msw2112

Tuch is a good offensive player. While it was a career year, it can't be ignored that he had 36 goals and 43 assists, for 79 points in 74 games last season. He was also +14. Just because he had 1 collision behind the next in Vegas and it was captured in a video on YouTube doesn't mean he played a heavy, physical game in Vegas. I didn't follow him at time, so I really don't know. That said, he's a bigger guy and doesn't always use his size to his advantage. Part of that may be injuries. Part of it may be the style of play that the Sabres employ. Would Tuch finish his checks if that's the style of play the whole team employed? Would he stand in front of the net if he was asked to do so by the coaches? I think he would. I've said this elsewhere and I will say it here again. The Sabres have a lot of good players and are not that far off. It may be time to move on to a new coach. I've supported continuity with Granato in the past (even recently), but the team's performance in the last week has started to change my feelings on the topic. I don't think Tuch is ultimately part of the problem. With the right coaching/system, he could definitely be part of the solution. Both he and Granato have been a big part of the Sabres going from last overall to the middle of the pack, but I believe Tuch may be a part of taking the team to the next level, while Granato may not.

Pegula has made many mistakes in his tenure, but I see things a little bit differently. I think the team is on the cusp. They have a lot of young talent at all three levels (forward, defense, goalie) and full pipeline. They need to sprinkle in some veterans and the roster will be very good. As much as I like Don Granato, I do think it's about time they get a different coaching staff in there that can get the most out of the group. This message is different than what I was saying even week ago (at that time, I was suggesting he get until Thanksgiving to see if they can put it all together).

The Sabres are a disappointing NHL team, as their position in the standings is below where many believe their potential to be, given their talent level. That said, they are not an AHL team. Their record is 34-33-5, so they've won 34 of the 72 NHL games they've played this season. Last season, their record was 42-33-7, so they won 42 of the 82 NHL games they played. There is not, and never will be, an AHL team that could do that. So I am denying that the Sabres are an AHL team and using the data available to make that denial. I assume your comments were hyperbole.... None of this means I'm happy with the state of the Sabres, but I'm just trying to bring a dose of reality to the conversation.

In the future, I could see Thompson being a 50 goal scorer. He was pretty close last season. I could even see UPL winning a Vezina. The one I obviously care about the most is "Stanley Cup Champion." For various reasons, all of these guys needed to be moved, so no sense looking backwards. What the team needs to do is fix the underlying issues so that the current crop of star players isn't also needing to be moved within the next couple of years. The team is good enough right now to keep the core in place going into next season (meaning they're closer to the playoffs than the best lottery odds), but if next season is yet again another playoff-less experience, guys will start wanting out. It's critical that they get it right. Many on this board want Granato and staff gone now. I'm OK with giving Granato until Thanksgiving, although he MUST bring in some help to coach the power play. The defense, goaltending, and penalty kill are much improved from last season and the first half of this season, but goal scoring was down. I'd like to see if they can put it all together next season. I don't know if it will happen, but they've committed to a path with this group and I'm OK with giving it one more chance to see it through. Of course, this is easy for me to say, because I don't live in Buffalo anymore, so I have not committed thousands of dollars to season tickets. My $11 per month to ESPN+ isn't breaking the bank.

I agree that Levi and Johnson can contribute at the NHL level next season (based on the fact that they already have and are playing well in Rochester). Beyond that, I don't think that Rosen, Kulich, Savoie (in juniors) or anyone else in the pipeline will be ready to make a major contribution, displacing a JAG veteran player, next season. With UPL playing well, the addition of Byrum, and the improvement of Bryson and Jokiharju, those 2 guys will be nice to have, but won't necessarily move the needle. The team needs forwards who can add more to the mix in '24-'25 than what the team currently has. I just don't see it in the pipeline.

I share the OP's concern. From the limited NHL action we've seen from these guys, as well as their AHL stats, I'm not convinced that any of them are ready to step in at the NHL level next season and make much of an impact. They may all be great prospects that will have successful NHL careers, but I don't see any of them making the Sabres' roster better in 2024-25. Can any of these guys bring more to the roster NEXT SEASON than Olofsson, Skinner, Jost, or Girgensons? Longer-term, yes, but next season? If the Sabres are going to become a playoff team next season, some of those prospects need to be moved in exchange for veterans who CAN bring more than Olofsson, Skinner, Jost, etc.

