Dr. Who

Granted personal decisions have many idiosyncratic factors that come into play that cannot be discerned by a stranger, it would be close to inexplicable to me that a young defenseman would look at the Sabres and pass. They are primed to ascend and need D. Perfect opportunity looking from the outside.

I expect Dahlin to continue to be the force he has grown into. I think it highly likely Power is going to be an equally dominant D with a different skill set. He is already surprisingly good for his age and he has yet to fully mature physically or in his grasp of the game. I worry about Samuelsson's penchant for injury, but he is a solid top 4D and the Sabres win a lot when he is available. The Sabres are flush with young forward talent. Their new goalie has shown consistent collegiate success at a superlative level, aptitude in a very small professional sample, and rare intensity. I think it's harder to fail than prosper when those are your building blocks. The players that are dropping off or likely to be let go are not difficult to replace. They do need a more responsible defensive system, or even a semblance of one, yes, I agree there. They do wilt in exasperating fashion, but I think it much more probable than not that the young core is going to mature into a very good team. They need to prioritize adding a solid veteran top 4D and a good veteran goalie to pair with Levi. There are other necessary roster additions, but none of them are daunting or even particularly difficult. I'll be disappointed if KA is not active this offseason to address all that. If next year at this time we are not looking at a playoff team with potential, I will join you in singing a dirge, but not today.

Aside from the cheap opportunity for mirth, there is some interest or mild anxiety because he could walk and become a free agent. Folks don't like the look of yet another college draft pick spurning the team. You'd get a second round comp pick if he did, but that is still a depreciation of a first round choice. I think he has a pretty high floor and would contribute to the d depth. I am not certain he would need a full year at Rochester. Playing out his NCAA career is a reasonable amount of development. He's not a 17 year old kid. Still need to draft the position early and add some veteran D. I think they need to bring in a top 4D in the offseason. Losing out on Johnson hurts the aggregation of talent at a position of need.

I really wanted William von Barnekow to make it just so I could buy his jersey.

I was picking 14th in one of those mock draft simulators last night. Grabbed Reinbacher who was ranked 20th in their system. Seems overly optimistic a result, but perhaps not outside the possible.

This thread is incorrigible. Fella needs to sign so there can be a champagne celebration.

Rosen, VO, draft picks.

I don't think he is untradeable, but I would be reluctant to do it. Just because a player falls outside of the untouchable category doesn't mean one must use them as a part to get other parts you don't have. It would be different if the cupboard was otherwise bare and necessity compelled one. That isn't the case here. There are abundant resources for KA to acquire what is deficient in the roster.

I'm not going to spend time looking over your past posting history. You've been here long enough to accrue nearly five thousand, so I assume you are sometimes more congenial. The few times I've noticed you I've actually wondered if you have troll DNA. Mittlestadt has become an ideal glue guy. He's a great story, too.

I don't know what the coach was thinking. I don't infer from his absence in the first ten seconds of OT that the coach has a negative view of Johnson. And I sure as hell don't think it means Johnson is an AHL tweener, but if that's your take, good for you. We'll see how accurate it turns out.

You seem to take perverse pleasure in telling folks the Sabres have no chance to make the playoffs which is virtually, if not mathematically, true. Here, you appear to enjoy implying that folks ought to conclude from the fact that Johnson wasn't on the ice for the start of OT what? That his coach doesn't have confidence in him? Maybe no one thought it was likely the game would end ten seconds into the extra period. "But we will pretend it was an accident." Snide and nasty. You properly inhabit your screen name.

They need to sign Johnson and bring in two quality veteran D. Hopefully one of them is top 4D.

Pretty sure that is limited to the female half of the species.

We're going to wear them out taking all their punches.

Think he's going to stick with 27? Not that I'm planning on buying a sweater tonight . . .

Echo that.

That would be shortsighted.

I'm so confused, five minutes ago we were supposed to admit our mistakes and move on.

It is a really beautiful city.

Ivan Provorov sold a lot of jerseys when he sat out in protest. Maybe this is a secret ploy to sell Boosh merchandise. On a serious note, I prefer sports free of ideological divisiveness, except for the Olympics when nationalism is an intrinsic part of the competition. But that is not a realistic option. The political is swallowing the private whole for the most part and even arguing for the private at all is suspect in some quarters.

It's almost like they were only playing to induce Levi to sign and once that was accomplished the coach turned into a pumpkin.

I honestly think this is pretty obvious. If I turn out wrong, I apologize in advance, but it seems to me the Sabres are an ideal landing spot for an ambitious, smart young goalie prospect which describes Devon Levi to a T.

It's been years since I visited, but my cousin used to live in Nashville. It's a fun place with a nice music scene if you're interested in that. I like the neo-classical vibe, though I suppose some might find it somewhat pretentious pastiche.

The Atlanta Flames were a likeable team. They had a fan base of mostly transplants. The Thrashers were a disaster. There's minimal natural interest in Atlanta for hockey. I can't imagine trying a third time there.

Yep, so some plausibility. The story on hockeybuzz is he gets in trouble for passing on information and disappears for long stretches. Then he swoops in with a flash message when he has news and thinks its safe. Guess we'll see.