RochesterExpat

What’s Gallant up to?

Considering our home vs away records, maybe we should only sell tickets to non-Buffalo fans?

I don't understand why he's still with the team if he's not playing. He should be in Rochester. Unless we're going to run 11-7 again tomorrow, but I don't see that as beneficial either. This is beginning to look like poor roster management.

I can’t imagine he can slot in the week he signs. He’ll need some kind of ramp up given the length of time he’s been out.

Jokes on you. I have countless hours in Microsoft Flight Simulator as a PIC.

I think he was saying that Mitts set so many of his teammates up, how many times does he need to do it before one of them can bury it? I read it as a positive for Mitts and a negative for his line mates.

Big Johnson hasn’t been bad but his age is showing. I think you can run a Johnson & Johnson rotation to the benefit of both. Also does this mean we can waive Bryson finally?

Agree with everything but want to add that Joki has been a reliable player this season and it’s made a difference. Nice step forward for him.

Did Savoie even get five minutes on the ice tonight? Also that was one of the worst officiated games I’ve ever seen.

As a coach of an 8U team, it's possible he had to go "potty." Happens all the time. Realistically, does anyone know what happened to him? His season has been unusual to say the least.

He's been a pleasant surprise this season.

UPL misplayed that horribly.

If you had this on your bingo card for the season you are cheating and no one believes you.

The VO comparison is simply because they both have absurd shots and are "incomplete" players. It's not because Kulich doesn't forecheck and Kulich is far more defensively responsible than VO. It's not really a a good comparison but it's good enough to make the point that Kulich isn't ready for the NHL using a player from recent memory. If we want to name a former Sabres player that's probably more similar to Kulich than VO is, it's probably Afinogenov, but I'm worried saying that is going to invoke rose-tinted glasses of the past and will open a can of worms from people who want to remember only the good times. Afinogenov was a frustrating player to watch. When Afinogenov wanted to dominate a game he could. He absolutely could. He had the wheels and the positional sense of where to find holes in the defense. He could play responsibly in the defensive end and his forechecking was unreal for a player of his size in the era during which he played. He had all the pieces (except maybe stickhandling) but he never found the consistency to do everything all the time. He never managed to put everything together. He will forever be in Hall of What Could Have Been. It's not a perfect comparison either for people who are going to start nitpicking. Afinogenov took stupid penalties and fumbled the puck a lot. Kulich does neither. I don't expect Kulich to be looking to scrum after every play and Kulich at least knows how to stickhandle. But the comparison is true in the following: - Inconsistent/immature play. Flashes of absolute absurd glory and then whole stretches of "was he even on the ice?" - A lot of "unilateral" playing where he does too much on his own. Kulich absolutely does this. When he wants to score, he does some flashy stuff to get to the net. It's not always the right move and anyone who watched the Sabres 20 years ago has to remember "Afinogenov doing Afinogenov things" - Capable backchecker when he wants to be, but a lot of times Afinogenov would play too hard in the offensive zone and then disappear when the puck transitioned into the Sabres end because his in-game pace was imbalanced and he was running on empty - Afinogenov never learned to balance himself in an "80% league" and was prone to very streaky behavior I think Afinogenov was a difficult player to coach which is why he never took that next step. I don't think that's true for Kulich whatsoever and I think the Sabres development and coaching staff both see an opportunity for a superstar. It's better that he eats minutes in Rochester and works on his consistency than it is for him to be given sheltered minutes with Buffalo. I expect him to be in Buffalo before the end of the season because I believe he is a coachable player and working to improve--and everything he needs to fix is fixable. I just don't want another Afinogenov if we can get a Jason Pominville instead.

The Man doesn’t want you to know that the wins are free if you just take them.

Just going to call him Johnny since the nickname he prefers to go by is a fake “Swedish” pronunciation of it (“Yawnee”).

100% agree with this. The other issue I've noticed Kulich is his pace of play. He isn't consistent and that's common for his age. It's also weirdly something I've noticed more with European imports. He's already shown improvement over last season and he certainly improved during the course of his rookie year, but he still needs to mature in that regard. It's better for him in the long-term to play more minutes in Rochester than to play 9-12 minutes in a handful of games in the NHL as an injury call up. The pace of play impacts his complete game development as well.

The issue is we need D-players with his style of play. They're also prone to injury. That contract may have been one of the smartest moves by KA since the buyout is so cheap. Way better than trying to add a 29 year old injury-prone vet to fill the role.

I'd rather KO sit than Jost right now. On second thought, I'd rather it be Krebs. I suspect the lines will be: Greenway - Thompson - Biro Skinner - Mitts - JJP Rousek - Cozens - Tuch Girgs - Krebs - Okposo That's three solid lines and the fourth line that is going to continue to be a liability instead of a strength. I think Jost with Girgs and Okposo passes the eye test better than Krebs with Girgs and KO--and the fancy stats agree.

I'll make a bet, but I'd rather be allowed to choose a non-local charity to donate to since I am not a Buffalo native nor resident. I'll bet $50 he doesn't hit 34 games this season (one more than he played last season). I'll then make a $25 bet that, assuming he plays at least 10 games, his 23-24 season SV% is under .905 (league average) and a second $25 bet that his GAA is above 3.0. Makes it a little more fun than a straight up $100 bet.

Isn't he waivers exempt for only a handful more games? They'd need to make a decision relatively soon.

Existence is pain.

Cooley might be an improvement over UPL and I don’t mean that sarcastically.

This is a commanding performance

It’s a problem if I feel relieved the PP is over.