Ctaeth

I'm split between rooting for a loss or win at this point vs a western team that i dont care about. Ambivalence it is

I agree that keeping all 3 would likely make us a better team in a vacuum (if you're planning to pair Byram/Dahlin long term). But when you account for money, power play time, etc. I think it might become untenable. To me, it really all depends on what Byram is looking for both contract wise and play wise. We have OP running the second pp unit. If Byram wants a large-ish contract and more power play time, you just simply can't keep both him and Power. Either OP/Byram ought to go. Paying Byram like he is running the PP and is the alpha in the first pair (when he isnt - Dahlin clearly is IMO) would be a luxury. As for those other teams who have high scoring D... I have two responses. 1: are they paying all 3 defensemen 7+ million aav? because I wouldn't be surprised if Byram asks for 7 mill aav. you are then paying 3 defensemen a lot of money (and not all will be used on the pp). if byram's ask is in a more reasonable range, i'm open to keeping him as dahlin's partner (if this is indeed what dahlin wants) 2: who is really driving play there? with colorado and vegas, I'd argue it is their elite forwards (eichel, stone, mackinnon, rantanen, etc.) and their defense is benefitting pointwise from being paired with great forwards.

Need is a strong word, but it's not how a successful team is (usually) built. 1. Defensemen can play a lot more minutes. If you have 2 really solid guys, you can have ~50 minutes of the game with at least one of them in. 2. Defensemen don't score a ton of goals. If you put too much money into offensive defensemen, you're handicapping your offense by not paying another good forward AND your defense (because usually offensive defensemen aren't as good at defense!). 3. Powerplay time. 2 power play units. 3 players vying for 2 spots QBing the pp. Making matters more difficult in this specific case is that they are all LHD...

I've liked his game when I've seen him play. He's definitely not a passive player

Östlund 3 game point streak and points in 4 of last 5. Starting to pick it up since starting slow with one goal in his first however many games

I dislike how the narrative around the Bills win is that mark andrews more/less handed the Bills the win

Bills vs chiefs/refs Sunday @6:30

Will be at the game tonight. Wife bought tickets for me for xmas and I feel obligated to attend.

I'm down with this sentiment

Only 1 punt on the day vs one of the better defenses

Surprised they didn't kick the field goal there, would've made it a two possession game. Glad it worked out

This is not a bad team when we get secondary scoring. I choose the phrase "not bad" because I refuse to call a team that currently sits in last place in the conference "good". But I think with secondary scoring they can at least compete with anyone

Ayyyyyyy, quinn goals. Love to see it. Foot on the throttle boys, game is still early

that remains to be seen. who knows how good savoie is going to be in the nhl? Brett Murray leads the AHL in power play goals and I don't think he's going to be a great NHL player anytime soon. Savoie could be great and make the sabres' management look stupid (they probably are regardless), or he could never live up to the draft position and then the trade was a steal. I'm not going to criticize KA for trading away prospects for NHL players even if they turn out great. We have some many prospects that we currently don't have the capacity on the Sabres' roster to bring all of these young guys up. What?! Devin Cooley is an all-star?! Stop

seems like kind of a personal question

Even if they -by some miracle- get the points for making the playoffs this year, it would absolutely mean that they played well for part of a season. They have done that before and falsely given hope...resulting in little to no changes in the offseason. I don't believe it would significantly change how I view them in the macro... as an inconsistent team that doesn't -currently- have what it takes to succeed in the playoffs. IMO, regardless of how the rest of the season plays out.. they should be changing how they are operating. If they made a run, I would definitely be excited, but I've seen enough from this group to believe they don't have it -without some major changes-. It's probably a moot point anyway.

8th in the east is so far below expectation that all eastern teams are "in the hunt". I'd argue: who cares if they are in the hunt or not? If they somehow manage to miraculously make a run, it would be to 8th place and would still not show the improvement we expected and hoped for. For Pete's sake, they lost 13 in a row. No decent team does that. Changes should be incoming regardless of how the remainder of the season turns out

No, probably not. He's having a good year though, which I think is worth acknowledging.

I think i remember the amerks twitter account recently saying he is leading the ahl in power play goals 🤔 edit: to be clear, i'm not saying that he should be called up

Byram has looked good... as the partner of Rasmus Dahlin. Whoever Dahlin is paired with usually gets a boost, because he's just really good. When Byram isn't paired with Dahlin (see long losing streak and all of his time prior to being paired with Dahlin on the first pair), he doesn't look great. Dahlin/Byram: 51% expected goals for (350 minutes on ice) Byram/X (X is anyone but Dahlin): ~42% expected goals for every pairing (~350 minutes on ice total with players aside from Dahlin) Power, on the other hand, doesn't have the benefit of playing with Dahlin but has clear defensive deficiencies. He seems more capable of carrying another partner when not paired with Dahlin. His most frequent partner has been Jokiharju 🤢, but they have held their own (~200 minutes on ice w/ 46% expected goals). For what it's worth, Dahlin/Power have about 80 minutes on ice together with a 65% expected goals for. The Dahlin/Power number may be bloated though because I assume that they are being thrown out there when the Sabres are losing and the other team is trying to turtle/protect a lead. Lastly, the Byram/Power pairing has been fairly ineffective as well: Power/Jokiharju: 46% expected goals (170 minutes on ice) Power/Dahlin: 64% expected goals (60 minutes on ice) Power/Byram: 43% expected goals for (200 minutes on ice) Byram/Jokiharju: 43% expected goals (90 minutes on ice. including this one since Joki has been paired with Power a lot) IMO, if you want someone that can carry a second line that's probably Power. If you are just looking to pair someone with Dahlin, then Byram is your guy. Obviously, it's not that simple and there are a whole bunch of other factors besides their play thus far: 1. Does Byram truly want to be a true #1 defenseman as has been reported? 2. Is Byram willing to stay in Buffalo long term? 3. How much would Byram sign here for? Is it less than Power's contract (it ought to be)? How much so? 4. Do you think Power can improve his net front game/defensive without sacrificing much offensively? 5. How are they on the second power play unit? the numbers for the pairings were even strength numbers I believe 6. What can you get for either one on the open market? 7. Can Byram improve and eventually be able to carry another defender on the second line so we aren't so top heavy on defense? credit to moneypuck for stats

As long as it's not 13 seconds left, we'd probably be fine

Alright alright. Now just don't get a 4 goal lead, we already know how that story ends

no sabres prospects in the game that I'm aware of... but Canada lost to Latvia in a shootout. maybe they should have taken our boy scott ratzlaff edit: martone no points and only ~7 minutes TOI

Amerks move into first place with that win!!

They make a glorious run to mediocrity, but obviously still miss the playoffs. No major changes are made until the end of season