JohnC

I agree with you that the bridge deal approach is the better approach to take. When it comes to evaluating goalies, it is best to be humble with one's early assessments. One year the goalies can look like the second coming of Hasek, and the next year the goalie can fall back into being an indistinguishable mediocre goalie. What's encouraging about the position is that there will be internal competition with Levi in the system.

It's a challenging balancing act between seeing what the young prospects are capable of and getting your veterans ready. As it turned out, Benson earned the roster spot he got. It also became apparent that Savoie wasn't quite ready for the higher league. Will Kulich be ready for the NHL next year? I'm not sure. How many additional players will be brought in from the market or trades next year? Maybe a couple? In my opinion, we desperately need another younger Okposo type of player added to the roster. It seems to me that this roster is mostly set with a couple of additions coming from the outside. A couple of Greenway and Clifton type players would be good additions.

Compared to last year, the additions of Clifton, Ryan and Eric Johnson have substantially upgraded the unit from the previous year. I'm not sure if Eric wants to play another year or not? I would like to see another Clifton caliber of player added to the unit. It took Clifton a little time to get comfortable but now he is a solid defenseman. The player who has surprised me the most with his play is Ryan Johnson. I didn't think he would be this good so soon. We need to add a younger Okposo type player to the roster. A rugged player who can score at a moderate level.

Just a few thoughts on this game: I'm not going to get carried away overinterpreting this win. But the major takeaway is the big difference between a team that gets good goaltending and a team that doesn't get it. LA's goalies were atrocious. Half of our goals should have been routine stops. We didn't overwhelm their goalies with barrage of shots. What we did is get our shots on net while their goalies whiffed on them. Greenway's goals should have been routine stops. What I noticed on both ends of the ice is a greater effort to have net presence. And that net presence on both ends is what distinguishes this game from many of our games. The Okposo tip and even the Benson nifty twirling goal resulted in scores because they were around the net. On defense, we had plenty of coverage around our goalie that resulted in a quick clear when the puck was hovering around the net after a stop. What's noticeable about UPL's recent stellar play is that he is not allowing many juicy rebounds. And what's also noticeable is that he is using his size to play big without much wasted motion. There is a calmness to his game brought on by his confidence. If we end up finding our #1 goalie in this disappointing season it will be a plus. (I still believe that eventually Levi is going to be our #1 goalie or at the minimum our rotational goalie.) I thought our defensive unit played well. The more I see Ryan Johnson, the more I am impressed. Eric Johnson is a stabilizing player on the blue line. It would be foolish to deal him off at the trade deadline. Greenway would have had a good game even if he wouldn't have scored. He's not flashy but he is a strong player on a team that needed such a physical presence. The Greenway and Clifton additions were solid additions to this team. They weren't exciting additions but good additions that bulked up the roster. We need a couple more of those types of additions in the offseason. It would be a big mistake not to re-sign Mitts. He's good, gritty and versatile. This team needs to go on a winning streak even if it doesn't result in a playoff spot. The players have to believe that they can win so that the malaise of persistent failure doesn't contaminate their attitude towards being here. How many players wanted out because they got tired of losing and watching the playoffs on TV each year? This was a good game with good effort all the way through. The next game should be a better measuring stick game. He can have a role as a utility player who is brought up when needed. I agree with you that he played well in this game.

The issue I was focusing on was the grid that serves Texas is not part of the national grid. So when something damages the grid, such as a storm etc., it doesn't have the ability to have electricity rerouted to them from another grid, at least on a temporary basis until their grid is repaired. It is during that period when the costs go exponentially higher because of the normal supply is out of service.

The Sabres outplayed Dallas. On offense, we were dominating the play. The difference in this game was the opposition's goalie. Our goalie was very good while their goalie was exceptional. We had our opportunities but missed on our shots. My major complaint with this team and its makeup is that it is not able to have enough net presence on the offense. Dallas didn't have the quantity of chances but because of their presence around the net it resulted in at least one score. I thought Cozens is starting to regain his game. Dahlin was superb but missed on his shots. Overall, I thought the Sabres played well. We lost to a quality opponent that required exceptional netminding to beat us. The loss was frustrating but that's hockey.

@Pimlach boos you and me for our similar responses. This is what happens when there is an over population of curmudgeons in one location.

Never say never! With this team the never keeps coming up again, and again!😂

Within this WGR link is coach DG doing his weekly segment. It is approximately 13 minutes long. He talked about the injury to Samuelsson and Quinn. At a little past the halfway point he gave an explanation of his thinking when assembling the lines. He gave an explanation of why he split Tuch and Tage. He wanted to create multiple lines so the other teams matchups are more favorable against our other lines. https://www.audacy.com/wgr550/authors/jeremy-and-joe-show

Why do you say that he is a head case? He's a young guy who sees some of his draft compatriots in the big league while he is not. Are you surprised that a young guy is impatient or a has an attitude of entitlement? I'm not. Welcome into the world of young pro athletes. Right now, our prospect pipeline has an excessive number of smallish forwards, some of which won't get an opportunity to play with the big club. Acquiring a player such as this high-end defensive prospect would better balance out our prospect pool. I'm not precluding any other deals to improve this roster. Last offseason, the GM acquired Clfiton from the free agent market for a reasonable contract. So, there are a number of ways to bring in plays. My primary point in a previous post is that when you have assets, some of which won't be used, then parlay them into a more useful asset.

