the core to reasonable contracts, and fill the roster holes with veterans. For the most part KA, with help from Jbot's drafting and trades, has done a reasonable job on the draft and development part. He has signed his core to decent contracts and he maintains a very solid pipeline of players with good forwards and defense and a couple of long-shot goalies. For the JBot haters remember that Thompson, Skinner, and Jokiharju were Jbot trade acquisitions and Cozens, Ryan Johnson, Dahlin, Samuelson, Mitts, UPL, and even Bryson were all Jbot draft picks. In other words, the top 3 centers on the roster, the top scoring winger, the 1b goalie, and 3/4 of the top 4 D (5/8 of the entire D) were Jbot's players. Where KA has failed is at the pro personnel level and a willingness to move on from prospects to get established veterans through trade. As I've said before the only veteran acquired by KA during his tenure so far to objectively improve the team is Tuch. The rest so far from Hall and Staal to EJ and Clifton have all failed the team. In addition, other than trading a depth prospect for the Stillman, he has yet to move out a prospect for a veteran player. Furthermore, he has been nearly blind filling the team's most critical needs - goaltending, a top 4 D and a legit 3rd line center. The goaltending is obvious to everyone except KA. Since Ullmark rightfully walked this is the parade of bad goaltending brought in to bridge the gap to Devon Levi - Anderson, Dell, Subban, Comrie, and Tokarski. Anderson was the best of the lot and gave us 57 games (55 starts over 2 seasons) because he was too old to handle full-time duty with a 3.09 GAA and a .902 save %. Not exactly playoff-caliber goaltending. KA may ultimately luck out now that Levi has turned his season around and UPL has been decent to good in 7 of his last 9 appearances. However, there is no question in my mind that KA's failure to properly address the goaltending cost the team a playoff spot last season. Defense - so far KA has brought in Hagg, Pysyk, Butcher, Lyubushkin, Clague, Stillman, Clifton, and Eric Johnson. Clifton, who KA gave a 3 year $9 mill deal, looks like the most glaring error and that is saying something. Admittedly, I had high hopes for the Clifton signing, but he has been the butt end of awful. Even with all these warmish bodies, our defense remains one of the worst in the league and we still don't have a legit partner for Owen Power. Joki, who is an RFA, continues to drag down the play of anyone he is partnered with yet somehow remains in our top 4. Last but not least the center position. DG has made it clear that Mitts is a top 6 winger who can fill in at center if necessary (I agree). That means that Thompson and Cozens are our only legit NHL centers on the roster. Jost is at best an injury fill in and Krebs seems best as a 4th line center and sometimes not even as that. KA knew this last year yet didn't bring in a single forward in the off-season, much less a center. With the injuries to then followed by ineffective play of Cozens and Thompson, Casey was left as the only effective center on the roster. What did KA do to address the problem? Nothing. To complicate matters further, there is no near ready center prospect in the organization. The failure to take the next step belongs to two people TP and KA. We can lay some blame on the players and coaches, and certainly, they bear plenty of blame. Ultimately the roster is incomplete and the players brought in to complete it are failures. That's on KA and the guy who hired him.

The A’s took 2 from the Braves this past season. In pro sports the best team doesn’t always win. Although the Sabres are better than the A’s. There is real talent on the Sabres, but there is merit to your point. We are not deep enough or accomplished enough to compete with the top level of the NHL every night. As to Benson, I think the sending him down ship has sailed. Even with everyone healthy is in one of our top 9 best forwards at this point. - Skinner, TNT, Tuch, Quinn, JJP, Mitts, Cozens, Benson, and Greenway.

LOL.

When has this GM acquired a veteran player that has improved this team since Tuch? Do you really trust him to upgrade the players he just brought in?

LOL. I guess I missed the Whitecloud tallie as well.

Nice win last night. As I said in the OP, we needed our goalie to play well and our top forwards to be our top forwards for this ship to turn around. Last night was a good first step. Even the D was solid last night according to Levi, although the stats say LV actually out-chanced us and had more HDC. Now we have to continue to carry that good play going forward. We are 3-1-1 in the last 5 but still haven’t won 2 in a row but once this season. Levi has been the star of the last 5 games. He has 4 starts and is 3-0-1 in those games with a .913 save% or better all 4 starts.

That's the problem. We don't have enough centers if Cozens, Mitts, and TNT all play in the top 6. I don't think Krebs is a top 9 player.

At least the Yotes also played tonight.

We had to walk the dog for a few weeks.

The best thing about Benson is his brain. He steals a pass to create a 2 on 1 for Tuch’s goal. Watch how he moves in the O-zone to put himself in a perfect position to score. Also watch how he made a play during a line change to set Cozens up for a breakaway chance. He may already be the smartest forward on the Sabres.

But his wife just had a baby. No way KA waives a family guy like Eric. Haven’t we learned anything yet about KA’s team management? Family is the priority over winning.

So the Sabres best players tonight were two rookies.

This team is a friggin yo-yo.

There has been a Murray & VO sighting.

We want 6

Mitts heard @nfreeman’s comments about him.

I really want someone to lay out Eichel. Is that bad?

Goal scorers so far - Cozens, Mitts, Benson and Tuch. Best players being our best players.

Devon back to beast mode

Odds of us getting a makeup call?

They also mentioned Dahlin’s leadership in the meetings, but what does this have to do with the Bills?