At this point, I don't think you can blow it up and start over. I think they make some roster tweaks in the offseason and roll it back with Granato next season. Part with a prospect or 2 and bring in some physical, gritty forwards who finish their checks. They also MUST address the Power Play this offseason, the way they addressed the Penalty Kill last offseason. If the team isn't comfortably in playoff position by Thanksgiving, Granato has to go. I realize that's giving him more time than he may deserve, but 1) regardless of what I think, that's likely to happen; and 2) they've invested in this "process" for so long, it's best to let it play out. Outside of last night's debacle, they've had very good NHL-level goaltending since January 1. If they can have that for an entire season, they might be on to something. Something often neglected on this board - the team is not terrible. They are mediocre and inconsistent. They're hovering in the .500 range. They win a fair number of games. I think the disappointment comes in that they are playing below expectations. They are a young team and have dealt with a lot of injuries (Samuelsson, Power, Quinn, Thompson, Skinner, Cozens and others have all missed a lot of time this season), so it's a little more difficult to assess than a fully healthy team. Yes, all teams have injuries. Many teams are very young. The Sabres have had both going on at the same time - youth and injuries. So, bottom line, I'll be patient through about Thanksgiving, and if they haven't gotten in right by then, I will join the crowd demanding a coaching change. I'm not overly optimistic, but I am willing to allow a little more runway to let it play out. As a side note, I've seen on this board that Mittelstadt made some comments about how different the environment is in Colorado. I have not seen those and couldn't find them via a couple of Google searches. I'd be very interested to see what he said. Maybe it will alter my level of patience....

When I first saw this, I immediately thought of former Sabres defenseman "Richie" Dunn. I just looked Richie up and saw that he died in 2016 at the age of 59. I wasn't aware of this. RIP Richie. I looked up Emmett Walsh ("Dickie Dunn" in Slapshot) and I agree with you that he was an excellent supporting actor in many of my favorite films, so RIP to Emmett too.

Never seen such a thing

Another way to look at this: because of UPL's stellar play and him taking the crease, Comrie has been sitting on the bench for a long time and has seen very little game action. He's not mentally sharp and ready to jump in during meaningful games. Levi, on the other hand, has been playing a ton in Rochester and is playing well. He's in better "game shape" than Comrie right now, physically and mentally. I'm certainly not going to argue that Comrie is a great goalie or is more talented than Levi - he's not - but the way the rotation has developed, he's just not playing, so he's ice cold, and it's too risky to insert him into an extremely important game. He might be more "NHL-ready" than Levi if he were playing on a regular basis, but he's not. Levi played pretty well last night. I don't think the first goal would have been scored if UPL was in net - he's just a bigger, stronger guy, so his leg would not be so easily be pushed into the net. That said, Levi got the team into the final minutes having only given up 2 goals to one of the top teams in the league, so he did his job. Unfortunately, with only 17 shots on goal (or whatever it was), the Sabres offense did not do theirs.

Since you only saw the first period, you'll appreciate this highlight from the 3rd period. On Skinner's 3rd goal, Greenway made a great offensive play to retain the puck in traffic, then made a perfect, spinning, behind the back pass right on the tape to Skinner for the shot and goal. Check it out at 1:43 of this video: By the way, I agree with you about Greenway. An excellent acquisition and easily worth the 2nd round pick they sent to Minnesota to get him. He's not a superstar, but he positively impacts the game in so many ways.

The Sabres did some good things last night. After giving up a goal before the anthem signer was done, they responded right away to tie it up, then took the lead shortly after that. They played very well the rest of the first period. During the course of the game, they took a lot of shots at the net versus skating around and trying to make the perfect pass, and they created some traffic/crashed the net. Power's goal was the perfect example of one player taking a good shot at the net (whether it goes in or not) and the next guy crashing towards then net hard to get the rebound. They were just OK in the 2nd and not very good in the 3rd, but UPL stepped up, as he usually does these days, and preserved the lead. Did anyone else notice that Seattle looks like a very fast team? It seemed like their speed gave the Sabres some problems, but UPL stood tall and fended off the chances that their speed created. This was the type of game that, in the not so distant past, the Sabres would have blown a huge lead and lost in OT. With UPL standing tall, however, they cruised to an easy win. What a difference it makes to have great goaltending! One thing to add - I noticed that the Sabres cleared the front of the net much better than they have been and they kept guys away from UPL. I'm thinking that they've responded after doing this very poorly in the 1st Detroit game. (I didn't see the 2nd Detroit game, so I can't comment on that one).

I realize that we are arguing over semantics, but the fact that he's willing to drop the gloves and get under opponents' skin is exactly why I call him a scrapper. I never said that he's big, strong, or instilling fear in anyone. He's not an enforcer or even a fighter per se, but he's willing to stick his nose in there, which is more than a lot of other guys on the team. Power is not a scrapper, but he's a really young player that needs to learn how to use his size. I'd compare him to Tuch, who is a larger-sized skill player who also is not a fighter - but Tuch will drop the gloves on a rare occasion where it is warranted and/or mix it up and give it back to an opponent when necessary. The bottom line is that SOMEONE, ANYONE, needed to send a message to the Detroit player and nobody did.