I wouldn't be as hesitant to give up the extra asset for the defenseman who is a high-end prospect who is a defenseman. The Sabres have a number of quality prospects who play similar positions and roles. It's more than likely that some of them won't be able to crack the NHL roster. If you have an asset that most likely can't be used, then why not use it as a chip in a deal that will in the not-too-distant future help to create an impressive blue line. The issue isn't so much whether we would want Jiricek, because we would. The issue is can we make the offer enticing enough if he is marketed to beat the other appealing offers that would be made.

Your criticisms are valid about the lack of options to turn to when injuries happen. My point is simple: You go with what you got. If VO is our best option, then so be it.

I'm not worried about last season. In order to get the best out of Mitts he needs to play with wingers who can shoot. I'm not over-evaluating VO and try to make him out to be something he is not. But at least this year (when he plays) there is an effort to check and play a tighter game compared to his previous seasons. When injuries happen you go down your list to come up with an acceptable option that is available.

How about Savoie, Rosen and this year's first for Jiricek?

Even if the front office prefers to keep Kulich in the AHL, I just think that there are better options for the first line. I would rather re-assemble the first line with Tage in between Tuch and Skinner, and move Mitts onto the second line as either a center or winger with JJ and Cozens. It just seems to me that with Okposo on the first line you are suppressing the offense and I'm not sure that he could keep up with his line-mates. Injuries are part of the game. However, the Quinn injury seems to have reverberated throughout all the lines.

Over the past 16 games the Sabres are 9-6-1. They were on a 98 pt. pace. The problem is that they still lost ground to the teams in front of them. The all-star break came at a good time. I needed it to get recharged. I'm glad they will be back in action tomorrow.

Okposo on the first line make little sense to me. I would move Tuch back up to the first line and put Olofsson on the Mitts line. At this stage in his career, Okposo is a fourth liner. The Quinn injury had ramifications for all the lines. It was a consequential loss.

Does anyone know what the nature of his injury is? I'm aware that it's reported as an upper body injury. Is it likely to be a shoulder issue?

I don't want to over examine this PP issue because it can end up as a futile back and forth. Even within a structure set by the coaching staff, it is not a static event on the ice. Players have the ability to move to the open areas and have the ability to move the puck more quickly. Teams have various strategies on the PP and PK. It isn't so much about outsmarting the opposition because there is a fundamental aspect/strategy to playing on the special teams that all teams follow to a certain extent. The persistent problem I see on the PP, and in the game in general, is our inability to have a net presence that can to a degree obstruct the goalie. If there is one identifiable problem that needs to be addressed revolves around having more net presence. The two players who do it the best on this team (my opinion) are Greenway and Benson. Benson is arguably the least imposing player on the team, yet he provides as much net presence than most of the bigger and stronger players on the roster. That's not acceptable!

We are in general accord regarding the assessment of the team and franchise. However, with respect to DG having run out of runway for his stewardship, my response is: I'm not sure???? With respect to Adams and his approach, I don't expect major changes. But because he has so many prospects in the system and draft assets, he needs to judiciously use them to improve the team. A couple to few astute moves can make a big difference.

We are in agreement that our PP can be better. In this season, our paltry production has been the difference between being in the middle of a genuine playoff pursuit as opposed to being in a deep hole that needs extra effort just to get out of. I agree with you that it's unreasonable to expect to match the sterling PP percentage that we had in our end of season run. However, if we could have gotten it to an average plus level this year, our perception of the season would be dramatically different. Is coaching the underpinning problem for this PP unit? I'm not sure? The players need to make the adjustment to get this unit back on track. I hold them mostly responsible for the struggles.

The main reason why there was such a high expectation entering this season was that a number of our core, including Tage, Cozens, Tuch, Skinner etc. had exceptional scoring seasons last year. And on top of that, our PP was productive. Neither of these two elements have happened this year, at least so far. What is the reason for this decline? I believe that injuries and other teams adjusting to our strengths resulted in a noticeable decline. I am on the side of the table that argues to stay the course and don't overreact to what has happened this year. It should be remembered that the Sabres earned 91 points last year compared to the previous year's 75 points. The trajectory was clearly pointing in an upward direction. Although the Sabres are in a tough position entering the second half of the season, I haven't given up hope for a playoff run. In my opinion the last thing this franchise needs is to lose its nerve on the course it has set. If the front office panics to the point of changing course and significantly altering the roster, it would in my opinion set this franchise back, again! Just because I'm mostly arguing to "stay the course" doesn't mean that it should stand pat and not make some tweaks to the roster this offseason. I realize I'm more upbeat than most about this team and that I'm very much in the minority here.

I don't understand where you are coming from. He gave an opinion based on his medical experience. Although he doesn't have any inside knowledge about this particular case, his conjecturing about the injury and timeline based on his experience is consistent with the information that is coming out. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this mostly an opinion forum?

How can anyone who read @Wyldnwoody44's knowledgeable professional response to Quinn's injury and the rehab timetable not appreciate his contribution on this particular topic? He informed us on the nature of the injury and the usual timetable to get back to form. What was the purpose of your sarcastic response to his educated comment on this issue? My response to @Wyldnwoody44 is thank you for your contribution. I now know more about Quinn's injury and likely/unlikely return because of your post.

I consider Mitts to be a valuable core player for this team, now and in the future. His value to the Sabres is enhanced by his versatility. He can play wing or center on any of the three top lines. Look what happened when Tage was hurt last year and was struggling. The coach moved Mitts up to the first line resulting in it playing as well, if not better, when Tage was healthy. If I could get a top 4 defenseman for Mitts in a trade, I would still be dead set against such a deal. I would rather go out and get a Clifton caliber defenseman (who is playing well after an adjustment period) from the market and retain Mitts. When you are building a team the smart approach is to add talent, not subtract it.