New Guy

Good thread; I'll include both ends of the spectrum for my post: + Eichel's production speaks for itself. He has a great linemate in Skinner that I hope wants to be a part of the solution here, and I do have a hunch he will definitely want to stay. Reinhart has been great - good enough to manage his own line, which is even more maddening why he remains on the first line and makes our roster that much top-heavier than it already is. As for the forward depth , I'm really only optimistic with Rodrigues and Mittelstadt (ignoring Rochester for now). If Mittelstadt doesn't improve greatly by the time he can legally drink, I'll be concerned, but for now, he's just in a role he's not quite ready to handle...more on that in my negatives. We're lucky to get Dahlin, and he's going to be my first Sabres jersey (I'll wait until the 50th anniversary in case we may want to go back to Royal Blue - which I hope). I despised what JBot did in the ROR trade, but the small sample size of Montour's play shows more than enough to stay satisfied. Pilut played well initially, but once he bulks up and plays more confidently, his style of play will fit us very well in future years. McCabe did his role well, too. 28 and 22 play well in PK and shutting down both the opposing offense as well as our own since they give next to nothing in terms of scoring. - As for the (lack of depth), it's disappointing. Okposo has stepped up as of late and I don't mind him staying with us in the short term future, but I can't be the only one that was somewhat hoping he'd consider stepping away from the game for his own personal health (and the elephant in the room that is his contract). Sheary has some really good games, but his ugly games are among the worst and makes me want him nothing higher than the third line most nights...small and gets walled way too much. If this is Pominville's last year with us, I thank him for all the memories and look forward to improvement at the position. We preach patience in development for the guys in Rochester while feeding Mittelstadt and Thompson through trial by fire. When Tage's shot is (*was) on, it's encouraging, but more often than not recently he looks like the worst player on ice in terms of overall awareness and the way he - unsuccessfully - tries to use his teammates. We may as well stick him with 28 and 22 like last game since his size and stick are decent for forechecking and defense and him producing any sort of goal will be striking gold. I was really confused why Beaulieu never saw playing time, but then again I thought what do I know? I felt the same way about Casey Nelson. And then the metrics for last game came out and showed him with an overwhelmingly strong game and it makes me wonder if it falls on the coaching staff or whoever is in charge of analytics, and how accurate they really are. Scandella...Odds are we're keeping him and hoping for improvement and a return to form of the prior year. As for Risto...I wonder if his staggering +/- and all the **** he's put up with since being with us has taken a toll on him. We've had him for over a few hundred games and we see the same mistakes and inconsistency; the only times he seems confident and steady are when he's driving the puck forward into the offensive zone. Maybe a fresh start with a winning organization (that can trade us much-needed forward help) could be best for both parties. Goaltending was on fire early on and has been just as much of a dumpster fire since this new year (Sub 900 according to the Yost thread!?). Hutton and Ullmark can make a great save game-to-game, but it's the routine saves that should be made that end up going through and driving us nuts. If Ullmark can't establish himself as a starter by next year, it'll be trouble and quite a little while before UPL would be ready for the NHL. --- As for coaching, I don't know what else needs to be said than what already hasn't by the well-articulated and educated folks around here and all the stat-trackers on Twitter. Firing Phil would be warranted and a little bit of a relief, but it won't be a good look for our organization letting go of yet another guy so quickly while the roster is notably not good enough to compete, especially in the Atlantic. On the other hand, if we do keep him and preach patience and continuity, it may be X days/months too late. His leash will be short and if improvements aren't made next season will be flushed down the drain as well, and it'll only take more of a toll on our own drafted guys that haven't seen success here 9/23/55/19 etc.

Buffalo 41, Oilers 38. Andre Reed with a hat trick.

Phil with a vintage Dick Jauron quote..."It's hard to win in this league." I could say more, but will leave it at that.

Regardless of how this season plays out, I'm confident that Skinner wants to be a part of the long term solution here with how he plays his heart out and celebrates his teammates' goals among other things. Montour was great, otherwise our defensive coverage everywhere throughout the game was an abomination. I'm glad the PP has been improving and that our main stars looked great tonight. Also, shoutout to whipping boys 21 and 43 for playing as good as they have all year!

I knew we gave up a lot of shots but 20? Gahdamn. This team can look completely different period-to-period, so I'll stay wary. Also, lol @ Risto's 4v4 decision to skate into the crowd. I'm warming up to the idea of using him as a potential trade chip for a Center.

Well at least this game is at home, where our record isn't a total joke.

X-37-23 was a good second line back when we won one out of every two games about a week ago...

The last part about Sobotka and Scandella was the best part of all this. Otherwise...Okposo promoted to line 2 aside Sheary? Gag me. Let's go ahead and put Sam on the top line to further weaken our depth, too.

I never want to see Sheary on one of the top two lines ever again

I don't get why tf Sam isn't with line 2

Duh-LEAN and REESTO-lay-nen ugh

/--------------------------Tage's shots tonight--------------\ / \ -----------------/ The broad side of the barn \________________

Could our third line look any more sluggish on paper or ice?

Will you guys anticipate/want Hutton back in net again? He's obviously been great the last two games and his stats against Toronto are good

LHD-RHD 26-62 What lovely symmetry we shall see

We've seen this team play this well in spurts throughout the season even after the streak - we know what they can be capable of doing. Figures we lose three straight to bottom feeders in the division and then give cup contenders a run for their money; I'd love to see the ever-so-elusive 2 game win streak end against the Leafs of all teams. All of our star players looked excellent, Wilson meshed very well with 28/22, and 82 over 6 has been a drastic improvement. I really wasn't sure why he was in the doghouse for so long. Glad that Skinner is okay and suddenly came out to skate in the third. Here's to more consistency in effort for the ROS.

(Been lurking on the HF and this board for a while now, bit the bullet and joined) Mittelstadt looked good last game returning back from a brief injury; why the **** did Phil isolate him and make us a one-line team with Reinhart back up there? At least the lines look appropriate today...but we suck vs Florida teams especially on the road, so this could get ugly if Barkov's line outplays 9's again