What surprises me about all of this is Krebs. He's not a big dude, but he's a scrapper that's willing to drop the gloves and get physical when he needs to. He was right there in the mix, but was simply talking/complaining about it, instead of going after the Wings player. I agree that the Wings were trying to stir things up in the 3rd period and I'm OK with the Sabres not taking the bait. The last thing the Sabres need is to get a player injured or suspended for a worthless fight in a game that they've already won. Still, they should have responded to the running of the goalie the 2nd time. The first time you could write off as an accident (even though you should still respond), but not the 2nd time. In the infamous words of former President George W. Bush, "fool me once, shame on...shame on you. Fool me...you can't get fooled again." I'd like to think that when the team watches the film from Tuesday's game, this will be addressed, and if Detroit tries to run the goalie again on Saturday (or the Islanders tonight, for that matter), it will be handled properly.

I agree that the Sabres should have responded, certainly to the 2nd one. They had a huge lead, so even if they had been penalized, it would have been well worth it to send the message. Maybe this will be called out when they watch the film and someone will take care of business on Saturday. Of course, an untimely penalty on Saturday could cost them the game, whereas, with the huge lead last night, the timing would have been ideal....

If the Sabres can sweep their 3 games this week against Eastern Conference teams they are chasing, they're right back in the race. All 3 games are "4-point" games. So far, they're 1 for 1, so 2 to go. The game against the Isles tomorrow night is of great importance, so I guess that would mean there's pressure. Right now, the Sabres are getting great goaltending, their defense is better than it's been in the past, and the puck is finally starting to go in the net. They have some confidence. I think they have more overall talent than the Isles and Red Wings, so let's see what they can come up with.

The guy is leading the team in goals and consistently puts up 20-40 goals per year when playing a regular shift. He's aggressive - shooting the puck and crashing the net for rebounds. He also passes the puck to teammates regularly. He plays with a bit of an edge and gets under opponents' skin. Does he have deficiencies? Sure. Is he overpaid? Certainly. Does he deserve to be benched or bought out? I don't think so. If they could trade him and 2/3 of his salary, that might be a win for the Sabres, but that isn't going to happen, so I prefer the Sabres use him for what he's good at. He's better at doing those things than just about anyone else on the roster.

I saw the news on this today, so I went back and watched the video. Seconds after dropping to the ice as if he'd been hit in the jaw by a young Mike Tyson and curling up into the fetal position, he got up, skated into the fray and jumped on someone's back, putting them in a headlock from behind (I think it was Okoposo). Clearly he was not injured.

This statistic is telling. I really do think that Adams has the Sabres poised to be a powerhouse in the future, in theory, but I'm not sure the fans can wait that long, or if the year-after-year of failing to make the playoffs will result in players losing interest and/or wanting to be traded. See Reinhart, Sam.

Former Buffalo Bill Carl Byrum cannot be left off this list - https://www.nfl.com/players/carl-byrum/ , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Byrum

I do now. And obviously I didn't earlier, or I wouldn't have spelled it the way I did in my post - TWICE! Thanks to the Edit button, it has been fixed, but my error will live in infamy in your quoted post. I must have been subliminally thinking about former Buffalo Bills running back Carl Byrum: - https://www.nfl.com/players/carl-byrum/ I also spelled Jokiharju wrong and that has been fixed too. I guess I need to be more focused on the details rather than trying to follow and comment on all the crazy Bills and Sabres news all day while trying to work!

Do Kulich, Rosen, or Rousek fight their way into this mix? I think that Östlund is too far off. Anyone else in the mix in Roch that I'm not considering?

I think he's looking more long-term. There are lots of young, talented forwards in the pipeline. There isn't room on the roster for all of them and you can't pay them all. Thus, long-term, you add a top-flight defenseman and open up a spot for a talented young forward in the pipeline. I just don't think any forwards in the pipeline are ready to make a major contribution this season or next. I hope I'm wrong. Also, I believe they are looking at the long-term salary cap implications of signing Mittlestadt to a new contract at his present value and how that might hamstring the team in the future (as I stated above, you can't pay them all). Note that my comments here are just my assessment of what I believe KA is thinking. I'm not a fan of the trade.

Must be nice to be a young professional athlete.....

For those who wanted Adams to make a high-profile move, you got your wish. I'm not a big fan of trade, given that Byram's skillset seems to be similar to what the team already has. Dahlin and Power are both talented "puck moving" defensemen, and Ryan Johnson and Jokiharju also skate well with the puck. The team really needs a physical presence on the blue line. Clifton plays physical, but is small and not highly skilled. On the offensive side, Mittlestadt has been one of the team's few forwards who was strong along the boards and gave maximum effort all the time, while also displaying a high level of skill. Do any of the many young forwards in the pipeline play that style? I know there's skill, but is there the grit and determination along the boards, which this team sorely needs? I can only think that Mittlestadt's representation were in discussions with Adams about an extension and they were not seeing eye-to-eye. Rather than having a disgruntled player and bad PR, Adams made a move. If Byram can stay healthy, the value is there. He's a high draft pick with NHL experience, has shown high-end ability, and is still young. I just don't see it as a fit for the Sabres' needs.