GASabresIUFAN

I was watching Seinfeld.

I have said this often the last few years, but it’s changing fast. In fact our top D prospect, Ryan Johnson, is already in the NHL. Novikov is possibly our best D in Rochester. After those two, we have another 3 good to excellent prospects in Lindgren, Komarov and Strbak. Novikov may make the Sabres as early as next season. Lindgren and Komarov are both going to be in Rochester next season. Strbak was a rock for Slovakia at the World Jrs and he is doing well at MSU. He could be forcing his way up the pipeline sooner than later.

The truth is the Bills need to win the division and get a home playoff game. We are better than Miami and if we lose to a banged up Miami team we don’t deserve to be in the playoffs anyway.

Östlund Swe player of the game. Howard for USA.

Östlund gets out muscled by Ryan Leonard - USA 5-2. 6-2 USA on an empty netter

3-1 US. Howard with 2 goals in the second. Östlund is flying, but team USA has to many weapons so far.

You do realize that Mitts is 11th in the NHL with Even Strength Points with 29. 11th and only 2 points out of 6th. That’s all-star worthy.( It may even be sponge worthy).

You can vote for 8 skaters. Vote for both.

https://www.nhl.com/sabres/news/buffalo-sabres-how-to-vote-in-the-2024-nhl-all-star-fan-vote-nhl-all-star-game-toronto-february-3-2024-rasmus-dahlin

Did we finally see a new PP set up last night? The Sabres went 2/4 on the PP (net 1 because of the SHG allowed). Both goals were scored the same way on passes through the crease to an open player on the side of the net.

Yep. He has been the Sabres best and most consistent player this season. He also is the team's leading scorer and is in the top 10 in the NHL in 5 on 5 scoring. He is also the team's leader in +/- at +7. Dahlin is a team worst -14.

So that is what a complete effort looks like. Wow! Nice to see for a change. That said, what a lazy crap play by Dahlin on the PP to allow that SHG. Also really nice goals on the PP. Finally they are trying something other than the slapper from TNT. It's amazing what happens when the puck moves quickly and you get the PK out of position.

I think you're missing the broader point. That Caps team couldn't become a Cup contender without a change in how they played the game. We can't become even a playoff team without a similar change in philosophy.

I’m going it have to disagree. We currently have 3 players at or near 1000 games. We have physical players as well. Greenway, Dahlin, Clifton, Tuch Eric Johnson and Girgensons are all physical players. We even have a pest is Skinner. What we don’t have is proper coaching and goaltending. We also don’t have defensive buy in from the forwards.

This organization has a choice to make similar to the one Wash made a few years ago. The choice is do we stay a free wheeling team and try to win 5-3 each night or do we fire the coach and bring in a new coach with a defensive first system? Wash chose the latter and won a Cup because their O talent was enough to counter punch off the defensive transition. I’d like to see a similar change in Buffalo, but we need buy in like Wash received from Ovie.

…. and Mitts is on pace for his first 20+ goal season.

I think people said the same thing about Skinner while he played for RK. I'm sorry but no way Cozens and Dahlin were simply playing for a contract last season. This season Cozens has been playing through his injury, Dahlin through the lack of an adequate partner, both guys have also suffered from gripping their sticks too tightly and the entire team is suffering from conflicting and confusing messaging from the coaching staff. I think both are also suffering from trying to play to the expectations that went with the new contracts. This is not to say that both players don't have themselves to blame for some of their issues and that both can't be and should be better, but their issues are not from coasting because they got the big contracts.

It's all moot anyway. The Sabres aren't going anywhere. They are going to expand to Houston and Atlanta if they expand and only after they get AZ fixed.

So would Winnipeg. Oops, they got a second team. Populations: Buffalo metro - 1.2 million, Winnipeg Metro 845K, Quebec City Metro 840K.

I’m in total agreement with this post. I know my prior post was a bit angry, but the anger comes from looking at the talent on the roster and wondering why management and the coaching can't figure out how to get the best out of the talent. On the positive I firmly believe in Levi in net long-term. I really like many of our forwards including Benson, JJP, Quinn, Mitts, Cozens, and Thompson. This group could comprise most of a great top 9 with the right additions. I also really like Dahlin’s all around game, but he needs help. Admittedly I’m not a huge Power fan, but you don’t get drafted no.1 without real talent. @LGR4GM is correct that both guys need better partners. Is it really to much to ask our GM to get the right pieces in to enhance our talented core?

KO is resting until the trade deadline.

How long in a "patience?" 4 years, 13 years or how about 50+ years? When does the ship turn around? At what point does patience end and acknowledging incompetence begin? What exactly has KA done to earn our patience? Has he improved the defense or goaltending in the last 4 years? Has he brought in a series of successful free agents? Has he made the team tougher to play against? Should we not take KA, DG, and the players' word that this season was about winning? It's also not like the "young Sabres" aren't experienced. KO, EJ, and Skinner are all near or above 1000 games. Girgensons is near 650 games. Our core players all have 3 seasons or more of NHL experience. Dahlin 23 (392 games), Thompson 26 (329 games), Tuch 27 (410 games), Cozens 22 (237 games), Mittelstadt 25 (315), Jokiharju 24 (305 games), Greenway 26 (360 games), Clifton 28 (267 games) and even Olofsson (293 games). Hell, even Robinson, 28, has 274 games of NHL experience. Except rookies Johnson and Benson, our "kids" have a fair amount of experience; Krebs 22 (171 games), Quinn 22 (83 games), JJP 21 (117 games), Samuelsson 23 (143 games), and Power 21 (125 games). These guys should know what to do at this point. This is no longer a team of raw players. Sadly only kids JJP, Quinn and Benson, plus Mitts are giving a concerted effort night in and night out. What is the rest of the players' excuse? The only really raw part of the team was the goaltending. Entering the season Levi and UPL had a combined 53 games of NHL experience (Levi 7 and UPL 46). So how patient should we be when the GM knowingly fields a team with no proven goaltending and retains on his initial roster a series of players that even the fans know shouldn't be on the team in Olofsson, Girgensons, Comrie, Jost, Stillman, and Bryson wasting $14+mill in cap space in the process.

1. the Sabres aren't leaving 2. Even if the Sabres left, they'd put another franchise in Buffalo. The market isn't nearly the smallest in the NHL and it has one of the highest TV ratings. In addition, the Buffalo/Toronto rivalry is great for hockey. 3. I was just commenting on a way to move on from TP and get a new and better product for Buffalo.

By the way, the cap cost for the status quo roster in the original post on this thread is approx 72,834,404. That includes $6,000,000 for Mitts, 1.5 for Krebs and UPL. It is also for only 20 players and includes Rousek, Rosen, and Novikov making the team full-time. I don't have RFA Jokiharju returning. If the cap goes to 87+, there is a whole lot of cap space available to KA to improve this team. IMHO I'd move on from RFAs Krebs and UPL in addition to Jokiharju.