Digger

Yes I agree that goal is our weak point. I'm happy to give Comrie a chance and hope he plays well immediately. My gut feel worry about the current tandem of Comrie / Anderson is health. Anderson can't handle a big workload and that's been acknowledged on all levels. If Comrie goes down with the extra playing time then it's down to UPL and pretty weak from there (Subban?). Maybe that's negative thinking but our depth in goal remains weak.

Yes, I agree with you from what I saw in pre-season but I trust that Granato will switch up this line if it's not working with Cozens, JJ and Krebs. There are options to switch up the trio with Hinostroza, Asplund, Okposo. I doubt his lines are firmly set right now.

Don't worry, Malcolm Subban will be ready for the opening night anthem.

https://www.nhl.com/news/ottawa-senators-cam-talbot-injury-status/c-336015094 Talbot is out of their lineup for 5-7 weeks.

It's really felt like a lull to me this year in waiting for the season to start. There was lots of anticipation with the rookie tournament and then the first pre-season games. Now the lineup is pretty close to what we expected in the summer. Peterka and Krebs both left me wanting more from them so far. I have no problem being patient with both. Perhaps with our full lineup in place they will get a bit more space to showcase their talents. Thursday can't come soon enough and I do believe they will have a strong start this year.

I thought the first dog was going to RJ and that's why they named him Rick. Kind of like the gold watch retirement thing. 😏

At the end of the day teams all pretty much run into injuries where the 13F and 7, 8D and 3rd G end up playing. This year looks good that we seem to have some depth. Other than Bjork, I hope that we don't lose anyone on waivers. I'm hoping that we start the year healthy and start really strong.

https://www.nhl.com/jets/news/honouring-a-legend-the-unveiling-of-dale-hawerchuks-statue/c-335974856 Winnipeg Jets honor Dale Hawerchuk with a memorial statue.

Robertson is a restricted free agent. I imagine that he will eventually sign with Dallas if they don't get a trade proposal that they love. The Sabres could most likely get him if they wanted to but some of the proposals are Tim Murray worthy (no thanks, let's wait for this season).

Why don't you think he can play wing? We've always been told that young centers have an easier time breaking into the NHL at wing and then transitioning to center when their defensive game improves.

So which one is it? I kind of assumed you meant center for the first post but many were saying he can't play wing?

Do you know if he'll get the whole game or split with Subban?

That's not what I said. My point when looking at the expected lineups this season is that many fans just take Girgensons, Asplund, Okposo and throw them together on a line. My point is that I think Granato will play Okposo with one of the young centers. It will be interesting.

So it's a trick question?..........................Zemgus Girgensons

A good list. Makes you think on some of them for sure.

He'll play this season but there seems to be some nice depth pushing for spots which is great. I had the feeling that he was better offensively than his stats indicate. In 73 games, 1 G, 9A, 10Pts.

I suspect Okposo will be playing with Cozens or Krebs or Mittelstadt depending who's at center on the 2nd and 3rd lines. That's not my choice but I do expect Granato to give him more than 4th line minutes and line-mates especially if he's named Captain.

Since you used the term "shakes out" this was the first image that came to my mind............Fragile, do not shake, handle with care. If Anderson and Comrie stay healthy then we'll be okay but I do have concerns about that.

But it's a trick question in my opinion (I pictured signing a deal with the devil) 😏. A perennial playoff team obviously wins more regular season games so is more enjoyable for the fans. But a perennial playoff team could lose in the first round every year or never win a playoff game. I agree that playoffs are obviously the first step but yearly improvement towards winning the Stanley Cup is the ultimate goal. So I'll change Pi's statement to: "build a perennial playoff team with year over year improvements ultimately with the Sabres winning the Stanley Cup".

I would say no. Obviously we need to get into the playoffs as a first step forward but it's hard to forget all the 1st round losses the Sabres have had over the years. It's still too soon for me to see a ceiling but we should be able to get to the playoffs this or next season.

Yes I agree that it's nice to see. He was a healthy scratch for some of the playoff games last season so I'm sure that got his attention.

The boys are really moving the puck nice and quick Kisakov

I agree with your point. But from what I've read Portillo has never said that he won't sign with the Sabres and certainly not because he is afraid of Levi as the favorite prospect. I would think that our current situation in goal is much less intimidating than when we had an established veteran in net like Hasek or Miller. We also don't see goalies playing 70 games anymore so there's room for 2 good goalies. Maybe Comrie will impress but we'll see.

Great post. When I was listening to Weber's interview today I was thinking about how authentic he is. My only complaint with these interviews are that it's difficult or impossible to hear the questions.

Rankings are generally aggravating to review as a Sabre fan. Personally I think there's always a bias toward the bigger market teams (Toronto, Montreal, Rangers, etc.). What's the ranking criteria and is it consistent and data driven or subjective to the writer's bias or hockey market bias? Start asking the question of "would you trade the lower ranked player for the higher ranked player 1 for 1"? I agree that sometimes a lower ranked player that you would not trade has not reached their ceiling yet and you may be holding on because of potential and overall value.